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Invasion of Konor

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Invasion of Konor
KonorSystem.png
The Konor System
Conflict Plague Wars
Date ~012.M42[2]
Location Ultramar
Outcome Imperial Victory
-Konor System saved
Combatants
Imperium Chaos
Commanders
Roboute Guilliman
Marneus Calgar
Mortarion
Typhus
Ku'Gath
Strength
Ultramarines Chapter
Ultramarine Successor Chapters
Imperial Guard
Grey Knights
Ultramar Auxilia
Konor Defense Fleet
Death Guard Traitor Legion
Plague Fleet
Nurgle Warbands
Daemonic Legions
Plague Zombies
Casualties
Heavy Heavy

During the Plague Wars, a sector-wide invasion of Ultramar by Mortarion and the Death Guard, the system of Konor would come to play a crucial role in the later stages of the war. Their initial thrust into the Ultramarines' stellar domain stalled by the arrival of Roboute Guilliman and his Primaris reinforcements, the commanders of the Nurglite invasion sought to turn the war back into their favor by smashing a path through the Imperial battle line to Macragge, home world of the Ultramarines.[1]

Background

In order to regain the initiative that had been lost by the sudden counterattack of the Ultramarines led by Guilliman himself, the Death Guard set their sights upon the Konor System. Home to the industrial powerhouse that was the forge world of Konor, it fed the Imperial war machine with vital shipments of munitions and machinery. Populous and prosperous, with a large and well-equipped defence force, the Konor System embodied the glorious dream of Ultramar. More importantly, it also guarded one of the few stable warp transit routes to the Macragge System.[1]

Had they succeeded the greatest Imperial stronghold in the sector would be vulnerable with Guilliman and his forces surrounded and cut-off from the rest of Ultramar, unable to conduct a system-wide counterattack or properly reinforce the many worlds that were under siege.[1]

Battle for the Core

By the time Imperial reinforcements arrived in the Konor System, the forces of chaos had already pushed deep into the core worlds of the Konor system. With little time to spare, the Imperials focused their efforts in breaking the siege of Astaramis, the most heavily populated world in the system. Despite ferocious fighting in the teeming hive-cities of the planet, the defenders of Ultramar would ultimately triumph. Laden with fresh conscripts from the populous world, the Imperials then sought to relieve the worlds of Konor and Nethamus.[1]

On Konor, the war became a nightmarish hellscape of industrial devastation, a maze of shattered manufactorums and debris-strewn labour-halls the battleground for the clash between two armies bent on taking the Forge World's industrial capability for itself. With freshly bolstered detachments of well-armed Astra Militarum veterans at their side, the loyalist counter-attack overwhelmed the embattled Chaos forces, retaking the planet and putting the significant production capability of the planet's forges back to work within hours of the battle's end.[1]

The liberation of Nethamus, the breadbasket of the Konor System came next. As the Imperial Fleet burned away much of the Nurglite corruption of the planet's continent-wide crop fields before the taint could spread, large convoys of giant factory-crawlers held off wave after wave of armored assault by the forces of chaos, desperate to allow their precious cargo to be lifted up to the waiting Imperial bulk transports in space. With the constant stream of Imperial reinforcements however, not only were the convoys saved but the planet eventually scoured of the Nurglites. Nethamus, though riven by firestorms and choked by roiling clouds of smoke, still clung to life.[1]

Chaos Resurgent

As the Imperial offensive pushed the forces of chaos back into the outer rim of the system, they faced a number of setbacks. On Vanitor, the astropathic relay for the system, Sorcerors in the service of the invaders had turned the jungle planet into a psychic beacon for the horrors of the warp, the world vomiting out legions of Demonic Hordes with every passing hour. Despite the deployment of the Grey Knights who led the Imperial counter-invasion, the effort to retake the world ultimately failed.[1]

Drenthal would also fall into the hands of the invaders. The ocean world, used as a base for the Aeronautica Imperialis as well as a docking yard for the Konor Defence Fleet, came under sustained attack from a vast Chaos armada that filled its skies with hordes of Heldrakes and Plague Drones. Despite the best efforts of Imperial airpower, the loyalists were driven back and the planet remained in the hands of the Nurglites, at least for the duration of the campaign.[1]

Salvation of Konor

Despite their recent losses, the Imperials would have little respite. The Death World of Loebos, once an isolated planet on the farthest reaches of the system, was about to barell through the system like a plague comet, trailing corruption and death in its wake, infecting world after world with Nurgle’s pestilential gifts. This was Mortarion’s final gambit for the conquest of Konor – a world weaponised, powered by continent-sized engines and the fell power of the warp.[1]

The loyalists threw all of their remaining forces at the planet in a near-suicidal attempt to destroy it before it befouled the entirety of the Konor System and allowed Mortarion to accomplish his ultimate goal of forcing a breakthrough to the beating heart of Ultramar. The Imperial Navy launched every transport ship, cargo hulk and battle cruiser available, each vessel packed with soldiers and vehicles. Despite grievous fleet losses, the bulk of the Imperial attack was able to make landfall and commence their attack on the Death Guard strongholds as well as the massive warp engines that powered the planet.[1]

The massed guns and heavy armor of the Imperial Guard and Adeptus Astartes slowly reduced the Death Guard fortresses to ruins while strike teams of elite warriors breached the vast engines propelling the planet through the void. These specialist fighters fought their way deep into the fusion core of the great engine array, where they manually detonated a cyclonic warhead causing an apocalyptic explosion that ruptured the planetary core.[1]

The remnants of the Imperial forces fell back to their evacuation points, desperate to make it back to their void craft and escape the dying world. The detonation of the planet sent huge chunks of its rock and molten core rocketing through space, shredding Imperial and Chaos vessels alike. Fortunately no neighbouring world was touched by the devastation. With the death of Loebos, the Konor System had finally been saved.[1]

See also

Sources