A couple of weeks ago I was talking to some bods from the club (I forget who unfortunately) and the topic of how you could have a planetary campaign featuring all factions came up. Many years ago that is exactly what I planned for a couple of campaigns that we ran. Hunting through my files I found the backstory I had written for it. Just for enterainments sake here is the Stygian Campaign.
----
Armageddon.
Cadia. Vraks. Macgragge. These are wars so vast that no one will ever
forget them. Now, in the waning years of the Imperium a new name has
been added to that list, Stygia. A world located deep in the heart of
the Ghoul Stars. A world that has become the centre point for every
major power in the galaxy. A world whose fate may very well spell the
salvation or damnation for the entire universe.
Thousands
of years before mankind crawled from the seas, the Eldar race had
already been instrumental in the banishment of the Necrontyr, but
found the universe still beset by warp entities from the Immaterium.
Their seers knew of the Chaos Gods, and foresaw a time when the
ruinous powers could collapse the walls between worlds and all would
be lost. They scoured worlds where daemonic incursions had destroyed
native species and laid traps for the most powerful daemons, drawing
them from the warp and containing their essences within specially
prepared devices called the Amarth-Thame ("Apocalypse Box").
By the time the seers declared an end to their work, they had
contained the spirits of thousands of powerful warp entities within
these devices. Now they needed somewhere to hide them away. Such a
place was found along the rim of the galaxy, a newly forming world
still primordial with a surface of molten rock. The Amarth-Thame were
dropped into the churning core of the planet, hidden away but
protected from the untamed forces of creation. Within a few
generations knowledge of the Amarth-Thame had been forgotten amongst
the petty desires of the Eldar race. The world that would be Stygia
cooled and solidified. The artifacts were distributed across its
surface, deep beneath the ground. Here the contained daemons
slumbered and awaited a time when they would be freed to extract
their wrath upon the galaxy.
Stygia was
first discovered by humanity in M24 when a colony ship, the
Endeavour, was swept of course in the warp by powerful storms that
buffeted and pushed the ship far off its intended route. When
finally, the ship's navigator was able to punch a hole back into the
material universe they were in a region of space dominated by ancient
and dying stars. Too far from Earth or its other colonies to make
contact, the colonists looked for a new home out here. They found
Stygia, a beautiful green world with vibrant blue oceans. After a
brief exploration, this is where they decided to make their new home.
In M31, an
exploratory ship moving ahead of the Great Crusade located Stygia and
its colony. What they found disturbed the crew greatly. The colonists
were living a simple lifestyle, living off the land but almost a
third of the population exhibited mutation or unchecked psychic
potential. The mutants, though accepted by their human counterparts,
lived separate to them and had thus slowed the unnatural evolution of
the humans on the planet. The world was logged but all concerns were
swept aside when in the following year the Imperium was plunged into
civil war. The Horus Heresy had begun.
Once
again, Stygia was forgotten until 812.M41 when records of the planets
existence were uncovered by an accident in the great libraries of the
Administratum on Holy Terra. For some time now, space marines of the
Death Spectres chapter had been stationed near the Ghoul Stars,
fending off incursions from daemons and other warp entities, and word
was dispatched to them to investigate the current situation on
Stygia. When they arrived, they found that mutation had spread
further through the population though no direct cause could be
attributed. Those who were heavily mutated or were identified as
latent psykers were eradicated by the Death Spectres and the planet
forcibly converted into the Imperium. Local system lord, Salem Draco,
paid a visit to the planet and decided that it would be perfect for
an agri-colony, supplying the nearby systems with an abundance of
food. The locals were put to work working the newly planted fields,
or in the mines pulling precious ores to the surface. The surviving
mutants, manyclassified as "beast men", fled into the
untamed forests and hills to escape persecution or extermination. The
planetary governor, Exon Valdez, set up his palace in the newly
constructed city of Bludhaven.
Several
years later, miners working the Drakkensgraab mines unearth and bring
to the surface an unusual object bearing xenos markings. The first
Amarth-Thame had been pulled from its resting place beneath Stygia.
Concerned by this turn of events, Exon has the artifact dispatched to
an Inquisitorial facility in a nearby system. Scholars of the Ordo
Hereticus determined that the object was of Eldar manufacture and
that the runes were of containment, and that they held the essence of
Chaos. The Amarth-Thame was quickly secured within their fortress
library behind multiple purity seals, for safekeeping. Over the next
one hundred and fifty years, several more of these artifacts are
uncovered and the concerns of the Inquisition grow.
