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This is some background fluff for my new combined Tallarn/Steel Legion Imperial Guard force. I have some older models that I really like and thought that I would put together some backstory for them and the Army List in general. I look forward to any comments that you all may have.

Chapter One, Version One

Segmentum Solar: Necromunda System

In the aftermath of the explosion Inquisitor Boginskaya peered over the shattered nav console to survey the burning wreckage of what had been the flight deck of the pleasure yacht.

“Azric,” she whispered into her helmet vox, “can you hear me?”

“Yes, sir,” her Crusader companion replied on the vox, though the transmission carried some static, “I'm right behind you.”

She turned her head to see him rising from the deck, the blade of his power weapon crackling with energy as it cut through wiring and brackets that had fallen from the ceiling in the blast.

“Are you injured?” he asked, wrenching his Storm Shield free of the debris.

“No, my armor and the console protected me from the worst of the blast, though I am feeling a bit roasted.” She grit her teeth as she stood, the servos in the right knee of her power armor whined some. Her right leg had been exposed when she dove for cover behind the nav console when the Governor's bodyguard detonated the melta-bomb.

“Men will do drastic things when they are in the clutches of a Daemonette,” Azric offered.

“Indeed,” Boginskaya growled, “and he almost took us with him. If that bomb had breached the hull...” She let the words hang, the thought unfinished. They both knew that they would have been blasted into the void of space if the bomb had punctured the flight deck bulkhead. “Let us see if there are any other survivors.”

Stepping over the slagged remains of the bodyguard, Boginskaya focused the attention of her “inner eye” toward the stern of the ship. She could sense the throbbing wum-wum of a Warp Quake nearby, so she knew that some of Koehaagen's Grey Knights were still alive, protecting the little ship from any further Daemonic incursions. The servo-skull she had left in the parlor when she chased the Governor's neice forward showed a scene of horrific devastation on her helmet viewscreen.

“I believe that we are going to have to make a detour to Necromunda and inform the Ser Ulanti in person,” Boginskaya said, “and see if there aren't any more secrets in that House.”

*******************

Lucinda Helmawr anned Ulanti had reached her age of majority. The niece of the planetary Governor of Necromunda, she was born into wealth and privilege. Indeed, today was to be a day of festivities unrivaled in her lifetime, at least festivities in her honor, and she had a stunning surprise in store for her guests aboard her father's luxurious pleasure yacht, Palatine's Golden Sunrise.

The small spacecraft was armed and armored as well as any corvette in her uncle's fleet, and its crew stood ready to serve the wants and needs of the Ulanti Family and their guests. A week-long cruise of the Necromunda system was planned, climaxing in a dinner party high above the ecliptic – the better to view the worlds that her Uncle ruled over.

As part of the ruling family and a full member of one of Necromunda's Noble Houses, Lucinda had been trained and educated to take a high position in Spire society. As the scion of the a powerful trading House within the spire she had often spoken to and discussed matters of politics, trade and travel with Guild merchants and even Rogue Traders that had visited her world.

One of these Traders in particular, a Mabrionite named Beppu Pelleg, had taken a keen interest in Lucinda as a young girl and had made a point to visit her House whenever his work brought him to Necromunda, showering her with gifts and regaling her with tales of traveling the galaxy. Most thought this a way for Pelleg to curry favor with the Houses of Helmawr and Ulanti to gain a more favorable trading situation. Indeed, that is how it began. But as Lucinda grew into a young woman, her own interest in “Cousin Beppu” began to change. She offered him much, in the way of credits and favors, for him to spirit her away to see the galaxy for herself, though he never would agree. What he did agree to was vastly more dangerous and evil.

Pelleg had a secret. A secret that, if discovered, could end his glorious career and put him on a barge to Terra. He could hear voices and see things that were not really there; a small, latent Psychic ability that he had learned to control – if only just. Pelleg had sought out the shamans and holy men on a hundred worlds for keys and techniques to master his arcane abilities and he had acquired tomes, scrolls and codices with unspeakable information about the denizens of the Warp.

As Lucinda grew older, and the offered favors grew more intimate, Pelleg began to share his knowledge of the world of Chaos, he could sense the spark of Psykic power within her as well. Perhaps it was simply being so close, or by virtue of the reading and meditation techniques, but Lucinda learned to reach out to the Powers of the other side and initiate the smallest of bargains.

As the day of her majority began to approach Lucinda started the preparations for her greatest bargain ever, one that would astonish her guests and make her the most sought-after party guest in the Spire. Lucinda's wealth and her Family's power made it comparatively simple for her to acquire and prepare the items that she needed, and Pelleg was, of course, all too eager to assist.

By the time the last guest had disembarked from the shuttlecraft that brought them to the Golden Sunrise Lucinda and Pelleg had carefully laid out the markings and prepared the sacrifices for the ceremony. The afternoon before the formal Majority celebration dinner would be one that none of the guests would ever forget.

*****************************

Soft, tasteful music – played by the most talented musicians of the Spire – set the background for the afternoon cocktail party. The guests, in their sparkling finery, moved about the Oberservation Deck of the Golden Sunrise like moths circling a flame. Pelleg was holding court in the center of the room, nearly directly under the plasteel dome that provided a view of the Necromunda system and the stars of Segmentum Solar.

...