Karkason Crusade
The Karkason Crusade was launched to reclaim the valuable Mining World Karkason, whose Planetary Governor, Fulgor Sagramoso, had seceded from the Imperium.[1a]
Contents
Fulgor's Rebellion
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The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: | Space Marine (Novel) |
The rebellion began, when Fulgor Sagramoso was declared the latest of the ruling Sagramoso Clan's members to become Karkason's Planetary Governor. While the Governorship ruled over the entire System, whose only other world of note[1a] was Antro[1e] , Karkason itself was the most important world there to the Imperium. This was because the volcanic Mining World was rich in transuranic elements, such as Psycurium and Power Crystals which were used in Space Marine weaponry and Power Armor. The Sagramoso Clan had been Karkason's hereditary rulers for thousands of years and had served faithfully, but this changed when Fulgor was declared the world's ruler. His first act as Planetary Governor, was to declare himself to be an independent sovereign ruler and a god. He would now have control of his volcanic Homeworld's natural resources and would determine who they were sold to. While Fulgor was open to having a trade pact with the Imperium it would on his terms, a treaty of one god with another.[1a]
Then to prove his divinity to Karkason's people, Fulgor had his Planetary Defense Force's Praetorians butcher all of the world's Imperial Cult Preachers. He also had Karason's Pontifex winched down into a volcano. From then on, the population would worship him as a god and not the Emperor. Fulgor also had the world's Administratum officials killed, ensuring the Imperium was unaware of his acts. This led him to have full control of Karkason and it took the Imperium 10 years to discover the world had seceded. 5 years later, it was discovered that Fulgor was now trying to seduce several Governors, mainly from neighboring agricultural Systems, to turn upon the Imperium. He urged them to kill their Preachers and swear fealty to him and not the distant Emperor.[1a]
The Crusade Begins
It was finally 20 years after Fulgor's succession, that the Imperium finally began to plan a Crusade to reclaim Karkason. It would be composed of over 700 Imperial Fists, several Astra Militarum Regiments and numerous Imperial Navy warships. Led by the Imperial Fists' Chapter Master, Vladimir Pugh, the Crusade's objective was to secure Karkason, kill Fulgor and to destroy the Sagramoso Clan. Once every single member of the Clan was killed, then a new commanding dynasty would rule Karkason. Fulgor's mini-empire had to be crushed, as its existence was anathema to the Imperium.[1a]
However, reclaiming Karkason would not be an easy endeavor. Because of its volcanic nature, the capital Sagramoso City contain the world's population and was heavily defended. This included Orbital laser platforms, as well as skyward laser batteries placed within the city. The capital was also constructed of pure Vitrodur, which would diffuse any orbital barrages of laser or plasma weaponry. While bombs and thermonukes could be used, this would leave Sagramoso City largely destroyed and would kill many of its population. As the Imperium wanted Karakason's resources to be quickly sent to it, these weapons were not considered to be used. This left the Crusade no option but to land their forces under fire and have them seize control of the capital. They would be faced, not only with Karkason's harsh environment and Fulgor's loyal PDF, but Sagramoso City could rearrange itself. This would allow, the Crusade's forces to be easily separated or move into ambush zones set up by the capital's defenders. Facing these obstacles, Chapter master Pugh strategy to win, would begin with the destruction of Karkason's Orbital laser platforms. As that occurred, the Imperial Navy's warships would be used as bait for Sagramoso City's laser batteries. Though it would come at a great cost, this would allow the Imperial Fists and Astra Militarum to be safely delivered to the world's surface. While the Regiments would deal with Fulgor's PDF, Pugh would lead the Imperial Fists directly into the capital and kill the traitorous Planetary Governor. In order to soften up Sagramoso City's defenses, several squadrons of Space Marines and Terror Scouts, would be deployed close to the capital. While the Space Marines would remain outside, the 4 Terror Scout squadrons were to infiltrate Sagramoso City. Once inside, they were tasked with doing as much damage as possible, which included killing any civilians they came across. In doing so, it was hoped that with enough mayhem done, the capital's defenders would be distracted enough to allow Pugh's main force to easily kill Fulgor.[1a]
Fulgor's Battle Titans
