In the year 755 of the 41st Millenium, in the Calixis sector, on a routine visit with Rogue Trader Blain Arcadius, the navy frigate Spear of Tarsus made a discovery that would change the course of a trillion lives. On an emergency exit from a warp trip through the heart of Imperial territory, their astropath immediately collapsed frothing at the mouth, the auto-recorder recording a single phrase: “The unravelling is begun.” On further investigation, the Spear of Tarsus found a station, a ring kilometers in length, of unknown xenos architecture and purpose. After years of careful study, the station was activated, opening a stable portal to a region of space isolated for thousands of years by warp storms: The Jericho Reach. The Jericho gate, connecting to the center of Imperial territory, presents one of the greatest threats or opportunities yet encountered to mankind.
In the year 777, 22 years after initial discovery, the High Lords of Terra issued the official decree secretly authorizing the Achilus Crusade, under the command of Imperial Warmaster Tiber Achilus. Striking forth, he found early success, securing the “Iron Collar”, a near-impenetrable series of Imperium-sympathetic worlds that were quickly conquered, fortified, and turned into staging areas for further strikes. However, the early victories were quickly followed by failures. To the galactic southeast, the Tau empire, having assimilated many formerly human worlds into their system-spanning organization for the “Greater Good”, slowed the crusade. To the east, spewing forth from the Hades anomaly, demonic influences and aligned forces, the Stigmartus, threaten to corrupt or overwhelm the crusade. And in 786, a mere 9 years into the crusade, Tiber Achilus is lost forever during a routine warp voyage within the Iron Collar.
His successor, Solomon Tetrarchus, has been in charge of the crusade for 31 grueling years. In 812, 26 years into his command, Tetrarchus reorganized the crusade into three distinct entities. The Canis Salient, led by commander Ebongrave, would engage the Tau. The Acheros Salient, currently under the command of Duchess Magratha Von Karlack, would engage the Stigmartus army emerging from the Hades anomaly. And the Orpheus salient to the galactic north, under general Mikal Curas, sought to reunite the easily broken and sympathetic worlds therein. While the other salients settled into a long stalement, the Orpheus salient was successful, advancing quickly, until the shadows of new foe, the unknowable biological hordes of the Tyranids, crashed into the front, pushing it back slowly and steadily. The fate of dozens of worlds remain entirely unknown.
The year is 817. The Achilus Crusade has raged for 40 years. In these troubled times, the Ordo Xenos, the arm of the inquisition with ultimate authority and duty to face all alien threats to mankind, operates among the crusade, pursuing goals that may save a million lives or doom an entire fleet in a heartbeat. Their greatest warriors, the Deathwatch, are drawn from the ranks of the Space Marine chapters, genetically engineered warrior-monks, armed with the greatest implements of war the Imperium can muster. And on Watch Station Erioch, the millenia-old fortress of the Deathwatch in the Jericho Reach, a new killteam is ordered…
PLAYERS
- James – Zaphiel. A Dark Angel Consecrator, split in devotion between the Sixteen Laws of the Cult Mechanicus, the retrieval and protection of artifacts to protect humanity in both body and culture, and the teachings of the fallen Chapter Master, Lion El’Jonson. A nigh-invincible man-machine, he serves the Golden Throne with both lore and firepower, forming the bulwark at the foundation of the fire-team’s assaults.
- Matt – Michael. Ultramarine Apothecary. A veteran of the First Tyrannic War and a follower of the holy Codex Astartes penned by Ultramarine founder Roboute Guilliman. Led in devotion to the protection of the Imperium from existential threats that its populace need not know and its other forces unfit to fight, it is his duty to keep his brothers fighting until his last breath.
- Max – Hixus. A recalcitrant Librarian of the Carcharadons. While their vanishing traces and echoing legacies lead many to believe they were a myth the unearthly void hunters of the Carcharadons are proven to exist by the Hixus’s cryo survival amongst the space hulk of his patrol’s ship. Tall (even for a space marine), quiet, and uncomfortably calculating he continues to show the brutality and cunning of his chapters whims, fighting for the Ordos Xenos in place of the direction his shattered life has lost. Now in this perplexing anachronistic world he still finds himself driven with his mastery of the warp and penchant for silently disposing of those not worthy of life.
- Danielle – Tyche. A decorated and devoted Sister of Battle haunted by her latest experience in the warp. Her obsessive hatred of demons made her unfocused in battle, prompting her Abbess to choose her as the first Adepta Sororitas to accompany a Deathwatch Kill-Team, the only place her fury would be guaranteed a target.
- Axe – Ramsay Mac Cuin. Veteran of twenty years of tank battles in Achilus Crusade and Tactical Marine of the mysterious Storm Wardens chapter. Gregarious and proud, he considers each engagement to be a step on the path to perfect understanding of war. While willing to defer to specialists, his broad knowledge base and knack for leadership make him a perfect fit for Kill-Team Commander, or so he believes.
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