Unthinkable War
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The Unthinkable War began in M42, when the Imperium discovered that a Pauper Prince Genestealer Cult, was active beneath the Imperial Palace.[1]
History
It was only by chance that the Genestealer Cult was discovered on Terra. An underhive stimm-deal gone sour triggered a violent gang war between rival groups in the depths of the Arcology Veracitum Neglis in Terra's northern polar region. When local Arbites forces responded, their quarry retreated into the long-abandoned mag-transit network dug into its foundations. However both sides were shocked when provoked Genestealer Cultists poured from the subterranean holds, slaughtering the trespassers. A single Arbitrator squad managed to escape aboard a Repressor and stay alive long enough to deliver word of their plight before being surrounded and slaughtered. The transmission eventually found its way to the Inquisition's Ordo Xenos, which under Lord Inquisitor Ichabael Vasmire was moving before even the Arbites Judges had time to assess the threat and respond.[1]
Coordinated by Lord Inquisitor Vasmire, regiments of Inquisitorial Stormtroopers moved into action via Valkyries alongside Enforcers and the Convent Prioris of the Sisters of Battle. Most notable however, Vasmire was notified of coming aid by the Adeptus Custodes under Blade Champion Aristothes Carvellan. Carvellan informed Vasmire that the Custodes would strike for the Genestealer Patriarch at the heart of the infestation. Even the Officio Assassinorum considered sending aid. In preparation for the hunt the Wyvern's Gate Spaceport was closed, sending billions of pilgrims, traders, and workers into holding patterns that might trap them for years to come. Meanwhile, the Cult of the Pauper Princes prepared for the attack they knew was coming. Their uprising was still a long ways away, and their infiltration of Terra had barely begun. Worse still for Patriarch Begetor, some nebulous psychic force was working against its will and dulling its abilities. However the Pauper Princes were not alone in this, the Wyrms of the Ur-Tendril and The Shadowed were also present on the Throneworld.[1]
Imperial hunting parties soon penetrated deep into the Pauper Princes tunnels and sealed them off with controlled explosions, cutting off the Patriarch's escape as layers of barricades, stab-lights, and infantry locked into place about the arcologies day by day. One-by-one the outer arcologies fell, their cells being annihilated or scattered. Soon enough only Arcology Veracitum Neglis - the lair of the patriarch himself - remained unconquered. It was then that the Inquisition-led forces halted their advance, and in doing so offered the Patriarch a chance to escape. However little did the Genestealer Cultists known that Blade Champion Carvellan had finally arrived to seek out its quarry. With him were the Allarus Custodes of Octavrus Borlean, Vexilor Tassimon Avarnius, and a band of the Custodian Guard under Jauh Ghoras. Accompany the Custodes were a force of Sisters of Silence under Sister Superior Helencia Thetus.[1]
As Carvellan and his warriors moved throughout the seemingly abandoned tunnels, they knew that the enemy was in fact all around them. Ignoring the lowest Cultist scum and only focusing on their target, they advanced deeper and deeper towards the lair of the Patriarch himself. As the Imperials advanced, Patriarch Begetor ordered Magus Thrieve and Primus Ghorikan to meet the foes. The two led waves of Neophyte Cultists against the Talons of the Emperor.[[[1] At the same time, the Reductus Saboteur Mersea Thrayk was undertaking her own mission and waited in ambush. As the Talons decimated wave of the Cultists, they also took casualties due to the tight spaces of the battle. As losses mounted, Carvellan did not hesitate and rushed towards the shadowed archway that was surely the Patriarch's lair, the Allarus Custodians and Witchseekers behind him. It was then that they fell into the ambush of Mersea Thrayk, who detonated her explosive charges and created a devastating avalanche.[1]
Sources
- 1: Shadow Throne Rulebook, pgs. 2-8
- 2: Warhammer Community: Fight For the Fate of Terra with the Two Incredibly Powerful New Heroes in Shadow Throne (Posted on 01/11/2021) (Last accessed on 1 November 2021)
- 3: Warhammer Community: Is a Genestealer Cult on Terra the Death Knell of the Imperium? (Posted on 16/11/2021) (Last accessed on 16 November 2021)
