Battle of Vior'los
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The Battle of Vior'los was a battle waged between the Imperium and the Tau Empire in M41.[1a]
History
The battle began when the Scar Lords under Chapter Master Caelos, seeking revenge against Commander Farsight for past humiliations, struck at the Tau Sept of Vior'los. The Tau were caught by surprise, and the Scar Lords Battle Barge Scabbard of Flesh was able to emerge from the Warp and devastate their orbiting fleet with Boarding Torpedo actions. Farsight rallied his forces alongside Commander Bravestorm and Ob'lotai, fighting against the Space Marines aboard the vessel Dawn Pioneer.[1a] Farsight, guided by intelligence from the Water Caste emissary Por'vre Malcaor, piloted a Coldstar Battlesuit into the barrel of a Macrocannon on the Scabbard of Flesh. Infiltrating the ship, he was able to disable its Gellar Field generator.[1b] As the Scabbard of Flesh slammed into the Dawn Pioneer the Air Caste under Admiral Liu Mau Teng was able to recover Farsight, now stranded in the void of space.[1c]
In a war council aboard the vessel Manifest Destiny, Farsight learned that the Tau have fled the System, handing Vior'los to the Imperials. Farsight also learned that the Dawn Pioneer had been deliberately scuttled by the Ethereals to try and damage the Scar Lords Battle Barge and that no further reinforcements would be offered to Vior'los, dooming its billions of Tau to Imperial occupation. Farsight's faith in the Ethereals was severely shaken as a result.[1d]
Vior'los suffered greatly under the Imperial occupation, with the Tau population enslaved and forced to work in factories under brutal conditions. Tau civilians are even thrown into magma lakes to provide them with more energy.[1e] With only minimal forces available to him, Farsight and his inner circle journey back to Vior'los to wage a guerrilla campaign. Working with Por Malcaor, Farsight was able to broadcast a call to arms across Vior'los that caused a widespread rebellion including not just Tau but also Human slaves. As chaos erupts across Vior'los, Farsight, Brightsword, and Bravestorm struck at the Imperial energy farms. Caelos was tipped off to the Tau plan, and Farsight engages him in brutal combat at the energy farms as the Earth Caste under O'Vesa and Worldshaper set off a volcanic chain reaction by saboting the magma power generators. During the ensuing catastrophic eruption Caelos was swept away in lava and much of Vior'los' surface was devastated. However the Imperial forces were wiped out, giving Farsight a pyrrhic victory on Vior'los.[1f]
Shortly before his death, Caelos ordered Exterminatus on Vior'los to deny the world to the T'au. Having anticipated the response, Farsight sent Ob'lotai on a mission to board the Scar Lords' ship through a macrocannon barrel. Ob'lotai used his fusion blaster to detonate the virus bomb prematurely, destroying the ship and eradicating the surviving Scar Lords.[1f]
After the battle, it was revealed that Por'vre Malcaor, who had been subtlety manipulating the series of events, was actually the Changeling in disguise. Farsight was able to banish him back to the Warp with a hexagrammic ward.[1f]
