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2021/09/20 22:01:35
Subject: The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Drop Trooper with Demo Charge
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The Planet Pharous
The planet of Pharous had been a quiet yet prosperous planet, its volcanic northern Hemisphere producing natural resources for the Imperium in its sector, the main output usually being the natural mineral formations and deposits found around in the bowels of long dead Volcano’s. In later years seems of mysterious Blackstone had been found, however any opportunity to investigate this were soon to be lost. The Inhabitants of Pharous are believed to be descendants of the Catatchan people, hardy folk who are at home in the industrial north as much as in the dense forests that hug the equator. The planet is made up of one habitable large land mass with several volcanic island chains forming sporadically in the southern oceans. Other than being formed by volcanic eruption little else is known about these islands and any attempt to investigate has usually resulted in failure due to extreme weather storms that can appear in the region. Even the largest land mass has been difficult to observe, although reports of a light source continue to stir intrigue in the official cartographer guilds.
Apart from the regular Devil Hunt (it was later discovered that it wasn’t just the people that had descended from Catachan) a Bi-annual cull of the now resident Catachan Devil population, life on the planet was fairly quiet. Its citizens had settled in to a hard working but prosperous life with the only irritations being the criminal underworld of the industrial North and the deadly fauna of the Southern Forests.
The Downfall
The arrival of Inquisitor Praxerena Julanz from the Ordo Xenos hailed the end of peaceful time for the planet. Many saw her arrival as an insult, after all why would such proud and capable people need inquisitorial help to fight a xeno species that they have been dealing with for years already?
She hadn’t come for the Devils, She was bringing warning of something much worse, a nearby Ork warboss was gathering a great horde ready to unleash a devastating Waaagh! Upon the system, her plan was to stop it right there on Pharous regardless of how the population felt.
As the planet began to prepare for war reports of a huge object approaching through the warp confirmed suspicions that Pharous would be the first target for the Greenskins. The planets astropaths began to broadcast for reinforcements with estimates of help arriving within the month. A Little over 35 hours after the first message for help was sent, the skies darkened over the Northern territories as what appeared to be an Ork Rok began it’s decent to the planet surface.
The force of the landing was nothing but devastating, millions of lives both civilian and military were lost under the enormous bulk of the Rok with the shockwave of the landing creating a 5 mile deep crater, flattening buildings for nearly a hundred miles in all directions and causing earthquakes and intense volcanic activity that lasted for a week after they started.
The Fightback
The battered and bruised Northern forces retreated and regrouped with the southern elements of the PDF and readied themselves for the coming battle. The green tide came, initially delayed by the seismic activity but no less dangerous, the main battle was centred to the west of the lighthouse city of Sostratus. The defenders found themselves hugely outnumbered but tactically they couldn’t have been in a better position, the geography of the land enabled Tank commander captain LeGuin to perform quick hit and run raids at the Orks rear formations , using the dense cover of the Orks own Vehicles smoke to strike out of nowhere. Any Orks trying to approach from the south were quickly cut down by the xeno rider’s cavalry and those that did make it past became lost in the dense forest presumed devoured by the fierce fauna that reside inside.
The defence of the city was overseen by Major Alexandra Sotor, with her son Lieutenant Colonel Alexis Sotor commanding the operations of the ground. Inquisitor Praxerena was not absent from the fight, she and her small force of Guardsmen were seen in the thick of the fighting several times and were credited for destroying a group of Kommandos believed to be tasked with assassinating the human leaders.
Although this attempt was thwarted nothing could have been done to stop their original objective, out of the smoke and haze of gunfire a massive battle wagon emerged with what could only be described as one of the colossal mining lasers salvaged from the Blackstone mine attached to it. The resulting blast tore into the command rooms of the already battered lighthouse exploding thousands of shards of glass, rockcrete and debris hundreds of meters into the city and killing the command staff within.
With upper command destroyed the weary defenders faltered and the defence of the city became perilously close to giving up, it wasn’t until Alexis picked up his Mothers sword from the destruction that surrounded him and was able to rally the defenders into an offensive onslaught against the invaders. It was later proclaimed that the emperor himself gave light to Alexis and that, not only was his bellowing rage enough to burn fear into the invading greenskins but a searing beam of light emanated from him crippling the captured Blackstone mining laser. In reality it was the sight of his Mothers lifeless body that had given fuel to his rage and the blast of light was a well-placed shot from the legendary super heavy shadowsword tank ‘say hello to sunshine’.
The end and the future
It was the fourth day of fighting that signalled the end of the battle, its cause was as brutal as it was lucky. The imperium nihilus the so called great rift burst forth across the galaxy causing the planets smoke filled sky to turn into a purple haze. The destructive energies caused by it wiped the reinforcement fleet, barely two days away from Pharous, out of existence. Before the planets astropaths could deliver the cataclysmic news to the defenders, the onrushing psychic power exploded every psykers head on the planet resulting in any communication off planet impossible.
What would seem to be the end of everything turned out to be a small victory for the planet. The immense psychic display routed the orks into retreat, completely spooked by the huge storm above them they promptly fell back to the shelter of the North leaving the stragglers to be picked off by teams of imperial snipers.
