 War is that which defines our most holy Imperium. Every minute of every hour of every day, the best and indeed worst of humanity, sell their lives upon countless battlefields, upon countless worlds, for the sake of our survival, our species, our god-emperor. War is the grimest and most ultimate of necessities we face, for were we to not resist the depredations of the Xenos, the mutant, and the heretic, we would simply be swept away, drowned in our own blood, or our own very bones trampled to dust, beneath the boots and claws and hooves of our foes. Our species has created many a weapon to aid us, in this most noble and indeed desperate of battles, and foremost amongst them are the space marines of the Adeptus Astartes, genetically engineered masterpieces of divine desire that bestride our battlefield as the emperor's own angels of death. They are our best and truest defenders, but there have been times, dark and terrible times, when the arc of our human history has bent these warriors to dark acts and deeds most foul. What should happen when the almost unthinkable occurs, when the finest of our imperial sons turns bolter and blade upon his fellow, spitting poisonous acid upon his oaths? This chronicle series will concern one such time, a conflict that would prove to be one of the most devastating of the imperium's internecine feuds, since the days of the Great Heresy. Know then, that this is a record of a war of foulest treachery and most trying retribution, of pledges shattered and faith questioned, of a time when we would come to question the very nature of those we considered to be our most inviolate shield, a record of the Badab war. To grasp the scope of the conflict's origins, one must first grasp the region of space that birthed it, specifically the stellar anomaly at its core, the Maelstrom. Second in ferocity only to the Oculus Terribles or Eye of Terror, the Maelstrom is a warp rift, an area of the void where real space and the imiterium are, effectively, one and the same. Reality and unreality are blended. Anyone caught in its tides steps in and out of what is and what is not simultaneously, as all the laws of universal physics break down to naught. The Eye, at least, is far to the Galactic North, but the Maelstrom is located in an almost perfect straight path from Holy Terror to the dense cluster regions of the Galactic Core, a canker at the very heart of our mighty Imperium these past 10,000 years. During the glory days of the Great Crusade, evidence of mankind's presence in the regions surrounding the rift were discovered by the expeditionary fleets, along with the fabulous resources of nearby worlds. What these fleets also discovered, closer to the storm, was nothing short of an infested warren of void space, a volume clogged with pirates, reavers, zenos, and mutants, all clinging precipitously to the edges of reality, or simply dwelling within unreality, utilizing the chaotic tides of the warp around the Maelstrom as protection from those that would otherwise destroy them. Pacification and purgation campaigns were mounted, and while the crusade was able to secure certain vital systems in the name of the Imperium, thousands of troops and hundreds of ships were lost by expeditionary fleets that treaded too closely to the storm rift. The Emperor himself declared the Maelstrom purgatus, refusing to waste more men and material on the hopelessness of actually bringing such a region to heal, content to simply bolster the defences of already conquered systems and send the fleets onward to much more accomplishable goals. Whether or not the Emperor ever intended to return to the Maelstrom for a final and concerted pacification effort is unknown, as the fires of the Horus Heresy put paid to any of his plans. In the aftermath of that horrific conflict, an altogether newer issue with the region became extant, the presence of Traitor Astartes from the legions that had sided with the Warmaster. While the bulk of the Traitor legions had fled to the Eye of Terror following their defeat at the Siege of Terra, many made for the nearer Maelstrom instead, including sizable amounts of Astartes from the 20th Legion Alpha Legion. Rebut Gulliman, Primarch of the 13th Legion Ultramarines and Nominal Lord Commander of the Imperium, in the wake of his father's ascension to the Golden Throne, deemed the Maelstrom an unacceptable threat to the slowly reforming Imperium and designated it an area of military fortification second only to the Eye. For, as the Imperium had suffered under the wars of Horus' foul ambitions, the region had once more fallen into rack and ruin, with the storm regions now once more occupied by orcs, Drukhari raiders, and fowler warp-born Xenos, like the Psycnoean. Strictly speaking, the Purgatus designation could have been maintained, but the resources of the volume were far too precious for the Imperium to possibly ignore, especially in its weakened state. And thus, over the millennia, the long arm of humanity has ponderously and bitterly sought to extend its rightful dominance over the systems there. Officially named the Maelstrom-adjacent Autonomous Imperial Resource Extraction Zone Grid 004-357 by the Adeptus Administratum, it is known colloquially as the Maelstrom Zone, and is a volume to the Galactic West, Southwest, of the main body of the rift. It eclipses many Imperial sectors in sheer size, with well over a thousand star systems. But due to its proximity to the Maelstrom itself, it has never been considered a truly coherent sub-realm of the Imperium, merely a cartographical and administrative region. While major colony worlds were established, heavily defended, and indeed prospered, the Adeptus Terra never sought to extend full control over the volume, owing to the sheer threat the enemies within the rift posed, not to mention the stellar phenomena of the region, like