Xenos clash with Imperial cruiser near Heart of Darkness

The Imperial battlecruiser, Righteous Power, traded long-range fire with a large xeno ship near the Heart of Darkness, a volatile Warp storm to the galactic north of the Corvus Cluster.

The Overlord-class battlecruiser was on routine patrol when the xeno ship [Classification: Void Stalker) appeared on its sensors.

The xeno warship ignored all hails from the Imperial warship and subsequently changed heading in an apparent attempt to avoid contact.

The battlecruiser fired its prow weapons battery at the Eldar, which returned fire and briefly weakened the cruiser’s forward shields.The xenos accelerated away and broke off contact.

The Righteous Power, along with other Imperial warships, are maintaining a vigil around the Heart of Darkness, observing the stellar phenomenon and guarding against Warp-tainted pirates that occasionally venture out of the Warp storm to raid Imperial planets and merchant ships.

Strange tidings reported in Cynosore underhive

In the crowded and impoverished underhive of Cynosore, rumors are spreading of strange-looking mutants and a new religious cult.

Strange rumors are spreading in the underhive of Cynosore, a radiation-tainted hive city on the desert world of Morkai.

In the mines below the hive city, far deeper even than the city’s underhive, officials report sightings of deformed mutants with heavily ridged heads, mauve to violet skin, and extra, vestigial limbs.

Many miners are objecting to working alone in the deeper mines, citing a recent spate of disappearances among their ranks.

At the same time, the Ecclesiarchy has launched a pogrom against followers of a new religious movement, the Cult of the Voidborn. All citizens are ordered to report cult activity to the nearest Arbites.

The cult claims a celestial being of great power is arriving from beyond the boundaries of the galaxy—and will embrace all the worlds of the Imperium under its enlightened rule. The symbol of the cult is a saw-spined wyrm.

Tau make gains in Al’gel II campaign against orks

Known as “fire warriors,” Tau infantrymen like this have advanced across Al’gel II despite strong ork resistance.

Although illegal to discuss xeno activity, rumors are spreading that the Tau Empire is making progress in its three-and-a-half-year campaign to conquer the ork-held Al’gel System.

A new Tau military offensive on Al’gel II has reportedly seized a sizable portion of the planet’s main continent and killed more than 200,000 greenskin warriors.

The Tau invaded Al’gel II, the most populated ork world in the system, in 735.M41. After great success in the early stages of their campaign, the Tau saw ork resistance stiffen, and their invasion became trapped in a battle of attrition that reportedly caused great consternation within the Tau leadership.

This latest victory suggests, however, that the Tau may be on the cusp of victory—and that they may be considering an invasion of a second ork world in the five-planet system.

Valkyries belonging to the 728th Cadian Regiment bomb ork airbases on Hegira.

Imperial Navy targets ork airbase on Hegira

After years of battling ork invaders for control of the skies over Hegira, Imperial forces are trying a new strategy: Targeting xeno airbases in hoping of catching their aircraft on the ground.

On 3 004 739.M41, more than 200 Imperial aircraft—mostly Valkyries and Vulture gunships—struck two ork airbases to the southwest of Susa City, the beleaguered capital city of Hegira.

Imperial forces achieved total tactical surprise, and early reports suggest as many as 250 xeno aircraft were destroyed on the ground, announced Commander Tomas Mattassi, chief propaganda officer for the Hegira Planetary Defense Force.

“Not a single ork aircraft managed to get in the air to challenge our forces,” he said at a hastily called press conference recentkly. “What’s more, anti-aircraft (AA) ground fire was almost non-existent.”

Unofficial sources suggest AA fire was a significant problem when a second wave of Imperial aircraft targeted the xeno airbases. Fourteen Valkyries and six Vultures were shot down. The Imperial attack was called off soon afterwards.

Artwork

The Corvus Cluster wishes to express its gratitude to the artists that made their artwork available. Below are links so you can see more of the great work of these artists.

The Void Stalker (top), titled “Eldar Void Stalker,” is courtesy of The First-Magelord at DeviantArt.com. Click here to see more of his artwork.

The Underhive artwork, titled “Norcula,” is courtesy of Crowsrock at DeviantArt,com. Click here to see more of his artwork.

The Tau warrior is titled “Tau” is by CarlHolden of DeviantArt.com. Click here to see more of his artwork.

The Valkyrie air attack (bottom) is titled “Ride of the Valkyrie” by Arkurion of DeviantArt.com. Click here to see more of his artwork.

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.