Reposting from over at B&C. Enjoy
This will spoil the plot in detail, so be warned!
Ok, just finished reading the fluff and WOW. I think this is really it, BIG THINGS are happening. Obviously SPOILERS AHOY. Long posts incoming too
lol.
Thee book starts off with probably the coolest thing I've read in
40k - some prose about a Dreamer Awakening in a World That Is Not A World, and her wearily being called back to War. It's probably the coolest thing I've read about Celestine, and it doesn't even mention her by name
The first chapter of the book picks up immediately following the first wave of the assault on Cadia. It is beaten back by the genius of Creed (after he assumes command following the treacherous slaughter of the existing Cadian High Command). He sets about rebuilding the shattered defences for the second wave he knows is incoming - Abaddon will make a point of pride to make Cadia fall. Making up the shattered defences are:
* Creed and the Cadian 8th, holding the last major fortress on Cadia - Kasr Kraf
* Black Templars of the Cruxis Crusade, led by Marshal Marius Amalrich. They are standing on the southern defences of Kasr Kraf
* Dark Angels 4th Company, led by Company Master Korahael (they are making their stand at the wreckage of their fallen Strike Cruiser to the North of Kasr Kraf, its guns still operational)
* Space Wolves of the Ironwolves Great Company, led by Wolf Lord Orven Highfell. They are initially garrisoning a ruined Kasr between the Dark Angel Strike Cruiser and Kasr Kraf, but you know Space Wolves and standing still...
* Space Wolves of the Firehowlers Great Company, led by Sven Bloodhowl. They have the only remaining Imperial Ship still under power in orbit, the Battle Barge Firemane's Fang
* Knights of House Raven, led by Baroness Vardus
* Battle Sisters of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, led by the twin sister Canonesses Eleanor and Genevieve. They are holding the Shrine of Saint Morrican across the valley from Kasr Kraf
* Numerous other Cadian regiments and shattered Space Marine Chapters
Things look pretty grim when a scout ship reports that the Black Fleet of Abaddon is inbound to finish of Cadia, with a Blackstone Fortress called the Will of Eternity at its heart. It has the power to destroy a planet with a single shot, but the Imperium had prepared a special defence for it. Unfortunately the first assault left it it ruins - Cadia is doomed. Sven Bloodhowl and the Firehowlers, along with a host of Battle Brothers from shattered Chapters and even alongside some Cadian regiments, gather on the Firemane's Fang to lead a desperate assault on the Will of Eternity to delay it before it reaches Cadia ("you're telling me we're some kind of Suicide Squad?") whilst the Mechanicum frantically try to repair the anti-planet killer shields. The battle-cry goes up amongst the Cadian Defenders - "Cadia Stands!"
Elsewhere! Belasirus Cawl has been having some shady conversations with a Harlequin Shadowseer. She tells him to check out some backwater planet, long since abandoned by the Imperium in after the 4th Black Crusade swept by it in M34. On it, Cawl discovers evidence of massive orbital bombardments. Apparently the 4th Black Crusade didn't randomly sweep by this planet - Abaddon had been trying to destroy something on it. Fighting of some random Orks looking for a fight, Cawl discover something amazing - this planet has Pylons on it, just like the Cadian Pylons and it seems Abaddon was trying to destroy them! The Shadowseer tells him to go to Cadia
Elsewhere! Trazyn the Infinite is chilling in Solemnance when one of his treasures, the Bell of Saint Gerstahl, suddenly starts ringing and causing all sorts of havoc on each chime. After the bell kills 5 of his bodies, causes Solemance to send all his warriors into stasis-sleep, destroys a number of his priceless artefacts it stops after the 13th Chime. Trazyn is all
wth? and goes to the Celstial Orrery (a perfect reflection of the galaxy) to try and figure out whats going on. He notices a lot of 'crimson stain' pulsing in intricate webs out of one place in particular. The Necrons have a ton of data on the place, but Trazyn deliberately ignores that. The Imperium calls it Cadia. Trazyn wonders whether he might try being the Saviour of the Galaxy for once. At the very least, there should be something shiny to steal on Cadia.
