The following was written and posted by LordLucan, of the www.

heresy-
online.net forums, from 2009 to 2010. The Shape Of The Nightmare To Come
50k was his imagining of how the universe of Warhammer 40,000 would
WARHAMMER 50,000
change by the year 50,000. As might be guessed from the title, it was an The SHAPE of the
especially grimdark outlook.
NIGHTMARE to COME
Regardless, the writing represents some of the finest Warhammer 40k
fanfiction that has ever been posted to theInternet. It is with that in mind that CONTENTS
the writing has been copied and posted here, almost word-for-word. After all, 1. Overview of the Second Age of Strife 21. The Hammer Shattered: The Imperial
2. Cadia, Abaddon and the Western Chaos Guard
posting the stories to two sites better ensures that fans will always be able to Imperium 22. The Psychic Apocalypse, The Black Ships,
access and enjoy the writings in times to come. 3. The Situation in the East: The Tau Empire and the Nex
4. The 'Petty Imperia' 23. The Blood and the Sword: BloodKnights
5. Angels Unleashed: The Space Marine of Baal, and the Legacy of Mephiston the
'Free Companies' Undying
6. The Adamantine Worlds: The Adeptus 24. The Cognate (200.M43 - 992.M48)
Mechanicus, The Awakening, and The 25. Legends of the Hermit
War of Two Spheres 26. Of the Webway Waaaaggh!
7. Church of the Deluded: Grand Sicarium 27. Of the C'tan and the Ophilim Kiasoz
8. The Crusade of Insanity: The Templars 28. (In)famous Persons of the Second Age of
on the Rampage Strife
9. Ravagers and Rogues: Piracy in the
Second Age of Strife
10. The Unseen Wars
11. The New Devourer
12. The Last Solar Bastion: Titan
13. Warriors of Fortune: Mercenaries in the
Second Age of Strife
A Heretic Visions FanWork
14. The Wolf Lords
15. The Star Father Incarnate
This Production is entirely fan-made and in no way endorsed or approved by, or affiliated with 16. The Dying: Biel-Tan, the Eldar, and the
Games Workshop Limited. Lord of the Dead
17. The Blackheart's Reign: The Eastern
Adeptus Astartes, Cadia, Catachan, the Chaos devices, the Chaos Logo, Citadel Device, Codex, Daemon (and Chaos Imperium
associated derivatives)Dark Angels, Drukhari, Aeldari, Aeldari Symbols, Drukhari Symbols, Games Workshop,
Genestealer, Gorkamorka, Great Unclean One, Inuisitor and associated devices, Keeper of Secrets, Khorne, Kro-
18. The Webway Wars: The Net
ot, Lord of Change, Necron, Nurglem Ork and associated devices, Sisters of Battle, Slaanesh, Space Hulk, Space Breached
Marine, Space Marine Chapters, T’au and associated devices, Tyranid, Tzeentch, Ultramarines, Warhammer, 19. The Xenos Resurgent: Alien Empires of
Warhammer 40K device, and all illustrations associated with the Warhammer 40,000 univers are ©, ®, and TM the Second Age of Strife
of Games Workshop Ltd, 2000-2018, registered in the UK and other countries around the world, or their respec- 20. The Fist Clenches: Strongholds of the
tive owners. Sons of Dorn
This is a labour of love. Please enjoy, and we hope Games Workshop don’t object!
 of terraforming each world turned the T’au into

OVERVIEW of the bitter, self-righteous beings. They were disgusted at

the actions of their predecessors, and vowed to not
understand their fellow races, but to purge them. Only

SECOND AGE of
the Tau could be trusted with worlds. They decided
that all others must be cast out. Watching, their patron
laughed his sardonic laugh as his puppets were twisted

STRIFE
into terrors.

The Golden Throne finally failed. No-one knew for

certain what happened to the Emperor. For once the
There was no great conflagration or calamitous final throne fell, no vox or astropathic transmissions ever came
battle. from Terra again as warp storms engulfed the planet.
The shattered remains of humanity had neither the
Across the vastness of the galaxy, the Imperium died; power nor the will to return. All that is known is that the
not with a bang, but with a whimper. The galactic Astronomican died with the death of Terra, sputtering to
empire of humanity crumbled, its enemies too many, nothing over the course of five hundred years.
too powerful and too terrible to imagine. The great
conflict of Octavius had no victory, a war without end.
In the fiery chasm of strife, the locust and the green
holocaust fused, as beast looked upon barbarian and
both saw the other as kin. The new entity spread with a
speed undreamt of by Ork or Tyranid. War and hunger
melded into a singular desire to ravage, rape and
remake all in the image of the New Devourer.

The Devourer’s hybrid nightmares were regenerative,

and spore-born, combining into a grand horror which
murdered the galaxy, leaving naught but fragments
as it left. Metallic sentinels of unflinching dread rose
up on some worlds, leaving them safe from the New
Devourer Waaagh, but instead made them slaves to
the silver sentinels, and fodder for their glowing metal
gods.

The Aeldari race who had held onto life for so long,
slowly winked out of existence, one Craftworld at
a time. Eventually, even the rumbling hearts of the
Avatars fell silent. For a time... In the dead Craftworlds,
something slithers through the Infinity Circuit to
The death of the God-Emperor of Mankind, interred
this day. Alas, the great God of the Dead, Ynnead, is
trapped within the circuit, howling its mournful song so long upon His Golden Throne, was a body-blow
into the darkness, eternally hungry in its desire to from which the Imperium of Man would never truly
wreak vengeance on She Who Thirsts. revovefr. All that had been wrought these past ten
thousand years and more was lost in a maelstrom
The T’au, naive in their hope of unity, expanded of madness and violence that swept through the
It is the 51st Millennium, and the war continues... into a realm of corpses and ash. Every world they galaxy, emanating from the cold, silent heart of
came across was dead. The hard and unpleasant task now-dead Terra.
Eventually, the Imperium, its coherency lost by the It was said that in those days, a hundred thousand desperate for orders and purpose, tagged alongside the sentinels that already plagued thousands of worlds.
splitting of its forces against the New Devourer and the ‘Petty Imperia’ were created from the carved up corpse Black Templars’ crusade. Millions of rag tag former
sudden surge in warp storms, was shattered like glass. of the Imperium of Man. Each claimed legitimacy and Imperial Guard and massive mobs of flagellating The confrontation was epic in scale. Warped-spawned
Chaotic cults stampeded through humanity, like claiming to be led by a leader chosen by the Emperor Imperial Cultists quickly joined the crusades’ march magic and daemonic machinery and weaponry battled
electrical surges in an ancient power grid. as he finally died. Some even claimed to be the across the stars. Soon, their depleted numbers, drained arcane weapons of unimaginable power. The vast
from the wars with the New Devourer, had nearly serried ranks of Necron and Pariah, which covered
Emperor reborn. Humanity, so scared in their huddled reached two thousand Astartes, representing the
With the death of the Emperor, The Inquisition finally masses, believed this heresy without question, too nearly every solid world in the Sol system like a silver
second largest single group of Imperial Marines still
lost its facade of unity, and most died, killed by the afraid to imagine a universe without their father and in existence (second only to Grand Sicarium). Yet, no carpet. In the end, Abaddon was forced to merely
more powerful within its once hallowed ranks. The protector. matter how large their crusade got, the Templars were surround the Oort Cloud. The Dragon had ensured the
greatest Inquisitor Lords seized whole systems for naught but a band of raving fanatics. solar system was his.
themselves, becoming feudal Kings and Regents. The noble Space Marines fared little better. Most
Uniting scattered mobs of their deadly fellows around Chapters utterly disintegrated as their forces, who Ultramar was renamed Grand Sicarium, under their His, save for a single orb of diamond-hard
them in order to wrestle power from local governors. fought individual missions across the galaxy, found new ruler, Cato Sicarius. His realm became a holy site stubbornness: Titan. It stood a stony fortress, its doors
they could not return to their Chapter Masters. In the for the other Ultramarine successors. Their fractured sealed from the Necrons by adamantium and heavy
remnants gathering around Ultramar like a swarm of cannons, its soul sealed from Abaddon by the cold
The Church also shattered, becoming nothing more darkness and loneliness, many Marines chose the only flies. Sicarius declared himself High King, decreeing steel cage of faith encasing the hearts of the Grey
than a series of minor sectarian cults. All save Ophelia. path they knew: War. They became rogues and near that those under his protection should worship him Knights and Custodian Guard trapped upon the
The Adepta Sororitas withdrew from as many worlds bandits, pillaging Imperial worlds for the war effort as as the god he was. Sicarius became the ruler of his world. All other humans on the world had perished
as they could, and gathered around Ophelia and they would say in justification for their actions. It was own little empire, the angelic Marines and ordinary a thousand years previously, yet the ancient warriors
nearby systems. Ophelia became a vile charnel house said the White Scar and Raven Guard war bands were mortals under his decree became his worshipers. Upon
stood firm, a shadow of the Imperium’s past glory.
for the Ecclesiarch, who had been driven insane by all the worst, as they were so swift and ruthless in their Macragge itself, the fortress of obsidian was crafted;
he had seen. pillaging. the heads of Agemman and Calgar were stuck upon
great steel pikes. A grim demonstration of Sicarius’ In the turbulent energies of the Warp, the Chaos Gods
desire to rule all. Ultramar became a darker place in also suffered. For with the end of the Emperor,
He gathered his Canonesses, Abbesses and The Black Templars retained the most of their original something else was stirred. Birthed upon the death of
those centuries.
Witchhunters together and put billions to the torch. fervor, and merely continued their crusades. They the Carrion Lord on Terra, the Starchild suckled upon
Any system within range of short warp jumps (as became full worshipers of the God-Emperor, and High Those Forge Worlds still intact after the collapse of the raged religious lunacy of the dying Imperium,
navigators could no long make long jumps, due Marshall Dorstros declared a new and greater crusade the Imperium either fell to chaotic or Dragon-cult consuming every soul remaining upon Terra in its
to the warp storms) of Ophelia were terrorized by - To destroy every human that did not submit to them invasions. Some were ransacked by rival warbands, birth pangs. This is what killed the Astronomicon.
the Imperial Church, who searched desperately for and the God-Emperor, and purging everything and desperate for tech priest slaves to help them work their Ophelia became a focus for this dark zeal. At the
someone to blame for this nightmare. everyone else. Their zealotry blinded them to their stolen technologies. These slaves became bartered like dawn of the 50th millennium, the Starchild became
own heresies, as more and leaderless Marines, currency amongst the various larger Petty Imperia, the Star Father, and the Warp became a battleground.
as they became known now. Some Forge Worlds For a brief instance (or perhaps an eternity. In the
simply sealed themselves off from the galaxy entirely,
warp, none can tell for sure) the Star Father became
their Fabricators for once preferring ignorance over
knowledge of what lay beyond. dominant over the Chaos foes. Then, with the
sickening inevitability of the great game of Chaos,
Chaos became a raging torrent in these dark millennia, the Star Father became one amongst the five, a god of
rising to levels of corruption not seen since the Age of order amongst gods of chaos.
Strife. Worlds were dragged into the Warp as whole
planets were overrun by rogue psykers, madmen, and Where they spread chaos, He spread oppression.
monstrous Space Marines. The Chaos Legions became Where their daemons were feral nightmares that rend
virtually indistinguishable from rabid bands of former souls, His daemons were faceless automata, enslaving
loyalists. Some groups slaughtered in the name of Dark the souls of humans into servitude. The Star Father’s
Gods, others just slaughtered. daemon worlds sprung up in the Eye and across the
galaxy in the closing millenia of this dark age. They
Abaddon the Despoiler seized massive swathes of were globes of featureless gold, with golden faceless
space around the Eye, being careful to not disturb the
daemons and billions of mindless, empty humans. The
New Devourer, as it blundered around him. Dodging
like a skilled swimmer giving a swarm of predatory inhabitants of these worlds shuffled across the surface
fish a wide berth, he avoided them. Abaddon and his for no particular reason until they simply died of
200th Black Crusade plunged into the Sol system. It is starvation or fatigue.
there that legend tells of the war of two spheres. Here,
Abaddon faced the army of the Dragon transcendent, It is the 51st Millennium and I cannot wake up from this
a vast army of fallen Mechanicus and those same silver nightmare! I cannot wake up!
 In those dark, early decades of the ten thousand years don forged the planet into something else entirely. He
of pain, before hope had completely died, the forces of repaired the ravaged Kasrs, their formidable fortifica-
the Despoiler made their move. As the whole galaxy tions admired by Abaddon. He had learned to grimly
convulsed in pain and terror, as the Imperium was gut- respect Cadia, as it had thwarted him again and again
ted by the New Devourer’s rampages, Abaddon and his for millennia before. He remade Cadia into a dark and
20th Crusade finally, irrevocably, defeated the Imperial twisted reflection of its former glory. The Despoiler
blockade around the Eye of Terror. At last, Cadia fell to wished to show to all that while Chaos was a destroyer
his forces. Beasts, daemons, madmen and monstrous and unmaker of things, it could also represent glory
Astartes swarmed over every world in the systems and creation.
surrounding the tear in reality. Though pockets of
resistance held out for far longer than expected, each
Vast banners and triumphal arches were built by
Imperial bastion, Inquisitorial fortress and Space Ma-
countless toiling, broken slaves. Statues of great horned
rine Chapter were overcome in those centuries of woe.
Daemon Princes and Chaos Space Marines lined bou-
levards and avenues. The Imperial Aquila remained in
view everywhere, but each was carefully defaced with
the sign of the eight-pointed star of Chaos in place of
the twin heads of the eagle.

