The 13th Black Crusade

"Since the time of The Fall, our race has been haunted by, what we, in our reckless pursuit of hedonistic indulgence, gave birth to. Though our dreams once overturned worlds and quenced suns, we are now but fitful shadows clinging to the edge of existence. All the stars in the sky cannot blot out the hateful glare of the Red Moon's Eye. The birthing place of The Great Enemy pulses with all the malice of a daemon that is dreaming, casting its shadow over all we have ever done and all we ever shall. Every twisted strand of Fate and casting of the Runes leads me to this time, to this place, and it is clear that the final battle awaits me at the ancient Crone Worlds. A conflict the likes of which has not been seen since the Mon-Keigh warred among themselves, and the corpse of a seer fell to his traitorous son, is coming and all my steps lead towards it, no matter that I walk other paths. I see the stars stained red with the blood of the Mon-Keigh and, though their wars do not concern me and I would gladly let them destroy one another, I know that to avoid this fight is to condemn my race to inevitable doom. And though all I see is darkness, I know that I will not flinch from my destiny"

– Eldrad, musing on his (now-Retconned) doom.

The 13th Black Crusade
Date	999.M41 - Current
Scale	Multiple Sectors
Theatre	13th Black Crusade
Status	Inconclusive.
Belligerents
Chaos	The Imperium of Man, Eldar
Commanders and Leaders
Abaddon The Despoiler	Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed, Saint Celestine, Belisarius Cawl, Necron intervention via Trazyn the Infinite
Strength
Black Legion, Traitor Legions (Alpha Legion, Death Guard, Emperor's Children, Iron Warriors, Night Lords, Thousand Sons, World Eaters, Word Bearers), Astartes Renegades (Violators, Warp Ghosts, Sons of Malice), Traitor Titan Legions (Deaths Heads, Death Stalkers, Fire Masters, Iron Skulls, Legio Vulcanum), Traitor Guard (5th Columnius, 666th Regiment of Foot, Discilian Apostates, Jenen Ironclads, Sentrek Freemenm the Traitor 9th, Ubridius Light Infantry, Volscani Cataphracts), various Fleets of Chaos (an estimated 38 different fleets).	Adeptus Astartes Chapters (Angels of Absolution, Angels of Vigilance, Angels Sanguine, Brazen Claws, Dark Angels, Death Spectres, Doom Eagles, Exorcists, Excoriators, Harbingers, Howling Griffons, Iron Hands, Iron Knights, Iron Snakes, Marines Exemplar, Night Watch, Novamarines, Relictors, Subjugators, Storm Warriors, Space Wolves, Storm Warriors, Ultramarines, White Consuls), Adeptus Sororitas Orders (Bloody Rose, Ebon Chalice, Martyred Lady, Ermine Mantle, Wounded Heart), Astra Militarum Regiments (Avelornian Gunners, Bar-El Penal Legions, Cadian Karskin, Cadian Shock, Cadian Whiteshields, Drookian Fen Guard, Finreht Highlanders, Gudrunite Rifles, Jouran Dragoons, Kellersburg Irregulars, Gnovian Gharkas, Mordant Acid Dogs, Narsine Yeomanry, Necromundan 8th, Thracian Guard, Van Demans World Redbacks, Zenonian Free Companies), Adeptus Questoris (House Krast, House Arokon), Titan Legions (Metalica, Ignatum, Gryphonicus, Astorum, Sinister), Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii regiments, Ordo Reductor, Ordinatii), Imperial Navy Battlefleets (Cadia, Corona, Scarus).
Losses
High. One Blackstone Fortress is lost, along with unknown number of ships of the Black Fleet.	Extremely High. The Cadian Gate is lost, and the Great Rift tears the Imperium in twain.
Outcome
*Cadia is destroyed, and the Cadian Gate is blown wide open. The Eye of Terror grows into the Great Rift, and cuts the Imperium in half. While the Imperium has managed to stabilize things on the side where Terra is, thanks to the resurrection of Roboute Guilliman, Chaos forces now have free reign over what is now known as Imperium Nihilus.

