The Myrean League Shieldworlds

The Myrean League Shieldworlds

You speak of a fundamental need for freedom, but fail to recognise its truest expression is the ability to enforce of one's will on others. Our citizens enjoy healthy, long lives as extensions of our will – and now our Primarch's. 
As they must cede the reins of their destiny to do so, then I grant it a mercy that they are convinced to do so sincerely and utterly. Ask any of them. They will tell you, with pride, that they thank us for removing the fetters of initiative and ambition.  
You smear our League as 'technically positive and morally rephrensible for its citizens'; and thus betray your stagnancy and hypocrisy. Nowhere is the manufacture of human prosperity so well-realised as on our worlds, Void Baron. 
As it is written: the loyal slave learns to love the lash.
[//Pallas Nemoch, Storm Tyrant+]


No history of the War of the False Primarch would be complete without drawing out those records that remain regarding the Myrean League – and as the planets themselves long outlived the culture, a substantial 'ghost image' can be built up from records surrounding those directly redacted. This was also facilitated by the Pentarchy's own records – for the Myrean League was neutral for the early part of the war – it was not until the 'Steel of Heliopolis' chapters (the Iron Guard, Star Wardens and Storm Tyrants) declared for the Primarch that the region fell under sanction. As a result, records of the region in the earlier parts of the war were distributed more widely, and thus became harder to redact.

[//Void Baron Terminators force a breakthrough in the counterattack against a Carcharodons strongpoint, Maersk Amabala; Thalas Prime.+]
[//@natedungeon+]

The Siege of the Shieldworlds was an extended and complex campaign, which formed the last great struggle of the 'Primarch', and the closing stage of the War proper. By its end, eight of the Partisan Chapters would be irrevocably depleted, and the Silver Stars Pseudolegion broken.

So intricately defended were the Shieldworlds and their protectorates that individual theatres deserve their own articles; here we investigate the League as a whole, and set the board for the War's Endgame.

***

Stormcloud philosophy

The broader Imperium can best be understood in feudal terms; with planets and polities largely left to their own defences and devices. Imperial worlds were bewilderingly varied; the only true universal connection their being subject to the Great Tithe. Thus taxation, more than anything, remains the cultural glue of Imperial mankind.

[//High Lord Umbwald Oreangelo, Chancellor of the Estate Imperium+]
[//@hobbyguy3+]

The Adeptus Terra reckon that upwards of 92% of Imperial planetary systems are officially 'isolated': their worlds ultimately self-reliant and self-supplying. Of these, nearly all are inward-looking and lack anything more than intra-system voidcraft. Travel beyond the heliopause of a system's star is restricted more by lack of ability than policing. Besides invasion fleets (human or otherwise), which all worlds must guard against, any visitors, therefore, fall into a few small categories:
  • Tithecraft – the Black Ships and craft of the Adeptus Terra; by far the most common extra-systemic craft a world will see, and even these typically once every few generations.
  • Imperial Navy
  • Rogue Traders 
Of the remaining 8% of systems, the vast bulk are simply those worlds on relatively reliable warp travel routes; whose shipping can travel beyond the system and reach new worlds. It is exceptional even for these to ply more than one regular and long-standing connection; again for practical rather than ideological reasons (Though merchant ship crews enjoy a romantic reputation in the understanding of Imperial denizens, in truth most are as hidebound and dogmatic as any other group). 

It is thus a minority of a minority of worlds, all drawn from this latter group, that benefit from larger-scale multi-system organisation. Segmentum capital systems (Kur Duniash, for example) and particularly notable Hive Worlds, such as Mordian, can be counted amongst this group; and also exceptional cases like the Realm of Ultramar, the Delphurnean League and the Myrean League, which form interconnected pocket empires within the greater Imperium. All such subrealms occupy an uneasy place in the High Lords' estimation – and rightly so, for having the resources of multiple worlds at the command of a small group almost inevitably results in an imbalance of power that might potentially swell to threaten the strength of the High Lords. Not for nothing is the Imperium's default state suspicious to the point of paranoia.

