The First Poxwar: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|a little ~~test}}~~

{{quote|"Seven times shall the Putridum Bells of the Grandfather ring, heralding the birth of your feculence. Eternity will rot and fester under the hordes of disease and decay, the Gold Walls breached and forced open. Those that dwell beyond shall kneel as the air creeps with infection and the ground melts, the Daemon shall lie with the machine, brother infecting brother with the glories of the Grandfather. The putrid wound pours its malice forth. The rotted herald his malfeasance, his gifts. The fate of Eternity shall be decided on holy infected soil."

| -Excerpt from the Liber Contagione}}

== Overview ==

The First Poxwar launched by the heretic Astartes [[Rotbelchers]] resulted in the largest clash between the Imperium of Man and Chaos forces in [[Eternum Map|Eternum]] since the Horus Heresy 10,000 years before. The Rotbelchers raised an enormous army from the fallen worlds of subsector [[Putrilocus]] and a massive fleet from the corrupted [[Port Uralplagush]] intended to bring an end to Sector Eternum and corrupt the trillions of souls contained in her. Although launched far before the Eye of Terror split the galaxy in twain, the First Poxwar would be a portent of things to come for a battered Imperium.

The campaign began with a massive assault out of the [[Bubonic Rift]], spilling forth into subsector [[Caligulas]] and [[Makerus]] and launching brutal fights on dozens of worlds with the ultimate goal of seizing the power secreted away by the Inquisition in [[Confedus]] and destroying the [[Crimson Bulwark|Crimson Hammer]] along with infecting hundreds of billions. The First Poxwar forever changed Eternum, but details are lost and the rest secreted away by the Inquisition and now-Crimson Bulwark, with little known for certain in current times.

== The Bubonic Rift Bursts ==

[[File:First Poxwar Invasion.jpg|thumb|Initial invasion during the First Poxwar]]

The Putrilocus subsector had long been lost to the Imperium, locked and hidden away by the warp with the only route to and from lying within a small region of space permeated with warp-storms and the exits guarded by orbiting Imperial void fortresses and fleets, with any ship not marked by Nurgle doomed if they dared try to travel through the storms. The invasion began with these warp-storms coalescing into a burgeoning rift, which rapidly grew to encompass all space nearby even touched by the periphery of the storms, swallowing whole fleets and stations and sucking them into the warp. So rapid was this growth that no station or fleet had even enough time to send a distress call, with the first time the Imperium was even aware being when long range scanners saw the sickly green rift swirling as invasion fleets arrived in orbit over nearby worlds.

== The Imperium Falters ==

The initial invasion was as brutal as it was sudden, with worlds forced to defend themselves with whatever forces were already stationed. [[Battlefleet Caligulas]], which had spread out her ships to counter isolated raids common before the invasion, found herself rapidly losing interdiction battlegroup after battlegroup, granting Chaos control of the void as its virulent forces took control of world after world. Traitors long planted in positions that granted them intelligence on the movements of the fleet led to sound defeat after defeat, culminating in the destruction of Battlefleet Caligulas's flagship and death of her admiral. Disorganized and disillusioned, Battlefleet Caligulas, now led by the Vice Admiral Vickers Leach aboard the Apocalypse class Battleship ''Ark Royal'', was ordered to fall back and rally around the supply world [[Ashesh]] where the Crimson Hammer's second and third company fleets were regrouping after isolated skirmishes. Low on fuel and supplies, Ashesh was the only world reachable by both that could keep the fleets fighting.

The traitor fleets were not far behind however, as Ashesh was a priority target for its massive caches of weapons and supplies. With the arrival of the bulk of [[Battlefleet Eternum|Battlefleet Eternum's]] reinforcements too far away, and knowing they were severely outnumbered and outgunned, the Crimson Hammer and Vice Admiral devised a trap to allow a fighting retreat, buying enough time to allow both to continue to fight and dealing a blow to the traitors in one fell swoop. The defenders of Ashesh, the PDF, stationed Guard regiments, and Crimson Hammer marines dug in while tech-priests worked tirelessly to prepare. The remnants of Battlefleet Caligulas and the ground side defenders had only one goal - buy enough time for the tech-priests to finish their work.

As expected, the Plaguehost arrived in orbit and began disgorging scores of heretic marines, traitor Guard, and plague-zombies while the terrifying fleet led by the Rotbelcher flagship engaged Imperial vessels. Millenia old ships were destroyed in massive impacts, lighting the world with the falling wreckage of Imperial and traitor ship alike. The battle on the ground turned Ashesh red and green with blood and pus, raging for weeks. Although the defenders fought fervently, slowly the tireless advance of the Rotbelchers and their plague victims saw the remaining defenders whittled down and pushed to the last stronghold, where the tech-priests worked. In orbit, the defense fleet fared little better, with only enough combat capable ships for one last push - a push that would soon be critically needed.

The tech-priests finished their work as the battle raged outside, yet one final action was needed - a cyclonic torpedo targeted directly at the fortress, an area of space controlled by the Rotbelcher fleet. With one final push, the ''Ark Royal'' and remnants of Battlefleet Caligulas plunged into the heretic fleet, fighting a pivotal battle that saw them successfully launch the cyclonic torpedo. With their fate set, the remaining defenders looked up as the ordnance streaked through the sky, landing on top of the destabilized geothermal planetary power station. The force of the torpedo impacting the planetary core ejected oceans of lava out of fissures, burning space and all life on Ashesh, destroying the world but dealing a harsh blow to the invaders. Crippled by the ejection, the ships that survived on both sides fled the flak fields generated by the ejecta of the world, and while Vice Admiral Vickers died during his offensive, the ''Ark Royal'' survived though terribly wounded and out of commission for the remainder of the war while the remnants of Battlefleet Caligulas would be seconded to other subsector Battlefleets for the rest of the first Poxwar. The Plaguehost had been dealt a blow, though at great cost and far too weak to stop it.

== Terror Across the Sector ==

The invading fleets were not the only threat besieging the Imperium as plagues devised by the devious sorcerers of the Rotbelchers infested worlds and traitors long since tainted revealed themselves. [[Cyre]] in subsector Confedus, once thought unassailable, boiled with corruption and uprisings that threatened to bring forth daemons into the heart of the sector. The Battlefleet's most vaulted cemetery world [[Templehof]] revealed an insidious infection that was only stopped through a timely intervention by the Crimson Hammer. Countless worlds fell ill while novel diseases and plague zombies ravaged the Imperium's civilians, while battle after battle ended with traitor victories. For the first time since the Horus Heresy, Nurgle savored the collective fear of Sector Eternum.

== Betrayal of Regina and The Brass Gate Falls ==

The Imperial forces dug in at key worlds in the path of the invasion, with forces and fleets arranged for rapid redeployment once the enemy arrived at their next target designed to take advantage of Redobti's stable warp routes that connected her to far away systems. The fortress [[Redobti]], the Brass Gate, was key to stalling the tide of traitors, though the world [[Regina]] was also an expected high priority target due to its ties to the Crimson Hammer. Imperial forces fortified both with each preparing to reinforce the other when the Chaos fleet had chosen its next priority. Chaos arrived at Redobti and began their invasion, as Astropaths burned out telling their counterparts on Regina. Planetside forces on Regina began preparing to depart for Redobti, with all Battlegroups except the [[Battlefleet Arkamedes|Arkamedian]] 12th Battlegroup leaving for the battle while they remained to safeguard the ground forces redeployment. Unbeknownst to the Imperium, the Arkamedian 12th had fallen to Chaos, lured by promises of power to retake their home subsector from the Orks and waiting for the opportunity to strike at their former compatriots. With Regina's orbital defenders gone, the 12th signalled a waiting Rotbelcher sorcerer's ship which soon arrived to deliver the sorcerer's demonically enhanced virus bomb from the Dark Age of Technology. With all orbital defenses controlled by the 12th, the Crimson Hammer marines, Imperial Guardsmen, and Sisters of Battle could do nothing but watch as the virus bomb spread its miasma over the world and rapidly engulfed all life. Even the hermetically sealed power armor of the Marines and Sisters corroded under the power of the warp infused virus, choking the life out of the planet in a rapid chain reaction. Mercifully for the defenders, the virus was far more powerful than the sorcerer foresaw, and the gasses released as the pestilence rapidly decomposed Regina's life were ignited by a lightning strike that quickly grew into a conflagration that burnt the entire planet. The traitor was dismayed at the loss of raw material for his biological experiments, but his objective to destroy Redobti's relief was successful.

Redobti, commonly called the Brass Gate, formed a critical link in Eternum's defense as it was a locus for almost all stable warp routes deeper into subsector [[Gothar]] and even further away worlds in Makerus, [[Richmon]], and Confedus. Situated on the sole mandeville point, Redobti protected Eternum's most key Battlefleet anchorages and prized worlds, thus it was an irresistible prize for the Rotbelchers and would soon see fought a brutal battle for survival, with the combined Imperial forces of the Crimson Hammer, [[Order of the Purple Communion]], and Imperial Guard fighting the Rotbelchers, their daemon allies, and hordes of zombies and traitor regiments. Although the defending Battlefleets bolstered by Regina's fleets engaged the arriving traitors fiercely, the unending swarm of vessels kept the strongest Imperial ships tied up in furious close range engagements. The terrifying Rotfleet led by their most bloated and disfigured flagship forced their way through the orbital melee, with each fetid ship shrugging macrocannon fire that would obliterate any ship not blessed by Nurgle, towards the heavily fortified surface. Disgorging scores of landing craft, droppods, and pustules filled with cursed cultists and daemons, the invasion of the Brass Gate had begun. The sky filled with flak and macrocannon fire and hordes of flies, with defenders assailed by unending scores of cultists, plague zombies, and other creations of the Rotbelchers, line after line was slowly pushed back. Only the fortress design that created reinforced enfilade points afforded the defenders the time to hold off the enemy horde, time to regroup and hold out for reinforcements that were due to arrive soon.

The first waves that already cost the Imperium dearly were merely cannon fodder cast aside by Nurgle's followers, and soon the defensive lines came under attack from the true Rotbelchers. Fortress complex after fortress complex fell to plague, unending tides of zombies, and the Plague Marines themselves, with the Imperium soon realizing the expected relief forces were not coming. Although the defense was fierce and cost the attackers, the Rotbelchers succeeded in commandeering Redobti's central command nexus, allowing them full control of the planet's formidable weapons, weapons which thanks to traitors amongst the Guard had not fired a single shot in defense.