Launched in what might be considered the final hours of the 41st Millennium, the 13th Black Crusade is Abaddon the Despoiler's latest attempt at trying to bring down the Imperium -- and very nearly did so. As of the current timeline, its still ongoing, with no signs of slowing down.

Signs of the End

A Creeping Doom

In the chaos of the end of the millennium, the first signs that Abby was up to no good was not the appearance of war fleets. Oh no, instead what happened was the sudden jump of sightings of abandoned vessels getting spat out of the warp at in the sectors surrounding Cadia. Though rare, such a large instance hulks showing up at the same time wasn't unheard of either, though their convergence upon the core worlds of the systems merited enough of a response that system defense ships had to be scrambled to deal with them.

Warriors of the Adeptus Astartes were also among those called to intercept these derelicts, but what they found were disease-ridden nightmares filled with toxic filth. When news of this spread to the rest of the Navy, every wreck subsequently encountered were destroyed ASAP with torpedos and macrocannons from afar, but by then it was too late.

Outbreaks of sickness soon broke out among the ranks of the Imperial Navy, which coincided with the sudden sighting of the Chaos warship called the Plagueclaw in the Urthwart system. With more and more navy personnel in the region fallen ill, the number of intercept-capable ships dropped as well. Despite this the caravan of diseased ships continued to drop from the warp, all in direct course for important worlds. Ad-hoc groupings of ships formed to try and destroy the hulks before they reached those planets, and an unofficial fleet under Admiral Quarren assembled in Belis Corona to hunt down the Plagueclaw.

What it encountered instead was far, far, worse. In the Frenerax Dust cloud, the battle group was jumped by the infamous Terminus Est, flagship of Typhus, the Herald of Nurgle. Outgunned, the fleet still managed to fight its way free, but for some reason Typhus deigned not to pursue.

The months that would follow would bear out just why.

Unbelief

Despite barely surviving from the encounter with Typhus, it was not yet over for the crews of that battered fleet. Many would sicken and die from disease on the return trip to Belis Corona, but the fleet still managed to return with it ships still usable.

Compared to Belis Corona though, it was pretty bad. Many plague hulks had slipped through the line of System ships arrayed against them, and the same disease that had infected their crew spread like wildfire through the inhabited worlds of the Cadian and Agripinaa sectors. As the plagues killed millions, panic soon spread, and inter-system traffic was halted in an effort to stem the spread of infection.

As despair settled among the populations, apocalyptic cults began to appear on every benighted world, and preached that the Emperor's wrath had descended upon everyone as punishment for their wickedness. Only the faithful would be spared the Curse of Unbelief, and masses of self-flagellating devotees began to fill the streets of these worlds, attracted by both their fiery rhetoric as well as their surprising health.

And then plague zombies happened. Because why not?

Within months millions of plague zombies clawed themselves out from the makeshift graves they had been buried in among the dozens of worlds in the Belis Corona and Agripinaa sectors, and threw themselves on their still-living relatives. The Astra Militarum are pushed to the breaking point trying to contain both the zombie outbreak and the mobs of zealots running amok, while the Imperial Navy, already crippled by the epidemic burning itself though its crews, was in no condition to stop what was to follow.

A massive Chaos Fleet, with the Terminus Est at its head, surged into Imperial Space, and there was nothing in its way to stop it.

Echoes of War

Faith and Zealotry

As the Curse of Unbelief wracked Belis Corona and Agripinaa, more radical cults preaching that the plagues were a punishment for wickedness, and only through fire and pain can the cure be found, began to spread. In many words Imperial rule broke down as the epidemic crippled the local authority's capability to contain the zealots and demagogues, who led maddened mobs in an orgy of destruction and self-harm. Naval yards were attached, and in the following weeks mob rule virtually replaced Imperial mandate on outlying worlds.

The Warp responded to such an outflowing of zeal and bloodletting violently in many places. Warp Storm Baphomael widened to engulf the edges of the Cadian system, while the Choir Chamber of Astropaths in Belisar (and the top nine layers of the hive spire it was on) was consumed in a massive psychic explosion. But that was not all, because the signs that something bad was going to happen were unmistakable, even for those who weren't psychically sensitive. Dire portents began manifesting, and it wasn't long for paranoia to break into panic and hysteria among the masses.

