The Agor Rebellion
Agor was the third largest planet in the Bradian Republic; Agor had always seen itself as an equal to the other major worlds in the Volgarian Empire and when Volgar and Bradia created their first space marines Agor didn't want to fall behind. So Agor spent many years researching the gene-seed samples that Bradia had given them and after eight years they finally created a unique and powerful marine, they named him Lorn Asurian "The Father" for he would be the father of thousands of marines. The first legion to be created from Lorn's gene-seed was the Sons of Light. The Sons of Light were true to there name, they were a light in the dark, they soon became the most feared and respected marine legion in the empire, but soon this would come to an end. The Agor government decided that since The Sons of Light were such a great success that they would use there genetic template to create three other legions. The Sons of Light were taught that they were the fathers of these younger legions, and it became common that when a marine of a younger legion talked to a member of the Sons of Light legion they referred to him as father and when in the presence of Lorn they referred to him as "The First" or "The Father". The Sons of Light were permitted to name these new legions, like a father naming his child and so they named them: The Sons of Agor who were stationed in the capital city Agor Primus, The Brothers of Dorn who were stationed on the moon of Dorn, and the Legion of Vigalia who were stationed in the city of Vigalia. What the government didn't know was that when the gene-seeds were copied there were defects in two of the new legions they had created, the Sons of Agor and the Brothers of Dorn. In the Sons of Agor the smell of fresh blood could drive a marine to go into a wild frenzy of murder; this only affected a quarter of the marines in the legion and would stop when the marine was removed from the battle field. In the Brothers of Dorn many marines began developing duel personality syndrome and suffered from irrational paranoia and they were becoming more and more medicated by the government to keep them lucid and clear minded. After many years and incidents which included acts of mutilation and murder the government decided to liquidate the Sons of Agor and the Brothers of Dorn legions. The Sons of Light would never allow there "children" to executed. Lorn Asurian used his considerable influence to persuade the Agor government to reevaluate there decision. While the government was reviewing its decision they placed watchers in the two legions, the watchers were to report any unusual activates that the legions might be doing. Then the Sons of Agor did something unthinkable, during a policing action on Altilis, a world with a small population. The government was losing control of the people and the Sons of Agor were sent as peacekeepers. After a small skirmish with the local population 90% of the legion succumb to the blood rage and began a crusade of murder over the entire planet surface, the few marines who did not succumb to the rage were trapped in the planets only space port and were fighting for there lives. The Sons of Agor who had gone mad participated in blood rituals were they drank the fluids of live victims and then ate there remains. After one week there were only a handful of survivors remained, 500 sane Sons of Agor and 125 civilians who had made it to the spaceport. The Agor Blood Drinkers, as they were now called had butchered 800,000 people in one week, the four thousand insane marines began to converge on the spaceport, at first it was a few hundred but the rest soon followed, the remaining Sons of Agor were barely able to hold out but just as there mad brothers were about to launch an attack that would have finished them off the Sons of Light dropped to the planet surface in front of them and began a fighting withdrawal. They then took the few survivors off the planet and cleansed the planet with an orbital bombardment, of course not all of the Agor Blood Drinkers were killed some made it back to there ships at high anchor above the planet and fled to the nearby moon and took control of a small military post there, about 2,000 traitor marines survived and they used the moon as a base for raids to collect victims for there rituals. Soon after the Altilis Massacre the Sons of Light fell into a deep depression, they were deeply sorrowed for the part they played in the deaths of hundreds of their "children". Then "The Father" had them all take a secret oath to never allow another massacre of there "children" again. Several months after Altilis Massacre the Brothers of Dorn were coming under fire for accusing the government of conspiring against them and putting psychotics in the Sons of Agor food stuffs which in turn made them insane. They began refusing to eat until the food was tested for drugs, they also began refusing to do missions for the government saying that they did not trust the tactical information the government had given them, and they believed the government was trying to trap them on a far off world surrounded by enemies. After many months the Agor government decided to act, they had ordered the entire Brothers of Dorn Legion to be confined to there base on the moon of Dorn until such time that they decided to cooperate, the government sent its best troops the Agor 1st, 2nd, and 3rd regiments to guard and "imprison" the Brothers of Dorn. The Brothers of Dorn became convinced, with this final act, that the government of Agor was plotting against them and there brother legions. After there imprisonment the Brothers of Dorn stopped taking there drug cocktails for there split personality syndrome believing them to be mind control drugs and soon they became increasingly