nomadic singularities and ionic reefs, common in areas experiencing severe void turbulence. Content to grow fat off the resources the colonies could provide, but unwilling to endure the full cost of expanding its control, the Imperium settled into a comfortable status of nominal only rulership. The worlds of the Zone are many, but few are habitable. Cartigraphica imperialis adepts mostly postulate that, as the Maelstrom appears to predate human evolution itself, compared to the relatively young Oculus Tereblis, and owing perhaps to its relative stability as a galactic anomaly, that the majority of the systems are formed of collections of orphan planets expelled or gone rogue from the hyper-dense galactic core that is relatively nearby. I mean both natural and unnatural. These planets tumbled through space until finally being caught in the exonormal eddies of the Zone, co-alating and merging, forming mongrel systems of their own. These accounts for the almost ludicrous amount of wealth the Zone can render, as within a single system can be found rare minerals and elements usually only found millions of light-years distant. This above all else is what draws humanity to the region, be under no mistake, and why the Imperium has ever sought to sup upon whatever they can whenever they can. But only a scant few of these worlds may be considered properly habitable, even less should one wish to consider overall proximity to the rift itself. And it was these Imperial elements, and it was to these that Imperial elements naturally gravitated towards and eventually secured. It was not until the 38th and 39th millennia that these outposts began to rise to true prominence, forming a tenuous chain of safe harbours for mercantile shipping out of the Zone and to more established sectors. Three systems were prime amongst them, Sagan, Cygnax, and finally the Dab. While they endured, the Zone became ever more open to the Imperium, and interests far and wide began to suddenly see the sheer amount of credits to be made. However, this state of affairs was not to last, as in the darkening days of the 40th and early 41st millennium, the Zone was to suffer a market uptick in the predations of malignant forces present in the volume. The maelstrom is not static, and, as with all warp anomalies, is prone to waxing and waning, with no degree of predictability. And as the tides of the storm swelled, so too did demonic incursions, cult activities, and yet more destructive military endeavours. An orc war demolished the border worlds of the Hybraxis Nebula in the 700s of M40, while a mutant invasion toppled the mining colonies on Cairo and Larsa. These losses were dire, but ultimately sustainable for the status quo, until the advent of the doom of Cygnax. Cygnax, the hive world that had rapidly become the foundation of all Imperial control within the Zone, was not only the most densely populated world in the local volume, but also the most heavily militarized. A bastion of Imperial might in the depths of what was, effectively, wild space. It is lightly none suspected that its fall would be as swift, or indeed as disastrous as it was. In 557 M41, as the maelstrom waxed strong in the skies above the hive cities, a marked and sudden uptick in degenerate cult activity placed a heavy strain upon the forces of the world's adeptus arbites, swiftly overwhelming their policing resources and necessitating the drafting of the local planetary defence force to simply maintain basic civil order. It was later discovered that a band of heretic astartes, identified as the reborn, were responsible in part for this, as well as carrying out stunningly brutal raids in the planet's nearest space. In response to this, nihilistic death cults sprang up in their thousands, vast segments of the population expressing their worship of the emperor in the form of divine death alone. The ensuing civil war was catastrophic, as the cultists of both sides rampaged through the cities, destroying whole districts in wanton devastation. Unable to stem the tide, the Imperial forces petitioned the mantis warriors chapter of the adeptus astartes for assistance. But even in spite of this, the death cultists overwhelmed the defenders of the planet's main missile batteries, and unleashed a suicidal reign of atomic warheads globally. The sheer power of the resulting apocalypse skewed the world off its regular orbital angle, and the sheer amount of fallout, dust and tectonic damage plunged Cygnax into a nuclear winter it is unlikely to ever recover from. The loss of such a world was nothing short of a complete disaster for the imperium in the maelstrom zone. With its most vital link in the shipping chain severed, colonies in their dozens simply vanished, going dark, as the defences that Cygnax had so readily provided were suddenly stripped from them. In less than a year, a volume of space that would typically have taken a month and a half to traverse in the warp was simply lost. The death of Cygnax was a pivotal moment in imperial history in the maelstrom zone, for the sheer material and economic loss it presented, drawing, even, the attention of the adeptus terror and forcing the hands of the high lords. An edict imperialis was issued in 587 M41, ordering for the relocation of whole chapters of the adeptus astartes to the maelstrom zone in order to reestablish and henceforth defend the imperium's interests in the volume. Though such a redeployment of astartes was not without precedent, it marked a tangible shift in imperial policy for the zone specifically, in a manner not seen since the days of the great crusade. In recognition of their impressive victory tally, and in light of their speciality with dealing with forces of the arch enemy, the astral claws were appointed in overall theater command. And in mid 35th millennium as a fleet based strike chapter, the astral claws