The Liber Cluster

[Olis]

I have a similar interest in seeing a finish to the EWC - there was one or two things in the pipeline for it that I would have loved to have seen but since those first glimpses, there's been no further developments. Yes, it's a cryptic statement, but I think if I blabber about it here it will put undue pressure on the member to do something when they might not have the time or the inclination to do it. 

 

So, what else would I like to see? Fully fleshed out, glorious IA's would be nice. Also, maybe a 'Journey into the depths' of the Cluster would be good. I'm talking of those people at the edges of Imperial society, the ones that can and do fall off the edge and truck with powers they probably shouldn't. Pirates, smugglers, black marketeers, assassins-for-hire, secessionists, Rogue Traders and, of course, those already persecuted by the Imperium be they 'heretics' or 'hereteks'. 

 

Let's see... what else... more details on the Tempest? Strange and unusual details. That would be neat. Maybe stuff about the Deeps as well.

 

I think with Vandire and what comes after can wait for the new thread. Maybe if we treat this thread as the 'EWC one' and the new one as the 'Vandire one' that'd be a good place to start.

[Tiberius Cato]

Maybe the focus will shift away from the astartes and towards "normal" humans. Our tales could be of the valiant sacrifice of a regiment of guardsmen in order to stem the flow of xenos invaders in imperial space or the covert (or not so covert) affairs of an inquisitor and his acolytes in rooting out heresy or discovering technology valuable to fueling the imperial war machine.

[Ace Debonair]

My interest is mostly in concluding the Battle of Grennarch against the Black Legion, and working on what comes afterwards.

 

...But I think that was all taking place after the EWC, so If that's the first order of business I'm good for anything. 

[Wade Garrett]

Awww, crap.I was supposed to do that thing on that planet with the Lords Inviolate and the Black Judges and I never did.

[Captain Nameless]

Sorry about the lack of posts; the part I need to fix my laptop hasn't arrived yet, and so I'm stuck with my iPad for now.

[Conn Eremon]

Okay, so I got caught up. Turns out, there is a maximum allowed size for posts, and the Liberite Chapters' post exceeded it. Re-arranged some things. The 3rd post of Ground Rules has been placed at the bottom of the 1st post. 2nd post remains a list/brief description of the various features of the Liber Cluster. Posts 3 and 4 now have the Liberite Chapters split between them.

 

As always, let me know if I've left something out or did something in error.

 

Now, onto what we're doing right now. I will allow this thread to remain active until the EWC has been concluded, as requested.

 

And speaking of which, let's put up what our current assignments are:

 

First Wave

Sanguine Knight with the Black Falcons - Thravis Prime

 

Dizzyeye with the Black Falcons - Durtuvar

 

ArcticPaladinTiberius Cato with the Eagles of Glory and SanguiniusRebon with the Scarlet Sentinels - Baluarte (There's something like 22 pages of content written just for this one battle, and I don't remember anything of it after all this time. So if this is complete, please pipe up and let me know)

 

GreyCrow with the Black Judges and Reyner with the Blades of the Lion - Heroda IV

 

Aegnor with the Iron Ravagers and Teetengee with the Angels Exultant - Cenicika

 

Captain Nameless with the Sereiki Lions - Barek Zayim and Andalus

 

2nd Wave

Conn Eremon with the Lords Inviolate, Wade Garrett with the Black Judges and TDF with the Heralds of Letum - Evin Prime

 

the promethean with the Heralds of Letum - Venet

 

 

Those people unassigned:

Ace Debonair, Deathspectresgt7, helterskelter and Olis

 

For you four (those that are still here, following the thread), would you guys mind looking over those long-standing 1st wave assignments, especially those taken up by brothers long-absent, and wrapping them up? You can search the thread for instances where the Chapter name was mentioned, or the world, to easily find everything mentioned about it, though I would recommend trying to get in contact with the original people themselves.

 

There are some not mentioned, as they were not originally provided assignments related to the EWC. For any of you fall into that category, feel free to do the same as the unassigned. Just please post your intent so I can keep track.

