Hello faithful readers and heretics alike. This is your God-Emperor, The New Mandalord.
I know this is a short chapter, but not evey chapter is going to be 7000+ words.
I'll die if I continue to do those.
Aside from that, I do love the reviews and I do encorage more.
I do not own W40K, Games Workshop does.
One of the most grueling campaigns of my career was fighting against the Dark Eldar in the Second Kaurava campaign. I'll skip with the poetics and just tell it as it really happened. During the First Kaurava campaign, Archon Tahril and his Black Hearts Kabal moved faster than any of the other factions had anticipated. They were able to defeat the Alpha Legion on Kaurava VI in the first hour, and take the planet in the first day.
The Necron forces were then split, between fighting the Eldar of the Ulthwe Craftworld and their corrupted cousins, not even the Nighlord could slow them down. After burying the tombs underneath the sands, they dealt with Farseer Caerys. Though both she and Tahril were equals, their forces were not. Caerys managed to escape, thank the Emperor, but not with loosing most of her forces. Those that remained suffered a fate worse than death, and Kaurava III soon became Tahril's newest torture garden.
After that, he moved on to Kaurava II to face Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter's Waaagh!, Captain Boreala's Blood Ravens, and Shas'O Or'es'Ka. Gorgutz boyz were able to slow them down for about a week, but Kabal eventually rooted them out of their mountain fortress and drove Gorgutz off world. Boreala, who had no experience fighting the Dark Eldar, did his chapters no favors. The Black Hearts were able to slip through his scanners and slaughter him and his guards within a few hours. With them dead, the remaining Blackhearts hunted down the Blood Raven scouts and feasted on their souls. Then they turned to the Nan'yanoi moonbase. Shas'O Or'es'Ka was cocky during the campaign, boosting that no army could penetrate the base's defenses, and that their Or'ka cannon would drive back any attacker, but he was wrong and not only he and his Fire Warriors suffer for it, but it cost them an Ethereal's life.
Finally came Kaurava I, where the Sisterhood of Battle and the Imperial Guard were butting heads. Both were incredibly stubborn forces, led by equally stubborn leaders. The 252nd Conservator Regiment of the Imperial Guard, the representatives of the star system's original ruler, the Imperium of Man, who had landed on Kaurava I under the newly appointed Imperial Govenor-General Vance Stubbs felt like they had to redeem themselves for loosing almost all four planets. While Battle Sisters of the Order of the Sacred Rose, a sect of the Adepta Sororitas' Orders Militant, led by Carroness Selina Agna, came to cleanse the star system of every last xeno and heretic, even if such a task led to conflict with the other servants of the Emperor already within the system. Both sides were strong, intrenched and would not give an inch to each other until it was too late. Instead of putting meaningless differences aside to fight a common foe, they decided to fight Tahril separately while continuing on fighting one another. In the end, both were annihilated. Though the artillery and heavy armor of the Imperial Guard's central command slowed their advance, not even their powerful Baneblades could stand against Tahril's terror, poison and savage speed his forces crushed the Imperial Guard regiment. The zeal that the Order of the Sacred Rose was famous for, the Marauders of the Dark Heart Kabal fell onto the sisters so quickly that they had no time to become martyrs. Instead they became slaves and playthings of the twisted minded Eldar. It was said that they tortured one lone sister to the point of madness before they left, so she could spread fear into the hearts of others by muttering the horrors she had seen.
While Tahril was a brutal and savage leader of his Kabal, he made on critical mistake. He and his Black Hearts stayed in Kaurava. Getting fat and lazy off the souls of those they defeated. Needless to say, it was sort of fun fighting them and watching my warriors avenging Au'Ro'Yr.
Extract: A Gue'Vesa Chronicles: The autobiography of Kain Osman. Written by Kain Osman, ed. Commissar Jillian von Kisser.
Karen Invictus had stopped believing she would wake up. The nightmare was real. The monsters that surrounded her were solid, living, breathing, unholy things from the warp; she had found out just how solid when one of them had her and her sisters cuffed when their stronghold fell. The power they possed was terrifying. When one, a civilian, tried to take their leader's head he was flown backwards and smashed into a statue of the Emperor, and crushed beneath it. Existing had been painful ever since, and sleep, when it came at all, was more of a struggle than ever.
She had received beatings before when she would not give into to her master's sick fetishes, but what was a broken rib compared to the things they had done to the Sarah? Kathrina, whose adamant resolve was broken in the first day? Or to the Missionaries'? Or to their Canoness Agna, their leader, who had become the personal plaything of their leader. Best not think about that. Wasn't enough that they forced them to watch as their once great Canoness cave into his sick pleasure, but now it was there every single time she closed her eyes. Most nights, after she and the others had been beaten and kicked until giving into their master's wishes, she would wake up to the screaming of others. They would try to sooth each other as quickly as possible, but their master would always find out in the end, and then that one who was screaming would be given to his Mandrake guards for the rest of the night. They would not be the same in the morning.
