Or: Where Were You the Day the Imperium Fell?
Now that my group and I are playing some 40k RPG again, I had the desire to a fairly groandiose campaign. I plan to get the "big reveal" off in about a month: I am waiting so long primarily because I have half a group of new (but enthusiastic) players and I'd like to establish a level of "normal" before turning it on its side. I am coming here to not only share what I hope will be a memorable campaign, but for some ideas and advice: I have a good idea of what's going on, but not everything is 100% fleshed out.
Here's the current timeline of events, by session, followed by a slightly more detailed discussion of things.
Sessions 1-2: The Deathwatch has been making some excellent headway against the Tyranid lately. Between accurate intelligence and recently unheard-of levels of cooperation between planetary governors, the Crusade is actually on a bit of an upswing. The Killteam is en route to handle the as-of-yet unanswered pleas for help against the Tyranids approaching Vanir (the Orpheus Salient I believe). They are dispatched early to answer an emergency call to intercept a Tyranid attack force that has targetted a vital field hospital (unknown to the Killteam, the hospital is vital due to the prescence of Magos Bioligis Mordraut, premier in the field of genetics). With the threat neutralized, the team requisitions supplies and heads for a reported hive location. Upon wiping out the hive (and either fighting or escaping a rampaging Trygon), the marines return to the field hospital to secure Mordraut for extraction.
Sessions 3-4: Now the Killteam finds themselves heading to Eulesieum (sp), the shrine world, to deposit MB Mordraut for some task and investigate intelligence that suggests that Tyranids have been seen lurking in the lower levels of the shrine-complexes. An initial foray discovers a genestealer cult that is infiltrating key positions in the planetary defense force, weakening the world to the Tyranid threat. Once the Genestealers are wiped out and the compromised PDF personell sanitized, the Killteam joins with what little Navy is nearby (as well as another small killteam) to meet the bugs in space before they can touch down. If they ran earlier, the Trygon from mission 1 is present on the ship(!). Victory here literally blows away the Shadow in the Warp.
Session 5: Which brings us to a fairly sudden turmoil in the warp. The Emperor's Tarot reads Death and Conquest, and the cruiser bucks and sways as its astropath is rent asunder by daemons. This episode focused on a frantic fight to the cruiser's bridge, battling the possessed and daemonic in equal measure. While the ship crashing into the planet is unchangeable, the party's efforts will have a profound effect on the fate of Euelses (sp?) as a whole. The Kill Team's ship, in particular, is invaded by several daemonic leaders whose survival or deaths will play into their efforts below.
Session 6: The marines come to in a dingy, barren room. Their only company is a dimming luminator and the hunched form of Magos Biologis Mordraut. By chance or fate, the debris from the cruiser's wreck demolished the medicae facility Mordraut had gone to attend to, and trapped him in a lab with the incapacitated marines. Over the course of nine weeks, he tirelessly learned what he could of marine physiology and managed to keep them in stasis until they could be mended up to fighting capacity again. It's hard to say if Mordraut survives here, as Marines are nice and sometimes wildly angry like that. Either way, escaping the ruin is a work of physical might (hence the trapped bit) and the kill team eventually emerges in a Chaos-warped wasteland. Marines eventuall establish contact with surviving members of the second team, and learn the following:
The extermination of the Tyranid menace and the clearing of the Shadow in the Warp was one last motion in a ritual on hundred years in the enactment. Across the sector, worlds were overrun by daemonic infestations on an apocalyptic scale. Heretics and daemons ran the streets, and while many planets managed to hold their own, many more seem to be cut off by warp storms. The second killteam has become an impromptu agitator, rallying who it could to fight the nightmare. Resources are thin, but the daemonic occurences are happening less and less, and escape may be possible soon as Crusade ships are nearing. Extraction from a daemon-infested world will prove interesting.
On their way back to the Watch Station Erioch for questioning… the light of the Astronomicon goes out.
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That's what I have so far. The "whole" story is as follows: Ahriman of the Thousand Sons wrested access to the Webway, and with it the Black Library, a century ago. He did not broadcast this information, seeking to keep his advantage. While he may be unable to attain many of the secrets therein, he has staged a two-pronged attack on the Imperium. The first, a diversionary action, sees a near-simultaneous warp incursion across a majority of Imperial worlds. As the Imperium reels trying to defend itself, Abaddon (the blowhard who somehow can get a Crusade going reliably time and again) leads an invasion force out of the Eye of Terror, while Ahriman directs a horde of renegades from the Maelstrom. Stretched thin, the Imperium finally succumbs to its foes.
A black-armored marine leads the Third Seige of Terra… two weeks later, the Astronomicon dies. Disorganized and cutoff, most worlds burn or join with Chaos (and burn). Some of the regions of Imperial Space are better off than others: Ultramar becomes as unto a new Imperium, and those in Tau space join freely with the rapidly-expanding alien empire. Orks… don't seem to care: they keep on raiding and fighting as always.
That's about what I have. Discussion is very valuable here!
