Lachesis

A system in the Graiae Sub-sector containing a number of habitable worlds. The system capital is Lachesis Prime, orbiting Lachesis B. The system is one of the three Graiae stars, also known as the three sisters, a trio of bright stars often used in local navigation.

The system is strategically important as it lies on the only stable warp route connecting the Eridani Sector to the rimward Achernar Sector.

+++TRAVEL ADVISORY: ACTIVE WARZONE, LEGIONES TRAITORIS+++
Current warzone status
Warzone rules of engagement

History

425.M36: Initial Settlement

The system was an Imperial colony from its founding, starting with Lachesis Prime in 425.M36. Mild terraforming and geo-editing was performed on Sudhata from 504.M36-579.M36. Inama's mineral wealth was unexplored due to a poorly executed geological survey, a mistake only rectified in 782.M38.

Due to the system's Imperial origins, a neo-feudal governmental system has been present from the start, with trading houses enjoying connections to Achernar and Eridani holding great influence to this day.

The Word Bearers' Invasion

As a system strategically placed on a key warp route with a higher than average number of psykers, the planet was a tempting target for the forces of Chaos. The Word Bearers, never before seen in the region, raided Lachesis Prime with the intention of paving the way for a larger invasion. The Raid on Lachesis was repulsed, giving the Imperium a few short years in which to prepare their defences.

When scattered elements of the Word Bearers' armada began to arrive eighteen months later, they were met with ships from both Battlefleet Achernar and Battlefleet Eridani. While the Word Bearers and their allies were able to land troops on all three inhabited planets orbiting Lachesis B, the well-prepared Imperial lines, bolstered by the Cobalt Scions, mostly held against the initial assaults.

Initial engagements in the War on Lachesis

The first assault on the Nova Hevanos Perimeter

Word Bearers forces assault the perimeter defences of Nova Hevanos, Lachesis Prime's capital city. Lord Khoura's force smashes the Planetary Defence Force garrison and seeks to gain entry into the tunnel network containing the local command bunker. The Cobalt Scions prevent him consolidating his gains, and his army is forced into retreat just as Khoura himself gains access to the tunnels. Injured by Atalus, Khoura escapes into the tunnel, pursued by Codicier Tolemias and his brothers. The Word Bearers soon send reinforcements to rescue their lord, but are repulsed, leaving Khoura to navigate the vast tunnel network with an equal parts mix of solitude and belligerence. He eventually finds a sufficiently poorly guarded exit several days later, and emerges in an advanced state of fury.

Psyker Abductions by the Night Lords

The Thirteenth Talon make their move, having infiltrated Lachesis Prime in advance of the Word Bearers' arrival. Despite an intercession by Host Taliesin, a temporary camp of psykers is emptied of its precious inhabitants and taken away by the heretics.

Void war at the Mandeville Point

With the Word Bearers' armada scattered by their long journey through the warp, Imperial Navy flotillas engage them in numerous meeting engagements in an attempt to hamper the Word Bearers' need to consolidate their vessels into a larger, more coordinated fleet. In one such engagement, the Battlefleet Achernar cruiser Gambit makes precise use of its nova cannon to cripple the Word Bearers cruisers Carnodon and Violation of Reason.

Traitors Thwarted at Thadaka

A joint force of Cobalt Scions and House Ulfir, led by Chapter Master Tiberius Drusus, engage and destroy a Word Bearers force attempting to thin the empyric veil outside Lachesis Prime's second city. Drusus defeats both a master of possession and a Night Lords sorcerer in personal combat (with "some assistance" from his personal bodyguard) while House Ulfir are engaged by one of their own, a long-lost traitor named Kaldr. House Ulfir take severe damage, and the Cobalt Scions lose multiple armoured assets, but the traitors' plans are averted.

Imperial setbacks

The Alpha Legion arrive

At the moment the flotilla from Battlefleet Achernar finally converge on the Word Bearers carrier Mortis Lux, simultaneous mutinies occurr aboard the Pride of Machadon and its frigates. The mutinous guns cripple the Lunar class cruiser Triumph and, with alarming precision, destroy the bridge of the Intemperance, killing Commodore Drennik and leaving the Imperial fleet in disarray. Prior to cutting all communications with the Navy vessels, the Pride sends a single transmission on all vox frequencies: "Hydra Dominatus."