A far cry from the Delphurnean League of the Morqub Sector, with which it draws obvious comparison, the Myrean Shieldworlds amounted to a tightly-controlled and regulated population of serfs and slaves held to the impossible standards of the Astartes, and thus occupied in interminable toil. Where the former was built on the model of inter-dependency and trade, and was overseen by the relatively benevolent Red Fish, who integrated their Chapter within the worlds of the League, and thus were as much shaped by its cultural milieu as dictated it, the Myrean League was the realisation of a utopian vision that the Storm Tyrants had pursued monomaniacally since their founding.

[//Katatrof; Storm Tyrant+]
[//@freelancepesh+]

[//datastack exload request granted – clearance level magenta confirmed+]
[//noosphericexloadchronicle : system-wide vox communique 0.???.540.M33{spec.}+]
Future denizens of the Imperium, listen and rejoice! A new dawn is upon you, bright with the radiance of the Imperial Truth and heralded by the Legions of a new Golden Age. A second Great Crusade marches, the Emperor's dream our banner once more. Under His guidance humanity will reclaim our galactic destiny.

This system is now under the protection of the Storm Tyrants. Our forge-barques will soon bring rebirth to your industry, our scholars will illuminate all you have forgotten and our warriors will render your cities impregnable to harm. Great wonders will be raised, proscribed technologies restored and prosperity will once again flow through the realm of Mankind. 
Prepare yourselves to join us in enlightenment as we cast off your dark shackles of ignorance, corruption and fear. 
[//noosphericexendchronicle+]
[//SPOOL+]
[//datastack exload request granted – clearance level magenta confirmed+]
[//noosphericexloadchronicle : system-wide vox communique 0.???.542.M33[spec.]+]

The communique of your government has been received. Be aware that your freedom will be enforced.
Refusal or resistance will be met be annihilation at the hands of the Storm Tyrants. 

Only the strong may live to see the new dawn. 

Rejoice!

++ datastack full purgation request granted - clearance level magenta confirmed ++
++ record purge complete ++

[//Ultimatum-Manifesto; traditional screed of the Storm Tyrants+]


***

The Myrean League

[//Flag of the Myrean League+]
[//@adeptus_avocado+]

Enshrined in the concept of the Shieldworlds is the understanding that corruption is inevitable – for baseline humanity, at least. To the Storm Tyrants, it was self-evident that the inevitable decay and failure of humanity could be indefinitely held back by wresting control of worlds from human whims and ambitions, and allowing their 'immortal and incorruptible betters' to take the reins. The Storm Tyrants thus enshrined perfectly efficient social order as their guiding light and leading philosophy – at whatever cost.
Astartes are not only built to be physically superlative, their minds are also superhuman in every way. As such, supremacy in military matters can be extended to other matters such as politics and civic theory. [...] they have also eclipsed the efforts of mortals in the scope and speed of their achievements. Everything from logistics and system designs, architecture, engineering, medicine, and philosophy [...] they can think better, faster and further. [S]uch beings – granted, those with the correct temperament and balance of humours – should not merely operate as conquerors, but recognise as the perfection of their duty to become Kings. Such positions are the logical consequence of our existence.
[//Coda: Enaction of Supremacy, A Philosophical Primer. Authorised by the First Curia+]


The excesses of authoritarianism are not merely understood in the Myrean League, but implicit in the existence of their worlds. As a result, the citizens of the Shieldworlds have no civil liberties outside the control of the state. All work long shifts in prescribed labour duties and undertake mandatory military service. All are indoctrinated from birth to think of themselves as disposable cogs in a machine. All learn that they should strive for perfection in every task and that they should be proud to dedicate and give their lives for the greater good of the League. As it is delineated in the Primer, a universal text issued to all citizens, the League provides to its denizens:
The state controls everything through the unimpeachable authority and incorruptible will of superhuman demigods; their will extended through an army of specialist bureaucrats, bred for purpose and meritocratically chosen for their skill. Centralized control is exerted through military enforcement and a robust ever-improving system of systems (logistical, organizational, industrial, political, propagandistic, etc.) striving towards efficiency of function above any other mortal concern or weakness.

