Synn: Synntapolis

Long before the Age of Sigmar, within the shadow realm of Ulgu, there resided a mighty unity of free cities. Foremost among these great burgs was Synntapolis, from which silvered hosts of Men, Aelves, and Duardin did march in defiance of the machinations of the damned pantheon. and within which was erected a grand Realmgate that the light of the god-king and his court might illuminate the shifting mists of this bleakest of realms, and through which armies of order might march to do battle with the enemies of sanity and of life. 

The Many Crested King, Daemon Regent, and fell mercenary general of the twisted god's undivided hosts hungered after this Light of Ulgu, and knew he might gain much glory with its sundering and he did make war upon its blessed defenders. When at the Battle of Outer Krastahl, and the Damnation of Lantern's Mount the hosts of darkness shatter the lines of the faithful, there was much lamentation within the streets of Sigmar's city, which was amplified when siege was laid upon Synntapolis. 

As the Age of Chaos did descend upon the realms, and light waned in power against the dark, blessed Sigmar found, in his unquestioned dedication, that a host of the Stormcast Eternals could be dispatched through the Realmgate to reinforce the beleaguered defenders. 

Serried ranks of silver helms, speartip, and arrow were presented to the foe, bolstered by the hammer of the god-king the men of the defiant city smote the denizens of the realm of madness, time and again. For a generation, the forces of order stood in defiance, but at long last, the thrice times thrice-cursed lord of the host of evil did stand before the gates of Synntapolis and bellow a challenge to the master of the Stormcast to meet in single combat to decide in honorable combat the fate of the great city. Vandyor Cometborn, Lord Castellant of the host answered the call, and speaketh these words in the reception of the daemon lord's challenge. 

"Verily do I Vandyor Cometborn, servant of the Lord of the Realms, meet thine challenge. I make in a compact with thee, and with thine lieutenants, that upon thy death, the host which thou hast assembled upon this plane in defiance of the laws of the rightful, will disperse and never again set upon the places touched with the blessed light of my master"

In agreeance, the Many Crested King merely nodded, and battle betwixt the lords was joined. great fissures split the ground and the skies wept with thick ichor at the terrible forces loosed upon the realm. Then, as the noble Cometborn did make to strike a terrible and closing blow upon the Many Crested King, the daemon revealed its treachery, with a word it sent forth its minions and pulled the Lord Cometborn beneath a tide of fecund bodies. With their master fallen in treachery the defenders reeled, and the forces of Chaos broke the walls. Battle was joined in tumult unmatched within the streets of Synntapolis, and for a fortnight the free peoples held the tide of evil at bay. 

Final defiance was given in the dawning hours of the final day, in the shade of the grand realmgate, twenty times did the waves of madness break upon the shields of the faithful and twenty times the tide was repulsed in glory. when the twenty-first came it was a lone Knight Questor, whose name has since been lost that broke the loadstone of the realmgate, even as arrows pierced his favored body, and his martyrs' blood flowed on sanctified ground. Such was the tumult of energies unleashed, stained by the lifeblood of a murdered hero that Synntapolis entire was swallowed by the winds of magic, veiled by Ulgu itself, as is its way, until such time as Ulgu permitted its discovery.  

It is said, that the Many Crested King screams in rage still, atop a mountain of priceless relics at his failure to deliver the blessed city to his masters.  Some say you might hear them still borne upon the mists to this very day.  

-The Hagiography of Sainted Vandyor Cometborn- 

By Defandias Ezza, Third Scribe Apparent to the Procurator of the House of Dreams 

XXCVIII.M.

Col.Uriah Merda. Commander Yurien 3rd

Colonel. Merda,  known also as "Rust's Bulldog."  Is a older man,  of 52 years,  and one of Antilo Rust's most tenacious, and senior of Army Group Commanders. He is vicious, known for lightning quick armored offensives and the liberal application of Mechanized Infantry assets.

As a young man, Uriah Merda was a fiercely independent member of "The Brass Hegemony" a volatile economic sect of the Imperial Government on the Hive World of Cauldron's Gate. There he was responsible for overseeing the discipline and punishment of illegal mutant slave laborers, that provided much of the workforce for the Hegemony's obscenely high product quota. Cauldron's Gate, was eventually shifted into the zone of reinforcement for the Astra Militarium war against Orc Pirates in the sub sector.  Merda's, natural talents as a disciplinarian proved very helpful for his career, and he was placed in the 4th Cauldron Infantry's regimental command staff as an adjunct Commissar.

In his tenure with the 4th, he learned the trade of the political officer, and soon relished the work, putting the fire of battle and will to succeed into the hearts of the infantrymen under his direction.  After nearly a decade in service with his home regiment. Merda was given the rare promotion to the rank of full Commissar, by his mentor, and was to be transferred to a special Schola in the Segmentum Solar for indoctrination of the just right of Imperial Law.   However, as is sometimes the case with the Departmento Munitorum, he was prematurely transferred to the 3rd Yurien Regiment as a Senior Political Officer, to assist with the Cyrian Civil War.

Upon making planetfall on the dusty flats on Yuria. Merda, assisted for sometime in small scale anti guerrilla operations, becoming familiar with the mechanized blitz tactics of the tankers.  Eventually, late in the war, only a few months before the Pilgrims would arrive and liberate the world.   The Governor issued  Edict 001,  to all loyalist regiments,   the systematic annihilation of all resistance units, their families, their families relations, and those relations' relations.   When the 3rd heard of this, their fury and outrage was absolute, armed terrorists was one thing, but few had been prepared to enact a full purge. Loyalties were tested, and it looked like even the PDF would rip itself apart.  Merda, spent much of this time brooding, thinking about his true place.  He decided, that the only proper thing to maintain discipline in the regiment would be to execute the acting Colonel Tamhander,  and place the regiment in a state of total neutrality until the wars end.

The 3rd, would be encountered at the central Tram station, holding off the 2nd Yurien "Loyalists" by the 11th Rallen. The stress, and lapse of imperial law, had let the temptations of Chaos slip in, and the 3rd were just starting to build bloody alters to Al'shata Kharone (The Blessed War Father).  Merda acting as their defiant new Colonel.  

Soon, Merda, would be promoted to the rank of Lex Commandat in the Pilgrims,  and be in command of the entire 2nd Army Group, some 1.8 Million Souls.  but for all the titles of distinction, he chooses to be called Colonel and thinks it more "homely" and "down to earth".   While he spends a lot more time in command rooms, and briefings than he would like, Merda still finds plenty of excuses to extol great feats of courage, and fight alongside his "Tough Bloody Boys" .

-Your Favorite Madman-