Though most Cadians had been murdered during the

first weeks of the invasion, some had survived. Fallen
Kasrkin and traitor guardsmen, numbering in their
hundreds only, were kept alive by Abaddon. He prom-
ised them wondrous gifts and power, but demanded
that they create him a force like the Cadian regiments
of old. Thus, the twisted inhabitants of New Cadia were
forcibly made to learn the way of war, from the ancient
remnants of the original Traitor Cadians. Within a
century, Abaddon had crafted a new force within his
empire. These new ‘dark Cadians’ named themselves
simply ‘The Despoiled’. They were elite, brutal, and
utterly loyal to Abaddon, who they worshipped as the
voice of the Chaos Gods themselves.

Inevitably, following the defeat of the Imperials, the

chaotic alliance fractured, as each of the Legions and
chaotic war bands fought amongst themselves, each
Lord or Daemon Prince desiring dominance over the
The Imperium was finally overreaching itself, and other equally arrogant and selfish rulers of their rival

SECTION I:
Abaddon punished it for its laxity, carving out a do- war bands. Abaddon was no different, and he joined in
main spanning nearly an entire segmentum. Yet, of the fighting, seeking to consolidate his realm of cha-
all the myriad worlds Abaddon conquered, none was otic madness into a new Dark Imperium. Many of his

CADIA, ABADDON and the

more precious to him than the great bastion itself:
rivals, the Daemonic Primarchs Angron and Perturabo
Cadia.
in particular, were disgusted that Abaddon wanted to
bring order to the blessed chaos of their current situ-
Cadia was a symbol of his ultimate triumph over the

WESTERN CHAOS IMPERIUM High Lords of Terra, and his defiance of their feeble ation. They forged an alliance, and declared war upon
attempts to contain him. Though initially the world Abaddon’s Dark Imperium. This declaration was a
burned in slaughter and barbarism, eventually, Abad- miscalculation on the two Primarchs’ part. This forced
other Chaos warbands to choose sides.
The Word Bearers, for the most part, joined Abaddon free to seize and command more of the fallen Imperial Angron’s seemingly foolish charge into Abaddon’s den, system, on the request of Abaddon. Upon exiting the
almost immediately, as their visions of a Dark Impe- vessels beyond the Eye. In addition, the Despoiler still however, had been a mere distraction to give Perturabo warp, the Goliath Engine soon came under attack from
rium fitted with his to a certain extent. This brought had the Planet Killer and the remaining Blackstone time to complete his great work. With the aid of sev- its eastern quadrant as an entire fleet descended upon
a considerable number of Marines under Abaddon’s Fortresses under his control. eral Dark Mechanicus clans, and a sacrifice of a billion it. Later known as the Battle of Bile and Iron, Pertura-
control, and the Word Bearers also brought with them souls to the Soul Forge, the Daemon Primarch had bo’s Goliath Engine was outmatched. Abaddon had
truly phenomenally huge hordes of slave-soldiers and completed the Goliath Engine. skillfully drawn him away from the Eye’s daemonic
The war was a long and bloody one, like most of the
cultists. The Black Legion of course sided with Abad- wars Chaos ever fights are. Abaddon’s forces initially sustenance, and weakened the vessel. No longer was
A vast construction of daemonic iron, coiling semi-or- it invulnerable. However, it was still formidable, and
don, as they were to benefit the most from his ascen- reeled from the violent assault of the two Primarch’s ganic machinery, cursed runes, injected Obliterator
dancy to rule of the Chaotic realm. The other Legions, Typhus lost many vessels in the resulting battle.
furious forces. Attempting to mimic Horus’ lightning virus and other hateful devices and technologies were
utterly decentralized by thousands of years of distrust swift assault upon Terra, Angron sent his forces direct- combined perfectly in the titanic vessel. Supplanting
and civil war, were formed into warbands, attached even the Planet Killer in its scale, the daemonic ma- As the Engine burned and collapsed around him,
ly for New Cadia, smashing aside blockades and ravag-
to no one ruler in particular. They shifted allegiance chine soon thundered from Perturabo’s forge docks, at Perturabo raged, and determined to finish it once
ing worlds in his way. Abaddon, though, was no fool. and for all. The death of Abaddon would end the war
between the alliance of Angron and Perturabo and the head of the largest fleet the he could muster around
He had helped Horus formulate this very strategy, and instantly. He ordered his surviving Iron Warriors to
Abaddon’s camp almost annually during the conflict, him. Such was the dark powers crafted within the
predicted that Angron would be foolish enough to vessel, it allowed Perturabo to command his battle fleet teleport with him, onto the planet Killer, and engage
although the majority of warbands followed Abaddon
try it. His navy was seemingly absent when Angron’s personally, even beyond the Eye’s nourishing anarchy. Abaddon in single combat. However, unlike Horus,
at any given time. Also, where most of the human vas-
forces made planetfall upon New Cadia. However, they Over the ravaged Nurgle Daemon World of Thrashing Abaddon was no fool. The teleport failed miserably, as
sal forces controlled by the Angron and Perturabo al-
liance were simply rabbles of mutants and cultist scum had been waiting. His vast fleet struck at the berserker Puxshar, the two vast forces, one serving anarchy and Abaddon’s shields remained firmly up. Perturabo was
Primarch’s supply vessels. Unaware of the sudden dan- disintegration, the other merely Chaos, clashed for flung back into the Goliath Engine, in time to witness
militia, Abaddon had crafted the vast force of ‘The
ger until it was too late, they were decimated. Stranded supremacy. Despite the size of Abaddon’s fleet, Pertura- the Planet Killer fire its doomsday cannon. The warp
Despoiled’, whose numbers swelled massively by more
upon New Cadia, Angron nevertheless reaped a mas- bo was a Primarch, and his naval skill was formidable. cannon smashed through the crippled machine, and
and more traitor Guardsmen recruits, from either Ca- One of the Blackstone Fortresses succumbed to the
dia herself or coming from other planets, desperate for sive toll upon the planet. Yet, weakened by the pylons detonated its daemonic heart. Screaming in impotent
Goliath Engine’s massive weapons and crashed into the rage, Perturabo was banished back to the warp. Soon
some military discipline once more. and the waves upon waves of human blanks Abaddon stagnant Daemon World beneath them.
forced to charge at the berserker, he eventually suc- after the battle Typhus withdrew to the Eye, taking his
cumbed, defeated by a group of the Black Legions’ fleet with him. When inquired as to why Typhus had
In naval terms the Primarch forces seemed outmatched Thousands of ships clashed together in the sprawling
highest ranked chosen, combined perfectly with a well aided Abaddon, he cryptically responded:
once more. Abaddon’s navy was one third larger than melee in the void. Daemonic gunships dueled with
that of Perturabo and Angron, who were still reliant timed orbital strike, which banished Angron from multi-tiered ex-Imperial vessels, and Legion cruis-
ers smashed into other, equally chaotic vessels. Space “Flowers bloom, flowers rot. Rot is nothing without
upon the Eye of Terror to sustain them. Abbadon was Cadia.
inside the swirling madness of the Eye was further order to decay.”
filled with the myriad exchanges of devastating fire-
power flung between the disparate fleets. At the height Deprived of both leaders, Perturabo and Angron’s alli-
of the battle, the Planet Killer and the Goliath Engine ance soon collapsed, and the more unified forces of the
clashed. Broadsides, torpedoes, daemonic fire, putrid Dark Imperium triumphed, driving their foes into
tendrils of Warp-stuff: all were cast against the other in the deepest depths of the Eye. Following this victory
the brutal and blistering engagement. Abaddon’s flag- Abaddon expanded his Dark Imperium into an empire
ship even managed to fire its most deadly guns upon of hundreds upon hundreds of worlds around New Ca-
the Goliath Engine, but to no avail. In the Eye, the ship dia. Oddly enough, many worlds submitted to his rule
was immortal, the living machinery of the ship drag- instantly, even worlds who despised Chaos and still
ging itself together after each exchange. worshipped the Emperor. In a time of such horrendous
anarchy, any order is craved by the civilized.
Seemingly bested, the Planet Killer fled before the
might of the Goliath Engine. Perturabo, eager for final
Ironically, the only thing resembling order in Segmen-
crushing victory, roared off in pursuit. He caught the
extremely damaged Planet Killer, fleeing in the void tum Obscurus was Abaddon’s Dark Imperium. Former
between worlds, in the Illirax system. Confident of Imperial Worlds hid their signs of worship to the Em-
victory, the Primarch engaged the Planet Killer and peror and openly welcomed The Despoiled regiments,
the few escorts that had fled with Abaddon. However, who swiftly took over the main PDF centres. Often,
when it seemed victory was finally certain, the tables there was little to no opposition to this. This was not a
turned once again. Exiting from the warp a month religious matter. This was intensely secular. Most gov-
previously, the Terminus Est and attendant fleet of ernor knew that the only way to survive in the millen-
disgusting Nurglish vessels had lingered in the Illirax nium of pain was to be part of something bigger.
 The Eastern fringe. Ever a realm barely touched by Im- Tau embarked upon multiple expansions, on multiple
perial influence, it was initially the least affected by the fronts. Their optimism and hope seemed frankly sur-
fall of the Imperium (No Petty Imperia ever formed real to the crippled, dying civilizations around them.
from the ashes of Imperial rule in the Eastern Fringe). However, this idealism and hope soon faded, just like
The area merely became marginally more anarchic everything else. Everywhere they tried to bring the
and barbarous. However, the devastation of Hive Fleet Greater Good was dead. The Tau expanded into their
Kraken, and later Hive Fleet Talos, ravaged the Fringe inheritance. They were, however, inheriting a galaxy of
horrendously. Soon after, the New Devourer surged ash. Ash and cold misery.
from the west, murdering thousands of worlds. A hun-
dred dozen civilizations were wiped out, and when the Sometime around M43, during the eighteenth and
various hordes of monsters left the Fringe was utterly nineteenth sphere expansions, Tau policy began to
fragmented. Countless worlds were left as nothing but subtly change. The Ethereals no longer recommended
bare rocks. offering civilizations the chance to join the Greater
Good. It was decided, at the Aun Council of 234. M43
Of course, as with most genocides and disasters, histo- (presided over by Aun’Va himself), that the other races
ry and life did not disappear. Some races, and even of the galaxy were hopelessly barbarous. The other
empires, managed to evade destruction either through races allowed their worlds to die, they made war with
guile, luck or sheer bloody-mindedness. The largest each other, even when unity would be the best option
of the surviving empires was the Tau Empire. In fact, in the wake of such an atrocity. In short, they must be
because the Tau did not rely upon the ‘deep’ Warp for forced into submission, and their people ruled over by
travel, the crippling warp storms throughout the galaxy the only beings capable of logical, spiritual thought: the
did little to hamper them. With little opposition, the Ethereals.