unruly, many began to talk to themselves, others talked to a being who did not exist. The regiments posted to watch over the Brothers of Dorn were becoming more and more unsettled and requested three more regiments to help them keep control so the government dispatched the Agor 10th, 14th, and 26th to maintain discipline. When the new regiments arrived the Brothers of Dorn began to panic, they convinced themselves that the government was preparing to exterminate them, so they decided to strike first. During the night the Brothers of Dorn moved into position when dawn broke the struck out at there would be assassins. The first regiments hit were the 10th, 14th, and 26th. The 14th and 26th were butchered within fifteen minutes the 10th was able to hold out until the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd regiments arrived. The battle lasted seven hours the entire time the Brothers of Dorn were fighting there way to the spaceport once there they boarded their ships and fled the system before the Agor Navy could be mustered. At the end of the battle the 2nd, 14th, and 26th regiments were completely destroyed and the 1st, 3rd, and 10th regiments were at half strength, in all 135,000 men lost their lives in seven hours, among the dead they counted 7,000 Brothers of Dorn which meant 8,000 traitor marines had escaped. The Brothers of Dorn escaped with no trace of were they went, the Agor government decided to send the Sons of Light marine legion to search for the Brothers of Dorn, the Sons of Light silently boarded there ships and headed into space, there orders were to seek and destroy the Brothers of Dorn marine legion. They were in space for six months, when they returned "The Father" reported their mission was accomplished and silently he and his legion returned to their fortress monastery, for three months not a single Son of Light stepped outside the fortress walls. When they finally came "The Father" had a plan since two of the legions were lost he proposed that the remaining two be doubled in size to compensate, the Agor government agreed and had the Legion of Vigalia changed from 15,000 strong to 30,000 strong and the Sons of Light from 20,000 strong to 40,000 strong making the Sons of Light the second largest marine force in the empire. For many months everything seemed like everything was back to normal, until one day, "The Father" came to the leadership of the Legion of Vigalia. The Legion of Vigalia had been divided into 30, one thousand man, combat groups, each group had its own Lord Commander which had a seat on the legions war council, and there were also two Legion Commanders who each oversaw 15 Lord Commanders, "The Father" approached the war council and declared that "they must no longer live enslaved to a government that asks them to kill brothers and sons, they should no longer bow to those that are weak, and who are obsessed with power and greed." the Legion Commander named Morost and his half of the legion commanders stood and roared with approval but on the other side of the table Legion Commander Airis and his men sat silent, when "The Father" looked at them and asked "Why do you not stand and rejoice with your brothers and fathers? This is a great day soon we will shed the shackles of slavery and rise to rule this world as we see fit." Commander Airis stood and said "We will not go to war with those we swore to protect." Then he and his men left the war council never to return. Soon after Commander Airis and half of the legion left their fortress monastery and moved into the capital city and took over the abandoned fortress monastery of the Sons of Agor and began constructing defenses around the capital, when the government asked why they were doing this Legion Commander Airis simply said "a storm is coming and we must be prepared." he also requested that as many regiments as could be spared be brought to the capital city to take up garrison positions, the government denied his request, when he asked why they told him that the Sons of Light had ordered all available forces to Agnora to help them fight a rebellion that was taking place there, the Commander then asked how many regiments were left on the planet they told him there were 4 regiments left on the planet, seeing that the government was in no hurry move the regiments to the capital city Commander Airis told them of the Father's plan to overthrow the government and rule the planet, immediately the government issued orders for all available forces on the planet to make there way to the capital city and set orders for all Agor regiments to return home at once, they also issued distress calls to any friendly forces to come to the aid. The Commander went back to building the defenses even though he knew he would not be able to finish them. After a week the four regiments had made it to the capital city and the off world regiments reported that they were making there way back, other forces also answered the call, the Algonian 20th and 22nd regiments reported they were on there way, the Red Devils reported they had dispatched 10 companies of marines, the Bradian 31st Legion reported they were in route, a crusade fleet of the Dark Templars was also near by and reported that they would lend the 3,000 marines they had to the cause. Commander Airis knew that none of them would reach them in time, that evening the leaders of the Agor government and reviled to Commander Airis that there was another legion of marines in the city, when he asked what legion they told him there name was The Warriors of Agor, they were made from the remains of the Sons of Agor and were at 2,000 strong, Commander Airis was shocked but was welcoming to any reinforcements that were available. The next day outside the city the rebel army massed there banners flying