Golgenna Angevin
Praetor Golgenna Angevin, was a powerful noble from the Terran Court raised to the rank of Lord Militant and granted a writ from the High Lords to prosecute a crusade to liberate and dominate the area of space designated as the Calyx Expanse. The Angevin Crusade began well and great strides were made into forging what would become the Calixis Sector.
Things began to falter when the Crusade's third great push began with one group of the crusade's forces under the command of High Admiral Vaakkon, opening a second front. Invading from the Calyx Expanse's Coreward, with the goal of linking up with Angevin's own forces who advanced from Golgenna Reach (which bears his name) to meet them. This phase of the campaign proved disastrous, as worsening warp conditions and a series of calamities and reversals beset the conflict, and when the fleets finally met at Orendal the Imperial losses of the last four years nearly equalled that of the first two decades of the Crusade.[1]
Angevin's final command as Lord Militant was to have the world of Orendal be transformed into a shrine to honour the fallen dead. He soon retreated, some said a man broken in will and purpose, to the interior of Golgenna Reach, giving command of his armies to his senior generals and admirals. With no clear line of authority, factionalism and bitter rivalries started to appear in their ranks and the crusade ground to a halt. It was only when General Drusus rallied much of the Crusade's forces to his own banner that those forces pulled themselves together and began moving once more.[1]
Under Drusus's command the Crusade achieved great success in bringing the Calyx Expanse into the Imperium, when news of Angevin's sudden death reached the Crusade. The official judgement was natural causes, with rumours accounting his decline in health to advanced old age and a surfeit of fine living; darker stories persist of the Officio Assassinorum's hand in matters as punishment for his latter failings.
Drusus was named Lord Militant by wide acclaim in Angevin's stead (with both Departmento Munitorium and Inquisition backing) and as soon as a state period of mourning for the late Angevin was over, the Crusade immediately set to re-forging the region's military forces for a final counter-attack into the regions that still resisted the Crusade.[1]
Sources
- 1: Dark Heresy Timeline, pgs. 2-3
