The Savage Tenacity of the Warhounds: Tales from the Great Crusade
The Great Crusade – an epoch of exploration, conquest, and above all, war. In the southwestern frontier, near the uicy terminal, the Warhounds found themselves embroiled in a conflict of gargantuan proportions. Their adversaries? A mysterious third party known only as the deadly Osiron Cybrids, nightmarish xenos with the ability to teleport aboard the Warhounds’ vessels.
Despite their savage tenacity, the Warhounds faced colossal losses, with dozens of their ships succumbing to the onslaught. The battle, however, was not one-sided. Hundreds of orc vessels were decimated, their wreckage littering the battlefield.
Upon hearing of this, Primarch Gillan commanded the Warhounds to hold their position and, if possible, trace the Cybrids’ vessels to their origin. He dispatched a powerful retribution fleet from the Ultramarines to join forces with the Warhounds. Together, they systematically eradicated the Cybrids, whose slave armies perished alongside them. The remaining Goran Orcs were swiftly defeated and driven into the outer darkness. The blood price of the battle was steep, but the Ultramarines viewed it as a necessary sacrifice, avenge their defeat six decades prior.
Shifting our lens to the edge of the Dominion of Storms, to the galactic East, we find the Lords of Gardenal. The Gardenal was a solar empire, comprising eleven inhabited worlds with a military might that could give even the expeditionary fleets of the Great Crusade pause.
Initial negotiations with the Thousand Suns were promising, but the Ultramarines 413th expeditionary fleet, led by Master Anulan Cerus of the 15th Chapter, had to intervene militarily when the Thousand Suns detected a psychic attempt to subvert the Imperial emissaries. The subsequent gains were stalled by the superior defenses of Ginal Prime, necessitating a blockade.
The stalemate was eventually broken by a new war host led by the Iron Hands and the Emperor’s Children Legions. In a daring strategy, the Emperor’s Children launched a diversionary attack while the Iron Hands led a relentless assault on Ginal Prime. The Ultramarines, seeking to restore their lost honor, requested to lead the final assault on the capital city, paying a steep blood price in the process.
The Ultramarines were not only warriors but also architects of civilizations. Following the Iron Hands’ departure, the remaining worlds of Ginal system surrendered unconditionally. The Ultramarines, guided by their primarch’s wisdom, turned Ginal from a war-torn world into a valuable and compliant addition to the Imperium.
The Ultramarines’ tale of triumph continued on the world of Tarsus. During the assault, Primarch Raboot Gillan was attacked by a mysterious assailant and was saved by a native soldier. In a display of humility, Gillan bent his knee before the soldier, vowing that the Ultramarines would aid Tarsus whenever needed. Out of gratitude, the planet was renamed Tas’s Ultra, a temple erected in the capital city to honor the Ultramarines’ valor.
However, every tale of triumph has its trials. The Ultramarines faced stiff resistance from the conservation, a totalitarian alliance of colonies. The Ultramarines, along with forces from the expeditionary fleets commanded by Raboot Gillan and Alarius, were tasked with bringing the conservation to heel.
The battle was intense, with Alarius and the Alpha Legion employing deceptive tactics that caused confusion among the conservation forces. The Alpha Legion infiltrated the capital city, bringing sabotage and chaos. The battle was short-lived, but the aftermath was devastating, with an estimated 90% of the conservation’s population perishing.
In the wake of their victories, the Ultramarines, under the leadership of their exceptionally efficient Primarch, achieved more triumphs and liberated more worlds than any other Legion during the Great Crusade. But as the saying goes, every victory has its price. Nearly six decades after being brought into Imperial compliance, the Ultramarines, by the Emperor’s order, utterly destroyed the city of Monarchia on Kur.
Stay tuned for the next part of this series as we delve deeper into the stories of the Great Crusade and the valiant Ultramarines.
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