With the Brass Gate's guns in their control, the Rotbelchers began firing on the Imperial Battlefleets locked in the orbital melee, costing [[Battlefleet Gothar]] heavily and leading to all remaining Imperial Naval ships falling back. For the first time since the Horus Heresy, the Brass Gate was under traitor control. Although the fighting was far from over, the Rotbelchers left Redobti to pursue their campaign of terror, leaving hordes of zombies, traitor Guard, and cultists to finish the Imperials still fighting. Without the support of daemons and Rotbelchers however, the heretic struggled to finish the isolated pockets of loyalists off. The defenders were still resisting through tenacity and righteous fury, though their struggle would continue until shortly after the Battle of Absolution. Although low on supplies, food, ammunition, and soldiers, the survivors led by Captain Galcobar of the Crimson Hammer would eventually reclaim control of the command nexus, though far too late to avoid the devastation of Makerus.

== Makerus Burns and the Crimson Grief Begins ==

The Rotfleet wasted no time in pressing its advantage, and with the Imperium still reeling from the loss of Redobti, the Rotfleet began its despoiling of Makerus. Scores of once peaceful worlds turned into swamps of infection, and even the worlds of the Crimson Hammer's domain were not safe. The civilized world [[Santo]] embodied the beliefs of the Crimson Hammer, with warrior artisans training and working side by side with the artists of the world. The world had dug in and fortified as Inquisitorial intelligence discovered that the Rotfleet soon intended to invade, though the Crimson Hammer and Guard regiments defending Santo vastly underestimated the offensive. The Rotfleet, emboldened by its string of victories and carrying novel plagues, infested the world's population and defenders. Hordes of plague victims, Rotbelchers, and daemons pushed the Imperials back to their only remaining spaceport. Constantly assailed, the defenders survived barely, though they held long enough for Battlefleet Eternum and Bulwark Strike Cruisers to arrive. Though they missed the majority of the Rotfleet who had left to continue their sack of the subsector, the combined Imperial fleets obliterated the ships left behind, though the world's fate was already decided. The survivors evacuated to orbit, and when the Crimson Hammer looked upon the once beautiful and verdant world teeming with disease, suffering inhabitants, and pulsating growths, they felt the collective pain of their chapters ancestors. As the Strike Cruiser ''Oathbearer'' launched its cyclonic torpedoes and destroyed the former home of so many of the Hammer, the first signs of the [[Crimson Grief]] emerged. Several battle brothers aboard the ''Oathbearer'' who originated from Santo dropped to their knees, catatonic from what they witnessed. Although they shortly recovered, and whether borne of a collective psychic imprint or a foul new affliction of Nurgle, the Crimson Grief was brought forth.

The Rotbelchers continued their wonton destruction of Eternum, though momentum soon slowed. The forlorn hopes fought across the sector had chipped away at the Rotbelchers, nowhere near enough to stop the invasion, but enough to give the Imperials hope. This hope would be vindicated for the Imperium at large soon, but shadowed by a new curse for the Crimson Hammer. [[Ayr]] was a super-large agriworld that produced critical foodstuffs for the Imperial war machine, thus it became a natural target for the Rotbelchers. The invasion begun like so many others in the First Poxwar, with the system defense fleet quickly obliterated and the skies filled with landing craft, though Ayr would be different. Predicting the Rotfleet would choose the nearby Ayr after the sacrilege of Santo, the Crimson Hammer quickly went to work fortifying the world, with the space marines making a breakthrough after consulting the strategic archives - the Rotfleet captains, whether for some arcane purpose, convenience, or sheer laziness, repeatedly landed their primary invasion forces at specific coordinates that when combined totaled seven, seventy seven, seven hundred and seventy seven, and seventy seventy thousand and seventy seven. Keeping this breakthrough to themselves for fear of spies, the Crimson Hammer quickly used macrocannon shells wired to detonators to create a series of traps across Ayr. This time, when the invasion fleet's bulk of forces arrived ready to despoil the world, the Hammer sprung their trap. Across Ayr, massive explosions happened in unison, obliterating the vanguard of the invasion and reaching high enough to knock drop-pods out of the sky. The Rotfleet disgorged their already ready craft and fled in fear of a Naval trap to accompany the world's mines, though none was planned. Although the invasion had been halted, the survivors and en route landing craft began to attack regardless of their losses. Still, without the bulk of their forces, the Crimson Hammer held firm. As they began to push the attackers back however, the Crimson Grief emerged in earnest - suddenly battle brothers who were just moments before shooting heretics dropped their guns and began lashing out in furious melee at the nearest target - Hammer, Guard, heretic, it made no difference for the afflicted. The marines who were unaffected began engaging their former brothers, while Guardsmen fired at both, confused and unsure. When the gunfire died down and the Guard was once again confident who was their allies, the battlefield was littered with the corpses of the first Crimson Grief victims, heretics, and unfortunate Guardsmen and marines who were too close.

Fearing a new affliction from the Plague-crafters of the Rotbelchers, apothecaries quickly investigated the dead while all Guardsmen who witnessed the event were held to ensure they weren't carrying the potential contagion. The apothecaries found nothing, no sign of any malady or disease of the mind in any victim, the only common thread being that they all hailed from Santo, Regina, or another world ravaged by the Rotbelchers. Consulting with the Chapter Master and Chief Apothecary, the Crimson Hammer found themselves facing the most insidious threat they ever could imagine. This would soon prove the catalyst that would help lead to the rebirth as the Crimson Bulwark and specialized organization of potential recruits and those suspected of harboring the Crimson Grief, but the Chapter had a more immediate problem to deal with. Fearing the incredibly puritanical Ordo Malleus and Hereticus Inquisitors that frequented Eternum, let alone the Imperium at large outside Eternum, and knowing at least one witness would speak of seeing unhinged berserking marines attacking loyalists, the Chapter Master and veteran leaders of the Crimson Hammer decided on the only course of action that would keep their secret, censure. The waiting Guardsmen, worried they may be infected but reassured that the Emperor's Angels were present to safeguard them had no suspicion of the fate that would soon befall them. Lined in inspection rows and disarmed in preparation for examination, the marines of the Crimson Hammer opened fire on men they had just fought with and died together. Before they had time to process the betrayal, the last Guardsmen fell to the ground, dead at the hand of the Angels of Death. The Hammer quickly left after notifying the Imperium at large of their victory over the heretics, giving ultimate credit to the Guardsmen who died for the Hammer's secret. The battlefield was scorched by orbital bombardment and records deleted, the only surviving records of the battle in the recesses of the Crimson Bulwark's fortress monastery being a hymn on the dangers of secrets and the veneration of martyrs.

Although the Rotfleet had been dealt a serious blow, their plans remained unchanged - destroy the Crimson Hammer and make the loyalists bow before Nurgle. To strike at the heart of the Hammer, the [[Shield of Absolution]], the invaders needed to tie up and ideally capture several key worlds holding potential relief forces, and thus the Rotfleet set their eyes on [[Edgeview]] and [[NuberrLen]]. Edgeview was crucial in the years leading up to the First Poxwar, as it stood on the turbulent edge of subsector Putrilocus and guarded the only, though incredibly risky for both loyalist and traitor, routes that bypassed the burgeoning Bubonic Rift. Serving as a resolute fortress that was able to reinforce and supply Makerus, Edgeview became a critical prerequisite target before an invasion of the Crimson Hammer's fortress monastery could be feasible. Appearing in orbit, the Rotfleet quickly engaged the [[Battlefleet Makerus]] group assigned to defense, overwhelming the loyalists with warp enhanced strike craft, though the Battlefleet was not routed. Surviving and hiding in the asteroid thicket surrounding Edgeview, the Battlefleet began a series of rapid hit and run attacks designed to prevent the Rotfleet from bombarding Edgeview - a tactic that successfully forced the Rotbelchers to invade the fortress herself. Not wanting to waste their remaining elite troops, the Rotbelchers instead relied on hordes of former Imperial citizens infested with plagues. With whole hive populations descending as plague zombies and cultists, Edgeview was forced to tap into reserve ammunition reserved for Makerus. Though Edgeview would eventually fight them off, the Rotbelchers had accomplished their goal - prevent Edgeview from sending aid to the Shield of Absolution.

The next target of the Rotbelchers with similar aims to the invasion of Edgeview was the hive world NuberrLen. A lethally cold world with hive cities protected by ancient archeotech domes, NuberrLen suddenly found itself attacked from within, with hordes of cultists rising up to overthrow the Imperial defenders. The brutal climate prevented combat outside the domes, with the rebellion taking full advantage of that and conquering two domes while pushing into others. The cultists had chosen their targets wisely, with their domes holding the primary military port and ammunition held for Makerus, any attack would bog down Imperials for years. Realizing the trap the Rotbelchers had set, the Crimson Hammer leading the defense opted to cut the knot and instead of assaulting the domes through the rail tunnels connecting the dome network they relied on their armor to carry through the temperatures that would freeze anyone else in seconds. Cutting into each dome, the Hammer strike forces sliced a path through cultist patrols to the ammunition depot and spaceport fuel stores, setting demolition charges. Leaving through the same holes they cut, they detonated the charges and watched as the fallen domes exploded and collapsed. Without their protection, NuberrLen's blizzards burst into the hives, freezing the cultist armies in a flash. They had successfully defeated the trap, but NuberrLen's use for the war effort ceased.

[[File:SectorEternum1stPoxwarZenith.jpg|thumb|The Rotbelcher's Furthest Occupation]]

== Zenith of Corruption ==

While the Rotbelchers dismantled Imperial defenses in Makerus, the Rotfleet continued their push into Gothar in an effort to stop Battlefleet Eternum. The Rotbelchers had made significant inroads to subsectors Gothar, Caligulas, and Makerus already, and were at the height of their advance. Surprising Imperial tacticians, the Rotbelchers invaded the relatively unimportant world [[Criffon]] with a Plaguehost led by a pestilent sorcerer. Not expecting an invasion of a world not responsible for any particularly critical facet of the Imperial defense, Criffon was caught unaware though quickly reinforced by nearby regiments included [[Tetuanis Mechanized Infantry]] regiments. Though the guard fought admirably, the sorcerer constantly raised the dead to keep the Imperium distracted while he searched for his true objective, the [[Enucian Loom]] artifact. The Inquisition intervened on the world, and although they and the Imperium were not aware of the relics existence, the Inquisition highly suspected the motivation of the sorcerer as there had to be some rationale for his invasion. Although the Inquisition's investigation was fruitless, they did manage to kill the sorcerer in a heated battle, ending the invasion as quickly as it started.

