Kilobo Lore!
The first major external conflict the Kilobo system contributed to was that of the Damocles crusade. As already mentioned, the Tau had initially been making strides in subverting Imperial governance in Kilobo just as they had done in so many other systems bordering their empire. However, some canny use of intelligence and a good propaganda campaign later and the Tau had been peaceably, but no less emphatically, expelled from legal trade and diplomacy in the system. Given the contrast with the many systems in a similar position that simply went full traitor this initially put the Tramale government and its Ecclesiarchal patrons in good standing — poster children for loyal Imperial subjects. It only increased this esteem that even before the official declaration of the crusade, starting from around 734.M41 or so, there was widespread military volunteering throughout Kilobo’s planets and population centres. Kilobians seemed keen to reclaim planets lost to the Tau.
All this, however, was to be ruined by a single work of idealistic enthusiasm: the Edict of Fraternity. Before 742 there had only really been skirmishes, but everyone knew something bigger was coming and some on Kilobo had been preparing a document to celebrate the real commencement of hostilities. Cosigned by habblock heads from across the system upon the official declaration of a crusade in 742.M41, it opened by declaring “all aristocrats are our enemies, all workers are our friends”. It proceeded to outline to the Tau people how the coming crusade would liberate them from the foul psychic aristocracy of the Ethereals while entry into the Imperium would protect them from any chance of their return. This was evidenced by how the Imperium had protected Kilobo from the Mechanicus’s attempts to reimpose psycher domination. It called on Tau to rise up in sympathy and greet the crusaders as liberators, ending with speculative fantasies about the coming era wherein shared freedom, equality, and brotherhood would bind the two peoples marching forward together in harmonious living under the Emperor. It ended with a pithy rhyming couplet “Ye Tau take courage, ye Ethereals take care - the Emperor’s galaxy is a common treasury for the righteous all to share”.
Share the galaxy with xenos!? Command were outraged. The edict had already been passed along and even translated into Tau via Rogue Trader intermediaries before anyone in government found out about it. Once they did suddenly the massed recruits, all equipped and trained from Kilobo’s wealth, went from seeming a huge boon to a massive security threat. Clear xenoist sympathies, direct attacks on the valued allies of the Mechanicus; even blasphemous speculation about xenos walking in the Emperor’s light! Just which side were these Kilobans going to be fighting for!? Bishops on Kilobo immediately spoke out about it and to the relief of Tramale (fearful as they were of revived prospects for civil war) those habblocks who had signed on were easily persuaded to attend remedial lessons in the Imperial creed. But while satisfactory given local norms that was (to put the point mildly) considerably lighter than how the Imperium expected such things to be dealt with, so if anything this only made higher-ups more suspicious. All the while, naturally enough, Mechanicus representatives within the crusade were doing all they could to stoke outrage.
Still though - this was a lot of recruits, a reasonably high standard of training some even with combat experience, and self-equipped to a high technical standard. Far from indispensable (few are in the Imperium), but not something to be disposed of entirely lightly either. So rather than just disband the regiments and order mass executions throughout Kilobo, instead they first tried the more familiar approach to discipline in the Guard. The Commissariat were shipped in and stationed liberally throughout Kiloboians’ command structure. This move was to prove entirely successful, though at first one would never have thought so.
For the initial response of Kilobian troops to Commissarial discipline was scarcely short of mutinous. Much like Catachans - and less famously but more directly comparably, soldiers from the relatively prosperous civilised world of Elysia - the sudden imposition of Imperial authoritarianism on a culture unused to it did not go well. Especially since, after all, now they had guns too. A cold war broke out on troop ships and void stations billeting Kilobians. Their officer corp ended up suffering an absurd attrition rate to arrest or summary execution. But matching this was an equally absurd rate of fatal “accidents” befalling the Commissars who, if reports were to be believed, seemed to have developed an unfortunate habit of blithely shooting themselves in the back before stumbling out of airlocks.
About the only figures able to keep the peace were charismatic and respected preachers of the Imperial cult, respected as they were by the pious Kilobians and falling somewhat outside of the jurisdiction of overly enthusiastic commissars. They preached loyalty to those the Emperor appointed to watch over the Guard, including the commissars. They would also explain Commissars’ actions in a way that made sense to the people of Kilobo given their culture. It didn’t always work, but it certainly did sometimes, and things would have been much worse without their intervention.
Which only made it more disastrous when a vicious junior Commissar, Abel, took it upon himself to summarily execute one of the most popular regimental preachers attached to the Kilobian 3rd. All because the preacher had conceded that some commissars had indeed gone too far while trying to explain to 5th platoon why their lieutenant really did deserve public lashes. Abel had taken the concession to dangerously undermine commissariat authority, and executed the preacher on the spot. Since this preacher was officially part of the unit they held military rank and Abel was in theory within his rights to do this. But in practice everyone knew that Abel had crossed an unofficial line — an immediate riot was avoided only because Abel was immediately placed under arrest by Kilobian MPs (their authority to do this quite obviously usurped, but wiser heads among the more senior command turned a blind eye to it) and it was to no-one’s surprise when Abel was later found dead in his cell. The death was ruled suicide, as he had left a note (signed - “Murderous Bastard”) clearly confessing to self-murder, and this was found conveniently next to his neatly decapitated body.
