+++ Thorn Moons Crusade +++

 

The Green Man Cometh

 

Dramatis Personae

 

The Defenders of the realm

 

The Thorn Moon Legion, Elder Ones & Green Mechanicvm

Oghamme, Keeper of Thornes, High Librarian, Custode of Daerwynne, 1st Library Moon

Huathe, Thorne Kyngge, Lord of Gheal, 3rd Moon

Thurisaz, Thorne Maker, Lord of Lintear, 7th Moon

Pyrocanthe, Fire Thorne, Lord of Lasair, 11th Moon

Straiph, Black Thorne, Lord of Dorchae, 21st Moon

Svante Ambrosiusse, Thorne Court Master, Genetor Magos Biologis

Haghænne, Tarot Reader, Lucus Queen

Pater Fredrik Carolus Linnæus XVIth, Princeps Botanicarum, Linnæanne Brotherhood of Neith

 

The XX Legion

Alpharius, Lord of the Ghost Legion

The Masked King”, Anax, Headhunter Alpha

Omega Orion, Captain

Phocran, Headhunter Prime

Shere, Headhunter

Jargassor, Operative

The Architect, Magos

Magoster Sesoki, Magos

Bofors Nummifier, Agent, Rogue Trader, Captain of the King

The Green Knight, Atrapos Exemplar

 

The Emperor’s Sanction

 

The VI Legion – Vlka Fenryka & Custodian Guard

Melchior Pious – Captain, Custodian Guard.

Garviel Fullor, Ambassador of the Council

The Sigillite, Inquitiorial Envoy

Rhuncir Gorevlkae, called Lord Balewolf, Jarl, and Rago

Ranulf, called Mastodon, Ancient

Vosla Helclaw, called Slayer, called Threadtaker, Called Hjolda, 1st Scout

Thrar Wargjeger, Wolf Guard Scout

 

Ordo Xenos & Chamber Militant

“Inquisitorial Task Force Interminor”

Aquinus Orlock Hiardyn, Inquisitor Dalthan Ordo Xenos

Lorcan Steiger, Interrogator under tutelage of Inquisitor Hiardyn

Mercenaries – Prince Jenderous Hax, formerly of Malfi, Okki Thorwargsson and the Orlock Irregulars

Merc Sniper Barlii Swarger

Galarrmesh, Epistolary of the Deathwatch & Brotherhood of a Thousand

Cycnus, Watch Sergeant of the Deathwatch & Sons of Antaeus

Sankar, Revered-Leviathan of the Deathwatch & Star Phantoms

***

Casryn Allin-Khan, Witchseeker Oblivion, Knight of the Blazon Claw Cadre 

“Inquisitorial Task Force Javelin”

Jagadian Pallas, Inquisitor Lord, based on Terra

Ain Kartize, Inquisitor Alien-hunter

Sgt. Gottlund, Inquisitorial Tracker

Patriarch Ferethrus, Informant

Eliah Carrellian, Watch Sergeant , The Resolute Guardian

 

The Wrath of True Machine

Adeptus Mechanicus:

Arch Magos Lilith, Forge Queen of the Ring of Iron – Magos Dominus Interrogator Imperialis – The Dragon’s Consort

Questoris Familia:

Kalatha Sayeed, Lord Scion, House Phoenicis-Lacus

Inquisition:

Paternoster Volk, Lord Inquis., Ordo Hereticus, Sector Dalthus

Astra Militarum:

Grygory Askanaze, Lord Commander Militant, Imperial Amy of Okassis

 

The Gothic and the Eldricth 

The Red Corsairs

Gashkyt the Skinner, Lord Captain of the Fleet, Regal Gair, Champion of the Fleet

Elia Ygon, Master Bosun

Jarin Thios, Quartermaster

Cristos Savacius, Dreadnought – The Murderer of the Prophets, the Butcher of Ere’gaz.

Bastian Tasio

Cai Endes

Dante Fulcan

Pius Cipin

Rowke Monick, Lieutenants of the Red Guard

Masque of Red Sorrow

Kaewyndir, White Seer Council, bone singer

Saelindra, Masque of Red Sorrow, troupe master

Daethill, unknown craftworld, ranger

 

 

+++

Intelligence Data, Case CR.FRG. Urgent Brief 948.872

+++

Esteemed Sire,

As unfolded in CR.FRG. Brief 398.820 the investigation of the recent incident in the Daylight Chapel on Terra points towards a heretical belief among some scholars Excommunicate that Crataegus Fragmentum could be the original birthplace of the microscopic life forms and organic building blocks of life that led to the evolution of the flora and fauna on an abundance of worlds in that part of the galaxy, which, in its infancy, spanned a region covering current areas of Segmentum Obscurus and Segmentum Solar, including that of Holy Terra today.

