Astra Militarum / PMR

M31-M32, The Age of Rebirth

The Imperium is rebuilt from the ashes of the Horus Heresy. Doctrines such as the Codex Astartes and Tactica Imperium are drawn up and implemented to ensure that large-scale military rebellion will never again be possible.

- ca. 014-021.M31 The Great Scouring – A campaign of vengeance is launched in which those Traitors who survived the fall of Horus are driven into the Eye of Terror. The nearby planet of Cadia is bolstered until its defences are second only to Holy Terra itself, forming the anchor-point of the Cadian Gate. For a short time the Imperium knows peace from the corrupted followers of the Dark Gods.
- ca.M31 The Reformation and Restructuring of the Imperial Army – The massive and singular Imperial Army is divided into many autonomous but interrelated parts. Among them is the Astra Militarum, leadership of which is distributed amongst the various Militarum Regimentos.
- 781.M31 1st Black Crusade – Abaddon the Despoiler, the Warmaster of Chaos, leads the Black Legion out of the Eye of Terror to lay waste to the Imperium. His assault falls upon Cadia. His forces are driven back into the Warp by Cadian Shock Troops, the Adeptus Astartes and the Legio Titanicus.

M32-M35, The Forging

The Adeptus Terra begins an ambitious project to bring the most important star systems in the Imperium under its direct control. At the forefront of this conquest are the Adeptus Astartes and the massive armies of the Astra Militarum. As the advance continues, Astropathic choirs are established on Armageddon, Bakka, Macragge and thousands of other worlds. Long-lost Standard Template Constructs are unearthed amid the ruins of the Cana System, slowing the decline of Imperial technology. The borders of the Imperium expand to a point almost on par with the success of the Great Crusade. Chaos Renegades and xenos are purged from the galaxy in phenomenal numbers, and countless rebel systems are brought to heel.

- Unknown Date.M32 Shock and Awe – As more and more star systems are brought into the Imperial fold, the Cadian Shock Troops are tasked with imparting their discipline and military doctrine to the leaders of newly colonised worlds. Countless Planetary Defence Forces and Militarum Regimentos are raised based on Cadian principles of warfare.
- 909.M32 3rd Black Crusade – The Despoiler unleashes the Daemon Prince Tallomin in a bloody frontal assault against the Cadian Gate. Millions of Imperial Guardsmen die to the daemonic horde that flows in Tallomin’s wake, but the soldiers of Cadia hold out against the onslaught. They give no quarter, and make the invaders pay in blood for every Terran inch of Cadian soil lost. Their defiance buys time for Imperial reinforcements to arrive, and Tallomin is eventually hurled howling back into the Warp.
- 265-285.M33 The Lost Voyages of Admiral Usurs – In repudiation of the Tactica Imperium, Admiral Usurs forms a powerful military bloc comprising his Imperial fleet as well as armour and infantry regiments of the Astra Militarum. The High Lords of Terra cannot allow such a concentration of forces, but know that assassinating the Admiral could lead to a costly civil war. Usurs is instead sent on an exploratory mission deep into the intergalactic gulf. For two solar decades, reports reach Terra detailing the conquering of new systems for the glory of the Emperor, then the communiqués cease. Contact is never attempted with the systems mentioned in Usurs’ reports.

M36-M38, The Age of Apostasy

Zeal eclipses reason, and misrule reigns supreme. The word of the Emperor is subverted by corrupt ideologues, and the strong prey upon the weak like jackals.

- ca. Early M36 The Reign of Blood – Goge Vandire is made Master of the Administratum. He immediately sets about admonishing the massively corrupt Ecclesiarchy, which sparks off a seven-decades-long civil war. Though Vandire’s motive to eradicate the rampant corruption within the Imperium appears pure, his own reign brings about nightmarish levels of destruction. By his command entire populations of Imperial worlds are butchered or carpeted with Virus Bombs. Regiments of the Astra Militarum are put to violent use enforcing his tyranny. Only when Loyalist regiments and the Adeptus Astartes rally under the banner of the preacher Sebastian Thor is the strife ended.
- Date Unknown.M36 The Great Cull – The High Lords of Terra begin a systematic purging of Imperial command. Every sphere of the Imperium is affected, and many commanders of the Astra Militarum are put to the torch publicly or assassinated in silence.
- ca. M37 The Redemption Crusades – The sins of apostasy are purged in blood and tears. Amongst the regiments of the Astra Militarum, as elsewhere, the Imperial Cult grows greatly in power. As billions of Heretics are burnt at the pyre, crusade after crusade is launched to re-establish the authority of the Imperium. This rapid outpouring of force leaves many planets all but undefended, their regiments engaged in long and gruelling campaigns across the vast expanse of the galaxy. The Tallarn Desert Raiders earn a fearsome reputation for their ability to rapidly redeploy, conducting simultaneous offensive and defensive manoeuvres that span entire sub-sectors.

