ca. 001.M31 Compliance of 63-19 - Forced off course by a Warp Storm, the Luna Wolves' 63rd Expeditionary Fleet discovered a star system of nine planets orbiting a yellow sun quite by accident. After entering the system, they were contacted by a technologically-advanced human society based on the third planet. This world was ruled by a self-appointed "Emperor of Mankind" who claimed to be the predestined ruler of all the scattered remnants of humanity across the galaxy. Though initial negotiations appeared to proceed smoothly, soon talks broke down, which resulted in rising hostilities and the death of one of Horus' favourites, Captain Hastur Sejanus. Horus miraculously did not order an immediate retaliatory strike. Instead, he mobilised an Astartes "speartip" unit to stand by and prepare for a planetary assault. Horus then attempted to negotiate a second time by despatching Maloghurst and another contingent of Luna Wolves, but this mission also ended in disaster when Maloghurst's Stormbird was shot down and presumed lost. The massive ground assault spearheaded by the Luna Wolves was led by First Captain Ezekyle Abaddon, as well as a half-dozen Titans which provided ground support while Assault Craft provided close-air support. The Luna Wolves were eventually able to close and penetrate the capital city's defences, and came face-to-face with the so-called "Emperor". 1st Company Captain Kalus Ekaddon, commander of the Catulan Reaver Squad, swiftly killed the man he believed to be the false Emperor. Then the true false Emperor revealed himself, striking with deadly force against those Luna Wolves that were present, and nearly succeeded in neutralising both Captains Garviel Loken, Ekaddon and the other members of the Catulan Squad. He was only stopped by the timely intervention of the Luna Wolves' primarch, as Horus teleported directly into the Throne Room and slew the false Emperor with a single, well-aimed Combi-Bolter shot to the head. The campaign was concluded with the death of the false Emperor as the main resistance on 63-19 collapsed without his leadership.
Samus and the Whisperhead Mountains - At the town of Katheri on 63-19, local superstition speaks of a recurring entity or holy phenomenon known as "Samus." The Luna Wolves destroy all traces of religion in the region and bring the world to Imperial Compliance. However, an encounter with the reality of the Samus Warp entity shakes the faith in the Imperial Truth of those who witness it.
ca. 001.M31 Compliance of 140-20 (Urisarach / "Murder") - After the victory against the Laer, Lord Commander Eidolon departed the 28th Expeditionary Fleet with the elite 1st Company of the Emperor's Children to take part in the reinforcement of the Blood Angels 140th Expeditionary Fleet's Compliance of the Death World of Urisarach. Unknown to the Imperial forces, this planet was in actuality a prison world for the dangerous sentient xenos species known as the Megarachnids. These large, arachnoid xenos were described as too numerous and formidable to defeat without reinforcements, and caused heavy losses amongst the Imperial forces. This earned Urisarch's informal appellation of "Murder." A company of the Emperor's Children Legion under the command of Lord Commander Eidolon eventually arrived in response to the Blood Angels' distress calls, but soon took heavy casualties themselves. The situation did not improve until the arrival of the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet and a large force of Luna Wolves, tens of thousands of Imperial Army forces and the Titans of the Legio Mortis deployed to the planet's surface to assist the beleaguered Astartes. By the sixth solar month of the campaign it seemed the Megarachnids would soon face extinction when the fleet deployed by the Interex arrived in-system to determine who had assaulted the Megarachnids' reservation world. Finding contact with the highly-advanced humans of the Interex to be a more pressing issue that needed to be dealt with, the Warmaster Horus Lupercal ended the campaign against the xenos of Murder.