In the wake of this incident Kilobian regiments were on the brink of being disbanded, and Kilobo was to be placed under what amounted to military occupation once the crusade was completed; clearly heresy and insubordination were rife on the world. But this was avoided by the timely intervention of Commissar Braun, ironically enough the man brought into replace Abel. Braun was a senior commissar, and he had survived as long as he had by knowing when to crack the whip and when to try out different approaches. He was being sent in on the grounds that hopefully a man of his experience and renown would be able to somehow bring this situation under control before resources were squandered. And he had the good sense to see that simply applying further force would not be a difference maker. In fact reflecting on this got him wondering: why had the Kilobans not broken? After all the Commissariat typically managed to bring unruly regiments to heel by their methods. Seeking answers to this question he read Kilobian history, and came to two conclusions.
The first of which was that the Kilobians self-understanding was that of serving the Emperor by resisting tyranny. They equated their volunteer fighting force, with its elected officers and culture of preachers guiding and interpreting all events, with pious Imperial rule. Whereas Commissars were arbitrary authority appearing for no apparent reason, just as they were ready to bring the Emperor’s light to new systems no less, who set about executing their leaders. They seemed to Kilobians to be traitors! Worse, the Commissars methods made them seem akin to the psycher-aristocracy’s enforcer Cadre their childhood stories told them the Imperium banished. This sense that Commissars were somehow disloyal was reflected in rumours passed round among soldiers claiming Commissars were secretly agents of the Mechanicus. Hence, Braun concluded, the Kilobians confused cultural framework made it seem like Commissars were enemies of the Imperium and they its loyal subjects.
Braun’s second conclusion was that he could exploit the Kilobian confusions and make a fighting force of them yet. Braun gave every impression of wanting to be a new and different type of commissar. To that end he started giving informational briefings to the Kilobian officer corp about what was “known” re the Ethereal caste. Here it was made abundantly clear that their control was total, that they would make Tau of other castes appear to have independent will even while shuffling them about like puppets, and that there was no known method of breaking this control. It was even suggested that humans who lacked sufficient faith in the Emperor could be brought under this control too, to the shock and revulsion of the Kilobian officer corp. (This also aided his plans by ensuring widespread chapel attendance, which Braun was to make use of.) All of this was presented as general interest background information for those preparing to fight, resetting relationships and showing the Commissariat (embodied in his person) to be fully committed to the fight.
Concurrent with this, and not apparently coordinated, Braun had found a charismatic preacher he could work with in secret. Together they fashioned sermons, (which Braun would make a point of being seen to listen in humble piety), which empathised all those instances in their history illustrating that life under the psychers was so wretched as to be not worth living. What is more, it was remarked how without the miraculous ability of Saints Osei and Sinéad (Braun would make sure to be seen making the sign of the Aquilla whenever their names were uttered) to render the psycher’s control devices ineffective, the unfortunate human puppets were unable to resist the psychers. Since they could not be reasoned with, alas, it was the merciful work of soldiers steeled by faith in the Emperor to grant His peace to these poor innocents. Even when their cruel masters played tricks by making them seem to beg for life. This was presented as telling stories of the heroic martial deeds of their forefathers, to let them know they were a fighting people ready for the many battles to come.
Neither Wat nor Braun needed to join up the dots. They relied on the Kilobians habit of having communal meetings and (to Braun’s mind shockingly egalitarian) “briefing” sessions between officers and those they led. Here of course people put two and two together for themselves and spread their conclusions organically; ideas thus seeming to arise spontaneously from Kilobians themselves. The Tau - and, it turned out, their contemptibly faithless Gue’vesa allies - were beyond saving while the Ethereals lived. Apparent mercy or attempts at treaty would only be exploited by the Ethereals, and prolong the inner anguish and suffering of their slaves. The best way to truly show fraternity was to kill the xenos without mercy until their whole leadership structure was scattered and broken.
Braun had also imposed upon the more junior commissars that they were to stay their reign of terror until he could see if his strategy worked. It did, and thus peace was restored. There was no more talk and speculation among the Kilobians of the many allies they were sure to pick up as the Tau realised that liberation was at hand. There were spontaneous prayer groups organised wherein the Emperor’s preemptive forgiveness was sought for the righteous slaughter they must now undertake. Discussion sections were organised on how best to root out and kill Ethereals, from which some tactically sound suggestions were actually extracted. From being a problem case on the verge of being disbanded they became once more a fervent volunteer force looking to be of much use to the crusade.