One such squadron was the Wolverine Squad, led by the veteran Scout Sergeant Zed Juron, who played a key role in the invasion. Also composed of the Scouts Yeremi Valence, Biff Tundrish, Lexandro d'Arquebus and Omar Akbar, the Squad was able to kill many of the capital's civilians. The only thing they had to contend with, were enemy soldiers they called Shuriken Skaters, due to their ability to skate across the capital's surface and that they wielded Shurikens. However it was while they were resting in an abandoned vault, that the Squad learned of a dangerous threat within the capital. This occurred after Biff heard a noise in the vault and led the others to its source. There, they found the mutilated Blood Drinkers Lieutenant Kroff Tezla, whose limbless body had been imprisoned within a cauldron. His mouth had been sewn close, while his eyes had been wired open, so that Tezla would always see the giant bust of Fulgor Sagramoso's head in front of him. After Juron cut the wires holding his mouth closed, Tezla explained that he had been part of a squadron that had arrived at Karkason. They had come to ask Fulgor for aid, when their heavily damaged exploration ship arrived in the System, after being attacked by Xenos. However the Blood Drinkers squadron had been unaware that the Planetary Governor had seceded from the Imperium. They were then tricked into entering an arena, where Fulgor had the squadron attacked by a Battle Titan. The Titan easily killed 9 members of the squadron, but grabbed hold of Tezla and offered him to Fulgor. The Planetary Governor, then ordered his soldiers to cut off all of Tezla's limbs, remove his three service studs and ensure he could no longer urinate. When they were done with their butchery, Tezla was placed in a cauldron and moved to where the Wolverine Squad had found him.[1b]
News of one Battle Titan was bad enough to the Scouts, but Tezla shocked them by stating there were in fact seven Titans on Karkason. They did not know how Fulgor could have obtained the Titans, as the Mining World was not equipped to resupply or repair the massive war machines. Composed of 6 Warlord-class Battle Titans, and 1 Emperor Titan, the Scouts knew such a force would massacre Chapter Master Pugh's Imperial Fists, if they were ambushed by the Battle Titans. And even if the Imperial Fists were somehow victorious, it would be at a heavy price. They knew Pugh had to be informed of this threat, but Juron's only communicator had been destroyed in battle with Shuriken Skaters. With time running out, the squad decided they would try to invade one of the Titans, that were in the arena Tezla told them of. If they were able to, the squad would then consume the brains of the Titan's crew, to learn how to operate it. Once that was done, they would then attack the other Titans, though, it likely meant they would die doing so. They hoped that their efforts would at least buy Pugh's forces sometime to ready themselves to fight the Titans. Before they left, Sergeant Juron asked Tezla if he wanted to be killed, in case the Lieutenant was found by Fulgor's soldiers. After thinking about it, Tezla declined the offer. The Lieutenant hoped, that when the Crusade was victorious, he could return to the Blood Drinkers and be of some use to his Chapter.[1b]
Preventing an Ambush
After leaving Tezla behind, the squad disguised themselves and made their way to the arena. On the journey, they unfortunately never came across another of the Terror Scout squadrons, who they could ask to inform Pugh of the Battle Titans. Juron had informed his squad, though, that even if they had, the Wolverines would still try to capture a Titan. Besides that missed opportunity, the squad's plan was a success and they were able to infiltrate the Emperor Titan. They then killed its crews and devoured their brains. The squad was then not only able to learn to operate the Emperor Titan, but also a little about the Battle Titans themselves. From what the squad could gather, the Titans were not from the Imperium and their crews called themselves Lord Sagramoso's Claws and the Talons of the New God. They had allied themselves with Fulgor in order to help him build his own empire amongst the stars. Juron and his scouts did not have long to contemplate this, though, as the rest of the Battle Titans began to move. The squad knew the Battle Titans were being sent to massacre Chapter Master Pugh and his forces, so they put the Emperor Titan in motion and followed in the other Titans' wake. Juron told them they had to wait for the right moment to strike[1c], which occurred as Pugh's Imperial Fists could be seen moving towards the Titans' position. Before the Titans could fire, though, Sergeant Juron told his squad to attack them with the Emperor Titan's weapons. With the element of surprise on their side, the squad was able to destroy one Titan and allowed Pugh's forces to get close enough to attack the others. Between the Imperial Fists and the Emperor Titan, all six of the Warlord Titans were destroyed. The Emperor Titan, however, suffered such severe damage, that it was close to exploding and the squad used its evacuation switches to jettison away from it. The scout Omar Akbar was not able to escape, though, as the guidance unit for his evacuation switch failed and he died when the Emperor Titan exploded.[1d]
Victory and Aftermath