SECTION II:
THE SITUATION in the EAST:
THE T’AU EMPIRE
By 003. M44, a dozen decades into the hundredth markedly. Without the Ethereals, the Enclaves became The second subversive element came into being much Good rather well, incorporating their serpent god into
sphere expansion, the Tau Empire stretched from the a realm dominated by the Fire Caste. The Greater later. By M43, the Empire was in full expansive the myriad meanings of it.
dead worlds of Ichar to the barren howling worlds of Good, as a concept, had been rejected by these Tau. operations. However, it took several centuries until Upon the death of Aun’Kais, a dispute broke out
Alsanta. In total, it spanned roughly two dozen sectors, Only grim resolve and a strong arm allowed survival in the process of colonization and organisation of Water among the remaining subordinate Ethereals. Several of
and comprised just over a thousand worlds. Perhaps a a hostile galaxy. The Caste system was virtually abol- Caste administration could be fully implemented on them
little over half of these worlds were dead. And during ished, and inter-caste mingling was not outlawed. Only every Sept world and system. One such neglected Sept recommended themselves for the role of overall colo-
the slow, agonizing process of terraforming (involving the Fire Caste, the new military elite, remained aloof of colony was the To’Kaan Sept, located on the northern nial leader. There was an important distinction be-
constant bombardment with bio-engineered algae and caste interbreeding. However, though not enforced, the border of Tau expansion across the Fringe, and one of tween the two main groups that built up amongst the
various Pechoid plant accelerants , which nonetheless caste system remained in spirit, as each caste intrin- the most distant colonies in the Empire. Though a ver- Ethereals. There were the Traditionalists, who argued
took millennia to make worlds fully habitable) the Tau sically distrusted the other. Even more strangely, the dant world, it was colonized late on, as the Aun were that upon becoming supreme Sept Aun, the Fire Caste
had become slightly more xenophobic. For instance, Farsight Enclaves now operated under a sort of decen-
client races were forbidden from electing leaders of the only being able to spare a single exploration fleet to in- should be put in overall command of defense once
tralized vassal system. Territories upon Enclave worlds
various Sept systems and were confined to the poorest habit it. To bolster numbers in the colonial army, many more. The other group were the pro-Gue, who believed
were carved up between the new Caste-within-a-Caste,
habitations upon worlds. This was the Tau Empire, and Gue’Vesa auxiliary troops were utilized. To’Kaan was the Gue’Vesa had been doing a perfectly fine job of
the Shas’Kasar. Each of these powerful warlords had
the Tau wanted everyone to understand this. The other subdued by this combined force, though the battle was defending the realm.
acquired battlesuits, and each of these Kasar main-
races were inferior, as they had ruined paradise with tained their own little fiefdom. They maintained many difficult, due to the fanatical resolve of the native war-
their wars. Fire Caste soldiers as their vassals. Each of these fiefs rior Hu’Sta, a human tribal culture that made excellent In the end, through honour duels, personal and public
sheltered other Caste members, on the assumption use of captured Tau equipment during the year-long elections, and outright intrigue, the pro-Gue group got
Communication was slow but frequent in this expand- they would provide a tax to their lords, in exchange invasion. Aun’Kais, the commanding ethereal on the their wish, and Baldan remained overall military
ed Tau Empire. Without astropaths, they relied on the for protection. The Shas’Kasar, in turn owed allegiance expedition, was so impressed with the Hu’Sta’s abilities commander. Oddly for the Traditionalists, Baldan’s
billions of communication drones and messenger boats to the Shas’O’Shovah’Kasar, the overall grand Kasar of that he offered them roles within the occupying Tau supporters were not just from the Gue’Vesa and the
which pulsed near constantly between Septs, only forces. Though the Tau Fire Caste were skeptical of general human population, but also from the majority
the Enclaves. For many centuries this rank was held
leaving the ‘shallow’ warp when delivering messages. these uncivilized warriors, the Gue’Vesa took to them of the Earth and Water Castes. The successor to the
by Farsight himself. However, after his death this rank
As the Empire’s borders advanced, so did its technolo- very well, instructing them on the philosophies of Aunship of the Sept fell to Aun’J’Karra. As it would
passed to his sons, and became, in effect, hereditary
gy. Their ships became more heavily armed and pro-
(Though through the centuries, the position of Grand the Greater Good and training them in the use of Tau transpire, this Ethereal was rather weak as a leader and
tected than ever before. Limited cloning and genetic
Kasar has been disputed and the line of succession is equipment (even though the Hu’Sta had utilized much was virtually a puppet for Baldan and his successors.
technology allowed greater medical care, with each Tau
a tangled web, far too complex to go into here). Upon of the Tau equipment already, during the war). In turn,
having access to multiple cloned blood samples, limbs,
the passing of a Grand Kasar, the ceremonial armour the Hu’Sta explained how they worshipped the Great By the time more regular contact had been established
and even eyes. Drone technology gained greater and
greater sophistication, and the first entirely drone-con- of Farsight is granted to them, and they are anointed White Serpent, and also taught the Gue’Vesa some of by the Tau Empire with To’Kaan, in 335.M46, it was
trolled battle computer was released in 103. M44. Pulse Grand Kasar, by kissing the hilt of the Dawnblade, the their ambush techniques and unique battle tactics. barely recognizable as a Tau Sept world. Humans
weaponry became more reliable and effective, and symbol of Enclave liberty (a blade no longer drawn by and Tau were almost treated as equals, with the Tau
gunships and battlesuits of unprecedented quality were Enclave Tau, but instead enshrined within Farsight’s As the colony became less and less visited by the Tau filling in most non-military roles, while the militant
invented during this period. In the Segmentum Tem- tomb upon the world of Fio-Mon’Tarra). central authority, Aun’Kais became more and more ‘Gue Caste’ sat on the council of castes and fought at
pestus, the Tau were at the center of power. reliant upon his various Gue’Vesa subjects to fend the front of most assaults, while the only Fire Caste
To survive, the Enclaves abandoned the concept of off threats to his colony. Though the expedition was remaining piloted the battlesuits (tailored as they
Yet, for all its unity and promise, the Tau empire could refining their technology. Instead, they relied on trade well-staffed by Water, Earth and Air Caste, the Fire were, for Tau alone). Chief Commander Moonheart of
not maintain a completely centralized Empire, despite between rival empires and between merchants and
Caste sent had been a smaller number to begin with. the Tau Empire forces, even requested permission to
their best efforts. Space was too vast, and their vessels the like. Thus, the Enclaves became a melting pot of
The wars against the Hu’Sta depleted them further and invade To’Kaan, and ‘cleanse’ it of its perceived sub-
too slow. Some Septs were barely visited by the central differing technologies, all utilized by the Kasar in order over the centuries, the Fire Warriors became less and version of the Greater Good. Aun’Va however, vetoed
authorities, while others had vast Aun control set upon to survive. Though not as technologically advanced as less viable as a fighting force as their numbers weren’t this plan, and decided to instead recognize the right
them. However, most continued to follow the Greater their Tau neighbors, the Enclaves have large numbers
of Fire Caste warriors and a willingness to use xenos being replaced as well as their Gue’Vesa-He’Sta allies of To’Kaan, nicknamed the ‘human colony’, as being
Good according to Aun’Va and the orthodox council
equipment should the need arise. For instance, there could. The Gue’O of the He’Sta contingent, Baldan part of the Empire. This was mainly because the Hu’Sta
of the Ethereals. There were, however, two major
exceptions. are several occasions where Enclave troopers have Rar, got closer to Aun’Kais than any other command- had completely converted to the Greater Good, only
been seen wielding Imperial lasguns and carapace er. The two often consulted one another upon tactics their brutal tribal war clubs (wielded in battle by every
The Enclaves, Tau colonies cut off from the Empire by armour, Daconial nano-crystalline armour, digital and strategies. Aun’Kais would often get advice from Hu’Sta Gue’Vesa) remained of their old culture. The
warp anomalies in late M41, became all the more weapons or other such gear. These in conjunction with Baldan on how to keep the majority of the human Gue’Vesa contingent were there to stay, and would
isolated in the 42nd millennium as the anomaly be- Tau technology in some strange hybridization of tech- population of the Sept colony appeased. As a result, eventually become a key ally to the Tau Empire in the
came a raging warp storm. It was not until M43 that nology. So far, it has kept them relatively powerful and Aun’Kais would entrust more and more duties to them. long war against the Thexian Elite (which will be docu-
news of the Enclaves were heard, and they had changed resistant to sporadic Tau Empire assaults. The Hu’Sta converted to the philosophy of the Greater mented at a later date).
 With the collapse of the Astronomicon and the fall of grew lax or simply ignored the teachings of the church.
Terra, the Imperium, as previously noted, was shat- Some, such as Ophelia, took their fervour too far.
tered utterly. From M43 onwards, even the concept
of a united human Empire became nearly impossible, (We must also remember that many, many Imperial
as local powers and selfish megalomaniacs took their worlds simply collapsed, as warp storms cut them off
moments to strike. No longer was there an Imperium. from essential supplies. This was particularly a prob-
That monolithic concept had died in the fires of an- lem for many hive worlds, who simply starved to death
archy. From now on, there were merely hundreds of within a couple of years, as their agri worlds severed
petty Imperia and kingdoms. Some were the size of links with them, through warp storms, or through mad
sectors, others merely consisting of a single world or warlords stealing the supplies before they got there.)
system. Some of these Imperia claimed authority from
Terra, and tried to unify, others abandoned the Impe- It would take years to explain every Imperium created
rium, declaring themselves avatars for Him, or even at this time, and every situation that they entailed.
trying to supplant Him entirely. Some maintained the However, I shall endeavour to depict the largest and
xenophobic stance of the old Imperium, while others most influential petty Imperia created (along with
monikers created to differentiate between them. In
reality, each of the petty Imperia merely called them-
selves ‘The Imperium’, as they refused to admit the
legitimacy of their rivals).

The Rogue Trader Imperium

The most eastern of the petty Imperia, the Imperium of
Gerhed Lussor is possibly the most changed of the
Imperia. During the first few decades of utter chaos
Ophelia VII is the site of the Synod Ministra and the following the Astronomicon’s collapse, the extremely
Adepta Sororitas’ Convent Sanctorum. The world successful Rogue Trader, Lussor, was forced to break
is given over entirely to the worship of the Emperor. warp in the System of Corrin, along with his large, well
Its surface is covered in mile-high cathedrals and stocked (and well armed) ‘trading fleet’. Lussor was a
bell towers, linked by avenues lined with the statues shrewd and learned man, and the death of all his ast-
of thousands of Imperial Saints. Dungeons plunge ropaths told him that the Imperium was no more. He

SECTION III: deep into the bowels of the world, where heretics are wasted no time with incredulity or shock, but instead
made to repent their sins, subject to such methods of set to work.
soul-cleansing as Arco-flagellation, death-masking,
soul-scouring and the Trial of Castigation. He knew that, in order to protect his assets in the wake

THE ‘PETTY IMPERIA’

