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|Date =???.[[M42]]
|Location =[[Stygius Sector]]
|Outcome =Overall Chaos victory<br>Imperium victorious on [[Mordian]]{{Fn|2}}
|Combatant1 =[[Imperium]]<br>[[Eldar]]
|Combatant2 =[[Forces of Chaos]]
|Commanders1 =Unknown[[Kardan Stronos]]{{Fn|2}}<br>[[Caanok Var]]{{Fn|2}}|Commanders2 =[[Daemon Primarch]] [[Magnus]], [[Lord of Change]] [[M'Kachen]], Lord of Change [[Kairos Fateweaver]]<br>[[Khardoff]]<br>[[Shim'dre'lex'kazar]]<br>[[Amarhotep]]<br>[[Ahrak Deathshriek]]{{Fn|2}}
|Strength1 =See Order of Battle
|Strength2 =See Order of Battle
However, just as the Crusade began to fall to Tzeentch's might, a large strike force from the [[Craftworld]] [[Ulthwe]] arrived in the Sector without warning and began to push back the Chaos God's forces. The [[Eldar]] did not arrive to aid the Crusade against the forces of [[Chaos]] though. Instead, the Craftworld's [[Seer Council]] contacted the Crusade's commanders and told them they could not save the Stygius Sector and staying there would not aid the Imperium. Indeed, the Seer Council claimed the visions they had received, showed only the Crusade's destruction if they stayed and warned that Magnus knew this as well. Despite the mistrust the Imperium had for the Eldar, the Crusade's commanders agreed to retreat and evacuated what forces they could, as Ulthwe's strike force acted as a rearguard against Tzeentch's hordes. Eventually though, the Crusade and Eldar were both forced to retreat and the Stygius Sector became the first of the domains, Tzeentch planned on claiming for itself.{{Fn|1}}
===Second Relief of Mordian===
As Imperial forces withdrew from the Stygius Sector the [[Iron Hands]] refused to retreat and instead gathered on [[Mordian]], itself under siege from Chaos forces. Alongside a mere dozen or so [[Regiment]]s of the [[Mordian Iron Guard]], the Iron Hands sought to reforge themselves and purge their weakness displayed earlier in the campaign. During the Siege the Iron Hands were joined by allies enraged by the defeatism of the Imperial forces, among them the [[Brazen Claws]], [[Fire Lords]], [[Silver Skulls]], [[Sons of Medusa]], and [[Iron Lords]] in what became known as the Iron Crusade. They arrived on Mordian to find the planet terrorized by a [[Night Lords]] warband under [[Ahrak Deathshriek]] and his [[Chaos Raptor|Raptor]] hordes. Deathshriek planned to use the terror to power a ritual that would plunge the entire world into the Warp.{{Fn|2}}
The Iron Hands and their allies struck with customary bluntness, emerging without warning from the Warp and engaging the traitor fleet in orbit and launching a [[Drop Pod]] assault on Mordian's capital. [[Clan Avernii]] under [[Iron Captain]] [[Caanok Var]] led the charge and Deathshriek drove his [[Cultist]]s into their guns. One by one, the remaining Iron Hands Clan Companies joined the battle and Deathshriek was wounded in single battle by Iron Captain Var. Even as the Iron Warriors drop zone came under fresh assault from [[Benedictian Guard]] and the [[Cult of the Whispered Word]], renegade Warlords from across the sector united in their realization that the Iron Hands could be wholly destroyed. With their assault faltering Deathshriek claimed victory as he led his fleet against the Iron Hands in space, outnumbering their ships three to one. It was at this point that the Iron Hands [[Successor Chapter]]s arrived. Deathshriek's armada was caught in disarray and crushed. The loyalist ships rained obliteration below To
the Mordian populace, the bombardment must have seemed
indiscriminate, but nothing could have been further from
the truth. The doctrine of Hammer and the Storm had been
pursued planetside as well as in the trackless void, the Iron
Hands’ assault calculated to stir the renegades and traitors into
reckless deeds. What had seemed a faltering advance had merely
paused while Techmarines labored to erect void shields and
reinforce the capitol’s surviving bunkers. Thus the Iron Hands
and those portions of the populace they deemed worthy of
survival endured the firestorm. Their foes, caught in the open
and drunk on the prospect of imminent victory, were not so
fortunate. In a little over one standard hour’s bombardment, the
Chaos hold on Mordian was broken for the second time. Eventually other Imperial reinforcements arrived from [[Cypra Mundi]] and the Iron Crusade was able to not only push Chaos forces off Mordian, but to counterattack into nearby worlds.{{Fn|2}}
Initial projections of a recoverable situation were methodically reassessed, and the Iron Council concluded that the inconstant xenos of [[Ulthwé]] had crafted a self-fulfilling
prophecy to the detriment of Mankind. [[Kardan Stronos]] in particular came to believe that had the Imperial forces held their ground, four of the six systems could have been held for acceptable cost. This, he now revised to two. The warp corridor between Mordian and Cypra Mundi had proven resistant to the grasp of the [[Noctis Aeterna]] offering a ready supply of materiel from the forge world, but this alone would not be enough. The bounteous worlds of the neighboring [[Khravos System]] would have to have to be secured – a campaign whose outcomes fell well within acceptable parameters. Thus ignoring Eldar prophecies insisting doom, the Iron Council unleashed a second phase of the campaign, with a plan to scour the surviving worlds of the Mordian System and wresting the refineries and shipyards of Kharvos from Chaos. As of now, the battle continues.{{Fn|2}}
==Order of Battle==
==Source==
*{{Endn|1}}: [[Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition Rulebook]], pgs. 164–165 — War Zone: Stygius
*{{Endn|2}}: [[Codex Supplement: Iron Hands (8th Edition)]] pg.32-33
[[Category:Battles (Chaos)]]
[[Category:Battles (Imperium)]]
