Events 260.M42

The Dark Child: Now there is talk of the 2nd messiah on Calisi, preaching the gospel of the Four True Gods...

Eleusis ascendant: Pilgrims flock here in the tens of thousands, seeking the blessings of the Star-Childe.

Rule for half cost.

Events 259.M42

Law and Disorder: The sign of the Blood God is ascendant in the Warp, heralding great bloodshed. The Hadex Anomaly pulses with foul life and the baleful conjunction of the stars have brought the worlds of Xyan and Scepter into close proximity. Millions of inmates are flooding into the stress of Scepter, threatening to plunge the entire world into oblivion.

Civil war between Xyan and Scepter.

A faith united: The Star-Lord and Heavenly Host is now part of the core faith of the sector.

Return split Spiritual holding to the fold.

Events 258.M42

The Coming of Star Child (Eleusis): Thousands lined the streets as the Star Child (the messiah from Calisi) arrived on Eleusis. Curious, as no one was told of his arrival. Still, many preachers and seers had been telling the people of his coming.

+1 max Spiritual on Eleusis while the Star Child remains on the world.

The Pyre: Strike cruisers bearing the symbol of the Pyre warband have been seen in the vicinity of the Anomaly. One such ship approached and scanned the defenses of Aurum before leaving.

Rak'Gol

The Rak’Gol are a race of vicious xenos marauders that are a relatively new threat to the Imperium. This first recorded encounters took place around 700.M41 within the Koronus Expanse, a region of wild space bordering the Halo Stars beyond the Calixis Sector. The Ordo Xenos theorized that they originated from somewhere in or beyond the Alenic Depths, but their homeworld was never conclusively identified. By 200.M42, the Rak-Gol has spread to other remote parts of the galaxy by means unknown. It’s almost like they are slowly moving through the Halo Stars, unnoticed by the universe at large until they choose to strike, but this is, of course, impossible—the ancient halo stars are known to be virtually impossible to navigate, and travel times are exceedingly long.  

Rak’Gol technology is relatively primitive by Imperial standards. The Adeptus Mechanicus won’t touch any of it, except upon request from the Inquisition, considering it both inferior and irredeemably corrupt. The Rak’Gol favor simplicity and brutal efficiency in all their weapons and other wargear. Nowhere is this more apparent than in their ship design. Vessels are constructed around a cylindrical core, balanced upon a crude—but powerful—fission-pulse drive. Asymmetric extensions run fore and aft, with fins and pylons extending irregularly from the hull, areas of reinforced armor plating, and a veritable forest of defensive turrets. The vessels are extensively decorated with layer upon layer of crude warding symbols.

The Rak’Gol may have only recently discovered warp travel, possibly by scavenging warp drives from other races. All warp-drives that have been recovered from Rak’Gol are far more advanced than the race’s remaining tech, using strange crystalline technologies unknown to the Imperium, and show signs of being recent additions to old ships. Nothing resembling a Gellar field has been identified; it’s believed the Rak’Gol rely on their Techo-Shamans, talismans, charms, and symbols built into the hulls of their vessels to protect them from the Warp.

The fission-pulse drives used by the Ra’Gol are primitive but quite powerful. They are also only marginally shielded. This means that any Rak’Gol ship under drive will be instantly visible to any vessel within several void units. Word has spread that the best defense against a Rak’Gol attack is to flee at the first sign of an engine signature. The drives also subject the crews to unimaginable levels of radiation, enough to kill an unprotected human within minutes. Even wearing hazmat gear, Navy armsmen should spend no more than 30-60 minutes aboard a Rak’Gol ship with drives engaged. Astartes in sealed power armor are less exposed, but may required bio-regeneration if they spend more than a few hours on board or suffer armor breaches. Only terminator armor is wholly resistant to the rad danger.

Analyses of ships that have fallen prey to the Rak’Gol are remarkably consistent: they are stripped down to their cores. Any salvageable equipment is missing. Reports indicate that some Rak’Gol boarders take prisoners. Why they would do this is unclear, as human prisoners would quickly perish from the harsh radiation emitted by the fission engines.