M38-M41, The Waning

The armies of the Imperium are stretched near to breaking point after the Redemption Crusades. Innumerable worlds fall to xenos invasions, Chaos insurgency and internal strife. As entire star systems are consumed by anarchy, the Mordian Iron Guard implement stringent and merciless rule throughout their home system, eradicating nine separate uprisings of Tzeentchian Chaos Cults.

- 537.M38 The 9th Black Crusade – Abaddon leads his 9th Black Crusade against the Hive World of Antecanis. The Black Legionaries launch a harrowing assault on the Monarchive, slaughtering the Planetary Defence Forces garrisoned in the capital. When reinforcements arrive from Cancephalus to bolster the surviving Guardsmen, Abaddon’s forces withdraw and launch dozens of Cyclonic Torpedoes from orbit. A seventeen-year war ensues, and despite the tenacity of the Antecanian and Cancephalian regiments, the Despoiler is not brought to heel. – 392.M41 – 399.M41 Macharian Conquests – Lord Commander Solar Macharius musters the greatest Astra Militarum army the galaxy has ever seen. A thousand worlds are conquered on the western fringe of the Imperium, and worlds that had never seen the Emperor’s light are brought into the fold. However, upon Macharius’ death the territories gained are quickly embroiled in internecine wars.

M41, The Time of Ending

Darkness continues to consume the Imperium, while the Enemy Without and the Enemy Within grow in strength and number. Imperial Tithes are increased and the ranks of the Astra Militarum grow larger than they have been in millennia. Many heroes are forged in the unending crucible of war.

