Raltac
| Raltac | |
|---|---|
 Civilised World | |
|
Segmentum: |
Ultima Segmentum |
|
Sector: |
|
|
Subsector: |
[[]] |
|
System: |
|
|
Class: |
Civilised World |
|
Type: |
Minor |
 ' | |
Contents
Geography
Physics
Type Standard iron/silicate
Mass 4.83 x 1024 kg
Density 6.08 g/cm3
Composition 27.1% oxygen, 26.8% iron, 19.6% magnesium, 8.7% silicon, 17.8% other metals, trace other elements
Gravimetry
Gravity 9.72 m/s2
Escape Velocity 10.57 km/s
Rotation Period 20.19 hours
Axis Tilt 20.60 °
Atmosphere
Type Thin Breathable
Pressure 79.81 kPa
Composition 76.6% Carbon dioxide, 23.4% oxygen, trace other gases
Population
Prewar: 981 million
Current: 591 Million
History
Raltac
Chapter 1 - First Contact
Raltac is a huge gas giant, surrounded by many moons. Some as large as small planets. 5 of these large moons a quite special, as they all have a strong enough gravity to sustain bases there, and while one moon has suffered from loss of its magnetic field and thereby atmosphere over time, the other 4 moons are thriving with a strong magnetic field and breathable atmosphere. Raltac Prime The first moon of Raltac Prime was found and made the habitat of a large population during the great crusade. A Solar Auxilia outpost was founded, along with a factory, overseen by the local Archmagos. The north of the moon was rich in raw materials, and with very hospitable climate. The south on the other hand was a scorching hot desert, with many dangers, one of which was the gigantic sandworms of an area called “The Great Desert”. Why or how they got there, is a mystery that was only solved too late. After the colonization, the moon was almost forgotten by the empire, but prospered under the supervision of Archmagos Ultor Altec, also know as “The burner of the skies” for his vast airforce and spaceforce, often sent to the other Raltac moons in missions to keep the servitors and local militias from revolts, due to their not so pleasant living conditions. The reason for the wealth of Raltac Prime was to be found in the secret activities of Ultor Altec. He was supplying ships to smugglers and even set up pirate fleets to seek through the universe for relics and easy targets to plunder. This activity mean that a spaceport, big enough to support landing capital ships was established northwest of the capital Raltac City.
No one had expected war to come to this almost forgotten moon, and not in the way it arrived. In an archeological dig site, Ultors men had found a relic, which according to scans, emitted a huge amount of energy. This relic had just been hauled to the spaceport for transport to another moon for testing and scanning, when a missile was seen entering the atmosphere from space. Satellite scans revealed not one, but two fleets that had arrived from the warp and penetrated part of the offline orbital defense system. The satellite system had been offline as it required vast resources to keep online, as it not only protected Raltac Prime, but the entire gas planet. The system was made to fend off a major fleet and no treat has been expected.
When the missile hit, the spaceport was the target. While illegal throughout the universe, the spaceport and surrounding area was lit up in a gigantic nuclear explosion, with civilian losses exceeding 100 million people. Knowing this was not a small-scale attack, Ultor activated the orbital defenses of the planet, a huge minefield sprayed from satellites. This move effectively forced the two fleets in orbit to stay in synchronized orbit on each side of the moon, as any attempt to move out of orbit, would result in collisions with the minefield. The fleets were therefore stuck in orbit on each side of Raltac Prime. This was the last decision taken from the military base Zaxary Prime Outpost for a long time. A huge cloud of radioactivity was moving east, heading directly towards the base and the capitol. The local Solar Auxilia now had a huge task at hand, evacuating themselves and the population of Raltac City to a stronghold in the north-east.
From space the explosion had been very visible, and the loyalist general Forge Lord Ultor Aes looked with sadness from the bridge at thesmall Iron Hands frigate, which had now set course towards the minefield. No one could ever know he had ordered a nuclear attack on a seemingly loyal population. That blame had to be put on the traitor fleet, that had arrived on the other side of the planet. The fleet he could no longer get to, because of the surprising number of orbital defenses in orbit around Raltac Prime. Almost like the moon wanted to be able to seal themselves off from the rest of the imperium. The task would be more difficult now, the moon must for the sake of the emperor be taken. “Send the dropships” he ordered. Moments later a fleet of smaller transport vessels lit up, as they entered the atmosphere.
