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I have an update regarding the lack of tithes from the Merchant’s Atoll. The Inquisition responded to your request and dispatched an Inquisitor the region promptly. When his transport shuttle landed on the Veinev, a huge hive world and capital of the subsector, it exploded before it could unload.

Fortunately, the Inquisitor was a wily fellow and who had landed secretly, strode away on a merchant transport and was unharmed. He used his supposed death to allow his investigate to go unnoticed. His reports are startling and baffling at the same time. All across the Merchant’s Atoll things appear to be running smoothly, in fact there is a great level of prosperity (perhaps trigger by the increased wealth by keeping its tithe). Nothing seems amiss on the surface and loyalty to the Imperium does not seem to be challenged (at least openly) but the cathedrals and places of worship of The Holy Emperor seem poorly maintained and attended. The trade lanes are clear of pirates for the first time in decades. For reasons unknown the Planetary Defense Forces have tripled in size across the subsystem. There seems to be no explanation for the lack of communication from the system. All contacts through Planetary Government back channels seemed normal.

Six weeks ago the Inquisitor sent a message that he was now going to contact officials in the Adeptus Arbites overtly. No follow up reports have been sent and the Inquisition fears the worst as their follow up teams and members of the Inquisitor’s retinue have seen no trace of him or the team that accompanied him. The Inquisition states that all of it astropath messages to the local governors have been ignored. Regional Naval commanders have reported scout vessels going missing in the region and in the absence of any pirate threat this unexplainable. Neighboring systems have noted nothing unusual coming from the Merchant’s Atoll other than a general reduction in piracy and criminal elements.

The Departmento Munitorum has stated that readiness of Naval and Astra Militarum forces will start to suffer if tithes do not resume soon. What are your orders?

I like this. A choose your own adventure based on majority voting.

Twitch plays 40k.

Loving this, keep it up!

Being that this is no longer a matter for the High Lords, and now involves the Inquisition directly, and attacks from unknown quarters have been launched against Inquisitorial personnel and materials, lacking appropriate response from the Planetary Governer, it is obvious that this planet is in rebellion. Suspected involvement of an Enslaver Plague or Gene-Stealer Cult, though it could also be a rogue psyker of great power.

Regardless, the response is the same. The planet has failed to pay its tithe, and has committed the heresy of becoming lax in its veneration of the God-Emperor of Mankind, and has taken action against the Inquisition. The government of the world has refused to answer repeated Astropathic messages, and thus is guilty of Heresy in Word, Heresy in Thought and Heresy in Deed.

Mobilize the Sector Battlegroup and instruct the Astra Militarium to prepare for planetary assault. Inform the Chapter Master(s) of the local Astartes of what has been going on, and politely request their assistance in bringing these worlds back into the Light of the Emperor. All souls cry out for salvation.

Equip three Inquisitorial vessels with the means to commit Exterminatus, should the world be lost to Daemonic incursion.

Sometimes the Inquisition works from behind the scenes and within the shadows... and sometimes you have to blow a planet up.

Send in the fleet.
Time to do a bit of gunboat diplomacy, 40k style!

While the Militarum Tempestus may have been appropriate at an earlier stage in this investigation, things seem too far… gone, at this point. Given the nature of the planet and it's potential, It may be wiser to employ a greater power, A Deathwatch kill team.

The Emperor Protects.

Mount up and send the Imperial guard in and bring the planets into compliance.

Execute the entire ruling class and all government officials while there as well .

Then triple their tithes to make up for lost tithes.

Anybody who opposes is considered an enemy of the state and will be executed on site.

I think it is obvious that the full system is in need of a purge.

The ruling caste is either in open rebellion or controlled by an enemy of the Imperium. Genestealer Cults, Enslavers, Chaos, perhaps one of the endless xeno creatures out there... it doesn´t matter. They need to be removed from power and a new governor is to be appointed.

Concerning the rest of the people... they have taste rebellion. They sure know the Arbites are missing. Yet they prosper, relishing in the opulence brought by their selfishness and ingratitude. We risk that they will eventually remember these days as the "good days". They must be punished, both as a lesson to be remembered and for the sake of the punishment itself.

The Planetary Defense Forces having tripled their number and the missing scout vessels are further proof of the need of an all-out invasion. Send in enough troops to make the presence of the Imperium obvious to all citizens, and make sure they are ready to lauch a massive attack.

(The Inquisition should take care of the ruling class, using Tempestus or Marines if needed, and the Ecclesiarchy MUST be sent to re-educate the population. But a full Astra Militarum strike force must be ready: the entire system is compromised, so option 3.
this is fun keep on)

But the Tithes from this region are far too valuable to issue exterminatus. I agree Heresy is abound and righteous smiting should commence, but let us not forget that much of the munitorum is funded from this atoll. Purging those in charge should set straight what is really happening on the planet. And if they were not in fact responsible directly for no payments, then it is still their fault for letting whatever happened happen.

 Icculus wrote:
But the Tithes from this region are far too valuable to issue exterminatus. I agree Heresy is abound and righteous smiting should commence, but let us not forget that much of the munitorum is funded from this atoll. Purging those in charge should set straight what is really happening on the planet. And if they were not in fact responsible directly for no payments, then it is still their fault for letting whatever happened happen.

Agreed. I believe a tactical response and not a full purge is the correct first response to this. The Inquisition must still have undiscovered assets at the Merchant's Atoll. We should make contact with them, and then Dispatch a Deathwatch Kill Team to deal with the true source of this heresy - Xenos.

Exterminatus is a final solution. If the system, and its wealth, have fallen into the hands of Traitors, Xenos, or Chaos, to such an extent that it is deemed permanently unrecoverable, it will be necessary to deny those assets to the enemy. Permanently.

There are also tools of Exterminatus that can simply wipe out all life on the planet and leave the planet itself intact. This may also be a viable option. We can always import new colonists.

Killing the governor will solve nothing. We still don't know how widespread corruption on the Merchant's Atoll is and where it spawns from, we risk killing an innocent or a mere figurehead while others go unpunished.

I vote for sending in an inquisitorial detachment with full Tempestus support. As an alternative, have the fleet take positions in orbit over Veinev. If the situation degrades into violence as it is likely, it will be good to have the upper hand.

(Keep up the good work, op! )


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 da001 wrote:
They must be punished, both as a lesson to be remembered and for the sake of the punishment itself.

I like your style

 Psienesis wrote:
Exterminatus is a final solution. If the system, and its wealth, have fallen into the hands of Traitors, Xenos, or Chaos, to such an extent that it is deemed permanently unrecoverable, it will be necessary to deny those assets to the enemy. Permanently.

There are also tools of Exterminatus that can simply wipe out all life on the planet and leave the planet itself intact. This may also be a viable option. We can always import new colonists.

Exterminatus one planet in the system. That should show everyone we mean business.

I'd say this is information enough for a systematic purge of the Leadership, but not a full scale exterminatus. the people still are loyal to the emperor, so there is no point in reducing income of the empire by an entire planet when the issue comes from but a few men. Cut the head from the snake, then bioengineer a new one on that's nicer to you. I'd choose an Assassin over Spaece Mahreens. Keep it quiet for the still-loyal citizens.

It's too bad some goober is going to move this into the forum games section where it will die a lonely, inactive death. Stuff like this is fun.

Send in the Marines! Part III is up.

Disclaimer: To keep for getting on peoples nerves this will be the last part today. I will keep this going for a bit longer but will limit it to once per day at the most following this next post But for now I am having fun.