Elsewhere! Specifically, the orbit of Terra!! Even more specifically, aboard the Phalanx!!! Be'lakor has decided to trump Abaddon and launch an attack directly at Terra - no stuffing around at Cadia for him. With the help of the Iron Warriors Warsmith Shon'tu, he creates a warp rift right in the middle of the Phalanx, with the intent to board and capture it and turn it against Terra. On board are... not much. Most of the Imperial Fists are elsewhere. All that remains to repel the chaos forces are the newly reconstituted 3rd Company, led by Captain Tor Garadon (ironically stationed there because they are inexperienced) and 30odd marines from the 1st Company. They are massively outnumbered by the combined Demon and Iron Warrior assault, are getting overrun and are losing control of the Phalanx to machine viruses from the Iron Warriors. In desperation, Garadon turns the guns of the Phalanx on itself in order to 'cut away the disease like a chirurgeon'. It costs the Phalanx a full 10th of its mass, but it stops the machine virus from taking hold and also takes out most of the Iron Warriors. As soon as control is back, Garadon orders a blind jump into the Warp in order to remove the potential for the Phalanx to be turned against Terra. Be'lakor is kinda pissed his plan has basically failed, but since they are now in the warp all his Demon forces are powered up and at least they can destroy the Phalanx. So he gets cocky and throws his Demons carelessly into the fray, victory is inevitable. At least it was inevitable until the Legion of the Dammed turn up to kick his arse. Better luck next time Be'lakor! (should have cast Invisibility). Curiously, the Legion of the Dammed have stuck around though, and Garadon has no idea why. He makes to return to Mars for urgent repairs, however a distress call is picked up - Cadia is real trouble. Garadon decides that the defence of Cadia is the most important, so he turns around and makes for Cadia. The Legion of the Dammed Sergeant gives him a ghostly bro-nod.
Back on Cadia! The Imperial defenders look on with horror as the Will of Eternity appears in orbit. The Mechiancum are no-where near finished repairs to the shields. The Will of Eternity fires..... and the beam is stopped in the clouds! Huzzah! It worked! But how?!?! Says the Magos in charge, looking around at all the slain tech-priests at the shield generator. Looking closer he notices all sorts of filthy Xenos technology integrated into the Mechanicus technology..........
Oh well, time for a conventional assault then. The Black Fleet commences orbital Bombardment of the defences, Void Shield generators straining, Drop Pods and Landing Craft coming down the thousands etc. Long story short, lots of fighting and pew pew pew. Battle Sisters kick arse. Defenders are forced back, traitor Titans of Legio Vulcanam are advancing (despite a Valkyrie kamikaze into the lead Warlord Titan, A-Wing vs Super Star Destroyer style). The Demon Prince Urkanthos, Abaddons second in command, drops in to lead the final assault. Final Gate goes down, Urkanthos shrugs off everything the Cadians can throw at him as heads straight for the shield generator protecting against the Planet Killer only to find the Battle Sisters in his way. The twin Cannoness Genevieve and Eleanor duel with him, but he kills them both (not before Genevieve headbutts him right between the eyes as her dying act of defiance though! Fkn Badass! And Eleanor stick her sword right through his chest, doing the only real wound to him). Urkanthos proceeds down to destroy the shield generator. A Chaos Baneblade is wrecking havoc amongst the Cadians, and the Black Templars rally to try and stop it and just as it swings its guns around to blow them away it suddenly freezes... and turns around and starts shooting the Chaos Forces... no-one notices a sneaky Necron Lord lurking about.... Creed uses the distraction as a last ditch effort to run his forces over to protect the shield generator, but upon seeing the dead Battle Sisters who tried to stop the Demon Prince he knows that Cadia is lost. So he goes to order a rally in one last stand, when he notices his officers holding devotional icons and uttering "The Emperor Protects". Not really one for faith, he gets kinda angry at this, but as he turns he can't help a "Well I'll be dammed"
Saint Celestine had answered their prayers.