Scans indicated they were not alone; numerous vessels were according to scans entering the atmosphere from the other side of the moon. The battles to come would be intense and where would the loyalty of the local armies really lay? Upon arriving, several navigators had turned insane by looking at the moon with their third eye. What madness would be upon people living there?
Chapter 2 – Shadows of the Warp
It had now been months since the initial assault, which had ended in a stalemate between the 3 factions. Whenever a faction seemed to get the upper hand, the other factions would simply turn their attention on them and the balance of forces would be back. However, this day would be different. All psykers knew it immediately. A huge psychic burst had come from a small desert city at the outskirts of The Great Dunes. A small Ultra Marines force was dispatched to check out what had happened.
Upon arriving, a sight few had seen before was encountered. The small city was burning. The civilians there had died in horror and many of them seemed to have almost melted into the ground or walls they had died at. “I have come to guide your fate”. The loud hollow voice pierced the helmets of the Ultra Marines, as if the voice came from within. They turned towards the source of the voice, and to their horror, they saw a woman pierced by knifes, hovering in the air. “I am the Oracle, I have seen many possible endings for this war, and the time has come for you to choose your fate”. Being Ultra Marines, the sight of an unnatural being like this, was not cause of celebration. However, with the destruction around them, this creature might not be a good idea to piss off. “I have come to warn you about the coming choices of the war” the Oracle said. “You might want to consider what you are fighting for. Your own general has millions of innocent lives on his consciousness. He nuked the spaceport, he awakened what has long been sleeping in the darkness on this moon”.
The Ultra Marines had little faith in the oracle, but their leader was convinced. In his mind, she had shown him what had really happened a few months ago, when they arrived at the moon.
The Ultra Marines did not tell Ultor Aes about the oracle, just that they had found a clue they needed to follow up on. Really they followed the oracle, she had something to show them nearby. “We think it’s a portal of some kind”. The message was not good news for Ultor Aes feared the portal was of the maleficent kind. He had already found it suspicious that Ultra Marines had not given him much of an explanation on what they had found.
The Ultra Marine army entered the portal and found themselves arriving in a weird and alien place. It was inside a huge cave. The entire cave was in constant change. Walls, floors and even the roof. The Oracle made her way to a shrine, brimming with white light. In the enormous room was also other shrines. One was like the cave constantly changing shape and colour. Psychic power seemed to be shining from it. Another seemed like a pile of rotting corpses, with slime all over it. Several of these seemingly religious shrines were around. At the shrine, the oracle showed the Ultra Marines how the war had started, and how their Iron Hands general had murdered millions of civilians. Doubt started to grow in their minds.
With a whoosh the portal went up again. The Ultra Marines had barely gotten into defensive positions, when warriors in shiny red armour started pouring in through the portal. They were easy to recognize. The psychic warriors of the Thousand Sons. The fighting was intense, but the Ultra Marines were clearly outnumbered. Making up for this was however was a surprise. The oracle seemed to be way stronger than many of the Thousand Sons warriors, seemingly incinerating them and turning them to ash with a mere look at them. This was however warded off by a group of Sekhmeths lead by a character in a finely crafted artificer armour, and brimming with psychic energy. This leader of the Thousand Sons made his way towards the rotting shrine. When there, the Sekhmeths encircled him in a defensive position and he started chanting.
The oracle started screaming. First that they needed to get out, later it was hard to hear. They were however pinned down. The oracle started turning green and rotting. She seemed to no longer even notice the Ultra Marines. Instead she looked at the portal, which again seemed to start up. This time Ulator Aes entered the portal, but just as he did, the oracle pointed at the Ultra Marines leader and started chanting in an eerie and evil tongue, nothing like she had spoken before. The Ultra Marines leader fell to his knees and started mutating. Huge lumps of flesh made their way through his armour and kept growing. In the end, the armour simply cracked right open and a horror was left. The Ultra Marines leader had been turned into a great unclean one in front of all his warriors. The Ultra Marines started fleeing in horror towards the portal, which had now been taken over by the Iron Hands.