Citizens are bred and indoctrinated from birth into a culture of discipline, order, uniformity and community. Proud of their immutable place, their service in their given task makes their society better for the collective. Labour and military service are mandatory for all, such that every citizen serves the League in one way or another; their minds and bodies altered as necessary for them to reach parity with their fellows. 
In exchange the League provides them with all their needs: their schedule, desires, spiritual education and leisure rigidly enforced to ensure the continued provision of optimal output. Division, discontent and infighting due to perceived inequality or differences between citizen groups are relegated to history, for all citizens are the same, share the same culture and ideals, and hold the League above the needs and wants of individuals. A glorious mono-mind; each cell of which is rendered as incapable of rebellion as it is of inconsequential pursuit.[...]
Such is familiar to many worlds of the Imperium – indeed, second nature to the bulk of the Adeptus Mechanicus, for example. It was the rigidity and direct control that the Storm Tyrants enforced which marked out the Myrean League Shieldworlds from more conventional inter-system alliances – along with the necessary secrecy in which the Astartes were forced to operate. 

'The peak of manufactured human prosperity, at the cost of all possible humanity.'

[//Collected Thoughts Madu Iri-Abasza, Marines Orcinus+]

***

Key locations of the Myrean League

  • Astra Cartographica Designation: Myrean Star-Cluster.
  • Other Unofficial Designations: The Realm of Storms, Tyrantshold
  • Location: Sector Heliopolis, Segmentum Pacificus.
  • Capital world: Myrea Prime, in the Myrea System.
  • Ruling Body: Fiefdom of the Storm Tyrants Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.
  • Main Systems: Myrea, Agreum, Calydon, Thalas, Lemmas, Neris, Hekate, Saphrax.
  • Tithe Grade: {var.} Officially contested.
[//Astrographic map of the Principal and subsidiary systems of the Myrean League {posited: sidereal drift accounted}+]

Principal systems – which included the bulk of the heavily-fortified Shieldworlds proper – are marked on the map in capitals, while secondary Myrean League system-domains are in roman. While straining the typical Imperial designation system, the closest comparisons are to Fortress Worlds and Civilised Worlds respectively. 

Unaffiliated but notable systems are marked in italics – key amongst these are Coldforge, Definite Stanchion and Interlude Quay, the regional Naval base.

[//Interlude Quay was the site of a combined Pentarchy strike on the Silver Stars Primary fleet]
[//@chrisbuxey+]


The key systems are described below, along with (where possible) notes on the principal belligerents in the battles that marked this period, insofar as the meagre evidence can guide us. That myriad other struggles and conflicts erupted over other worlds in the region is clear, but no direct evidence survives; and little secondary information of note. Nevertheless, given the desnity of the battlespace, we can reasonably assume that Strikeforce-sized Astartes groups from almost every Chapter came into conflict with each other.

Thought for the day: For every battle honour, a thousand heroes die alone, unsung, and unremembered. 
***

Myrea System – capital system

The beating heart of the League, from the Myrean system flowed both the Storm Tyrant’s iron will and much of the manpower and supplies that enforced it. The capital system served as the military and administrative centre for the Storm Tyrants’ domain, and home of their main fortress-monastery, the Iron Citadel. It became the last bulwark of defence as the Myrean League fell under siege.

[//Myrea Prime, Shieldworld and Capital+]

