Thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring this investigation into the fortress world of Cadia.
The first 500 people to use the link in the description will receive 2 free months of
Skillshare’s online classes.
In the region of Imperial space designated Segementum Obscurus, there lies an anomaly
that has come to be known as the Eye of Terror.
It is an enormous rift, a permanent storm in the fabric of reality that for 11 thousand
years has provided a gateway to the nightmarish realm of The Warp.
Inside is a dimension of madness and despair where skies weep blood, ancient stars burn
in multi-coloured flares and the whims of the Dark Gods hold sway.
Since the time of the Horus Heresy, the forces of Chaos that reside within have attempted
to break out from the Eye of Terror and strike at the millions of worlds that lay beyond.
Only one thing has stood in their path.
A fortress world that guarded the only navigable route to the Eye of Terror, a place where
time and time again the servants of the Dark Gods would break against the greatest defenders
of man.
It was a planet known as Cadia, and it was here above all that the bloody work of the
Imperium was done.
A terrestrial world closely resembling Holy Terra before the Age of the Imperium, Cadia
was marked by great oceans, temperate plains, windswept moors and towering mountains.
Cadia was colder than most civilized worlds, yet not enough to impede the planet’s settlement.
It was famous across the galaxy for its sparkling glaciers and thick pine forests.
It was the planet’s network of strange black monoliths that remained Cadia’s most enduring
mystery however, known across the galaxy as the Cadian Pylons.
When precisely Cadia was first colonized has been lost to antiquity, but in the decades
before the Horus Heresy, it had become inhabited by a primitive race of violet-eyed humans
who worshipped the Chaos Gods.
The Word Bearers Legion and their Primarch, Lorgar Aurelian was the first to re-establish
contact with Cadia, but whatever transpired in these initial meetings might never be known.
Lorgar ordered the cyclonic bombardment of the planet, wiping out the native Cadians
and whatever secrets they possessed.
With the end of the Horus Heresy, the Word Bearers and the other traitor legions fled
to the Eye of Terror to heal their wounds and nurture their hatred.
Black Crusades mounted against the galaxy from the Eye of Terror convinced the Imperium
that Cadia was of vital strategic importance and settlers were sent to the world to claim
it in the name of the Emperor.
Cadia was eventually forged into a world worthy of the Imperium, but it was learned at great
cost that the planet would forever be threatened and its entire society would have to reflect
that.
Its earliest cities were constructed in the traditional style emulating Holy Terra, but
the broad avenues and ordered urban grids favored any attacking force, and sweeping
changes were enacted.
Cadia could not afford any distinction between its fortresses and cities.
Streets were constructed in such a way as to disorient any potential invader, arrayed
in zig zag patterns that would force an enemy to fight for every block.
Bastions and local garrisons were stationed in every corner and spire that possessed a
commanding view, while at the heart of every city was an enormous fortification known in
the local dialect as a Kasr.
From the air, these resembled intricate puzzles, which could be held for months if not years
even if the surrounding city had been taken.
Its people were no different than its buildings, reorganized into a society wholly devoted
to the defense of their world.
Every Cadian was taught the skills necessary to become a soldier from the moment they could
walk.
Tactical doctrine was prioritized above basic literacy and every citizen was required to
serve at least a four year term in the planet’s military before either becoming a career soldier
or instead joining Cadia’s military industrial complex.
Even the wealthy and successful elite wore clothing reminiscent of the camouflage patterns
issued to the lowliest guardsmen.
The famed Cadian Shock Troops were widely regarded as the best soldiers in the Imperial
Guard and some of the most well equipped.
Regiments either formed on Cadia or those emulating its style and doctrine could be
found across the entire galaxy.
Cadian equipment in particular was so ubiquitous that it was nearly the standard of the entire
Astra Militarum.
For millennia the planet stood as an unshakeable foundation that challenged the will of the
Dark Gods themselves.
Every invasion was shattered and every Black Crusade was repelled.
But in the 999th year of the 41st Millenium, Cadia was finally broken.
Abbadon the Despoiler, greatest champion of Chaos since Horus himself, launched the 13th
Black Crusade.
In the opening moments, elements of the planetary guard turned traitor, assassinating Cadia’s
High Command, its Governor and Lord Castellan.
A reformed defense now under the command of Ursarkar E. Creed were able to contain this
initial assault, but the Black Crusade was just beginning.
In orbit of the planet, an enormous Chaos Armada traded blows with the warships of Battlefleet
Cadia all while reinforcements swept across Cadia’s skies before joining in battle against
the planet’s beleaguered defenders.
Mysteriously, it was not the famous fortress cities of Cadia that appeared to be Abbadon’s
primary target, but rather the large network of pylons, particularly those within the Elysion
Fields.
What precisely happened there can only be guessed at, but some claim that for a brief
moment, servants of the Imperium working with ancient xenos managed to activate the Cadian
pylons.
The forces of Chaos were seemingly cut off from the Warp and even the Eye of Terror was
said to shrink.
By the order of Abbadon however, an enormous Blackstone Fortress struck Cadia with the
force of an artificial meteor.
The planet’s continents were split apart, its ancient forests burned away.
The few who managed to evacuate the dying world bore witness not only to the destruction
of Cadia, but the expansion of the Eye of Terror across the entire galaxy.
With the fall of Cadia, the Forces of Chaos had won a victory that for millenia had been
almost unimaginable.
Tendrils of the Warp have split the galaxy in two and there is little doubt that the
Imperium has entered the Time of Ending.
But the ultimate triumph of Abbadon the Despoiler still eludes him.
The fall of Cadia has awakened something in the Imperium more powerful than even its greatest
fortress.
A hunger for retribution has swept across every world and Cadia has become a martyr
whose memory has spurred humanity to ever greater feats of valor.
If a creature like Abaddon is still capable of experiencing even a tinge of fear, then
he must be haunted by the fact that in destroying Cadia, he has added a trillion fallen saints
to the highest pantheon of the Imperium.
For even as the planet split apart and its shattered remnants were consumed by the Eye
of Terror, the red streaks of firing lasguns could still be seen in the darkness.
Defenders of Cadia refusing to give in, even as their world cracked and burned around them.
From their sacrifice has arisen a new battlecry, one shouted in hatred from the arctic steppes
of Valhalla to the deadly jungles of Catachan, a simple phrase that ensures the memory of
Cadia will remain for as long as humanity endures: “The planet broke before the Guard”.
Thanks again to Skillshare for sponsoring this investigation.
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