The data gathered on this topic since the incident is sparse, but our agents dispatched to the Prigorian Divide and beyond – may the Emperor bless their souls – suggest that Crataegus Fragmentum was indeed colonised by a Genetor Mechanicvm Explorator Fleet thought lost at some point prior to 30M. The data also indicate that the region was cut off by freak changes in the Empyrean soon after the colonisation, which made communication and interstellar travel in the region all but impossible up until a few years prior to the incident on Terra, where a safe route was charted through the warp storms. We believe Sire, that this could be one of the reasons why knowledge of the region has faded out of memory up until now – and why there may be an abundance of natural resources to be collected there in the future.

What we have been able to uncover during this tense period of investigation is a colonised area in Crataegus Fragmentum consisting of a handful of old Halo Stars and what appears to be close to a hundred thorn moons of boreal beauty. We have only scratched the surface in our investigation, but early intelligence talk of bio-mechanical constructs that appear to be guarding immense thorn wood forests, living machine shrines and vast libraries, that have probably been created – and indeed cultivated – by the Genetor colonists themselves over their long seclusion from the Imperiumme. This seem to strengthen our belief that the bio-mechanical constructs that managed to escape from the incident on Terra may indeed originate from Crataegus Fragmentum. Furthermore, we have not been able to locate the Rogue Trader Anaxaegoras since then.

But now to my gravest concern for the future Sire, and the reason for this urgent brief: 

We have just received some dire new data from our most trusted agents within the region, which indicates that Crataegus Fragmentum was not only colonised by the Genetor Mechanicvm Explorator Fleet so many years ago. Apparently, it was also visited by what appears to be a Legiones Astartes Expeditionary Fleet at some point in time during the Great Crusade. If the data is correct, and even though communication with our agents within the region is more than difficult we have no reason to believe otherwise, there may still be Legionnaires present in the region.

This, Sire, could jeopardise the whole endeavour – and our agents – and as such is something I would like to urgently discuss with you face to face. I have sent my high emissary to your Magistrate and expect her to arrive within a fortnight. I look forward to having a personal meeting arranged as soon as possible.

Yours truly.

+++

End, Intelligence Data, Case CR.FRG. Urgent Brief 948.872

+++

 

Crataegus Fragmentum

The agents are right: There are indeed Legionnaires in Crataegus Fragmentum, an old region of fading Halo Stars and hundreds of Thorn Moons of boreal beauty placed in the outer fringes of the Imperiumme.

They are known as the Elder Ones and are the remaining Thousand Sons Legionnaires who arrived in larger numbers on the Thorn Moons in 30M, before the insurgence of warp storms in the region. The Elder Ones were once part of the armada of Imperial Expeditionary Fleets that left Terra during the Great Crusade to reunite the human-settled galaxy in the late 30^th Millennium.

Prior to their arrival Genetor Mechanicvm Explorator Fleets from Mars had already initiated the first colonisation – and indeed cultivation – of many of the Thorn Moons in the region. This initial colonisation by the Genetor Mechanicvm functioned as a preparation of the Thorn Moons for the arrival of the Legiones Astartes and was one of the reasons why the Thousand Sons Legionnaires knew exactly what they came for in the first place.

Their insatiable quest for knowledge had led them to Crataegus Fragmentum to trace back the origin of mankind and the lifeforms on Terra. Their studies had supplied them with enough evidence that the building blocks of life had spread from this particular region of old Halo Stars and Thorn Moons through the galaxy and seeded a thousand worlds, including Terra itself, aeons ago, through what the Elder Ones describe as panspermia (called The Great Panspermia by some scientists Excommunicate today, among others the now infamous paleo-botanist Brostten Haggwers). For the Elder Ones and their Green Mechanicvm allies Crataegus Fragmentum is the cradle of all Terran lifeforms, including, implicitly, the Emperor himself.

The exploration and colonisation of Crataegus Fragmentum was an attempt to gain knowledge of not only the distribution of life in the galaxy, but also to get one step closer to learn more about the origin of man and, maybe more than anything, its future role in the galaxy. Something the hypothesis of panspermia does not explicitly address. What the Elder Ones discovered in this world of a hundred forested moons of boreal beauty was that man’s true nature, at least according to their studies, lay in the ability to evolve and change according to both internal and external circumstances over time. Abilities they traced back to the building blocks that made up the boreal lifeforms that grew on the surfaces of the Thorn Moons.