With sporadic fighting becoming more of a nuisance than a real threat, the imperial forces began to regroup and assess the situation. Losses were critical; any hope of retaking the Northern territories was almost suicidal, the planet was now completely isolated from the imperium any form of help would not be forthcoming. This worked both ways however, the Orks may have control over the industrial north but they are also unable to receive any reinforcements which prolonged their ability to mount a second offensive. Alexis Sotor now found himself in charge of an entire world as well as an entire army.
Gathering his commanders and remaining councilmen, Alexis began the long and drawn out process of rebuilding and repairing the damage caused in the past few weeks. It took four days of arguments, deals and general squabbling over property to come to the plan known as the settlement agreement. This agreement saw each remaining counsellor given a right to settle somewhere on the planet in a bid to help rebuild the planet in such a way that if or when a link to the imperium returns Pharous will be in a position to continue to support its neighbouring planets once more.
These agreements came with certain conditions such as areas to settle, trade and government but also to swear to keep true to values of the rebuilding the planet.
Exactly three months after the orks made planetfall, enormous snake like caravans could be observed heading out to start new towns and reinforce existing ones each accompanied by a military force lead by one of Alexis most trusted officers. Most of these caravans would find their pre agreed settlement site and go on to become prosperous centres of civilisation a few however never made it to their destinations, some simply vanished with no explanation whereas others had been destroyed by marauding ork warbands.
Alexis remained at Sostratus as commander of the settlement defence force there with his cousin Sheti becoming the leading councillor. Sostratus has become the capital of Pharous, it has the ability to govern over all settlements that make up the southern collective. It is also the defensive lynchpin against an Ork attack, if Sostratus was to fall there would be very little left to stop the Greenskin tide sweeping over the rest of the planet.
For now Pharous is at relative peace, the devil hunt continues but now only when it is called for, a new respect for these creatures has grown out of admiration over the amount of Orks they kill. New seams of mineral wealth have been discovered around the southernmost settlements and prosperity is returning to a previously battered and bruised populace.
The planet is still cut off from anything outside its own atmosphere but it is far from beaten everyday it is prepared for the next war with the Orks in the north, everyday it is prepared for its glorious reunion with the empire of man, everyday its citizens send a prayer to the immortal Emperor finishing with the unquestionable line:
Pharous lives!
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This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/11/22 18:12:09
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2021/10/19 21:46:32
Subject: Re:The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Drop Trooper with Demo Charge
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Inquisitor Praxerena Julanz
Born on a feudal world into a family of swordsmiths, Praxerena was educated by the local temple ecclesiarchy she is a devout follower of the emperor as any, with faith as strong as the steel she arms herself with.
When her planet was attacked by an Ork warband there was little she could do except hide and watch as her family and friends died at the brutality of the aliens, it was at the local temple, where her fellow villagers made a final stand and call for help that she witnessed the Murder of her own father whilst he battled a huge armour clad warboss - buying time for her to hide away hoping she would go unnoticed.
Hours after the slaughter had finished she re-emerged from her hiding place only to be seen and cornered by stragglers of the main warband looking to loot the bodies of the dead, offering up a prayer to be saved she waited for the killing blow to arrive.
She was still alive when she opened her eyes, greeted with a scene of xenos blood, dead bodies and a group of heavily armed women from the Adeptus Sororitas. In the weeks and months that followed, Praxerena travelled with the sisters soaking up their teachings and knowledge like a sponge, she would often be found with a sword in her hand practicing sweeps and sparring with the warriors using the experience she gained whilst duelling with her familys combat droid Koine She would later return for Koine in the years that followed to recruit him as one of her acolytes.
The arrival of Inquisitor Dimitri Hayle signalled the end of her time on the planet, the inquisitor was determined to stop the destruction caused by rampaging orks and had arrived on the planet searching for new leads. Dimitri spoke to Praxerena to try and collect as much information as possible about the orks even going as far as having her accompanying him on hunts to destroy what was left of the greenskin menace. After it was realized the remnants of the warband had got what they came for and left Praxerena joined the Inquisitors host as an Acolyte saying goodbye to her homeworld and to the battle sisters who had become a surrogate family to her. Before she left she attended a vigil with the sisters’ canoness who gifted her a suit of battle armour and an ornate power sword, original crafted for the canoness herself by Praxerenas father.
Praxerena would accompany Dimitri for many years both vowing to find and destroy the Orks responsible for the system wide destruction taking place. Praxerena eventually succeeded Dimitri as inquisitor after he was fatally wounded fighting a splinter ork warband that was leading them to the location of the Warboss who had started it all.
His death was not in vain however and after revisiting her homeworld to recruit a small taskforce it was certain, the information they had gathered revealed the next target for the Orks
- The Planet Pharous
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2021/11/24 17:50:04
Subject: Re:The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Drop Trooper with Demo Charge
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Complications
Suspicious of the lack of Ork activity, Inquisitor Julanz and Commander Sotor each accompanied by their personal retinues boarded a Valkyrie to head north to observe the state of the Ork army.
