Centenarian Mandate

[Valnarion II]

Ithor | Tafanda Bay
Dark Empire

• Objective:I.
  • Defend the Floating Cities
• Tags:
  • Allied: Open
  • Adversary: Feydrik Munin
• Theme: Dawn of War

The Ascendant Order's forces had arrived on Ithor only hours before the attack would begin. The reconnaissance network that Imperius had maintained since the days of the Empire holding some value still and having him given scarce enough intel on Mandalorian movements, his mind having done the rest of calculations and probabilities to conclude that their strike would not go against the Alliance or elsewhere, but against them. He mobilised whatever he could after the Battle of Bastion and moved to Ithor. It was a gamble but it being seated in the center of the Dark Imperial - Mandalorian front, it offered the quickest option to respond to any assaults by the warrior cult.

So far it had been a rather side-by-side relationship with the Dark Imperials, their aimless demands as ominous and antagonistic was one could expect from burnt, upset children. He considered if his approach of upfront honesty had been a mistake, but it was what he could bring to them after having experienced nothing but smoke and hot air from the petty Sith that came before. They shared more than they would want to believe and to admit to. But politics were for another arena and he was not here to worry about little bureaucrats and administrators haggling about paragraphs and articles. War was his craft.

Darth Imperius stepped out from his shuttle, setting foot on Ithor for the first time. Strictly speaking, he still did not. He arrived on Tafanda Bay, the capital and largest of the Herdships the Ithroians called home and pinnacle of symbiosis for technology and nature. The concept was entirely outlandish to him. Nature was conflict and it required no artificial balancing act by its inhabitants, a sign of weakness and submission rather than of self-assurance. It mattered not. War made all things equal and today he had to defend this humongous city with limited forces. A herculean task he did not only relished but embraced.

With him came Khaion Legion, the 2nd Ascendant Legion, and the Nemesis Legion itself, at least every unit he could scramble together in the short time he had. That gave him about six thousand soldiers of high quality in addition to whatever militias and garrison the planet had to offer. The platforms were a tactical nightmare. And instead of committing to defending every inch of them, he kept his forces as close to the center of it was possible while sending all garrison and militia forces outwards, especially towards the starship landing platforms, where they could make every assault landing at least more difficult and delay so his units could move out and repel the attack. The mobility and multitude of attack options gave the Neo Crusaders a large advantage, but they had no place to retreat to in the end.

Clad in black plate armor, towering above anyone nearby except for the group of Extremis Paladins, Darth Imperius stood in the great, central atrium. On his back was Anathema, the sheathed greatsword, that recently saw its hunger more than saturated on the world of Enarc, at his hip hung his lightsaber, its seemingly broken hilt looking like it had gone through its last battle already. His pale face was exposed, black eyes looking around from within the deep sockets of his pale, sickly skull. He was surrounded by ranks upon ranks of red-clad Legionaries, Ascendant and Nemesis alike, waiting for their orders to deploy and engage the attackers.

Equipment
| Lightsaber | Greatsword | Armor | Amulet | Shuttle |
Order of Battle
| Nemesis Legionaries | Knights Tenebrus | Ascendant Legion |​

 

[Varus the Sigillite]

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