With Fulgor's Titans destroyed, his surviving forces were not able to stop the Imperial Fists' advance. They soon destroyed his palace, but a ship emerged from the wreckage, likely carrying Fulgor, and attempted to escape. However it soon exploded in Karkason's orbit, after one of the Crusade's warships fired upon the ship[1d]. Afterwards, the Crusade purged Karkason of the Sagramoso Clan and of Fulgor's followers. All images of the traitor were destroyed and Sagramoso City was renamed Fidelis. Karkason became ruled by a new loyal Planetary Governor of the Capreolo Clan, who then started to supervise the export of Power Crystals and Psycurium to the Imperium once again. Perhaps more importantly, the population of Karkason began to worship the Emperor once again. The Imperial Fists held a fest to celebrate their victory and the Wolverine Squad were greatly honored, for their efforts during the battle. Everyone knew that had it not been for the squad's efforts, many of the Imperial Fists at the feast would have been killed by Fulgor's Battle Titans. This led to Yeremi Valence, Biff Tundrish and Lexandro d'Arquebus to be promoted to full Battle Brothers; an honor that was also given to the deceased Omar Akbar, as well.[1e]
The question of how Fulgor obtained his Battle Titans was never answered, though. After their defeat, numerous senior rebels and injured Moderati had killed themselves, in order to prevent the Crusade from learning this information.[1e]
Fulgor's Escape and the Crusade's Renewal
However weeks later, an Imperial ship in Karkason's System intercepted a message pertaining to Fulgor. It came from the Mining World and was sent to one of the Agri Worlds that Fulgor had seduced into joining his empire. It claimed that while Fulgor's ship had been destroyed, when it reached Karkason's orbit, the traitor had survived within a Life-capsule, that escaped the explosion. The capsule had then been propelled to Karkason's neighboring world Antro, where Fulgor had been given sanctuary by the Squat that lived there. Upon hearing this, the Imperial Fists declared that the Karkason Crusade was not complete and they soon began an invasion of Antro in order to kill Fulgor once and for all[1e]. When they arrived at Antro, the Imperial Fists found a harsh arid wasteland, that contained little worth attacking. The things of note were a small spaceport, used to export Antro's mineral wealth and several buildings. The Imperial Fists would capture them all and from the Squat prisoners they took, they learned that Fulgor Sagramoso was beneath the world's surface, where most of Antro's population dwelled. They explained that Fulgor had earned his sanctuary on Antro, by playing upon the Squats' passionate sense of independence and upon their religion of ancestor worship. He told them that he worshiped the ancestors of his Sagramoso Clan as well and that was why Fulgor had declared himself to be a god, so he could be as divine as his ancestors were. Fulgor then claimed it was this act of reverence that caused the Imperium to seek his destruction and that the same would happen to the ancestor worshiping Squats of Antro. Not only that, Fulgor warned, but the Imperium would also slaughter the Squats venerable Living Ancestors as well, as they deviated from the Imperial Creed. Fulgor claimed, that he and the Squats had much in common and that because of this, he would act as a bastion against the Imperium that would force the Squats to begin worshiping the Emperor, instead of their ancestors. The Squats of Antro quickly fell for Fulgor's lies and the Imperial Fists could not dissuade the prisoners of this, before they were executed. Afterwards, the Imperial Fists discovered that their warships' sensors could not pierce Antro's interior, and discover Fulgor's location. Because of this, it was decided that several recon squadrons of Space Marines would be sent underground in order to locate Fulgor. Before they departed, the Chaplain Lo Chang led the them in a prayer and told them to not underestimate the Squats. Though they were misguided, the Abhumans had to be defeated, lest they aid Fulgor in reclaiming his Homeworld Karkason for him.[1f]
Afterwards the squads traveled underground, where they discovered a subterranean labyrinth maze, that sprawled for hundreds of hundreds of kilometres laterally as well as for several vertical kilometres. It was filled with twisting tunnels, caverns and shafts that eluded any easy comprehension for the squadrons. The Squats had no such problem, however, and set numerous ambushes for the Imperial Fists, as well as using various traps they had built into the labyrinth. These included, deadfalls, pitfalls, camouflaged hatches that the Squats attacked from and weaponized mining Cyborg Ambulls, that the Abhumans rode to battle upon. The Squats also doused the Electroflambeaux that lined the tunnel walls, which caused the labyrinth to descend into darkness - unless a section the squads were in suddenly became bright right before the Squat attacked them. The Abhumans also used the ancient machinery built into the labyrinth, to suck out oxygen and replace it with caustic vapors. The tunnel walls could also be moved, which led the squadrons to believe the Squats had helped Fulgor create the moving walls within Karkason's capital Sagramoso City. While the squads Power Armor negated the lights and atmosphere traps, their bulky armor made traveling through some tunnels very difficult. Worse still, the squads found that their communications to other Imperial Fists, were laced with static. The squadron led by Sergeant Faust Stossen, which included Yeremi Valence, Biff Tundrish and Lexandro d'Arquebus, discovered their communication equipment stopped working, after they had descended deep into the labyrinth. This prevented the squadron from asking for aid, after they managed to pass through the labyrinth[1f], and were immediately