(Braun would eventually retire to Kulin a popular man. His and Wat’s collusion and frank lies were never discovered by the vast majority of Kilobians. His Throne-blessed mission to create a loyal and effective fighting force willing to merciless kill all xenos with zeal had been fully effective. Nothing could be more important, especially not something as trifling as the truth. In his retirement he operated a sort of “finishing school” for especially gifted members of the Schola Progenium who had been selected for the Commissariat. There he espoused his philosophy of leadership through deep knowledge of local culture. This became known as the Kulinary School within the Commissariat. To this day Kulinary School Commissars occupy positions of command and respect within the Kiloboian PdF.
)As to their actual participation in the Damocles crusade once fighting got going, the Kilobians acquitted themselves well if not that remarkably. So far as they had relevant skills it was in one of three areas — first urban warfare, second maintaining an occupation over an unruly population, both from their experience of Kurow Dunwɔtwe. And third in rapid aerial or drop ship deployment, including but not limited to that necessary for boarding actions, this from fighting to clear out pirates and raiders from the various mining facilities in the halo. This latter meant that some of their most distinguished deployments were alongside Elysian regiments. Since much of what they were good for, however, was “pacifying” those unruly recently “liberated” Tau or Gue'la planets, the bulk of the Kilobians did not see especially glorious battle. Just slow, grinding, and unglamorous work maintaining order, while mopping up any remaining pockets of resistance in brutal urban warfare.
This led to a peculiar philosophy of warfare given to military occupation which remains the basis of Kilobian warfare to this day. The core assumption of Kilobian warfare is that one shall have to operate from behind enemy lines. Essentially what they have in mind is the model of a constantly besieged command centre surrounded by population centres who at least initially cannot be trusted. Thus warfare typically has three stages for the Kilobians — identify a point of commanding authority and establish oneself securely therein. In fact this was typically done by (or in tandem with) other forces during the crusade, they would not be allocated any especial role in first taking a planet. Second, from this fortified position establish patrols and information networks that both impress one’s authority upon the populace and allow one to identify centres of likely resistance. Typically this will be accompanied by heavy propaganda and sincere proselytisation efforts. Their soldiers will be encouraged to interact with the populace, make a show of appearing friendly and avoiding heavy armour, organise and attend public prayer sessions, and so on. Third, organise rapid response units capable of quickly reaching and securing areas wherein an enemy tries to set up a rival command centre or base of operations. Overall this is a doctrine designed to help one attain a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence among an initially hostile population. The legitimacy genuinely bolstered by attempts to win hearts and minds, but the monopoly ultimately maintained by rapid response units that make such a swift and awesome display of force in crushing the starts of organised resistance that the “liberated” population realise resistance is futile.
Two regiments of renown where to establish themselves in this way, both rapid reaction forces albeit with different methods therein. The first, an elite aerial force, came to be known as the Holy Emperor’s Corrective Unit, or H.E.C.U. These soldiers had actually served with Elysians in deploying elite troops behind enemy lines and onto void assets to disrupt logistics while others ground down the now resupply-less enemy in a lopsided war of attrition. Realising that this practice of surgical strike by means of aerial deployment was highly effective, when the H.E.C.U were later garrisoned on a liberated Gue'la planet they adapted this strategy to crushing putative resistance movements. These insurgents were organised (the H.E.C.U. were unsurprised to be informed by Braun) by a stubborn Ethereal who had refused to leave the planet. Braun feigned shocked disgust as he revealed this Aun had apparently remained merely to get sadistic pleasure from psychically tormenting faithless Gue'la. This led the H.E.C.U. to self-adopt the pious name (which had first appeared in propaganda picts made to be shown to manufactura workers in Kilobo) on which the acronym is based. After all it was their faith in the Emperor protecting them from falling under this sadist Aun’s spell. Thus not only would their overwhelming force but also their overwhelming faith offer a visible corrective to the benighted souls who resisted their own liberation. They subsequently crushed all resistance.
You just know the soldier nearest to camera is about to say "I'm in".
The second regiment that established itself was that of the Levellers, led by Commander Lillburne. Not quite as elite in its composition, it also lacked the close relationship with navel assets that allowed the H.E.C.U. to realise Kilobian doctrine so well. What they excelled at, however, was the more psychological aspects of this war. They made a point of integrating themselves well with the population they were assigned to guard, they organised pamphlet campaigns and mass meetings to inform of the evils of Etherial power and the lies involved in the doctrine of the Greater Good. They introduced Kilobian production methods - less technological advanced than Tau automation, but through encouraging more independence and free thought often none the less manifestly more pleasant for workers therein. Finally, upon discovering evidence of a conspiracy to bring back Tau rule based in a ward where Etherials had once lived, Lillburne had a mechanised force of tanks and mounted infantry rapidly deploy to simply level the entire area through mass bombardment before flooding what remained with shock troops to dig through the remains. Lillburne’s preacher, Winstanley, was then filmed on the ruins of what had once been an Etherials palace. He gave a sermon on how in levelling this material symbol of Ethereal iniquity they had made manifest what the Emperor does spiritually: level us all as equally subservient to him, and thereby free of those caste based distinctions in rank or quality that the wicked so-called-greater-good imposes. In this charismatic way the Levellers were able to genuinely reconvert many formerly lost humans to the Imperial cause, and their minds freed from psychic control by the power of faith (so Wat joyously informed them) people volunteered information to Winstanley and his subordinates at such a rate that no large scale resistance was ever able to effectively form again.