ca. 001.M31 Diasporex Persecution - During the latter part of the Great Crusade, the Iron Hands Legion's 52nd Expeditionary Fleet encountered a nomadic, fleet-based civilisation composed of both humans and xenos known as the Diasporex. The Iron Hands shared the Imperial Truth of the Emperor of Mankind and offered the human members of the Diasporex the opportunity to separate from their alien allies and to join the newly-forged Imperium, but they declined the Astartes' offer. Their offer rejected, the Iron Hands passed judgement, and in the following solar months the Iron Hands fleet attempted to annihilate the Diasporex, but they proved to be highly-skilled and experienced in the realm of naval warfare. The Emperor's Children of the 28th Expeditionary Fleet were called in as reinforcements, and so, a joint Imperial strike force composed of both the Iron Hands and forces from the Emperor's Children Legion prepared to launch an all-out assault against the willful Diasporex. During the massive naval battle that ensued, Fulgrim's personal gunship, the Firebird, came under heavy attack and soon found itself in trouble. Ferrus Manus and his flagship, the Battle Barge Fist of Iron, rushed to the rescue of his beleaguered brother. Due to the continuing influence of the daemonically-possessed Silver Blade of the Laer still in Fulgrim's possession, the Phoenician's pride was wounded. He felt that his brother Ferrus Manus had slighted him and was convinced that he was acting pridefully and that his actions were rash, instead of seeing them as they truly were -- humble and heroic. This drove a further wedge between the two brothers that would eventually come to a head several standard years later on Isstvan V.
ca. 001.M31 Compliance of 154-4 (Ibsen) - This was a joint Compliance action carried out by multiple Legiones Astartes on the verdant world of Ibsen. The population of this world was a rare example of Aeldari / Human coexistence. Upon further inspection, it was discovered that these humans were in fact descendants of the Salamanders' homeworld of Nocturne who had been liberated from Drukhari captivity by their Craftworld kin. During the campaign, the Iron Hands' Primarch, Ferrus Manus, went missing temporarily, as two Aeldari Seers attempted to show him their precognitive visions of the future and warn him of his impending doom. The Gorgon dismissed these visions as a simple trick. With the population fighting the Imperial forces at every turn, and unwilling to accept the Imperial Truth, Vulkan was left with no other choice but to declare Ibsen and its population irredeemably corrupted. He ordered the world cleansed by flame. He renamed the scoured, Nocturne-like Dead World that remained Caldera. The world was now ready to receive new human colonists and to be exploited for the benefit of the Imperium. ca. 001.M31 Compliance of 154-6 (Kharaatan) - Not long after the successful conclusion of the campaign on Caldera, Vulkan and his Salamanders Legion participated in another joint Imperial Compliance action on the world known as Kharaatan. Designated 154-6, the Salamanders fought alongside the Primarch Konrad Curze and his Night Lords Legion as well as the Mechanicum forces of the Legio Ignis Titan Legion and several Imperial Army regiments. During this campaign, Vulkan became infuriated with his brother Primarch and how his Legion conducted themselves with such brutality. During one notable incident, the Night Lords slaughtered the inhabitants of an entire city in order to seed fear amongst the general population. When he confronted Curze about his Legion's actions, a brief fight ensued between the two demi-gods. After the successful conclusion of this campaign, Vulkan reported Curze's conduct to both Warmaster Horus and his brother Primarch Rogal Dorn of the Imperial Fists Legion. This incident would later sow the seeds of animosity between Vulkan and his brother Curze, causing a rift that would further widen as the Great Crusade wore on. The events on Kharaatan would have far-reaching affects that would later play a role in what happened to Vulkan after the tragic events of Isstvan V played out.
002.M31 The Kayvas Belt Expedition - Many tribes of Orks, scattered and leaderless after the hammerblow they had suffered during the Ullanor Crusade, had fled to the points of the etheric compass -- and many had come to rest in the Kayvas Belt, where they carved new outposts out of the drifting, mineral-rich rocks, licked their wounds while they re-armed. The Alpha Legion had tracked them to their lair and petitioned the Warmaster Horus for the reinforcements required to prosecute their plan of annihilation, but after the campaign at the world called "Murder" and the disastrous engagement with the civilisation known as the Interex, the Luna Wolves had been reluctant to commit warships to Alpharius' new campaign. In the end, it was the Blood Angels who agreed to assist their cousins in the XX Legion, with Sanguinius himself marshalling a sizable intervention to support the efforts of the 88th Expeditionary Fleet. The mission, Alpharius said, would be five standard years in execution. The Angel rejected that premise and promised it would be over in one, and he committed vessels from every active Blood Angels Expeditionary Fleet to the cause. Sanguinius was proved right -- more or less. Just over thirteen solar months after the commencement of the Kayvas initiative, the Orks were almost totally annihilated.