[Astus]

The Promethean is no more, reforged into I, Astus, ready to continue the Emperor's work.

 

Before the big silence, I had started working out some ideas for the Heralds' return to Venet, as well as some pieces on the Heralds and their local sector. I'm all for us finishing the Eighteen Worlds Crusade before moving onto other things. Other than the return to Venet, I also want to write up the destruction of Libitum by the Sereiki Lions. I think it will definitely add a lot to the Heralds.

 

Beyond the Reign of Blood, I second the idea of a crusade against xenos to unite the Liber Cluster once more.

 

Astus

[Captain Nameless]

What is Barek Zayim? It sounds familiar, but I don't remember being given that assignment. If I have forgotten something, please let me know.

[Olis]

What is Barek Zayim? It sounds familiar, but I don't remember being given that assignment. If I have forgotten something, please let me know.

 

When you're in this thread, go to the search bar waaaay at the tippy top of the page (embedded in the red header bar) and search for Barek Zayim. That might help, hopefully.

[Dizzyeye01]

Hey guys, sorry I've not been around recently, real life has taken over really and I haven't had the time to help out with this. In my mind it's best someone takes over what I was gonna do. Either way I don't feel like I'll be able to help out much. Once again apologies and just keep up the good work.

[Ace Debonair]

No worries, Dizzyeye old chap, I'll step in for this one.

 

 

-= The Battle of Durtuvar =-

 

The world of Durtuvar, a thriving hub of trade and prosperity, was home to one of the most shocking acts of betrayal in the Eighteen Worlds Crusade. Governor Vincen Acuda, a very recently elected Imperial official, had sold his world to the Sereiki Lions. Whatever Acuda thought he stood to gain from such a deal, his treachery would bring Durtuvar only war. Though evidence of Acuda's betrayal was discovered long before the Battle of Durtuvar began, the wily governor had managed to prevent the Taskforce who discovered it from spreading the news. Their records were not discovered until months after the battle.

 

As part of the campaign against the Sereiki Lions, two Companies of the Black Falcons and three regiments of Imperial Guard moved to deploy at Durtuvar, with intent to fortify the world and transform it into a staging ground for further attacks.

 

However, once the Imperial forces arrived in Durtuvian space, they found themselves immediately under heavy attack from the laser batteries mounted on the planet's orbital defence stations. The Imperial Guard regiments, travelling in lightly armoured transport ships, found themselves taking considerable damage and were forced to try and effect a retreat.

 

The Black Falcons, in their much more durable Strike Cruisers, acted to bait the stations into diverting their fire onto them, trying to shield the weaker Regimental transports. The Strike Cruiser Shield of Scythia, carrying the 6th Company, managed to close in and launch Thunderhawks to board the three orbital Stations and hopefully disable the lasers. However, the Strike Cruiser itself took significant engine and hull damage in the process, and found itself pulled slowly into Durtuvar's atmosphere.

 

This exposed the Shield of Scythia to fire from planetside missile batteries, further damaging the ship. Thanks to a remarkable feat of skill, Techmarine Kaorin managed to repair the engines of the slowly descending vessel enough to keep it aloft, although the engines were still too badly damaged to effect escape into orbit.

 

Meanwhile, the other Strike Cruiser, Talon of Corax, swiftly dispatched a number of reinforcements to board the stations and assist their beleaguered brothers before heading for the planet's surface.

 

Sixty Black Falcons deployed onto the world of Durtuvar, and were immediately beset by hordes of Ash Wolves and the traitor 78th Shenac Bladecatcher Regiment. The Falcons' expertise at rapid insertion warfare saw what could have been a crippling Imperial defeat become a bloody, hard-fought stalemate, as both sides struggled to strike a telling blow against the other. 

 

After an hour of deadly skirmishing and assault, the orbital stations were conquered by the Falcons. The Regimental transports and the Space Marines on the stations moved to reinforce the Falcons on Durtuvar's surface.

