The World of 'Warhammer 40K': The Badab War
Lugft Huron when he was a loyal Space Marine of the Imperium
Image Source: Lexicanum
With the release of new miniatures on the Warhammer 40K tabletop refreshing the piratical forces of the Red Corsairs, the renegade Space Marines under the command of Huron Blackheart, CultureSlate thought now would be a good time to explore Huron and his forces a bit more. Huron wasn’t always an Imperium-hating renegade Adeptus Astartes. In fact, he was once a bulwark against the kinds of forces he now finds himself allied and in competition with inside the Maelstrom.
His fall began before the Badab War, but was certainly accelerated by the conflict, and he almost dragged several Chapters down with him in a civil war that consumed the Badab Sector. Still, the Imperium prevailed, though accidentally created a new threat from the ashes of their campaign. So today, let’s explore the Badab War, and the instigators, perpetrators, and combatants who graced the region over years of conflict
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Background on the Badab Sector
Parchment map of the Badab Sector
Image Source: Lexicanum
The Badab Sector is located in the Ultima Segmentum, and borders the Warp anomaly called the Maelstrom. This vast vortex of Warp energy was and still is surrounded by a region called the Maelstrom Zone (which Badab is part of), and attracts all kinds of raiders, hostile aliens, and mercenary forces, who would and still do frequently leave the Maelstrom to raid realspace, targeting various worlds surrounding the anomaly. The Astral Claws Space Marine Chapter were charged with protection of the Badab Sector, alongside three other Chapters, and were collectively called the Maelstrom Warders. The Warders were made up of:
The Astral Claws, descendents of the Ultramarines, and noted as having spawned other Chapters themselves.
The Mantis Warriors, likely Successors to the White Scars, who lived in the isolated Endymion Cluster. They were noted for that isolation as well as reverence for divination and reliance on the opinion of Chapter Librarians (Space Marine psykers).
The Charnel Guard, of probable Blood Angels’ descent, who were known for their fleet assets and for sealing themselves in stasis when not engaged in conflicts.
The Lamenters, another Successor of the Blood Angels, who were part of a Founding of Space Marine Chapters widely considered to be cursed. Decked in bright yellow armor, they were and still are a Chapter filled with lamentation after the death of their Primarch, and are given to dark, contemplative moods.
Efforts to pacify the Maelstrom were made repeatedly over the centuries with the Astral Claws leading the charge, and thus paying dearly for these efforts. The Chapter Master before Huron (who was called Lugft Huron at this time) was one such casualty, and while Huron was an able leader, the stall in momentum of that period’s push against the Maelstrom resulted in the Warders losing steam and allowing the enemies of the Imperium to regain their footing.
Throughout this era, and before it, the Astral Claws had also often petitioned for aid from the High Lords of Terra, but their requests were repeatedly ignored. When the Charnel Guard were abruptly removed from the Maelstrom Warders by the High Lords, no answer on why or replacement force was forthcoming, while on a different occasion, the High Lords also called the Black Templars back from their participation in anti-Maelstrom operations.
Inciting Incident
The inciting incident for the Badab War was technically the fault of the neighboring Karthargo Sector, but as you can read above, there were already issues in the region as the result of systematic, baffling neglect by the High Lords of Terra. As a result of that neglect, and after a civil war broke out on the capital planet of Badab, Chapter Master of the Astral Claws Lugft Huron seized control of the broader sector, citing the rights of Space Marines to govern their own domains, and then began to mass materials inside of the sector borders. These resources did not go to neighboring sectors, who needed it to fulfill their tithes to Terra, but instead were used to bolster the Maelstrom Warders and the Badab Sector instead.
Now self-titled the Tyrant of Badab, Huron greatly expanded the local military forces, forming the Tyrant’s Legion, and also enhanced the supplies given to the Astral Claws as well as the other Chapters. But secretly, after having already absorbed the recent stragglers of the Tiger Claws, a mauled Astral Claws Successor Chapter lost in the Warp, Huron began to expand the Astral Claws past the 1000 or so Space Marine mark considered acceptable by most. Meanwhile, the Karthargo Sector was desperate for Badab’s resources, and began a legal dispute that ended up lasting decades as Huron built up Badab’s forces. He intended to pacify the Maelstrom once and for all, but events soon forced a shift in his priorities.