Celestine emerging from the Heavens and slaughtering all the Demons before her re-energises all the Imperial Forces present, like a shot in the arm. Only the Adeptus Astartes are unaffected (Black Templars feel it though). The tide turns for a moment, the Defenders rallying to Celestine. But then the Traitor Legionnaires crash back into the defences. But no biggie, Celestine has that under control too - behind her, landing ships drop out of the sky and drop fresh ranks of Battle Sisters onto the field, their Battle Hymns sounding. Apparently she found a transport floating dead through the Warp, carrying 5 full companies of Battle Sisters from the Order of Our Martyred Lady lost some 1400 years ago. She hooked a Sister up and led them to another Ship en-route to Cadia. Urkanthos comes back from destroying the shield generator, looking to make his escape before the planet blows up, but runs straight into Celestine. Celestine is like "you're dead" and Urkanthos is like "
lol, you can't fight me alone I'm like favoured of Khorne and Right Hand of Abaddon and stuff" and Celestine is like "HEROES NEVER DIE!" and gets a clutch rez on Genevieve and Eleanor and all 3 proceed to soundly kick his arse. What about the Blackstone Fortress about to blow up Cadia? Oh yeah
btw, that ship Celestine hooked the Sisters up with was the Phalanx and it just suddenly jumped in amongst the Black Fleet.
The Phalanx bears straight down on the Will of Eternity. It's taking on the entire Black Fleet by itself but, hell, its a fleet in of itself. Garadon knows he's gotta kill the Blackstone Fortress, so he saves all his firepower for the opportune moment... and a section of the Will of Eternity's shields go down! Turns out Sven Bloodhowl's Suicide Squad made it aboard after all and they managed to sabotage the shields! Taking the shot, the Phalanx pours all its firepower into the Blackstone Fortress and blows it the hell up (along with like a third of the Black Fleet), the wreckage breaking into a few large chunks that sit in orbit like moons. The Black Fleet, having just been sucker punched hard by the Phalanx, pulls away to regroup. Down on the planet, Kell replants the Standard of the Cadian 8th atop the Kriegan Gates as the Battle Sisters and Cadians route the attacking Chaos Forces. Creed breathes a sigh of relief, but knows it's only a fleeting victory.
Aboard the Vengeful Spirit, Abaddon looks out over another failure. No more though - Cadia has defied him for far too long. Abaddon gathers his forces for and will lead the next assault himself. This time its personal.
The Imperial Forces consolidate. A trickle of re-enforcements arrive; The Crimson Fists 5th Company led by Captain Ruis Tracinto, Knights from House Taranis, tanks from the Cadian Armoured 51st and finally Belisarius Cawl's Mechanicus fleet. Whilst most of his Skitarri were depleted fighting those Orks, his fleet is still relatively strong. It takes up position with the Phalanx in orbit over Kasr Kraf. A Council of War is held, and Cawl outlines his discoveries about the Pylons and Abaddons intentions with them - it seems the Pylons are literally holding back the flood of the Immaterium into the galaxy. This explains the rising darkness of the last 10,000 years, and the increasing prevalence of warp storms - as Abaddon's Black Crusades have ran on the number of Pylons they've destroyed as gone up and the Warp leaks faster into realspace. Turns out Abaddon's Black Crusades haven't been failures after all, just a series of plays in a very, very long game! Creed, who'd been thinking about retreating from Cadia to preserve forces, realises that's no longer an option. The Cadian Pylons can't be allowed to fall. Cadia must stand!
Cawl gets a strange visitor... at first he thinks it's the Harlequin, but turns out its Trazyn! Trazyn offers his assistance in figuring out the secrets of the Pylons. Cawl is distrustful, but Trazyn points out that he has no desire to see Chaos rule the galaxy. Cawl realises that he's hopelessly lost in the Pylon technology anyway, so accepts his help and quickly figures out the Pylons. He's got a plan now!
Abaddon launches the next assault. Long story short again, lots of fighting, lots of pew pew pew. Battle Sisters, now led by Saint Celestine and the Twin Gemini, continue to kick all sorts of arse. The Battle Sisters get a pretty good showing in this book
imo. Anyway, Abaddons forces eventually close the circle around the Imperial Defence, and its capped off by Abaddon teleporting into Creed's Command Centre to cut the head off the command. It's only by Kell's last heroic effort that he's able to push Creed onto a Valkyrie to escape, before Abaddon cuts Kell down. With the Cadian Command in tatters, the Imperial Defence begins to fall and get overrun. The Cadian 8th fall back into the underground catacombs where the Pylons and Cawl are, pursued by Abaddon and his Terminators. On the surface, only the Battle Sisters have managed to push back the attacks.