On the approach thick plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from ramshackle and crudely built factories and Mek bays, swarms of Orks could be seen building weapons, vehicles and vile instruments of death. After investigation it would seem the rich fertile volcanic soil thrown up from the Ork spaceship provided a perfect breeding ground for the alien reproductive spores resulting in a force that had regenerated faster and larger than previously predicted.
On the return to Sostratus immediate plans were put into the defence of the city, drills and combat procedures were simulated, reviewed and rewritten – some from the ground up where necessary. Vox calls to the southern settlements went out bringing re-enforcements to the fight and warning to those who couldn’t, concerned for the ones that didn’t reply at all Alexis tasked Inquisitor Julanz to investigate the silence fearing Ork infiltrators had struck.
Alexis, unfortunately was right to fear the Kunning of the Orks, the first three settlements had been devastated, both human and Ork bodies lie everywhere any survivors left were patched up as best the team could and told to head north.
Upon arrival of the settlement of Teresh fighting was still ongoing , keen to get into the thick of it and save as many fighting bodies as she could Praxerena ordered her flight to land so she and her force could disembark. The fighting was close and brutal and the loss of every life was felt across the battlefront, Praxerena had fought in similar situations many times before and co-ordinated her forces to provide support fire to critical locations whilst she battled her way to the muscle clad leader of the Ork warband.
Her first shot took a huge chunk out of the side of the Nobs torso the second went wide and she couldn’t afford a third, tossing her plasma pistol away she began a desperate fight with the greenskin rolling and parrying, dodging every blow from the Ork axe but she still couldn’t land a blow back on the xeno. Praxerena could feel her energy draining out of her but she also noticed the Ork was slowing too, she feigned a roll to left which the ork followed with a vicious sweep of its axe instead she rolled forward between the Orks legs and thrust her sword into the already injured side of the beast.
In pain the Ork sent her flying backwards with a savage backhand, she landed against a stone wall breaking her arm in the process and watched as the huge green warrior strode towards her Axe in hand. Visions of her father fighting the greenskin menace swam in her head as she prepared to meet the Emperor, then the Ork fell it’s head landing inches away from her feet – the bio toxins she had implanted into her sword had done their job killing the beast from the inside out.
With their leader dead the surviving orks fled the battle chased by soldiers the inquisitor had brought with her, Praxerena wiped the xeno blood from her blade and went to find the towns councillor and work out how the Orks were able to rampage this far south undetected.
The answers were all the same: nobody knew where or how the Orks came from to get this far, angry that she had no answers, Praxerena met with the returning hunting party that had been perusing the retreating orks for the past few hours.
Their findings still didn’t add anything to solving the mystery of how the orks got this far but they did throw an entirely new complication to the war on Pharous.
The team had encountered already dead Orks on their hunt and discovered the wounds suffered were not from standard Astra Militarum weaponry, 6 of the bodies clearly had bolter shots to the head – not unusual as the bolter was a favoured weapon of sergeants on Pharous, but none of the team had carried that kind of weapon. The second set of wounds was much more horrifying to behold, huge holes punched through the torso of the green beasts like they were wet paper, in some places the skin and muscle had dissolved away into nothing.
It wasn’t until the next morning after scouring the countless xeno entries in Koines database that an answer was forthcoming.
Praxerena flew into a state of activity; she ordered all able bodies including some of her own men to aid and escorts the population of Teresh and any stragglers to make for the safety of Sostratus.
When asked about her plans Praxerena looked longingly over the sea towards the misty Islands and simply replied
‘There is more to investigate here, it would seem we are not alone in this fight, I believe these mysterious Islands may hold some explanation to who or what killed the greenskin scum. However there is one thing that I can be certain of :
- Necrons dwell on the Planet Pharous –‘
As the Gaggle of Survivors made their way north Praxerena boarded her Valkyrie and headed out to the misty island searching for answers…
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2021/11/27 21:50:59
Subject: The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Drooling Labmat
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Pretty solid stuff here. You have a few SPAGs and maybe you can drag out a bit how the father of Julanz fought before his death. Or at least adamentum instead of steel as that is the word in 40k. Other than that I liked the read very much.
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2022/02/28 15:13:43
Subject: Re:The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Drop Trooper with Demo Charge
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The Misty Island and surprising allies
The journey to the southern Island was fraught with turbulence, sheer winds that would drop as quickly as they came, and a constant slow thick drizzle that reduced visibility to nearly nothing. Eventually the inquisitors Valkyrie began its decent towards the misty land mass, landing in a clearing towards the middle of the island. Taking her trusted acolytes with her and leaving the rest of her force to guard the transport Praxerena moved through a patch of woodland towards where the last known source of light was. A Mere 20 minutes into the journey, Aella reported movement on both sides of the group – they had been surrounded.
Forming a defensive position around their leader the acolyte’s weapons hummed to sound of power levels charging and whistling to practice swipes of blades, Praxerena drew her own ancient pistol and armed it in full view of any onlookers as if to challenge anyone brave enough to attack.
“I am an agent of the inquisition and my duties to the emperor of man holds no limits, show yourselves now or feel the righteous wrath of my faith!”
