AN: Haven't posted anything in weeks so I decided to publish this entry, hopefully I fleshed things out enough to give you a rough idea of what Albrecht was involved with.
Will add more in the future via another entry, was debating between unit formations of the Eleventh Legion and this and decided to go with this since i haven't published much about Albrecht or more specifically anything about him in general.
Somewhat open to minor retcons as i'm not sure if an emerging human faction thats rediscovering Dark Age tech can survive a minor Ork Waaagh! (Might change constant raids)
Kudo's to RoyalTwinFangs several of your suggestions were pretty helpful and it was much appreciated.
Imperial Designation: Markayn Coalition (with the discovery of the Eleventh Primarch, the Coalition territories would be integrated into the Imperium as tributary state and would henceforth be known as, "Imperium Obscurus" )
Capital Planet: Ietania (Civilized world transitioning to Garden World due to Terraforming and environmental restoration)
Core Worlds: Suur-Suona, Cortrela, Sarum, Munika, Panora, Ornsworld, Vostroya, Scintilla and Solomon . (All civilized worlds)
Location: Segmentum Obscurus, Capital is located further North in the Markayn Marches
Species: Human, Abhumans (Ogryn, Ratlings, Felinids)
Population: Billions, (proper census has yet to be conducted by Imperial Authorities)
Early History
Located on the fringe of the Galaxy, Ietania was originally a developing colony world of the Human Federation. Then the event known as the Age of strife occurred. Ietania was cut off from the rest of humanity, Warp storms erupted in the star system and strange creatures invaded the planet. The colonists were thrown into a long war with the creatures that eventually be referred to as Daemons.
When they struck, they killed millions. Despite the odds arrayed against them the surviving colonists were victorious and managed to banish the Daemons back to the Warp. Unfortunately less than a year after their victory, The survivors fell into infighting dividing themselves into what amounted to petty kingdoms.
Millennia of Internal Strife
At the beginning there were many petty kingdoms that formed but as the millenia went on these kingdoms would be destroyed and absorbed until there were only a few left. Ietania's populace could be divided into several groups. The Kingdoms of Drusalis and Belgaria, two Technocratic states of Varadel and Gurin and the village communities caught in between these factions.
Drusalis and Belgaria have been locked into a stalemate for decades. Of the two Drusalis placed emphasis on discipline and martial capabilities. While the Kingdom of Belgaria took emphasis on the concept of knights and chivalry. Drusalis would press gang members of the village communities into their armies while Belgaria's entrenched nobility would cause issues for the arguably more noble kingdom.
The Gurin Technocracy takes advantage of the situation by supplying weapons and equipment to both sides. Varadel keeps itself isolated from the kingdoms while quietly helping the village communities caught between the warring factions and fighting what amounts to a shadow war with Gurin Technocracy. It was a long cycle that would last for thousands of years
The Xeno Incursions
It would be in the backdrop of the Ietanian internal strife that Xenos would take advantage of the planet. The first to come were the Dark Eldar, who made frequent raids to take slaves.
Then came the Fra'al who sent envoys to the kingdom of Drusalis, there was no record of the meeting only that it's king now believed in some "Primordial Truth" Drusalis fell to infighting between the Royal family and the Nobility who were horrified by this new "truth", the kingdom fell into a state of Anarchy collapsing in itself in an orgy of blood and death.
Belgaria locked itself away closing it's borders despite pleas for support, for many Belgarians it was an unforgivable act to ignore the pleas of ancient allies, many deserted leaving to answer the calls for aid from the villages.
Then came the Rak'gol whom came for naught but slaughter, the Technocracy of Varadel had devoted much of its resources to fighting them, finally came the Greenskins seeking a fight and finding it among the Xenos and Daemons that now frequent the planet.
No less than a three years after the landfall of the Greenskins the Varadel Technocracy was destroyed and it's people scattered to the winds, The Gurin used their technological capabilities to lock themselves away, only leaving the shielded cities to find test subjects.