The Rak’Gol themselves are horrific alien monstrosities, twisted and warped, like something out of a warp-nightmare. Vaguely reptilian in appearance, eight-limbed (4 legs and 4 arms), and over three meters long. Chalky white in color and mantis-like in bodily arrangement. Rak’Gol warriors favor cybernetic augmentation – veterans will have replaced all their limbs, covered their bodies in armor-plate, and more.

The Rak’Gol seem to exist only for slaughter, descending on voidships and isolated colonies like a plague, and disappearing again into the cold depths of the void. The underlying impetus for the Rak’Gol’s attacks remains a mystery, for those who suffer their predations rarely live to tell the tale.

Their rasping, screeching language remains incomprehensible, and no successful communication between the Rak’Gol and humanity has been recorded. No Rak’Gol has ever been captured alive by the Imperium. Indeed, even their name is taken from children’s stories of mythical monsters from the settlement of Footfall’s slums.

The Rak’Gol are primarily known through the ships crippled by the Navy or Rogue Traders. Several such wrecks have been investigated by naval analysts and the Ordo Xenos. Other tales come from survivors of planetary raids, or ship crew that has somehow survived attacks by the Rak’Gol and lived. The Imperium also located and eliminated a series of Rak’Gol outposts in the Koronus Expanse. The foul xenos were found to inhabit both planetary surfaces and orbital installations.

Several castes of Rak’Gol have been identified, based on their physical appearance and their function with a pack of raiders. The Ordo Xenos suspects that caste may be tied to the Rak’Gol lifecycle, which in turn is linked to battle prowess, but no conclusions can be drawn from such a small sample.

Carvers: These Rak’Gol are slightly smaller than their compatriots, though they still tower over humans. Built for speed over raw power and armed with savage melee weapons and crude automatics, they are seen spearheading large assaults. Carvers are at best lightly augmented—they’ve yet to prove themselves. Carvers are primarily found aboard the largest Rak’Gol vessels, sometimes on cruisers, but never on escorts.

Marauders: Marauders are the most common Rak’Gol encountered. Marauders are always augmented with cybernetics. Each warrior has its own unique combination of equipment and weapons, though most favor a combination of melee and automatic projectile weapons. In battle, try to overwhelm their opponents with speed and ferocity, but can adapt to and overcome any form of armed resistance. Marauders represent a real threat to Astartes, especially in melee.

Renders: Carvers are almost a breed apart from other Rak’Gol, thirty to forty-five percent larger than their lesser kin. Even more heavily augmented than other Rak’Gol, each Render is a nigh-unstoppable killing machine. In theory, a Render should be a match for a Space Marine in Tactical Dreadnaught Armor. They carry no weapons or use any equipment, save those integrated into their bodies: vicious blades, crackling with bio-energy, quick-firing auto-cannons, and radiation beams, capable of scambling technological equipment and killing bioforms both.

Clutchmasters: Clutchmasters are the lieutenants of a Rak’Gol force and take directions from the Broodmasters above them. They are often the captains of smaller (escorts) Rak’Gol vessels. Clutchmasters are veterans of many raids, and thus will be extensively modified with cybernetics. Many Clutchmasters also wield strange alien weapons seized from the hands of dead enemies. Unlike the troops under their command, Clutchmasters only enter melee as a last resort. But when they do, there a few that can stand against them.

Broodmasters: Broodmasters are the Rak’Gol commanders and lead the attack raids against the other races. They are distinguished from lesser Rak’Gol marauders by the number of cybernetic they possess, often resulting in them being more machine than flesh. Broodmasters are cunning warriors and expert leaders, both during space battles and the inevitable boarding actions that follow.

Abominations: Abominations are the leader-caste of the Rak’Gol and the least encountered. Each Abomination is heavily modified with cybernetics, even more so than the Broodmasters. Abominations also appear to be a sort of spiritual leader to the Rak’Gol, planning their raids across the galaxy.

Techno-Shamans: Resembling other Rak’Gol, Techno-Shamans are nevertheless very different creatures. Each Techno-Shaman is a kind of primitive tech-priest, versed in the corrupt machine mysteries of their race, but also a potent psyker. This may sound like a strange combination until you take into account the fact that it’s the shamans and their runes that keep the predators of the Warp at bay, while also making sure that the strange crystal Warp-engines keep working.

Rules for using Rak'Gol in BFG (because I'm a geek).