Down in the tunnels, the Cadians and the remaining Skitarri desperately try to hold Abaddon back. Cawl is furiously trying to finish his work on the Pylons, and Trazyn is lurking about watching with interest. He can see that the Abaddon is going to overrun them quickly, and he umms and ahhs about whether to be a Saviour or just steal something and knick off. Deciding that there's probably better loot the longer he stays at the battle, he decides to help out throws out a tesseract labyrinth. What's in the labyrinth? Why just a cheeky collection of Imperial forces Trazyn's collected over the millennia is all! It pops out right in front of Abaddon's forces - suddenly there is a just post-Heresy era Ultramarine force in his face (Contemptor Dreadnaughts and all), a regiment of Vostroyan, snipers from the long dead Tanith, Salamanders though lost during the Klovian disaster and even a Custode! Everyone is confused as hell, but the immediate facts are pretty clear - they are Imperials and there are Chaos baddies in front of them! Attack! One other force came out of the tesseract too.. Inquisitor Katarinya Greyfax of the Ordo Hereticus and her bodyguard. Not one to act rashly, for rashness leads to Heresy, she surveys the battlefield..
Trazyn's Pokeball has given Cawl enough time to finish his adjustments to the Pylon. It just needs to power up now. It's chaos killing time! Noticing Cawl over by the pylon has given Abaddon pause though - has his plan over the last 10,000 years finally been figured out? Had he made a mistake by dallying around trying to crush Cadia in a show of strength rather than just blowing it out of the sky and moving on? Horus made similar mistakes, by falling to his pride, and is Abaddon now following suit? When in doubt.... summon demons!
The chaos forces begin to overpower the Imperials. The last of the Heresy-era Ultramarines goes down, Demonettes rip through the Vostroyan ranks, Legion of the Dammed (who had come down from the Phalanx) spit hot soulfire, but its not looking good for the Imperials. But then the Space Wolves arrive. Or rather, the Wulfen arrive. The Ironwolves have been mostly lost to the curse fighting up on the surface, but now they've come down to fight their last breathes for Russ and the Allfather. A massive section of the ceiling caves in atop the Cadians, and Abaddon's forces use it drive into them heading straight for the man at the centre of it - Creed. But Celestine intervenes, using the hole in the roof to join the battle, blasting Demons aside as she beelines straight for Abaddon. 1v1 she might struggle against Abaddon, but her two Gemini are at her side. The Challenge is on.
Greyfax stand off the side, watching with revulsion. What the hell is with all this Heresy in Her Imperium? Battle Sisters idolising a clearly heretical saint? Astartes revelling in their own mutations? FLAMING SPIRITS SHOOTING MAGIC BULLET GUNS??!? Then she notices Trazyn lurking off to the side, and she's had enough - she goes to shoot the filthy Xenos in the face, but he flicks his hands and paralyses her. Mindshackle Scarab. Greyfax is furious he's "corrupted her, as he did Valeria". Trazyn points out that maybe Greyfax should be more concerned about the Chaos forces...
Cawl watches as the Pylon powers up. Has he done the right thing? Trazyn gave him all this info, but he doesn't really understand it. Is the Necron deceiving him? No, the massive problem of Chaos takes precedence. Lets see what happens. The Pylon starts pulsing, louder and louder soon echoing across the battlefield. Warriors from both sides fall to their knees, Psykers lose their minds (literally) as their connection to the Immaterium fades away. A beam of black light shoots out of the Pylon into the sky, narrowly missing the Phalanx, and spears right into the Eye of Terror.... and the Eye of Terror beings to shrink!!!!! The demons in the battle to blink out of existence, demon-fused traiters find half their bodies being ripped out of them and Psykers are dropping dead everywhere (Greyfax is one of the few with the strong-will to resist it). Even Abaddon stumbles. But so too do the Imperial suffer - The Legion of the Dammed fade away and most disconcertingly the light of Celestine begins to fade, and with that the valour that was inspiring the mortal Guardsmen. Not a problem for the mortal legionaries of the Black Legion though, all they see is the light of the hated Corpse-God fading away. Abaddon recovers from his stumble, and now the challenge has swung decisively his way. What was evenly matched is now anything but as Celestine falters. Even without the Dark Gods blessing, Abaddon is still one of the greatest Astartes ever known. Her bodyguard are forced away, and Abaddon wounds her forcing to the ground. Creed watches the only hope of the Imperial Forces fall to the ground, and charges the Cadian 8th in a desperate attempt to save Celestine as Abaddon raises Drach'nyen for the final blow.....