Driving out the enemy and Unification
"His arrival was heralded by a clasp of thunder, striking down all those who opposed him, there was a fury that could be felt behind his attacks, as if to prey on the helpless was a personal affront that he had to avenge…" – a survivor of a Dark Eldar Raid describing the individual who became known as the Warrior of Thunder
It began as a simple rumor that spread across the planet, someone was driving out the Xenos. Somehow in the midst of the Anarchy a new faction had emerged, the Village communities, Drusalis survivors , Belgarian Deserters and the Remnants of the Varadel Technocracy. All had banded together in the name of survival and to drive the enemy out.
The most notable figure was the mysterious individual he bore no name nor title, This man was always seen on the frontlines, often described as having a strange air about him quiet and sometimes even described as taciturn, then when confronted with the mysterious aliens or even the so-called 'Daemons' he would charge into the fray with what could only be described as an aura of fury about him.
As time went on the Dark Eldar found them poor sport, and left to find other prey. Despite all odds the Greenskins numbers were slowly being whittled down, Though Belgaria whom had opted to go into a state of isolation found itself destroyed by the rampaging Greenskins
What truly marked the beginning of the end was when the Coalition came to the Capital of the Fallen Kingdom of Drusalis it was there they were confronted by mad men and Daemons . But the most notable It's skin could only be described as bleeding red charcoal like burnt flesh. It's armor looked like a fire-blacked parody of ancient Terrran Knights, it wielded a blade engraved with bizarre and alien runes.
In that confrontation the mysterious warrior who accompanied the Coalition's most famed heroes changed, as if awakening something that was long locked away. Lightning was dancing all over his armor, and the sword he wielded was wreathed in ethereal silver flames. When he clashed with the massive Daemon he had banished to wherever it came from.
In less that five years after the Daemons had been banished the Coalition would rally all of the survivors and begin driving off the Rak'gol and Orks in earnest.
The Gurin Technocracy who had hidden away all this time attempted to use subversive methods to eliminate the Coalition, only for said attempts to backfire, at which point the Coalition convinced sympathetic parties in the Gurin Technocracy to help them besiege the underground cities.
The Reforging
With the enemies of man wiped out the Ietanian's began rebuilding. The Coalition did not dissolve back into the various factions, but rather they ratified the formation of their nation as one entity. The Warrior of Thunder had professed that he was not entirely human, that he came from the stars, and he provided knowledge of lost Archaeotech.
Thanks to Varadel's Technological knowledge, the sense of militarism that existed thanks to the decade spent at the mercy of Xenos and the Thunder Warrior's aid before he disappeared, Ietania recovered at a rapid pace. In less than two decades they had not only recovered they had restored and built void ships.
During the unification, Psykers began emerging among Ietania's populace. Fearful of their powers and to the protest of many these Psykers were sequestered in isolated locations, while they never mistreated and in fact were taken care of by the new government there were many who still protested isolating people for something they could not control nor did they want, It was said that the Thunder Warrior had reemerged shortly after the decision had been made to request custody of the Psykers for reasons unknown.
Allies in the Stars
Then they went to the stars, originally to find the homeworld of the Thunder Warrior, instead they found other planets, some in blissful ignorance others under the same dangers that they themselves faced. Unwilling to let them be left to such a fate the Coalition sent soldiers to aid these planets. After doing so the planet often elected to join hands with the Coalition, Some chose not to and the Coalition respected their decisions.
The Coalition was founded on a simple basis: Survival. With this in mind they had elected to make military service mandatory, they went through a decade of peace dealing with nothing more than the occasional raid. After ratifying agreements with other planets the Coalition was henceforth referred to as the Markayn Coalition, after the designation used in ancient starcharts for their sector in the galaxy.
After acquiring old star charts, the Coalition began exploring southwards, one of the first planets they came into contact with was Ornsworld home of the Ratlings, the first colony they established was on the planet designated Solomon, following that they found and established an additional colony on the planet designated Scintilla. It was then that the Ietanian members of the Coalition requested complete control of several planets more specifically three planets that were home to a strange gravitational phenomena. As Ietania had stated that they planned on devoting their resources and no one else, the rest of the Coalition representatives agreed, seeing no reason to deny such a request and with that agreement the Lathe Colonies were established, marking the frontier of Markayn Coalition's explored territory, and would stay that way for some time.