- 139.M41 The Gothic War – During the sprawling conflict referred to by Imperial strategoes as the 12th Black Crusade, Abaddon the Despoiler leads a vast horde of Traitors against the Gothic Sector of Segmentum Obscurus. Countless tides of Imperial Guardsmen are committed to the Gothic warzone alongside three whole Titan Legions and numerous Space Marine battlegroups. During the final Imperial victory at the Battle of Schindlegeist, the Elysian 234th win posthumous commendations for a suicidal boarding action that results in the scuttling of the Hades-class Heavy Cruiser Injustice.
- 216.M41 The Relief of Baudenvost – During fierce fighting on the world of Segrenstokh, Baudenvost city is surrounded by Khornate Chaos Cultists. Numbering in the thousands, this frothing tide hurl themselves against the Cadian Shock Troopers defenders again and again. The Cadians garrison every building and block the enemy advance with walls of Bullgryns, but the sheer maddened rage of the Cultists carries them through every crossfire and over one line of barricades after another until the Imperial forces look sure to fall. Yet relief arrives at the eleventh hour in the form of the Vostroyan 45th Regiment, who deploy Manticores and Deathstrike missiles to purge the foe en masse. The death toll is horrific, but Baudenvost is saved.
- 414.M41 The Crimson Ridge Atrocity – Angron, blasphemous Daemon Primarch of the World Eaters Legion, descends on the Hive World of Armageddon at the head of a mighty Chaos host during the often-forgotten First War for Armageddon. The subcontinent of Armageddon Prime falls swiftly, yet Armageddon Secundus’ battle lines hold strong, newly drafted regiments of Armageddon Steel Legion rallying around the stubborn defence of the Space Wolves Astartes. Ultimately Armageddon is saved and Angron banished, but millions of Imperial Guardsmen have already lost their lives. The cost of victory spirals higher as the Inquisition instigates a series of brutal purges to contain the knowledge of what has transpired from the wider Imperial population. Massed regiments are sterilised and confined to Imperial labour camps, and whole planets are exterminated to ensure the silence of some regiments. Segmentum Command are put to death en masse by their own Commissarial advisors, who then voluntarily submit themselves for Inquisitorial mindwipe. The final tally of lives lost during the First War for Armageddon is never disclosed, but defies easy calculation.
- 742.M41 The Damocles Crusade – The T’au Empire expands into Imperial space. Numerous worlds defect, initiating the protracted Damocles Crusade. Notable victories are won by the Brimlock Dragoons and dauntless Drookian Fenguard , whose sergeants wield huge ceremonial swords as they lead their men screaming into battle. However, after only three solar years, the encroaching Tyranid threat leads Imperial forces to withdraw, surrendering in only solar weeks the territory paid for in years of blood and toil.
- 745.M41 Unsung Heroes – The First Tyrannic War erupts as Hive Fleet Behemoth ploughs headlong into the Realm of Ultramar. The heroism of the Ultramarines in defeating this monstrous invasion is well documented — yet they do not fight alone. Across Ultramar, the soldiers of over forty-seven regiments of the Planetary Defence Force, the Ultramar Auxilia, join their masters in the defence of their realm. Ravening, nameless horrors are met by disciplined torrents of Lasgun fire, desperate men fight and die in order to buy the Ultramarines time to fight back, and the death-toll mounts with astronomical speed. Yet the sacrifices of these brave men remain unsung, and will stand forever overshadowed by the losses suffered by their masters.
- 755.M41 The Sabbat Worlds Crusade – The Sabbat Worlds Crusade is the largest military offensive since the Macharian Conquests. Under the leadership first of Warmaster Slaydo, and following his death the relatively young Macaroth, the Crusade wrests world after world from the foetid clutches of the Ruinous Powers.