One of the few pieces of Orthodox intelligence that remains accessible – presumably because once redacted, the record creates a convincing alternative history of the siege – notes that:
'The capital system is guarded by an overlapping network of fortifications and defensive installations known as the Myrean Aegis, which includes two shield worlds, every available vessel of the Myrean Fleet, a Ramilies-class Starfort and twenty-three major fortified garrisons on moons, orbitals and deep-space stations, as well as a dense surrounding asteroid field packed full of garrisoned defensive batteries, hunter-killer drones and void mine fields.'
However Myrea was not only a fortification and military installation, it also formed the neuralgic centre that exerted control over the other thirteen systems of the League. From its continent-sized industrial yards flowed countless teratonnes of machinery, equipment and materiel; and it seems almost certain that from its vast macro-bureaucratic centres the expansion of the Myrean League was planned through colony charters, construction schematics and the redeployment of civilians and garrisons.
  • Myrea Prime: Shieldworld and capital of the Myrean League, Myrea Prime was the most complete of its kind, built and improved over time to be the apex of the Shieldworld project and the very last line of defense. The capital world was the most fortified, industrialized and populated planet of the star-cluster, as well as the cultural heart of the League which every one of its citizens will rally to defend. It also contained the largest military training facility of the League worlds, as well as the bulk of the Storm Tyrants' assets, crowned by the mighty Iron Citadel fortress-monastery from which they guided their designs, asserted their dominion, and hosted the Partisans.
  • Myrea Secundus: Shield world and system anchorage, including most of the Storm Tyrants fleet. 
  • Myrea IV: Industrial world and secondary shipyard facility for the Myrean Fleet, the first to be developed and one that remained in use even after Agreum's incorporation into the League largely displaced its importance.
  • Myrea III and V: Hive worlds dedicated to both bureaucratic administration of the Myrean League as well as the mass-breeding and indoctrination of new generations of Myreans. 
  • Myrea VII, IX, and XII: Industrial worlds with moderate fortifications, devoted to the mass-manufacturing of construction and industrial equipment as well as military supplies, light vehicles and artillery. 
As with other Myrean League systems, the planets official numerative designations used above were seemingly based on distance from the primary star – though the records are occasionally contradictory, and seem to numerate the planets based on their integration into the League. Adding to the complexity is that fact that many of the planets of the League still used pre-membership naming familiar to the populace – Myreas III, for example, is occasionally recorded as 'Moreaumunda Greater'.

This serves as a reminder that despite the League's apparent uniformity and rigid structure, the governorship of worlds is immeasurably complex. 

***

Agreum System

[//With the bulk of the Chapter engaged in attempts to break through the Annulus Umbra, the Jade Talons' known deployments were primarily made alongside larger forces of the Marines Saturnine, themselves heavily mauled by the events on Pao Fung and the Revelation of the Lammasu.+]
[//@adam_james_creates+]

Main anchorage and logistical centre for the naval operations of the Myrean Fleet, Agreum's central location within the star-cluster offered maximum efficiency and flexibility – but also laid it open and vulnerable to fleet deployments. It was thus notably heavily fortified, and also served as a general muster point for the Silver Stars' own fleet, along with those of its allies.

Home to the famed Agreum Shipyards, which supplied the Storm Tyrants' fleet with new vessels and a safe harbour for repairs, the Thalas System was traditionally garrisoned by the Storm Tyrants 4th Battalion and its Tetrarch, alongside their fleet. It consisted of:
  • Agreum II, III and VII: Main facilities of the Agreum Shipyards.
  • Agreum IV: Industrial world and main fleet anchorage. 
  • Agreum V: Shield world and system capital. Secondary command and coordination centre for the Myrean Fleet. 
The main attack on the system was at the hands of the combined Death Eagles Chapters, and ranged against them were the Storm Tyrants 4th Battalion, the surviving Jade Talons, and a garrison of Marines Saturnine.

[//Pict capture of Partisan senior leadership of Fortress Theta, known to its defenders by its pre-League name The Towers of Dawn, as Orthodoxy forces besieged the planet of Agreum V. +]
[//@natedungeon+]

The battle of the Towers of Dawn became one of the most fabled engagements to partisan sympathizers from the siege of the Myrean league shield orlds. While not the largest or most critical of battles it was bloody, and doggedly fought by those Partisan forces defending the complex. It was an exemplar of the calculated grit of the defence of the region; and the antithesis of the catastrophic chaos that was to follow at Myrea Prime.

***

Thalas System

Designed as a second line of defence to secure the Calydon Gate, Thalas was a relatively lightly-populated region, whose task within the greater League was sacrificial: to delay any invasion force from pushing deeper into the Myrean League and buy time for reinforcements to arrive. 