When eventually the Imperium redeployed to meet the Tyrannid threat the Kilobians were dutifully pulled out along with everyone else. There were no worries about split loyalties (genestealers not having made it to the Kilobian system as far as anyone could tell) but many of the peculiar skills of the Kilobians were less useful here. They were thus often squandered making the same sort of desperate defences that any random Guard unit could do just as well.
Only the H.E.C.U really distinguished itself during this period. In the last days of the war remnants of Behemoth were found to be infesting an apparently drifting evacuation ship from Prandium. This ship was dropping in and out of the Warp in an unusually predictable pattern, which allowed astropaths to realise it had a high probability of resurfacing near to the Kilobian system if allowed to reenter the Warp one more time. The H.E.C.U. were thus scrambled to retake the ship and purge it of xenos before that happened. With orders to kill any apparent survivors on site (for fear that they were tainted by stealer’s seed, and screening methods not yet advanced enough to rapidly segregate clean survivors in 746.M41) their arrival was initially welcomed by the few pockets of surviving human crew but quickly devolved into a three way battle between the ‘nid infestation, the remaining human crew, and the H.E.C.U. Alas, however, they had under-estimated the scale of the ‘nid presence in the ship, so their early successes in securing beachheads at various points in the ship and actually retaking the bridge of the vessel (which allowed them to delay re-entry into the warp) were soon counter-acted. The H.E.C.U were forced into a desperate defence and nearly overwhelmed.
The order came through to retreat and the H.E.C.U’s surviving forces valiantly fought their way back to the boats. Meanwhile reinforcements were arriving directly from Kilobo, wherein a smaller teams of elite veterans Tramale had in reserve were formed up and armed with enough explosives to destroy the entire ship if placed appropriately in engineering. These teams, known as Black Ops due to their uniform resembling the standard Civil Protection uniform, were able to successfully carry this mission out. But in doing so they killed many H.E.C.U. soldiers who failed to evacuate on time. In fact, apparently without irony, bitter H.E.C.U soldiers allege to this day that Black Ops did not distinguish between their soldiers and ships crew, firing on all of them on sight. Whereas given that their mission was not without casualties the Black Ops themselves resented being called in to clean up a mess the H.E.C.U should have handled itself.
Kilobian command concluded that the combined work of the H.E.C.U. and Black Ops had made for a jointly effective mission. The H.E.C.U.s occupation of the bridge had prevented the ship reentering the warp long enough for the Black OPs to arrive and finish things off. So when the First Tyranic War came to an end and the Kilobians were decommissioned from the Guard, Tramale maintained the H.E.C.U. as an elite regiment of its PdF in which the H.E.C.U. proper and its Black Ops supplementary are deployed as one unit. The differing traditions and felt rivalries between these groups is intense and persists even centuries later.
Of course not just the H.E.C.U. but what remained of the Kilobian forces were generally decommissioned at the end of the First Tyranic War. Some volunteered to fight on, and Kilobian officers and specialists are found as liaisons for dangerous occupations and/or part of Elysian boarding parties to this day. But in the main people returned home. Doing so is unusual for a Guard regiment, but in this case there had been over a decade of intense service all within relative-Galactic-short-reach of Kilobo itself, and what is more a region with well established trade links. Between the wars in the Damocles region and the subsequent war against the ‘nids casualties had been high. But on the flip side the Kilobians themselves had not known any major defeats during the Damocles Crusade, and while major losses had been suffered to the Tyranids overall mankind had emerged victorious due to the stalwart defence organised by their long term allies in Ultramar. So morale remained fairly high, and while most individual units were well below strength Tramale chose to maintain for its PdF three regiments of those disbanded by combining forces among the survivors.