Movement of a figure in the shadows prompted all five guns to snap to the source of a flash of red approaching,
“I’m glad to see you haven’t lost any of that legendary tenacity Inquisitor Julanz”
Not faltering for a second Praxerena offered one last chance, “reveal yourself now or the next step you take will be your last”
As the figure walked forwards Praxerena lowered her guard and began to walk forwards
“Cannoness Salma!” Praxerena exclaimed softly, “why? What are you doing here?”
“I will explain everything to you but first we must return to our camp, we have injured among us”
The camp was towards the south side of the island, hidden from the mainland by the hilly terrain in the centre of the island. It’s was little more than a dozen or so wooden structures with animal pens a areas for light agriculture, enough for about 30-40 or so people to live together. The group was led towards the main structure of the makeshift village, “you can disarm your weapon now Aella, we are among friends here” Praxerena said softly to her acolyte.
“Yes my lady” she replied and powered down her exotic plasma gun “forgive me inquisitor but who are these people?”
“I believe they are what remains of a taskforce of Adeptus Sororitas that was present on my homeworld when I was younger, I trained and learnt many things whilst I travelled with them and the respect we have for each other is mutual. My only concern is why they are here and so few in number”
Once wounds had been treated and a small prayer session had been conducted Praxerena and Salma sat down to discuss the situation.
The cannoness explained that after Praxerena and Dmitri left, her homeworld had settled back to a peaceful existence albeit with an occasional skirmish with the Orks that still resided on the planet. The sisters kept their garrison active to ward off these attacks and to also keep the light of the emperor burning brightly among the population, it was during a raid on an mekshop that they made a discovery that cause them to leave this world and join the pursuit of the main Ork force heading towards Pharous.
Salma’s force arrived too late to warn the planet but were still determined to fight alongside the defenders, that was until the rift opened. The Sororitas cruiser was on its final descent when the explosion of psychic energy decimated the crew of the ship sending it spinning down towards the ocean at southern tip of the Island.
Bruised, Battered and having lost a number of sisters in the crash the survivors found themselves washing up on the misty Island, they immediately began salvaging everything they could and clearing the area of trees and undergrowth to make a habitable village at least until they could contact the imperial forces on Pharous.
The Sisters first encounter with the Orks was whilst scouting an abandoned tunnel found on the coastline cliffs to the east, having driven back the Orks and perused them to the other entrance they encountered a larger force of marauding greenskins. The fighting was brutal and although the injuries were many not a single battle sister fell in battle, the signal to fall back was not given because of these injuries but because of a new foe entering the fray.
A group of metallic skeletal figures marched uniformly to the Orks punching devastating wounds into their alien bodies, although these new abominations had not attacked the sisters force, the Cannoness ordered the retreat back through the tunnel regardless.
Emerging from the other side of the tunnel, Salma’s first priority was to get back to camp and regroup but the roar of aircraft jets overhead caused her to investigate the new force presenting itself. As the occupants of the Valkyrie disembarked Salma and her team stalked a group of 5 individuals through the woodland until they paused and the leader shouted out a challenge.
The cannoness ordered her sisters to stand down, and walked towards the now not so mysterious leader.
“I’m glad to see you haven’t lost any of that legendary tenacity Inquisitor Julanz”
As night drew in Praxerenas questions turned into answers and yet more questions came of these answers, yes the Necron presence was confirmed but to what extent? The Orks are here for something but what? And what is this weapon system they have?
The mystery of the light on the Island had been answered and it was a welcoming one at that, Pharous had another ally on the planet in the form of the Adeptus Sororitas and that was a most welcoming thought.
With the night closing in, Praxerena voxed Commander Sotor to report her findings. She would return to Sostratus in the morning to discuss these new threats
and she would be bringing some new friend’s back with her….
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2022/06/14 08:35:42
Subject: Re:The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Drop Trooper with Demo Charge
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The second battle for sostratus
The days following the inquisitors return were fraught with activity, Alexis was now organising a defence against two xeno races and time was rapidly running out. Scout teams returning from patrols in the north of the Island reported a large Ork force heading towards them, luckily there was no sign of Necron presence. Sostratus would breathe easy at least until the morning as the dawn chorus was broken by the roar of ork engines, shouts of challenges, and the rattle of gunfire.
Alexis had put every drop of knowledge his mother a taught him into the defences of the city and it showed, wave after wave of Ork boyz fell to the defenders guns whilst higher ranking greenskins were picked off by snipers in the tree line and lightly armoured Ork vehicles duelled with lascannon armed sentinel pilots.
At the height of the fighting Praxerena ordered her Valkyrie crew to make passing runs over the green horde firing salvos from it’s under wing rocket pods to try and thin out the unending sea of xenos. Cannoness Salma and her group of battle sisters held the western flank of the city in a fierce building to building fire fight; they would later be assisted by a platoon of Cadians stationed on the planet.