Even if Calydon were to fall, so the theory went, any would-be invaders would have to take this secondary bastion as well or risk getting cut off and attacked from the rear by the Thalas garrison forces. As events unfolded, it became clear that even the best-laid plans could not account for the cunning and ferocity of Shadelord Moro Oihi and his massed Carcharodons.
  • Thalas Prime: Shield world and system capital. 
  • Thalas III and IV: Garrison worlds and military training facilities.
[//Myrean League propaganda. These pieces in particular focus on the great engineering achievements of their people, and push future generations to strive for even greater heights.+]
[//adeptus_avocado+]

The Carcharodons attacked in concert with the Death Eagle's strike on Agreum, preventing the Storm Tyrants from responding directly, as the region might otherwise have expected. In their stead the False Primarch deployed a great deal of the Silver Stars, headed up by the Marines Saturnine and the Void Barons, whose preference for attritional warfare was put to the test against the swollen ranks of the Space Sharks.

[//Bloody hunters descended, silent as the void between stars. The void reavers fell upon the population of Endymion – known to the Storm Tyrants as Thalas III – brutalizing a people ignorant of the crimes of their Lords. The brutal might of the Astartes unleashed once again upon the Imperiums own.+]
[//@trsyanna+]

As pictured above, the Carcharodons' deployment was particularly notable for the number of its forces clad in Coldforge-pattern plate – showing quite how key the broken Forgeworld had been in allowing the Pentarchy to make the most of the Diet of Fools.

***

Lemmas System

[//Kaemos, Ancient of the 3rd Battalion; pictured during the struggle for Lemmas IV, against the Flesh Eaters. +]
[//@techtype_paints+]

Located to the galactic south entrance to the Myrean League, corewards of the Mourn Expanse and its third most fortified system. Habitually guarded by one Shieldworld, a third of the Myrean Fleet, a rare Ramilies-class Starfort and nine major fortified garrisons on moons, orbitals and deep-space stations, the system was, to all intents and purposes, almost impregnable. 

It was perhaps in response to this reputation that the Orthodox forces deployed some of its most reliable and ferocious forces in the shape of the Flesh Eaters, under their newly-appointed Chapter Master; alongside a substantial Carcharodons fleet.
  • Lemmas IV: Shield world and system capital, home to one of the three largest military training facilities of the League worlds.
  • Lemmas VII: Industrial world and system anchorage. 
  • Lemmas V: Industrial world with one of the highest outputs of the Myrean League, specialized in military equipment.
Garrisoned by the Storm Tyrants 3nd Battalion and its Tetrarch, alongside their fleet, the Partisans bolstered its defences with Companies of Argent Heralds and the Riven Lords' veterans, representing some of the Primarch's most trusted and reliable forces. These were spearheaded by the Heralds' Chapter Master, Praesius Auros Cassus.

[//Facing both the Argent Heralds and the Riven Lords' elites, the Carcharodons were placed into the unusual position of rear-line support to their Flesh Eaters allies, a mark of how eager the new High Voivode was to demonstrate his prowess. +]
[//@vivacretacia_40k+]

***

Neris System

[//Unidentified Storm Tyrant Tactical Marine – Neris VII theatre. The extended blue and yellow honorifics, and storm bolter armament, marks this as occuring later in the siege of the Myrean League.+]
[//@freelancepesh+]

The main food source of the Myrean League (the other being the less fortified Ephyra system), Neris was key to the Pentarchy's plans – they could ill-afford a protracted siege, and attacking the Partisans' principal food source – already strained by the arrival of hundreds of Regiments of Partisan Imperial Guard and Naval force – would, at the very least, stoke hunger and discontent amongst the Partisans.

Two principal Agri-worlds were at the heart of this systems, which also housed multiple storage, logistics and food-processing facilities that ensured a stable supply for the whole star-cluster. 

Attacked by Charnel Guard, the Primarch placed his trust in Commander Iri Abazsa, recently arrived from Ishim, who led his Red Fish alongside supporting Firebreak forces in defence of these worlds.