The first was to form the basis of the reformed Civil Protection on Kurow Dunwɔtwe. Events during the war, to be detailed in a moment, had generated resentment among its already dispossessed and angry population. Tramale realised a higher calibre of military police would be necessary to maintain order and prevent the rise of a new psycher class in future. The second were the two rapid response units of the Levellers and the H.E.C.U. Between them they gave Tramale’s PdF exceptionally well equipped forces, both with access to heavy armour and elite soldiers, and in the one case perfect for policing the Halo and in the other an ideal attachment for Kulinary School Commissars (specialising as the Levellers did in proselytising to a local population) looking to gain some early experience of being posted with sympathetic soldiers and officers. Of course Tramale did not draw attention to this fact explicitly, but this latter meant that Tramale was seen to be helpful to the Commissariat and placing resources at its disposal voluntarily, hoping to ward off suspicion from that organisation in future and forever avoid the sort of clash they had witnessed at the start of the Damocles crusade.
The final action during this period worth recording for later purposes was the ork raid on Kurow Dunwɔtwe. It had been centuries since the major ork raid on Anagh. While sporadic naval fighting and the occasional raid on facilities in the Halo had been an issue since then, nobody had had cause to believe there was a persistent orkish interest in the system. And in the main there was not, as noted before the orks had mainly concluded that Kilobo was boring and moved on, the occasional fights in the meanwhile largely being with warbands passing through on their way to a more interesting krump elsewhere and weren’t seen again. Or so it seemed.
For one Blood Axe ork, blessed by Mork as he was, had realised something all those centuries ago on Anagh. These humies didn’t seem to have much of interest. But they’d put that fancy station there to guard all that boring loot because someone somewhere presumably did find it interesting. What is more, with the kunnin’ instincts natural to any good freebooter he could clearly tell that half the point of Anagh had been to have a nice spot far away from anyone lookin’ too carefully so you could earn some teef on the side without any bigger bosses stickin’ their snouts in. And no other orks was gonna be smart enough to realise any of that! So it was that Warboss “Nick-all-that” Morkiavelli came up with a scheme that was to prove profitable throughout the ages.
He and his carefully selected ladz on their ship Da Boss quickly muscled their way to the top of the local smuggling and criminal element. They offered “protection” of the following form: as long as they were provided with teef on the regular and allowed to occasionally skim what they liked off the top of the trade here, they’d krump anyone who tried to nick this boring loot. The ladz would get a constant stream of proper fights to keep them entertained in seeing off any humie, pointy-ears, or even other ork freebooters, who tried to pirate the shipping here. (So it was in fact due to Morkiavelli that other ork warbands weren’t seen too often in the area!) And Morkiavelli himself got to amass wealth, which he largely used to fund whatever waaagh he thought most promising at the time. For Morkiavelli is an ork with a vision, and this little scheme is just a part of it.
All this was going great for centuries (orks are long lived) until the bloody zoggin' 'umies had to go and ruin it all. Cos of their “cruze-aid” they had sent most their merchant ships off elsewhere, and Anagh had become mostly a military retooling station. The ladz thought this was great - much cooler loot from the army! - but Warboss Morkiavelli realised that if he tried to nick this stuff it might bring a bit too much attention to the good thing they had going on. But at the same time he had a reputation to maintain, and if anyone got the impression that Nick-it-all had decided that he was gonna go light on the lootin’ - and, worse, cos he was scared of a bunch of humies - it was clear that he wouldn’t be Warboss much longer. So he had to come up with a kunnin’ plan that’d give the ladz something to do and a decent krump but wouldn’t alert the humies to his real operation.
So it was that Mork came to him in a dream. And while the experience was too wonderful for Morkiavelli to directly put into words - the Warboss being kunnin as all hells but no more a poet than any other ork - he was able to convey the gist of it in what the ladz widely agreed was a propa good inspirin’ speech he made. As Morkiavelli put it: “dem humies all off fightin’ somewhere else, right? And dat means dey left a whole buncha loot lyin’ round without proper guards, see? And - SHUT UP YA GITZ I IS NOT FINISHED - and wot this means, right, is we’s don’t even need to be waitin’ for it to get on all their ships, like. After all dese humies’r propa borin’ ain’t dey? So when dey pick wot loots goes in dere ships dey just be pickin’ all da borin’ stuff cos dat’s wot dey reckon’s fun. But we orks is da best and we know better, so if we just pick wot loot we’d fink worth packin’ we’d sure get much zoggin cooler stuff for da boyz, wouldn’t we? So let’s go krump ‘em up and take dere stuff!”
Now all of this was true enough, but what Morkiavelli kept to himself was that he knew from talking to other captains that even the other humies all hated the lot wot lived on Kurow Dunwɔtwe. So they would definitely not leave enough guards there on the one hand, and nor would they care that much if the whole lot of ‘em got krumped. They’d probably even think it a good thing and maybe Morkiavelli might get some teef outta that who knows. But in any case it wasn’t like the military base at Anagh where people might actually feel the need to do something about it if Da Boss turned up and looted the whole thing. The ladz didn’t need to know that he was picking the softer target to make sure the humies were off their back, after all they’d just have fun krumpin’ and lootin’ in a new place. Always nice to visit new places and meet new people after all, especially when afterwards you could kill them and take their stuff. So they could be happy with this, he could maintain his well earned rep as the Nick-it-all Boss. And when the humies had got their silly little attempt at a waagh out of their system, things could go back to how they should be.