[[Port Carrius]] also came under attack from within while Criffon's war raged, and now freed up Imperial regiments rapidly redeployed to assist the defense of Carrius. One of the critical ports of the Battlefleet, Carrius found itself besieged by an uprising of menials and workers, who had long succumbed to the poisonous whispers of plague infected agitators. Although its defenses made it near unassailable navally, inside its work corridors and access shafts allowed the uprising to manuever around defensive cordons. Only through the purposeful destruction of the primary habitation wing, when Imperial forces turned Carrius's guns on the massive H-fuel tanks surrounding the habitation wing did they break the back of the traitors. The ringleaders were never confirmed dead and massive civilian casualties had occurred when the habitation wing was exposed to the void, but Carrius was saved. The Imperium had no time to lick its wounds however, as the world [[Pygar]] soon found itself attacked as well.

Another crucial world of the Crimson Hammer, Pygar was attacked by a large Plaguehost seeking to corrupt it like so many other former worlds of the Hammer. Pygar was invaded by one of the more feared Plaguehosts, though the defenders were ready. Supported by the mechanized regiments of Tetuanis and [[Osean Sapper]] regiments, the defenders resisted the Rotbelchers plaguehost, surrounding and exterminating the attackers. Coordinating with the Hammer's Battle Barges, Battlefleet Eternum's most elite battlegroup managed to destroy the Rotfleet battlegroup used by the Plaguehost, breaking the unceasing advance of the Rotbelchers and bolstering Imperial morale across the sector. Intelligence gathered from the fallen traitor captains would lead to one of the smallest yet impactful actions in the war, the Supernova Raid.

== The Supernova Raid and Lonehill Burns ==

The intelligence gathered by the Imperium on Pygar would soon be put to use, as it revealed the the Rotfleet was using a dying star named Sarkaris teetering on the edge of exploding as a forward repair and rearmament station. The star seemed a ticking bomb to the Imperium and was discounted initially, but empowered by the dark magic of Chaos the Rotfleet delayed the stars apotheosis to build a safe and secret harbor. Even though the Rotfleet wouldn't expect a naval attack, any traditional assault would be bloody and run the risk of being destroyed when the rituals chaining the star were broken, thus a Crimson Hammer strikeforce led by Captain Wallace augmented by Inquistorial forces lead by [[Inquisitor Charlemagne]] planned a stealthy infiltration designed to sneak past the Rotfleet's patrols and disrupt the ritual binding the star. Slipping into the system aboard the Inquisitorial vessel ''Tireless Vigil'', a [[Port Tecklenbor|Tecklenbor]] made Assassin class corvette modified heavily to shield it from sensors, the ''Tireless Vigil'' snaked behind a moon orbiting one of the dead worlds of Sarkaris. Lightly armed, the ship had the bulk of its weapons replaced by launch bays and stealth equipment, relying fully on remaining hidden as any engagement with craft larger than bombers would be suicide.

The strike force boarded two stealth enhanced Aquila Landers and navigated towards the ship Pygar's intelligence indicated was hosting the foul ritual, skillfully avoiding patrols and augar sweeps. Landing on the tumor engorged hull of the Despoiler class battleship ''Mortuary of Agony,'' the strike team began cutting into the hull, entering the twisted corridors of the traitor vessel near the bridge. Moving fast, the marines and Inquisitorial stormtroopers engaged all they found in the corridors, cutting a violent path through to the bridge. The attack had not gone unnoticed and the fleet sprung to life with activity, beginning a comb of the system for Imperials while the ''Mortuary of Agony'' began materializing daemons to oppose the Imperial force. The attackers began to suffer casualties, and by the time they cut a path to the bridge they had dwindled to Inquisitor Charlemagne, three of his retinue, Captain Wallace and four marines, and a handful of Stormtroopers. Blowing the doors with breaching charges, the strike force entered a swampy bridge inhabited by one of the supreme admirals of the Rotfleet and sorcerers maintaining the ritual. Admiral Olgan "Slugskin" Voldarius, long ago a famed Imperial admiral in Putrilocus who turned traitor along with his fleet, had over centuries grown into the bridge, becoming more moss like than anything resembling a human. The admiral used his many grown limbs to try to stop the interlopers, but while he was an incredibly gifted strategist, centuries of merging into his bridge and enjoying sacrificial prisoners brought to him while he was rooted to the bridge, he stood no chance against the fury of the Crimson Hammer in person. Although he was not killed as he was as much the ship as he was flesh, he was rendered helpless to watch as the strike force turned their focus on the sorcerers. So focused were the sorcerers, they only defending themselves when the strike force directly attacked them, and each time one of five died the star grew more furious at its chaining, closer to going supernova. Only with the final sorcerer's death was the star freed, and it began its long awaited apotheosis.

Sprinting back to their breach point and cutting through swarms of cultists, Nurglings, and Plague Bearers, the strike force returned to their Aquila landers with barely enough time to escape the expanding star. The Rotfleet who had only moments before come close to discovering the hidden ''Tireless Vigil'' instead began a panicked scramble, without their admiral to coordinate them all order disintegrated, allowing the Aquila landers to return to the corvette and quickly disappear from Sarkaris. Shortly after their departure, Sarkaris finally exploded, purging the system of any who remained and collapsing in on itself to form a black hole. The Rotfleet had been dealt a serious blow, and while the Rotbelchers themselves and their own ships escaped, their cultist and traitor fleet were not so fortunate. Captains of different vessels in the Rotfleet, so terrified of acting without orders from Admiral Slugskin, remained in place fearing the punishment he so oft doled out to those who displeased him, becoming victim to Sarkaris's fury instead. More sensible captains realized the silence meant something had happened and fled to later regroup with other survivors, and though the Rotfleet had lost a sizable number of vessels it still had enough to keep to their original aims of the Poxwar. The Imperials had dealt their most decisive blow of the war thus far, and even the most dour Inquisitor now had hope of ending the invasion.

It would not be long until the Rotbelchers, incensed by the sneak attack, would get their revenge on the final two worlds standing between them and Absolution. [[Lonehill]] was a hospital world that had proven integral to the defense of Eternum against the new foul plagues brought by the invaders, and their refusal of Nurgle's gifts only further enraged the Rotbelchers. Lonehill was not an immediately apparent target to Imperial intelligence as while it served as an infirmary and worked to counter the plagues infecting the Imperial Guard and Imperial civilians of Eternum, the enhanced physiology and apothecaries of the Crimson Hammer were enough to stop any of the Rotbelcher plagues from propagating amongst the marines, thus Lonehill did not have Hammer forces among its defenders as they were deployed to [[Boros]] and other predicted targets. Protected by Guard regiments and the PDF, Lonehill was not ready for the sickly fury of the Rotbelchers.

Appearing in orbit, the Rotfleet made short work of the system defense fleet and began invading the world with hordes of cultists and plague vectors, all in preparation for their new weapon. Hordes of infested Hell Talons took off from airfields built by cultists and traitor soldiers of Nurgle, beginning a massive series of bombing runs against Guard fortifications and cities. It wasn't until the first bombs dropped that the defenders realized they were not explosive bombs, instead the Hell Talons dropped large warp touched censers, designed to land and spread a new contagion. This contagion, which would reemerge in the Second Poxwar so much later, rapidly spread from person to person, hidden initially and symptomless until the infection was ready to wreck its terrifying purpose. The infected found their flesh sloughing off, pooling in the ground and slowly melting them into fleshy puddles, though this did not grant death. The contagion left only one recognizable feature, a face with which to scream in pain, as their now amoeba like bodies rolled across the surface seeking new victims. Such a sickness could not exist without the malign power of the warp, but Nurgle's sorcerers ensured Lonehill was impregnated with portals that overflowed with raw energy of the Empyrium.

Although scattered defensive lines and holdouts remained, the Rotbelchers had already won and were now exacting vengeance on the Imperium for their transgressions against the Rotfleet. After satiating their need for revenge, the Rotfleet departed for Boros, and heeding the call for reinforcements, the Crimson Hammer arrived in orbit to find a world that resembled a hell found in the Eye of Terror versus a once buzzing hospital world. Although the plague sorcerers had since left the world still teemed with warp rifts, some left open and feeding off the collective suffering of the plague's victims, others opened by cultists who were just as quickly turned into playthings for daemons of Nurgle. Lonehill had been lost, and though the Crimson Hammer realized reclamation potentially possible if a company or more was available, the war demanded their attention elsewhere on worlds not already lost. Coupled with the risk of even the plague untouched by raw Empyrium energy spreading, the Crimson Hammer made the difficult decision to declare Exterminatus upon Lonehill. Armed with scores of Inferno Conflagration Torpedoes, the orbiting Hammer fired all their torpedoes until their stocks were depleted and Lonehill burned like a star in the dark void. Surviving loyalist defenders, plague Guard, cultists, and plague victims alike burned in the raging infernos on Lonehill's surface, leaving a burnt husk of a world glassed over.

== The Fall of Boros and Battle of Absolution ==

The Crimson Hammer, still relying on intelligence gathered on Pygar, recalled all marines defending worlds in Makerus to the Shield of Absolution to prepare for the expected invasion. Imperial Guard regiments, Battlefleet Eternum groups, Inquisitorial Stormtroopers, Sisters of Battle, Ecclesiarchy priests and pilgrims, and more manned the defenses alongside the Crimson Hammer, all waiting for the pivotal fight. Without their marine protectors, the remaining worlds in Makerus defended by Guard regiments and PDF could only wait for the results of the coming Battle of Absolution. This would not come until one more world was snuffed out by the Rotfleet in retribution for the Sarkaris raid, however, and Boros was chosen both for its large population of miners and other civilians, and for the large logistical depots that were ready to support the Shield of Absolution. Appearing in force, the same fleet that would soon plague the skies of Absolution laid siege to Boros. Not expecting an attack of this magnitude, let alone before any attack on Absolution, Boros was quickly overwhelmed and though the Guard fought hard they were nothing more than an inconvenience to be swatted away by the combined might of the Rotbelchers. In an ironic twist of fate Boros would support the Battle for Absolution, though for the forces of Nurgle instead. Boros was turned into a hellish Plagueworld, the depots and civilians infected and subverted to resupply the Rotfleet.

