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 its rediscovery by the Imperium of Man in the Prosperitas 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 Regency 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 a 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 Imperial Guard 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; with them leading the charge, the Archenemy's 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.
The First Battle of Henlock
However, the good times were not to last. In 583.M41, 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 Warmaster Ilyenós turned his attention towards Henlock once more.
The Second Battle of Henlock
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.
The Third Battle of Henlock and Recent History
In mid 593.M41, first the Demi-Legio Custodii Incudatem and then the Legio Ferraeus turned their attention once again to the planet, determined to retake the sacred soil. The Archenemy swiftly redeployed Heavy and Superheavy armoured assets to meet the Naximan assault.
Late in 593, in an unprecedented display of initiative, command of the Henlock front fell to General Adora Astara, a protégé of famed commander Ruprecht Janus. In a startling display of initiative, General Astara proposed a coordinated push against the planet by Crusade and Naximan forces. The combined Imperial-Mechanicus fleet assault devastated Archenemy forces in orbit, and Guard drop troops and Custodii Incudatem titans swiftly reached the surface. Shortly afterwards the Knights of Anaximund Alpha, re-routed from the Strayvian Gateway, descended upon the world. Accompanied by hordes of Techno-Barbarian bond-troops, House Qureshi Walked.
As of latest reports, the battle looks set to be a hard-fought one and is unlikely to reach a rapid conclusion; the Imperial line is holding and the Anaximund forces are fighting with particular ferocity, though some of the irregular forces supporting the Dark Mechanicus seem to be making a particular point of springing ambushes and atrocities on the Anaximunders. The situation is undeniably a major step up from the humiliating defeat inflicted on Imperial forces during the 2nd Battle of Henlock, but there is no guarantee of victory yet. With neither side on Henlock being able to count on receiving extensive offworld reinforcements, both forces seem to be trying to avoid getting caught up in a drawn-out war of attrition. Instead, they are undertaking complex manoeuvres planned out by strategic cogitators, in the hope that sooner or later one force or the other will make a fatal mistake. Until that opportunity for checkmate arises, Henlock is witnessing the biggest machine war the sector has ever seen.