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The Fate of Konor

Ultramar burns. The putrid warbands of the Death Guard, led by the Daemon Primarch Mortarion, have launched a furious assault upon the Ultramarines’ stellar empire. This eruption of all-out war threatens to drown the stars themselves in bloodshed and terror. Legions of Heretic Astartes and Chaos-spawned monstrosities have already rampaged across world after world, spreading the malignant corruption of the Dark Gods in their wake. Yet all hope is not lost. The return of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman has stalled the seemingly unstoppable momentum of the Chaos advance. In a series of bloody battles, the armies of the Imperium – reinforced with mighty Primaris Space Marines – have reclaimed many worlds thought lost, forcing their hated foes to retreat and regroup.

Now the worshippers of Chaos seek to regain their advantage by smashing a path through the Imperial battle line to Macragge, home world of the Ultramarines. Should they succeed, the greatest Imperial stronghold in the sector will be gravely threatened, and Guilliman’s forces will be cut-off and surrounded. To achieve this end, the forces of Chaos must conquer the well-located Konor System. Powered by the industrial might of the forge world of Konor, this centre of produce and production feeds the Imperial war machine with vital shipments of munitions and machinery. Populous and prosperous, with a large and well-equipped defence force, the Konor System embodies the glorious dream of Ultramar. Crucially, it also guards one of the few stable warp transit routes to the Macragge System. If the Chaos advance is not halted, Konor will soon fall, and a path to the heartland of Ultramar will be laid bare.

System Map

Yet the warriors of the Adeptus Astartes will not cede their rightful domain without a fight. The Ultramarines stand against the Chaos onslaught with nobility and courage, smiting the foe with bolter and blade. And they are not alone. The military sledgehammer of the Astra Militarum rumbles into action, an armoured fist of devastating tank columns and endless regiments of soldiers that grinds all before it into ashes and dust. Scattered Space Marine Chapters rush fresh reinforcements to the war zone, seeking to aid their embattled kin. Enigmatic Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus send forth their legions of steel, and mighty Imperial Knights bestride the slaughter like ancient gods of war.

Every single warrior – every bolter round and bomb – will be vital, for the Chaos host sweeping across the Konor System is vast beyond imagining. Warriors of the Death Guard march implacably forward, enemy fire spattering harmlessly from their rusted power armour and pallid twisted flesh. In return they unleash bombardments of noxious toxins and flesh-melting plagues. Daemonic legions surge alongside the Chaos advance, exulting in the chance to wreak torment across the material realm. Warbands of Heretic Astartes, millions upon millions of depraved mortal cultists, and a thousand other horrors converge upon Konor, drawn to its aura of agony and death like sharks to blood.

Circling this firestorm of destruction are predatory xenos races, ever seeking to further their own mysterious ends. Orks surge into the war in their millions, delighting in the spreading carnage. Craftworld Aeldari and Drukhari circle from afar, offering their services as mercenaries or launching raids to fulfill some unknowable agenda. Tyranid and T’au forces spill in from the Eastern Fringe, capitalising on or drawn by the escalating conflict, while even the Necrons send invasion forces to exploit the infighting of the younger races and expand their ancient empires.

No part of the Konor System will be left unscarred by the coming war. If the Heretic Astartes’ plans come to fruition, the system’s own worlds will be weaponised and turned against Ultramar. The forces of Chaos will force open a route to Macragge, and this shining light of the Imperium will face obliteration.

The newly formed Scythes of the Emperor Task Force. Shipmaster Aeryton Augustus, Chapter Officer Brother-Sergeant Xaver, 5th Company.

Praetorian Command meets with members of the Scythes of the Emperor for a request in support.

THE QUINTUS GATE
(North America) This towering fortified gateway leads to the inner towers of Hive Hallentia, the largest city on Astaramis and the only haven to remain unbreached by Chaos forces. Ahead of the gate runs the central thoroughfare, the arterial route into the city. This broad avenue is choked by the rusted carcasses of wrecked battle tanks and war engines, smouldering alongside the blasted ruins of civilian convoys that were overrun before they could reach the safety of the Quintus Gate. Within this maze of shattered smoking metal and charred corpses, vicious and prolonged fighting rages. If the gate falls, Chaos forces will spill into Hallentia unopposed, and the streets will run red with the blood of loyal Imperial citizens.

SAVIOUR'S LANDING
(EU) This sprawling temple district was built upon the hallowed soil where the blessed Roboute Guilliman first made landfall on Astaramis during the Great Crusade. Saviour’s Landing was once a maze of white marble walkways, golden shrines and pristine galleries of wondrous statuary depicting the sainted Primarch's many legendary triumphs. Now it is almost unrecognisable, ravaged by the fires of war. Contesting armies fight a multi-level running battle amidst the wreckage of its former grandeur, battling hall by hall, stairway by soaring stairway for the right to control or despoil this potent symbol of Imperial faith.

PRAXIMA SKYPORT
(UK & Rest of World) When Chaos forces first launched their assault upon Astaramis, they destroyed all but one of the planet’s major transit hubs in a series of orbital strikes. Only the enormous Praxima Skyport still stands, protected by a bristling array of Icarus lascannons and a formidable void shield. Under intense bombardment by traitor artillery, this vital strategic location has been defended with desperate bravery by an outnumbered force of Ultramarines and planetary auxilia. The walls of the rugged octagonal redoubt have been breached many times, and torrents of blood have been spilled within its cavernous docking halls and cramped utility tunnels. If Praxima falls, Chaos will have denied the Imperial forces a vital staging post, and severely hampered their ability to land fresh reinforcements on the planet.