The Mortis Lux escapes with only minor damage, and the remnants of Battlefleet Achernar's flotilla withdraw in disgrace. The engagement puts the Word Bearers in a dominant position for the first time in the naval war. They immediately capitalise on this by landing the full might of their forces on Lachesis Prime.

Thadaka devastated by daemonic incursion

Khorneate daemons emerge on the ground below Khairon's Eye, a Word Bearers cruiser built around a giant octed. With the veil temporarily thinned, neverborn cause havoc, and an attempt by the Cobalt Scions and Raven Guard to contain the situation fails. The careful fortifying efforts previously made in the city are utterly reversed, and the city left vulnerable to assault.

Of the event, Cobalt Scions Chief Librarian Diokles Adrastos wrote, in his introduction to The Lachesian War: its Causes, Occurrences and Consequences:

"Sometimes referred to as the Green Maze, Lachesis Prime's second city of Thadaka is at the southernmost edge of Kulunu Province, spread along the tropical coastline. Torrential rains mean that people were only permitted to pave over 50% of the surface, since soil absorption is needed to prevent flooding. This resulted in buildings interspersed with plentiful lush greenery in a manner I have rarely seen. The buildings themselves left something to be desired, but I admire any city that has its own character, and a vibrance so often crushed by the demands of industry.

"Following the naval mutiny, there was little we could do to prevent the Word Bearers cruiser Khairon's Eye entering geostationary orbit above the city. The vessel's superstructure is unique, its spine interrupted by a vast iron octed. Its arcane significance was soon revealed when the veil keeping the warp at bay thinned at impossible speed.

"I have spoken to some of my brothers who were present at the time. They described the tropical air thickening, the wind stilling, and a haze coalescing. Thunder and red lightning from above tore reality open below, like wounds reopening on a scurvy-ridden body. Daemons poured forth. The city, so well-protected by our efforts hitherto, was now subjected to thoughtless massacre at the hands of thirsting neverborn. No theoretical offered solution, and the only practical was retreat. But the city had already been surrounded by the enemy's forces, and our impregnable defences now became a cage.

"There is no coherent estimate of the civilian casualties suffered that day. I am told many people chose to swim out to sea and drown rather than face death at the hands of the enemy."

The war in Sudhata

Taking advantage of their naval ascendance, Word Bearers forces land on the Lachesis system's agri-world of Sudhata and attempt a blasphemous ritual in the Chapel of Saint Helene. Their endeavour is thwarted by a joint force of Cobalt Scions and the Order of Our Martyred Lady, the latter of whom force Khairon from the chapel with a barrage of missiles, keen to destroy the building before they see it sullied by witchcraft. This attack, however, turns out to be nothing more than a diversion enabling the Night Lords to land in force on the far side of the planet. Describing the event later on in The Lachesian War: its Causes, Occurrences and Consequences, Diokles writes:

"With the void war having turned in the enemy's favour, they immediately took the opportunity to land the full might of their forces on Lachesis Prime. What had begun as a well-prepared rebuke now turned into a war we could lose. Thadaka's fate and the enemy's numbers saw a gloom descend on the faces in our strategiums, while the enemy, so jubilant at the change in their fortunes, felt confident enough to open a second front. The Night Lords invaded the system's agri-world of Sudhata alongside thousands of cultists.

"Given the fraught naval situation, a second front would be hard for us to resupply and harder to maintain. At this point it was clear to us that further reinforcement by the Imperial Guard would be necessary, but it would take time to arrive. Chapter Master Drusus, normally so cautious, made a bold move.

"We temporarily redeployed all Cobalt Scions forces to Sudhata.

"Drusus knew well how evasive the Night Lords can be, particularly those of the thrice-accursed sadist Icarael, the armoured coward of the Eight Legion. By sending all our units, we could overwhelm their petulant invasion before it had a chance to take root. Their cultists were soon slaughtered, and the Night Lords, realising the world could not be theirs, inevitably redirected their efforts to making the place unusable to the innocent inhabitants. They attempted this by striving to poison the Sungrutan Reservoir, an underground lake containing 23% of the planet's freshwater. It would have been an unacceptable loss, and one that we averted with extreme prejudice, albeit at some cost to the Third Company. We hounded the Night Lords from the planet and, redirecting the flow of reinforcements to the agri-world to prevent reinvasion, moved the Chapter back to Lachesis Prime, where the defenders we left behind were almost on their knees.

