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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
→Overview
As the war raged on, new troops appeared amongst the hordes of daemons attacking the Imperial forces. The powers of [[Chaos]] sent foully corrupted [[Chaos Space Marines]], [[Traitor Titan Legions|Titans]] and other war machines into the webway to try and force a victory. Mighty [[Greater Daemon]]s including [[Bloodthirster]]s joined the battle as well. The sanctity of the Imperial Palace, the fate of the Imperium and the very life of the Emperor depended on the Custodian Guard and the Sisters of Silence. If they couldn't defeat the daemonic horde and its corrupted allies then Humanity was surely doomed.{{Fn|1}}
The war within the Webway was waged for the next five years. Imperial forces were centered around the abandoned [[Eldar]] city of [[Calastar]], known as the Impossible City, defending the Webway tunnels constructed by the Mechanicum and held together by the Emperor upon the Golden Throne. The Custodes were reduced by 90% and the Sisters suffered greatly as well. Two of the three commanding Custodes Tribunes were killed, leaving [[Ra Endymion]] as the primary Imperial officer. The Impossible City itself soon came under threat as a formidable new foe, [[Drach'nyen]], appeared among the Daemonic hordes. Faced with this, the Custodes [[DiocletianCoros]] was charged with securing reinforcements from Terra. Due to the secrecy of the project, the scarce resources available because of the ongoing Heresy, the maddening effect of Chaos, and the questionable loyalty of the [[Legiones Astartes]] only the doomed prisoners of [[House Vyridion]], the crippled [[Blood Angel]] [[Dominion Zephon]], and Mechanicum [[Servitor]]s and [[Skitarii]] were provided. A Mechanicum [[Dominus]] known as [[Hieronyma#The Archimandrite|The Archimandrite]] was charged with leading them in the final defense of Calastar. Meanwhile, the Emperor charged the Sisters of Silence with the '''Unspoken Sanction''', and the [[League of Black Ships|Black Ships]] worked at a hurried pace to gather [[Psyker]]s across the galaxy.{{Fn|3}}
In the siege of Calastar, the Custodes-led forces held back countless Chaotic hordes but the walls of the city were shattered by [[Warhound Titan]]s of the [[Legio Audax]]. Brutal fighting for Calastar raged for weeks on end, the Custodes and Sisters not having a moments rest. As Daemonic, Traitor Legionnaire, and Chaos Titan hordes swarmed into Calastar, The Archimandrite ordered a general retreat of her forces. They intended to abandon to the Custodes and Sisters and instead secure the Webway route to [[Mars]] and reclaim their sacred homeland. This desperate treachery did not save The Archimandrite who was possessed by Drach'nyen, her gigantic mechanical form being used to attack the retreating Imperials. Calastar fell and the Chaos forces drove the Imperials all the way back to the Webway Gate leading to Terra itself.