overwhelmed and captured by the Squats. The squadron was then brought to the Abhumans' Stronghold meeting chamber, where they were shackled to separate granite slabs. Several high ranking members of Antro's Squat society was there, including their Lord, several Living Ancestors and the Stronghold's Warlord. Fulgor was also present, chanting in a strange language and surrounded by several of his surviving Shuriken Skaters. The squadron was shocked to see, though, that faces were appearing on Fulgor's skin and while this did not seem to bother most of the Squats, their Warlord shuddered when looking upon the traitor. one Living Ancestor[1g], named Rimbeldorp[1h], shared his disgust, though, Fulgor claimed the faces were signs that his ancestors were gathering within him. The traitor claimed that with their aid, he would be able to protect the Squats from the Imperium and would soon call upon the Abhumans' ancestors as well.[1g]
Fulgor's Corruption Revealed
In reality, Fulgor's vanity of declaring himself a living god, and his desire to be worshiped like one, had allowed the Chaos God Tzeentch to corrupt the former Planetary Governor. This allowed him to develop strange new powers, but Fulgor needed to offer sacrifices to his new patron in order to increase the strength he needed to repel the Imperial Fists. The captured squadron were to be offered to Tzeentch and after hearing Sergeant Faust Stossen muttering prayers, Fulgor decided to make him the first sacrifice. The traitor then used a Chainsword to bisect the struggling Sergeant, while the Squats and Faust's enraged squadron looked on. The sacrifice was accepted and Fulgor became possessed, which caused numerous mouths and eyes to appear on his body. This led the disgusted Living Ancestor Rimbeldorp to begin conversing with one of the Squat's Hearthguards, as some disquiet began to spread amongst the Squats. The traitor did not see this and one of Fulgor's mouths told him to quickly kill the other captured Space Marines, so that a horde of Tzeentch Daemons could be summoned. The Daemons would then sweep over the world and defeat the Imperial Fists, saving Antro from the Imperium. Other mouths contradicted this advise, and Fulgor became confused and indecisive as to what to do next. However after the faces of Squats appeared on his body and began mocking the watching Abhumans, the Living Ancestor Rimbeldorp finally reached his breaking point. He cried out for the Squat's ancestors, but the mouths on Fulgor's body declared they were the Squat's ancestors.[1h]
They had been summoned into Fulgor who was the next thing to a god to the Squats and would soon become a Lord of Change. Rimbeldorp declared that the work of Daemons was a foot and one of Fulgor's mouths told him to quickly kill the other captured Space Marines. Doing so would bring Fulgor power and would bring the Squat's ancestors back from the dead. This caused Rimbeldorp to act and sent the Hearthguard he had been conversing with, to free the Space Marines. The Hearthguard manged to shatter one of Yeremi Valence's restraints with a Power Axe, but the Imperial Fist quickly grabbed the Hearthguard and threw him aside, causing the Squat to strike his head and collapse to the ground. Valence then attempted to break his other restraints, so he could free Lexandro d'Arquebus, when Biff Tundrish yelled at Valence to throw the Hearthguard's power axe at the distracted Fulgor. Biff knew that with the traitor's Shuriken Skaters nearby, it would take only a word from him for them to open fire on the Imperial Fists. Valence realized this at once as well and threw the power axe at Fulgor, which struck the traitor in the chest. The wound severely wounded Fulgor and immediately cause him to unleash a wave of nauseating Chaos energy. This scrambled the senses and minds of all present and caused the Shuriken Skaters to begin firing upon the Squats. The Abhumans returned fire on the Skaters and even began firing on each other as well. The phantoms of Tzeentch Daemons appeared and one of the mouths that appeared on Fulgor's body, began devouring the barely alive traitor in order to allow them to materialize within the chamber. However, the Daemonic energy he unleashed allowed the waiting Imperial Fists invasion force to locate his position and two Librarians teleported within the chamber. The power of their teleportation killed many of the Squats and all of the remaining Shuriken Skaters, but Fulgor was their main focus and the Librarians destroyed the traitor's body before the mouth could finish devouring it. Fulgor's obliteration ended the wave of Chaos energy he unleashed and sanity was restored.[1h]
The Crusade's End
The Squats were then defeated by the Imperial Fists and the Inquisition was called upon to judge the heresy on both Karkason and Antro. While some leniency might be shown to the Squats, due to the slain Living Ancestor Rimbeldorp aiding in freeing Yeremi Valence, it was likely that Antro would emerge to be more firmly in the Imperium's control. Meanwhile Valence, Biff Tundrish and Lexandro d'Arquebus were examined by the Imperial Fists' Librarians to see if they had been corrupted. After extensive examinations, they were cleared to return to duty, but the Librarian Franz Grenzstein and Chaplain Geistler swore them to secrecy over their final encounter with Fulgor Sagramoso.[1i]
