40K Loremaster: The Indomitus Crusade
Come Loremasters and learn of exactly what The Primarch and Arch-Magos Cawl have wrought with Primaris Marines over the last 100 years.
The Indomitus Crusade is a Crusade that was launched by the resurrected Primarch Roboute Guilliman after he declared himself Lord Commander of the Imperium‘s armies during the Thirteenth Black Crusade. The main aim of the Crusade is one of reconquest, as Guilliman intends to liberate those Imperial worlds embattled by the forces of Chaos following the creation of the Great Rift, which has divided his Father’s Empire in half.
Early Crusade History
Guilliman’s forces consist of troops from over a dozen Space Marine Chapters led by the Imperial Fists. These are joined by Imperial Guard, Mechanicum, Custodes, Sisters of Battle, Imperial Navy, Skitarii, Legio Cybernetica, Collegia Titanica, Knights, a small contingent of Sisters of Silence, and the newly created Primaris Space Marines.
With the Astronomican in a state of disarray due to the formation of the Great Rift, the Indomitus Crusade risked only short jumps through the warp. They pushed a path through system after system. Daemon hordes were driven back from Gathalamor, the Drogos System and Tallarn. In the Lhorm Reaches, the Brass Tyrant was defeated. The entire population of Ophelia VII was freed from the enslavement of the Tyrant of Blueflame, although the Greater Daemon escaped. Word of the crusade’s approach alone was enough to quell the rebellion on Necromunda.
Resupply at Catachan
By the time the Crusade reached Catachan, all of the Chaos forces had already been defeated by the local Catachan Jungle Fighters Regiments. At Catachan, the Crusade halted for reinforcement and resupply and, despite heavy losses, the Indomitus fleet was larger when it departed Catachan than it had been when it first left Terra. As the Indomitus Crusade worked its way outwards from Terra, the worst effects of the Great Rift were already lifting across many sectors. Although warp storms still drifted out of the Great Rift, the Astronomican was slowly burning away the taint of the warp throughout the galactic south. Many citizens that survived the cruel oppression of daemonic hordes saw divine correlation between the two events. Those that glimpsed the Primarch firsthand whispered that they had seen the Emperor himself. Word of the Primarch erupted across the galaxy, revitalizing the Imperium’s morale.
However, the crusade came to many worlds that were beyond saving and suffered setbacks. Where there was no hope, Guilliman sought instead to bring vengeance and Exterminatus, as was the case with the Hive World Bhundar and the Daemonic-corrupted Cardinal World of Gloriphia. At Terra Secundus, the Crusade fleet suffered ambushes and catastrophic malfunctions, having been lured into a terrible trap by the Alpha Legion. Although it pained him to do so, Guilliman made the difficult decision to pull back, skirting the whole Primagenesis System, as he could not afford to become bogged down in a long war of attrition. The crusade’s journey later saw it encounter dozens of systems in which countless Imperial citizens were left in thrall to the Chaos Gods. This was a bitter reality for Roboute Guilliman and his forces.
Primaris Into Battle
As the Indomitus Crusade penetrated deeper into the galaxy, Archmagos Cawl kept his automaton workers on overdrive to create new Primaris Marines and the weapons for them. Aboard the massive vessel Zar-Quaesitor, thousands of Primaris Space Marines – some comprising entirely new Chapters and others designated as reinforcements for existing ones – were awakened out of stasis and made ready to join the fray. On Rynn’s World, the arrival of the Indomitus Crusade broke the daemonic legions of the Daemon Prince Rhaxor. After the battle, the stunned Crimson Fists were given reinforcements of Primaris Marines.
Ancient Recruits
For his raw material, Cawl had selected warriors of Terra, and had taken them only a few generations after the original Imperial Fists had been created by the Emperor. Indeed, some had been held in stasis since the days of the Great Crusade; a few of the Primaris Space Marines could recall having seen Rogal Dorn himself. Such reunions were repeated on Baal, Chogoris, and throughout Ultramar.
Final Days and Dissolution
After around 100 years, the Indomitus Crusade began to break down. When the vast holds of the Zar-Quaesitor were emptied, Archmagos Cawl departed, for he had many more secret vaults to activate in order to complete the Ultima Founding. Once deployed, new Chapters remained after the initial conflicts were won, seeking to consolidate the crusade’s gains. In many cases, they did this by establishing their own new Chapter planets. In this way, the crusade not only freed worlds from the tyranny of the Dark Gods, but also strengthened their defenses against further attacks that were sure to come.
After hearing of serious developments in the Plague Wars of Ultramar, Guilliman could no longer ignore his home and decided to break up the Indomitus Crusade. After the Battle of Raukos Guilliman held a great Triumph and announced the dispersion of the Crusade throughout the Imperium.
~ We will have to see what the Primarch and Cawl plan next to reknit the Imperium of Man.