 

Though the loss of life on both sides was considerable, the determined focus of the Black Falcons continued to turn the tide of battle. With the freshly-deployed regiments tying up the brunt of the Ash Wolves and Bladecatchers forces, the Black Falcons were able to move like wraiths, striking down enemy leaders or launching lightning-fast attacks on exposed weak points in the enemy lines.

 

At the height of the battle, Governor Acuda was cut down by Sergeant Kefan of the 6th Company, collapsing the morale of the native Durtuvian forces. The enemy broke and scattered, running and hiding all over the planet.

 

It took two months of repair work to restore the engines and hull of the Shield of Scythia in the battle's aftermath, during which time the Black Falcons' Sixth Company policed Durtuvar and continued to hunt and eradicate the remnants of the traitor army.

 

-=-=-=-=-=

 

Phew, that took some writing.

593 words - is that too many?

 

More importantly, is it any good, or am I wide of the mark at all?

If anyone can see anything that needs changing or has other improvements to suggest, go right ahead.

[Conn Eremon]

I'll give it a good read later, but very nice, and speedy, initiative Ace. :tu:

 

Diz, no need to apologize for real life getting in the way. Handle what's more important first.

[Conn Eremon]

Forgive the double-post, but I didn't want my response to Capt. Nameless to go unnoticed as an edit.

 

First, Ace that was good. That Chapter is one of the more undeveloped, so it's good to see them in action.

 

 

@Cap'n Nameless: Looking back through the thread, during the first wave assignments it was determined you would take the Lions and counter-attack a then-unnamed world. With Barek Zayim being a world that suffered such an attack, and not being on the list of worlds assigned, it was put in. However, I see that this was in my notes, but I can't find a post where this was made known to you. So it looks like you named the world Andalus, and I named it Barek Zayim. 

 

Here's the actual bit on Barek Zayim:

 

+++Barek Zayim+++
Records show that the Barek system was colonised in 372.M35. Barek Zayim, a frigid, barren, dwarf planet on the edge of the system, was designated a mining world due to an apparently high density of rare elements and minerals in its crust. The true mineral wealth turned out to be much less than anticipated and within a century the Imperium abandoned Barek Zayim. The legacy of mining remained, however, in the form of large underground caverns. During the Liber Reconquest Campaign these caverns were claimed by the Departmento Munitorum to serve as a forward supply base for the assault on the Eighteen Worlds of the Sereiki Lions. This drew the attention of the heretical mercenaries, who launched an attack on the system that led to the destruction of the Munitorum supply complex. Apart from a small astropathic listening post Barek Zayim was abandoned for a second and final time.

Extracted from:
Imperatoris Aurea Sphaera: A Definitive Record of the Worlds of the Liber Cluster and the Inhabitants Thereof
Father Henrik Glausendorf

 

You know, all things considered, I'll consider it an Imperial defeat, and remove it from the list. Feel free to handle just Andalus. I'll also make it part of the second wave. This kind of post is actually perfectly acceptable as how to handle an assignment. While the many-page assignments have been entertaining, it can be as short as the person assigned to it wants it to be.

 

 

Brief rundown, and the future of the EWC:

We have had 13 worlds elaborated upon so far. During the first wave, a full third of the Sereiki Lions' domain have fallen to the Imperium. We have suffered only one defeat, the decapitation strike at Evin Prime. We have five battles that are ongoing into the second wave (which I am considering all extant 1st wave assignments, plus the Heralds on Venet, as being so). Thus far, we have had two additional victories in the 2nd wave, which is far from over.

 

A third of the Sereiki Lions' domain remains contested. Once these worlds have been properly dealt with, the 3rd wave will begin. The Imperium thought to end this threat quickly at Evin Prime, but they acted without proper support or reconnaissance. The 3rd wave battle will not repeat those mistakes.

 

We have also heard reports of the Sereiki Lions launching counter-attacks against the Imperium, while they still retained the ability. An important staging world of the Imperium has already been lost, and word has it another has been targeted.