of the collapse, he needed to form a base of operations,
Ophelia VII was the centre of the Adeptus Minis- and to acquire territory and property. Corrin would
torum from the time of Ecclesiarch Benedin IV to have to do. He made planet fall on Corrin II, a pop-
Greigor XI and is still one of the main centres of
ulous hive world and the capital of the system, and
Ministorum power to this day, second only to Terra.
discussed various ‘protection’ deals for the planet,
It is located far from its sister planet of Terra, in the
entering negotiations with the Lord Governor’s staff
galactic south
and government. His scribes and law-scholars, using His ambitions went further, however. When the elec- shock troops became dependent upon these drugs, and and stamped into the dust. However, the Ecclesiarch
complex litigation and jargon, managed to swindle tions for the next governor came around, two decades ensured their constant loyalty. Lussor, ever the rogue, managed to flee Terra, even as the daemons began to
Lussor into the governmental process, insinuating later, Lussor was there, patronising a promising candi- presumptuously called them ‘Space Marines’.
pour from the Imperial Palace like a vile fanged tide.
him into the essential position of Defense and culture date for the role. The eventual governor picked was his
chamberlain. Over the years, this role branched into man, and this gave him unprecedented power on the Within a few hundred years, the Corrin system Impe-
other areas, like weapons manufacture and internal system. He integrated his fleet with the large fleets of rium faced a major problem. The reserves of food were Though the majority of his fleet were either destroyed
security, though he wisely kept the Adeptus Arbites on monitors and system defence ships, before using them running dangerously low, after so many years cut off in the escape, or were dragged into insanity during the
as enforcers, though now their role expanded to overall to secure other worlds in the system (such as the pris- from any trade with the local agri world. Fortunately, insanely turbulent warp transit, the head of the Minis-
system security, rather than just enforcing of Imperial on moon, orbiting Corrin V). Crucially, Lussor rec- the warp storms had somewhat cleared by this point,
torum survived, and descended upon Ophelia, the
Law. Using his acquired wealth, and his vast resourc- ognised the need for an effective fighting force, beyond and Lussor took this opportunity with both hands. He
es, he bought the southern Hive spire for himself, and the PDF, in order for him to secure territories beyond ordered his fleets to the agri world as swiftly as they second most holy site in the whole Imperium.
built himself a lavish apartment complex, with exten- the Corrin system. Corrin was a roughly average could. Led by Locur, he also dispatched his ‘space
sive grounds. system, except for the fact that, upon Corrin II, a vast marines’ as well. Using a series of short warp jumps, War and anarchy tore across the Imperium, and he
Adeptus Mechanicus storage facility was located on the the fleet only took a couple of months to reach the agri quickly realised the Imperium needed a rallying point.
western continent. world (which normally only took a week to travel too
Thus, the Ecclesiarch, Pius Guia, gathered together all
before the collapse of the Emperor’s guiding light.)
Using the corrupted local law, he used his powers to
order the storage yards searched. What he found there Eventually, they made it to the agri world. Initially
would alter the course of the ‘Rogue Trader’ Imperi- the world refused to submit to the ‘Imperium’, and so
um’s history notably. Thousands upon thousands of Locur led the space marines into battle. The sacking of
Corvus pattern suits of space marine power armour. the world took only a couple of weeks. The borderline
He threatened to have the remaining Tech Priests upon psychotic and lethally efficient ‘space marines’ utterly
the world destroyed, unless they adapted these suits bested the sparse and inexperienced PDF defenders.
for human soldiery. They, realising they were cut off The planet was subdued, and trade resumed with
from the rest of their brethren, accepted these terms. Corrin within the year. This was to be the first ac-
Pragmatically, Lussor realised he couldn’t make per- tion amongst many that the ‘space marines’ of Corrin
fect human-sized power armour from the suits, so had would undertake. Over the next few decades, the petty
them combined with elements of carapace armour, in Imperium swelled to over twenty five worlds. With
order to mass produce them better. this, the size of the Space Marine force expanded too,
along with the auxiliary, non-power armoured Army
However, he still needed bodies to fill. He did not want that soon sprang up in their wake, which was used to the astropaths that had not been consumed by the sud-
to deplete the PDF or their reserves, and refused to garrison captured worlds. This empire under Lussor den loss of their anchor point in the warp, and ordered
relinquish his own personal army for this task. Thus, was a profoundly poor one, but was nevertheless inge- them to send out a message.
he turned to the dregs of Corrin: the under-hivers of nious. Any scraps of technology, no matter how bizarre
the hive worlds, and the convicts imprisoned upon and incomplete, were used by Lussor’s captured Ad-
Corrin V’s cold moon. He persuaded many thousands This message was a summons to the Adepta Sororitas,
epts, and made into things that could almost be called
to volunteer, offering pardons, free food, and the pros- useful. Remote controlled bombs, converted land ordering all of them, no matter where they were, to
pect of drugs and violence to these hard-bitten killers, speeder chassis, poor-quality programmable robots, return to their spiritual centre. Over the next decade,
in exchange for service. These brutes were trained by and various other bizarre pieces of technology. Every- the Orders made their way back to Ophelia, fighting
the very best soldiers on Corrin, and even the one thing found a use. He was also open in his recruitment,
Astartes upon Lussor’s staff, Sergeant Procur of the through the consuming madness and chaos, to get
Rogue Trager Correus Lussor, c.a. 230 M.42. allowing mutants and scum into his ‘Imperial Army’,
White Scars. Their were equipped with the cheapest, each with their own regiments. back to their home. Over half of the Sisters of Bat-
Ambitious and politically astute, Lussor was able to
oldest bolters Lussor could scrounge up (as they were tle, the militant orders, had died in the terrible wars
create a surprisingly large and stable Empire in the
the only one available). Even then, there weren’t really Thus, a rogue became a ruler, and rebuilt his own little against the new devourer, and less than half of these
Eastern Fringes before economic strife and unwelcome
enough, so many of the armoured shock troops had to Imperium into something resembling civilisation.
external attentions led to its collapse. survivors, made it back to Ophelia. Most either died
make do with heavy calibre auto guns instead. Worried
This is one of the few portraits remaining, hidden away in transit, got stranded on isolated worlds, or were
about loyalty, Lussor devised a cunning strategy. He The ‘Ophelian Imperium’
in the ruins of his Capitol on Corrin II for 8,000 years otherwise slain by the ravenous monsters that crawled
gave the soldiers lots of combat-enhancing drugs and In those dark, chaotic early days of the cataclysm,
before a Scavenger mission discovered it near a charred
stimulants. This made them rather strong and fast, and when the Emperor finally died, it seemed as though the from the depths of madness, the fall of the Imperium
corpse and a fig tree.
had the added benefit of being rather addictive. These centre of the Imperial Church was ripped out forever, emboldening these terrors enough to act.
Yet, still, the Sisters came, and Ophelia was secured. desperate civilians. They all demanded to understand Across the Imperium, Pius’ Sisters, and Karam- the rule of the original Imperium, and their greatest
Xenos and demonic forces were driven from the why their god had forsaken them. How could the azov’s baying mobs of recently converted Frater- contribution to it had been merely desert-specialist
surrounding worlds within short-transit to Ophelia, Emperor lose? Was not humanity the dominant force is militia, invaded their own worlds, denouncing Imperial Guard regiments. With the loss of the Impe-
and an Imperium of roughly thirty worlds was brought in the universe? Many Ascensionist cults arose on the millions as heretics, before either beating them to rium, Tallarn had survived surprisingly well, having
under the direct rule of the Ministorum-in-exile. Pius Ophelian worlds. They held the view that death with rods and flails, or dragging them away already a small Empire with its own resources. The
soon declared that his Imperium was the one true the Emperor had not died, but had in- on the Witch-ships of the Ophelian Imperium. lack of an Imperial Tithe for soldiers had allowed
Imperium, and only his Imperium truly followed the stead ascended to full godhood. them to expand their PDF force far beyond what
dictates of the Emperor. He refused to acknowledge the Night and day, Ophelia glowed with a baleful orange was once capable. In fact, so much did it expand,
Emperor’s death, and merely reformed his Imperium’s The fall of the Imperium was His di- light, which played across the towering domes and that they inevitably developed an active offensive
laws, making them fulfill the rules of the Church much vine judgement upon Man. noble, baroque spires of the holy world, as the furnaces force, and managed to maintain a fleet of starships,
more closely. His Imperium became a theocracy far beneath the giant Cathedral blazed near-constantly, as using captured Ad Mech expertise and an abun-
more strict and powerful, than any Imperium before it. Pius Guia, who had been steadily growing more thousands of heretics were shipped in, only to be herd- dance of natural resources on one of their periphery
Broken Naval fleets who survived their warp transits, and more unhinged, latched upon this idea. Canon- ed into the cleansing flames one by one. Priests stood colonies, which soon became one giant shipyard.
flocked to this new Imperium, and with them came a ess Superior Kiralicus, one of the Ecclesiarch’s new on great lecterns either side of the horrific furnaces,
reasonable amount of Imperial Guardsmen, ruling body, the council of three, recommend- babbling some insane rhetoric from the various holy The Tallarn believed strongly in the Emperor, but
who were quick to convert to the Ophelian Im- ed caution. Unfortunately, the final member of books that Ophelia had hoarded over the millennia. their views were far more traditionalist than Ophelia’s
perium’s new, more pious doctrines. the council of three was Inquisitor Lord Karam- Karamazov personally executed a thousand here- radical reforms. Thus, when Tallarn expanded west-
azov, the infamous Pyrophant of Salem Proctor. tics, his throne of judgement in near constant use. wards, and encountered Ophelian worlds, they offered
Pathetically grateful to their saviours, the humans He agreed with the Ascensionists and the Eccle- these worlds an alternative to Ophelian insanity. Many
upon these worlds swiftly re-converted to the Imperial siarch, and so the new reforms were passed. The people of Ophelia, however, did not resist these civilians on these outlying worlds, disgruntled with
church. Fanatics clogged the streets of ev- insane zealots. In fact, many of the most insane the massive death toll of the Ophelian regime, openly
ery world, flagellants, doomsayers, ad recep- The Emperor, hence, had ascended, and He was pun- Ascensionists threw themselves into the fires, crying pleaded to the Tallarn to save them (or so the Tallarn
tionists filling the air with the fevered sounds ishing the decadent Imperium. This was the official hymnals as their bodies blistered and burned to ash. Empire claimed). Thus, when the Sororitas came to
of desperate prayers to their dead-god. view now. The only way to save their souls now, Kara- put down these revolts, the Tallarn fleets were there to
mazov declared, was sacrifice, and the punishment For twenty years, this reign of murderous terror engage them. And so, the war began. The Tallarn ves-
Ophelia itself, the vast world-spanning Cathedral, was of the obvious heretics within their society. Mankind continued. It was said that the process only stopped sels were of poor quality, and most of their conscript
filled with gibbering and despairing pilgrims and was lax and monstrous, and he had the cure: fire. when a young girl, barely six terran years old, ran to armies were nowhere near as effective as the highly
the Ecclesiarch, evading guards, and kissed his feet, disciplined Adepta Sororitas. However, the Sororitas
in religious adoration. Before he could respond, the had incredibly weak supply lines, and their resourc-
girl was shot by a wild-eyed Frateris Militia-man. es were woefully depleted. It was said at the battle of
In a terrible rage, Pius ordered the man’s innards Caninie, the Sisters fought without bolters, for their
boiled, and he was taken away to be executed. The supplies of bolter shells were so low. In contrast, the
genocide stopped soon after that day, as Pius real- Tallarns had a well developed, and above all, extensive
ised his orders had destroyed even the faithful. logistic train, with numerous way stations supplying
their vessels between each short warp jump. Their
He had come to this realisation despairingly late, ships were cheap and terrible, but numerous, and they
and the Ophelian Imperium was left severely weak overwhelmed the Sisters of Battle. The Ophelians
following this period of witch hunts. Almost a lost sixteen worlds in the war, and were driv-
third of the population was killed, and the Imperi- en back from their former territory. All be-
um’s industry was terribly understaffed by then. cause of their depleted resources.

After another twenty years, the Imperium was still Thus, Honostorian instigated his ‘heathen levy’ re-
struggling, and it took the Tallarn War to open the new forms. These new Ecclesiarchal Bulls tasked the large
Ecclesiarch Honostorian’s eyes to this con- Witch-ship fleets to change their tactics. They were to
spicuous lack of resources. spread out from Ophelian space, and find heathen
worlds. The populations of these worlds, due to their
It was in 234.M45, that the Ophelian Imperium heresies, were to be subjugated. However, they would
first came into conflict with the Tallarn Empire. The not be offered conversion as a way out. Instead, all
Tallarns were located just to the galactic east of the non-Ophelian Imperial Cultists, be they Thorians,
Ophelians. The Tallarns had been a tiny empire under Haemovores, machine cultists or anyone else, were to
be set to work as slaves and serfs. They would its fellow in-system worlds, had all suffered losses most powerful. With Delphain on the es, the governors acceded without incident.
work the fields of the surviving Ophelian agri of Astropaths, and widespread riots in the streets, throne, it became clear that this was no lon-
worlds, and they were put to work in the in- he knew something very wrong had happened. ger a mere alliance. It was an empire. Abar was young and impetuous. Deluded by the dis-
dustrial worlds that the Ecclesiarch permit- torted tales of the past Imperium told to him by his
ted to be built on worlds within the empire. This realisation became more and more evident as M43 Delphain, intoxicated by his success in crafting a func- father, Abar declared that they must expand into the
continued onwards. For thirteen years, the Inquisitor tioning state from the ashes of a shattered Imperium, Galaxy, and re-establish the Imperium. However, he
“The Emperor,” Honostorian was quoted as saying. and his crusade forces desperately fought off constant declared that this was the new Imperium, the sole did not take into account the fact most worlds were
“Desires the Imperium be rebuilt in His Divine image. pirate attacks and xenos incursions, that seemed to be legitimate power in the Universe. And, in a bold move, still recovering from almost a century of civil war.
He destroyed the old realm, so shall we rebuild it to His a near constant occurrence across the entire sub sector. he declared himself Holy king, chosen of the Emper-
exaltations. Our penance has been paid now in blood As they fought, they unconsciously began to utilise or. While the more primitive worlds of his fifty-world The belligerent King ordered expeditions into neigh-
and ash. Now, the time of reformation is at hand.” Harken and its systems more and more. Reserves Imperium could readily accept this, the more urban bouring systems. However, these ‘occupations’ could
for lost Guardsmen came from within Harkenian hive worlds and agri worlds became uneasy. During never work, as he hadn’t the resources for such ac-
Thus began the second phase of the Ophelian Im- PDF ranks, munitions and supplies were gifted this period, there were hundreds of rebellions. Each tions. In the end, these turned into raids and wars
perium. In many ways, this phase of the Ophelian by the Governors and provincial Lords of Har- was easily crushed by the feudal military of Delphain. of plunder, where greedy former-crusade generals,
Imperium was even more terrible than the initial ken and the outlying worlds in adjacent systems. The largest of these rebellions was led by Orichi, who power magnates and local Lords (who, increasingly,
phase. However, that is a story for a later date. was declared oracle of the future, and denounced became indistinguishable from each other, so similar
The ‘Delphain’ Imperium The Harken system was always in an unofficial league Delphain as Apostate and anti-Emperor. Crucial- in power and prestige the three strata were) would
of governors, even before the death of the Emperor. ly, she gained the support of a number of Lords on make planet fall on various human and xenos worlds,
Whereas before, the inquisitor would have probably the outskirts, who rallied around her. A large naval smash their cities and slaughter hundreds of thou-
destroyed the League due to the potential for sub- engagement over the world of Fancit decided this sands of people in random, brutal slaughter, rape
versive behaviour inherent to their league, he now rebellion, and Orichi was killed during the battle. women and men, burn down perceived ‘heathen’
openly encouraged it. The close ties between worlds churches, and steal all things considered valuable.
was utilised to its fullest by the cunning Inquisitor. Unified once more, the Delphain Imperium seemed Abar Delphain allowed this practice, however, as it
Using his crusade force of Red Hunters marines, set to maintain itself as a sated power. However, in provided a ready stream of income into his Imperium.
Deathwatch, and vast regiments of Inquisitorial Storm- 444.M45, the now-ancient Delphain final-
troopers and Imperial Guardsmen, Delphain kept the ly died. The Vassal-Governors each claimed they However, it soon drew the attention of other powerful
League of Planetary Governors (or LPG) relatively should take his place, while the Red Hunters forces, who soon descended upon this Imperium. This
intact. However, it became clear that there was no one backed Delphain’s son, Abar Delphain, as next Imperium, which considered itself so very mighty,
else coming to relieve the Inquisitor and his forces. in line. Unwilling to challenge the dread Astart- but who would soon be proven entirely wrong…
The Emperor was dead, and so was his Imperium.
Yet, this was not a particularly terrible problem for
the pragmatic Delphain. Over years of fighting, the
infrastructure of his crusade, and that of the gov-
Lord Inquisitor Delphain was a very powerful Inquisi- ernments of the LPG, had merged significantly. His
tor, and was leading a vast conglomeration of Imperial crusade was divided, fighting on all fronts across the
forces, in the cleansing of the Carpathis system, when LPG’s border’s, and many of his generals had agreed
the Astronomicon finally collapsed. Many thousands to defence contracts with local power magnates and
of his fleet’s vessels were lost in the warp, and the rest Lords, offering protection in exchange for supplies and
were spat out somewhere within the Ultima Segmen- limited leadership of the aforementioned provinces.
tum. Delphain’s astropaths and navigators all died, save
for one, named Orichi. Using her talents, Delphain Delphain himself became famous, and many called
discovered several nearby systems, and he per- him the ‘breaker’, due to a legendary battle on the bor-
suaded the Fleet Admiral to make a series of short ders, where the Inquisitor used his thunder hammer to
warp jumps to reach these nearby worlds. Within smash the gates of a rebellious city open, allowing his
six months, they had made it to these systems. troops to enter the city and slaughter the enemy. When
the old Governor of Harken died, it was with popular
The Inquisitor dispensed with pleasantries, and in- support that Delphian, flanked by his Red Hunter As-
stantly seized the Governor’s palace of the Capital tartes bodyguards, entered the central city, and seized
world, Harken. When he discovered that Harken and the leadership officially. Though the LPG technically
was a council of equals, the Harken seat was always the
 The Fall of the Imperium, while not instantaneous, son, when hope and fear are dead. The question which
was brutal and swift. The astronomicon was hacked drives us is thus: What else do we have? What else?”
intopieces, sputtering and dying. Whole Fleets and
worlds lost contact with one another. This one ac- Having no desire to retire or serve a new mas-
tion may not have caused the collapse of the Impe- ter, and no marketable skills beyond the blade and
rium, but compounded by the sudden upsurge of gun, these marines found purpose by simply con-
warp storms and uprisings, it certainly hastened it. tinuing to do what they had been created for.

