DARK CRUSADE
Prologue: A New Warzone
The planet Kronus, a world with one large continent surrounded by a gigantic ocean of water, it was filled with a variety of landscapes. From the cities of Asharis & Pavonis and the deserts of Agamar & Janus, the jungles of Aceria & Rhean and the mountain ranges of Ariel & Hyperion, the frozen northlands of Vandea & Demes and the Thur'abis Plateau, to the coastal regions of Victory Bay & Morriah and the blasted wastelands of Deimos & Eres. Near the outer rim of the Lithesh sector, the Tau Empire captured it during the aftermath of the Damocles Gulf Crusade nearly 300 years ago. Despite being relatively close to the Imperium's border, it was left alone for the most part; as humanity had more important foes to deal with then a somewhat peaceful race.
But in 002 M42, it became the scene of another war in the Eastern Fringe. In what would later be known as the 'Dark Crusade' by the Imperium of Man, seven great armies clashed; each of them having a stake in Kronus' fate, each convinced they were right.
In the warped landscape of the Deimos Peninsula, lost souls created a great portal from which the Dark Apostle known as Eliphas the Inheritor, along with an entire company of Chaos Space Marines from the Word Bearers Traitor Legion, came forth to claim the world as his own in the name his Primarch Lorgar and Chaos Undivided.
In the snow-capped peaks of Tyrea, the Eldar Farseer Taldeer of Ulthwe, fresh from her victory over the Necrons of Lorn V, predicted that Kronus was also a Tomb World; and trusted no one else to vanquish her hated enemy.
From the Imperium of Man, General Lukas Alexander had originally been sent to hunt down the witch Taldeer for her part in the Cadian 412th's failure to capture the Titan at Lorn V. But upon landing on what was soon to be renamed Victory Bay, he and his regiment, named the 1st Kronus Liberators, were ordered to retake the world in the name of the Emperor.
Under the Thur'abis Plateau, the Necrons which Taldeer feared so much awoke from the ages old slumber, ready to reap the Red Harvest as commanded by the silent Necron Lord & his horrible god known as the Nightbringer.
On the Ork-infested Green Coast, Gorgutz Headhunter, having recently claimed Krull of the World Eaters as well as several human & tau backwaters, found himself on a world about to be ravaged by war, and was pleased to find a ruckus in which to take advantage of.
In the frozen wastelands of North Vandea, Captain Davian Thule of the Blood Ravens Space Marine Chapter built his Castellum Incorruptus with his strike force that had elements of the 1st & 4th Companies, as well as his 2nd. He had been sent by his Chapter Master & Chief Librarian to purge Kronus of the aliens & heretics that beset it, which apparently held secrets that might prove dangerous to his brothers if revealed.
And in the planet's capital of Asharis, which had long been renamed Or'es Tash'n, the Tau rulers were reinforced by several Cadres from their home sept of T'au, lead by Aun'el T'au Shi'ores and Shas'o T'au Kais. Kronus was home to not just tau, but kroot & their human subjects as well, and none would allow their sept to be taken without a fight.
The Dark Crusade had begun, and it could only been won when all others had lost.