 

 

What this means for us is that I want all ongoing assignments wrapped up. There is no need to rush it, if you're working on it. But, like with Durtuvar, I'd like to see those who have wrapped up their assignments aid the others. As always, work as inspiration dictates. If you've got an idea burning its way through your imagination, do that instead. 

 

Once I feel that the 2nd wave has been handled well enough, I'll introduce a final assignment that will see the Eighteen Worlds Crusade concluded.

 

 

If anybody has any suggestions, feedback, desires, etc., speak up.

[Dizzyeye01]

Good work Ace, I had originally thought the strike cruiser would have crashed onto the planet, leaving the surviving Black Falcons rushing in to aid their brothers but that still works 

[Olis]

I think a good third wave strike would be to neutralise the Lions' ability to make any further offensives, while nullifying their gains thus far. Cutting off the beachhead from the rest of Sereiki support, such as gaining control of a warp route or seizing the staging point might be the way to go. Granted the counter-offensive looks impressive, but how much support do they truly need to remain effective? I doubt the task force could make much headway without a steady supply of arms or reinforcements.

 

So while this containment effort by the Imperium is going on, there is the re-securing of Zavatista to be dealt with - remember when I said the Imperium would not be able to hold onto the world? - but this can be done other forces than the Astartes strike groups, perhaps the Guard.

 

Then there is Round 2 on Evin Prime. I'm going to have to refamiliarise myself with what happened in Round 1 so that we can see what the circumstances are for Round 2. How the defences have been softened (if at all), how rebuilding efforts by the victors are faring (if at all), where resident forces are dispersed, where prisoners are being held, what materiel has been salvaged, what potential for reinforcement there is and who exactly is going to be stepping up to the plate to take on Evin Prime again.

 

With a significant chunk of the Eighteen Worlds under Imperial control (or at least are contested) the commanders should be looking towards forcing an endgame. Although this was attempted at Evin Prime (which I consider the Operation Market Garden of the EWC), the situation is there - the Sereiki Lions can lose this war and it's looking increasingly likely, so long as the breakout can be contained. There have been losses - bad losses - along the way but with some headstrong members of the crusade (that some would label as foolhardy) the drive to annihilate the Lions now will not abate. 

[Captain Nameless]

Thanks for clearing that up, Conn. And I now have access to something with an actual keyboard; no voice recognition software though. Regardless, I'll get back to work on Andalus.

[Ace Debonair]

Good work Ace, I had originally thought the strike cruiser would have crashed onto the planet, leaving the surviving Black Falcons rushing in to aid their brothers but that still works 

Oh yeah, that would have been pretty cool.

Oh well, lucky break for the Shield of Scythia!

 

I'm just glad I could help out. On a similar note:

 

 

-=-= Important Notice =-=-

 

 

If anyone else gets swamped by Real Life, or crashes into some nasty Writer's Block, or otherwise discovers any problems with their assigned writeups, give me a shout either by PM or in this very thread.

 

I'm more than willing to lend as much of a hand as is required!

 

-=-= =-=-

 

With regards to Wave Three of the EWC:

 

So far all the Aetheric Swords have done in the EWC (and after it, actually) is take a beating from traitors.

I'm fine with taking the losses, but I'd like to see them at least win a fight!

 

That said; let's focus more on Wave Three after we've wrapped up the first two.

Working on too many things at once is what made this project stall in the first place!

[Olis]

Right, okay, what do we still have to finish from Wave 1 and Wave 2? Perhaps a little bullet point list might help illustrate what's still outstanding?