"In a sense, this was a strategic victory for the enemy; they forced an outsized redeployment by us, enabling them to make further gains in the industrial heartlands of Lachesis Prime's Miduma Province. On the other hand, allowing the Night Lords to embark on a years-long campaign of guerilla warfare of the kind they prefer would have been worse. The heart of good strategy is forcing your opponent to choose between two bad options, and on this occasion, the enemy did just that. Whenever I see these flashes of brilliance in them, it deepens my hatred. They were created to be so much more than what they have become."

Stalemate

Diokles goes on to describe the long months of sustained conflict that followed:

"The war continued on Lachesis Prime for some months. With our naval and ground assets fairly evenly matched, and our desire to hurt each other undimmed, the fight became one of attrition. The war became a beacon to both sides as the Word Bearers called in ever more favours, and made ever more promises. Just as we stabilised things in the ruins of Thadaka, a warband of Iron Warriors arrived to tip the balance. Just as the Blood Angels answered our call for aid, we received word that the Thousand Sons were up to something in Inama, the system's mining colony, so once again much-needed reinforcements had to be redirected."

"Just as we were convinced we couldn't be stretched more thinly, I received an astropathic sending from Massyleon, the distant capital system of the Massylean sub-sector: an ork invasion was underway.

"This was ill-timed news. Lachesis is strategically vital as it controls the one stable direct route to the neighbouring Achernar sector. Massyleon is strategically vital as it is the sector's only true hive world, with all the industry that entails. The events of that war are pertinent here only in that it took me, the Cobalt Scions' Third Company, and the Raven Guard's Fifth Company, off to the opposite end of the sector at a time we could ill afford it. We were gone for some weeks, mostly due to travel time, and while we met with success in Massyleon, it lengthened the Lachesian War."

The Deadlock is Broken; the War Ends

Summarising the war's end, Diokles writes:

"By the time we returned from Massyleon, Chapter Master Drusus had somehow managed to keep the enemy in check with the forces at his disposal. Our return tipped the balance. A final assault on Nova Hevanos was rebuffed, and town by town we retook the Miduman Manufactoria and the Haekan refineries. Even in the ruins of Thadaka we forced the enemy back, ever further.

"In mounting desperation, I believe the Word Bearers attempted a grand ritual in the ruins of Thadaka, but as the summoned energies reached their apex, they suddenly drained away. Tolemias and I both felt as though that energy had gone somewhere, and that somewhere was Inama, the mining colony. We told the Blood Angels of this strange occurrence, and they informed us that it was too vague to be useful. A reasonable response, I concede. But whatever the Word Bearers had just attempted, someone else had benefitted.

"In the wake of this strange occurrence, the Word Bearers' allies began to leave. This was a source of some friction within their ranks, and I found it darkly amusing to learn that the Word Bearers and the Night Lords eventually came to blows. We don't know who fired the first shot, but when the Night Lords made ready to depart, aerial reconnaissance showed that they were approached by a force of Word Bearers and engaged in open battle. The Night Lords seemed to win this exchange, partially thanks to deploying a relic Leviathan Dreadnought that single-handedly slew a tank and two daemon engines. The Night Lords melted away thereafter. Losing their primary ally made the Word Bearers' own position untenable. They fled, and we harried them all the way to the Mandeville Point. Wherever they may strike next, I do not think it will be Lachesis."

"Lachesis Prime has endured, but not without cost. Industrial output is down 64%. Years of rebuilding will be needed. We are victorious, and take pride in that, but the city of Thadaka is, functionally, no more. The ring of defences we built to keep the enemy out now serves as a bulkwark to stop anything escaping from within. No people remain there, and yet those tasked with patrolling its streets claim they can still occasional screams for clemency in the distance. I miss the place that it was, and worry what supernatural ingress it might offer our foes.

"The next time I meet a Word Bearer in combat, the battle cry on my lips may well invoke vengeance for Thadaka."

Locations

Lachesis Prime

The system capital is a civilised world boasting a range of biomes. Its population growth is stagnant, and like other worlds in this subsector, a higher than average number of psykers emerge in the population. To handle this, nascent psykers were housed in one of three towers. These towers were destroyed by the forces of chaos during the Raid on Lachesis, and temporary camps have had to be created to manage newly emergent psykers, leaving many with security concerns.