  • Neris II: Fertile and productive continental Agri-world.
  • Neris III: Industrial world with one of the highest outputs of the Myrean League, specialized in civilian goods and resources.
  • Neris IV: Oceanic Agri-world artificially and biologically modified for enhanced nutritional yield of its flora and fauna.
  • Neris V: Main logistics and distribution centre for the food supply of the Myrean League. System anchorage for escorted transport fleets of bulk freighters and mass conveyors.
  • Neris VII: Shield world and system capital. 
***

Calydon System

'We were the last true Sons. What came after were not truly our brethren. The song of The Maiden was born on this day, and Her birthcry overtook our own. We were wasted here, for she could have killed that entire system on her own had she but been truly set free.' 
[//Vitalii Procop, of the Xth, Wormwood Sons+]

The northern and main entrance to the Myrean League, Calydon was renowned as the unbreakable anvil. The second most fortified system of the Myrean League, it was guarded by the mighty Calydon Gate, a complex network of defensive structures including two shieldworlds (one of two systems with more than one), a full third of the Myrean Fleet, a Byzantine-class Starfort and twelve major fortified garrisons on moons, orbitals and deep-space stations. 

Besides its formidably structured and layered set of static defences, the Calydon System was accustomed to the presence of the Storm Tyrants 2nd Battalion and its Tetrarch, alongside their own substantial fleet. For reasons unknown, Volnoscere himself led its defence, alongside the few surviving Star Wardens of the Gilded Arm, and the entirety of the Wormwood Sons.
    Records of the conflict here are notably confused, even within the context of the broader war. The re-appearance of the artefact known as Atom's Spear, seems to lie at the heart of the conflict.

    [//Wormwood Sons Psiloi at St. Kaedes Gate, Late War.+]
    [//@duckcalledsue+]

    'The Calydon Gate' was seemingly regarded as a metaphor by the populace – a number of recovered fragments attest to it only in allegorical terms, but the archaeolinguist Terent of Agreum suggested that  it might represent a folk memory of St Kaedes' Gate. His sole surviving book gives a partial record suggesting a Crusade-era event occured on Calydon Secundus, which is recorded here, and in two other post-War records as 'Kaydes Gate' or 'St Kade Gate'. 

    As to the pre-League nature of Calydon Secundus, and the events surrounding the name 'St Kaedes' Gate, it is infuriatingly vague. For further illumination, we can turn to an intriguing note authored by Inquisitor Jaqi Greenwood, which implies that the Silver Stars were in some way involved in this conflict or event:
    'The Shrouded Esdras mark it so; that St Kaedes Gate was muster [sic.]; Advex Mors next; and henceforth into the sorrowful actions of razing the Esagila, in the hidden time of Nabû-kudurri-uṣur. None forth [sic.]'

    If this is the case, it is the sole primary record of either Volnoscere or the Silver Stars being in the region prior to the War of the False Primarch – a record, sadly, which is rendered suspicious in the extreme, stemming as it does from the Partisan-leaning Inquisitor, who by this point was seemingly a member of Volnoscere's Kapihe, and notoriously involved with Canticle and the Marines Mendicant.

      [//adeptus_avocado+]

      • Calydon Prime: Shieldworld and system capital, home to one of the 3 largest military training facilities of the League worlds. 
      • Calydon Secundus: Shieldworld and system anchorage.
      • Calydon V: Industrial world with one of the highest outputs of the Myrean League, specialized in military equipment.
      ***

      Hekate System

      A relatively minor system, notable only for being home to the Myrean League’s small astropathic relay known as the Hekataion or the 'Obsidian Spire'. 

      [//Red Talons bypass the Inheritors' defences during a Foestrike gambit on Medes.+]
      [//@the_iron_within+]


      Hekate was attacked by the Red Talons, and was defended by the Inheritors, and marked some of the most furious – albeit brief – fighting of the siege. Known as the Duel of the Dead Men, the final battle for the Obsidian Spire saw the Dawnstar strike down four of the Red Talons' most experienced Captains in his doomed attempt to engage Autek Mor in single combat.
      • Hekate VII: Shield world and system capital, home to the Hekataion astropathic relay. 
      • Cyrce, Medes and Scyllax: Fortified garrison-moons protecting the Hekataion astropathic relay. 