As the fighting reached its peak a huge explosion rocked the Industrial east side of the city, not wasting time Alexis together with a squad of female gangsters rescued from the industrial north and pressed in to service mounted up in in a Chimera and raced to the newly created gap in the defence. The so called ‘Shotgun sisters’ threw themselves into combat with the Orks creating a bloody mess as they did, the greenskins momentary drew back until the bigger Nobz threw them back into combat; it was only the relentless tide of promethium from the sister’s flamers that stopped them from overrunning the position. Alexis stood with his new gangster allies until reinforcements arrived to bolster his position, once he could be guaranteed a good foot hold he rallied the girls and pressed forward into the masses with the intention of taking down the Nob leaders, three of the huge xeno’s fell to his sword in combat the fourth died at the hands of its own kin as another massive explosion rocked the line destroying buildings, tanks, and bodies alike. The deafening roar of engines unveiled the source of the destruction, a huge battle wagon rolled forwards with little or no care for whoever was in the way, guns blazing it seemed unstoppable.
Tucked out of sight, it’s engines humming louder as its main weapon began to power up the Shadowsword ‘Say hello To Sunshine’ began tracking a huge vehicle approaching the city, with the target locked in, a devastating burst of energy launched itself at the Ork construct impacting hard on the lower left side of the vehicle causing secondary explosions and making the wagon flip through the air on to its side killing dozens of Orks in the process.
This one event changed the flow of battle momentarily; with the greenskins in disarray the battered defenders pushed forwards driving the invaders out of the city limits and into sporadic retreat.
Alexis thanked the emperor for the reprieve but any hope of winning was quickly dashed as he watched in stunned silence the fallen battle wagon re-righting itself.
From the wreckage burst forth a massive metal claw, attached to this was the biggest Ork Alexis had ever seen easily towering over the already big Nobz he had dispatched earlier.
Seeing the huge moral boost this figure had given the now rallying Orks he made a decision, calling again on the gang of sisters he fought alongside earlier he began to fight his way towards the Warboss determined to kill the beast.
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2022/06/27 20:10:25
Subject: Re:The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Drop Trooper with Demo Charge
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A surprising saviour
Captain Trey looked down the scope of his sniper rifle and watched as his home town was becoming overrun with Orks, he tried to concentrate on cleaning a path for Major Sotor when a metallic foot descended in front of him. He froze not daring to move an inch as more metallic feet passed his prone body, as they passed he was able to get a glimpse of who the feet belonged to, skeletal metallic figures marched forwards towards the battle a feint green glow ran along their weapons.
After the host had passed the Trey looked up at his fellow snipers, not one of them had been harmed but they all shared the same bewildered look on their faces as the screeching of alien gunfire opened up.
Alexis, along with nearly every other being on the battlefield stopped in their tracks to witness a new foe advancing from the treeline. Black and charred metal figures steadily moved towards the ork host firing green beams of death into the greenskin flank, the majority of the Orks turned headlong into fighting this new enemy whilst the remaining few were cut down by the imperial guns.
Taking advantage of his enemy’s distraction Alexis ordered all troops to regroup and reform the defensive line, the skeletal beings had not fired upon any of the defenders but there was no harm in being prepared.
As the defenders watched the carnage unfold Alexis sought out Inquisitor Julanz
“Any idea on what the hell these things are? He inquired
“Necrons commander, we have witnessed their distaste for the Orks already in the southern territories”
“Are they friendly?”
“No commander they are not, however these ones do not seem interested in us, only the greenskins. We should hold off until they do become a threat”
Alexis relayed these words down to his officers, all they could do now was wait and see who the victor would be.
The defenders of Sostratus watched in horror and amazement as they saw swathes of greenskins cut down by searing beams of energy and capering bladed creatures slicing off limbs and heads, Captain Trey later reported Necron Marksmen picking off targets from the trees where he and his fellow snipers had been doing the same.
The beginning of the end came about when the Ork Warboss squared up to the most regal looking of the Necron host, blow after blow was traded between the two with the Warboss having the upper hand most of the time dealing massive damage to the Necron warrior.
The fight tipped into the Necrons favour when the cable providing power the bosses immense klaw was cut by a stray shot from the surrounding fighting, bellowing in anger the warboss took down three of the regal Necrons bodyguard with his working arm only for them to get back up again as if they hadn’t suffered a blow at all.
Alexis, Praxerna, and Salma watched as it looked like the end of the warboss was nigh, pleased as they knew it would throw the greenskins into disarray but equally dismayed as they also knew it meant they would be next to face the implacable warriors.
However a unexplainable thing happened, just as the killing blows were descending upon the ork the air around him began to bubble and distort into blue and white clouds, and with a stench of O-Zone he disappeared into nothingness.
This was enough for the remaining Orks, leaderless, disorganised, and demoralised they began to flee northwards. Those brave enough to stay were quickly destroyed by both Nercon and imperial forces alike, once the battlefield had cleared the Necron host stood immobile, nothing moved apart from the regal Necron and its bodyguard – Alexis prepared for the worst.
Alexis ordered his forces to hold fire unless attacked he had no intention of starting a fight so unprepared.
Standing a mere four feet away and towering over everybody in Alexis’s party the regal warrior began to speak and rough metallic language. After what seemed a lifetime the Necron and its bodyguard turned and walked back onto the battlefield, mysterious energies crackled around its arm as one by one each of the metallic warriors disappeared into thin air.
