abstract
| - Tallarn is a harsh Desert World in the Segmentum Tempestus that is the homeworld of the famed Tallarn Desert Raiders Regiments of the Imperial Guard. When it was first discovered by human settlers in the 29th Millennium it was classified as a verdant Agri-World. However, during the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium, the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion -- intending to destroy all potential resistance before landing -- virus-bombed the planet from space, rendering it an inhospitable desert. Only then did the Chaos Space Marines land. Tallarn's few survivors emerged from their underground bunkers to stop the Iron Warriors' invasion. Soon, reinforcements from both sides arrived. It became clear to the Imperial forces the futility of fighting over a destroyed planet, but by then there was no turning back. Although it could not be guessed at the time, the Traitor Legion was motivated to attack the world beyond their mere appetite for destruction, for Tallarn was home to a potent Chaotic artefact. Since the poisoned environment made it impossible for infantry to operate outside of protective shelter, the only available option for battle was that of armoured tank warfare. The largest tank battle in human history erupted on the surface of Tallarn, involving some 10 million armoured vehicles. By the end of it, the Iron Warriors were defeated, and the wreckage of over a million tanks littered the sands. Approximately twenty years after the Battle of Tallarn, the official Tallarn Desert Raiders Regiments of the Imperial Guard were formed. These regiments specialised in desert fighting and highly mobile armoured warfare, and were highly adept at ambushing enemy forces in the desert. The Tallarn Desert Raiders continued the Imperium of Man's attack on various worlds which had turned to Chaos until sometime during the later 31st Millennium, when they were recalled to their homeworld. The Cursus of Alganar, an ancient Chaos relic of black stone that served as a gateway between the Warp and the physical universe which had led the Iron Warriors to Tallarn in the first place, was discovered deep under the desert sands. Immediately after finding this relic, both the Eldar of the Biel-Tan Craftworld and the Iron Warriors spilled from the sky once more to claim this relic, even as the daemons of Chaos emerged from the Warp when the artefact activated. After months of fighting in a conflict that is known in Imperial records as the Cursus War, the Eldar and Tallarn Desert Raiders formed an alliance and destroyed the Chaos forces. After their combined victory over the Chaos hordes, both races exchanged rare promises of friendship, before the Eldar departed in peace. The people of Tallarn re-entombed the Chaos relic beneath the sulphurous sands of their world and turned their backs on it.
|