Just as the Imperium fragmented, so too did each Whatever their justifications, these self-styled ‘Free
and every Space marine chapter. At a stroke, all ma- companies’ needed supplies and equipment if they
rines on campaign across the Imperium immedi- were to continue their Long Wars. These companies
ately lost contact with their segmentum commands rented their services to whomsoever would supply
and chapter fortresses. Ten thousand years worth of them with boltshells, repairs to armour, and the vast
warp charts became obsolete in a single heartbeat. quantities of calories needed for Astartes physiology.
These ‘Astartes for hire’ were employed against ri-
A few chapters had the good fortune to see most of val Imperiums, xenos incursions, and daemonic-led
their marines in one system, or a few of their nav- uprisings. They only stipulated that the client must
igators survive. These chapters managed to gather be a true human. Mutant-led Imperiums, such as the
their forces together in numbers almost compara- Vile-Born Imperium, were repeatedly shunned by
ble to those before the cataclysm. However, these all but the most unscrupulous of Free Companies.
lucky few shall be covered in a later section.
Other, less reputable Free Companies merely raid-
The majority of chapters were shattered into their ed human colonies, taking what they needed and
constituent parts, be they companies or mere squads. burning the rest. What right did these mortals have
These companies became known as the Orphan Com- to deny their betters? Why should the strong pro-
panies, and spent their time desperately searching the tect these weaklings? Surely punishment was all they
void for their lost brothers rather than campaigning. deserved. Such was the reasoning of these honor-
They stumbled through the galaxy near-blindly, their less renegade Astartes. The Free Companies which
navigators and astropaths all either dead of maimed. formed from fragments of the Marines Malevolent
Many Orphan Squads were picked off by opportu- were particularly infamous for atrocities. By M46,
nistic pirates, or rogue Empires eager for a quick many Free Companies’ savagery made them indis-
dose of vengeance against the fallen Imperium. tinguishable from the chaotic renegades of legions
such as the Night Lords or Dark Tuskers. Only the

SECTION IV: However, the grit and fighting prowess of a space ma-
rine is not so easily overcome. Even with the loss of so
much, some larger companies managed to survive
Raven Guard’s fragments, who were used to fighting
in smaller groups, maintained their dignity and hon-
our through this dark time. They continued to answer
and even thrive in the vacuum left by the Imperium’s desperate pleas for help, and they stole only from

ANGELS UNLEASHED: collapse. Most of these space marine companies

marched on undaunted by the prospect of a universe
without Him. This may seem strange, but a quote
their enemies, refusing to assault human empires.

Yet, they were only one chapter amongst

from Brother Burber ‘the Eagle blade’, one of the many thousands. The other Free Compa-

THE SPACE MARINE ‘FREE leaders of one such Space marine force, may go some
way to explaining this mindset: “You ask me what I
fight for? Not Him. Not anymore. The great monolith
nies spent the next millenia gleefully plagu-
ing the divided and panic-stricken galaxy.

COMPANIES’
of Imperial authority perchance? Nay, I say again nay! The Adeptus Astartes know no Fear.
We fight for a question. You may scoff, but our ques- Now they would know no mercy either…
tion is one which drives us on, beyond sense, or rea- well, so much for the chaplains.
In the millenia following the Fall of the Impeirum of Man, the words “Space Marine” would instill fear in the
hearts of all beings in the Galaxy...
 The Adeptus Mechanicus, unlike all other branches of individual Forge World possessed massive strategic
the ruined Imperium, did not collapse with the loss of resources, but these were too valuable to be risked
the Astronomicon. Their end came in the dangers of warp travel, and so meant nothing
from a far more shameful reason. at the galactic level. Seeing this weakness, the more
opportunistic Petty Imperiums began using their
The Machine Cult had always been distinct from the superior numbers to raid the starving Forge Worlds.
rest of the Imperial society. Always there have been Those Tech Priests stationed on non-Mechanicus
Ministorum clerics who frown on calling the Emperor worlds and starships were indentured by their em-
‘Omnissiah’, and magi who chafe at the idea of some ployers. These isolated Machine Cultists were forced
unaugmented Terran claiming lordship over to declare oaths of servitude to their new masters.
their church. As a result of this friction, the Forge Inquisitor Delphain’s Imperium greatly benefited from
Worlds had always operated more independent- this practice, filling his arsenals with many terrible
ly than the average Imperial world. Forge Worlds weapons.
communicated through the Mechanicus’ esoter-
ic Manifold system rather than standard astrote- The Petty Imperiums (not to mention the countless
lepathy, further widening the cultural divide. pirate bands and daemon-worshiping cults), realized
they desperately required Mechanicus expertise in
During the collapse of the Imperium, the Mechanicus order to maintain the technology looted from the late
continued on much as they did before, albeit with less Imperium. Trafficking in Tech Priests quickly became a
active personnel since they could no longer receive very lucrative trade. Mechanicum vessels were am-
food shipments from agri-worlds to feed all their bushed when they burst back into the materium after
adepts. Physical contact between Forge Worlds and perilous warp transits, their under-supplied crews no
outlying research stations was also mostly extin- match for the highly motivated raiders. Forge Worlds
guished, as the explorator fleets had not yet invented a were besieged in some extreme cases, often assaulted
replacement for Navigators. Yet, the Mechanicus could by brief alliances of several Petty Imperiums. These
not capitalize upon this advantageous position. Each alliances would quickly crumble once their leaders

SECTION V:
The Adamantine Worlds:
The Adeptus Mechanicus,
The Awakening, and the
War of Two Spheres
began to squabble over who would get the largest Of course, some forge worlds were subverted by a pre- Mars was near the centre of the Emperor’s fall. The life and sentience, denied him for so long. Fortunately
shares of the human and technological plunder. viously weak cult, following their respective periods of Tech Priests were driven utterly insane by this sudden for the Galaxy, an unlikely saviour intervened in that
isolation; the Cult of the Dragon. These forge worlds realisation that their Omnissiah was no more. Some same year.
To combat this, the Forge Worlds were forced to pour seemed to churn out technology far above their skills, tried vainly to claim He had merely turned into nought
their dwindling resources into their military forc- and this technology diffused into every strata of the but information, the Machine God made pure, but Screaming across the void, streaming for the eye
es. Each Skitarii army would have to defend its own hierarchy. Serfs and Slave Workers began using the their voices were drowned out by the increasingly like a vile spew of vomit and pus, Abaddon the De-
Forge World, without any hope of off-world support. sophisticated cutting tools brought to them, the thick insane ramblings of the divided rival cults across the spoiler, the dark leader of the Western Chaos Impe-
Thus, they had to expand into nearby resource worlds. green beams far in advance of anything previously planet. Fanning the flames of this madness was the rium, was expanding beyond his already extensive
Forge Worlds lucky enough to have some Agri Worlds seen. Mid range tech Adepts began to utilise strange nauseating waves of warp psychosis, rippling through borders. With his Legions of monstrous Astartes,
or mining colonies nearby lost no time in subju- technologies, apparently from the dark age, which the void, and driving their souls to madness. The his countless billions of the Despoiled, his fallen
gating these precious areas, setting up vast defence could teleport them around the forges safely, without Cult Of the Dragon grew marginally in numbers, Cadian army, backed up by countless demonic en-
stations around these worlds. It was said any world fear of daemonic attack, for the teleportation devices but mostly retreated to the Noctis Labyrinth, where gines and vile, semi-living demonic vessels, and
without a dense forest of gun platforms and space did not send them through the warp. Even the highest the taint of the warp was extinguished by powerful, renegade formerly-Imperial fleets, the chaos lord
stations was doomed. Agri-Worlds controlled by a level, the Fabricator and his Magi, would begin to use mysterious wards. Here, they awaited the awakening promised that he would finally seize the Solar Sys-
Forge World became known as ‘bullet farms’, as every sophisticated semi-solid metal alloys, which apparent- of their true master, the true Machine God incar- tem, and make his ultimate victory complete. As it
plantation had a battalion of Skitarii stationed in it. ly resisted the aging process entirely. Of course, day nate (in their opinion of course); The Void Dragon. transpired, he was beaten to it by the great C’tan.
by day, inch by inch, the forge world was subverted.
Most Forge Worlds followed this policy, but others When the great silver vessels came for them, and they During the 41st Millennium, five of the Dragon’s silver The War of the Two Spheres began in earnest, when his
followed different doctrines of the Cult Mechan- moved to attack these forces, they found their weapons vessels managed to land upon Mars, depositing an item initial vanguard fleets surged forth from the warp, and
icus. Some Forges were heavily influenced by the useless, as their technology itself rebelled against their of extreme importance to the Star God’s dread plans. were instantly engaged and destroyed by vast, sil-
dreaded Innovator Cults, and contemplated the The item was a vast, monolithic block of metal.
masters. Their odd green energy weapons failed to fire, ver ships, shimmering with arcane power. The
worst heresy possible: developing new technolo- It writhed with unseen power, and seemed to ex-
teleporters teleported unfortunates inside ferrocrete Despoiler, in his fury, deployed more and more
gy and armaments. The Forge World of Griminnar ist in a rectangular shape through choice, rather
walls, or simply into the void. The great silver fleets vessels, hoping to engage and destroy these in-
was the main forge to actually put this policy into than through physical necessity. It was the Dragon’s
arrived, and enslaved the worlds within hours, as the terlopers. He would not be denied his prize!
practice. The dead ruins of Griminnar still howl Necrodermis, his metal flesh. However, it was not
tiny Dragon Cults on the worlds struck deals with their
with the mechanical cries of orphaned monsters, until the fall of the Emperor, that the Void Drag-
silver overlords. These worlds’ central forge complexes The Necron Vessels of the Dragon, however, were far
and technologies that shouldn’t be trifled with. on’s essence was finally free from its binding. Unlike
were stripped down and converted, becoming great too powerful and, above all, maneuverable. Only the
the other star gods, it did not burst forth then and
glowing green gates, which pulsed with vile un-life. most corrupt and demonic vessels could effectively
Some Forge Worlds, like dread Caltar, became even attack. It was not rash and foolish, like the Night-
more isolationist than before, sealing their worlds bringer. It instead waited, as the converted Forge hold off the Necron Ships. Slowly, it seemed as though
from the outside universe. The Magi of Caltar sent The populations of these worlds were herded into Worlds across the galaxy, fed into its chamber, fill- the Forces of the dragon Ascendant, would push back
out their few remaining Naval vessels to every world the vast gates, where they were stripped down into ing it with revitalising and delicious energy. Abaddon, and perhaps even begin counter-invasion.
within reach. Those not already left barren by the New their component atoms, and pulsed away somewhere. The battles fought in the war could fill a library them-
Devourer, were made so by multiple virus barrages, be- Those Cultists who loyally stood by and watched, Once it did arise, however, it was almost as powerful selves, such was the dark legends birthed from that
fore the ash-fields left in the exterminatus’ wake were as their brethren were destroyed, were rewarded as it had been before it had ever been struck by the cataclysmic war. From the lead-melting hell of Venus,
then laced with toxic chemicals, which prevented any the gift of immortality. Their bodies were painful- Talisman of Vaul. With cold fury, the Void Dragon where specially-designed molten Necron constructs
terra-forming to ever take place again. Thus, sur- ly broken, and metallic additions were grafted into conquered Mars, easily batting aside the sporadic, battled hellfire daemons, and Astartes and mortal va-
rounded by a network of dead worlds, these forges their still living bodies. Their minds were scoured. gibbering armies of the Martians. The vaults were pourized in the heat, to the unforgivably cold expanses
sealed shut, and many of the highest Magi retreated Those who showed signs of blankness were remade plundered. All the lethal, forbidden technologies, were of Europa, where mighty Necron-tainted titans, and
deep under the surface. To survive, the workforce were as tall, strong-limbed Pariah machines, while the fixed and perfected, and those weapons kept only due spidery metallic creatures from ancient myth, wrestled
slowed, over the course of a thousand years, rendered others were simply stripped of all conscious thought, to stupid ignorance, were discarded. The Solar System, great tentacled Tzeentchian nightmares, and mon-
down into fleshy substances, remade as servitors, or and were grafted into the workings of the ma- at this moment, was not equipped to face the Drag- sters dragged all below the icy crust, to their doom;
fed to the few remaining Magi, via feeding tubes and chines themselves, by the mechanical spyders which on’s sudden onslaught, and world after world fell, and all seemed to be turning against Abaddon. No matter
osmosis chambers. These worlds became underground, roamed across these cold metallic Forge Worlds. every fleet was combated and defeated. Only Titan the infernal fury of his constructs, Legions of fanatics
twisted metal hellscapes, filled with cybernetic zom- held out against the Star God, but we shall discuss the and daemons, he could not match the dreadful majesty
bies, and ruled by ravenous, cannibalistic Tech Priests, Across the collapsing galaxy, hundreds of forge worlds valiant and stubborn defence of Titan, by the Custo- of the Void Dragon’s forces. It was master of the Void,
who were now virtually nothing more than spidery, fell this way, the souls of their populace fed into the des-in-exile and the Grey Knights, at a later stage. and everything in it. On the very surface of the sun, it
cloaked machines, covered in twisted structures, which central core of a vast web of ethereal horror, all chan- strangled the life from a summoned Skarbrand. It slew
barely kept their wasted rotten flesh from dying. neled into the world whose name lived in infamy for Thus, with the Solar System secured, the Void Dragon the entire army of Fellshan Torben, a dread Daemon
countless millennia to come: Mars. turned its ancient gaze outwards, coveting the realm of Prince that was old when humanity was young.
Abaddon grew desperate. Throughout the Oort cloud, cloud, their machines would fail, and self destruct,
the hollow sphere region of comets which orbited Sol, lest chaos contaminate the Necron Nodal net.
the Despoiler dropped spawn. All the billions of spawn
birthed by aborted ascensions were dumped on the The howl of the Dragon at that moment, so the leg-
frozen comets. Using vile sorcery, these spawn were end goes, reverberated throughout the galaxy. He
filled with the dreadful Obliterator virus, driving their had escaped one trap, only to be lured into another.
bodies to expand and twist ever more than before,
as billions of tons of machinery and weaponry were Abaddon had sealed the Dragon away in the Solar
spewed forth from the chaotic monsters, fusing into System out of mere hate and spite, yet unbeknownst
horrific merged constructs barely resembling anything to him, he had possibly saved the entire galaxy, as it
in reality should ever resemble. Through ruined lungs, cut the awakening Necron forces from their master,
and innumerable twisted vox mouths, Abaddon’s Dark and thus they returned to dormant mode across the
Mechanicus servants pumped scrap code and logic galaxy, merely securing the local area around their
daemons, distorting reality itself for light minutes in all Tomb Worlds, in preparation for the next call to arms.
directions.
Of course, saving the galaxy is a relative term. For
Even as the Void Dragon slaughtered the last of Abad- thousands of years after this period, things went from
don’s forces within the Solar System, Abaddon and the bad to worse for every inhabitant of the Milky Way.
majority of his forces outside the So- False gods rose, tyrants butchered millions, Forge
lara System, beyond the Oort Cloud, Worlds became ever more violent and isolated, and
sealed the trap. The giant obliterator humanity fragmented into ever more ignorant and
spawn were spewing forth anti-machine energies, brutish factions, as a new, far worse power arose in
straight from the warp, in a perfect sphere around the hearts of the deluded. Also, the Necrons only had
the entire Solar System. The void dragon tried to wait a few thousand years, before they returned to
to send his forces beyond the cloud. However, as their original destiny. For, as the galaxy at large would
soon as they tried to push their way through the come to realise, the Void Dragon was only one C’tan…
 Ultramar, during the tempest that engulfed the within Ultramarian borders. As the first thousand
galaxy, became, at least initially, a bastion of san- years of the second Age of Strife ploughed onwards,
ity and security for the huddled and fearful ser- the successors and the ultramarines became an al-
vants of the Imperium. As their empire collapsed most homogenous mass, as reinforcements for under
around them, Ultramar was seen by many as strength companies came from anywhere they could
the only option left to the Emperor’s people. find them, be they parent or successor. In general,
Ultramarian armies of the period appeared to be
The Ultramarine Successors tried their best to return strange multi-coloured groups, with each company
to Ultramar, to their ancestral home. Some could not often having marines from up to six different chap-
abandon their worlds, due to their gene fortresses ters within their organisation. Geneseed was used
being located there. However, most managed to con- in Ultramarine recruits, and that same stock used in
vert their chapters into fleet based chapters. This was other chapters, regardless. During the period, any
the only way to avoid the new devourer relatively former guardsmen or PDF left within Ultramar, were
intact, and the only way to travel to Ultramar. In the press ganged into service in these haphazard affairs.
dark early days of the M42, the small Empire within
an Empire expanded its area of effect, with defenceless, Calgar tried to keep to his father’s codex, but inevita-
leaderless post-Imperial worlds eagerly joining the bly, compromises had to be made. They had never
union of Ultramarines and successors. This expansion encountered a situation like this before. Whatever
was not just a humanitarian one, for the sudden influx troops he could muster were pressed into multi-
of successor chapters necessitated a massive increase in ple running battles across the sub sector. The or-
recruitment and training worlds, in addition to a larger ganisation of the worlds would come later, he just
infrastructure to accommodate these new arrivals. needed to hang onto the ones he already had.

