The Crusade has begun. Imperial forces crushed all resistance in the cavern-hives of Kraken, and departed known imperial space with their ships’ stores fully stocked, spirits high, guided by the radiant light of the God Emperor.
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To: Crusade Fleet Lazarus High Command
Re: Results of initial survey of LR071369-3 “Eriodor”
Eriodor is a sea of grassy plains and rolling hills. Its wind-swept surface is populated only by herds of lumbering ungulates and massive reptiles. No intelligent life is known to exist on the planet. The vast stretches of grassland are broken only by the overgrown ruins of ancient settlements; This strange world was one of the first colonized when Saint Lazarus led the people of the Imperium into this region of space, but it never became heavily populated.
Initial Explorator surveys indicate some of the lost human settlements may sit above much older ruins, possibly from human expansions that predate the foundation of the Imperium. There has been some whispered speculation that these ruins could also be the remnants of an ancient xenos society. These heretical notions have been suppressed with extreme prejudice. Adeptus Mechanicus cogitators have found no evidence of environmental or other factors that could compel humans to build atop known xenos architecture.
We are dispatching additional survey teams to these areas to determine the age of these ruins, and if there is any evidence of intact material that could aid the Crusade fleet.
May the blessing of the Omnissiah be upon you,
Magos Stegmann
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To all landing forces,
Survey teams dispatched to the surface of Eriodor from the Explorator outrider fleet have ceased communication. It is unknown at this time if transmissions have been blocked by a disturbance on the planet’s surface, or if the survey teams encountered some sort of hostile resistance. Contact was lost with all teams at once; this is a coincidence that cannot be overlooked. I recommend the utmost caution.
Your forces will be dispatched to the sites the survey teams were investigating. Determine the nature of their disappearance, and exterminate all enemies of the Imperium.
Eriodor will be our beach head. From here we will strike out into the Lazarus Reach, and reclaim those gems of humanity stolen by the wicked, thieving hands of aliens, heretics, and the foul denizens of the warp.
The Emperor Protects,
Lord Commander Militant Drang