[Ace Debonair]

I got this, hang on:
 

And speaking of which, let's put up what our current assignments are:
 
First Wave
Sanguine Knight with the Black Falcons - Thravis Prime
 
ArcticPaladinTiberius Cato with the Eagles of Glory and SanguiniusRebon with the Scarlet Sentinels - Baluarte (There's something like 22 pages of content written just for this one battle, and I don't remember anything of it after all this time. So if this is complete, please pipe up and let me know)
 
GreyCrow with the Black Judges and Reyner with the Blades of the Lion - Heroda IV
 
Aegnor with the Iron Ravagers and Teetengee with the Angels Exultant - Cenicika
 
Captain Nameless with the Sereiki Lions - Barek Zayim and Andalus
 
2nd Wave
Conn Eremon with the Lords Inviolate, Wade Garrett with the Black Judges and TDF with the Heralds of Letum - Evin Prime
 
the promethean Astus with the Heralds of Letum - Venet

 

Ta-da!

 

 

EDIT:

Holy  on a  sandwich, there's how much written about the Battle of Baluarte?

You guys might have overshot the 500-word guideline just a tiny bit!

[Tiberius Cato]

I got this, hang on:

 

And speaking of which, let's put up what our current assignments are:

 

First Wave

Sanguine Knight with the Black Falcons - Thravis Prime

 

ArcticPaladinTiberius Cato with the Eagles of Glory and SanguiniusRebon with the Scarlet Sentinels - Baluarte (There's something like 22 pages of content written just for this one battle, and I don't remember anything of it after all this time. So if this is complete, please pipe up and let me know)

 

GreyCrow with the Black Judges and Reyner with the Blades of the Lion - Heroda IV

 

Aegnor with the Iron Ravagers and Teetengee with the Angels Exultant - Cenicika

 

Captain Nameless with the Sereiki Lions - Barek Zayim and Andalus

 

2nd Wave

Conn Eremon with the Lords Inviolate, Wade Garrett with the Black Judges and TDF with the Heralds of Letum - Evin Prime

 

the promethean Astus with the Heralds of Letum - Venet

Ta-da!

 

 

EDIT:

Holy on a sandwich, there's how much written about the Battle of Baluarte?

You guys might have overshot the 500-word guideline just a tiny bit!

One does not simply write 500 words when two rivals are forced to collaborate. :p The story is nearing it's end, and it shall be glorious. I'm looking forward to seeing SanginiusReborn's next portion and building upon it!

[Olis]

Okay, so it looks like I'm a free agent for the mopping up of Waves 1 and 2. If anyone wants me to step in for Aegnor or GreyCrow, then I'll be happy to help their partners wrap up.

[Ace Debonair]

One does not simply write 500 words when two rivals are forced to collaborate. The story is nearing it's end, and it shall be glorious. I'm looking forward to seeing SanginiusReborn's next portion and building upon it!

*Looks back at the battle of Venet, featuring two Chapters who like each other less than the Eagles and Sentinels*

 

Well, if you say so.

 

EDIT EDIT:

 

No wait, you're right, it takes at least 1100 words.

Way to not get the facts right first, Ace.

 

On an entirely different yet somewhat curiously related note, I just discovered that during Wave Two the Aetheric Swords and Eagles of Glory teamed up and utterly trampled a place called Zyngeith.

 With that in mind, I'll stop my grumbling about how the Aetheric Swords never win!

 

EDIT:

Purge the typo! Cleanse the grammatical error! Slay the misplaced punctuation!

[Nomus Sardauk]

I got this, hang on:

 

And speaking of which, let's put up what our current assignments are:

 

First Wave

Sanguine Knight with the Black Falcons - Thravis Prime

 

ArcticPaladinTiberius Cato with the Eagles of Glory and SanguiniusRebon with the Scarlet Sentinels - Baluarte (There's something like 22 pages of content written just for this one battle, and I don't remember anything of it after all this time. So if this is complete, please pipe up and let me know)

 

GreyCrow with the Black Judges and Reyner with the Blades of the Lion - Heroda IV

 

Aegnor with the Iron Ravagers and Teetengee with the Angels Exultant - Cenicika

 

Captain Nameless with the Sereiki Lions - Barek Zayim and Andalus

 

2nd Wave

Conn Eremon with the Lords Inviolate, Wade Garrett with the Black Judges and TDF with the Heralds of Letum - Evin Prime

 

the promethean Astus with the Heralds of Letum - Venet

 

Ta-da!