Members of the Fire Hawks Chapter of Space Marines at the time of the Badab War
Image Source: CultureSlate
After years of work, the Karthargan government believed the legal case was about to be resolved in their favor. As a result, they preemptively sent ships into the Badab Sector, and ignoring warnings for them to turn around, were destroyed by the vessels of Badab. Huron then signed articles of succession, not from the Imperium, but to any obligation to surrounding sectors outside of the Maelstrom Zone. This is when the first external Space Marines got involved. Beseeched by the Karthargans to investigate the destruction of their ships, the Fire Hawks pushed past the fleet cordon set up by Huron, and came into conflict with the Mantis Warriors, suffering a significant defeat. With this first instance of Space Marine against Space Marine, transhuman brother against transhuman brother, the Badab War had begun.
The Phases of the War
There were several phases of the Badab War, which gradually ramped up in intensity as more and more forces joined against an increasingly isolated set of defenders spread across the Maelstrom Zone. But initially, in the first phase, the Fire Hawks fought alone. Incensed at their initial defeat, the entire Chapter threw themselves into the fray, and put a call out for other Chapters to help them in their mission. The Marines Errant answered this call but without much success in turning the tide, especially because they felt a kinship with the Lamenters after the two had recently fought alongside each other elsewhere in the Imperium.
A Death Speaker of the Executioners Chapter of Space Marines
Image Source: Lexicanum
Then, the Executioners joined the fray. A Chapter of headtakers, and often considered savage by other Space Marines, they sided with the Secessionists in response to Lufgt Huron calling in a significant debt the Chapter owed the Astral Claws after they had saved the Executions from total destruction at the hands of unknown xenos attackers years earlier. All of this conflict finally prompted an intervention by the High Lords, who sent military forces to the region with command falling to members of the Inquisition. These agents called for a parley and rallied more Space Marine forces to support their endeavor, resulting in the Red Scorpions, Raptors, Salamanders and Fire Angels responding (followed shortly by the Novamarines) and joining the tepidly-stationary Loyalist fleet, launching a second phase of the conflict.
While there was some skirmishing, Huron eventually agreed on the idea of a parley. But, while meeting Loyalist Chapter Masters on neutral ground, Huron and the group were attacked by an unknown third party seemingly of Chaos origin. Given what came later in Huron’s life, and what later emerged about the slow drift of the Astral Claws in the direction of “unconventional”, it may be that these forces were actually in alliance with Huron, or it may just be that a Chaos warband, serving a Chaos God or their own interests, decided to disrupt the peace talks. Despite the attackers not openly siding with either faction though, the two sides in parley fought each other as well as these tertiary attackers, resulting in the loss of several high ranking leaders on both sides. With communications in tatters, actual military engagements began in force as the existing Loyalist Chapters moved in, aided by yet more arrivals in the form of the Howling Griffons, Sons of Medusa and a little later, the Minotaurs and Exorcists. The Secessionists slowly began to be penned in, and Ork and heretic threats spilling out of the Maelstrom caused other difficulties.
A member of the Carcharadon Space Marine Chapter wielding a chain-axe Image Source: Lexicanum
The first big blow to the Secessionists came with the defeat of the Lamenters. Hunted down by the ruthless Minotaurs, the Lamenters’ fleet-based gene-seed reserves were threatened, resulting in the Chapter’s surrender. Elsewhere, the Mantis Warriors had retreated to the safety of the Endymion Cluster, and were slowly bleeding the Imperium units sent to fight them dry. But the arrival of the merciless Carcharodons Chapter saw Mantis Warrior holdings brutally attacked, and their numbers devastated, ending the Warriors’ ability to tie down Loyalist forces in the region.
Then, the Executioners discovered the dark secrets of the Astral Claws. After disabling a lone Salamanders warship, the Executioners and Astral Claws jointly accessed the vessel, only for the Executioners to find Corpse Taker Apothecaries, Space Marine medics somewhat twisted into the harvesters of material for the creation of Space Marines from bodies, attempting to steal gene-seed belonging to the Salamanders. This was how Huron was maintaining his fighting force of Astral Claws despite the long conflict, and was a secret also just uncovered by Salamanders and other Loyalists in a recently successful attack on a hidden blacksite.