- 762.M41 The Kato Campaign – The Catachan MXIV Regiment, the “Unseen Lurkers,” led by Colonel “Steel Eye” Black, battle Orks of the Death Skulls klan on the Shadow World of Kato. Dire visibility and exceptionally rough terrain reduce the war to a never-ending string of bloody skirmishes that test the Catachan Jungle Fighters infantry to their limits. Neither side can gain an advantage until Sentinel teams locate and destroy the Orks Stompa factory, hidden deep in the Widow Valley. The Greenskins respond with an all-out final offensive but their attack is caught in the jaws of a series of Catachan ambushes, the coolly strategic Colonel Black dissecting and destroying the remaining xenos forces over three solar days of brutal bloodshed.
- 793.M41 Operation Solemnace – Five full regiments of Catachan Jungle Fighters infantry are requisitioned by Inquisitor Helynna Valeria for undisclosed operations upon the world of Solemnace, now known to be a Necron Tomb World. Though Inquisitor Valeria returns from her mission mere solar months later, none of the Imperial Guardsmen who accompany her to Solemnace are ever heard from again.
- 795.M41 The Krando Rebellion – The Cadian 23rd Regiment, “the Punishers,” are instrumental in crushing a heretical uprising on Krandor III. Squadrons of Wyvern Suppression Tanks are deployed, their withering bombardments of shrapnel cutting apart the masses of tight-packed Chaos Cultists filling the streets. Casualties are high on both sides, for the cultists fight furiously, swarming the Loyalist defences time and again with tides of malformed horrors.
- 801.M41 Stormsurge – A momentary flicker of the Astronomican sees thousands of Imperial Guard troop-ships flung off-course. Many translate to realspace hundreds of light years astray of their destination, or decades out of synch. Countless others do not reappear at all.
- 813.M41 The Siege of Vraks – The Siege of Vraks was an Imperial miltary campaign fought over the course of 17 standard years to retake the Imperial Armoury World of Vraks Prime from the heretical Forces of Chaos led by the Apostate Cardinal-Astra Xaphan. Vraks was besieged by the forces of the Imperium of Man in 813.M41, after the attempted assassination by an agent of the Officio Assassinorum of the heretical and traitorous Cardinal-Astra of the Scarus Sector, Xaphan, failed. The Imperial Guard’s 88th Siege Army was raised from line regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg to undertake the siege of Vraks and bring the renegade cardinal down in a campaign of attrition that the Administratum’s Adepts calculated would take 12 standard years to successfully conclude. Overall command of the army and the Vraksian Campaign was given by the Imperial Guard’s Segmentum Obscurus Command to Lord General Zuehlke, the son of a well-connected Imperial noble family from Segmentum Solar, who maintained his campaign headquarters on Thracian Primaris. The Zuehlke family’s influence stretched across the higher echelons of the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Guard. His great-grandfather had once served as an attache to the Lord Commander Solar on Terra. Lord Zuehlke’s qualifications for leading the campaign, apart from his social rank, were few beyond his martial upbringing and a detailed study of the Tactica Imperialis, but political pressure and a good family name yielded its rewards. At the conclusion of what became a 17-year-long campaign of attrition requiring 34 regiments of the Imperial Guard to re-take the planet for the Emperor of Mankind in 830.M41, 14 million Imperial Guardsmen had been lost and Vraks Prime’s entire original population of 8 million souls had been consumed in the violence or exterminated after they fell to Chaos corruption. The world was then declared dead and “Perdita” by the Imperium and placed under an interdiction to cordon it off from the rest of human space as ordered by the Ordo Malleus’ Inquisitor Lord Hector Rex.
- 853.M41 Krandor Overrun – The rebellion thought crushed on Krandor III rises once again. As the war escalates and the involvement of Traitor Space Marines is confirmed, the planet is deemed lost, and virus-bombed into oblivion by an Exterminatus action. Forty-two regiments of Krandorian Guard remain in service, deployed far from their homeworld. Learning of its annihilation, these regiments vow to exact revenge against the followers of the Ruinous Powers.