      Saphrax System

      [//Argus of the Argent Heralds met his end on Saphrax IX+]
      [//@darth_grimbeard+]

      The Saphrax system contained – and still does –  an access point to the mineral-rich Saphrax Nebula, a hazardous stellar phenomena rich in rare minerals and valuable gases. Much like similar stellar phenomena, such as the Alaxxes Blood-Well, the Nebula was interlaced with a labyrinthine network of dangerous warp-routes, with the chemical composition of the nebula making it a deadly shipping hazard to approach, let alone cross.

      Due to the particularly volatile nature of its inner structure, little reliable astrocartographic information of the Nebula existed during the War for the False Primarch, and so the nebula remained largely unexplored beyond mining colonies in its safest neighbouring systems, including the one which took its name from the stellar nursery. 

      The Saphrax system was essentially a dispersed and isolated mining colony, valued largely for its relatively safe proximity to the Nebula. The system stretched the Shieldworld concept to its limits, and many arguments – mostly philosophical, but occasionally spilling into violence – were centred upon its place within the League.
      • Saphrax I,II,IV,V,VII and VIII: Large-scale mining colonies. 
      • Saphrax IX: Shield world, system capital and anchorage.
      During the siege, it was attacked by a motley collection of Pentarchy forces, and was defended by the indefatigable Iron Guard supported by a Company of Argent Heralds. Huscarl Török Balázs, ever-dutiful master of the Iron Guard's First Warhost, took overall command here.


      ***

      Secrets of the Storm Tyrants

      [//Storm Tyrants' official scheme, as recorded on Terra+]
      [//@adeptusavocado+]

      Why was the Myrean League's existence so tightly guarded by the Storm Tyrants? The Great Heresy had demonstrated the risks and problems inherent in putting superhuman thinking machines in charge of high-level government and planning, and centralising power around their unquestionable authority. Such lessons had either been wilfully ignored by the Storm Tyrants, or perhaps innocently forgotten. As the events of the War of the False Primarch would later become subject to Edicts of Obliteration and deliberately hidden; so many of the lessons the Great Heresy might have taught had been lost. Coupled with the isolation and indoctrination that surrounded the bulk of humanity in the period – and doubly so for those in the relative backwaters of the Morqub and Heliopolis Sectors – it is entirely possible that the Storm Tyrants genuinely had the best of intentions in their monstrous ambition. 

      'To fuel the engine of industry to be as productive as possible is beneficial to the people of each Shieldworld' is one of the first notes in the Storm Tyrants' great Coda, their self-penned document that provided the foundations and justification for their great experiment. 

      For industry to run most efficiently, so the Storm Tyrants reasoned, should not be limited to infrastructure, but also an optimally run workforce. They would need to establish and constantly optimize systems (logistics and transportation, politics and trade, communications, labour, defence, propaganda, and so forth). The best and brightest would be appointed to positions of authority and oversight; and the system would, naturally, be routinely purged of corrupt mortal officials by the Storm Tyrants. Comparisons here can be made to the Delphurnean League, which had similar aspects; but the Tyrants considered the Red Fish's model sub-optimal. There, dynastic sub-regimes and aristocratic trade cartels were tolerated, as were the gains of peaceful annexation, on the basis that it allowed the Red Fish to demonstrate that they were participants in the system rather than overlords. To the Storm Tyrants, such compromise was impossible. 


      Nevertheless, the Astartes were expressly forbidden from interfering in the governance of Imperial worlds. From admirable ideals to unforeseen consequences; and to the deliberate obfuscation of those few Imperial tools designed to provide oversight, the Storm Tyrants' plan quickly moved past the line allowed to the Adeptus Astartes – and thus took the first small steps to heresy; and destruction.

      Long before the War of the False Primarch, and acutely aware of the risks of discovery, they eyed the scale and discreet location of Myrea – and wagered that its circumstances meant that they could reasonably hide the wholesale replacement of entire planetary regimes and populations in the periods between Great Tithes. 

      Thus, over the course of generations, worlds were gradually and insidiously isolated and taken through the process of 'Renaissance' as they came under the control of the Storm Tyrants.

      ***

      Theory and practice – the Leagueworlds during the war

      The execution of any plan falls short of its formulation. Before you savour its truth, you must taste its blood and dirt.