The Ecclessiarchy dispatched clergy, confessors, preachers, and holy people in efforts to calm the people down, but it had litle effect. People were scared out of their wits, and with good reason, as shown when unknown raiders had violently assaulted the Agri-world of Dentor, and butchered entire communities, before burning their homes down to the ground.

Back in Cadia, Adepts monitoring the mysterious Pylons noted that they seemed to be vibrating on a frequency similar to a ship's Gellar Field, leading them to theorize that it was keeping the Warp Storm at bay somehow. Microscopic stress fractures were beginning to show however, which led many to worry that the Pylons might break themselves apart if things continue long enough.

Tumbling Down

Word of the aftermath of brutal raids similar to what happened to Dentor eventually filtered back to Segmentum command, but with its forces stretched to the breaking point, there was little it could do. As settlements on Sarlax and Amistel fell, video recordings of dark parodies of Astartes vessels alarmed its strategos. As a pattern emerged of the direction of the attacks seemingly heading in the direction of Cadia, the Imperial Navy slowly pulled all of its still combat-capable warships back to their ports in preparation.

While Imperial forces consolidated, in some sectors things were rapidly going downhill. On Lelithar, a figure calling himself The Voice of the Emperor was stirring up trouble. With his powerful speeches, he stirred the restless populations into open sedition, and his followers quickly overran vital Imperial facilities like bases and stockpiles. Once he and his followers had taken the space ports, the rebellion spread uncontrolled across the sector, with his cults appearing on the worlds of Yayor, Amistel, Albitern, and Bar-El.

For all the disruption the Voice's followers had caused, it spurred the battered Imperials of the sector in response, as preachers and missionaries of the Imperial Creed pushed back, decrying the evils of the anti-Imperial cult. Faith in the Emperor came roaring back, vows of piety were renewed, and soon furious battles are fought between the pious servants of Him on Terra and those who fell for the Voice's honeyed words.

As all this was going on, Kill-Teams and Assassins were sent after the Voice, but none ever returned.

The Main Event

Should Have Been More Obvious

While the surrounding regions began to feel the pressure from the increasing frequency of Chaos-related attacks, Cadia remained a bastion of order and stability. Expecting that a massive attack was imminent, the planet recalled all of its deployed regiments back home -- every Kasrkin, Shock Trooper, Whiteshield and bloodied Veteran alike -- for its defense. Hundreds of extra landing fields were made ready, as well as infrastructure to house and support hundreds of thousands of troopers prepared at Kasr Holn, Helotas, and Fremas.

Millions were ready and mustered when the Volscani Cataphracts, considered some of the fiercest fighters of the sector, started to land their own forces. Vast dropships disgorged Leviathan command vehicles, countless tanks of every mark and make, and regiment upon regiment of Volscani. Cadian command waited for the new arrivals to present themselves, but as they unfurled their banners to show the symbols of the Ruinous Powers, they realized too late that the enemy was already in their midst.

The Volscani opened fire, and in those first few minutes of confusion caused unimaginable damage to the Cadian forces there. Governor Primus Marus Porelska's command Leviathan was quickly destroyed, as cannons the size of houses focused on it, and the rest of the Cadian High Command soon followed. As the Cadians recovered from the shock of the brazen betrayal, a counterattack soon was made, and in what would be called later as The Battle of Tyrok Fields, the Volscani were driven off and scattered.

But the damage had been done. The majority of Cadia's senior leadership had been slain. Now the command passed to the most senior surviving officer, who would be named Lord Castellan in this emergency: Ursakar E. Creed.

Fortress Cadia, Once More

A man of great charisma and strategic knowledge, Creed set about organizing and the Cadian forces that were already on-world. Defenses were strengthened, munitions were stockpiled, and food and water kept in ready. With his new influence as Lord Castellan and acting Governor Primus, Creed sent out pleas for aid on all frequencies, to all Cadian allies that could be contacted. Astartes Chapters such as the Space Wolves began to arrive in earnest, and pledged their ground and naval assets to the planet's defense. Regiments began to muster in nearby systems, while fleets began to make their way to Cadia as quickly as the Administratum's bureaucratic inertia allowed.

