Henlock

Name	Henlock
Sub-Sector	Secundus
Type	War World
Population	approx. 1 million
Climate	Arid
Status	Non-Compliant

About Henlock

Not much is known about Henlock before M.41, the records having either been lost or destroyed thousands of years ago. What is known is that before it’s rediscovery by the Imperium of Man in the Great Crusade, Henlock was a technologically advanced world ruled by a man known as ‘The Overseer’.

When the Prosperitas sector was reached by the crusade forces, it held out for almost a year before the Adeptus Mechanicus broke through their defences with a force comprised of no less than four Titan Legions. And so Henlock became intertwined with the God Machines. Whatever part Henlock may or may not have played in the Horus Heresy is unknown, and the world was largely forgotten by the Imperium until the Prosperitas Crusade was launched. In the early days of the crusade, the forge world of Ferraeus was retaken, and in its massive cogitator banks, they found tales of Henlock, the Titan Graveyard.

As the crusade continued, the world became of focal point for the Adeptus Mechanicus, the promise of the remains of the titans proving too much to ignore, and so it was war came to Henlock. The battles on and above the planet raged for months, with over a million guardsmen losing their lives for a paltry gain. In a warzone that was already suffering from low numbers of fighting personnel, the Crusade High Command began to make plans to pull out from the world. And then came the God Machines. Ten titans, released from the foundries of Ferraeus descended upon the world, led by the noble Imperator titan Magnus Rex, and with them leading the charge, the Archenemies hold over the world was broken, and Henlock was finally brought back into the folds of the Imperium.

As the crusade moved on, the Adeptus Mechanicus looked over their prize. The world was all but barren, huge deserts stretching across most of it, while small patches of habitable ground were the sole centers of the sparse population. More importantly however were the silos where ruined titans from the time of the Horus Heresy were housed, while further out the wrecks of yet more of the machines littered the sands, speaking of hellish battles of times gone past. The Adeptus Mechanicus believed they had struck gold, and sent out reclamation fleets, eagerly bringing the remains of the titans back to Ferraeus, while Legio Ferraeus stayed behind, patrolling the sands and searching for more wrecks. Huge mock battlefields sprang up in the parts that had been cleared of valuable relics, and soon Henlock became the training ground of the Legio.

However, the good times were not to last. A new threat now known as the Talons of the Way descended upon the world, and in the sudden attack, captured a Reaver titan, turning its guns on its one time allies and then, supported by numerous Hereteks and Fleet Assets, taking the entire world. Scrabbling from the loss, the Prosperitas Crusade mobilised to meet the new threat, Legio Ferraeus was instantly committed to defending their training grounds, as were elements of the Sector Fleet and numerous Imperial Guard Regiments, and even the Warmaster of the Crusade turned his attention towards Henlock once more.

Before the beleaguered forces on the ground could capitalise on their reinforcements however, the Talons played their hand. In a display of cunning and subterfuge, the Talons ambushed the reinforcements as they entered high orbit, targeting the vulnerable troop transports, while avoiding the guns of the battleships, who could not fire for fear of hitting their own ships. It was a massacre from which very few ships escaped, tens of thousands perishing in the space of a few hours, the most devastating being the death of the Warmaster himself. In the light of the destruction, all remaining Imperial forces were withdrawn from the world returning home badly bloodied and shamed by the defeat, as the Talons of the Way consolidated their gain. The Imperium had been badly bloodied on the soil of the Titan Graveyard, and the Talons have yet to be dislodged from the world.