Living in such a constant haze of fear, pain and misery, Karen had lost count of the day. How long had it been – a year? A decade? Maybe even more? – since the Dark Eldar had eradicated her and her sisters in the Sama District? She and her sisters were ordered to purge the sector clean of demons, mutants, and heretics alike. That did not last long. When they arrived on Kaurava I, they found themselves fighting against the forces Governor-General Vance Stubbs and his 252 Conservator Regiment. Karen thought that they would give in quickly, but because of their equal zeal they lost fire power, land, resources, and time.
Then one night they descended upon them like maggots on a festering carcass. They cleared Imperial Guard out of the Dussala Precinct, but they used them as bait.
Karen never imagined she would see her Canoness so afraid. Their attack style reminded them of their less corrupted cousins, but their shear savagery and lust in battle told them that they were anything but. What made it worse was that they were crafty, using slaves they took over their campaign to distract them while their main forces desecrated the statues of the of their immortal saint, rendering her mortal, and they more than enjoyed killing her.
It was the first time Karen had ever heard a quaver in her Canoness's voice. Some of the missionaries', who were not the brightest, challenged them, and died horribly for it. Karen had been fighting close by. Their hot blood had splashed over her face, soaking her armor while the rest of her forces tried the best to hold the line. The monsters laughed at that, then stripped them completely naked, fixed explosive collars around their throats, and chained them all together. Minutes later, her and her captured sisters were forced to go through haemonculi torture gardens. Now they had to remain on this Throne-forsaken sector, to live and die as the Kabals's pleasure slaves, and Karen wished now that she and sisters had died back there.
Most of them had already caved into their twisted pleasure or driven mad by the warp.
What was the point of drawing it out like this?
There was no hope of escape. Where would she go? Their settlement was constantly moving, over warp ridden earth. Beyond that, the shifting sands stretched to the wavering horizon in every direction. Her master decided to take his playthings all over the planet to show her that there was no escape. No one was coming for them, and no one was going to save them. The only way they could survive was their complete and utter subjugation.
A furious clash snapped her back to her senses, and she realized that the band had stopped. The barges had joined up with another warlord's band, meaning there was going to be another slave trade. These usually involved watching bloody gladiator matches while the masters proceed in massive orgies and soul consuming.
There was a sharp crack like a gunshot, and a blazing pain lanced across her back. Her brutish slave master – a sadistic monster that was called Tahril – stood over her, speaking in his alien tongue and brandishing a long, leather whip. Unlike most, this whip would not leave any noticeable markings…. But it hurt like hell.
He cracked the whip again.
Drowning under a wave of sudden, intense agony, Karen felt the last of her strength dissolve. Her legs buckled and gave way. She collapsed, much to Tahril's delight. Her tired body hit hard, hot earth. She had fallen of the barge and landed into the sands. Some of the smaller, lesser aliens nearby pointed down from atop a different barge. They laughed and chittered to each other, eyes wide with anticipation.
Tahril bent over her, assessing him, studying her closely with dark, unsympathetic eyes. Was this pathetic human still capable of pleasuring him, or should he trade her for a newer, fresher one?
Essence of the warp seemed to drip off of the monster's finger onto Karen's back. It traced down to her bottom, and then between her legs. She held in a gasp as the alien's talons delved deep into her, and she did her best not to give into him, but it was worthless compared to his magic. She felt a warm wetness spreading down her legs, pooling under her, and causing piercing screams. The mere desire to live overwhelms any sense of shame.
Karen cried. She was cursing herself for giving in. "This is it," she thought, "this is what my life will be."
As a Sister of Battle, she strongly believed in the Imperial Creed. She considered herself to be a Daughter of the Emperor, and even after her capture she continued to pray to him for guidance even when fellow sisters gave in to the power of their masters. So why now did she feel abandoned? Why has her father left her to these Xenos?
Tahril straightened, licking his long fingers clean of her juices; he began to speak in his demon tongue to other monsters nearby, calling them over for a bit of fun, she used the last of her sanity to pray out to her God-Emperor.
"Lord of all Mankind, Beacon in the Darkness, Master of Holy Terra and all the galaxy, let me die quickly, I beg you. Don't let me suffer as the others did. These monsters have caused me to sin, but I have kept the faith. In humble prayer, I ask this of You. Please, do not let your loyal daughter suffer."
She expected no answer. It was desperately alone that made her pray, but what happened next was a striking example of those coincidences that the faithful so often claim as proof of the Divine. Karen Montague could not have known that a different force held positions on Kaurava IV not far away, that fleets were massing in orbit, and that they were preparing for the attack.