By the close of M42, almost three thousand Astartes Quality of life in the Ultramar worlds became much
had come to Ultramar, and continued to desper- lower than the comfortable conditions of M41.
ately help fight off the devilish xenos invaders and Overcrowding and overpopulation due to refugees
heretical monsters, that poured from all directions made resources scarce, and intense rationing and
near constantly. The remnants of the Eagle Warriors high taxes were thrust upon the general populace. As
and the Genesis Chapter, in particular, were instru- memory of the Emperor became more distant, and
mental in defending the nearby systems around and rumours of his death spread, devotion and prayer
eventually began to drift towards the protectors of the
Realm: the Angels Astartes. Cults of personality be-
gan to spread across the various worlds of Ultramar,
and the Marines became figures of divine judgement
and awe. No tithe was ever rejected by these igno-
rant peasants. Even as they died in the street, blind
devotion grew in intensity. Some would say despi-
cably, none of the marines discouraged this. Many
secretly believed themselves superior than mortal

SECTION VI:
men, and confirmation of this by the laity must have
inflated their self importance to monstrous levels.
None more so than the famous Cato Sicarius.

Church of the Deluded:

Formerly of the Ultramarines second Company, Sicar-
ius became Centurion Maximal of the defence effort, a
rank created by Calgar, who was becoming a very
ancient man by this point. Sicarius commanded the of-
fensive war effort, to keep the heretics, horrific xenos,

Grand Sicarium and rival Imperiums, from tearing down what they had
won, whilst Calgar instructed Agemman, Regent of
Ultramar (and Sicarius’ rival) to look after the glory and for the Emperor. Sicarius, amazingly, openly bodies, Agemman and the Honour guard following Agemman was executed by Sicarius’ own Talassar-
administration and regulation of the realm, dissented, claiming this was a fool’s folly. The Ravager’s in his wake. The Chapter Master reached to within ian blade, before millions of adoring subjects.
in cooperation with Calgar himself. forces were not on a path to Ultramar. Why risk a war fourteen feet of the skull-helmed Vashnaraman.
they could not win, which would leave the realm weak? However, tragically, a venomous dart, fired by a
Over the next millennia, Ultramar became more in-
By 455.M42, Calgar had grown restless. He desired sickening depraved Eldar mercenary, struck the
for the expansion of Ultramar, to bring sanity back to Sicarius was not alone in this, and several Vassal- great man in the throat. The Eldar was said to ternally concentrated, and Sicarius’ cult of personality
the galaxy, and remake the Imperium. He saw himself Chapter Masters lobbied Calgar to reconsider. have told Calgar, as he lay dying, that the bolt had grew and grew, until the Chapter Master now demand-
as like unto Guilliman himself, who had pulled the been from a prominent lord of the Shadow realm. ed that he be worshipped as the apparent God he was.
Imperium from chaos back into Order following the He did not. Thus, a force of 500 marines, with The Vile thing had not managed to tell Calgar The Marines became semi-divine Angels, and were
Horus Heresy. He was supremely angry that Sicarius their attendant fleet vessels and human Auxiliaries, who it was, as Agemman struck its head from its worshipped alongside him. The Sons of Orar were par-
was not expanding, and demanded an explanation. surged forth to engage the Warlord. Notably, Sicarius shoulders, and dragged Calgar from the fighting.
Sicarius tried to explain that he was too pressed remained within Ultramar’s borders, while Agemman, ticularly concerned with ensuring worship of Sicarius
simply with keeping the realm secure, and that to keen to curry favour with Calgar, joined the crusade Bloodied and broken, after weeks of fighting, the few was regulated tightly. Holy books and histories grew up
expand would be to leave other worlds vulnerable. (the second largest marine force since the fall of the survivors of the ill-fated crusade managed to claw their about him, and myth became fact, and fact became lies,
Imperium) as it plunged into the dark, uncharted way back to their vessels, and made haste and all the while, Sicarius grew more and more insane.
Nevertheless, Calgar began to accompany Sicarius, region beyond the border worlds of Ultramar. back to Ultramar. However, when Agem- He was the descendant of the God-Emperor. Thus,
and led some expeditions of his own. However, in the man and the few survivors returned, Ultra- as the God-Emperor was dead, he, Cato Sicarius was
people’s minds, Sicarius was the true hero, and many It was upon the world of Thracis, that Calgar engaged mar was not how they remembered it.
began to praise him openly. Sicarius’s supporters began the Warlord and his forces. A seven million strong God. He had the great Obsidian Fortress built on Mac-
to turn his points about security, into ones about racial force of frothing madmen and callous mercenaries, Banners proclaiming Sicarius’ ascension to Chapter ragge, the titanic structure sprawled across the back of
purity. ‘Ultramar for the Ultramarians’ began to be faced Calgar’s force of 3000, only 500 of which were Master fluttered in the wind, from banner poles across the former polar defence fortress. Tapestries depicting
heard in the filthy overcrowded cities across the Realm. Marines. The battle upon the plain of Canthor was every world. Work was beginning upon statues and him fighting and killing Behemoth single-handedly, or
legendary. Calgar used every trick and ploy taught in memorials to Sicarius. As Agemman was to learn, Cato battling the monstrous daemon-infested Calgar, began
It was in 553.M42, that this mounting distrust between the codex, and even some improvisations suggested had informed the Council of Chapter masters that Cal- to spring up across the fortress’ monolithic interior.
the three men came to a head. A great chaos Warlord by Telion and the dreadnought Uriel. The war was gar, upon heading for the Crusade, had promised him
called Vashnaraman, had gathered a vast army of thuggish, brutal and short. Calgar simply could not leadership of Ultramar, knowing that he would
insane and deluded minions, backed up by demonic defeat the huge force which assailed him. It was grim die on his crusade. Sicarius had denounced Calgar In M43, Ultramar was renamed Grand Sicarium, in
engines and a huge fleet of vessels, and had ravaged the testimony to how far even Ultramar had fallen, that as a dreaded Codex-breaker (which had become honour of their God. He was king of all Space ma-
Goldian Imperium, and the Imperium of the Thorians. it could not longer defeat a force such as this. Calgar the gravest heresy according to Sicarius), and ac- rines, and he demanded they treated him as such.
Calgar called for a vast force of Ultramar, to sally forth determined that he would be the one to end the war. cused Agemman of corrupting Calgar’s mind. Though powerful beyond measure, he was always
from his realm, and engage this force in battle, for He fought his way through the press of foul chaotic
paranoid, and the secretive, hollow-eyed special
The defence monitors and warships that engaged the
force of Chapter Serfs, known as Idoltrators, moved
returning fleet gave them two options: surrender
Agemman, and be welcomed back into the fold of amongst the squalid societiesn f Grand Sicari-
Ultramar, or be slain as heretics of the highest order. um, from the ash fields of Tarsis, to the Mines of
Heroically, they refused. They were promptly boarded Colchis. Anyone even so much as voicing a con-
by the vile sycophant Master Titus, of the Genesis cern about Sicarius was arrested and tortured.
Chapter, who had become regent in the absence of
Agemman. His forces overwhelmed the crusaders, and
His vast throne room within the Obsidian fortress, was
Agemman was brought back to Macragge in chains.
said to be lavishly decorated, in all the finest decora-
Of Telion and his contingent, no trace was found. tions and adornments. His guards flanked every door,
Some said he died on Crusade, while the most and he allowed no one to enter his sanctum, and all
prevalent theory is that, upon seeing what his Ul- business of state was handled by Titus, the miserable
tramarines had become, he had cast off his ar- and base Regent of Grand Sicarium. Upon great pikes
mour in disgust, cursing, “Oh Imperium! What has
lining the citadel, Calgar and Agemman’s heads were
Man fashioned of ye?”, before he and his closest
acolytes donned simple hooded robes, and van- struck upon spikes. It was a stark reminder that Ultra-
ished into the wilderness beyond Ultramar. mar, and all the glory that came with it, was dead. Only
the madness and abomination of Sicarius remained.
 The Templars, easily the most pious of the Adeptus enough, and putting the rest to the flame and the
Astartes, second only to the Red Hunters in their sword. Cities were torched, or cleansed by nuclear
religious fervour, became something far worse, as fire. Sword Brethren and wild-eyed initiates moved
their Imperium fell into factionalised and mon- amongst the fearful enemy, singing delirious hymns,
strous realms, petty kingdoms and protectorates. all the while crying with glee, as they maimed and
crushed and burned, all in the Emperor’s name.
The Templars, always distrustful of degenerate Naviga-
tors and Astropaths, seemed justified in their hatred, as As they moved slowly across the already war torn and
the fall of the Astronomicon drove these psykers brutalised galaxy, the zealous and insane detritus of
into destruction. Across the galaxy, the Templars, at human society. Gibbering priests, flagellating cultists
a stroke, were hacked into hundreds of separate cru- and rogue clergy attached themselves to the Templars’
sades. Again, this affected the fanatics little, as they rapidly expanding rag tag fleet. As more and more
were always a divided chapter, and all that changed religious fanatics merged with the fleets, chanting their
was that they were forced to remain divided. devotional hymns throughout he fleet, the Tem-
plars began to move more and more to believing
However, it was the psychological effect upon the the Emperor was indeed God-made-manifest,
Templars, following this calamity, that was far more and the loss of the Astronomicon was mere-
profound. The various smaller crusades, devoid of their ly the final sign, the rallying call of the Templars.
central mission, simply resorted to what they always They were to purge the galaxy clean, and only
did. They fought, in the name of the Emperor and then, in His mercy, the Emperor could return.
Dorn. They suicidally attacked worlds and petty Impe-
riums, regardless of alliances or real/imagined heresies. Some of the Sisters of Battle, stranded on remote
This gained them no friends, as they attacked whoever worlds, were incorporated into this crusade, and found
they could. These isolated crusader forces were, for themselves caught up in the self-perpetuating religious
the most part, ambushed, overwhelmed, or otherwise psychosis the rest of the Crusade found itself in.
destroyed, by vengeful and cruel local power magnates.
Hundreds of rogue marines from various free compa-
However, the largest force of Templars, one thousand nies tagged alongside the rambling, murderous Cru-
strong, cut a bloody swathe against their foes. This was sade, along with plenty of former pirates and rogues,
the central Templar fleet, led by High Marshal Dor- and their attendant private armies. While openly they
stros, from his flagship the Eternal Crusader. gibbered praises to the Emperor like everyone else in
the crusade, these malcontents and deceitful mercenar-
The Templars travelled from world to world, desper- ies and murderers all secretly knew why they fought:
ately seeking righteousness. What they saw, on every just for the sheer murderous joy of it, and the simple
world, sickened them. Heresy, laxity and impiety were fact that they could. Some of the Marines were even
rife, as every human world and Imperium sought to actually traitors, who just used the religious motives
follow their own destinies amongst the callous stars. of the Crusade to justify their joining in. For instance,
The grand ideals of the Imperium were forgotten by it was noted that several marines within the cru-
all. Save, of course, the Templars. The more they saw, sade may have, in fact, been Night Lord Chaos Space

