The Angevin Crusade

For those living in the Calixis, Ixaniad or Scarus Sectors, no event is more celebrated nor important to their history than that of the Angevin Crusade. Beginning in 322.M39 when Praetor Golgenna Angevin raised an army from the Segmentum Solar and set out to conquer the regions of space still untamed by Mankind.

Beginning in Ixaniad Sector the Crusade began well, with the nascent Sector formed almost without issue and Imperial rule established in under two decades. Shortly thereafter, doubts began to arise as to the competence of Lord Angevin and his ability to hold up under the pressure of the Crusade. Detractors pointed to the erratic behaviour, and the inability for the forces of the Imperial Navy, Adeptus Astartes and Rogue Traders that made up the Crusade fleet in their ability to talk to each other.

Things came to a head in 362.M39 when the Crusade nearly ground to a halt. The Scarus sector was an existing region of space within the Imperium, although its size was much less than in modern days. Most of the work was thought to be compliance of heretic worlds and the assertion of Imperial might, but Angevin’s charisma could no longer mask his tactical incompetence, and he blundered into an ambush causing the destruction of a significant portion of his fleet, and crippling his flagship. Rumours began to circulate that the Lord-Militant had been driven mad by some Xenos threat lurking in these untamed regions, while others posited that the Crusade had grown more focused on divvying up the spoils of conquest rather than continue their work in pacifying this region of space.

It was when all seemed lost that General-Militant Drusus, forged a major victory in the lost world of Iocanthos, and forged a successful alliance with the Haarlock and Winterscale Dynasties. Rallying the disorganised fleet to his banner, he set off on a blazing conquest that quickly brought the rest of the Scarus Sector into compliance, and he turned his eye to the Calixis Region to do the same. In recognition of his startling accomplishments, he was promoted to Lord-Militant of the Crusade, and Angevin was quietly sidelined.

The fury with which he swept through this region remains legendary to this day, and no place is stronger in their worship of the living saint than the Calixis Sector. Following the Crusade, Imperial Rule was reaffirmed on three new sectors, and prosperity flowed for all those involved. The story of the crusade is well-known throughout all of the involved Sectors, and some whisper that Drusus himself will rise again to lead a new crusade into the Koronus Expanse to pacify that region as well.