With Boros serving as a font of daemonic reinforcement, fuel, ammunition, and raw materials for the Rotfleet, they then set their eyes on what would be the largest battle of the First Poxwar. With the biggest concentration of forces in one system in Eternum since the battles of the Horus Heresy, Absolution contained almost all of the Rotfleet save the smaller tendrils wrecking havoc in Caligulas and [[Kalibras]], almost all of the surviving Crimson Hammer and masses of loyalist ships and troops. The invaders appeared with scores of corrupted Battle Barges, plague infested Battleships and Cruisers of all sizes, the Plague Marines and their forces of the Rotbelchers proper, their daemonic allies, and their horde of corrupt cultists, traitor Guard, and plague victims, all with the singular goal to destroy the personification of Imperial might in Eternum, the Fortress Monastery of the Crimson Hammer. The Crimson Hammer's fleet along with the Imperial Navy represented by Battlefleet Eternum's most seasoned Battlegroups with Battlefleet Confedus, Gothar, Makerus, and Caligulas all led by esteemed [[Lord Admiral Raphael Buchanan]], Inquisitorial blackships, and Ecclesiarchy Pilgrim fleets protected space above Absolution, while the marines of the Hammer, whole armies of Guard regiments from Tetuanis Mechanized Infantry to [[Antikun Zulu]] skirmishers to [[Shogun Guard]] and many others, Sisters of Battle from the Order of the Purple Communion, Inquisitors and their Stormtroopers, the forces of [[Filimars]], and many other loyalists manned the Shield of Absolution's defenses.

The Imperial fleets waited near the [[Mandeville points]], prepared for the first ships of Chaos to appear and hoping to strike a critical blow against the first wave, were surprised when a fleet of civilian ships arrived. Hesitant to fire as several Ecclesiarchy pilgrim fleets were already part of the forces in orbit, the Imperial ships demanded identification, the new arrival's engines cut, and held their fire. Claiming to be pilgrims from the world [[Meridia]] and having proper Meridian ship registrations, their dialect and manner of speaking felt off to Lord Admiral Buchanan and this feeling was only reinforced by the supposed pilgrim fleet's drifting towards the flagship and the core of the collective Battlefleet. Trusting his intuition Lord Admiral Buchanan ordered the fleet engaged, and as the first macrocannon rounds hurled towards the civilian ships they revealed their true colors and praised Nurgle. The traitor ruse had been discovered, but not before masses of small civilian transport ships and jury-rigged boarding torpedoes flew out of each vessel as they were destroyed, all hurdling towards the nearest Imperial vessel. Imperial fighters raced to engage the craft as Line Ship and Escorts alike lit up with point defense weaponry, but for every one destroyed five more met their target and boarded. Some filled with cultists, some with traitor Guard, and others with nurglings and lesser daemons, independently no match for the seasoned armsmen of the Imperial Navy, collectively they began fighting and sabotaging any systems they could reach. Although not as effective as they planned, the boarding still was the distraction needed and the Rotfleet proper translated en masse to begin the attack proper. As ships in the Battlefleet fought with wave after wave of lance and macrocannon fire, their armsmen fought the original boarders as new strike craft and boarding torpedoes arrived to deliver plague marines and other seasoned traitors. Vessel after vessel exploded, Imperial and Traitor alike, as the Rotfleet pushed further into the system. Their most pestilent ships, reinforced through dark blessings tanked hit after hit, dealing as much damage to the Imperials as they to it, and continued their inexorable advance towards Absolution. The orbital defense platforms and ground mounted guns joined in the brutal Naval battle, but the Rotfleet had reached their goal. As the naval battle raged, the plague ships and masses of transport craft began unloading drop pods and landing craft, turning the sunny skies over Absolution into night through sheer volume. The invasion of Absolution had begun.

Concentrating their landing forces at the Gennlach fortress complex, the raw masses of Rotbelchers overwhelmed the Guard regiments defending and carved a central landing zone for the tide of the arriving servants of Nurgle. Absolution contained rings of fortress complexes separated by dried lake beds termed Lochs, all clustered around the central Fortress Monastery Absolution's Reflection, with orbital defenses in each along with isolated fortress complexes spread throughout the world. Taking advantage of their inlay at Gennlach, the Rotbelchers began to send their hordes towards the other fortresses surrounding the monastery while sorcerers diverted to begin their foul work in the towns and villages that dotted the world. Quickly overwhelming the auxiliary forces defending what had been classed a tertiary defense priority, the sorcerers turned the civilians cowering in their homes into more charnel ritual components and zombies. Two thirds of the civilians of Absolution would be turned against their stewards this way, either as Poxwalkers to absorb fire from battlements or used to bring forth daemons.

As the Rotbelchers advanced across Absolution they breached the outer walls of the massive Fortress Monastery and turned the once holy walls into fierce melees, corrupting and destroying as they went. Holy archives and defense controlling cogitators fell as the outer Monastery fell to the Rotbelchers. Fights continued in other Lochs and fortresses, but the core of the Rotbelchers faced the core of the Crimson Hammer in the final wall protecting the Monastery proper. The assault began, and scores of defenders were picked off by plague-sorcery, blight drones and bolter fire, while whole hordes of chaff were slaughtered by defensive emplacements. Bringing their most powerful ground weaponry, the Rotbelchers began trying to break the inner wall. The wall built with the best craftsmanship known by the Crimson Hammer took hit after hit, standing firm each time. Making no progress and suffering brutal losses, the Rotbelchers turned to the sky for help breaking the resolute wall.

All the while during the brutal ground war, the melee in orbit had continued with both sides striking deadly blows against venerable and unimaginably powerful vessels. Though each side's losses mounted, neither had won a clear advantage and the flagships of both still stood. The Rotfleet, receiving instruction from the ongoing assault force sieging the Monastery, began moving its flagship protected by it's best vessels into the guarded position over the Monastery's heart. Although the defending Battlefleet put up an admirable fight, the Rotfleet survived wave after wave of fire and forced the defenders out of the way, readying to bombard the last obstacle between the Rotbelchers and the heart of the Crimson Hammer.

The naval defenders had one last trick up their sleeve however, the oft discounted pilgrim fleet made up of converted civilian vessels. The [[Beamonde]] Matyr fleet, as they would come to be known, had turned each of their ships, filled with hordes of fanatical adherents to the Imperial Cult, into fireships packed with as many explosives as they could fit. Priests and followers sat on explosive drums as they prayed and blessed the holy ordnance, and as the Rotfleet charged their ground lances the Martyr fleet hurled towards them. The Rotfleet, already engaged with proper Imperial ships attempting to dislodge them, thought the civilian ships merely pathetic attempts at boarding by fanatics, a mistake which would cost them dearly. The fireships bursts their way into the midst of the Rotfleet charging their weapons and began flying directly into the lances powering up, exploding in massive waves empowered by faith, causing chain reactions that destroyed whole ships and critically wounded the Rotfleet flagship.

With the opening forged, the Crimson Hammer Battlebarge ''Litany of Sorrow'' broke rank and charged the reeling Rotfleet, sewing more panic in the already shocked fleet. With Battlefleet Eternum in tow, the Battlebarge unleashed savage close range broadsides that inflicted even more damage, obliterating several lineships and forcing the Rotfleet flagship to withdraw to the warp.

With their fleet in disarray and broken, and the defenders emboldened the ground forces of the Rotbelchers fell back. The remaining Rotfleet that had not withdrawn was destroyed in a series of orbital skirmishes, and with it any chance of the plague army withdrawing en masse. Plague sorcerers opened portals to the Empyrium to bring themselves and the true Rotbelcher astartes to safety, leaving the hordes of traitor Guard and cultists to suffer for their failure. The defenders pushed out of their fortresses, and although it would be many years before the last remaining vestige of the invaders would be cleansed, Absolution had held. The cost had been high for all, the Rotfleet shattered and the Rotbelchers, though isolated holdouts persisted in Eternum, had fallen back to Putrilocus, while the Imperials lost tens of millions and over half of the Crimson Hammer that had survived the initial onslaught of the Poxwar. Absolution itself had suffered greatly, and by the end of the Imperial reclamation over two thirds of the world would be burned to root out the infectious stew left behind.

The Crimson Hammer was devastated, with only a quarter of its brothers still alive, it held a mourning period for all it lost. This would be decided turning point, to prevent this suffering and loss from ever touching Eternum again, they would change to the Crimson Bulwark, shielding Eternum from the horror of the plague God's forces. The Crimson Bulwark's first action upon their rebirth would be purification of Makerus and the sector at large, starting with the world Boros. With no doubt in their minds, the Bulwark declared exterminatus upon Boros, torching the infected world like so many others that would follow in the Imperium's reconquest of the Poxwar's losses.

== Eternum Rebuilds ==

The campaign to reclaim and purify worlds lost to the Poxwar lasted several decades, though the war had for all intents and purposes ended with the Battle for Absolution. Over a hundred billion lay dead, forcing mass repopulation campaigns and resettlement drives by Imperial authorities. The newly invigorated Crimson Bulwark assisted the Imperium reconquer and rebuild the shattered worlds of Eternum, and the frontline settled at the edge of the Bubonic Rift where it would sit firmly until the [[The Second Poxwar|Second Poxwar]] so many years later. Worried of the chance of a miniature Eye of Terror in Segmentum Tempestus, the Lord of Terra would charge the Inquisition with investigating ways to close the Bubonic Rift, leading to the founding of the [[Eternum Conclave Sector Headquarters|Eternum Conclave]] with that as its writ. [[The Aural Gate]] would be built up, reinforced to withstand the next invasion, while the Brass Gate, though reclaimed, would fall into disrepair as forces were moved to more relevant fortresses and worlds. Absolution itself would be rebuilt with the lessons of the First Poxwar in mind, turning it into a nigh unassailable bastion to hold back any future attempts. The Imperium would be granted a reprieve from the Rotbelchers attacks while both sides licked their wounds and rebuilt, though it would not be long until the Rotbelchers raids springing from the Bubonic Rift and hidden warp routes out of Putrilocus would begin, continuing until the start of the Second Poxwar so many years later.