Coming in to the 800s here is how things stood. There was now a decent military industrial production base spread across the Kilobo system. Their tithe remained tied to their production of electronics and artisanal technical goods, but they now had some representation in the guard. On the whole they had acquitted themselves well enough that the early concerns about their loyalty and will to fight had been abated. But the hatred between the Mechanicus and the population of Kilobo had only grown more intense, and in so far as anything had shifted the fact was there was now a stain on Tramale’s record, a period where their loyalty was seriously in doubt. Such things are not forgotten in the Imperium, and agents of Mars were keen to ensure this would be no exception.
Kilobo’s pdf was now informed by serious combat experience and at least a couple of regiments had genuinely excelled in a style of warfare that the Kilobians had turned out to be well suited too. It did not go unnoticed in Ultramar that this had brought one world (that occupied by the Levellers) into compliance that had actually outlasted the Imperial retreat, with a noticeably lower casualty rate and much higher tithe capacity than typical of newly reconquered worlds. Likewise the H.E.C.U.’s success in preventing what could have been a second front of the Tyranid incursion was viewed as an admirable achievement. Even those Kilobians who had not taken part in these high status units had at least gained valuable experience that could be put to use in pacifying the newly restive Kurow Dunwɔtwe, and generally the availability of veteran troops was a great boon for Halo policing.
On the flip side, the people of Kilobo came back all the more convinced of the righteous benevolence of the Imperium. Returning soldiers spread the theories of Wat and Braun, while experience of the Tyranids once again confirmed the general reliability of the Imperial religion as regards to xenos. Some vague feeling that the early difficulties with the Commissariat was somehow the Mechanicus’s workings remained and this too spread throughout the population. Camaraderie had built up between the officer corps of Kilobo and those of both Elysia and Catachan — initially bonding as stories of the cold war between the Kilobians and their Commissarial overseers reached representatives from those worlds and generated sympathy given their shared antipathy. The Kilobians with experience of inter-ship combat and drop ship assault would end up frequently collaborating with the Elysians especially. Officer exchange programmes were set up between the two systems’ PdFs and SdFs. Likewise, since it was not so uncommon in retirement for Guard members from both groups to serve on their system’s respective merchant naval vessels or even captain such, the personal connections that exist here led to mutually lucrative trade arrangements that connected up ports on the edge of the Solar Segmentum with ports on the edge of Ultramar.
For the most part the 800 and 900s were years of peace with only the typical work of combatting pirates and pyscher-sympathising movements requiring any non-trivial military response. The major exception came in the 900s when a small world (XV988) that served primarily as trading post, and one frequented by Kilobian ships, was claimed by Immotekh as part of Sautekh’s traditional domain. Imperial citizens were ordered to evacuate or accept their status as slaves of the Sautekh. There was little chance of mounting a serious defence of the planet and when enquiries were made from Tramale the Adminstratum made it clear that they could not spare the resources to mount anything like an effective defence. The timeframe given for their evacuation was, however, not nearly enough to evacuate the majority of citizens. Those who would be left behind were thus encouraged by the Administratum to arm themselves with faith and whatever explosives were to hand - and prepare to die for the Emperor, hopefully taking as many xenos as possible with one as one went.
Now this did not go down well on Tramale. While XV988 was not within their system many who worked there hailed from somewhere in the Kilobo system. What is more, the prospect of the rich being able to buy their way out on those ships that would have time to leave while the poor were abandoned to slavery offended the more egalitarian sensibilities of many of Kilobo’s leading habblocks. As such, petitions were soon made to Tramale that the PdF should be sent, via the merchant navy, to defend XV988 — at least for long enough to organise a proper evacuation.
Given Kilobo’s democratic system of government Tramale could hardly ignore such a widespread sentiment. But while they had the shipping capacity in their merchant navy and a pdf that was in theory well equipped enough to get the job done, the pressing concern was that they had no experience fighting the Necrons, who were by all accounts a formidable foe. Fortunately by this point there was a small but significant enough immigrant population of Catachans who had more or less permanently retired to Kofoglin. From their habblocks military advisors and elite units were soon raised (Catachans, even in retirement, hardly being ones to shy away from a fight — many welcoming the chance to see some action). Thus did Tramale send a relief force of Levellers off to XV988.
