The campaign for Virtruvian gate: History

The history of sipho

In the dark age of technology, Sipho, 5^th planet of the Andrasta system, in the galactic North was known to be the site of unusually peaceful warp space, leading to its development as a stopping point for rougue traders and trading guilds. Contact was lost until Sipho was re-Colonized during the great crusade when it was added to the protectorate of the 1^st legion. At the time the Dark Angels left a small force operating out of the polar ice cap.

Preliminary investigations by the librarius  discovered that the source of warp pacification was a powerful device that functioned as a psychic dampener, harmonizing warp fluctuations. The device was discovered in a ruined temple, called the Sanctum Prohibitum, built of unknown origin and has come to be known as the Virtruvian gate. Its location was stricken from imperial record after decree of  by dark angels Company master Raziel the site was declared Angelis Protectorus in M38.

sipho during the heresy

 Sipho knew many years of peace until the horus heresy when a surprise attack by the Thousand Sons, led by Clovis the burned, brought the planet to its knees. The forces of Clovis overran the small contingent of Dark Angels and Adeptus Soriritus guarding the planet. Clovis had been directed by Horus to draw the legions away from terra in the time leading to Horus’s attack on Terra. A campaign of orbital bombardment destroyed large swathes of territory. During the shelling a massive rift was sown in the bedrock where several unexploded munitions were left to fester. Further bombings produced a terraforming world-quake, damaging the Vitruvian gate. A titanic struggle took place leaving most of the planet in ruins, the only exception being the massive Cathedral of Saint Galen tended by the sisters of the Argent Shroud which protected hundreds who sheltered under its eaves. Clovis and his lueitentants divided the planet and ruled large swathes while constantly fighting a rebellion led by the Sisters and remaining Dark Angels helped to slow the complete conquest. All the while clovis ruled from the Hive city of Sipho, permiting the chaos cults to flourish in the underhive, while ruling from the Alectus monanstery. After returning from the Thramas crusade the Dark Angles underwent a campaign to reclaim the planet. Company master Rakiel was instrumental in the campaign, with his terminators of the deathwing fighting their way into the Alectus Monastery with a final duel at the top of the defense laser, culminating in the Dark Angels and their alliance liberating its citizenry after a 20 year period.

Secrets of sipho

M40.845 Technoarchivist Daryan Ponder seeking to understand the mystery of the Gate learned of dataslates long forgotten in the reliquary of St Galen. The Dark Angels having been pulled away from the planet by other comittments, granted access to Ponder to research the Gate, and its resting place. After five years of investigations Ponder made his initial report. In a secret communication to the Dark Angels viceroy.

“…unexploded Neutronium payload buried in the Promethium range has slowly leached toward the surface and has eroded machine spirit seals and the defenses of the warp dampener known as the Virtruvian Gate. I believe its machine-spirit grows weak and I have sent an additional request to the tech priests of Mars but so far only mute reply has been received.

The device has gradually lost its power and now seals placed in the age of dark technology are severely weak. Making the device extremely unstable. If the harmonizing matrix was destroyed one can only imagine the destruction that could be wrought. Furthermore it should be noted that this device was placed in a time I date prior to what is recorded as the first colonization of this planet, this may suggest the intelligence who placed it was not of terran descent. The question of why it was placed is yet more perplexing as it is likely that the warp influence in this region of space would alter significantly.”

Shortly after his report the technoarchivist vanished. Multiple theories have surfaced, that he was abducted by the chaos cults of the underhive, xeno forces, or the inquistition itself. Nevertheless the matter remains a mystery to the general citizenry and the site’s true location continues to be a secret and under the protection of the Dark Angels.

To this day the virtruvian gate has remained intact and functional, providing the Andrasta system and Sipho in particular with a pacific point in real space. Its reputation as a safe warp harbor grew, leading to its becoming a buzzing space port in the galactic North, leading to greater and greater prosperity for the people. 

The waaagh of toofnasha

M41.678 After decimating the planets of the Telkin system and the Indiz system, the freebooter space pirate and self proclaimed Warboss Toofnasha and his crew turned his budding waagh to the system of andrasta.  No doubt drawn to the stability and safety that had been an essential element in the planet’s development he and his boyz decided to use the planet get “filled up on some new guffins, and teef.”

For weeks many spacecraft crashed in the wealthy coastal region of the southern continent. Orks ravaged through the idyllic communities and proceeded in capturing the Govenor Prolix ponch and learning of the many secrets of the planet in cluding the mighty alectus defense laser. Claiming he wanted the “big boomer” for him self Toofnasha’s waagh spread on for 5 years before the Planetary defense and cannoness Bronte were able to mount a successful and coordinated defense, while the the orks overran much of the sounthern hemisphere. The astropathic choir of Sipho was employed to summon the 5^th battle company of the dark Angels back to the planet while Canoness Bronte directed the resistence effort from the fortress monastery of Alectus, within the Hive city of Sipho. Her forces holding the Sipho hive city against multiple waaves of ork manace.

A mighty waagh led by the warboss Toofnasha, was only stopped on Sipho after tearing through the entire subsector of Andrasta. A combined force of Dark angels, Astra Mil and Sisters of Battle combined to hold them back from the walls of Sipho hive, where the power of the defensive guns held them at bay. Large swathes of the planets infrastructure was damaged in the aftermath. A joint surgical strike directed by the astra tempestus and Bronte’s soriatas eventually brought the leadership group to justice.

Cult of the weirding eye

The last known reports stated that the cult of Weirding Eye has re-emerged on the planet and there are rumblings of a shrine to the dark gods in the jungles of Anagrax. The cult leaders may be trying to gain acess to the sanctum prohibitum, the where abouts of which have been lost to the sands of time and break the final seals of the Virtruvian Gate. Their last recorded action was during the reign of clovis, and they are known to be singularly interested in sacrifice to the dark gods.