[[Category:Conflict]]

[[Category:War]]

[[Category:Imperial]]

[[Category:Chaos]]

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-{{quote|a little test}}
+{{quote|"Seven times shall the Putridum Bells of the Grandfather ring, heralding the birth of your feculence. Eternity will rot and fester under the hordes of disease and decay, the Gold Walls breached and forced open. Those that dwell beyond shall kneel as the air creeps with infection and the ground melts, the Daemon shall lie with the machine, brother infecting brother with the glories of the Grandfather. The putrid wound pours its malice forth. The rotted herald his malfeasance, his gifts. The fate of Eternity shall be decided on holy infected soil."
+| -Excerpt from the Liber Contagione}}
+== Overview ==
+The First Poxwar launched by the heretic Astartes [[Rotbelchers]] resulted in the largest clash between the Imperium of Man and Chaos forces in [[Eternum Map|Eternum]] since the Horus Heresy 10,000 years before. The Rotbelchers raised an enormous army from the fallen worlds of subsector [[Putrilocus]] and a massive fleet from the corrupted [[Port Uralplagush]] intended to bring an end to Sector Eternum and corrupt the trillions of souls contained in her. Although launched far before the Eye of Terror split the galaxy in twain, the First Poxwar would be a portent of things to come for a battered Imperium.
+The campaign began with a massive assault out of the [[Bubonic Rift]], spilling forth into subsector [[Caligulas]] and [[Makerus]] and launching brutal fights on dozens of worlds with the ultimate goal of seizing the power secreted away by the Inquisition in [[Confedus]] and destroying the [[Crimson Bulwark|Crimson Hammer]] along with infecting hundreds of billions. The First Poxwar forever changed Eternum, but details are lost and the rest secreted away by the Inquisition and now-Crimson Bulwark, with little known for certain in current times.
+== The Bubonic Rift Bursts ==
+[[File:First Poxwar Invasion.jpg|thumb|Initial invasion during the First Poxwar]]
+The Putrilocus subsector had long been lost to the Imperium, locked and hidden away by the warp with the only route to and from lying within a small region of space permeated with warp-storms and the exits guarded by orbiting Imperial void fortresses and fleets, with any ship not marked by Nurgle doomed if they dared try to travel through the storms. The invasion began with these warp-storms coalescing into a burgeoning rift, which rapidly grew to encompass all space nearby even touched by the periphery of the storms, swallowing whole fleets and stations and sucking them into the warp. So rapid was this growth that no station or fleet had even enough time to send a distress call, with the first time the Imperium was even aware being when long range scanners saw the sickly green rift swirling as invasion fleets arrived in orbit over nearby worlds.
+== The Imperium Falters ==
+The initial invasion was as brutal as it was sudden, with worlds forced to defend themselves with whatever forces were already stationed. [[Battlefleet Caligulas]], which had spread out her ships to counter isolated raids common before the invasion, found herself rapidly losing interdiction battlegroup after battlegroup, granting Chaos control of the void as its virulent forces took control of world after world. Traitors long planted in positions that granted them intelligence on the movements of the fleet led to sound defeat after defeat, culminating in the destruction of Battlefleet Caligulas's flagship and death of her admiral. Disorganized and disillusioned, Battlefleet Caligulas, now led by the Vice Admiral Vickers Leach aboard the Apocalypse class Battleship ''Ark Royal'', was ordered to fall back and rally around the supply world [[Ashesh]] where the Crimson Hammer's second and third company fleets were regrouping after isolated skirmishes. Low on fuel and supplies, Ashesh was the only world reachable by both that could keep the fleets fighting.
+The traitor fleets were not far behind however, as Ashesh was a priority target for its massive caches of weapons and supplies. With the arrival of the bulk of [[Battlefleet Eternum|Battlefleet Eternum's]] reinforcements too far away, and knowing they were severely outnumbered and outgunned, the Crimson Hammer and Vice Admiral devised a trap to allow a fighting retreat, buying enough time to allow both to continue to fight and dealing a blow to the traitors in one fell swoop. The defenders of Ashesh, the PDF, stationed Guard regiments, and Crimson Hammer marines dug in while tech-priests worked tirelessly to prepare. The remnants of Battlefleet Caligulas and the ground side defenders had only one goal - buy enough time for the tech-priests to finish their work.
+As expected, the Plaguehost arrived in orbit and began disgorging scores of heretic marines, traitor Guard, and plague-zombies while the terrifying fleet led by the Rotbelcher flagship engaged Imperial vessels. Millenia old ships were destroyed in massive impacts, lighting the world with the falling wreckage of Imperial and traitor ship alike. The battle on the ground turned Ashesh red and green with blood and pus, raging for weeks. Although the defenders fought fervently, slowly the tireless advance of the Rotbelchers and their plague victims saw the remaining defenders whittled down and pushed to the last stronghold, where the tech-priests worked. In orbit, the defense fleet fared little better, with only enough combat capable ships for one last push - a push that would soon be critically needed.
+The tech-priests finished their work as the battle raged outside, yet one final action was needed - a cyclonic torpedo targeted directly at the fortress, an area of space controlled by the Rotbelcher fleet. With one final push, the ''Ark Royal'' and remnants of Battlefleet Caligulas plunged into the heretic fleet, fighting a pivotal battle that saw them successfully launch the cyclonic torpedo. With their fate set, the remaining defenders looked up as the ordnance streaked through the sky, landing on top of the destabilized geothermal planetary power station. The force of the torpedo impacting the planetary core ejected oceans of lava out of fissures, burning space and all life on Ashesh, destroying the world but dealing a harsh blow to the invaders. Crippled by the ejection, the ships that survived on both sides fled the flak fields generated by the ejecta of the world, and while Vice Admiral Vickers died during his offensive, the ''Ark Royal'' survived though terribly wounded and out of commission for the remainder of the war while the remnants of Battlefleet Caligulas would be seconded to other subsector Battlefleets for the rest of the first Poxwar. The Plaguehost had been dealt a blow, though at great cost and far too weak to stop it.
+== Terror Across the Sector ==
+The invading fleets were not the only threat besieging the Imperium as plagues devised by the devious sorcerers of the Rotbelchers infested worlds and traitors long since tainted revealed themselves. [[Cyre]] in subsector Confedus, once thought unassailable, boiled with corruption and uprisings that threatened to bring forth daemons into the heart of the sector. The Battlefleet's most vaulted cemetery world [[Templehof]] revealed an insidious infection that was only stopped through a timely intervention by the Crimson Hammer. Countless worlds fell ill while novel diseases and plague zombies ravaged the Imperium's civilians, while battle after battle ended with traitor victories. For the first time since the Horus Heresy, Nurgle savored the collective fear of Sector Eternum.
+== Betrayal of Regina and The Brass Gate Falls ==
+The Imperial forces dug in at key worlds in the path of the invasion, with forces and fleets arranged for rapid redeployment once the enemy arrived at their next target designed to take advantage of Redobti's stable warp routes that connected her to far away systems. The fortress [[Redobti]], the Brass Gate, was key to stalling the tide of traitors, though the world [[Regina]] was also an expected high priority target due to its ties to the Crimson Hammer. Imperial forces fortified both with each preparing to reinforce the other when the Chaos fleet had chosen its next priority. Chaos arrived at Redobti and began their invasion, as Astropaths burned out telling their counterparts on Regina. Planetside forces on Regina began preparing to depart for Redobti, with all Battlegroups except the [[Battlefleet Arkamedes|Arkamedian]] 12th Battlegroup leaving for the battle while they remained to safeguard the ground forces redeployment. Unbeknownst to the Imperium, the Arkamedian 12th had fallen to Chaos, lured by promises of power to retake their home subsector from the Orks and waiting for the opportunity to strike at their former compatriots. With Regina's orbital defenders gone, the 12th signalled a waiting Rotbelcher sorcerer's ship which soon arrived to deliver the sorcerer's demonically enhanced virus bomb from the Dark Age of Technology. With all orbital defenses controlled by the 12th, the Crimson Hammer marines, Imperial Guardsmen, and Sisters of Battle could do nothing but watch as the virus bomb spread its miasma over the world and rapidly engulfed all life. Even the hermetically sealed power armor of the Marines and Sisters corroded under the power of the warp infused virus, choking the life out of the planet in a rapid chain reaction. Mercifully for the defenders, the virus was far more powerful than the sorcerer foresaw, and the gasses released as the pestilence rapidly decomposed Regina's life were ignited by a lightning strike that quickly grew into a conflagration that burnt the entire planet. The traitor was dismayed at the loss of raw material for his biological experiments, but his objective to destroy Redobti's relief was successful.
+Redobti, commonly called the Brass Gate, formed a critical link in Eternum's defense as it was a locus for almost all stable warp routes deeper into subsector [[Gothar]] and even further away worlds in Makerus, [[Richmon]], and Confedus. Situated on the sole mandeville point, Redobti protected Eternum's most key Battlefleet anchorages and prized worlds, thus it was an irresistible prize for the Rotbelchers and would soon see fought a brutal battle for survival, with the combined Imperial forces of the Crimson Hammer, [[Order of the Purple Communion]], and Imperial Guard fighting the Rotbelchers, their daemon allies, and hordes of zombies and traitor regiments. Although the defending Battlefleets bolstered by Regina's fleets engaged the arriving traitors fiercely, the unending swarm of vessels kept the strongest Imperial ships tied up in furious close range engagements. The terrifying Rotfleet led by their most bloated and disfigured flagship forced their way through the orbital melee, with each fetid ship shrugging macrocannon fire that would obliterate any ship not blessed by Nurgle, towards the heavily fortified surface. Disgorging scores of landing craft, droppods, and pustules filled with cursed cultists and daemons, the invasion of the Brass Gate had begun. The sky filled with flak and macrocannon fire and hordes of flies, with defenders assailed by unending scores of cultists, plague zombies, and other creations of the Rotbelchers, line after line was slowly pushed back. Only the fortress design that created reinforced enfilade points afforded the defenders the time to hold off the enemy horde, time to regroup and hold out for reinforcements that were due to arrive soon.
+The first waves that already cost the Imperium dearly were merely cannon fodder cast aside by Nurgle's followers, and soon the defensive lines came under attack from the true Rotbelchers. Fortress complex after fortress complex fell to plague, unending tides of zombies, and the Plague Marines themselves, with the Imperium soon realizing the expected relief forces were not coming. Although the defense was fierce and cost the attackers, the Rotbelchers succeeded in commandeering Redobti's central command nexus, allowing them full control of the planet's formidable weapons, weapons which thanks to traitors amongst the Guard had not fired a single shot in defense.