SECTION VII:
the more their own insane ideologies seemed to make Marines (though this couldn’t be confirmed), fight-
sense, and the more warped their world view became. ing with the Templars simply because the two forces
had similar motives in mind: destruction and fear.
Dorstros moved from world to world, travelling by

The Crusade of Insanity:

short warp jumps, in an increasingly un-mappable gal- The Crusade swelled to almost two thousand Astartes,
axy. His Templars would offer two options to human millions of raving human fanatics and semi-elite sol-
colonies: re-convert to the Imperial faith, or be totally diery, as well as thousands of vessels. It was the second
destroyed. To xenos, no option was given, and greatest concentration of Marines in the galaxy during
they were massacred wherever the Templars found this period. Despite this, the Crusade could never re-

The Templars on the Rampage them. Thus, the Black Templars invaded world af-
ter world, recruiting those insane or desperate
unite the Imperium, or try to bring order to the relent-
less anarchy. No, because the Templars had believed
their own rhetoric. They were not on a Crusade of This relentless process of murder and prayer would
redemption, but one of punishment, and pain. They have continued indefinitely, one would assume, as the
blundered from system to system, near aimlessly, Templars’ Crusade grew in numbers every
attacking and brutalising whoever they came across. time a world was ransacked. This was to
Planets were ransacked, their people put to death change when they encountered, high in the
or simply beaten until they could fight no more. galactic North, the Eastern Chaos Imperium,
led by the legendary Huron Blackheart.
 As with any major disaster, the collapse of the Imperi- times heretical, scum of the universe sprang up in
um was exploited by the scum and dishonourable filth greater numbers than ever before. Disorientated or
of the universe, which oozed up from the widening lost merchant fleets were ransacked, their people either
cracks in Imperial authority, like wriggling maggots butchered or brutalised in a variety of interesting
crawling free of a corpse. With no centralised Im- and, above all, nasty ways. ‘Wolf Packs’, composed of
perial authority, and with a non-existent interstellar rogue frigates and other human detritus, blockad-
communication system, any Imperial Battlefleets or ed whole systems, holding their people for ransom.
sector fleets which survived the initial hell-storm of Other, more insane or reckless pirates, chased con-
the new devourer, were utterly lost and aimless in
voys and transports for many light-years, just for the
this new, shattered galaxy. All warp routes were ren-
thrill of the hunt. It was said this Age of Strife was a
dered useless, and all warp charts and mapping of the
veritable paradise for the impious and the criminal.
universe instantly became out of date. The universe
became a bigger, more incomprehensible place. Not
only this, but the few coherent battle fleets could Throughout this period, there were several gener-
only travel as fast as the short warp transit systems al varieties of raiding forces operating at any given
onboard their vessels would allow. The main body time across the galaxy, which we shall detail here.
of the Navigator houses were destroyed when Ter- Of course, these categories are by no means exclu-
ra was overrun by daemons, and many more were sive. Such is the rag tag nature of pirate and ravag-
simply driven utterly insane by the sudden surge in ers fleets, that often they are composed of mixtures
chaotic activity in the dreadful wake of the collapse. of several different kinds of raider, each sharing
Thus, without any opposition the criminal, and some- the similar goals of savagery, plunder and profit.

SECTION VIII:
RAVAGERS and ROGUES:
Piracy in the Second Age of
Strife
The Wolf Packs One prominent example of this sort of fleet was the The Corsairs of the Scavenger, a young boy, cursed by a dread-
Rogue Frigate captains, disgruntled former merchants, fleet of Captain Tastando Markus. During a failed warp Easily the rarest form of pirate abroad in the galaxy ful wasting affliction, making him feeble and ugly.
political dissidents turned profiteering privateers and transit, during M42, this Dauntless-Class Light Cruiser during this period. These near-mythic forces consist The young boy was driven into the underhive of
just plain pirates. These are not a new phenomenon, Captain found himself alone, his Cruiser lost amid the of those scant few Eldar, locked on the path of the his world, by the hateful ‘normals’ of society.
and were certainly present throughout the 41st sea of stars. The Captain was a greedy man, and cared Outcast, who lost everything. Their Craftworlds were
little for the Imperium while he was within it. Now he either dead, or imprisoned within the Ynnead web. He found a loving family amongst the mutant slave
millennium, as well as the 51st. Yet, it was the
and his crew were alone, his greed turned to open dis- These outcasts found their race was gone. There would population of the world, who were all hunched, twisted
scale of these piratical groups which increased
sent. He used his ship’s substantial offensive power, to never, ever be any redemption for them. Thus, with monsters, but who loved him as one of their own. This
across the Second Age of Strife. They became
terrify isolated worlds into submission, or used his great wrath and hatred, they turned upon the perceived boy was, by any accounts, a savant and genius, of the
bolder and more vicious, picking off larger tar- most dangerous variety. He was an innovator.
bloodthirsty crew to board ships, or invade particularly causes of their misery: humanity being one of them.
gets who, stripped of their protectors, were rela- He swiftly became leader of the underground
primitive worlds, plundering them of anything of
tively easy prey for these bands of renegades. The Eldar, whose race had become a myth to almost mutant coven, and got them to steal machin-
value, raping anyone they chose to, and generally being
unpleasant. all beings in the galaxy, darted between the various ery from the surface, to bring to him. They
Sometimes these packs of predators and scavengers overlapping jurisdictions of the countless Pet- did so, and in the dark, he began to create.
would be founded by dissident ex-navy personnel, ty Empires of the galaxy, murdering and stealing,
His crew were not uniformly greedy and malicious,
other times they would be formed by ambitious local howling curses through lyrical throats. They nev- No one knows the end of the tale, but soon after,
though those honourable souls on board were soon
crime lords, who, through bribery, murder and be- er left a trace of their presence. Only bodies. Their the Scavenge became a notoriously dangerous pi-
double-crossed or betrayed by their more unscru-
trayal,managed to gain enough power and resources overly emotional minds turned to dark thoughts, rate faction, using whatever machinery they could to
pulous ship mates. Markus kept order through the
to commandeer, or commission to be built for them, which they could not escape from. Some said Yri- devise ever more ingenious and lethal technologies.
promise of bounty and rewards, and a system of
several starships. These would be outfitted with what- el ‘the mad’ led them, but no one can be sure. In-
violent meritocracy prevailed onboard. Soon, as word
ever weapons and crew they could scrounge, be they deed, no one is sure these Corsairs exist at all.
spread of The Shark’s (his vessel was renamed thus-
mercenary scum, thieves, or murderers, and from ly) criminal successes, a small following of captured
Of course, something is killing the isolated human
simple missile pods and projectile cannons, to stolen vessels, from frigates to crudely home-built convert- colonies, and stealing supplies from anyone they can.
plasma batteries or lance emplacements. Such cob- ed cargo freighters, tagged alongside the unusually
bled together forces would be no problem for a fully powerful pirate vessel. In general, his wolf pack, like
equipped military fleet. Unfortunately, none were
The Scavenge
most of this sort, stayed around a single system (or
Some pirate fleets seem to consist of scratch-built, cob-
forthcoming to challenge these cowardly villains. local ‘net’ of systems that they had visited before),
bled together starships, built from ruins and wrecks,
not daring to risk warping off into unknown areas. but repaired. Some say these fleets are remnants of the
fabled pure-Orks. However, no one takes those claims
seriously. Everyone knew what happened to the Orks…

Thus, these vessels were not Orkish in design.

Yet, some great cunning must have built these
crude wonders. Encounters with these vessels,
and their piratical crews, gives us better clues.

Mutants. Every single encounter was orchestrated,

performed, and carried out by mutants. These de-
formed and hideous creatures, hiding their humps,
bestial tails and wasting limbs beneath thick robes
and clunky respirator equipment, boarded vulnerable
vessels, using flamers, stub guns and other, home-
made weapons, stealing whatever they needed.

They simply called themselves ‘the Scavenge’. It is

thought that these disparate fleets, operating near-
by the Flurian system, in the Segmentum Pacificus,
are said to have a base within that region, possi-
bly even a captured industrial world. Legends tell
 The 51st millennium is a period of immense distrust speed to Titan. It was said their leader had tears
and mutual loathing. Man turned upon man, as he is in his eyes, mouthing the words ‘Absolution’.
depressingly wont to do throughout history, and
the Petty Imperiums, Xenos conglomerates, and By the time various Inquisitors had managed to wran-
various other interstellar nations and powers, gle a large enough force of Imperial Guard, Terran
closed off their borders in deathly fear of taint. In- PDF bio-supermen, Imperial Fists, and Arbites, and
terstellar traffic became isolated into pockets, fo- charged into the palace to defend the now-defence-
cussed around the grim little clusters of systems less Emperor. However, it was too late. The throne
carved out by their ruthless feudal masters. had failed. The Emperor was dead, and a tide of pure
warpish nightmares was pouring forth. The Inquis-
Espionage, assassinations and spying missions became itors and Fists tried their best, but soon the entire
far more common than in any period previously. Many palace was overrun, and soon after, the whole world.
mundane spies, from millions of worlds, saun-
tered undetected upon rival enemy soil, watching, Though the rest of the Fists off world (who we will
interfered and occasionally, murdering. All to ad- discuss later) never saw the battle, it was said the last
vance the agendas of their individual employers. livingbe ings on Terra were the Imperial Fists, who
fought the thick tide of daemons, until the twisted
Of course, like a viper amongst grass snakes, these rel- daemon flesh literally buried them, and even then,
atively harmless snoops were far from the only unseen beneath the seething tide of filth, rumbling deto-
forces, plying their deadly and deceit- nations signaled the Fists still lived below, at least
ful trades across the harsh galaxy. for a few defiant hours after being overwhelmed.

On the dark day of the Emperor’s death, survivor’s These witness accounts raise serious questions. Why
claim a series of most mysterious events occurred. It did the custodians flee? Or were they ordered to? If so,
was claimed that the Custodians were abroad in Terras what had the Emperor seen? Why did the Custodes as-
streets. All of them. No explanation was given, and any sault the Assassin Temples so viciously? Where was the
Arbites patrols which challenged them were instantly Grand Master and his disciples? And, most im-
swatted aside. Valdor himself led the march, his eyes portantly, what happened to the Emperor?
aflame with sorrow, mixed with mute fury. Nobody
knew why they moved through the city, until they Of these questions, only a few have potential answers.
entered the grounds of the Assassinorum temples. The question of the Assassinorum is one such question.
Supposedly hidden from all, the custodies found it The Officio seemed to vanish in the first five hundred
instantly, and, with great fury, they battered down the years of M42. However, eventually, brief glimpses of
doors. Upon doing so, they found each and every tem- black-garbed beings cropped up, across every Impe-
ple empty. Well, not quite empty. The Grand Master, rium, from the western Chaos Imperium, to the ash
obviously expecting guests, had left almost a thousand fields of the Imperium of the White Eyed Devils.
Eversor Assassins behind. The battle was fierce and
brutal. Many Custodes died, as did Eversor. Eventually, Some were obviously rogue assassins, randomly strik-
the fight spilled out into the pilgrim-choked streets. ing at centres of government, because they had no or-
Though only a few hundred Eversor were left, they ders, and had no idea how to integrate into normal so-
used the swelling crowds to their advantage, attack- ciety. These twisted, delusional beings believed that the
ing the golden giants while bogged down amongst natural state of affairs of planets was to have no Gover-
millions of terrified, screaming pilgrims. However, nors or Officials. They had been raised since childhood

SECTION IX:
the Custodes, with great wrath and fury, slew all the to believe that slaying these targets was the height of
Eversors, which blew up all around, collapsing build- piety. Hence, since governors were the most common
ings and cratering roads, as thousands of men and target in their past lives, these child-like rogues con-
women suddenly died in these biological detonations. tinued to slay the governors of their worlds. In one