The Necrons had not really expected any resistance from the humans at all, and so the relatively rapid deployment of the Leveller’s armoured company and its highly mobile style of warfare initially took them by surprise. This allowed the Levellers to punch a hole through the Necron’s siege of the XV988 ’s major population centre and create a corridor through to the evacuation zone the Kilobians had set up. In so far as the primary concern was to achieve just this, the Levellers (with their Catachan advisory teams) achieved rapid victory through these surprise assaults. So far as the propaganda machine was concerned (and as it would be presented by Ecclesiarchs keen to promote, again, the glories achieved by the faithful) this was the story and it was told far and wide. Loyal subjects of the Emperor had been protected by a unit noted for their piety, and delivered to safety that they may toil productively for him, rather than as slaves of foul xenos.
clad in their distinctive dress uniform
receive a heroes' victory parade
But those high up on Tramale knew better. The logistical skills of Tramale’s large and well equipped merchant navy meant that the evacuation proceeded relatively rapidly. And it was a good thing too. For once the element of surprised had been lost and the Necrons were able to commit forces it was immediately apparent that the Kilobians were woefully outmatched. The Levellers made a successful fighting retreat that never quite devolved into a rout; the fact that their force was designed for high mobility came in handy for leaving hastily just as it had for attacking quickly. The Catachan units were able to make the Necron advance sufficiently difficult through the use of booby traps and misdirection that it bought the retreat enough time for the mainstay of the forces to make it back to their LZ and get shipped off after the civilians were away. But it was a tight run thing, and it was extremely clear that they had no serious capacity to actually contest Necron control of XV988. What is more, if the Necrons ever decided to use it as a base of operations for pushing further into Imperial space - perhaps even into Kilobo itself - the superior fighting ability of even a very small force of theirs was apparent.
While Sautekh patrols occasionally check in on XV988 to this day it is clear that its primary purpose for now is merely that of a watch station for observing both Imperial and Tau activities to ensure they do not interfere with the Stormlord’s plans elsewhere. As such, for now, it seems the Kilobo system is safe from Necronic predations. But with no apparent counter to superior Necron technology and the tactical brilliance of their command, the government in Tramale learned that they continue to exist more or less only because the Sautekh have better things to do than conquer them. A valuable learning experience, perhaps, but one that those who are appraised of the full tactical situation largely view as harbinger of doom to come.
(This incident would have lasting effects on Tramale’s diplomatic policy, but we shall get to that later. It was also the first recorded formal integration of the Catachan immigrant population into Kilobo’s PDF. This led to the creation of a Catachan-run military training base on Kofoglin, allowing otherwise restive Catachans to have a more working retirement training up an elite cadre of shock troopers for the PdF. Only in death does duty end, and all that.)
The final conflict of note that Kilobo has taken part in was the Plague War. The opening of the great rift was of course difficult for everybody, but just as in the previous dark age the people of Kilobo were relatively isolated from its effects. Their main trading partners were traditionally the worlds of Ultramar, and in so far as that had changed it was due to military exchanges with Catachan and a broader trading relationship with Elysia. The former was not especially economically important, and the latter was apparently safe within the Segmentum Solar. What is more, since the psycher population had long been herded onto the heavily policed minor planetoid of Kurow Dunwɔtwe, they were relatively easy to monitor and contain despite the increase in their number and potency.
Alas this was not to last. Catachan and Elysia both came under serious attack from the forces of Chaos - and while both were able to repel these attacks eventually, the disruption to trade was noticeable and across Kilobo something like a great recession occurred. (One of the heroes of Kilobo's PdF, Cú-Kulin, got his first taste of combat due to being part of a PdF exchange programme in Elysia with his platoon during the Chaos invasion. His unit in particular were famed for destroying a demon engine by allowing it to charge at them then firing a mortar into it at point blank range. While they were not able to prevent heretic astartes from taking the area they had been guarding, they did set teleport homers that ultimately helped a Custodes strike force to triangulate the position of the Heretic command and thus proved instrumental in retaking Elysia for the Emperor. Cú-Kulin's abiding hatred of heresy no doubt stems from the trauma of this experience.) What is more, Nurgle launched his great invasion of Ultramar, so going into .M41 the Plague Wars were on Kilobo’s border.
Even setting aside the threat to themselves it was immediately clear that Tramale would have to intervene. Could Kilobians seriously stand by and watch as the homeland of Ikkyu Xavier was lost to the archenemy? Of course not. The question was just how to help, given their relative lack of military prowess (compared, that is, to Ultramar) and newfound poverty. This was where the disaggregated method of government on Kilobo truly shined, however. For as conversations took place across the system about what to do about this, gradually insights drawn from across the sector were able to be aggregated by Tramale into a coherent plan. The production of medical supplies and devices was to be ramped up, the merchant navy was to be directed to providing supplies for Ultramar, and Kenra was to host hospital facilities. How exactly this could be achieved in each case was assessed by the regional habblocks and manufactura units, many of which had recently fallen idle due to the recession and were looking for something new to do in any case.
attempts to run a demonic blockade
Kilobo’s productive capacity was impressive, and its volunteering to let the sick and injured in (a risky prospect when at war with Nurgalites, as Iax found!) a brave move. Its merchant navy was vast and contained many within who had military experience. Their contributions to providing relief and supplies vitally needed by many planets across Ultramar was thus great, and once the conflict was won messages of thanks and congratulations were sent from many planets. (The PdF participation in the war largely took the form of being stationed on supply ships to repel boarders.) At one point a contingent of three Ultramarines even visited Kenra to offer personal thanks to the medical personnel there who had developed a serum that turned out to help sterilise wounds 7% more efficiently. This was the first (and thus far only) time the Emperor’s angels had ever set foot in the Kilobo system, and it was a major public event greeted with much joy by the faithful on all planets.