“Inquisitor, any idea what the hell just happened” exclaimed Alexis
“No commanders, Koine are you able to shed light on this?”
“A moment please my lady I am still searching my data for possible translations”
It took Koine precisely 9 hours 23 minutes and 12 seconds of data compiling to translate the message and a further 2 hours of silent meditation and offerings to the Omnissiah for him to present his findings to the commanders.
Koine began to explain that the regal Necron was a lord of his dynasty, it had ruled the planet millennia ago, before his people were cast to slumber and the planet consumed by water.
They had been using the Blackstone found in the north of the planet to ward off any chaos energies whilst they slept. When the Orks crashed into the planet they destroyed a huge part of the Necron tomb which had caused the early awakening of his people and destroyed the Blackstone array.
After a few initial skirmishes they headed south to destroy the Orks that had decimated their people only to find them already in combat with the forces of Sostratus. With the hatred of the Orks instilled within them, the Necrons sole purpose was to attack the Orks with the intention of wiping them out.
The reason behind the sparing of Alexis forces being spared was due to the links to the Ra’ fos dynasty carried through the planets people over millennia.
The Necrons were to gather their remaining forces and leave Pharous but neglected to mention for what purpose, on leaving they reactivated what was left of their Blackstone system sweeping away the darkness of the warp storms surrounding the planet and enabling communication to come flooding back to the defenders.
Peace has momentarily returned to Sostratus giving its people time to rebuild, plan and prepare for the future, whatever that may bring
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/06/28 04:48:06
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2022/06/30 02:43:45
Subject: Re:The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Dakka Veteran
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I like it.
Location fiction is gold in my book.
I was thinking about using the locations referenced in other people's fictions in my own bat reps which I could then post to Dakka. Nothing major that would seriously alter the author's fiction, but just enough to pay tribute to the work of others.
So who knows, maybe Pharous will get raided by some Orky Pirates sometime!
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"Iz got a plan. We line up. Yell Waaagh, den krump them in the face. Den when we're done, we might yell Waagh one more time." Warboss Gutstompa |
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2023/02/27 15:10:26
Subject: Re:The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Drop Trooper with Demo Charge
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Dekskull wrote:I like it.
Location fiction is gold in my book.
I was thinking about using the locations referenced in other people's fictions in my own bat reps which I could then post to Dakka. Nothing major that would seriously alter the author's fiction, but just enough to pay tribute to the work of others.
So who knows, maybe Pharous will get raided by some Orky Pirates sometime!
Your Welcome to use it as much as you want Lore building is a great way to enojoy they hobby I'll keep an eye out and maybe incorporate the pirates into my own!
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2023/02/27 15:11:39
Subject: Re:The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Drop Trooper with Demo Charge
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Search parties
With the warp storms having been swept away from the planet a multitude of communication began to bombard the planet. Sadly the majority of it was calls for aid from the dead and dying both planet side and in the night sky above, with the only small reassurance being that the bulk of these messages were sent weeks or even months ago and any chance of being able to help these souls had passed.
Alexis was weary from organising the relief efforts after battle and had left his cousin Sheti in charge of the night shift, he had passed the communications bunker on his way back to his private quarters to see if anything of note had been reported but there was no joy to be had and noted to himself to check again in the morning.
With a fitful five hours sleep behind him Alexis found himself in a hive of activity centred around one terminal under the control of one of the Inquisitors acolytes. Minutes before Alexis’s arrival several messages had been received with broadcast timestamps estimated with the last hour or so, consulting with Inquisitor Praxerena over the validity of the calls decisions were quickly made on what to act on.
Out of the seven messages received four had been deemed worthy of investigation, the other three were either too far to respond to or in one case had ended with the screams of people and roar of Ork warriors in a killing frenzy.
Two of the four calls were in Ork held territory but close enough to warrant investigation, the first came from a detention centre where the prisoners had been holding their own with captured weapons against a small group of Orks and the second came from a Chapel within one of the smaller mines, a ragtag group of Ministorum priests and Ogryns that had been working the mine had fought their way as far south as possible but were now pinned down by gunfire.
The other two both came from off planet and were more chatter than an actual call, one was definitely imperial but the other couldn’t be deciphered before it became too weak to track.
Alexis and Praxerena formed a plan; the inquisitor. Her retinue and the remaining battle sisters would head to the chapel to reinforce the priests and recover any remaining survivors. Alexis with the last dregs of the ‘Shotgun Sisters’ would scope out the detention centre with the hope to converge on the chapel in greater numbers.
The plan was beset by bad luck from the start, Praxerenas Valkyrie was hit by heavy Ork gunfire on final approach causing it to crash land meters away from the chapel and resulting in both her and the battle sisters to join the priests and Ogryns in defending the small chapel from a much larger force of Orks than expected.
Alexis managed to reach his objective with no interference only to find the centre razed to the ground, human and xeno bodies scattered everywhere, the shells of large calibre rounds littering the floor. He took his small force to the chapel with the hope of joining the inquisitor’s forces and organising a retreat back to the safety of Sostratus.