+With the Brass Gate's guns in their control, the Rotbelchers began firing on the Imperial Battlefleets locked in the orbital melee, costing [[Battlefleet Gothar]] heavily and leading to all remaining Imperial Naval ships falling back. For the first time since the Horus Heresy, the Brass Gate was under traitor control. Although the fighting was far from over, the Rotbelchers left Redobti to pursue their campaign of terror, leaving hordes of zombies, traitor Guard, and cultists to finish the Imperials still fighting. Without the support of daemons and Rotbelchers however, the heretic struggled to finish the isolated pockets of loyalists off. The defenders were still resisting through tenacity and righteous fury, though their struggle would continue until shortly after the Battle of Absolution. Although low on supplies, food, ammunition, and soldiers, the survivors led by Captain Galcobar of the Crimson Hammer would eventually reclaim control of the command nexus, though far too late to avoid the devastation of Makerus.
+== Makerus Burns and the Crimson Grief Begins ==
+The Rotfleet wasted no time in pressing its advantage, and with the Imperium still reeling from the loss of Redobti, the Rotfleet began its despoiling of Makerus. Scores of once peaceful worlds turned into swamps of infection, and even the worlds of the Crimson Hammer's domain were not safe. The civilized world [[Santo]] embodied the beliefs of the Crimson Hammer, with warrior artisans training and working side by side with the artists of the world. The world had dug in and fortified as Inquisitorial intelligence discovered that the Rotfleet soon intended to invade, though the Crimson Hammer and Guard regiments defending Santo vastly underestimated the offensive. The Rotfleet, emboldened by its string of victories and carrying novel plagues, infested the world's population and defenders. Hordes of plague victims, Rotbelchers, and daemons pushed the Imperials back to their only remaining spaceport. Constantly assailed, the defenders survived barely, though they held long enough for Battlefleet Eternum and Bulwark Strike Cruisers to arrive. Though they missed the majority of the Rotfleet who had left to continue their sack of the subsector, the combined Imperial fleets obliterated the ships left behind, though the world's fate was already decided. The survivors evacuated to orbit, and when the Crimson Hammer looked upon the once beautiful and verdant world teeming with disease, suffering inhabitants, and pulsating growths, they felt the collective pain of their chapters ancestors. As the Strike Cruiser ''Oathbearer'' launched its cyclonic torpedoes and destroyed the former home of so many of the Hammer, the first signs of the [[Crimson Grief]] emerged. Several battle brothers aboard the ''Oathbearer'' who originated from Santo dropped to their knees, catatonic from what they witnessed. Although they shortly recovered, and whether borne of a collective psychic imprint or a foul new affliction of Nurgle, the Crimson Grief was brought forth.
+The Rotbelchers continued their wonton destruction of Eternum, though momentum soon slowed. The forlorn hopes fought across the sector had chipped away at the Rotbelchers, nowhere near enough to stop the invasion, but enough to give the Imperials hope. This hope would be vindicated for the Imperium at large soon, but shadowed by a new curse for the Crimson Hammer. [[Ayr]] was a super-large agriworld that produced critical foodstuffs for the Imperial war machine, thus it became a natural target for the Rotbelchers. The invasion begun like so many others in the First Poxwar, with the system defense fleet quickly obliterated and the skies filled with landing craft, though Ayr would be different. Predicting the Rotfleet would choose the nearby Ayr after the sacrilege of Santo, the Crimson Hammer quickly went to work fortifying the world, with the space marines making a breakthrough after consulting the strategic archives - the Rotfleet captains, whether for some arcane purpose, convenience, or sheer laziness, repeatedly landed their primary invasion forces at specific coordinates that when combined totaled seven, seventy seven, seven hundred and seventy seven, and seventy seventy thousand and seventy seven. Keeping this breakthrough to themselves for fear of spies, the Crimson Hammer quickly used macrocannon shells wired to detonators to create a series of traps across Ayr. This time, when the invasion fleet's bulk of forces arrived ready to despoil the world, the Hammer sprung their trap. Across Ayr, massive explosions happened in unison, obliterating the vanguard of the invasion and reaching high enough to knock drop-pods out of the sky. The Rotfleet disgorged their already ready craft and fled in fear of a Naval trap to accompany the world's mines, though none was planned. Although the invasion had been halted, the survivors and en route landing craft began to attack regardless of their losses. Still, without the bulk of their forces, the Crimson Hammer held firm. As they began to push the attackers back however, the Crimson Grief emerged in earnest - suddenly battle brothers who were just moments before shooting heretics dropped their guns and began lashing out in furious melee at the nearest target - Hammer, Guard, heretic, it made no difference for the afflicted. The marines who were unaffected began engaging their former brothers, while Guardsmen fired at both, confused and unsure. When the gunfire died down and the Guard was once again confident who was their allies, the battlefield was littered with the corpses of the first Crimson Grief victims, heretics, and unfortunate Guardsmen and marines who were too close.
+Fearing a new affliction from the Plague-crafters of the Rotbelchers, apothecaries quickly investigated the dead while all Guardsmen who witnessed the event were held to ensure they weren't carrying the potential contagion. The apothecaries found nothing, no sign of any malady or disease of the mind in any victim, the only common thread being that they all hailed from Santo, Regina, or another world ravaged by the Rotbelchers. Consulting with the Chapter Master and Chief Apothecary, the Crimson Hammer found themselves facing the most insidious threat they ever could imagine. This would soon prove the catalyst that would help lead to the rebirth as the Crimson Bulwark and specialized organization of potential recruits and those suspected of harboring the Crimson Grief, but the Chapter had a more immediate problem to deal with. Fearing the incredibly puritanical Ordo Malleus and Hereticus Inquisitors that frequented Eternum, let alone the Imperium at large outside Eternum, and knowing at least one witness would speak of seeing unhinged berserking marines attacking loyalists, the Chapter Master and veteran leaders of the Crimson Hammer decided on the only course of action that would keep their secret, censure. The waiting Guardsmen, worried they may be infected but reassured that the Emperor's Angels were present to safeguard them had no suspicion of the fate that would soon befall them. Lined in inspection rows and disarmed in preparation for examination, the marines of the Crimson Hammer opened fire on men they had just fought with and died together. Before they had time to process the betrayal, the last Guardsmen fell to the ground, dead at the hand of the Angels of Death. The Hammer quickly left after notifying the Imperium at large of their victory over the heretics, giving ultimate credit to the Guardsmen who died for the Hammer's secret. The battlefield was scorched by orbital bombardment and records deleted, the only surviving records of the battle in the recesses of the Crimson Bulwark's fortress monastery being a hymn on the dangers of secrets and the veneration of martyrs.
+Although the Rotfleet had been dealt a serious blow, their plans remained unchanged - destroy the Crimson Hammer and make the loyalists bow before Nurgle. To strike at the heart of the Hammer, the [[Shield of Absolution]], the invaders needed to tie up and ideally capture several key worlds holding potential relief forces, and thus the Rotfleet set their eyes on [[Edgeview]] and [[NuberrLen]]. Edgeview was crucial in the years leading up to the First Poxwar, as it stood on the turbulent edge of subsector Putrilocus and guarded the only, though incredibly risky for both loyalist and traitor, routes that bypassed the burgeoning Bubonic Rift. Serving as a resolute fortress that was able to reinforce and supply Makerus, Edgeview became a critical prerequisite target before an invasion of the Crimson Hammer's fortress monastery could be feasible. Appearing in orbit, the Rotfleet quickly engaged the [[Battlefleet Makerus]] group assigned to defense, overwhelming the loyalists with warp enhanced strike craft, though the Battlefleet was not routed. Surviving and hiding in the asteroid thicket surrounding Edgeview, the Battlefleet began a series of rapid hit and run attacks designed to prevent the Rotfleet from bombarding Edgeview - a tactic that successfully forced the Rotbelchers to invade the fortress herself. Not wanting to waste their remaining elite troops, the Rotbelchers instead relied on hordes of former Imperial citizens infested with plagues. With whole hive populations descending as plague zombies and cultists, Edgeview was forced to tap into reserve ammunition reserved for Makerus. Though Edgeview would eventually fight them off, the Rotbelchers had accomplished their goal - prevent Edgeview from sending aid to the Shield of Absolution.
+The next target of the Rotbelchers with similar aims to the invasion of Edgeview was the hive world NuberrLen. A lethally cold world with hive cities protected by ancient archeotech domes, NuberrLen suddenly found itself attacked from within, with hordes of cultists rising up to overthrow the Imperial defenders. The brutal climate prevented combat outside the domes, with the rebellion taking full advantage of that and conquering two domes while pushing into others. The cultists had chosen their targets wisely, with their domes holding the primary military port and ammunition held for Makerus, any attack would bog down Imperials for years. Realizing the trap the Rotbelchers had set, the Crimson Hammer leading the defense opted to cut the knot and instead of assaulting the domes through the rail tunnels connecting the dome network they relied on their armor to carry through the temperatures that would freeze anyone else in seconds. Cutting into each dome, the Hammer strike forces sliced a path through cultist patrols to the ammunition depot and spaceport fuel stores, setting demolition charges. Leaving through the same holes they cut, they detonated the charges and watched as the fallen domes exploded and collapsed. Without their protection, NuberrLen's blizzards burst into the hives, freezing the cultist armies in a flash. They had successfully defeated the trap, but NuberrLen's use for the war effort ceased.
+[[File:SectorEternum1stPoxwarZenith.jpg|thumb|The Rotbelcher's Furthest Occupation]]
+== Zenith of Corruption ==
+While the Rotbelchers dismantled Imperial defenses in Makerus, the Rotfleet continued their push into Gothar in an effort to stop Battlefleet Eternum. The Rotbelchers had made significant inroads to subsectors Gothar, Caligulas, and Makerus already, and were at the height of their advance. Surprising Imperial tacticians, the Rotbelchers invaded the relatively unimportant world [[Criffon]] with a Plaguehost led by a pestilent sorcerer. Not expecting an invasion of a world not responsible for any particularly critical facet of the Imperial defense, Criffon was caught unaware though quickly reinforced by nearby regiments included [[Tetuanis Mechanized Infantry]] regiments. Though the guard fought admirably, the sorcerer constantly raised the dead to keep the Imperium distracted while he searched for his true objective, the [[Enucian Loom]] artifact. The Inquisition intervened on the world, and although they and the Imperium were not aware of the relics existence, the Inquisition highly suspected the motivation of the sorcerer as there had to be some rationale for his invasion. Although the Inquisition's investigation was fruitless, they did manage to kill the sorcerer in a heated battle, ending the invasion as quickly as it started.