had spent most of their proud history in the galaxy's eastern fringes. Though their direct lineage is unknown to modern scholarship, a lack of pedigree did not prevent these scions of the 10th founding from amassing an honor roll enviable to any chapter, and their aforementioned experience in prosecuting renegade imperial elements deemed them well suited for reassignment to the zone. They were to be joined by the similarly fleet based chapters, the Carnal Guard and the Lamenters, and supplemented by the Mantis Guard, who had based their fortress monasy in the nearby endemian cluster. Collectively, these chapters were to be known as the Maelstrom Warders. The astral claws, upon arrival in the zone in the early 600s of M41, appropriated an orbital station in the Badab system as their new fortress monastery, and supplemented their already impressive fleet with a permanent squadron on loan from the Imperial Navy. The arrival of such an incredible military force within the zone had an immediate stabilization effect upon the region, as with the Navy now running protection for merchant convoys and the Astartes carrying out supremely efficient purgation operations, Imperial control over the lost systems of the zone was rapidly reestablished, with a dozen planets recaptured in the first few years alone. Boyd by their initial success, and with the enemies of the Imperium reeling, the Maelstrom Warders did not rest, mounting what was known as the Scourge Campaign, from 640 M41 to 651 M41. Utilizing an array of intelligence gathered during the reconquest, the years preceding the fall of Cygnax, and even archaic records and star charts from the archives of the Mantis warriors, the Maelstrom Warders went on the offense into the depths of the Maelstrom itself, the first Imperial warriors to do so in millennia. Unwilling to let the foes simply scurry back to their pits, combined Astartes forces annihilated dozens of enemy fortresses and strongholds, pinpointing their location and annihilating them with maximum prejudice. The Mantis warriors were even able to revenge themselves upon the reborn for the loss of Cygnax many decades before, satisfying what they had now long held as a stain upon their honor. Yet despite the successes of the Scourge Campaign, progress was abruptly halted when the Adeptus Terra severed the Carnal Guard's status as Warders, and ordered them to make full wake to the Veiled Region for reassignment in the Thanatos Crusade. On stroke, the High Lords had cut the strength of the Maelstrom Warders by 25%, putting an immediate end to the Scourge Campaign and forcing the remaining Astral Claws, Lamentors and Mantis warriors to withdraw from rift space and fall back to more defensible volumes near Imperial planets. The Claws immediately petitioned the Adeptus Terra for a replacement to reaffirm the strength of the Warders, pointing to their great success in recent years, but were, repeatedly, denied. Quite why the Carnal Guard were withdrawn is unknown. To the outside observer, it would appear to be a maneuver of severe detriment to the region and the pacification of it, and of Imperial interests in general. One would need to research the demands of the Thanatos Crusade in depth before having to make such a call, however, and one must also presume that the High Lords would not have made such a seemingly devastating strategic call without extreme pressures of external military exigencies. Whatever the reason, the loss of the Carnal Guards was a setback to the goals of the Warders, yes, but not in and of itself a crippling blow. The Astartes and Navy presence in the zone was still more than sufficient to defend Imperial interests there from external threats, but fate, as it often does, has a way of intervening. Twenty years after the cessation of the Scourge campaign, decades marked by remarkably little in the way of enemy activity, the Warp disgorged a pure terror into the zone. The Space Hulk-designate unhallowed heart, a planetoid-sized conglomeration of shipwrecks, orbitals, rogue asteroids, and other fowler things. This particular Hulk had become a cancerous Warp-infected thing in its long millennia spent traversing the Immaterium, projecting a demonic psychic aura from its hateful surface that drove all who came within its reach mad in suicidal desolation. Multiple Imperial Navy battlegroup and Astral Claw strike cruisers were lost in initial attempts to halt its path, crews both mortal and Astartes proving unable to resist the horrific madness the Hulk projected and turning their own weapons upon themselves. The unhallowed heart cut an apocalyptic swath through Imperial-controlled space. Plunging in and out of the Warp seemingly at random, the Space Hulk proved impossible to pin down, its demonic hate bringing ruin to several outposts before its reappearance above Esuna, a populous colony world. Only a quarter of the planet's population were lost that first night. As the Astartes of the Lamentors, apparently for whatever reason better able to resist its suicidal siren song, attempted to destroy the thing. Their resistance was not total, and more and more of them succumbed as boarding teams laced the twisted corridors with demolisher charges, and frigates and cruisers pounded its surface with close-range bombardment. Ultimately, the effort of the Lamentors paid off, as whatever demonic presence lurked within the heart of this unnatural conglomerate quit real space and fled to the Warp. The beast cracked open as the Lamentors fleet punished its fracturing carcass. Losses to the Lamentors were severe. Four strike cruisers and over 300 battlebrothers, nearly a third of the chapter, were destroyed and dead. Many of the latter in conditions that prevented their recovery of their precious gene seed. A subsequent deputation from the Ordomaleus of the Inquisition ired the already incensed chapter