Curiously, encounters with Eldar vessels were reported during this time, but the xenos seemed in no mood to engage in battle, and focused on getting away from the Cadian Gate as quickly as possible. Whats more, Maiden Worlds, those verdant worlds that in any other occasion the Eldar would fight tooth and nail to keep, were found abandoned, and their Webway Gates left sealed permanently. Had any Ordo Xenos inquisitor been informed, this would have rang alarm bells right away, but in the preparation to defend the Cadian system this was left as a minor footnote.

The increasing Imperial Navy presence in the sector allowed the Imperium to strike out against minor raiders, but soon its escorts reported the presence of a massive Chaos fleet inbound. The Imperials withdrew to the relative safety of port of Aurent, as the main body of the fleet made itself known.

The Black Fleet had finally come.

Opening Moves

The Kasrkin had not been idle, and had been making probing raids into the edges of their system. Divinations pointed in the direction of Urthwart, which was believed to be used as a muster point for the forces of the Despoiler. The Cadians found nothing but death and plague zombies on that planet, but as they withdrew to their drop ships and carriers, it was too late -- the Imperial Fleet that had carried them there had been forced to flee before the massive Chaos armada that was coming in hot on the system, led by a ship that made its name in infamy during the Gothic War: The Planet Killer.

The massive warship's guns opened up on Urthwart, and the world died. Continents split and the planet's core detonated, reducing it to nothing more than molten rock and debris flying off at high speed into space. The planet's death echoed in the Warp of the area, and such was its backlash that it blew out surrounding warp storms, while telepaths within a thousand light years all felt its destruction.

Uncaring of the death of the world, the Black Fleet swept through the system. The Plagueclaw and Terminus Est was among its vast number, as well as the two missing Blackstone Fortresses from the Gothic War. Naval patrols fell back before the tide of corrupted warships, but an informal fleet formed under the command of Admiral Pulaski and mustered in the Ormantep system. There would be no glory here -- just a delaying action, to buy the defenders of Cadia more time to prepare with their lives.

For the Black Fleet's part, it intended to simply brute force its way through the Imperial forces by sheer weight of numbers. Even so, the Imperials gave as good as they had, and soon it became an ugly near-point blank brawl. Despite their best efforts however, there were simply too many Chaos warships to stop, and many slipped past to the Agripinaa sector.

When Pulaski's flagship The Honour and Duty, exploded in a cloud of plasma, the remaining Navy ships prepared to make one last stand. It was then that the ships led by Admiral Quarren arrived, and together the combined ragtag fleet fought its way through back to safety at Demios Binary.

Meta

The 13th Black Crusade is literally where the "clock" stopped in the Warhammer 40,000 for more than two decades and several editions, before a new management decided to move things forward finally for 8th Edition.

There have been two differing outcomes for this Black Crusade as far as lore goes -- one from the Eye of Terror Campaign, and the one for Gathering Storm, the latter of which became the new status quo for the setting.

Humorously, the latter actually still treats many of the beats of the Eye of Terror campaign as canon, just as long as it doesn't contradict things outright.

The Eye of Terror Campaign

Back in Third Edition, GW ran the "Eye of Terror" worldwide campaign to determine the outcome of the war. Going by the numbers of the battles sent in (admittedly not a tamper-proof measure), the forces of Chaos actually won the ground war, and the Imperium won the space war, since this was before GW had the "fuck our customers" mindset, they actually did wrap up the 13th Black Crusade...

In the 18th issue of their Battlefleet Gothic Magazine.

Yep, the major event that the whole setting stops at was wrapped up in an issue nobody bought (so a lot of people thought it never ended). Abaddon's fleets (including the Planet Killer and a Blackstone Fortress) were crippled and he and his generals were stranded on a dozen worlds. They continued to win the ground war on most planets, including Cadia, but even if they did capture those they'd be left stuck without any way of proceeding whereas the Imperium could just virus bomb the captured worlds.