+[[Port Carrius]] also came under attack from within while Criffon's war raged, and now freed up Imperial regiments rapidly redeployed to assist the defense of Carrius. One of the critical ports of the Battlefleet, Carrius found itself besieged by an uprising of menials and workers, who had long succumbed to the poisonous whispers of plague infected agitators. Although its defenses made it near unassailable navally, inside its work corridors and access shafts allowed the uprising to manuever around defensive cordons. Only through the purposeful destruction of the primary habitation wing,  when Imperial forces turned Carrius's guns on the massive H-fuel tanks surrounding the habitation wing did they break the back of the traitors. The ringleaders were never confirmed dead and massive civilian casualties had occurred when the habitation wing was exposed to the void, but Carrius was saved. The Imperium had no time to lick its wounds however, as the world [[Pygar]] soon found itself attacked as well.
+Another crucial world of the Crimson Hammer, Pygar was attacked by a large Plaguehost seeking to corrupt it like so many other former worlds of the Hammer. Pygar was invaded by one of the more feared Plaguehosts, though the defenders were ready. Supported by the mechanized regiments of Tetuanis and [[Osean Sapper]] regiments, the defenders resisted the Rotbelchers plaguehost, surrounding and exterminating the attackers. Coordinating with the Hammer's Battle Barges, Battlefleet Eternum's most elite battlegroup managed to destroy the Rotfleet battlegroup used by the Plaguehost, breaking the unceasing advance of the Rotbelchers and bolstering Imperial morale across the sector. Intelligence gathered from the fallen traitor captains would lead to one of the smallest yet impactful actions in the war, the Supernova Raid.
+== The Supernova Raid and Lonehill Burns ==
+The intelligence gathered by the Imperium on Pygar would soon be put to use, as it revealed the the Rotfleet was using a dying star named Sarkaris teetering on the edge of exploding as a forward repair and rearmament station. The star seemed a ticking bomb to the Imperium and was discounted initially, but empowered by the dark magic of Chaos the Rotfleet delayed the stars apotheosis to build a safe and secret harbor. Even though the Rotfleet wouldn't expect a naval attack, any traditional assault would be bloody and run the risk of being destroyed when the rituals chaining the star were broken, thus a Crimson Hammer strikeforce led by Captain Wallace augmented by Inquistorial forces lead by [[Inquisitor Charlemagne]] planned a stealthy infiltration designed to sneak past the Rotfleet's patrols and disrupt the ritual binding the star. Slipping into the system aboard the Inquisitorial vessel ''Tireless Vigil'', a [[Port Tecklenbor|Tecklenbor]] made Assassin class corvette modified heavily to shield it from sensors, the ''Tireless Vigil'' snaked behind a moon orbiting one of the dead worlds of Sarkaris. Lightly armed, the ship had the bulk of its weapons replaced by launch bays and stealth equipment, relying fully on remaining hidden as any engagement with craft larger than bombers would be suicide.
+The strike force boarded two stealth enhanced Aquila Landers and navigated towards the ship Pygar's intelligence indicated was hosting the foul ritual, skillfully avoiding patrols and augar sweeps. Landing on the tumor engorged hull of the Despoiler class battleship ''Mortuary of Agony,'' the strike team began cutting into the hull, entering the twisted corridors of the traitor vessel near the bridge. Moving fast, the marines and Inquisitorial stormtroopers engaged all they found in the corridors, cutting a violent path through to the bridge. The attack had not gone unnoticed and the fleet sprung to life with activity, beginning a comb of the system for Imperials while the ''Mortuary of Agony'' began materializing daemons to oppose the Imperial force. The attackers began to suffer casualties, and by the time they cut a path to the bridge they had dwindled to Inquisitor Charlemagne, three of his retinue, Captain Wallace and four marines, and a handful of Stormtroopers. Blowing the doors with breaching charges, the strike force entered a swampy bridge inhabited by one of the supreme admirals of the Rotfleet and sorcerers maintaining the ritual. Admiral Olgan "Slugskin" Voldarius, long ago a famed Imperial admiral in Putrilocus who turned traitor along with his fleet, had over centuries grown into the bridge, becoming more moss like than anything resembling a human. The admiral used his many grown limbs to try to stop the interlopers, but while he was an incredibly gifted strategist, centuries of merging into his bridge and enjoying sacrificial prisoners brought to him while he was rooted to the bridge, he stood no chance against the fury of the Crimson Hammer in person. Although he was not killed as he was as much the ship as he was flesh, he was rendered helpless to watch as the strike force turned their focus on the sorcerers. So focused were the sorcerers, they only defending themselves when the strike force directly attacked them, and each time one of five died the star grew more furious at its chaining, closer to going supernova. Only with the final sorcerer's death was the star freed, and it began its long awaited apotheosis.
+Sprinting back to their breach point and cutting through swarms of cultists, Nurglings, and Plague Bearers, the strike force returned to their Aquila landers with barely enough time to escape the expanding star. The Rotfleet who had only moments before come close to discovering the hidden ''Tireless Vigil'' instead began a panicked scramble, without their admiral to coordinate them all order disintegrated, allowing the Aquila landers to return to the corvette and quickly disappear from Sarkaris. Shortly after their departure, Sarkaris finally exploded, purging the system of any who remained and collapsing in on itself to form a black hole. The Rotfleet had been dealt a serious blow, and while the Rotbelchers themselves and their own ships escaped, their cultist and traitor fleet were not so fortunate. Captains of different vessels in the Rotfleet, so terrified of acting without orders from Admiral Slugskin, remained in place fearing the punishment he so oft doled out to those who displeased him, becoming victim to Sarkaris's fury instead. More sensible captains realized the silence meant something had happened and fled to later regroup with other survivors, and though the Rotfleet had lost a sizable number of vessels it still had enough to keep to their original aims of the Poxwar. The Imperials had dealt their most decisive blow of the war thus far, and even the most dour Inquisitor now had hope of ending the invasion.
+It would not be long until the Rotbelchers, incensed by the sneak attack, would get their revenge on the final two worlds standing between them and Absolution. [[Lonehill]] was a hospital world that had proven integral to the defense of Eternum against the new foul plagues brought by the invaders, and their refusal of Nurgle's gifts only further enraged the Rotbelchers. Lonehill was not an immediately apparent target to Imperial intelligence as while it served as an infirmary and worked to counter the plagues infecting the Imperial Guard and Imperial civilians of Eternum, the enhanced physiology and apothecaries of the Crimson Hammer were enough to stop any of the Rotbelcher plagues from propagating amongst the marines, thus Lonehill did not have Hammer forces among its defenders as they were deployed to [[Boros]] and other predicted targets. Protected by Guard regiments and the PDF, Lonehill was not ready for the sickly fury of the Rotbelchers.
+Appearing in orbit, the Rotfleet made short work of the system defense fleet and began invading the world with hordes of cultists and plague vectors, all in preparation for their new weapon. Hordes of infested Hell Talons took off from airfields built by cultists and traitor soldiers of Nurgle, beginning a massive series of bombing runs against Guard fortifications and cities. It wasn't until the first bombs dropped that the defenders realized they were not explosive bombs, instead the Hell Talons dropped large warp touched censers, designed to land and spread a new contagion. This contagion, which would reemerge in the Second Poxwar so much later, rapidly spread from person to person, hidden initially and symptomless until the infection was ready to wreck its terrifying purpose. The infected found their flesh sloughing off, pooling in the ground and slowly melting them into fleshy puddles, though this did not grant death. The contagion left only one recognizable feature, a face with which to scream in pain, as their now amoeba like bodies rolled across the surface seeking new victims. Such a sickness could not exist without the malign power of the warp, but Nurgle's sorcerers ensured Lonehill was impregnated with portals that overflowed with raw energy of the Empyrium.
+Although scattered defensive lines and holdouts remained, the Rotbelchers had already won and were now exacting vengeance on the Imperium for their transgressions against the Rotfleet. After satiating their need for revenge, the Rotfleet departed for Boros, and heeding the call for reinforcements, the Crimson Hammer arrived in orbit to find a world that resembled a hell found in the Eye of Terror versus a once buzzing hospital world. Although the plague sorcerers had since left the world still teemed with warp rifts, some left open and feeding off the collective suffering of the plague's victims, others opened by cultists who were just as quickly turned into playthings for daemons of Nurgle. Lonehill had been lost, and though the Crimson Hammer realized reclamation potentially possible if a company or more was available, the war demanded their attention elsewhere on worlds not already lost. Coupled with the risk of even the plague untouched by raw Empyrium energy spreading, the Crimson Hammer made the difficult decision to declare Exterminatus upon Lonehill. Armed with scores of Inferno Conflagration Torpedoes, the orbiting Hammer fired all their torpedoes until their stocks were depleted and Lonehill burned like a star in the dark void. Surviving loyalist defenders, plague Guard, cultists, and plague victims alike burned in the raging infernos on Lonehill's surface, leaving a burnt husk of a world glassed over.
+== The Fall of Boros and Battle of Absolution ==
+The Crimson Hammer, still relying on intelligence gathered on Pygar, recalled all marines defending worlds in Makerus to the Shield of Absolution to prepare for the expected invasion. Imperial Guard regiments, Battlefleet Eternum groups, Inquisitorial Stormtroopers, Sisters of Battle, Ecclesiarchy priests and pilgrims, and more manned the defenses alongside the Crimson Hammer, all waiting for the pivotal fight. Without their marine protectors, the remaining worlds in Makerus defended by Guard regiments and PDF could only wait for the results of the coming Battle of Absolution. This would not come until one more world was snuffed out by the Rotfleet in retribution for the Sarkaris raid, however, and Boros was chosen both for its large population of miners and other civilians, and for the large logistical depots that were ready to support the Shield of Absolution. Appearing in force, the same fleet that would soon plague the skies of Absolution laid siege to Boros. Not expecting an attack of this magnitude, let alone before any attack on Absolution, Boros was quickly overwhelmed and though the Guard fought hard they were nothing more than an inconvenience to be swatted away by the combined might of the Rotbelchers. In an ironic twist of fate Boros would support the Battle for Absolution, though for the forces of Nurgle instead. Boros was turned into a hellish Plagueworld, the depots and civilians infected and subverted to resupply the Rotfleet.