...but recoils away in agony as he gets mind blasted by Inquisitor Greyfax, channeling all her anger at the state of the battle into tapping into the fading warp and unleashing a psychic assault on Abaddon. She's realised that yes, that's Heresy but the immediate needs of the Imperium come first. Kill Abaddon now, deal with Celestine, the Wulfen etc later. The Cadian 8th throw themselves on Abaddon, desperate to save Celestine by buying her time with their lives. The remaining Vostroyan are cut down, but Greyfax rallies her bodyguard and starts laying volley fire into the chaos forces (her bodyguard are more afraid of her than of the the Chaos warriors
lol). Creed leads another charge into Abaddon, pops a terminator with his hot-shot laspistol but suddenly Abaddon is in his face, the Talon of Horus taking his arm off as Abaddon lifts him off his feet by his neck. "Cadia is dead!" he taunts him, "No, Cadia stands whilst even one of its soldiers does!" Creed replies. "Celestine is dead, the will of Cadia is broken and the Imperium will follow. I've already set this world's fate in motion, even before I landed," Abaddon growls. Creed feels the life being chocked out of him, the humiliation of Cadia - which has stood for 10 millennia, falling under his watch catching up with him when a cry of agony brings him back. Celestine stands, her sword ran through Abaddon. "The Emperor Protects," she breathes.
Abaddon lurches away, wounded like no wound he's felt in millennia. Revenge!!! But he realises his time is up - the Pylon continues to pulse, and the presence of the Warp has all but faded. If he wants to get away, he has to go know otherwise he won't be able to teleport out. It's time to go, and he and the surviving Black Legion teleport away. A small part of him even manages to acknowledge the achievement of the Cadian defense. They'd actually won. But still still lost Trazyn watches him ago, fingering a tesseract labyrinth. I'll get you next time Ezekyle!
Creed remembers what Abaddon had said to him "I've already set this world's fate in motion, even before I landed". Uh-oh. Greyfax falters under the pressure of not losing her mind to the absence of the warp. A hand steadies her shoulder - Celestine. "Get away from me witch," Greyfax spits. "If I am a witch, then why did you save me?" Celestine smiles. "I didn't save you, I shot Abaddon. There's a difference." Greyfax falters again, and Celestine smiles and steadies her again. Not gonna lie, I 'ship it.
Up in orbit, Abaddon gives the signal as the Black Fleet hauls arse away. Remember those fragments of the Blackstone Fortress? Well turns out there's engines attached to them, and they light up and drive the moon-sized chunks of debris straight at Cadia. The Phalanx realises whats going on and tries to shoot them down, but its no use. They barely get a warning off before the massive meteors slam into Cadia. 'Luckily' it impacts on the far side of Cadia. The planet begins to split apart. As the planet begins its death spasms, the Pylons start to fall. The push of the Pylons against the Warp fades, and the Eye of Terror bursts back out. Demons begin manifesting, draw in by warp rifts opening up all over Cadia. But as the Warp returns, so too does the Golden Light of Celestine. She stops the panic, and leads the Imperial forces up to the surface, only to see seas of molten lava everywhere as the planet's core is bursting apart. Creed falls to despair - they won, only to lose! Greyfax takes command and issues an evacuation order. Slowly, ships begin to land and evacuate the forces. Not all of its orderly though, and officers are forced to fire on their troops to prevent riots. Demons are harassing the evacuation too - the Imperial Fists aboard from the Phalanx are trying to provide cover, but they are few in number. Creed eventually snaps out of it, and orders the Cadian 8th with him. They will hold the perimeter for the evacuation. The Battle Sisters and Black Templars are the last to evacuate on Cawl's Arkship along with Greyfax and the Knights of House Taranis. The Cadian 8th, with Creed, are still holding the landing site. As they lift off, Greyfax swears she hears a voice bellow out over the winds - Cadia Stands!