Events
come to a head in early 999.M41 when suddenly and without warning all
the Amarth-Thame began to broadcast a psychic scream that penetrated
the minds of all on Stygia. The scream echoes into the warp,
affecting psykers across the galaxy, disturbing the sleep of ancient
evils and drawing the armies of Chaos like bees to honey. Even the
Tau whose species have no psykers were able to hear this call, though
faintly. The Eldar farseers are affected worse than any other,
feeling the rage of a thousand trapped daemons flooding through their
souls. The Amarth-Thame have been unearthed and awakened.
Now, in
the last days of the 41st millennium, every major race has descended
upon Stygia.
Why
We Fight…
Chaos
Marines & Chaos Daemons.
The
call of the daemons trapped within the Apocalypse Boxes has reached
across the galaxy. Touching the minds of all who serve the Ruinous
Powers, it calls them to battle, plunder and fire. Fleets of traitor
ships are leaving the Eye of Terror, the Maelstrom, and their
strongholds throughout the galaxy are heading towards the Ghoul
Stars. Daemons claw their way through the weak fabric of reality,
stepping onto the surface of Stygia. Soon this world will burn and
the entities within the Amarth-Thame will be freed.
Grey
Knights & Sisters of Battle.
The
Inquisition has been aware that something is afoot on Stygia for some
time and has planned for just such an event. Grey Knights and
Inquisitorial forces have been drawn from their secret places and now
bolster the defences of Stygia. Under the guidance of one High
Inquisitor Butlerian, the armies of the Inquisition fight to uncover
and safely deal with the xenos artifacts and any heretic forces that
have arrived.
Dark
Eldar.
The
Dark Eldar have raided Stygia for centuries, taking slaves and
generating fear among the colonists. Drawn again to Stygia by the cry
of the Amarth-Thame, these piratical Eldar see the war as a great
opportunity to conduct their attacks with impunity. Let the lesser
races fight one another, while they sow disorder and reap the
benefits.
Eldar.
Memories
of the Amarth-Thame have resurfaced and the Elder rush to Stygia.
They have found the foolish humans uncovering things better left
alone. Reading the fickle winds of fate, the seers of the Eldar know
that this war will determine the fate of the entire galaxy. Either
humanity will rise from this stronger or else they will usher in a
new age of Chaos. Neither event favours the Eldar, but they cannot
sit back and do nothing. The Eldar ride to war.
Necrons.
The
psychic scream of the Amarth-Thame have disturbed the Necron who
still slumber under dead worlds in the Ghoul Stars. The psychic
scream interferes with their machines, awaking them early and causing
great pain. The Necrons have begun to materialise upon Stygia,
harvesting life forces and seeking a way to silence the incessant
scream that interferes with their operation.
Orks.
Orks
are drawn to conflict, and even they sense that something big is
going down. Across the galaxy Orks are leaving battlefields to follow
larger fleets that are headed into the rim of known space. Most Ork
vessels are destroyed before reaching orbit but a few have managed to
get past the great fleets above and crash into the surface of Stygia.
It matters not to the Orks what this fight is about, they just won't
be left out of it.
Space
Marines & Imperial Guard.
The
might of the Emperor's finest have been redirected to Stygia by the
planetary governor and the Inquisition. The PDF has been augmented by
troops from Cadia, Valhalla and other fortress worlds, while
companies of Space Marines are deployed across the surface of Stygia.
This world belongs to the Emperor and they fight to ensure it remains
so.
Tau.
The
Tau high command has sensed an opportunity with the growing conflict
on Stygia. Their race has no knowledge of warp travel, but
intercepted communications hint at the presence of artifacts from the
warp. If such artifacts could be recovered and returned to the
enclaves, the Tau would gain a significant advantage. Under cover,
the Tau have managed to sneak a force onto the surface of Stygia in
an effort to recover the Amarth-Thame for the Greater Good.
Tyranids.
The
psychic scream of Amarth-Thame has even blotted out the shadow in the
warp. Disorientated and lost without a connection to the greater hive
mind, a Tyranid bio-ship entered the Stygia system and was engaged by
picket vessels of the Imperium. Confused, the ship was no match for
the enemy and crashed through the atmosphere, its carcass spewing
spores in a last ditch effort to ensure the survival of its brood.
However, the Amarth-Thame have prevented the emergent Tyranids from
connecting to a single hive mind and those hives that have sprung up
and survived have become single entities. Reports from the Ordos
Xenos have even indicated that rival hives have fought and consumed
one another in a savage survival of the fittest.