high in the air, there were 40,000 Sons of Light, 15,000 Legion of Vigalia who renamed themselves the Murders of Vigalia, 8,000 Brothers of Dorn who renamed themselves The Swords of Dorn, and 2,000 of the Agor Blood Drinkers, they stood motionless outside of the city walls, then a tall powerful figure walked to the front ranks it was "The Father" he spoke to the loyal marines behind the walls and said "Children come be with your brothers and fathers, why do you stand next to the weak and evil? They are beasts and murders, come, be with your family." Legion Commander Airis stepped to the edge of the wall and said "We have sworn an oath, the same as you, to protect the people of this world from those who seek to destroy them, I keep my oaths, you all are oath breakers and traitors to all that you stood and fought for!" the Father responded "We fight now for our freedom from those who would be our masters and have us kill our brothers, would you kill your brothers and fathers?" Airis replied "If my brothers and fathers sought to kill and destroy, to become dictators and tyrants, slave masters and warlords, then yes I would, I would fight to protect the weak from there tyranny." The Father then looked down at the ground for a long moment then looked back up at Commander Airis and asked "are you sure my son? Is this the path you wish to fallow?" Commander Airis looked at him and said "yes Father, this is my duty and my purpose." The Father then said "then so be it my son." And with that the rebellion had begun. The rebel forces charged the walls recently erected by the loyalists, like a wave made of iron they crashed against the defenses, but the walls held and the loyalists let loose there fury in the form of the bolter rounds that came down from the walls like the fires of hell being unleashed on their foes. For weeks the battle raged neither side gaining a clear advantage over the other, and then the first of the reinforcements arrived, the Algonian 20th and 22nd regiments. Once they landed within the city walls the Algonians opened fire on the loyalists, Airis soon found out that General Erak Roflandus the commander of the Algonian forces had already pledged his loyalty to "The Father" many months ago and had been lying in wait for the signal to attack, with a hundred thousand enemy troops within the city this would be the turning point in the rebellion, with the rebels in control of the spaceports in the city and their forces outside the city walls they were finally able to break the defenses and move into the city, the loyalists were force to fell back to the capitol building, a fighting withdrawal that cost them many other their forces, the capitol building would be their last stand. And as the rebels came in for the kill they suddenly turned around and began fighting a foe at there rear, Commander Airis established a vox connection with the commander of the Dark Templar crusade fleet that had just arrived and had dropped its entire marine force behind the enemy lines. Airis then asked the Templar commander to order an orbital bombardment of the enemy positions between himself and the Crusade forces, the Templar commander was hesitant but complied and bombed the rebels. After the bombardment the rebels strength was broken there forces were scattered throughout the city and had suffered heavy loses and so they began a fighting withdrawal to the cities spaceports which were still in there control for the time being, once there all the rebel forces began to flee from the surface to their waiting ships in orbit. Once aboard there ships they fled to the farthest planet outside of the empire's jurisdiction, Hanar. Now it was time for the tally of the dead, 120,000 human soldiers that had fought with the Legion of Vigalia were all dead, the Legion of Vigalia itself lost 12,500 marines leaving them with only 2,500 and the new Warriors of Agor legion were wiped out entirely, the enemy count was 25,000 Sons of Light dead, 2,500 Swords of Dorn dead, 500 Agor Blood Drinkers dead, 12,500 Murders of Vigalia dead, and 85,000 Algonian troops dead. The loyalists had won but at an extremely high cost, the rebels had also butchered half of the planets populace, most of the major cities lay in ruins and the government was all but destroyed, and so by order of the Supreme Commander-Governor Militant of the Bradian Republic, Legion Commander Airis was appointed Planetary Governor and Planetary Defender of Agor. With his new authority Airis ordered the reconstruction of the capitol city and its defenses, he also ordered the demolition of the Sons of Light fortress monastery and the old Legion of Vigalia fortress monastery, he then had the old Sons of Agor fortress enlarged, and had added defenses placed on it and named it the Great Keep of the Loyal and from that point on it became the legion headquarters for the renamed Sons of Vigalia. After the capitols reconstruction was complete the city was renamed in Commander Airis's honor and was known as Airis Prime. As soon as the planet was at a suitable level of recovery Governor-Defender Airis made a request to the Supreme Commander-Governor Militant of the Bradian Republic, he asked them if they would allow his forces to pursue and hunt down the traitor forces that had fled to the Hanar system, there response is as fallows:
To: Governor-Defender and Legion Commander Airis of Agor
From: Bradian Republic Military High Command
In response to your request to hunt down the traitors that decimated Agor several years ago, we have decided that in order to continue the peace and prosperity of our republic such forces should be terminated before they are allowed to return and cause more destruction. Therefore we are ordering you to use any forces you desire to bring these traitors to justice.