+With Boros serving as a font of daemonic reinforcement, fuel, ammunition, and raw materials for the Rotfleet, they then set their eyes on what would be the largest battle of the First Poxwar. With the biggest concentration of forces in one system in Eternum since the battles of the Horus Heresy, Absolution contained almost all of the Rotfleet save the smaller tendrils wrecking havoc in Caligulas and [[Kalibras]], almost all of the surviving Crimson Hammer and masses of loyalist ships and troops. The invaders appeared with scores of corrupted Battle Barges, plague infested Battleships and Cruisers of all sizes, the Plague Marines and their forces of the Rotbelchers proper, their daemonic allies, and their horde of corrupt cultists, traitor Guard, and plague victims, all with the singular goal to destroy the personification of Imperial might in Eternum, the Fortress Monastery of the Crimson Hammer. The Crimson Hammer's fleet along with the Imperial Navy represented by Battlefleet Eternum's most seasoned Battlegroups with Battlefleet Confedus, Gothar, Makerus, and Caligulas all led by esteemed [[Lord Admiral Raphael Buchanan]], Inquisitorial blackships, and Ecclesiarchy Pilgrim fleets protected space above Absolution, while the marines of the Hammer, whole armies of Guard regiments from Tetuanis Mechanized Infantry to [[Antikun Zulu]] skirmishers to [[Shogun Guard]] and many others, Sisters of Battle from the Order of the Purple Communion, Inquisitors and their Stormtroopers, the forces of [[Filimars]], and many other loyalists manned the Shield of Absolution's defenses.
+The Imperial fleets waited near the [[Mandeville points]], prepared for the first ships of Chaos to appear and hoping to strike a critical blow against the first wave, were surprised when a fleet of civilian ships arrived. Hesitant to fire as several Ecclesiarchy pilgrim fleets were already part of the forces in orbit, the Imperial ships demanded identification, the new arrival's engines cut, and held their fire. Claiming to be pilgrims from the world [[Meridia]] and having proper Meridian ship registrations, their dialect and manner of speaking felt off to Lord Admiral Buchanan and this feeling was only reinforced by the supposed pilgrim fleet's drifting towards the flagship and the core of the collective Battlefleet. Trusting his intuition Lord Admiral Buchanan ordered the fleet engaged, and as the first macrocannon rounds hurled towards the civilian ships they revealed their true colors and praised Nurgle. The traitor ruse had been discovered, but not before masses of small civilian transport ships and jury-rigged boarding torpedoes flew out of each vessel as they were destroyed, all hurdling towards the nearest Imperial vessel. Imperial fighters raced to engage the craft as Line Ship and Escorts alike lit up with point defense weaponry, but for every one destroyed five more met their target and boarded. Some filled with cultists, some with traitor Guard, and others with nurglings and lesser daemons, independently no match for the seasoned armsmen of the Imperial Navy, collectively they began fighting and sabotaging any systems they could reach. Although not as effective as they planned, the boarding still was the distraction needed and the Rotfleet proper translated en masse to begin the attack proper. As ships in the Battlefleet fought with wave after wave of lance and macrocannon fire, their armsmen fought the original boarders as new strike craft and boarding torpedoes arrived to deliver plague marines and other seasoned traitors. Vessel after vessel exploded, Imperial and Traitor alike, as the Rotfleet pushed further into the system. Their most pestilent ships, reinforced through dark blessings tanked hit after hit, dealing as much damage to the Imperials as they to it, and continued their inexorable advance towards Absolution. The orbital defense platforms and ground mounted guns joined in the brutal Naval battle, but the Rotfleet had reached their goal. As the naval battle raged, the plague ships and masses of transport craft began unloading drop pods and landing craft, turning the sunny skies over Absolution into night through sheer volume. The invasion of Absolution had begun.
+Concentrating their landing forces at the Gennlach fortress complex, the raw masses of Rotbelchers overwhelmed the Guard regiments defending and carved a central landing zone for the tide of the arriving servants of Nurgle. Absolution contained rings of fortress complexes separated by dried lake beds termed Lochs, all clustered around the central Fortress Monastery Absolution's Reflection, with orbital defenses in each along with isolated fortress complexes spread throughout the world. Taking advantage of their inlay at Gennlach, the Rotbelchers began to send their hordes towards the other fortresses surrounding the monastery while sorcerers diverted to begin their foul work in the towns and villages that dotted the world. Quickly overwhelming the auxiliary forces defending what had been classed a tertiary defense priority, the sorcerers turned the civilians cowering in their homes into more charnel ritual components and zombies. Two thirds of the civilians of Absolution would be turned against their stewards this way, either as Poxwalkers to absorb fire from battlements or used to bring forth daemons.
+As the Rotbelchers advanced across Absolution they breached the outer walls of the massive Fortress Monastery and turned the once holy walls into fierce melees, corrupting and destroying as they went. Holy archives and defense controlling cogitators fell as the outer Monastery fell to the Rotbelchers. Fights continued in other Lochs and fortresses, but the core of the Rotbelchers faced the core of the Crimson Hammer in the final wall protecting the Monastery proper. The assault began, and scores of defenders were picked off by plague-sorcery, blight drones and bolter fire, while whole hordes of chaff were slaughtered by defensive emplacements. Bringing their most powerful ground weaponry, the Rotbelchers began trying to break the inner wall. The wall built with the best craftsmanship known by the Crimson Hammer took hit after hit, standing firm each time. Making no progress and suffering brutal losses, the Rotbelchers turned to the sky for help breaking the resolute wall.
+All the while during the brutal ground war, the melee in orbit had continued with both sides striking deadly blows against venerable and unimaginably powerful vessels. Though each side's losses mounted, neither had won a clear advantage and the flagships of both still stood. The Rotfleet, receiving instruction from the ongoing assault force sieging the Monastery, began moving its flagship protected by it's best vessels into the guarded position over the Monastery's heart. Although the defending Battlefleet put up an admirable fight, the Rotfleet survived wave after wave of fire and forced the defenders out of the way, readying to bombard the last obstacle between the Rotbelchers and the heart of the Crimson Hammer.
+The naval defenders had one last trick up their sleeve however, the oft discounted pilgrim fleet made up of converted civilian vessels. The [[Beamonde]] Matyr fleet, as they would come to be known, had turned each of their ships, filled with hordes of fanatical adherents to the Imperial Cult, into fireships packed with as many explosives as they could fit. Priests and followers sat on explosive drums as they prayed and blessed the holy ordnance, and as the Rotfleet charged their ground lances the Martyr fleet hurled towards them. The Rotfleet, already engaged with proper Imperial ships attempting to dislodge them, thought the civilian ships merely pathetic attempts at boarding by fanatics, a mistake which would cost them dearly. The fireships bursts their way into the midst of the Rotfleet charging their weapons and began flying directly into the lances powering up, exploding in massive waves empowered by faith, causing chain reactions that destroyed whole ships and critically wounded the Rotfleet flagship.
+With the opening forged, the Crimson Hammer Battlebarge ''Litany of Sorrow'' broke rank and charged the reeling Rotfleet, sewing more panic in the already shocked fleet. With Battlefleet Eternum in tow, the Battlebarge unleashed savage close range broadsides that inflicted even more damage, obliterating several lineships and forcing the Rotfleet flagship to withdraw to the warp.
+With their fleet in disarray and broken, and the defenders emboldened the ground forces of the Rotbelchers fell back. The remaining Rotfleet that had not withdrawn was destroyed in a series of orbital skirmishes, and with it any chance of the plague army withdrawing en masse. Plague sorcerers opened portals to the Empyrium to bring themselves and the true Rotbelcher astartes to safety, leaving the hordes of traitor Guard and cultists to suffer for their failure. The defenders pushed out of their fortresses, and although it would be many years before the last remaining vestige of the invaders would be cleansed, Absolution had held. The cost had been high for all, the Rotfleet shattered and the Rotbelchers, though isolated holdouts persisted in Eternum, had fallen back to Putrilocus, while the Imperials lost tens of millions and over half of the Crimson Hammer that had survived the initial onslaught of the Poxwar. Absolution itself had suffered greatly, and by the end of the Imperial reclamation over two thirds of the world would be burned to root out the infectious stew left behind.
+The Crimson Hammer was devastated, with only a quarter of its brothers still alive, it held a mourning period for all it lost. This would be decided turning point, to prevent this suffering and loss from ever touching Eternum again, they would change to the Crimson Bulwark, shielding Eternum from the horror of the plague God's forces. The Crimson Bulwark's first action upon their rebirth would be purification of Makerus and the sector at large, starting with the world Boros. With no doubt in their minds, the Bulwark declared exterminatus upon Boros, torching the infected world like so many others that would follow in the Imperium's reconquest of the Poxwar's losses.
+== Eternum Rebuilds ==
+The campaign to reclaim and purify worlds lost to the Poxwar lasted several decades, though the war had for all intents and purposes ended with the Battle for Absolution. Over a hundred billion lay dead, forcing mass repopulation campaigns and resettlement drives by Imperial authorities. The newly invigorated Crimson Bulwark assisted the Imperium reconquer and rebuild the shattered worlds of Eternum, and the frontline settled at the edge of the Bubonic Rift where it would sit firmly until the [[The Second Poxwar|Second Poxwar]] so many years later. Worried of the chance of a miniature Eye of Terror in Segmentum Tempestus, the Lord of Terra would charge the Inquisition with investigating ways to close the Bubonic Rift, leading to the founding of the [[Eternum Conclave Sector Headquarters|Eternum Conclave]] with that as its writ. [[The Aural Gate]] would be built up, reinforced to withstand the next invasion, while the Brass Gate, though reclaimed, would fall into disrepair as forces were moved to more relevant fortresses and worlds. Absolution itself would be rebuilt with the lessons of the First Poxwar in mind, turning it into a nigh unassailable bastion to hold back any future attempts.  The Imperium would be granted a reprieve from the Rotbelchers attacks while both sides licked their wounds and rebuilt, though it would not be long until the Rotbelchers raids springing from the Bubonic Rift and hidden warp routes out of Putrilocus would begin, continuing until the start of the Second Poxwar so many years later.
+[[Category:Conflict]]
+[[Category:War]]
+[[Category:Imperial]]
+[[Category:Chaos]]