- 863-883.M41 The Saint Cyllia Aftermath – Nearly a full Titan Legion turns Traitor on Saint Cyllia’s World, instigating a massacre of unthinkable proportions. The celebrated Knight Commander Pask successfully rallies elements of the Cadian 423rd and makes a break for the safety of Yggdrasil Spaceport. Pask and his forces score no fewer than four confirmed God-Engine kills during their escape, most notably the rebel Reaver-class Titan Oblivion ‘s Angel. Imperial forces finally encircle the Traitor Titan Legion upon the Planus Steppes, and Pask and the Cadian 423rd spearhead the largest armoured offensive since the Battle of Tallarn, hoping to finish the Traitors once and for all. Over eight thousand tank companies and thirty-five super-heavy detachments are annihilated during the continent-spanning, year-long war that follows. With the support of three full Houses of Imperial Knights, Pask’s forces finally corner the surviving Chaos Titans in Shadowshroud Pass and destroy them one by one.
- 925.M41 WAAAGH! Grax – Orks in their billions descend upon the Ryza System. Regiments are raised from every planet within ten light years, including the worlds of Barac, Ulani, and Catachan. The expanding warzone, centred around the Forge World of Ryza, becomes a meat grinder as planet after planet is swallowed by the bloody conflict.
- 926.M41 The Dulma’lin Cleansing – A single regiment of Catachan Jungle Fighters warriors — led by the bombastic Colonel Straken — are the only survivors of planetfall on the world of Dulma’lin. The Catachans fight a year-long guerrilla war against Ork invaders in the subterranean depths of the planet’s caverns. The decisive moment comes when Catachan scouts locate the Greenskins’ city in a massive underground cavern known as the Mommothian Vault. Straken leads a handpicked team of demolitions experts into the heart of the Ork settlement, and is seriously injured when he drags Ork Warlord Killzkar into the path of a stampeding Squiggoth. Straken’s men succeed in destroying the vault’s primary support stacks and carry the Colonel’s broken body to safety before the entire cavern collapses. Imperial reinforcements arrive two solar days later, led by a haughty Purbech officer, High Praetor Osh’preen. Taking complete credit for the cleansing of Dulma’lin, Osh’preen is awarded a thoroughly undeserved governorship of the planet while the men of the Catachan II Regiment are unceremoniously redeployed to the Ulani System.
- 927.M41 The Sentencing of the Hammeront IV – Daemons overrun the world of Fallax. Though its Guardsmen fight bravely in their desperate attempts to defend the civilian population, the Hammeront IV Regiment is lost to the last man against the hideous tide of Warp-spawn. Such is the Departmento Munitorum’s administrative backlog that the Hammeront IV’s demise goes unreported, and they are subsequently ordered to the liberation of the Abraxis Citadel on Prassium. When the Hammeront fail to deploy as ordered, the Departmento Munitorum charges the regiment with desertion. They are all posthumously sentenced to death.
- 928.M41 Osh’Preen’s Reward – High Praetor Osh’preen’s disastrously lax reign over Dulma’lin opens the way for an heretical uprising by the Slaaneshi Cult of Frantic Flensing. The Catachan II are the only regiment close enough to offer assistance but, thanks to a mysterious series of communication failures that bedevil the Catachans, Osh’preen and his corrupt planetary government are left to their remarkably horrible fate at the hands of the Slaaneshi devotees.
- 931.M41 Warmaster Brabastis’ Triumph
- 941.M41 The Second War for Armageddon – Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, self -proclaimed prophet of the Ork gods Gork and Mork, invades the industrial Hive World of Armageddon at the head of an almighty WAAAGH! Commissar Yarrick, on Armageddon to assist in the founding of the 4th Armageddon Steel Legion Regiment, recognises in Ghazghkull a cunning and deadly foe. Ignoring Yarrick’s warnings, Herman von Strab, the planet’s foolish overlord, banishes the Commissar to Hades Hive — far from the seat of the planetary government. The uncontrollable Ork assault sweeps von Strab’s forces aside and only upon reaching Hades Hive do the surging tides falter before Yarrick’s well-ordered defences. The momentum of the Ork onslaught bleeds away during the ensuing battle, Ghazghkull being out-smarted at every turn by the shrewd Yarrick. Though Hades Hive eventually falls to the Ork invasion, and Yarrick is grievously wounded by Ghazghkull himself, the Commissar’s stoic defence succeeds in delaying the Orks long enough for Imperial reinforcements to arrive. Spearheaded by three Space MarineChapters led by the Blood Angels, resurgent Imperial forces drive the Greenskins from Armageddon, forcing Ghazghkull to flee the world. Clinging to life, Yarrick is one of the few survivors found in Hades Hive and is lauded as the Saviour of Armageddon.