From Throne to Thorne
The Thousand Sons Legionnaires and Green Mechanicvm Explorator Fleets arrived in Crataegus Fragmentum a few years before it was cut off from the Imperiumme by the freak warp storms that have up until now isolated the region and which led to the emergence of the Prigorian Divide (known among Rogue Traders in the region today simply as the Rift). This was at a time right before the Horus Heresy broke out.

Since then the Thorn Moons have been transformed by the secluded Elder Ones and their Green Mechanicvm allies into a boreal world of biomechanical kingdoms, libraries and preserves each with their own small (and diminishing) host of Elder Ones and Green Mechanicvm that operate in an elaborate system of kingships, librarians and courts consisting of both Legionnaires, Green Mechanicvm and endemic forest beasts like satyrs, fauns and centaurs.

During this long period of solitude, the Elder Ones have not only built vast moon sized libraries like the Library Moon of Daerwynne, where vast collections of texts, like Holloways, have been written into the lay of the land, but also turned to witchcraft, tarot cards and boreal magic. By combining their scientific knowledge with an ability to read natural phenomena, both weather and the growth and transformation of trees, and tarot cards known as Deck of Thornes, the Elder Ones have been able to not only trace panspermia back to its origin for the sake of history, but also explore ways to give nature, and its inherent processes of change and transformation, back its rightful place in the Imperiumme in the future.

As such, the Elder Ones have, with the assistance of the Green Mechanicvm, formulated an overarching goal of transforming Terra and the Golden Throne of Mankind into the Green Seat of the Emperor reborn.

From Throne to Thorne!

 

 

Terra’s Sanction – Summon the Sixth!

The gleaming dart of an ancient ship building marvel shot through the blackness of free space. It had sped through the heaviest, smartest, most formidable defensive network ever built by man, using clearance codes and lanes crafted in complete secret at its creation. Everything about this small vessel, and it’s route was remarkable. Yet for its captain and the likes of him, it was duty and routine. 

“My Lord, ready to enter the immaterium” announced the silky voice of an exquisite servitor, made of gleaming chrome, polished silver, and a soulless man. 

+ Do it +

Another servitor, this one bronze and copper-alloy, but just as polished and soulless, one of four unnervingly identical ones swiftly and smoothly adjusted his instruments. A quick tremor run through the Guardian, a Mercury class void speeder, one of the smallest and fastest void capable vessels ever built. It was built to carry orders and a dozen very special bearers of them. 

…

The Guardian’s arrival was just as prepared, engineered and clandestine as its departure. Where exiting Terra was darting out a hive of rusted haze, incredible maze of activity, entering Fenrys was an orderly zigzag through orbital defenses, which for this vessel only forgo the layered security protocols, but still traced it with enough firepower to destroy worlds. 

…

Logan Grimnar, Jarl of Fenrys, giant of death and destruction stood like a mountain in full Terminator Plate to meet his visitors. These were dire times. The Great Wolf stared down the golden group with his meteor black eyes, sank deep in a face tempered in war, a craggy  mask of grey -nothing like the soft skin of yours or mine. Grimnar bid them welcome in a thunderous grunt, barely recognizable as gothic, yet instantly clear in intention. “Welcome. Speak”

Five of the Dozen were giants.  Polar opposite of a Sky Warrior. These Golden Warriors, they were not a pack but Noble individuals. One stepped forward, bowed and removed his plumed helm in one swift motion. 

“Lord Grimnar, Master of Fenris and the VI Legion, my name is Melchior Pious, Custodian, Envoy of the Twelve and harbinger of compliance. I come carrying a decree and an ambassador of the High Lords” 

…

Mere hours later, The Guardian entered Warp Space again, Flanked by the Dark Shadows of hulking battle ships of  Jarl Rhuncir Gorevlkae, perhaps the most ruthless and unorthodox of the Vlka Fenryka Lords, and far more dangerous now with the Wulfen in his command. With the Custodians and the Silent, a force composed like here had now fought together since the Burning of Prospero.

The Emperor’s sanction was on its way.

…

 

What is the Thorn Moons Crusade

A year long narrative wargaming campaign and world building project set in the Warhammer 40000 Universe with the following principles:

• story is king
• miniature art is gravity
• spirit of the game is key
• Warhammer 40k 8th edition rules are the mechanical framework

The storyline is built around the genius of FPOA a.k.a Stefan, who’s Green Mechanicvm for Pilgrym faction inspired the whole endeavor. The idea is to take Pilgrym level miniature and terrain building to a new Army level scale and have a bunch more events and games culminating to a campaign weekend finale in California, summer of 2018.

Welcome to Thorn Moons!

Stefan, Toni, Tim and Migs