Hethgard
“May the gates hold against the beast without.
May the stones of the wall be firm beneath my feet.
May my blade drink deep of the foe and never be satisfied.
May I not feel the touch of fear at the death that is my service.
May I stand a warrior, and if I fall, may I fall with my blade in my
hand.”
–Spoken by Ivar Ravensclaw, Wolf Guard of the Space
Wolves Chapter, on the morning of the first spores falling
on Hethgard
History
Hethgard and Pyrathas took longer, both due to distance and agreater resistance by their populations. Hethgard especially
posed a problem for the Crusaders, and though many of
its nations and minor city states were welcoming of the
Imperium (or at least not foolish enough to oppose it), some
resisted or tried to subvert the Crusaders. Achilus expressly
forbade excessive planetary bombardment as the mines were
too valuable, and so it fell to the Imperial Guard to root the
enemy out themselves. Though it was not known at the time,
agents of the Stigmartus had infi ltrated Hethgard and stirred
up some of its population against the Crusade, turning mines
into underground fortress temples and people into slaves of
the Dark Gods. Hethgard was eventually subdued, though not
before thousands of guardsmen had lost their lives, hacked to
death in the dark depths of her mines.
Hethgard is an Imperial Fortress world and the location
that has most recently come under attack from the Tyranid
threat. Hethgard was a once mining world whose mountains
and chains of dormant volcanoes were long ago stripped of
the great wealth of rare metallic ores they contained. What
remained afterwards were plains of shattered stone that
glimmered with a metallic sheen, broken mountains riddled
with echoing passages, and numberless unmapped shafts.
Although sucked dry of resources, the fortress engineers of
the Achilus Crusade found Hethgard was perfectly suited for
Lord Militant Achilus’s strategic needs. Many of Hethgard’s
mountainsides were sheathed in armoured skins, and generators,
storehouses and barracks were sunk deep into the abandoned
mine-workings. The defences were ringed with thousands
of miles of walls, razorwire, and mines, while chambers
deep within the mountain fortresses were converted to vast
magazines to feed the thousands of weapon emplacements that
crowned the armoured mountain summits. Thus, Hethgard was
converted into a mighty fortress to protect the Crusade’s flank
and an armoury for its forces second only to Karlack itself. In
the three decades it has stood, no enemy has taken Hethgard.
However, its defences have been seriously tested twice: once
by the marauding Ork freebooters of the Brass Eye, and once
by an unknown, powerful, non-humanoid xenos-form who
attacked in black orb-like war machines. These raiders were
driven off thanks, in part, to the timely intervention of the
Deathwatch.
Indomitable though it is, Hethgard has yet to face its greatest
test. Attacking in overwhelming numbers, Hive Fleet Dagon
has fallen on the Fortress world in great strength. Millions of
creatures were slain by the guns of Hethgard in the opening
hours of the conflict when the enemy first made planetfall.
However, the Tyranid spores and screaming winged-creatures
came in ever greater numbers until they covered the glistening
grey plains between the mountains, their carapaces gleaming
like a living sea. Since the first spores fell, the assault has not let
up, and no matter how many Tyranids the Imperial defenders
slay, more seem to come. Aid and reinforcements have not yet
come to Hethgard. Though tens of thousands defend its walls,
with contingents of the Space Wolves and Storm Wardens
providing battle-leadership, the numbers and extensive supplies
of its defenders are not without limit. Hethgard will fail in time
if the balance of the war cannot be swung in their favour.
Should Hethgard perish, one of the greatest Fortress worlds
in the Jericho Reach will fall, and open a breach to the heart
of the Crusade.
Type
Planet
Related Traditions
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