The scene at the chapel was a grim one, in addition to the handful of priests 3 huge Ogryns stood pumping out salvos from their huge guns. Praxerena and the battle sisters fought alongside them inflicting terrible damage with their bolt weapons but still the green menace pressed ever closer, the arrival of Alexis and the flamer armed women who accompanied him was enough to stall the advance of the Orks and enable the defenders to regroup but they knew the next wave would probably be their last.
Swathes of Orks were gunned down as they began their approach; bolter, las, shotgun, flame, and solid slugs smashed into the charging monstrosities slowing the charge but never stopping its hideous momentum. With the sound of gunfire giving war to the ringing of combat weapons being drawn and guttural xeno shouts, the defenders prepared themselves for the physical slaughter that would follow
It never came, what followed was the thunderous roar of four long barrelled autocannons pumping an ungodly amount of large calibre ordnance into to the greenskins, shredding bodies before they could even hit the ground. This was too much even for Orks and the battlefield became still as gunfire gave way to silence.
As Alexis and the remaining defenders emerged from cover, the ominous sigh of four smoking barrels and the clicking of auto loaders winding down became a small distraction from the two figures laughing and joking behind the tanks turret.
The laughing duo were named Hassa and Olssan, with a third unofficial crew member called Santeri later hauling himself out the driving position to greet Alexis and the remaining defenders.
It turned out the trio were escapees from the detention centre who has managed to avoid the Orks attention long enough to arm themselves and commandeer the tank in an attempt to escape the warzone.
Alexis struck a deal with the makeshift crew; if they agreed to aid them get back to friendly territory their crimes would be forgotten and they could join the army and be trained to use the tank as intended. They agreed, and the rag tag group of survivors managed to make back to Sostratos relatively intact with only a few flesh wounds from the odd skirmish to show for it.
Well rested, fed and healed Alexis began to plan his next steps…
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2023/02/28 03:15:52
Subject: Re:The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Dakka Veteran
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Thanks man! Here is a link to the battle rep I did a while back. Very much in alignment with your last story. I was experimenting with elevated terrain and it was interesting.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/806168.page#11405108
PS Will plan a follow up game to demo more mountain type battle terrain
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/03/06 02:35:03
"Iz got a plan. We line up. Yell Waaagh, den krump them in the face. Den when we're done, we might yell Waagh one more time." Warboss Gutstompa |
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2023/06/06 12:47:19
Subject: Re:The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Drop Trooper with Demo Charge
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Off Worlders
Alexis was woken to urgent knocking early in the morning, the Orks hadn’t been sighted en masse for a few days and he debated to himself whether this was another skirmish or something worse.
Instead of viewing a pict screen of greenskins, the view was focused on an descending craft, small enough to be an orbital lander but still big enough to achieve open space travel.
As the lander cleared the atmosphere, a Valkyrie gunship detached itself and headed towards the city leaving the bigger craft to continue its controlled landing a mile or so away from the capital.
Alexis gathered a handful of troops and went to meet the occupants of the now landed Valkyrie, weapons raised they watched as the ramp descended and a group of rag tag but official looking individuals came out of the aircraft. Rather than the official greeting Alexis was hoping for he was interrupted by a rather over excited Santeri who had leap out of the now unofficially named ‘Spitfire’ hydra tank to hug the leader of the group.
After this friendly interruption the new faces introduced themselves, the hugged leader was called Denton Zan and old friend of Santeri from his mercenary days, he and his companions had come to answer the call for aid – for a price. Denton was the recently promoted leader of a mercenary group in the system that had escaped the Ork space hulk that was terrorising the system having been captured by it whilst ‘prospecting’ dead ships in the area. The group had lost well over half of its members in the fight to escape the Hulk including their original leader, however being trapped on the hulk gave them the advantage of being shielded from the chaos energies unleashed by the rift.
Using this event to escape with what forces they could, every member swore a blood oath to avenge their fallen brothers and kill as many Orks as long as the draw breath, When the group received the call for help they nursed the battered cruiser to Pharous hoping to repair and replenish their equipment, in exchange for their military services.
Alexis accepted this offer and arranged what help and resources he could spare and allowing Denton’s group to occupy a now redundant industrial area behind the city gates but close enough to reinforce the city forces when required.
Zan’s chance to prove their worth came later that afternoon, attracted by the descending mercenary ship a small group of around 30 Orks burst out of the nearby tree line weapons blazing pointlessly at Sostratus defences. Zan’s men mobilized quickly bounding between cover and firing precision bursts from their autoguns at the approaching enemy, perhaps the most impressive part of the defence was a pair of bulky but agile walkers bounding into the Ork flank dousing them in flames and shredding greenskin bodies with limb mounted circular saws.
It would later be revealed that these walkers were essentially industrial units from a nearby Hive world refitted for combat use, simple but deadly effective. The fight barely lasted 15 minutes but the outcome was clear, no Ork had been spared and the mercenaries had suffered little more than a couple of flesh wounds
Dentons men had proved themselves as capable allies, earning themselves a place in the Sostratus defence force and a chance to rebuild their full potential.