 

 

EDIT:

Holy  on a  sandwich, there's how much written about the Battle of Baluarte?

You guys might have overshot the 500-word guideline just a tiny bit!

 

Yeah that's probably my fault, I can't seem to write anything without going far too in-depth with it. I start off writing a short story and it ends up closer to a small novel in length,and that's assuming writer's block doesn't intervene and suffocate any progress until I lose the will to keep writing (dear god, I just realised I'm still doing it now).

http://media.giphy.com/media/g8GfH3i5F0hby/giphy.gif

 

 

I got this, hang on:

And speaking of which, let's put up what our current assignments are:

 

First Wave

Sanguine Knight with the Black Falcons - Thravis Prime

 

ArcticPaladinTiberius Cato with the Eagles of Glory and SanguiniusRebon with the Scarlet Sentinels - Baluarte (There's something like 22 pages of content written just for this one battle, and I don't remember anything of it after all this time. So if this is complete, please pipe up and let me know)

 

GreyCrow with the Black Judges and Reyner with the Blades of the Lion - Heroda IV

 

Aegnor with the Iron Ravagers and Teetengee with the Angels Exultant - Cenicika

 

Captain Nameless with the Sereiki Lions - Barek Zayim and Andalus

 

2nd Wave

Conn Eremon with the Lords Inviolate, Wade Garrett with the Black Judges and TDF with the Heralds of Letum - Evin Prime

 

the promethean Astus with the Heralds of Letum - Venet

Ta-da!

 

 

EDIT:

Holy on a sandwich, there's how much written about the Battle of Baluarte?

You guys might have overshot the 500-word guideline just a tiny bit!

One does not simply write 500 words when two rivals are forced to collaborate. The story is nearing it's end, and it shall be glorious. I'm looking forward to seeing SanginiusReborn's next portion and building upon it!

 

 

Glad to hear you're still enthusiastic brother, I'll do my best to try and finish up the Sentinels segment of the story for you ASAP.

[Wade Garrett]

What I'd like to take a moment and discuss is what are the Lions doing while all this is going on?

 

That is, from what I can tell, the Imperium's goal was to open with strikes on several key worlds within the Lion's domain, and as the Renegades divided their forces to reinforce those targets, their home base would be weakened enough for a the Lords Inviolate and Sons of Calderon task force to hit it and wipe it out, leaving the rest of the 18 Worlds to be mopped up at leisure.

 

This failed.

 

Now it seems the Lions have begun to implement a counter strategy. They have retaken Zavatista, they've wiped out an Imperial staging world, and there's no doubt more bad stuff coming down the pipeline, but what's their overall objective?

 

When I began pondering the assault on Evin Prime, I had this idea that Al-Rashid's plan was that he knew he could never hold a fixed position against the Imperial war machine, so once the Crusade got underway the Lions would be stripping their holdings of everything portable and withdrawing into the Deep, leaving the Imperials to plant the flag on the 18 worlds...with the intention of raiding the bejesus out of their former holdings as soon as the Imperium builds up enough infrastructure on them to be worth pillaging.

 

But that doesn't match with how their forces are acting now, OR with how heathens characterized Al-Rashid's relationship with the mortals who embraced his cause (As the sons and daughters he never had, or as close to that as you can get with a brainwashed gene modded child soldier turned megalomaniacal warlord.)

 

Rashid seems more like the type to slug it out as long as he has a chance of victory, and while Olis is correct that the Lions have been bloodied and could well lose this war, they are also still unbowed and capable of winning it.

[Olis]

You make a good point. The Lions so far have been depicted as the type to stand up and fight the Imperium blow-for-blow. But what if that's not what they actually are? What if, as Wade points out, Al-Rashid actually has an escape strategy for his host? If he does, then what is the point to the current strategy of facing the Imperium on it's own terms?