Events 256.M42

A new threat: There is talk among the voidskippers that ply the Canis run down to Tau space of dangerous xenos craft striking from the darkest reaches of space. Large, cylindrical vessels with masses of armored spines and jagged protrusions. They attack out of nowhere, and the only warning you get is the flare of radiation from their drives. The ships are fast and heavily armed, but their preferred method of attack is boarding: swarms of boarding torpedoes and attack craft.

Thus far, the Tau have been the worst hit, and several free traders have gone missing. The Jericho Sector fleet has only lost a single corvette-from a convoy that got away-and has a galleon down for repairs. The unescorted galleon was able to flee the attack, but the crew was nearly overcome by a hundred our so xenos that got aboard. Horrible eight-limbed monsters the size of ogryns, cyber-enhanced, and packing a variety of blades and guns. Only the heroic sacrifice of nearly two-thirds of the crew was able to save the vessel. No xeno was taken alive.

Remove 1 corvette. 1 star galleon is out for repairs for 1 turn.

Plague! (Wrath): The cities of Wrath are experiencing an outbreak of a most virulent plague. Thousands are dead and tens of thousands infected. The world is in lockdown for the time being. Tanith Baal has dispatched the Angelic Touch. Krawl is en route to look for signs of...someone's grandfather.

Reduce loyalty by 1. Maximum tax reduced to Fair.

Child of Light (Calisi): There is talk of a messiah, a boy of no more than ten or twelve years, walking the wastelands of Calisi, spreading the word of the Star-Lord and the Heavenly Host. According to this new faith, the STar-Lord is the supreme divine being who created the universe. Soon, he'll send his Heavenly Host to destroy it, and only the Faithfull will be spared (they get to join the Host).

Increase loyalty by 1. Reduce Spiritual by 1, but as long as the faith is allowed to exist, it still counts as a Full holding.

Inquisitor Hybris and the Dark Pattern

Inquisitor Hybris, Ordo Hereticus, Jericho Conclave: this radical Inquisitor was once part of the Dark Cabal, but fell out of favor and relocated (or possibly fled) to the Mammon sector. There is no record of him having been declared rogue, but the Dark Cabal always worked mostly behind the scenes, so that doesn't mean anything.

Hybris is important because, as far as Barotta can tell, he tried using the Dark Symmetry to understand the Dark Pattern. And Barotta knows a thing or two about Dark Symmetry, so he's pretty sure he's right. So either Hybris went insane - or he fell to Chaos. So being forced to flee/banished/whatever makes a lot of sense. Even radicalized Inquisitors can only go so far before they become traitors.

But Hybris was on to something: there is not one, unified dark pattern, where there is one evil force at work, destroying worlds throughout Jericho and beyond. There are several. Without this knowledge, you can forever stare at the Dark Pattern and ALMOST understand what it tries to tell you.

By looking for more than one pattern, the whole picture becomes clearer. And Hybris' vision was clearer than most. To aid his work, he created the Doomsday Clock, an arcane machine capable of predicting the future in great detail (or so Barotta's many texts and sources claim). It is, for lack of better words, an extremely accurate tarot that can be used for some very specific operations.

But where is this clock now? No one knows, but Hybris went to Mammon. Perhaps his clock is there as well?

Manu ad Bellum

The Manu ad Bellum (Hand of War) is the first of a new class of warship. It's based on the pattern for an STC-compliant Astartes battle-barge, but modified to use the hybrid Human-Tau technology of Credence. It's a truly herculean undertaking, but the design and the actual construction, but the Central Intelligence has prepared for this moment for millennia.

The basic spaceframe and key subsystems, such as power generation, propulsion, and shields, are STC, but the entire computer system and weapon arrays are Tau-derivates. Attempts to more fully integrate Tau gravitics technology have not been successful. The Bellum can generate a gravity wedge in front of the ship, but only by dropping void shields, so it's a questionable tactic at best. To gain the full benefits of Tau grav tech would require a full redesign of the class, something that could take decades - if it can be done at all.

The Bellums's massive forward castle contains the ship's main long-range weapons. Two clusters of gravitic launchers capable of hurling a mass of swarm missiles flank the spinal grav cannon. The grav cannon is essentially a modified Nova cannon that fire grav (implosion) warheads. It's a potent weapon, but its size and external mount mean it's vulnerable to enemy fire. 