       [//Vox Volnoscere+]

      In the Storm Tyrants' utopian ideal, every world that made up the League would have been identical in all senses; with a denizen transplanted from the inner sanctum of Myrea Prime to the mining colonies of Saphrax VII immediately able to set to work at full efficiency. This, however, does not seem to have been achieved. Tantalising hints suggest that the Storm Tyrants' Curia frequently discussed and debated purported inefficiences and failures across its realm.

      [//Storm Tyrant veterans+]
      [//@natedungeon+]


      A culture is not easily destroyed in toto, though the scant remaining evidence of the Coda bears witness to how efficient the Imperium was in scrubbing its influence from the precious planets that made up the League. 
      The main principles of Myrean culture are discipline, diligence and sacrifice – the three are all but roared at you from the street-corner laudhailers, in a peculiar echo of the usual calls to prayer one hears in the streets of other, more enlightened planets. These 'virtues' form the pillars of the indoctrination programmes that every citizen undertakes from birth. They are taught that the Myrean League is the greatest endeavor in recent human history, carrying the torch of the Great Crusade to bring enlightenment and prosperity to the corners of the galaxy brought low by the incompetence of greedy bureaucrats and the ambitions of selfish warlords. 

      In order to realize Mankind’s destiny and avoid the pitfalls of their predecessors, every citizen is expected to achieve excellence in their allocated tasks, to conduct themselves with order and efficiency, to serve the League with selfless dedication and to be ready to undertake any sacrifice necessary for the cause. Duty, they roar, is its own reward. Things like ambition and pride must only be understood in collective terms, and every citizen understands that they are only replaceable cogs in the great Myrean machine, for even the mightiest empires have been brought to ruin by the ambition of selfish individuals.  
      All have equality of opportunity and occupation is meritocratic. there is little conflict and overall they have their needs covered, but they have no personal freedoms of any kind. The citizens work endless shifts, all wearing similar clothing, and enjoy only authorised leisure activities at pre-set times, and they are indoctrinated to think of themselves not as individuals but as expendable cogs in a greater machine they should strive to serve and if necessary die for. 
      It is laudable, to an extent... but not an existence I should care to share.
      [//To Walk Among Demigods, Cassar Illiatauri+]

      The core principles of the unified culture were undoubtedly hammered into the people of its worlds with ruthless brutality over the course of a millennium: a culture of absolute equality and meritocracy, efficiency and blind devotion to the League. Indoctrinated into the people and brutally enforced by the 'incorruptible and inflexible' Tyrants, these principles were intended to neuter and forestall friction caused by ambition, jealousy or similar human weaknesses. Such threats to the League were clearly corrected or eliminated where they were identified – and indeed an entire corps of the Myrean League's defence forces – the cyborg Myrean Hoplites – were dedicated to this cause during peace time, operating as hunters of dissidence or inefficiency and enforcers of brutal order.

      ***

      Even before the Third War for Coldforge, it was clear the Primarch had begun to gather and spread his forces amongst this most formidable of defensive positions. 

      Nowhere else in the region offered the Abomination such a well connected and mutually supportive set of populations – and to this homogenous mix, he added the oversight of his Partisan Chapters. Thousands of Astartes; millions of defenders. Would they prove sufficient to deny the Pentarchy?

      [//In your curiosity, you betray no-one. Volo Noscere+]
      [/@/death_of_a_rubricist+]

      Certainly the arrival of thousands of Astartes and masses of experienced Partisan Guard and Naval forces served to stiffen the resolve of the regional populace – and for the Storm Tyrants themselves, the long-dreaded revelation of their forbidden experiment had unexpected results.

      Long had they laboured in the darkness, sure of the worthiness of their project but equally convinced of the Imperium's inevitable sanction if discovered. In pledging to the Partisan cause of the Returned Primarch, the Tyrants had brought their brainchild into the light, and so forced the hand of the High Lords.

      Far from certain sanction and disaster, now the opportunity presented itself to show how a fortress more than a thousand years in the preparation would withstand the full force of the Orthodoxy.

      ***



      [+iwanttoknow+]