The Cambyses Primary campaign
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| [//12th Immortal of the 1st Sataba, Marines Saturnine. Armoured in Ninevah the Immovable, a relic suit of Saturnine Terminator armour.+] [//tom_k/@ghostys_neon_rust+] |
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Nor yet was Coldforge the only campaign being waged at this time, for Master Enoch – enacting the will of the the High Lords – continued to demand advances; success; victories against the False Primarch, even as Volnoscere fortified and made secure the already-formidable Myrean League Shieldworlds.
Active warfare on sectorial scale meant that companies of Astartes or entire Regiments of Imperial Guardsmen or Naval Voidsmen might be in a position to respond to calls for distress within days, rather than the years more familiar to denizens of the Imperium. It marks the sheer power and capability for destruction that the Imperium was able to call upon at this period – and is all the more tragic that it was turned against itself.
The Cambyses Primary campaign – a hard-fought battle between the rival Imperial Navies – was primarily conducted in the void, but landings and counter-landings were made by the Flesh Eaters and Marines Saturnine in attempts to wrest the strategically important orbital docks from one another.
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| [//paul_h/@themidnightmare+] |
I am Ripper... Tearer... Slasher... Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength... and Lust... and Power!
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Needs must
The battles of Cambyses were disparate, divided and highly varied. Some were fought planetside in the extremely hostile landscapes of Cambyses itself; others on the low-grav orbitals. These specialist roles mostly fell to rival kill teams of Astartes, though some luckless Naval armsmen and specialist Guard forces must have been deployed to counter Space Marine advances.
Most battles of the Cambyses front, however, were ship-to-ship boarding actions, intended to capture, gut or scuttle enemy transport and naval vessels. In such circumstances, older or experimental weapon systems were frequently wielded – most notably here including the famous 'Saturnine-plate' exo-armour used by Terminator squads of the Marines Saturnine.
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| [//Saturnine plate poses an intimidating silhouette, even in comparison with a power-armoured comrade, and reminds the viewer of such suits' alternative nomenclature: Tactical Dreadnought Armour+] [//tom_k/@ghostys_neon_rust+] |
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| [//tom_k/@ghostys_neon_rust+] |
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| [//tom_k/@ghostys_neon_rust+] |
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| [//tom_k/@ghostys_neon_rust+] |
Again, such musings must remain unconfirmed. Not for nothing is it said 'an open mind is like a fortress, its gates unbarred and unguarded.'
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| [//Marines Saturnine of an unknown Sataba push forwards through Flesh Eater resistance.+] [//tom_k/@ghostys_neon_rust+] |
Enkidu felt the explosion at the gumline, as a dozen of his teeth fractured from the shockwave. The second blast tore the gantry he stood upon free, and for a few nauseating seconds, he felt weightless, his body cascading down the to hanger floor.
He opened his eyes, and tried to pull himself to his feet, but to no avail. How long had he been out? Likely only moments – yet moments were all it took when fighting Astartes. Sure enough, as his eyes swam back into focus, the cause of his immobility became horrifyingly clear. A crimson boot planted on his chest pinned him down, and as his eyes drew up to the black eyes of the Flesheater, Enkidu realised his death was at hand.
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| [//Flesh Eater assault marine+] [//adam/@learnin2bgrim+] |
Strange, he thought. This was not how my end was ordained.
Suddenly the time and manner of his death didn't seem to matter.
The Flesh Eater hadn't yet struck him down. The protracted conflict the Marines Saturnine and Flesh Eaters had been embroiled in had made bitter rivals of them, and presumably his executioner was pausing to gloat...
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