The Charadon Sector. An immense Ork empire within the Ultima Segmentum, where the Imperium of Mankind has fought back against the green tide for millennia. As the centuries elapse, this sprawling warzone slowly expands, drawing resources from imperial worlds in every direction, devouring supplies, resources, and the seemingly inexhaustible armies of mankind.
The enigmatic Eldar have lurked in the shadows of this warzone with increasing concern over the millennia, for they know of a terrible hidden threat. Long before the rise of mankind, it was the Eldar who dominated the stars. When the Eldar were young, they fought against their ancient enemies, the Necrotyr. Though the war did not end with the defeat of the Necrotyr, the Eldar prevailed when the Necrotyr determined that rather than fighting, it was wiser to go dormant, concealing themselves in tomb worlds scattered across the galaxy. One day they would awaken, and reclaim the stars.
One such tomb world, known to the Eldar as Shlaereen, lies on the outer fringes of the Charadon Sector. Well aware of the greed and foolishness of mankind, the Eldar know that it is a matter of time before man stumbles upon Shlaereen, and in their insatiable hunger for resources, stir the evil back into the galaxy. For millennia, a coalition of Eldar have used their mysterious powers to conceal Shlaereen, and intervened by force when their Farseers believe that any being might become aware of its existence. Over the last century, the Farseers visions of human contact with Shlaereen have increased in frequency to the point that a new strategy must be developed by the Eldar, if they are to keep the secret safe. As the Farseers surveyed the limitless potential futures, the Eldar became more engaged in the Charadon Sector, acting on many schemes that would drive Imperial forces away from Shlaereen. One such scheme presented itself in the Imperial controlled Altimer System.
While not particularly remarkable, the Altimer system was once a productive world in the Imperium of Mankind, producing foodstuffs, mineral resources, and regiments for the Astra Militarum. As with hundreds of other worlds near the Charadon Sector, the demands of the ongoing conflict had bled the Altimer System dry. Food became increasingly scarce. Disease spread. All the while, the Imperium needed more regiments, and demanded more and more tithes. Some began to believe that the Imperium intended to draw every resource possible out of the system, before leaving it to perish. Anti-Imperial sentiments grew, secretly cultivated by ambassadors from the Tau Empire. The Altimer system was ripe for a rebellion against its empire, and the members of the Tau water caste have been working for years to pluck this world from the overlords of mankind. Small rebellions had been stamped out, but the embers of a full scale civil war quietly smoldered unseen. The Eldar intend to tip the scale of this burgeoning conflict into a full scale war, which will demand an Imperial response. The Eldar will intervene when needed to ensure that the civil war rages on, drawing resources toward the Altimer system, and away from Shlaereen.
And so, the Eldar engage a small fleet of ork vessels in the Charadon sector, and draw them into a chase. The chase that ends in the Altimer system, where the elegant ships of the eldar disable the crude hulking Ork spacecraft, forcing them to crash onto Oxalis, an Imperial agri-world in the Altimer system. The ensuing ork tide that threatens Oxalis will require aid, which the Eldar know, the Imperium will not provide. One way or another, the Altimer system will turn to the Tau for aid, and it will defect from the Imperium.
The Eldar plan was executed to near perfection, as the events unfolded just as they intended. The military forces left in the Altimer system had no way to deal with such a threat. As they struggled for years to fight against the orks, and requests for help were denied, the Tau knew the time was right. Their contact within the Altimer military agreed, and in one swift stroke, the Tau united with the rebel forces, and overthrew the Imperial Governor, scattered or destroyed loyal imperial forces, and engaged the orks on Oxalis.
The orks on Oxalis proved stubborn. The Tau and rebel Imperial forces fought the greenskins for years, bisecting their hoards into smaller and smaller groups, in an attempt to separate the vile xenos to containment zones. The other two worlds in the Altimer system, the mining world of Kor, and the capital world of Altimer itself, were shaken by the civil war. While the Tau had gained a firm grip on all three worlds in the system, small pockets of Imperial resistance remain on every planet, fighting back in a guerilla war against the invaders and their rebel kin. The Tau grip on the worlds tightened over a period of a few years, until sector command became aware of the treachery in the Altimer system. As the Imperials deployed their response to the rebellion, and the Eldar prepared to engage in their precision strikes on both sides of the conflict, everything began to change.
The carefully executed plans of the Eldar did not foresee the madness that was about to engulf the galaxy. The Cicatrix Maledictum tore the galaxy apart, as the forces Chaos spilled from their infernal dimension into real space. One of the Emperor’s sons, Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines was reborn, and launched a crusade to fight the madness.
In this new theater of war, almost nothing was unchanged. The forces of chaos were not yet closing on the Alitmer system, but the Tau sent the bulk of their liberation fleet to protect the Altimer System from the looming threat of chaos. The forces remaining on Altimer still had control, however, the extermination of the loyalist imperials and invading orks turned from an assumed eventuality, to a grinding stalemate. The Imperial response to the Altimer system was a strike force from the Sons of Leman Russ, the Space Wolves. The strike force, let by none other than Arjac Rockfist fought their way through this new nightmare galaxy, and have reached the Altimer system. The Eldar forces, not interested in seeing their plans ruined, must now also engage the forces of Chaos. Not only to prevent them from overtaking the Altimer system, but to prevent them from discovering the slumbering tomb world. All the while, they must continue to play both sides of the civil war in the Altimer system, in order to foster the desired long lasting conflict. The war for the Altimer system, has begun…