The Imperial Fleet limps away from Cadia, Phalanx at the head and the Mechanicum ships holding the rear. Or the remains of Cadia anyway. It's being dragged into the warp... soon to become a Demon World? Time will tell. The Black Fleet harasses the evacuation fleet, but without much effort. Of the 850 million souls that stood on Cadia at the beginning of the attack, barely 2.5 million made it off the surface. Abaddon is content to let them survivors run and spread word of the defeat... until one of his Sorcerors reveals a vision. There is an artefact onboard Cawl's arkship. What is it? I'll quote this next part directly, because it seems pretty huge. Speculation please!
"[the Sorcerer] spoke a name. One Abaddon had put from his thoughts long ago. It seemed impossible, but such words had as much currency now as they had when Horus first set foot on Davin."
Whatever the name was, it spurs Abaddon on to capture Cawl's ship. The Evacuation fleet has just about made it to the edge of the system to jump into the Warp, when the Vengeful Spirit catches up. The Phalanx and the other Imperial Ships are too far into their jump countdown to abort and escape into the Warp. The Mechanicus ships, holding the rear, are not so lucky. Cawl tries to outrun the Chaos ships, using the rest of his ships as a sacrifice. The Vengeful Spirit burns straight through them. Celestine reveals a vision she has - head for the outer planet. Our Salvation is there. Greyfax is not at all keen on it, but has no other real choice. Cawl believes Celestine speaks as the voice of the Omnissiah so he's for it (and maybe he realises that's why that Harlequin sent to him to Cadia in the first place.... not to study the Pylons but to meet up with Celestine). Marshal Alamaric is also on board with whatever Celestine is up to.
They land on the planet, and begin a trek up its mountains with Cawl carrying the artefact on a Triaros Conveyor. Battle Sisters, Black Templars, House Taranis Knights, Greyfax's Militarum Tempestus bodyguard, Cawl, Greyfax and Marshal Amalrich are following Celestine as she leads them... somewhere. They initially manage to avoid the Black Legion forces searching for them, but soon run into patrols which eventually starts bringing masses of forces to them. Half of the Black Templars, led by the Crusade's Emperor's Champion, hold back in a sacrifice to buy them time. It doesn't seem like much, as the Black Legion hounds them up the mountains. But Celestine leads them on... right into an Eldar trap. For the Black Legion. Eldar forces burst out between the Imperials and the Black Legion, covering the Imperial Forces and laying waste to the Black Legion. It's too much - unprepared for fighting Eldar, the Black Legion fall back. Abaddon tries to push forward twice, and is twice beaten back by Eldar. Which Eldar forces do you ask? There's an "Ulthwe Strike Force, alongside Wyches of Commorragh, Warriors of Biel-Tan and a number of other craftworlds". Eldrad is there, as noticed by Cawl, who is surprised at all the disparate Eldar factions fighting together.
The Harlequin Shadowseer that Cawl had prior dealings with is there too. "What is this?" asks Cawl. "Into the light of a new dawn," the Shadowseer answers. Up ahead Cawl can see Celestine hovering above the opening of a Webway Portal, guiding the Imperials through. "The ending has passed.", says the Harlequin, "It is time for a new beginning. There is a parley to be struck, if you have the courage."
And thats it
Except for this little edit I forgot about...
Creed stands alone on the ruined surface of Cadia, and watches as the last Mechanicum ship lifts off into the sky. Cadia was now little more than a graveyard. He felt his strength ebbing away, as his wounds finally caught up with him. The storm parts before him, but not a Demon stands before him. A metal giant in a scaled cloak. Creed's panicked shot goes wide as iridescent polygons flicker on the figures upraised palm, "Ursarkar E. Creed. This need not be your end. Eternity awaits." The giant's laughter follows Creed into darkness....
A new dawn?
1500 pts
