But the situation for the Loyalists was dire the rebel forces numbered in the millions and Ferrograd was soon cut off and besieged. With the veteran colonel at its helm, Ferrograd rapidly became the rallying point for the remaining Loyalist factions. In response to the revolt, Colonel Jurten moved quickly to take control of the hive city from its vacillating rulers in a military coup. After the rebels' initial attacks much of Krieg quickly fell to the Heretics, save for Hive Ferrograd which remained under Loyalist control under the command of the now-infamous Colonel Jurten of the 83rd Krieg Imperial Guard Regiment. Krieg was then immediately devoured by a civil war which erupted suddenly and violently, between the heretical rebels who supported the High Autocrat and those citizens of Krieg who remained firm Imperial Loyalists. The High Autocrat further renounced the Emperor of Mankind as his divine master and political overlord. In 433.M40, the end came for Krieg in the form of the High Autocrat of Krieg's largest hive, the Chairman of the Council of Autocrats and the de facto Planetary Governor, (a man so hated that his name has been purged from all Imperial records by an Edict of Obliteration) who declared planetary-wide martial law and that Krieg was now independent of the Imperium of Man. The citizens of Krieg were sadly ignorant of these slowly spiralling events and the terrible ruin the misrule of their leaders was about to bring down upon them.

Worse, the Autocrats grew to resent the influence of the Imperial Administratum on 'their' world and in particular the heavy tithes levied on them by the Departmento Munitorum, taking resources they protested were vital to their own defence. Their paranoia over an outside threat that could shatter their dictatorial rule caused them to sink vast resources into strengthening the defences of their hive cities, building private armies and further surrounding their world with an outward facing ring of steel. This ruling oligarchy became increasingly insular and debauched over time. Bloated with wealth and corrupt with indolence, the former rulers of this world - the Council of Autocrats - was rife with petty vendetta and vice. Yet Krieg is now covered in a wilderness of ruined cities that span the poison-choked world. This once-thriving Hive World was a trading and manufacturing centre that was populated by billions. Its dreadful history of rebellion and treachery has been obscured and lost in the mists of time. Much of the early history of what was once the Hive World of Krieg in the Segmentum Tempestus is shrouded in rumour, allegory and dark myth.

Death korps of krieg soldier