Singed,
Zacharias Kovacis
Supreme Commander-Governor Militant of the Bradian Republic
Shortly after receiving the communiqué Commander Airis began organizing the Outland Crusade. In it he gathered forces from all over the republic: the 205th, 304th, and 708th Bradian Legions, the 106th and 107th Red Devils Marine Companies, the 35th, 36th, 40th, and 45th Agor Regiments, fully half of the Sons of Vigalia, and he was able the get the 5th Dark Templar Crusade fleet and its 3,000 marines. In total he had gathered a force of 150,000 guardsmen and 10,700 marines, plus all the ships that went with each group he had amassed a great fleet, and at the head of the fleet was the Sons of Vigalia Colossus Class Battle Barge Retribution. Airis then left 1st Lord Commander Raylath in command of the remainder of the legion and temporary Agor head of state. Airis took charge of the crusade earning the rank Lord Marshal-Legion Commander Airis and made his way towards the worlds that harbored their treacherous brethren after the fleet passed over the borders of the empire contact was lost and no word was heard from the fleet for 6 years. Then one day a fleet of battered ships came to high anchor above Agor, it was the Outland Crusade Fleet or what was left of it, only a quarter of the ships sent returned home, the commander of the fleet made his report to 1st Lord Commander Raylath about the utter destruction of their fleet, he also gave a list of casualties:
the 304th and 708th Bradian Legions destroyed, the 205th was at half strength
the 107th company of Red Devils destroyed, the 106th company was a quarter strength
the 35th, 40th, and 45th Agor Regiments destroyed, the 36th was missing in action on Hanar
the 5th Dark Templar Crusade Fleet was at 30% strength and is missing in action on Hanar
the Sons of Vigalia including Lord Marshal Airis was at 20% strength and is missing in action on Hanar
In all 5,025 men returned from the Outland Crusade, all others were presumed dead, 1st Lord Commander Raylath was soon after appointed Governor-Defender and Legion Commander of Agor. Raylath spent all his time on focusing on rebuilding the legion and preparing another crusade into the Hanar system, but the Bradian High Command denied his request for another crusade stating that they could not afford more loses. Then several months later a single Dark Templar strike cruiser appeared above Agor it was from the 5th Crusade Fleet, the ships commander reported that there were survivors of the Outland Crusade still trapped on Hanar, Raylath then informed the High Command of this and asked to mount a rescue mission to retrieve there comrades, again the High Command denied the request saying that such an endeavor was fool hardy. After the Dark Templars heard of this they ordered the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Crusade Fleets to go to Hanar and relieve there besieged brothers. As the fleets passed Agor Raylath took a strike cruiser and 200 of his best warriors and joined the fleet for the Hanar Crusade. 1st Lord Commander Lothorn was forced to take command of the planet and the legion a task the he did not want, but during Lothorn's reign he had the Great Keep of the Loyal expanded to include a manufactorium for the production of bolter rounds and bolters for the legion, and he had the Hall of Lords added as well, hear all the names of lord commanders would be remembered and all the Legion Commanders would be entombed with a statue in their image standing over there graves, Lothorn also ordered that the Sons of Vigalia should brought up to their pre-rebellion numbers of 30,000 marines. After many months the Hanar Crusade returned victorious, they had succeed in rescuing the men trapped on Hanar but they also brought sour news as well, the traitors still lived, they had been driven off of Hanar but they had made it to the near bye system of Bospear and Lord Marshal-Legion Commander Airis and Legion Commander Raylath had fallen in battle.