Model for Garreon the Corpsemaster
Image Source: Warhammer-Community.com
The Executioners mercilessly slaughtered their former allies, but stuck between two hostile forces in the event’s aftermath, chose to aid the Loyalists on their own terms (though they eventually surrendered and avoided slaughter due to the intervention of the Salamanders). All of this had taken a decade, and now, the Badab Sector itself was a target of the vast Loyalist force. The Astral Claws fought alone, their once noble, dedicated human troops having become rabid cultists turned against the Imperium, while the Space Marines who led the Legion had been twisted by the conflict into bloody-handed butchers.
The Final Fight
The final phase of the war began when the Loyalists pushed through the defenses surrounding the Badab system itself, the legendary Ring of Steel broken by the Astartes with aid from the Adeptus Mechanicus of the region who now fully supported the Loyalists after previously remaining neutral. The Star Phantoms Chapter were given the honor of leading the assault that would target the Palace of Thorns, Lugft Huron’s stronghold on the planet's surface, while other Space Marines descended in support and to cause chaos in the planet’s vast Hive Cities. Fleet assets would remain in orbit to blockade the system to try to make sure none escaped, and to provide support.
The now corrupted, fanatical, Tyrant’s Legion
Image Source: Warhammer-Community.com
The assault that occurred was a merciless slaughter. Driven to desperation, the Tyrant’s Legion threw itself against the Space Marines, yet only received cold, brutal death as the Carcharodons swept across the battlefield while Titans were deployed to support the Loyalist advance. Despite this, the Palace of Thorns initially held back the tide of enemy forces, with even the Titans unable to destroy the fortress as the result of a powerful shield around the structure. In response to this obstruction, and with characteristic coldness, the Carcharadons descended under the planet to the great power plants connected to the Palace and the various Hives dotted the surface. They detonated crippling levels of explosives, and in the short term, disabled the shield, as they returned topside.
But their actions had a cascading effect. Even as the Star Phantoms led the charge, and pushed through the Palace, the stability of Badab was shaken. When at last, the Phantoms confronted Huron, they found a manic, malicious leader, who slaughtered them to a man, and was grievously wounded for his troubles. His body, though, was borne away by surviving Secessionists, while the remaining Loyalists in the Palace and across the planet began a mad dash to escape the dying world as great earthquakes shook its surface. In the end, several Loyalists vessels were shot down by their own forces in the chaos, and at least one Secessionist vessel escaped, carrying the remains of Huron and some of his remaining forces.
Aftermath
The rebuilt, and warped, Huron
Image Source: Amazon
Against the odds, Huron lived. Revived by extensive body reconstruction, medical work, and likely a pact with Chaos, the surviving Secessionists now fully turned themselves over to the reaver lifestyle they had once fought to break emanating from the Maelstrom. Huron became Huron Blackheart, Lord of the Maelstrom, and quickly sought to expand his domain as leader of what are now called the Red Corsairs
Meanwhile, the Badab sector was in ruins. Multiple worlds had switched control between both sides during the conflict, or had been brutally dealt with by the Loyalists, resulting in the deaths of millions and massive systemic collapses in infrastructure and defenses. Some worlds were given over to Chapters as rewards for their actions during the long campaign, and many of these were dealt with harshly, stripped of resources and manpower, and then abandoned. The conflict had also generated enmities between various Chapters, as the character of the different Space Marines meant there were disagreements if not disgust for the actions of others. A number of Chapters left the Badab War before its completion or, so mauled in conflict, they were rotated to garrison duties for long periods of time. The three Secessionists Chapters, meanwhile, were all forgiven for their actions, so long as they went Penitent Crusades, often being disallowed from recruiting new Marines. For a century, their already reduced numbers dwindled, but each still survived until the introduction of Primaris Space Marines, meaning they now have chances to rebuild.
The effects of Badab still echo into the modern day of 40K, with Huron abroad, threatening the Imperium, while the Maelstrom continues to eject threats from its hostile Warp vortexes. These forces no longer face a well-garrisoned, dedicated force of defenders, but a graveyard with scattered forces of resistance who must contend with them, and the ingoing threats spilling into the wider Imperium from other vectors.
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