The Century of Blood
"What a time to be alive..." - Major Johann Radec of the Coalition Armed Forces reflecting on how hostile Xenos seemed to have started crawling out of the woodworks
This particular time period was referred to by Coalition historians as the Century of Blood, a fitting name for the century of conflict faced by the Coalition. Each threat on it's own could arguably have been called "minor" unfortunately these Xeno entities started attacking the Coalition at about the same time. The Dark Eldar raids signified the need for rapid growth of the Coalition fleet, while never able to defeat the Dark Eldar, the Navy had grown experienced in driving off the raiders before they could raid Coalition territory.
They were forced to make questionable decisions in order to ensure their own survival, diverting all resources to Military industry, Full Conscription and Permanent services. The combined issues of the Fra'al inserted cults and the arrival of the Yu'vath and their strange technology resulted in the deployment of a group known only as the Null-Maidens. It was in the backdrop of this growing threat that the Thunder Warrior returned.
The originally isolated Psykers were deployed into battle in an attempt to combat the Yu'Vath. Unknown to many in the Coalition the Thunder Warrior had felt some modicum of guilt for staying silent during the governments decision to isolate the Psykers and had devoted his years of seclusion while the Coalition was aiding other human planets to teaching emerging Psykers how to better control their powers so they could hopefully return to society one day.
Despite reservations, the newly deployed Psykers as well as the Null maidens proved themselves to be a lynchpin to confronting the bizarre technologies of the Yu'vath and significant headway was made in pushing them back. Though it took many years they had eventually driven them off but many soldiers had lost their lives.
A Yu'vath incursion had assaulted the planet designated Vostroya, shattering infrastructure and killing off most of the Leadership and capturing the rest, it took a concerted effort of the inhabitants alongside aid from the Coalition's growing navy that would drive them off, in turn the Vostroyans formed their own government and pledged themselves to the Coalition, bring their industrial expertise into fold of the Coalition.
When they had originally captured Yu'vath Technology there was talk of trying to reverse-engineering their technology, the Thunder Warrior had firmly stated that he would not allow it, though some had challenged this statement the Thunder Warrior had somehow made them back down.
Though successful in driving off the Yu'vath much to their horror the Greenskins that had plagued several of the Core worlds had returned en masse. Knowing how difficult it was to drive off an Ork Waaagh!, the Coalition doubled down on conscription and until the war was over no one would leave the military service, as even the crippled veterans who originally being outfitted with bionics and discharged found themselves being thrown back into the frontlines.
The Intervening years
"Jackals at the Gates..." - The general opinion of political situation with the other human nations after driving off the Yu'vath and Greenskins
After the Long war the Coalition went into a state of partial de-militarization, Conscription laws were repealed as was permanent service though the amount of volunteers was no small number. Due to all of the time devoted to researching technologies for military use, the Coalition's Research and Development prioritized Environmental restoration as well as colonization.
In the aftermath of the the period known as the Century of blood, other human nations tried to assert claims on Coalition territory, often rebuffed it had usually ended up devolving into several low-intensity conflicts that ended in the Coalition's favor.
While they devoted most their resources to non-military development it did not mean Research and development of military technology had been abated. Now that they were no longer under threat the Coaltion's armed forces underwent reorganization and standardization of equipment. Standardized equipment was included but not limited to more durable Carapace armor and the standard issue Lancer was converted into las-weaponry from the original Autogun variant. New void classes of hull ships were being built, the hulls designated Battle-cruisers were being built as well as a project to develop Battleship-class hulls.
Many new colonies were established, despite the repealing of conscription laws the Armed forces had found themselves with many volunteers. More ships had been built to guard the worlds and new colonies of the Coalition
Despite this backdrop of relative peace the the Military commanders of the Coalition armed Forces still look westwards towards the Halo Stars, from where the Yu'vath came from. While many would have preferred peace, there was nevertheless talk of launching military expeditions to find and deal with the Yu'vath once and for all and growing popularity, these plans would be put on hold when a Golden Starship emerged into realspace near Scintilla...