- 976.M41 The Ryza Escalation – A second, even larger Ork invasion smashes into the western sector of Segmentum Ultima. The resurgent WAAAGH! Grax is denied from taking key Forge Worlds by the staunch efforts of Imperial Guard regiments from more than twenty worlds.
- 992.M41 Creed’s Triumph – Aerldari forces attack Cadian holdings on Aurent. Ursarkar E. Creed implements a complex web of contingency plans and sealed, time-delayed orders coupled with psychic obfuscation provided by an entire coven of Primaris Psykers. Creed’s tactical genius overcomes even the vaunted Aeldari powers of prescience, securing an overwhelming victory by the Cadian Shock Troops at the very gates of Aurent’s Hive Primus.
- 996.M41 The Tundra Wolves Unleashed
- 997.M41 The Devourer Rises – The twin tendrils of Hive Fleet Leviathan strike at the underbelly of the Imperium. Billions of Imperial Guardsmen are conscripted and deployed to face this new threat. Departmento Munitorum tithe-takers report a worrying number of worlds unable to fulfil their demands for manpower, leading several dozen Planetary Governors to face summary execution
- 998.M41 The Third War for Armageddon – On the day of the Feast of the Emperor’s Ascension, fifty-seven standard years to the day after his first invasion of the planet, Ghazghkull Thraka returns to Armageddon. Ghazghkull opens the war by completely obliterating Hades Hive from orbit, a clear challenge to Commissar Yarrick. The “Old Man” returns to oppose the Ork Warlord, this time taking command of the entire world’s armed forces. The Baneblade super-heavy tank Fortress of Arrogance is salvaged from the ruined world of Golgotha, and with it Yarrick leads the fight against the Orks. Though billions lose their lives, Yarrick stops Ghazghkull’s hordes from overwhelming Armageddon’s major hive cities and the conflict degenerates into a gruelling war of attrition. Ghazghkull himself is repulsed from the world and Yarrick pursues his nemesis alongside the Astartes of the Black Templars, determined to make the Warlord pay for the death and destruction visited twice upon Armageddon.
- 452.999.M41 The Fellguard Incident – The Fortress World of Kelthorn turns to Chaos, and dozens of Imperial Guard regiments are sent to quell the insurrection. The Cadian 39th Regiment assaults the planet’s capital city, Fellguard, but are repulsed when daemons rise from the bloody mire to slaughter Guardsman and Chaos Cultist alike. Only when the Great Unclean One at their head is slain by Castellan Blakov’s heroism does the daemonic tide recede.
- 757.999.M41 War Zone Damocles – Though the Imperium recovers numerous T’au-held worlds during the Zeist Campaign, these victories prove to be a distraction allowing Tau forces to overrun the defenders of the Hive World Agrellan. Unable to contend with previously unseen Tau Battlesuits of huge size and power, Agrellan’s defence forces are driven from their world in short order. The planet’s location as a gateway world to neighbouring star systems renders this loss strategically disastrous. Segmentum Command escalate operations in War Zone Damocles, centred on Agrellan itself . Waves of reinforcements begin a desperate rearguard action to slow the T’au advance. Meanwhile, a mighty armada of Imperial warships departs for Agrellan, bearing over one thousand regiments of Cadian, Catachan, Elysian, Tallarn and Cthonol Guardsmen, several full Battle Companies of Dark Hunters and Exsanguinators Space Marines, and the Titans of Legio Absolutium. The hammer of Imperial retribution bears inexorably down upon the attacking T’au, its wielders determined to crush the upstart xenos once and for all.
- 992.999.M41 Night of a Thousand Rebellions – Countless rebellions erupt simultaneously across the breadth of Segmentum Pacificus. Despite the brave efforts of the Imperial Guard garrisons, even the supposedly secure strongholds of Enceladus, Darkhold and Minisotira are overrun. Panic spreads as Imperial contact is lost with large swathes of the Segmentum.