The forward castle also contains the cavernous launch bays. There is enough space to launch 3 Astartes companies, with additional heavy-lift capacity for orbit-to-planet operations. Secondary launch bays are housed in the ship's main body. These bays aren't big enough for large scale assaults and are reserved for priority transports and the like.

The ship's dorsal ridge and flanks are crowned by massive ion cannon batteries. These are essentially Tau versions of Imperial lances. Each turret is smaller and each weapon lighter, but when slaved together they are at least as effective as their Empire counterparts, and far more reliable. An alternate design for the Bellum did away with the spinal cannon, in favor of a second set of ventrally mounted ion cannons.

The Bellum's massive broadsides are made up of two distinct weapon types: two-thirds are medium-range railguns that cause damage based on kinetic energy alone and the rest are short-range heavy railguns that can fire a variety of warheads, such as magma and implosion bombs. The former have a lot in common with Imperial broadside batteries, but their accuracy at range is somewhat better. The latter combines railgun tech with the design principles of bombardment cannons. The effect on the target is largely the same, but again the accuracy at range is somewhat better due to the higher velocity of the ordnance fired. The battery bays are modular, and several designs were evaluated before settling on the current loadout.

Point defense is excellent, based around Tau burst cannon and integrated tracking arrays. Battle barges are already tough nuts to crack with missiles and small craft, but the Bellum class ups the odds even more. If more ships can be built using this new hybrid tech, Bellum has the ability to integrate point defense to create a nearly impenetrable grid.

The Bellum class can launch and support 3 companies of Astartes in Thunderhawks. It does not, however, have provisions for standard boarding torpedoes. Trials were conducted, but the rail launch kills even Astartes, so it's not a viable option. Likewise, drop pods were removed to free up space for additional ventral ion batteries. There are provisions for a full teleportarium, but Credence lacks the ability to produce this technology, so currently, the Bellum has no teleport capacity. A total of 5 Astartes companies and their wargear and support can be housed on board, but a more typical complement is 3 companies.

Like all battle-barges, the Bellum is heavily armored and superbly shielded, and equipped with numerous redundancies. That said, the Bellum lacks a lot of the manual overrides and backups that are some common on Imperium warships, and is even more reliant on it's tech-priests (technomancers) to operate at peak efficiency. Unlike other Astartes craft, battle-barges are not fast and agile. It's a blunt instrument, meant to hammer the enemy into submission on its own, or acting as the anvil is an Astartes battles group.

Once the kinks have been ironed out, a properly handled Bellum-class battle-barge with a full complement of Astartes has the potential to be among the most powerful battleships in the galaxy.

Daughters of the Word (wargear)

Hextrix is a busy man, always working to expand the sector's industries, administering the tech-priests, and researching new and wondrous technologies.

Baal-pattern light power armor: STC-compliant power armor. Based on patterns derived from existing Daughter armor, with some modifications by Hextrix since he didn't have access to the actual templates at the time. Produced in some quantity on Argoth. It's named after Tanith-Baal.

Hextrix is working on an Astartes-compatible version of this armor, for when there are no more ancient legacy suits or salvaged armor to go around. Thus far his work hasn't been wholly successful, due to a lack of resources and proper research and production facilities.

Domina-pattern bolt pistol: Pistol version of the Domina-pattern bolter.

Domina-pattern bolter: Thus far, Daughters have used a variety of bolt and (Tau) plasma weapons, but Hextrix is close to mass-producing a new model bolter, the so-called Domina (Lady) pattern. It's based on the same pattern as the not-so-successful Astartes Domo model (it fails reliability testing). About 90% of the parts used are the same and if fires the same ammunition. Which isn't very useful unless everyone uses the same weapon pattern. What is useful, however, is the custom integration with the Baal-pattern PA, which allows the Domina to use sensor data from the suit, increasing accuracy.

Dagon-pattern incinerator: Abortive attempt at combining a standard flamer unit with a toxin dispenser for use against especially hostile bioforms (read: Tyranids). The actual weapon works well enough, but it's finding a toxin that can be combined with the promethium mix that's the problem.

Jericho-pattern fireblade: This is a human-sized battle sword that utilizes Tau tech to generate a plasma beam along the blade's cutting edge. It's no archeotech powersword, but it's a lightweight and effective alternative to chainswords.