A brief Excerpt on the Occulati
None knew the origins of this organization, it was collection of veteran soldiers, Psykers and women simply known as null-maidens. The mundane soldiers were screened using unknown and said methods were never disclosed.
While the one who commanded them was unknown, The Occulati had several major responsibilities. These duties included the training of Psykers, the protection from outside threats with Psychic capabilities and perhaps the most important the hunting of Cults. While it had been some time the stories of how the Kingdom of Drusalis fell had yet to fade from the minds of others, worsening the issue was seized Yu'Vath and occasionally Fra'al Technology.
The (long) Author commentary
If you want a sound reference for their language it's a cross between Finnish, German and Celtic, as the Coalition grows the sound reference transitions to something akin to Mando'a from Star Wars
Personnel/ Army Aesthetic would be a cross of the Gears from Gears of War and Helghast Soldiers from Killzone.
The Idea of the Coalition having an analogue to the Sisters of Silence was based off an old theory that the Sisters were a product of the Dark Age. if we go with that being true it wouldn't be a big stretch to say that some of them were in different parts of the galaxy when the Age of Strife happened.
Albrecht has essentially took part in establishing a smaller scale Imperium, with no Space marines to help them. Though it was more of him screaming from the sidelines and actually working.
In a way it's not that impressive, it took the Coalition 100+ years to get to that point in comparison to how big the Imperium got through the Great Crusade. Though in their defense they were fending all sorts of Canon Nastiness that can cause issues for 40k Imperium, had they faced much less resistance (which admittedly was never going to happen) they might have taken most of Obscurus by the time the Imperium reached them.
To put things in perspective, the canon crusade to take Calixus had to make generous use of Exterminatus weapons to kill the Yu'Vath, the Rak'gol are still a problem in that part of space, the Fra'al are dangerous enough that even the Craftworld Eldar are wary of them, and that's just the minor species that live nearby, that doesn't even take the Dark Eldar and Orks into account.
End result? Albrecht had to nudge the Coalition into doing some pretty questionable things to survive, they couldn't afford to be friendly to Xenos or try to turn their home into something like Ultramar, at that point they were just trying to survive. If Ultramar is supposed to be filled with paradise worlds than the Coalition is filled with mostly civilized worlds
Despite everything, it works. At which point the Coalition more or less stabilized allowing them shift gears from survival to development, they were also strong enough that diplomacy wasn't such outlandish idea, and that would be about thirty years before the Imperium arrives.
The Yu'vath was one of the first targets Albrecht has on his radar when he launches his expeditions, It is also a good way for me to justify his legion having a large stockpile of Exerminatus-grade weapons as the in Canon the Angevin Crusade had to use such weapons many times.
In case your curious about their navy by the time the Emperor meets them, they have analogues of:
- Armageddon Class Battlecruiser (Flagship)
- Dominion Class Battlecruiser (Carrier)
- Lunar Class Cruisers (Line Ship)
- Dictator Class Cruisers (Carrier)
- Dominator Class Cruisers (Support)
- Defiant Class Light cruisers (Small Carrier)
- Dauntless Light Cruisers (Escort)
- Sword Frigate (Escort/Screen)
- Cobra Destroyers (Escort/Screen)
- Havoc Destroyers (Wolf Pack/screen)
I say analogues because some of these ships actually don't exist by M30 (ex: Armageddon and Dominator Class) but fufill similar functions. They have a sizable number of cruisers, a lot of frigates and destroyers and maybe a dozen or less in terms of battlecruisers. Aesthetically speaking they actually look closer to that of the Adeptus Mechanicus ships in terms of appearance and color scheme (sans red) except thay have rams much like imperial navy ships.
AN:
Ever had a moment when you think you've properly edited but still can't help but think you missed something? That's me right now.
Yup a Game of Thrones/ASoIaF reference, didn't realize I made it til about five minutes after, but I couldn't really think of another way to phrase that time period for the Coalition.
I also altered the Yu'vath, they didn't actually grow into prominence until about M39, for the AU they've been around for a while.
oh and the Emperor will hear of the title given to him (The Thunder Warrior) and privately find the irony glorious.