M41, The 13th Black Crusade

In 999.M41 Abaddon the Despoiler launches his 13th Black Crusade, the most powerful and destructive of his campaigns to sunder the Imperium. Once again, Cadia is his primary target, but more than the fate of this one planet is at stake.

- 795.999.M41 The Dead Arise – In the sectors bordering the Cadian System, diseased Space Hulks burst from the Warp and drift toward core Imperial worlds. Though many are destroyed, some reach their destinations and the hideous Zombie Plague takes hold. Planetary Defence Forces are overrun as the dead vomit forth from heaving plague pits to consume the living. Apocalyptic religious cults arise, proclaiming the End of Days.
- 890.999.M41 The Storm Gathers – As madness and death spreads through the Cadian Gate, this outpouring of horror and zealotry echoes in the Immaterium. Warp Storm Baphomael expands rapidly into the Cadian System, bringing with it visions of burning worlds overrun by cackling daemonic hosts. The mysterious Cadian Pylons begin to resonate at an amplitude similar to that of a Gellar Field, and are found to be developing alarming hairline cracks. Outlying worlds including Dentor, Sarlax and Amistel are left blackened husks by mysterious raiders. On Lelithar, a demagogue of terrifying power leads the faithful into heresy. Across the Cadian System, Planetary Defence Forces and Cadian Shock Trooper garrisons alike desperately attempt to quell the spreading rebellions.
- 975.999.M41 The Battle of Tyrok Fields – Increasingly concerned by the havoc spreading through neighbouring star systems, Cadian High Command orders a general muster on Cadia. Millions of Imperial Guardsmen are already assembled outside the city of Kasr Tyrok when the previously trustworthy Volscani Cataphracts spring a suicidal trap. Confusion reigns as the Traitors open fire upon their former comrades, slaughtering hundreds before any response can be coordinated. The intent of the Volscani’s treason is revealed when they swarm aboard the Leviathan command vehicle of the Governor Primus, “Fortress Imperium.” Though they fight hard, Cadian High Command are wiped out in a single stroke. At the darkest moment, Ursarkar E. Creed rallies the reeling Cadian regiments and orders the counterattack. Accompanied as always by his trusted second, Jarran Kell, Creed orders the 8th Cadian Regiment to link up with the 7th Cadian Regiment and advance towards the captured Leviathan. Kell is wounded when he intercepts a las-round intended for Creed but refuses medical attention and continues onwards. In an impressive feat of military coordination, Creed utilises artillery cover to scatter the Traitors and bring down the Fortress Imperium ‘s Void Shields mere moments before his charge crashes home. The Leviathan is soon recaptured, the colours of the Cadian 8th flying proudly from its command deck. Shortly after, Ursarkar Creed is appointed Lord Castellan of Cadia and the Cadian 8th is renamed “The Lord Castellan’s Own” in his honour.
- 976.999.M41 Bracing the Gate – Now convinced that an attack by the Forces of Chaos on an unprecedented scale will soon fall upon the Cadian Gate, Ursarkar E. Creed takes what steps he can to prepare the defences. Though heavy with portents of doom, the Emperor’s Tarot is consulted time and again in the hope of gleaning insight into the movements of the foe. New fortifications are raised across Cadia and her surrounding worlds. Astropathic choirs begin broadcasting a deafening call for aid. Though it incinerates the minds of countless psykers, Creed orders that Cadia’s distress call must ring ceaselessly through the Warp. The Munitorum respond with uncharacteristic speed, mobilising vast forces, but with aid solar weeks away at best the defenders of the Cadian Gate must stand alone.
- 994.999.M41 First Blood – Cadian High Command sends a force of Tempestus Scions out to the very edge of the Eye of Terror in an attempt to gauge where the first blow will fall. Making planetfall upon the benighted world of Urthwart, the expeditionary force finds no sign of life until it breaches the primary planetary shelters. As the vault doors swing open, a billion moaning undead Plague Zombies spill from the darkness. Meanwhile, in orbit, a vast Traitor armada thunders from the Empyrean, its vanguard elements completely annihilating the expedition’s transports in an inescapable storm of plasma-torpedoes.
- 995.999.M41 The Great Eye Opens – Abaddon the Despoiler’s armada blots out the stars with its sheer volume; mutants and Heretics pour from the Eye of Terror in numbers beyond count. Despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, Imperial Navy forces under Admiral Quarren do what they can to stem the tide. Quarren’s fleet fights with nobility and distinction, but the heavy toll they exact upon the foe is as drops in the ocean. Forced to disengage, the survivors limp back to Cadia as harbingers of the oncoming storm. Abaddon’s forces arrive just hours after Quarren’s, the sheer fury of their attack setting the Warp aboil. The skies of Cadia fill with fire as twisted landing craft descend like clouds of flies, and invaders in their millions spill onto the surface. Yet a sliver of hope remains, for Cadia’s defenders know that Space Marines, Titans, and unnumbered regiments of Imperial Guardsmen are rushing to their aid. Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed defends his world with a strategic brilliance not witnessed since the days of Macharius, and rumours begin to spread that the Lord Castellan is preparing some as-yet unguessed masterstroke. Whatever the truth, all know that they must fight to the bitter end with no thought for themselves. If the Cadian Gate should fall, then the unbridled fury of the Warp will spill forth into the Imperium, sweeping all of Mankind away in a tide of horror and madness.
- 995.999.M41 The Fall of Cadia – The full force of Abaddon’s 13th Black Crusade descends upon Cadia. As the servants of Chaos spew from the Eye of Terror, the armies of the Imperium rush to defend the Fortress World. Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed leads the defenders’ stand from Kasr Kraf, where millions of Guardsmen die holding back the onslaught of daemons, Chaos Cultists and Heretic Astartes. Morale ebbs at the sight of the atrocities being visited upon the Guardsmen caught outside the walls, but is kept from breaking altogether by Creed’s defiant dictum, “Cadia Stands!” When the Daemon Prince Urkanthos and the Hounds of Abaddon launch an assault on the heart of Kasr Kraf, what little hope remains seems utterly lost — but into the fires of damnation flies Saint Celestine, the hallowed warriors of the Adepta Sororitas following her holy path. Fighting alongside the Cadian defenders, they drive the attackers from the walls. The dead are burned during the brief respite, the Sisters of the Order of Our Martyred Lady providing ministrations where they can. Having battled their way through the blockade, Adeptus Astartes and Adeptus Mechanicus reinforcements also manage to make planetfall. Among their number is Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl, who uses the geometric pylons scattered across Cadia to hold back the Warp. As the Despoiler’s hordes set about their butchery, Creed is nearly slain by Abaddon himself, but is saved by the last heroic sacrifice of the ever-faithful Colour Sergeant Jarran Kell. Then, with agonising finality, the last sliver of hope is shredded — Abaddon sends the shattered remains of his orbiting Blackstone Fortress, the Will of Eternity, plummeting into Cadia, sundering the Necron-built pylon network that holds back the Immaterium. The number of Imperial soldiers consumed in the cataclysm is unknown, and countless more are slaughtered by the daemons that pour from the Warp tears opening on the planet’s surface. Of nearly a billion souls who had stood to defend Cadia, scarcely three million are evacuated. Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed is not among them.