As the Indomitus crusade restored order to the rest of the Imperium the people of the Kilobo system once again seemed well placed. Their old trade relations via Elysia resumed after the Custodes liberated that planet, their military links with Catachan were resumed after the Catachans sorted their own world out, and their diplomatic ties to Ultramar had been strengthened ten fold at just that moment when Ultramar had become the undoubtedly dominant player in Imperial politics.
This rise of Ultramar to even more exalted status in the wake of Guilliman’s return was to prove immediately useful, but ultimately exacerbated deep tensions within the Kilobo system. A minor domestic disturbance broke out on Kenra in the early years of the 41st millennium. The proximate cause had been a Mechanicus raid on a habblock that had been slow to hand over samples of (what they claimed to be) archeotech. The sight of Martian troops on Kenra’s soil, that they had acted to enforce the treaty without consultation, the fact that a priest who had tried to broker piece between all parties had been struck down by a Skitarrii - it was enough to generate riots, calls for retaliatory bombardment on Aillte Dubha, and a demand that the Martian ambassador be arrested and face trial. Tramale did indeed put in a formal request that j-0-n3s (the present ambasador) be handed over to stand trial, and anticipating rejection had the H.E.C.U. draw up plans to seize and arrest him. Of course the Martians strenuously denied any Imperium system, let alone jumped up borderline tech-heretics like the Kilobians, had the right to extradite their citizens. And secretly they hoped their moment had come since, easily having decoded all attempts at hidden communications among the Kilobians, they were well aware of the H.E.C.U’s anticipated raid and thought it would be the pretext they needed to seize the whole system.
This situation was immediately diffused by Tramale asking for arbitration from Ultramar. When word came back it was a somewhat brusk statement to the effect that Ultramar could not care one way or another how this was resolved, only that they would not tolerate infighting on their border and expected the matter to be resolved peacefully. Or else. This dampened the enthusiasm of hotheads on both sides, and eventually a terse non-apology-apology for the incident was issued by j-0-n3s (“sorry you meatbags were offended” sorta thing) while the habblock at the centre of the incident, to much continuing bitter resentment on Kenra, begrudgingly admitted fault for not handing over samples of their technology in a timely manner.
But how to interpret the incident was extremely ambiguous and is the central basis for divisions in Kilobo to this day. One faction, called Xaviarists since they are loyal to the homeland of the patron saint, think this was masterful diplomacy in their favour by Ultramar. Their reasoning being that: of course Kilobo couldn’t possibly hope to stand in the face of the Mechanicus, and the war that had been brewing would have been the end of the system. By making it clear that no such would be tolerated Ultramar had saved them all. Another faction, called the Xenoists for reasons to become apparent, thought it displayed shocking indifference. They had long standing trade, military, and cultural ties to the 500 words, yet in their moment of need the Ultramarian response had been vague irritation at having been asked to weigh in at all. The lesson Xenoists took was one of shattered illusions; after all they had done, they could not rely on reciprocal support.
These divergent interpretations speak directly to the pressing problems Kilobo faces entering M41. With the Sautekh dynasty now actively patrolling the edge of their space with designs unknown there is widespread fear of Necron invasion. And, while that is the main fear, people do not forget that the Tau empire might at any point retaliate for aiding and abetting the Mo’zi, nor that next time tensions flair with the Mechanicus they may not get so lucky. How can they defend themselves from these vastly more powerful foes is the central policy concern among Tramale’s administration. Xaviarists seek greater integration with Ultramar, in the most extreme cases even advocating application for gradual full membership. Strengthening this traditional relationship to the point where military and diplomatic cover would be automatic and presumed would effectively ward off most attacks before they even occurred. It may even result in a garrison of the Emperor’s Angels, surely rendering Kilobo invulnerable. Whereas Xenoists look to the Mo’zi; the Farsight Enclaves welcome Gue'vesa and have successfully defended themselves against Tau, Tyranid, and Orkish forces. They hence think secretly preparing a mass evacuation to the Enclaves is the people’s best hope. What is more, these tensions track cultural and planetary differences - with Xaviarists better represented among the more pious planets of Kilobo and Kofoglin, while Xenoists thriving on the more egalitarian world of Kulin and still aggrieved Kenra. Kilobo once more faces civil conflict.
