One of the War Zones presented in Inquisitors Handbook is Tsade II. Formerly an agri-world in Josian Reach it was reduced to craters and rubble with its space-based facilities torn to pieces. The few survivors could only gibber of "lights in the sky" and became violent when brought out of their underground bunkers.

This is all the information we get of it from FFG. Now, what are your thoughts/ideas on the Tsade II? What might have happened?

Josian Reach is one of the area's I have "pegged for development" in my game, from the sounds of it, they got hit with 'Exterminatus'... quite possibly not by the Inquisition as that would at least have a footnote that Inq Bob decided to get cranky with the joint for not paying their power bill or something trivial. One of the things I pointed out to my players as I was about to shuffle them off to Zillmans Domain, is that the entire sub-sector has ONE agri world (they're tasked into making ZD into an Agri-world) and that if the sub-sector where to lose Tsade II, (Tsade is the one on the map which is a dead world) then a lot of Hiver's are gunna get real hungry in short order!

Tactically, thinking like a Chaos Warlord, if I had a little fleet wandering around and wanted to drag the Josian Reach to its knees, I'd blow up their Agri Worlds rather than take on something rough, tough and mean like a hive or shrine world, the little Frontier planets like Zumthor, Palinurus Rhys, Kudrun and Snowdens World arent really worth dumping ordinance on. Hredrin, Sigurd IV, Fenksworld, Canopus and the billions there will succumb to starvation and disease in short order.

lights in the sky...hrmm, that would exclude necrons, dark eldar, and chaos i guess...perhaps the tau?

@MKX

Actually you are correct. What little is said of Thade II in addition to this mysterious attack is that its sheef-corn was used to feed the hives of Fenksworld.

@ThenDoctor

I don't think "lights in the sky" exclude Necrons or Dark Eldar, since both do have spaceships and definitely enough technology to launch an orbital bombardment. Chaos renegades cerainly have (ex-imperial issue) ships and bombs. And if we talk about chaos daemons... Well, "sky-opening-and-raining-down-fire" sounds like something straight up their alley.

Orks and 'Nids are, I think, the only ones who they certainly were not.

ThenDoctor said:

Waaaaaay too far away for Tau.

I can't recall atm, but isn't there a similar reference with this happening with a colony in Rogue Trader or am I jumbling things again?

While not well versed in Scholastic Lore (RogueTrader), the thing I bent my head around is that the survivors turned violent as they are forced out of the bunkers. What ever it was, it was sheer terror or a danger if you simply step outside. While dark Eldar are famous for terror, they do not tend to turn the country side into a crater side. While Tau are dangerous foes, they are normally not about terror or "dirty weapons", as far as I know. Nids leave no bio matter untouched.

For something different, how about blaming the Logicians? It is not the first time that they use something like a full blown war just for weapons testing. All this "surigical strike" thing and "no traces left" would suit them quiet fine.

On the other hand...which power groups are known to have a strong presents in the Josean Reach?

Now it clicks where i remember Tsade II- Creatures anathema Pg 16

The high machine temple of the Barahest Mountains on Tsade II once sent forth tech adepts to assuage the machine spirits of harvest devices and perform devotion over threshing limb augmetics common amongst harvest serfs. That was until unseasonal storms before the balefruit festival, an ill omen. Now there are strange lights in the mountains and tech adeps decsced to the plains no more. Machine spirits grow restless and are unwilling to labour, limb augmetics baul at threshing duties and representatives sent into the mountains have not returned. Petitioners travel to the capital city for aid and word of these happenings comes to the ears of the holy ordos. The acolytes must journey to the Barahest mountains, there they find a coven of mad tech priests, the corruptions of the warp and malifects of bronze.

(Somewhat verbatin, just with less commas than in the book which the editor had an unnatural affection for )

Tsade is toast, Tsade II, probably soon to meet much the same fate, given the critical nature of Tsade II, I'd be allocating it a bit more than just a bunch of bumbling acolytes out there to protect it!

good find!, yeah it would make sense for the logicians to do extermanatus just for kicks isnt the Josean reach the one in Deathwatch, or is that Jericho reach? i always get those confused...

ThenDoctor said:

Josian Reach is in Calixis sector, Segmentum Obscurus. Jericho Reach is the Deathwatch setting in Ultima Segmentum.

Anyway, the Bronze Malifect - Logian - Tsade II connection was a good find. I'm already figuring out a way to introduce this in my campaign... Well, actually I was thinking of starting another campaign, parallel to The Awakening, set amongst the Imperial Guard troops sent to investigate and protect the Tsade II after the first round of bombings have destroyed much of the PDF.

Please keep in mind, so , that there is no backing for my "Logician" idea. They -might- dabble with warp-technique....but on the other hand, perhaps not.

Since we are talking about warp-tech and strange lights here...wasn´t their one big machine-demon in Creatures Anatheme incorporating a lot of light in it´s manifestation?.

Gregorius21778 said:

I was thinking of introducing some good old technoheresies in the Tsade II part. Word "Logician" won't probably be mentioned (at least not early on) but the Imperial Guard will face terrible mechanic constructs, gargantuan warmachines and weapons of mass destruction comparable in scale with full-blown nuclear war. You know, the all-in-the-days-work package for Imperial Guard

References to things in the sky (for example Sky-Mother) are often to Tyranids. The approach of the hive fleets and the descent of biospores containing the creatures are all from the sky.

Gregorius21778 said:

Well, the Logicians are quite strong in the Josian Reach. So it might fit well. The Meritech War even went through there IIRC...

It could also be a good chance to introduce one of the sectors most wanted if you haven't already killed him off and did not want to use the Logicians. Magus Vathek, Ammicus Tole, or even Nomen Ryne could all be good bad guys. Vathek doesn't work with others, but that is easily dealt with. He has killed off the actual tech-priests because he found out they had some secret/tech/something he wanted and is now building his servants and such to get what he came for. The other two would be simply heresy or infiltration by either group that is leading up to something big. I like using the Logicians as bad guys so I like that idea myself, but I also introduced Vathek partway thru an adventure and know all my pcs are think that he is in league with the for some reason.