M41-M42, The Era Indomitus

Note: All dates from this point forward are provisional due to errors in the Imperial Calendar, meaning these events could actually have occurred at any time from the early 41st Millennium to the early 42nd Millennium.

- ca. 999.M41 The Birth of the Great Rift and the Imperium Nihilus – The galaxy is torn asunder by a massive wall of Warp Storms. Tidal waves of unnatural energy rush outwards from the maelstrom, and with a horrific surge the planets of the Imperium are cut off from the guiding light of the Astronomican. For the Astra Militarum soldiers fighting in innumerable war zones, any hope of receiving reinforcement is lost, whilst whole regiments in transit are flung wildly off course or are swallowed outright by the roiling Warp. Even when the Astronomican finally blinks back into existence, it cannot pierce the Cicatrix Maledictum — the Great Rift that stretches from the Eye of Terror in the galactic west to the Scourge Stars in the east. Those planets and regiments in the Imperium Nihilus are left to fend for themselves, or be forever consumed by the darkness of this newborn Noctis Aeterna.
- Unknown Date.M42 The Warping of Armageddon – The bloody quagmire on Armageddon continues, despite both Ork and Imperial armies being cut off from reinforcements. Whipped up by the maelstrom of the Great Rift, hellstorms ravage the planet’s surface, and from them emerge Tzeentchian and Khornate hordes. Titanic Greater Daemons duel for supremacy even as they slaughter the Ork and Imperial armies, and fully half the planet is transformed into a nightmarish landscape resembling a Daemon World. Astra Militarum regiments form uneasy and temporary alliances with the Greenskin invaders to fight the daemonic threat. While the Armageddon Steel Legion and Planetary Defence Forces hold out against hope to secure Armageddon’s hives, the Salamanders, along with nine other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, succeed in halting the ritual that would bring Angron, the Primarch of the World Eaters, back to the planet that had defied him in ages past.
- Unknown Date.M42 False Hope – Adrift amongst the stars of the Imperium Nihilus, a fleet-bound Astra Militarum army group believes it has located the Astronomican. They follow the telepathic signal through the Immaterium, straight into the clutches of a massed Alpha Legion ambush.
- Unknown Date.M42 Slash and Burn – A battle group en route to war zone Ultramar during the Plague Wars descend to quell the massive Genestealer Cult uprising on Gretienne’s Garden. So rife with mutants are the forests of the verdant world that the Imperial soldiers set the planet’s entire western continent ablaze. After solar months of intense battles, the Genestealer Cults withdraw into the densest woods, and the offensive devolves into a series of seek and destroy missions. The majority of the battle group is called away by order of the Ordo Xenos, leaving only a handful of Catachan armoured regiments and super-heavy vehicles. The departure is fortuitously timed, for days later the system is cut off from all communication — shrouded by the Warp shadow emanating from a fast-approaching Hive Fleet Jormungandr splinter fleet. Undeterred, and with abominations still to kill, the remaining Baneblades blast and bulldoze their way through the lingering hybrids, while Hellhound companies incinerate any living thing that crosses their path. The forest world and every mutant on it is reduced to ash by the time the Tyranid Hive Fleet arrives. The armoured Catachans hold out for as long as they can before being devoured by the overwhelming enemy. Finding the once-lush planet stripped of its vital bio-mass, the Jormungandr splinter fleet quickly sets off towards other Imperial worlds.
- Unknown Date.M42 Call of the Forge – A fragmented message reaches the Astropathic choirs on Vostroya. Though it appears to have been sent by the Adeptus Mechanicus, calling for aid on Canoptis II, the nature of the threat facing the Tech-priests is unclear. Nevertheless, the Vostroyan Firstborn 22nd “Riders of Dawn,” the 99th “Only Sons” and the 331st “True Shots” set out to answer the call, hoping that their Navigators will be able to traverse the now lightless stars.
- Unknown Date.M42 Wages of War – The Tallarn Desert Raiders, fighting alongside Grey Knights of the Blades of Victory Brotherhood, conduct a series of feinting attacks against the Nurgle daemons spawned in the wake of Outbreak Arcanum, when the spores of the sentient plague Eater of Lives were unleashed from the drifting Space Hulk Mother of Miseries. Skirmishes flit across barren moons and Dead Worlds, the Grey Knights instructing the Desert Raiders to never close on their enemy or leave their dead behind. In time, the rotting hordes waste away. The Grey Knights carve the names of the Tallarn commanders into their armour to honour their service, then put every Guardsman and officer to death. – Unknown Date.M42 Entry to Valhalla – Amidst the darkness of the Imperium Nihilus, fleeing vessels carry word of a Greenskin fleet surging towards Valhalla. Planning to intercept the Orks on the nearby Hive World of Skovi, the Valhallan Ice Warriors make a series of short range Warp jumps. Upon arrival they learn that the Skovian armouries are severely depleted, having expended their munitions reserves fighting off several Ork waves already. Desperate calls for resupply had been sent, but they were either never received or the Imperial Navy’s resupply ships had been lost in the Warp. As the main body of the Ork fleet arrives in orbit, the well-equipped Ice Warriors assume command of Skovi’s defence, requisitioning what few supplies remain. The Skovians are given knives, hatchets, spears and rocks before being ordered to march alongside the Valhallan infantry towards the Greenskin invaders. The Guardsmen in the vanguard are mercilessly butchered by the first Ork charge, but the Ice Warriors hold their ground. From the rear of the Imperial formation, the 888th Valhallan “Frostburners” Artillery Regiment begins to shell the front lines. Ordnance blasts send chunks of human and Ork flesh raining across the battlefield, and the creeping barrages continue to cut further and further into the sea of Greenskins. By nightfall on the fourth solar day only a handful of Orks remain. Despite devastating losses and a lack of proper weaponry, the Skovians join the Ice Warriors in hunting them down.
- Unknown Date.M42 Cadia Stands! – Cadian Shock Troops regiments scattered across war zones throughout the Imperium vow to avenge those who perished when their homeworld fell to the Despoiler. The skill and discipline instilled in each Cadian on their mother planet is imparted to Planetary Defence Forces and newly founded Militarum Regimentos whom they fight alongside, and the last Lord Castellan’s mantra, “Cadia Stands!” is not forgotten.