further, by critiquing them for not destroying the unhallowed heart at the expense of Esuna, by simply crashing the Hulk into the world's surface. Such an act would have doomed the entire world and its entire population, something the Lamentors would not countenance, and they expelled the Inquisitors from the zone under threat of death, communicating this to their fellow Warders, who expressed similar sentiments. With the severe losses to the Lamentors and the Astral Claws, the forces arrayed against them began to press advantages as they saw fit, launching rapid raids into Imperial space in frequencies not seen in decades. The Warders once again petitioned terror for reinforcement, but were once again denied, in order to hold ground and push back where possible. Between this, their already incurred losses, the cessation of the successful scourge campaign, and the insulting behavior of the Inquisition. Relations between the Maelstrom Warders and the wider Imperium had reached a never-before-seen nadir. Pride, trust, and honour had all been wounded, and the remaining Astartes felt ever more besieged, and indeed abandoned, to their fates beyond the fringes of Imperial space. This was, as must seem inevitable in hindsight, to come to a head, when a series of heavy green-skinned raids forced the hand of the chapter master of the Astral Claws. In 901, 715, M41, Rovic Blake bucked chapter doctrine, and indeed Imperial decree, by pursuing one such Xenos raid into the Maelstrom itself, leading at the van upon the battle barge Seraph of Judgment, at the head of a substantial Astartes strike force. Pursuing the fleeing green-skins all the way to their lair, the Astral Claws engaged in a brutal assault upon the asteroid bases of the foe. Though thousands of the hated aliens were slain, the cost was high beyond imagining, with Rovic Blake himself falling to the Orc Warboss, forcing the Astartes to retreat, with the flight itself incurring heavy damage to the Seraph, and now become to a rather pivotal moment. The succession process following that disastrous raid saw the ascension to chapter master of the captain of the third company, Lukft Huron. The youngest Astartes to have ever held the rank, Huron was a charismatic battle leader, a rising star in the chapter for his ability to lead warriors upon the field, yes, but also for his keen battle acumen and grasp of macro strategies. His rise to prominence had been a rapid one, for the Maelstrom was exactly the kind of region that would allow such a man to do so. Huron was undeniably talented in all aspects of war-making, but he was also ruthless, ambitious. All three characteristics, combining with the sheer attrition rates amongst the Maelstrom chapter's battle brothers, provide a perfect environment for his meteoric ascent to supreme command. Once in such a position, he wasted little time in making his mark upon chapter organization, rapidly and decisively restructuring the Astral Claw's fleet through a policy of rapid expansion. Ostensibly, this was to make up for the losses incurred under the previous chapter master, but in reality, the aggressive intake of new ships allowed Huron to completely reform and redeploy the chapter's strategic assets to better project material strength over what he deemed key-dependent areas. The new fleet included many ships that had formally belonged to Corsair or even arch enemy forces defeated by the Astral Claws, hastily retrofitted to accommodate their new masters. Many of these were ships whose keels had been laid down for service in the Imperial Navy, and as such were STC templates forbidden by ancient Imperial decree for use by a chapter of the Adeptus Astartes. Huron brushed aside loudly raised concerns of both tech heresy and violation of the Imperial Law, deeming the utilization of these ships essential for the execution of the chapter's remit in trying times. The dynamic chapter master's reforms and aggressive redeployments earned a lot of early successes, which he was quick to capitalize upon, enacting a scorched earth policy against recalcitrant rebel holdouts infringed systems. Whether or not these raiders or pirates posed legitimate threats to Imperial interests within the zone, especially Astartes ones, is debatable. But for Huron, they presented quick and easy victories that allowed him to expand the reach of his newfound power, justifying his policies through the danger they ostensibly represented and expanding the chapter supply of world-killing exterminatus-grade weapons in order to enact these purges. Had any within the Imperium been able to or cared to read the signs, it would have seen several growing trends within the leadership of the Astral Claws and their position as males from Warders. Authoritarianism, ruthlessness, disregard for the Lex Imperialis, and rapid expansion of centralized military power. You may scoff at these things, for are they all not hallmarks of the Imperium itself? Be that as it may, our history is replete with examples of this very thing occurring, and it rarely ends with anything but blood. Alas, but there were none to see this. Those within the zone were, at the time of Huron's ascension, relieved to have such an apparently successful and charismatic Astartes seizing the reins of power at the time of deep unrest. And upon face value, the resurgence of the chapter under such leadership was undeniably a boon to Imperial interests within the zone. Such success, however, comes with dangers of its own. These would soon begin to manifest in ways both completely unforeseen and at the same time, sadly predictable. Until the next account of this dark chapter in Imperial history. Ave Imperator, Gloria in Excelsis Terra. This video and this channel is made possible through the incredibly kind support of my Patreon subscribers. 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