Culdor Campaign Background Story

Culdor

            The planet of Culdor is an Imperium planet in the deep reaches of the Veiled Region, not far from Rynn’s world.  It was passed over by the Imperium on more than one occasion due to it being devoid of most of the rare earth metals and some of the compounds and gases that would have made it a worthwhile mining planet.  The Imperium only left a small contingent of defenders on the planet and as such was not prepared for a major invasion.

            20 years ago the planet of Culdor was attacked by a massive Ork Waaaaghhh!.  Over the course of 10 long years, the planet was wiped clean of almost all life, besides some small pockets of humans that scraped by in the shadows.  Multiple armies tried to come to Culdor’s rescue, but most were pushed off or destroyed wholesale.  It was eventually liberated from the Orks by a joint Imperial army consisting of Catachans, Black Templar, Mechanicus, Adeptus Soroitas, and Imperial Knights.

            Now, Culdor is thriving and at peace once again.  Remnants of some of those liberating Imperial Force have stayed behind and have kept watch over the people of Culdor, but trouble in the Vigilus system has recently pulled many of these forces elsewhere.

The Great Rift

            When the Great Rift opened in M999.41, the Imperium fell into a state of chaos throughout many of its sectors.  The tendrils of the Great Rift reached out and engulfed Culdor, but were held at bay by some unknown force.  Culdor was now emanating some strange power from deep within.

            While Culdor did not disappear entirely into the Warp, it was almost completely surrounded by it.  Only a narrow path through space will safely get a ship to the planet’s atmosphere.  From the planets surface, that safe path faces directly towards Holy Terra at all times, which many of the devout followers of the Emperor see as a miraculous omen and a show of the Emperor’s divine might.

            The opening of the Great Rift and the engulfing of the planet caused the Imperium forces on the planet to send out a distress beacon, which was received by a nearby Crusade Fleet of Black Templar.  However, the distress signal was also picked up but not only the Tau, but the forces of the Black Legion.

Culdor Besieged

            Proximity to the Great Rift and the unusual power now emanating from beneath the planet have unsettled the planet through a seemingly never ending series of unfortunate events.  Disease and plague swept the planet as ‘the walking pox’ took out city after city.  Daemons have spilled randomly out of warpstorms that lick the planet’s atmosphere and after they have killed scores of innocent civilians, they vanish back into the Great Rift.  Cults, Renegades, and political usurpers have come out of the woodwork across the planet, bolstered by the strange occurences.  All the while, the planet’s meager defense forces are spread far too thin to keep all of these dangers at bay.

The first outside force to respond to the distress signals were the Tau, who were immediately attacked by a small force of Iron Hands Marines that were defending a city. Soon after, a Black Templar Crusade Fleet arrived and began defensive operations, but they barely had time to build a Forward Operating Base, before a Chaos Fleet tore through the Great Rift and landed nearby. The Tau Expansion force, more interested in the strange power within the planet than fighting the Imperium or Chaos forces, began to explore and look for the reasons behind this planet’s power. Meanwhile the forces of Chaos looked to destroy and cripple yet another Imperial world.