V – Starfall

V – Starfall


[?/IDENT={incerto}. Battlezone: Saphrax+]
[//christoph_t/@farnessbeta+]

Conviction, rather than evidence, tells us that is the thirty-fourth Millennium. Mistrust and paranoia abound, for even as a new Golden Age of Imperium struggles to be birthed, Mankind has turned, once more, upon itself.

Some seven decades ago, a cryptic and charismatic figure emerged to lead millions in the galactic west into rebellion against the orthodox authority of the High Lords of Terra, rightful shepherds of the God-Emperor's legacy. 
Known to its adherents as the 'Last True Son' – and to its detractors as the 'False Primarch', or simply 'Abomination' – the being known as Volnoscere has attracted warriors and supporters from all walks of Imperial life. The resulting war has seen the region destabilised, worlds depopulated and degraded, and thousands of Astartes slain.

Despite successes and heroism on both sides, it is a conflict that the Partisans are slowly but surely losing. Amongst the Shieldworlds of the Myrean League, their Primarch has elected to make a stand – to throw off the strangling grip of the orthodox forces led by the Pentarchy of Blood, and strike for Terra.

A long-forestalled time of ending has arrived. 

A reckoning is due.
***

[//Coldforge is fallen. Myrea Prime awaits+]
[//edward_r/@death_of_a_rubricist+]


V – Starfall

  • Narrative: The False Primarch is brought to bay; the Partisans are subdued, and the Great Redaction begins.
  • Lore: The war narrows to the Myrean League Shieldworlds; and the last throw of the dice for the False Primarch.
  • Tag: #MournStarfall

[//Last-Of-Their-Names – a Death Eagles detail, Filicide, stalks across Lemmas in the War of Inheritance+]
[//alexander_l/@noctuscornix+]

***

Stage V of VI 

[//Morqub belongs to the Partisans; Heliopolis increasingly contested. Success for the Primarch here will allow the word of his return to spread.+]

Rebellions are commonplace in the heaving and fractious Imperium of Man. What marks this as exceptional is the sheer scale of the schism; that its figurehead has been hailed as a returned son of the Emperor; and that he commands a host of Astartes of a size unknown since times long thought lost in myth.

Whether through serpent tongue, foul magics or – so some whisper – because he is genuine, Volnoscere has brought much of the population to his side; and everywhere he travels, allies flock to join his armies. These Partisans include nearly a dozen formerly loyal Chapters Astartes of the region; each for reasons of their own.

[//Wormwood Sons Partisans clash with Charnel Guard over the Shieldworlds+]
[//nick_t/@k0rdhal et josh_n+]


The High Lords' orthodox armies and armadas have brought the fight to this 'Volnoscere' – the assaults spearheaded by the Pentarchy of Blood, a group of orthodox Astartes deputised to the False Primarch's destruction. Hundreds of worlds are aflame and the merciless arithmetic of warfare has seen losses measured on a scale unseen for millennia. Aliens circle as civil war consumes the Imperium, and more and more of its defenders are ordered to abandon their posts to smother the affected region in an unbreakable shroud of steel – the Annulus Umbra. 

For both the High Lords and the Partisans, this is an existential struggle. If Volnoscere and his forces pierce the Annulus Umbra and voyage to Terra, the Imperium as it is known will be forever changed. 

First though; victory. 

A defeated Primarch is no figurehead at all – and so the Abomination has planted his great mace, Monstrance, firmly in the sand at Myrea Prime. Here, in the defences of the mysterious and masterful pocket empire of the Storm Tyrants, the False Primarch issues his challenge to the High Lords. Here, the full might of the Orthodox Imperium will be pitched against the collective might of the New Imperial Truth...

[//And so consign all traitors to the High Lords to the flames.+]
[//pesh_h/@freelancepesh+]

***

You are invited to help shape the closing stages of the War of the False Primarch; which are focussed around the Shieldworlds of the Myrean League – a cluster of interconnected and self-supporting systems created over long centuries by the Storm Tyrants, a Chapter that have joined the Partisan cause – not entirely willingly.

[//The Myrean League: Principal and Secondary Shieldworlds+]

Strategic Disposition of the Partisans

The Year of Miracles has passed, and the war has dragged on far longer than anyone might have expected. Even amongst the most fervent supporters, doubts have begun to emerge about the Primarch's nature – and so the Silver Stars and their leadership cadre, the Kapihe, are forced to come to the fore.

***

Getting involved

A sincere thank-you to all who are already following the events of the war – whether here on Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten; on Instagram; Facebook; or via contributions on the Discord channel. I hope you are enjoying the blog; and encourage you to follow the charming, talented, generous (and doubtless wonderfully good-looking) contributors on Instagram. Their names and Instagram aliases are below each image on the blog. 

To those new to the project, this is how you get involved in deciding the events of the War of the False Primarch: simply build, paint and post your models on Instagram. The tags for this stage of the project are:
#MournStarfall
#somethingsarebestleftforgotten
#warofthefalseprimarch 

I will comb through all contributions that use these tags and, where possible, use them here on the blog to illustrate the stories and colour text that emerges, crediting your images with your Instagram username. Do feel free to get in contact with me there with any questions by messaging @death_of_a_rubricist.