Kulunu Province

The home of many Lachesian noble families, the region's expansive agri-estates stretch outwards from the coastal cities. Eventually the fields of the estates give way to a variety of habitats, including forests and heathland. The estates themselves are heavily reliant on poorly paid farm labourers who are rightly beginning to suspect that the industrial methods being used to harvest the crops are beginning to cause ecosystem collapse. As yet, none of the ruling families have been willing to be the first to accept a reduction in profits, since it would reduce their influence in the financial markets of Nova Hevanos.

Capital city: Nova Hevanos

As a major seaport and starport, Nova Hevanos boasts substantial financial services for traders moving through the system. Historic treaties allow some noble families to operate their own excise depot even after the construction of Port Magellus in M39. The comparative lack of oversight from the Adeptus Terra has resulted in some trading practices that fall short of the standards expected of noble families, and even some investigations by both the Arbites and the Ordos. Despite this, the political damage of cancelling the excise treaties has kept them in place.

Second city: Thadaka

Once referred to as the Green Maze, Thadaka is at the southernmost edge of the province, spread along the tropical coastline. Torrential rains meant that people were only permitted to pave over 50% of the surface, as soil absorption was needed to prevent flooding. This resulted in brutalist Imperial architecture interspersed with plentiful lush greenery even in central districts. During the Word Bearers' invasion, the city was subjected to a daemonic incursion in which much of the city's population were massacred. Following the Word Bearers' defeat, there are no plans to rebuild the city. Instead, the defences built around it prior to the invasion are now used to keep watch in case anything should try to escape the city.

Miduma Province

One of Lachesis Prime's more arid regions, Miduma Province boasts much of the planet's manufacturing capacity. Nobles who own manufactories in this region will often reside in Nova Hevanos, visiting infrequently, and largely numb to the conditions in which the workers live so long as the goods keep flowing out on time. Some attempts and collective labour action occurred in 780.M41 and 822.M41, but were brutally put down by the Planetary Defence Force. Conditions also vary from one manufactory to another, with workers sometimes bribing factory overseers to effectively emigrate from one giga-factory to another. When nobles become aware that one with better working conditions is "stealing" (i.e. attracting) labour from others, this can result in clandestine corporate wars featuring worker abductions and even assassination attempts on rival nobles, but such strife has never become widespread enough to attract serious retribution from the Planetary Governor, other than in 957.M40, in which Governor Frand chastised House Chun for forcibly abducting three thousand labourers overnight from House Frayne. Chun settled the matter by returning 50% of the workforce alongside a substantial fiscal offering. Financial commentators noted a subsequent drop in productivity by both houses due to 'workforce agitation,' but no efforts were ever made to reunite families split by the event, as the administrative burden was considered financially unviable.

Following the arrival of the Cobalt Scions during the Raid on Lachesis, Chapter Master Tiberius Drusus noted the state of the workforce in this province, and dispatched various Praetors to suggest alternative governance methods that would increase productivity and efficiency by improving treatment of the workers. While Houses Frayne, Nurul and Halima have implemented some of these suggestions, most flatly ignored it. As yet, it is too early to tell if the three adopters will enjoy any long-term benefits to the costs they have incurred. For the most part, taking trade advice from a military figure has been met with scorn.

Haeka Province

The wealth of promethium deposits beneath the tundra, boreal forests and ice flows of this southern expanse has resulted in a great deal of industry, despite the harsh climate. Haekans consider 'northers' to be a soft lot.

Sudhata

An agri world with geno-adapted crops designed to survive the partial night of its planetary ring shadows. It exports food across the wider subsector via its vast orbital, Port Magellus.

Port Magellus

The system's largest orbital, built between 402.M39 and 488.M39. Magellus serves as an excise depot, monitoring cargo travelling the warp route connecting the Archernar and Eridani sectors. Failure to post a route map indicating a stop at this port can flag a vessel as subject to impounding by the Eridani and Achernar shipping authorities.

As an isolated Adeptus Terra facility, the port is largely free of the influence of local politics, and is not subject to the rulership of Sudhata's Planetary Governor. Sudhata, in turn, is dependent on the port as its primary means of exporting its produce.

Inama

A mining colony for various rare earth elements. There are small orbital platforms to which shipping containers are attached, and then collected by system ships bound for either Lachesis Prime or Port Magellus.