Battlefleet Eternum

Overview

The Eternum sector, possessing a massive shipyard and forge worlds, historically maintained only a minor interdiction fleet within Eternum to combat pirates and other minor threats, with the bulk of her Battlefleet supporting Battlefleet Bakka in more contentious sectors. The increasing raids that preceded the birth of the Bubonic Rift, itself accompanied by a massive rise in attacks and invasions in the sector led to Battlefleet Eternum forming into a more formidable force, with ships and crew that could rival sectors with a longer history of combat. The fleet adopted colors to represent their new found role of anti-incursion duties, and sports grey black metal hulls with darker red prows with bright gold emblems. Officially, the red represents the blood of martyrs who gave their lives fighting the spew of the rift, but common belief and rumors state it's to mirror the Inquisitorial elements that so often requisition their ships. The heretic astartes and forces of nurgle that invade from the rift are particularly fond of boarding, and thus the fleet maintains a significant complement of armsmen. While counter boarding the most corrupted of the heretics fleet is a futile action, the smaller, less corrupted, vessels used by cultists, space hulks, and retaking captured ships all demand dangerous boarding actions, and thus each ship will maintain elite breaching teams. The Battlefleet is serviced by the massive Port Tecklenbor, a gigantic collection of connected drydocks, servicing berths, and construction docks that is capable of building and servicing a multitude of craft at any given time, including multiple battleships. Originally the larger of twin ports build during the great crusade, the smaller twin was lost to chaos in the Poxlocus subsector. Uralplagush has proven immensely beneficial for the plague gods minions, and is able to churn out large numbers of cruisers and battlecruisers, while having the facilities to repair the occasional battleship. The renegades of Poxlocus make use of the dark mechanicus run port most often as the Rotbelchers organic hulls can repair any damage given enough time, but occasionally they need a new or replacement strike cruiser or other vessel which the port is obliged to produce. Still, in a pure production battle port Tecklenbor would win by a significant margin, but its obligations to the Indomitus crusade and Battlefleet Tempestus prevent it from throwing it's full weight behind Battlefleet Eternum. Complicating matters, the collapse of the Phobox Anomaly and the revealed Heralds of Supremacy led to several Battlegroups declaring their formerly hidden allegiance to the ruinous powers, joining the Heralds in their space (and participating in assisting invasion of the worlds they used to watch over). The Rotbelchers and their plaguefollowers have not had the same large success, with only a few, independent vessels joining them over the millenia. This is likely due to the lack of need, as they have their own shipyard that constantly churns out corrupted vessels, there's no real need to engage in convoluted plots to steal Battlegroups from Eternum. On the larger scale, Battlefleet Eternum battlegroups do serve in the larger Battlefleet Bakka, but the fleets not permanently assigned to Battlefleet Bakka generally only serve a rotation before returning. As a result of the ship types ordered by Battlefleet Bakka (that favor big guns over strike craft as a result of the Heretical Despoiler class battleship incident), Port Tecklenbor primarily produces ships that focus on macrocannon and lance batteries, which is reflected in Battlefleet Eternum's makeup. Battlefleet Eternum is almost entirely armed with macrocannon batteries, along with lances and torpedoes, with very few carrier type ships. The carriers that do exist are incredibly old even by the venerable status of many of Eternum's ships, and find themselves dealing with more isolated raids and pirates versus being party to big fleet actions.

Each subsector possesses its own Battlefleet (Battlefleet Confedus, Battlefleet Richmon, Battlefleet Makerus, Battlefleet Gothar, and Battlefleet Caligulas), though they are all part of Battlefleet Eternum, which is in turn part of Battlefleet Bakka.

Battlefleet Eternum is led by Lord Admiral Gunther Dönitz, who has led the Battlefleet for the last 200 years from Battlefleet Eternum's flagship, the retribution class Saviour of Caligulas. Under Lord Admiral Dönitz are each subsector's Admirals who lead their respective fleet, with the only exception being Battlefleet Gothar. Battlefleet Gothar is the flag fleet of Eternum and is thus led directly by the Lord Admiral, with Gothar's Admiral Karl Prien serving as his executive officer from the Emperor class battleship Bearer of Divinity. All Battlefleets possess at least one Battleship which serves as the subsector Admiral's flagship (except Battlefleet Arkamedes which was devastated and whose strongest ships are Battlecruisers and Battlefleet Richmon whose flagship is an Avenger class Grand Cruiser due to the preference of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky though Battlefleet Richmon does possess an Oberon class Battleship as well). Battlefleet Eternum as a whole does focus on macrocannon, lance, and torpedo salvos in lieu of strike craft, though each subsector fleet and its constituent battlegroups may vary slightly based off the preference of the Admiral. Battlefleet Kalibras is the most deviated battlefleet in Eternum, with strike craft prioritized over traditional armament.

The following are the primary Battlefleets in Eternum with their flagship, the Admiral, and preferred tactics or fleet composition. They are ranked in order of fleet number in Battlefleet Eternum proper (with Gothar being the equivalent of 1st fleet, Arkamedes being 7th fleet). Although they are not part of Battlefleet Eternum officially, the other primary fleets that operate in Eternum are also listed (in order of rough strength relative to each other if all vessels were deployed together, though this would be incredibly unlikely in reality). All Battlefleet Eternum vessels have grey-black hulls with red prows, with subsector Battlefleets varying in trim color for identification.