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2024/04/15 15:57:48
Subject: Re:The History of the planet Pharous - history and fluff to go with my IG and 'other' Army
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Drop Trooper with Demo Charge
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The Inquisitor and the Sorcerer
With the citizens of Pharous settling in to a life they now have to share with the orks, the rebuilding and repairing of Sostratus and the southern settlements was progressing rapidly. Alexis knew the Orks would be back at some point in the future once they had recovered their strength but for now he was happy for the reprieve.
But nothing lasts forever…
Inquisitor Valentin arrived on the planet with the full force of his inquisitorial power behind him. Unconcerned about the Ork rabble infesting the planet, he demanded a meeting with Alexis and his command staff. Valentin did not mince his words, after a very heated confrontation the reason for his visit Pharous was clear; the taint of Chaos was present on the planet.
As you can imagine this was not well received and almost resulted in guns being drawn in the situation room, the situation was inflamed further when Valentin accused Inquisitor Julanz of failing to do her duty for the Ordo Xenos when the Necron Presence was confirmed.
Alexis found that letting off a bolter round into the ceiling brought the meeting back to order and asked the new Inquisitor to explain his accusation a little more thoroughly and promising all and any help he could offer.
After much patience and explanation it became apparent that the accusation of chaos taint was not against the People of Pharous at all but that a sorcerer led warband had arrived on the planet along with the Orks with the motive of summoning a second Jehgenesh on the planet and claiming back the seas that had been deposited on Pharous millennia ago.
Barley a few hours had passed and the defenders of Sostratus were now turning into an offensive force, rolling into the northern territories mowing down unprepared Ork defenders in the direction of the reported site of the summoning ritual.
In fact the lack of Ork resistance was disconcerting; normally a force the size of Alexis’s would draw a massive amount of attention from the greenskins that’s was unless they had a bigger foe to fight. As if to answer this question the unmistakable sound of gunfire and explosions began to grow louder and as the imperials crested the northernmost ridge the two forces of Chaos Marines and Orks could be seen piling into an enormous fight of swords, axes, and fists.
A huge explosion to the left of the imperial forces saw the Necrons blackstone towers crumble sending shards of the obsidian stone flying through the air slicing and stabbing skin and even penetrating vehicle armour, no sooner had the dust settled the sky ripped open a new shade of purple as the chaos sorcerer gained strength from the warp energy’s previously denied to him by the Necron towers.
Even as Alexi’s forces battled through the whirlwind of combat, edging ever closer to the Sorcerer vast whirlpools appeared in the sky, thrashing water and rock in a spiral of warp energy. Shades of purple, black and orange glowed unnaturally in the surrounding ocean as the psychic maelstrom took hold. The whirlpool of energies smashed into the surface of the water with a deafening boom sending a shockwave across the battlefield that knocked chaos, ork, and imperial forces to the ground as it began to suck up the water into the black sky from where it had emerged.
As Alexis gathered his wits and began to take in what was happening he could see they had arrived too late, the Jehgenesh had begun and soon the planet would be a desolate uninhabitable rock drifting through space it was futile to try and fight it.
He stood up and racked his boltgun, ready to die for his planet when he saw a flash of green, and then another, several more followed cutting down the chaos forces leaving the Imperials to deal with the Orks. The Necrons had returned and they wanted revenge on the enemy that had destroyed their home so many years ago.
Seeing a chance to turn a hopeless situation around Alexis, accompanied by both Inquisitors and their retinues raced towards the chaos sorcerer intending to kill him and stop the ritual. As they edged closer they were soon intercepted by a group of six monstrous chaos marines clad in power armour, boltguns raised they fired a volley into Alexis and his entourage. Five ornate metal warriors appeared in front of them, shields raised protecting the imperials from harm as a figure Alexis recognised as the dynasty’s Lord approached the group and spoke with a voice that could be heard over the din of battle “Alexis Sotor you have fought well for our planet, let us finish this together and kill the sorcerer before he can finish the ritual”
With the Ornate warriors taking care of the marines the rest of the group raced towards the Chaos leader loosing off las, bolt and plasma fire and charging power swords ready for combat, closing in on the target a fierce melee between the five combatants began, staff, scythe, and swords clashed and sparked but even with superior numbers the supernatural energies the sorcerer held within him allowed him to avoid, parry, and dodge almost every attack
A Thunderous roar signalled a wall of water climbing vertically into the warp portal distracting the sorcerer just enough for Valentin to bring his force weapon round to strike right into the heart of the chaos warrior. A black void appeared from within the sorcerers power armour as ruinous warp energies began to implode on themselves from with his body, the wound sucked in all the air around it and began to take in Valentin’s weapon with it. As Valentin twisted and pulled his sword back the psychic powers exploded outwards throwing him through the air to land roughly on the hard ground, when the psychic smoke had faded the Sorcerer had disappeared and the marine entourage was being finished off by the Necron warriors.
As the battlefield cleared the defenders began to take stock of the situation, the ritual had been stopped but at a high cost to the planet with first estimates ranging from fifty to seventy percent of the water on Pharous having been taken by the Jehgenesh.
Alexi’s forces began to regroup and return to Sostratus all the while observing the newly changed landscape around them, the journey back would be uneventful but judging by the amount of fauna and flora that were now presented with new territory to explore the future of Pharous was going to change even more.
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