Where do I begin?

There is a lot of information here! Rest assured that there's no need to read through it all – dip in and out as you wish, for the history of the War of the False Primarch has been redacted, obscured and covered-up. Red herrings and misinformation abound, and the truth – if it exists at all – is frequently heavily cloaked. 

To help you in your investigations:
  • Use the Search tool at the top right; 
  • Scroll through the Review log of popular posts in the right-hand column
  • Use the keyword links by hovering over a post and clicking on the words that pop up
  • There is also a prominent 'How to get involved' box at the upper right, which includes links to the principal stages to ease you in. 


As a final route in, here is a quick list of the Index Astartes articles – as good a place as any to start, but there is more to the War of the False Primarch than Space Marines. Not all listed here will survive – and nearly all will be forever altered.

Your imagination is paramount; your characters and models take precedence; and remember – Everything You Have Been Told Is a Lie...

The Pentarchy of Blood – champions of orthodoxy, loyal to the High Lords of Terra

+ Icons of the Pentarchy of Blood +
***

The Partisan Chapters – supporters of the Last True Son

THE STEEL OF HELIOPOLIS
INDEPENDENTS
[REDACTED]
  • Index Apocrypha: Silver Stars – [//edward_r/@death_of_a_rubricist+]

[//A selection of the Partisan and Pentarchy Chapters+]
[//pesh_s/@freelancepesh+]

***

There's more

You have the entirety of the 34th Millennium to inspire and guide you; and you should feel entirely free to help construct the future history of the Silver Stars, along with the Partisan Chapters – or perhaps you feel more drawn to the Pentarchy of Blood and want to uphold the High Lords of Terra's Orthodoxy. Perhaps you want to investigate – and prosecute – the Shadow War of the Inquisition raging behind the scenes; or you want to bring the coterie of a High Lord of Terra to life. 

[//Orthodox flagellants and doomsayers+]
[//oli_n/@magos_nexnbo+]


In short, paint whatever inspires you about this period. We want this project to be as free and open as possible.

[//Partisan Inheritors on Agreum+]
[//lars_j-d/@lars.j.dahl+]

If you would like to contribute in a more formal or longform manner, then please search for the + Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten + Facebook group and let me know. We're looking for stories and colour text that illustrate the battles, conflicts and events in the region. If you can provide images, all the better. The key events below are just the start of things – there are literally hundreds of minor skirmishes and confrontations between the Partisans and Orthodoxy. Perhaps they might inspire you to paint or write – and if you simply want to use this material as a starting point for your own private campaigns and stories, then please feel free. There's no reason that your contributions to this secret, hidden war need be made public...

Before we move on, I'd like to give a brief – and entirely insufficient – thank-you to all the contributors; artists, writers and enthusiasts who have thus far contributed, interacted, or simply clicked 'like'. It's very much appreciated.

***

[//Moreaumunda Lesser deplyoment: Ancient-Claviger Oerod, former Centurion-Armistos of clan Morragul.+]
[//amir_h/@count.hodo+]

It resisted, at first. The ceramite. Then it warped, bubbled, cracked under the intense heat and chemical assault. Varris panned from one side to another, spilling the hateful green flame across flesh and rock. It all burned. It all turned to less than nothing. The traitor's gene-seed had long become half-cooked protoplasmic slur - but then, the Iron Thane's required very little to work their terrible wonders. The barest necessities of flesh and cerebrum would do.

They were in their dozens, Red Talons all, moving across the battlefield and dousing everything with volatile phlogistonics - incendiary compounds concocted of phosphex and devourer-chems.

Such was the reward of treason. Fire. Ruin.

"Render unto the craven what is theirs." Varris whispered in the privacy of his own mind.

----

As the war progressed the Red Talons would become increasingly violent in their methodology.

Formations such as the Bieda - one such support tactical marine seen above - would see deployments on company and even pseudo-chapter level. Tentative inquisitiorial reports suggest that a full half of the chapter - swollen to about six- to seven-thousand astartes total - had been reassigned to siege-destroyer formations such as the Bieda, Propastia and Otrovna.

One of the few surviving recordings of the burning of Icathus details the genocidal heights the Red Talons had reached in those days. A verdant world, teeming with people that might have been saved, repatriated even, had been given over to wholesale massacre. All edifices of their culture were put to the flame, those Riven Lords unable to flee consigned to ash - or worse - and all suitable to work sold into slavery.



[//Protectorite Guardian Vezzali+]
[//pdh_neglected_fruits+]



***

[//Murder in the dark – 'ware the Wardens of the Stars+]
[//dan_j/@dark_isles+]

'It was told afterwards that Tho ben Baruch and the Shrouded Esdras bore Him away, insensible – and, damnably, whether he yet lived could not be proven.'

'Amidst the burning ruins of a city all but razed by warfare; alongside numberless warriors and hundreds of Astartes, three Chapter Masters lay dead. A fourth had been hollowed out by his ill-considered use of that dread weapon wrested from Pazau, and had but minutes to commend his soul to the Next-of-his-Name. More than that, however:
'He had triumphed, nevertheless. 
The False Primarch had fallen.'

[//Testimony of the Bearer of the Coral Shield, Records of the Casting of the Spear+]