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|Image =Crusade of Fire.PNG

|Commanders1 =[[File:Astra Militarum Symbol.png|20px]] [[Lord Militant]] [[Arian Vois]]<br>[[File:Spacewolvesymbol.png|20px]] [[Jarl]] [[Sigvald Deathgranter]]<br>[[File:IFsymbol.png|20px]] [[Captain]] [[Darnath Lysander]]<br>[[File:Flesh Tearers Livery.jpg|20px]] [[Chapter Master]] [[Gabriel Seth]]<br>[[File:Howling Griffons Symbol.png|20px]] [[Captain]] [[Xerxes]]

The '''Crusade of Fire''', originally known as the '''Crusade of Light''', was a major [[Imperial]] [[Crusade]] launched in [[M41]] to reclaim the worlds of the [[Corvus Sub-sector]].{{Fn|11x}} A large-scale operation, the Crusade of Fire was the largest Imperial Crusade since the [[Macharian Crusade]] of the early 41st Millennium.{{Fn|1a}}

After nearly a thousand years, the [[Warp Storm]]s that had isolated the Corvus Sub-Sector finally subsided. A Crusade to reestablish Imperial rule was immediately launched under [[Lord Militant]] [[Arian Vois]] and accompanied by no less than a dozen [[Space Marine]] Companies and a hundred [[Imperial Guard]] [[Regiment]]s. However, as the first ships emerged from the [[Warp]], Lord Vois' worst fears were confirmed as much of the Sub-Sector lay in chaos and madness. Worse still, much of it was overrun by [[Chaos Space Marine]]s under the [[Daemon Prince]] of [[Nurgle]] [[Anathrax the Foetid]] who had already sacrificed entire planetary populations in a dark ritual that would cast the sub-sector back into the Warp.{{Fn|11x}} They had also discovered that a [[Dark Eldar]] raiding party known as the [[Prophets of War]] under [[Archon]] [[Viscount Rex]] was active in the sector, looking to acquire massive amounts of fresh slaves in the chaos.{{Fn|1a}}

Launched amid great fanfare and a 14 day opening parade, the Crusade of Light set out to reclaim the Corvus Sub-sector. The basic plan was to land [[Administratum]] survey teams on every world who would make contact with the native populations and re-evaluate their ability to be integrated into the Imperium. Upon contact with hostile forces, Space Marine and Imperial Guard forces would forcibly take control of the planet. But no sooner did the Crusade fleet emerge from the Warp than the error of its intended plan was made clear. The Crusade of Light was too late: the [[Servants of Ruin]] stood ready for them with a fleet of [[Battleship]]s. Thus it was that the Crusade of Light had become the Crusade of Fire.{{Fn|11x}} The Lord Militant ordered the immediate deployment of the Space Marine forces accompanying the Crusade en masse, and dozens of [[Thunderhawk]]s carrying the Space Marines landed on key worlds even as other Astartes forces assaulted the Chaos fleet with [[Boarding Torpedo]]es.{{Fn|1a}}

Fighting continued in the manufactorum hives of Junkatta, where [[Space Marine Captain|Captain]] [[Darnath Lysander]] led the [[1st Company (Imperial Fists)|Imperial Fists 1st Company]] in a desperate bid to cleanse the city of a force of [[Gladiator Group 138]] [[World Eaters]] under the [[Chaos Lord]] and former [[Chapter Master]] [[Bane (Chaos Lord)|Bane]]. Deploying a wall of [[Storm Shield]]s that not even the World Eaters [[Terminator]]s could breach, Lysander's Veterans held form and completed the fortification of their city.{{Fn|1c1d}}

[[Image:Sovven.PNG|thumb|right|250px|[[Howling Griffons]] fight [[Red Corsairs]] at [[Sovven]]{{Fn|1d}}]]On the irradiated world of [[Sovven]], having escaped from the pits of Commorragh, Sivgald Deathgranter led the Space Wolves into battle once more against the Alpha Legion, who had claimed many shelters on the surface. The Legion struck on many fronts, wrecking the Space Wolves' tanks while the Wolves [[Grey Hunter]]s were busy gunning down their [[Cultist]] allies. After a fierce day's battle, as darkness fell, the Alpha Legion were forced from a key bunker.{{Fn|1c1d}}

Even as the Alpha Legion were forced to abandon their Cultists to take the battle to the newly arrived Flesh Tearers for an ancient relic, the Alpha Legion would not relent. Their warlord, going by the common Alpha Legion alias of [[Alpharius]], drove wave after wave of Chaos Marines into the poisonous sludge that hid the relic, nearly a dozen succumbing to its toxicity. The Alpha Legion [[Hellbrute]] was destroyed by a lucky shot from [[Epistolary]] [[Vekt]]'s [[Plasma Pistol]], but a nearby Forgefiend survived repeated Astartes attacks to obliterate much of the Flesh Tearers forces. In the end, Alpharius was slain in a challenge with Vekt, but his warriors took advantage of the chaos to escape with the relic.{{Fn|1d1e}}

On the labyrinth-like world of [[Illias]], the World Eaters warband [[Gladiator Group 138]] were able to gain the upper hand against the [[Howling Griffons]]. However, the tide turned when a combined assault by Captain [[Xerxes]] and [[Chaplain]] [[Strabo]] caught the World Eaters' line in a pincer. The final straw to the World Eaters defeat came when [[Khorne]] "gifted" the World Eaters' Chaos Lord with the dubious reward of [[Chaos Spawn|Spawndom]]. Their leader reduced to a dribbling beast, the World Eaters withdrew to the ruins.{{Fn|1c1d}}

Later, the Flesh Tearers arrived on Illias and jumped into the fray in a fierce counterattack. Their [[Tactical Marine]]s digging themselves up as their [[Assault Marine]]s and [[Sanguinary Guard]] tore into the World Eaters' [[Berzerker]]s, the World Eaters Terminators launched a fierce counterattack which nearly turned the tide. However, the day was won by the Flesh Tearers Chapter Master [[Gabriel Seth]], who leapt from his [[Stormraven]] and carved apart Bane, the World Eaters warlord.{{Fn|1d1e}}

On the [[Daemon World]] of [[Unctious]], the [[Word Bearers]] and their Cultist slaves gave themselves willingly to [[Daemon]]s, creating hordes of savage [[Possessed Marine]]s and Cultists that hurled themselves at the newly arrived Space Wolves alongside [[Rhino]]s and [[Maulerfiend]]s. Even as the mighty Deathgranter slew a squad of the Traitor Marines, [[Canis Wolfborn]] was pulled from his [[Thunderwolf]] by a swarm of possessed Cultists. However, Wolfborn survived, his claws carving a path through the traitor masses.{{Fn|1d1e}}

The largest and most decisive battle of the Crusade soon developed on Unctious, as both loyalist [[Titan]]s of the [[Collegia Titanica]] and Chaos Titans of the [[Traitor Titan Legions]] arrived to do battle.{{Fn|1e1f}}

*'''Collegia Titanica'''{{Fn|1e1f}}

*{{Endn|1}}: [[Crusade of Fire (Campaign Book)]] {{Cite this}}

**{{Endn|1c}}: pg. 46**{{Endn|1d}}: pg. 50**{{Endn|1d1e}}: pg. 60**{{Endn|1e1f}}: pg. 67**{{Endn|1x}}: {{CME}}