A few friends and are doing a tale of four gamers with these 40k armies, where essentially you build armies concurrently and play games as you reach each army point value milestone: 500pt, 750pt, 1000ptm, etc. Having deadlines certainly helps me hit my hobby goals and gives me a way to keep motivated if I hit a lull.
To tie it all together I put together an outline of the narrative of our campaign and we will build on it each game session and put it up on the Trello to allow people to edit and add their backgrounds for their armies. This outlines the general motivation for each faction:
The planetary governor of a recently settled imperial planet Abyz III has become overly ambitious and overthrown the incumbent authority on his planet. He has declared himself king and surrounded his royal palace and the central hive with an enormous void shield.
A warp storm has also erupted in the system, a phenomenon quite common in the region, far from the imperial homeworlds, cutting off all communication to nearby systems.
Black Templars
Black Templars were in the vicinity of the planet when the uprising took place three years ago and have been ordered to reconnoiter with an inquisitor leading the counter insurgency on Abyz III and provide assistance in restoring order on the settlement (an Amalthanian inquisitor). They have recently landed and are seeking his whereabouts after not having any contact with the group or the imperial force to which they belong as a result of the warp storm in the area.
Custodes
An imperial inquisitor was on the planet and tried to lead a counter revolution with members of the priesthood. This was a failure. A final message sent by the inquisitor was intercepted by an imperial crusade force:
“Governor Darra has taken sole authority…We await final assault.. I discovered a plot to invade the Emperor’s palace and reclaimed the plans. I personally destroyed them and anyone who had seen them.”
The possibility of the inquisitor remembering even a part of the plans is too dangerous to risk, a contingent of custodes has been secretly sent with orders to kill the inquisitor and any who try to aid him.
Since the message was received, a warp storm erupted, this has thwarted any attempts to communicate with the planet or other imperial forces
Squats
The squats of Miraz Dur have lived peacefully on Abyz III ever since 6,000 years ago, after being cut off from the imperium, having to trade with the Orks and Eldar just got to be too much and they said enough is enough. They shut the doors of their stronghold and became self sufficient living completely underground. The citizens have never been happier.
Until now, a massive void shield has suddenly appeared through the middle of the stronghold. It is time to dust off the grudge book, someone just made the list!
Death Guard
His corpulence, grandfather nurgle has planted deep seeds in Abyz III, life is hard and short on the unforgiving colony, it didn’t take long before despair and worry overcame the hope for a new start on a new imperial planet.
Nobody knows the how the population began worshipping a benevolent floating pudding, but out here it started to not sound so crazy. The promise to relieve the hivers of their worries and uplift them into immortality was too tempting to dismiss and the population was ready to grab hold of something. Recently, these ideas have spread to the point that work has ground to a halt. Govenor Darra seized the moment to assert his control of the hive. However now the populace seems to be coming down with afflictions at a rate never seen before, and his own household guard, once uninterested in the new religion, are increasingly being found with pamphlets titled “the pudding is coming - ten reasons you should believe”.
5th faction
Another inquisitor is also present on the planet. Unbenownst to others involved, Inquisitor Tillinghast has surruptitiously been the architect for many of the events unfolding on Abyz III, carefully nudging events towards disorder and conflict (an Istvaanian inquisitor). Tillinghast has managed to establish a far reaching political presence and has many allies.