Sated from his own turn, Tahril enjoyed watching his own guard use Karen for their own perverted pleasure. Her body fell onto the ground in a heap of sweat covered flesh. She didn't scream when Tahril kicked her over, or whimper when he re-entered her. Her attention was locked on a growing storm.
In it, Karen saw a glorious, stampeding of machines barreling towards them. It was so loud that some of the warriors started to panic rather than prepare for an attack.
Tears of joy rolled down her cheeks.
Could it truly be?
Yes!
The Emperor, her Father, had heard her!
He had heard Karen's prayers, and He had answered it!
"Ave, Imperator," Karen gasped. Graditude, relief, love, contrition: all these feelings and more swept over her. She took a deep lungful of hot, blistering air and with everything she had left, shouted, "Ave, Imperator!"
The storm hit the encampment in a series of divine explosions. Dark Eldar warriors were thrown into the air and the barges were torn through. Tahril summoned his fiercest guard to his side, but they were useless on the hood of the Imperium's jetbikes.
One skidded to a stop in front of them. It was a common Scimitar Pattern Jetbike that was modified to fit a normal person, but it was the person on board that confused Karen. He was a muscular and tanned older man with long unruly black hair and red eyes. His only clothing was a skin tight body-suit that covered his entire torso, pair of black shorts with an orange and red sash covering his right leg, a red headband, and a metal gauntlet covering his left arm. Around his neck was a fang pendant made from polish, black onyx, and on the bodysuit was the symbol of the Tau Empire.
In an instant, all of the emotions Karen had once felt now turned to confusion. Why would the Emperor send the Tau to save them?
Tahril thought differently. He did not like the fact that the Tau had returned, and were using his own tactics against him. He figured that when all of this was done, he would feast on this human's heart like he did to their ethereal.
The human swung the bike around and two burst canons unleashed firy hell upon his badge. It exploded in a beautiful plume of fire and shrapnel, killing another one of Tahril's guards and blowing them back.
Karen's body hurt. The blast caused her body to shake uncontrollably, but it kept her from noticing the shrapnel in her body. It was not deep, fortunately, but trying to move would be painful.
She saw the man get off his bike with a power sabre in hand and heading towards Tahril. His remaining two Incubi were stumbling around, trying to find their feet, but what they found were their internal parts becoming external. They were dead before they knew it.
Tahril, on the other hand, was a harder opponent. He lunged straight at the man, laughing madly as it raised his Agonizer gauntlet high above his head.
As the blades came whistling down towards the man's chest, at lightning speed, the man darted forward into the blow, throwing his left his left arm up at the last moment. Tahril wrist clashed with the golden bracer that shielded his arm. The impact was bone-jarring, but the man weathered it. Thanks to the bracer, his arm did not break. The instant he caught the blow, he rammed his power sabre up into Tahril's unprotected sternum.
The effect was immediate, but less than what the man and Karen had hoped for. Tahril's expression shifted from delinquent glee to abject hate and rage, but he didn't die. Instead, he dropped the huge claws and wrapped its arms around the man, pulling him into a crushing hug. Call it hard to believe, but Tahril's strength was equal to a Ork Warboss, and his anger spiked it. But it was a bad move on his part, the motion forcing the man's sabre deeper inside its body. Howling in pain, Tahril craned its head forward and tried to snap at him.
The man gagged on Tahril's stinking, rotten breath, and reared his head back just in time. Blackened teeth slammed together centimeters from his face. Making use of the distance he'd created to gain momentum, the man rammed his head forward with all of his strength, smashing his forehead straight into Tahril's nose.
As the Dark Eldar reeled backwards, it loosened its grip. The man yanked the hilt of his power sabre hard too the left and right, causing massive internal injuries to his foe. Reeking gore poured out over the man and onto the blistering sands. When Tahril's misshapen face finally went slack, the man pushed free and kicked the body free from his blade.
Karen wanted to scream out in joy.
Here sadistic, insane, demonic master was dead!
So why did her confusion not subside?
The man saw Karen lying, bare naked in the sand not too far away. He pulled a rationed blanket and med kit from his bike.
Karen tried her best to slowly shift away, but malnutrition and the sand grinding into her wounds made that impossible. The man, being as gentle as he could, wrapped her in the blanket first. He then gave her a mild sedative to put her under.
Before she went under, he said, "Relax. I am Kain Osman. You are safe now."
Author's Notes:
So I decided to bring in the DoW campaigns into the series, and in one campaign I did have the Dark Eldar winning. I was facinated on how they operated, especially after defeating the Sisters of Battle, so I thought of doing this chapter from one of their points of view.
For physical looks, Karen looks like the woman on the cover of Hammer & Anvil. (BTW, who is that person?)
Do not hold back those reviews and suggestions.
Those = more stories.