When coming back out of the portal, the Ultra Marines found themselves deep in separatist territory, not where they had come from. They were soon surrounded by several separatist warbands and surrendered. With their loyalty to the Iron Hands general shaken by what they had uncovered, and most likely his trust in them broken from what he had seen, they started diplomatic relations with the separatists, who were fighting the battle the loyalists were supposed to be fighting. Later on Separatist intel revealed that Ulator Aes had send in the full force of the loyalists and killed the daemons and the oracle inside the warp behind the portal. Going back out the armies had been spread to portals all over Raltac, and the loyalists had been forced to retreat to their base by the separatist and traitor forces.
Chapter 3 – Rise of the Union of Freedom
This winter had been one of the coldest for decades on Raltac. Most fighting had stopped as the winter coincided with Raltac Prime being behind the gas giant of Raltac. The combination of winter and no sunlight for half that winter, had cooled the planet to a temperature, that made even the local space wolves freeze. Fortunately, this was not an uncommon event, so armies and civilians had sought out shelter in huge underground bunkers. Here a new alliance had formed. The separatists had taken in the Ultra Marines who were now fighting for the people of the planet and not the general who would nuke a world and try to hide it. Having a fierce space marine contingent in the army now, the Archmagos Ultor Altec had stepped down as commander and left the Ultra Marines to lead the army. He had left another Archmagos, Xan-krast Morganstern in charge of the mechanicum forces and had left for a place, know as “The Old Factory”. This place was a long-forgotten factory, formerly used to build heavy mining equipment for the nearby moons. Ultor Altec had been planning something with the civilian leader of Raltac, Lucracia Orodas. Lucracia had been a firm leader, but also a leader for the people. She had approached Ultor Altec with a plan.
With the loyalists, the short appearance of portals and the Ultra Marine general turning into a great unclean one, had caught the eye of the Imperium. The loyalist forces had because of this gotten the most unpleasant visit from High Chaplain Belador Caldir, formerly a Dark Angels captain. Accompanying him was his two female companions, Iltaria Corzinus and Belladonna Jilota, to most known as the angels of life and death. Together these formed a secret and deadly team of daemon hunters. Their authority was given all the way from Terra, even though no one really knew from where. It was all buried in layers of bureaucracy. The reason for the visit is known by few, except for the many psykers of the from all sides, who got to feel the presence of the oracle before she died. Something was wrong with the moon. Very wrong. With this new arrival, the loyalists wondered what the Imperium would do if they realized the big secret of the planet. The core of moon is made not from spinning molten iron, but from pure warpstone.
The same secret had kept the traitors discreetly looking for a way to unleash this hidden power of Chaos. The cold winter of Raltac Prime, had isolated them long enough to find a portal, sealed deep in the desert of “The Great Dunes”. They suspect a mere breach of the wall, would be enough to open a portal to the warp, capable of summoning unthinkable horrors.
Meanwhile the Seperatists had started their own solution to the problems on the moon. To finally win their moon back from both the loyalists and the traitors, they had started building an Ordinatus-Minoris Macro Engine at The Old Factory. Ultor Altec had in secret turned the abandoned factory into a pristine factory of war. Never had the factory been more modern and capable of production. All they needed was time and being able to keep it a secret till the machine was done. After this, the plan with Lucracia Orodas was to move the finished machine to Zaxary Prime Outpost, which had been the home of Ultor Altec and the local Solar Auxilia force, which had been there when the moon was originally attacked. The long and cold winter had soaked up most of the radiation in the area, and the base was now ready to be retaken.
Suggested Gaming
Raltac is always run as a narrative real time event. Rules can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pm26b9ke8alg46g/Raltac%20-%20Campaign%20Rules.pdf?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR3GZJEO0vVFf44R_Zs5MThBrzY6HMWHvko-Kcnnwzq20iEiTXfsWHBvy3o
Campaign Reports
Imperial Search....No Result
Battle Reports
Imperial Search....No Result
Skirmish Reports
- Imperial Search....No Result