THE UNSEEN WARS

extreme case, one Callidus assassin was said to have
Instead of returning to the palace, these apparently-he- killed every Governor of the Industrial World Gox,
retical Custodes requisitioned transports, and made all for forty years. Every time a replacement inherited
the title, the delusional assassin, believing all governors make the period miserable enough, several factions main battleground betwixt the two forces. Both sides
to be wrong, killed each and every one, each time in a of the dreaded Alpha Legion began to spring up once had little idea of what the purpose of the war was, but
different way and in a different guise. Eventually, the more. Of course, no marines were ever actually seen, in general, the war was kept as a secret, hidden war.
desperate government of the world hired Demiurg only the crude painted Hydra symbols left at the scenes
The unseen war, fought beneath the feet of humanity.
mercenaries, to scan for polymorph traces. The trail of carnage they left in their wake. Bombs were planted,
led to a run down hab district. To be sure of execution, pro-alliance officials butchered or brutally maimed. In As war raged between vast armies and squalid empires,
the whole hab complex was burned down. The attacks some cases, important defensive secrets of several Im- so too did each set of spies and assassins try to out-
stopped. periums were sold by mysterious Alpha Legion spies, smart or outmaneuver the other. Due to the secrecy of
to rival Imperiums or Xenos empires, who promptly the conflict, little is known about either side.
Of course, others seemed to be much more sinisterly used this knowledge to then destroy their foes, out of
organised. Strategic targets were struck. Merchants nothing more than bloody-minded spite. It is known that several robed marines may be con-
were killed, or their families intimidated. These scared
nected to the Alpha Legion, one going by the title ‘the
groups of traders and petty profiteers often ended up Everywhere alliances were induced by the Officio As-
allying together for protection, and used their resourc- sassinorum, so they were shattered by the even more Voice-Answered’, a mysterious fellow, wielding two pis-
es to hire forces from various Imperiums to protect mysterious Alpha Legion’s agents. tols, but no other weapons. Once, it was said he wield-
them from assassins. This led, in some remote regions, ed a sword, but evidently no longer.
to Imperiums beginning to offer conditional non-ag- No one truly knows how many Alpha Legionnaires
gression pacts with each other. Of course, these were died during the first thousand years of the M42, but Of course, this war of subterfuge and murder, was not
very fragile things, and often fell apart at the slightest most agree, very few survived the New Devourer. as simple as a mere fight between Assassin and Terror-
provocation. However, it showed that the Assassins, Thus, the remaining Alpha Legion became far, far
ist. Several other factions muddied the waters. A Cabal
perhaps consciously or intentionally, were trying to more devious. Legion cells were so excellently hidden,
knit the Imperium back together. Not that the petty they weren’t uncovered until the bombs or whatever of mysterious beings was known to be in contact with
warlords appreciated this, as any captured assassins attack planned, went off. It is suspected many of their both sides, and engaged in a strange covert war of their
were tortured, interrogated, and burned alive. Those servants are not even Astartes, and work amongst the own. The mythical bendies became more prevalent, in
Callidus, Vindicare, and Coleus assassins caught would other citizens of the galaxy, sowing discord discreetly. particular onboard Adeptus Mechanicus vessels, often
only say one word to their captors, before being exe- murdering suspected Dragon-Cultists and C’tanists in
cuted: “Heracles.” However, it was clear the two organisations, assassins their beds, and dragging them off into the darkness.
and Alpha Legion, were at war. Sometimes this was
These strange beings were in constant contact with the
In contrast, throughout the 51st Millennium, as if the political, sometimes it became direct, with brutally
constant brutality, wars and general paranoia did not quiet street brawls and backstreet executions being the Cabal, and the Assassins (it is claimed). Unforgiv-
en, the last few hundred surviving Dark Angels and
successors, fought guerrilla wars against any suspected
Legion or chaos strongholds across the galaxy, their
numbers too small and too scattered now to fight
truescale wars. It is known they in particular hated the
hooded marines aiding the Legion, and often made
special effort in seeking out these marines, and killing
them painfully. Telion and his ‘grey cloaks’ were almost
folk heroes amongst Post-Imperial citizens across the
south eastern Ultima Segmentum. They came to a
world, unseen, and destroyed corrupt rulers or crimi-
nally hateful villains, before disappearing into the void
once more. Some claimed them to be a myth, to cover
the tracks of unruly peasants, but some suspected
otherwise. Thus, we can see, the galaxy churned with
war, across every world, at every level. No one was safe
from the bone-crushing agony of living in the Second
Age of Strife.
 The great Devourer, the dread star locust, had made ecosystems, so virulent and profound in their terrafor-
massive inroads into the galaxy, even by M41, snatch- ming abilities, began to subvert one another, at the
ing whole clusters of worlds in its billions of jaws, biological level. Ork spores mutated, to infest Tyranids,
digesting them, even as their hopeless defenders Tyranids infested Orks with genestealer eggs and
screamed defiance. Tyrannic lice. Tyranid spores battled Ork spores, just
as Carnifexes and bio-titans battled gargants and stom-
Many were the attempts by a one Inquisitor Krypt- pas, in the epic, never ending war.
mann, to slay the foul swarm, which flooded from
beyondbthe void betwixt galaxies. Viruses, fire storms, Nobody knows for sure when it came about, but the
plague bombs, exterminatus. All these devious and New Devourer was swift to action. It crafted a species,
hateful ploysbfailed. The beast was too adaptive, too borne of Tyranid and Ork, but truly of neither, which
fiercely unstoppable. At last, in the closing decades of turned upon the Orks and Tyranids, stripping them of
the forty first millennium, that he employed his final, their biomass, to create their own hive-waaagh. The
lasting gambit. creatures created seemed to be muscular, large and
covered in foul appendages and weapons. Hive ships,
The Tyranids, that great plague, was turned towards coated in orkoid machinery, fused with orkish biology,
the only race in the galaxy as hopelessly virulent as and merged with Tyranid hyper evolution and bio-
themselves: the Orks. Genestealers were seeded upon morphs, spread from the Octavius system. The Orks
the surfaces of the Octavian Overfiend’s many worlds, were outmatched by this new force. The New Devour-
drawing the Great Devourer, like a moth to a blazing er’s troops were vast things, taller than almost all Orks,
furnace. The war was unsinkable. As the Tyranids faster than all Orks. The spore reproduction of the
flooded the worlds with warriors, the Orks fought all Orks was subverted, and these monsters reproduced
the fiercer, growing stronger in the crucible of war, and at a scarily swift race, with monsters sprouting up
drawing more of their number to them, via the unseen from the ground, within hours of being seeded from
psychic force all Orks shared. As the numbers swelled, each New Devourer beast. Each beast could produce a
the Tyranids feasted upon this superior biomass, and thousand offspring within a day, each battle ready on
they too grew strong from the continuing war. Both that same day. The regenerative ability of Tyranids and
sides drove the other to ever greater feats, and ever in- Orks was also heightened and twisted beyond compre-
creasing numbers. The worlds of the Octavius became hension, until wounds were healing, even before the
twisted hells, ork spores and machinery coiling around blade or weapon causing the wound have even finished
and competing, with vast spires of bone and chitin, wounding the fiends. They could not be killed, they
and creeping vines of semi-organic malice. As the could not be stopped. The inherent Orkoid knowledge
death mounted, the bodies coated the worlds, expand- of technology allowed them to merge technology with
ing the vast surface of each to unprecedented sizes. biotechnology, creating semi-mechanical monsters be-
Worlds collapsed under the pressure of so many bodies yond the wildest nightmares of even the most mental
and structures, but even the collapsing boulder fields of Mekboys.
were knitted together by slimy tendrils, and warring
machinery. Roks and hulks warped in from across the Similarly, the Tyranids could not defeat the New De-
galaxy, accompanied by fleets of countless Orks. vourer. Even when a Hive fleet devoured specimens
of the New Devourer, the hive vessel which absorbed
For a brief moment, things seemed to be improving in the biomass, would become corrupted by the New
the universe. Ork held worlds across the galaxy sud- Devourer, and become part of this burgeoning new
denly began to depopulate, as almost every orkoid in terror’s psychic web. The hive mind, like a bear pulling

SECTION X:
existence, ploughed into the churning maelstrom of its paw from the fire, withdrew it’s surviving fleets from
the Octavius Empire. The Imperium and other aliens the milky way. The vast majority of the Tyranid race lay
moved into these vacant worlds, and it seemed as if beyond the galaxy. However, on some level, the titanic
perhaps the Imperium was not doomed after all. consciousness of the Hive mind realised it could not
eat whatever horrendous thing had been born in our

THE NEW DEVOURER Their vain hope was misplaced. For, as Tyranid and
Ork came together in this war, each of these rival
galaxy. Thus, the Tyranids turned from this galaxy, and
looked to other galaxies, teeming with life.
The Orks, unable to ever feel fear or dread, merely useless. Tau negotiators were slain. Whole naval incur-
decided to go down fighting. For, it was the only orky sions were swatted aside. Space marine chapters were
thing left to do. Wazdakka launched a surprise attack, swallowed whole, by titanic fleets of biomechanical
deep into the heart of the New Devourer, charging hive ships. At least half of the Eldar craft worlds were
from his semi-complete warp super highway. He led a crushed and sucked dry, their fleets, their memories,
glorious charge, leading almost a million trillion Orks their hopes, all quashed. Entire alien civilisations were
in the largest battle in the history of the entire galaxy. eaten or torn apart, and millions of worlds were utterly,
They struck right at the rotten heart of the New De- utterly purged. It was estimated that almost half of all
vourer’s physical and psychic web. A trillion roaring life in the galaxy died in those few hundred years.
boyz, which shuddered the air, and melted brass, such
was the volume and intensity. Gargants and Stompas The only defence against the New Devourer was to flee
fired constantly, the air literally coloured orange by it, or dodge it. The only thing it did not do better than
constant weapons fire and discharge. Rockets and the tyranids, was the shadow in the warp. It didn’t have
bombs were dropped in their billions, vaporising ev- one. Worlds got plenty of warning, and fleets could
erything they struck. Kroozers and hulks rammed New indeed mobilise quickly enough. Though it was easy to
Devourer hive ships, their pilots howling ‘WAAAAG- evade, it was nevertheless unstoppable. Indeed, the
GGHHHH!’ forever, before charging across their own history of the second Age of Strife may have ended
ships, to fist fight their foes in space itself. there, if something beyond our galaxy hadn’t distract-
ed the New Devourer. Something was happening, far
It was not enough. The Orks couldn’t kill the New De-
from the milky way, and the New Devourer’s keen
vourer. Nothing truly could. The New Devourer
psychic sense detected it. Something shifted , deep in
murdered each and every Ork that attacked it, before it
the beyond. The New Devourer left the galaxy entire-
spread out, and picked off every other ork, who
ly, within the space of three years, leaving nothing of
nevertheless fought on, laughing with glee as they
themselves behind. They went to fight something…
fought the New Devourer. However, it was known that
greater. Something… different. Again, whatever it
the orks hated this foe, calling them “Cheetaz!” and
was or is, is a complete mystery to the denizens of this
“’orrid grow-ladz”. In contrast, the New Devourer had
galaxy. The only clue came from an astrologer, living
no language for their foe, beyond the endless, piercing
within the Ophelian Imperium. She turned her eye
bellow of the Hyper-fiends (the most commonly seen
footsoldier beast of the New Devourer). The Orks, lenses towards the distant galaxy, nicknamed Archos
howling and defiant, died almost to a Ork. Vosh, after her father. She noted how, slowly, even as
she watched, the light of that galaxy went dim. As of
Only one Waaaggghhh seemed to survive the on- yet, no scholar, from any race, can explain this. In fact,
slaught, led by an Ork with a bolter wound to its head. most do not wish to…
It claimed it had heard Waaaghraz Gharr, a being the
Warboss claimed was ‘da dad of Gork and Mork.’. This Of course, what they fought is irrelevant to us, because
apparent god, told the Ork leader to kick his way into it simply meant that the Galaxy, once more, had just
the puny Eldar ‘Web-place’ and wait ‘for ‘moar managed to survive total annihilation. It this post-de-
intrucshons’. Nobody knows what happened to this vourer galaxy though, as we can see from previous sec-
Waaaggghhh. tions, was a realm gutted, wounded and diseased. The
galaxy became a festering wound of civil war, brutality,
Of course, the New Devourer did not stop with the murder, genocide, ignorance and hatred. It existed only
Orks. In the first few centuries of the forty second to cause misery, as every race made every other race
millennium, this foul plague swept across the entire suffer. Life was horrendously horrific in those times.
galaxy, driven by a corrupted kind of Waaaagggh- But, at least, it was indeed life. In a universe as cruel as
hh field, and the overall hive imperative of the New this one, one must be thankful for small mercies, no
Devourer’s synapse web. Imperial blockades were matter how bitter…
 When Terra fell, spewing warp stuff and corrupted Terra, leading over a hundred thousand rag tag ships
fleets of pilgrims out from it in all directions, many from the cradle of mankind. A single Imperial Fists
worlds were unprepared. Luna was suddenly struck Thunderhawk was said to have escaped too, docking
by millions upon millions of wild-eyed maniacs, who with a fleeing bulk freighter. The Astartes aboard had
crashed their very captured transports into the Luna been given a simple order by their Captain, which they
fortress, which was unprepared for an attack from were to told to reiterate to any and all Imperial fists
Terra itself.
and fists successors then could find. The message was
simple: dig in.
Many of the other Imperial emplacements, built upon
asteroids and various other celestial bodies within the
solar system, were overwhelmed by the insane scream- While all Solar turned to insanity, the Grey Knights
ing daemons, which invaded the vox traffic of the took a different path. They instantly, as soon as Ter-
entire Solar system. These facilities collapsed, as their ra fell, shut off all vox transmissions, and refused to
now-insane human workers and rulers opened air- respond to any hails, believing that the daemons could
locks, ruptured plasma drives, and generally fought infest Titan even through electrical signals. The vast
each other with broken, bloodied nails, and improvised wave of psychic madness, that pulsed from Terra in
cudgels. sickening waves, rebounded from Titan, like water
breaking around an ocean bulwark. This precious san-
Hevan Forris, the Ramillies class star fort orbiting Sed- ity allowed the vast number of human personnel living
na, plunged into the icy planetoid, killing everyone on
upon Titan, to organise defence against the marauding,
the planet and the fortress.
insane former pilgrims, who threw themselves upon
Desperate fleets of evacuated officials and dignitaries any worlds they could find. Their ships were blasted
escaped on requisitioned transports and embattled from the sky systematically, by the vast automatic guns
troop transports and grain-ships. The Ecclesiarch, of Titan. Ancient weapons, deep beneath the surface,
flanked by an entire Lesser Order of Sisters of Battle, bubbled upwards from the methane lakes of titan,
captured the Cruiser Lestat, for himself and his near- shooting down anything that the psychic Grey Knights
est clergy, before his new vessel led the retreat out of believed was corrupted.

SECTION XI:
THE LAST BASTION: TITAN
When the vast ship bearing the Custodes entered salvage from the ruins of the data repositories, along Some of the ruin-ships came apart at that moment, as physical light of the beams merging with the spiritual
Titan’s orbit, it too was nearly shot down by Titan’s with all the null rods and various anti-daemon weap- the daemon princes powering their central cores were light, which poured from the defenders themselves.
deadly ons and devices they could pull from the besieged weakened so much, they were banished from reality The blazing furnace of insane piety produced by the
defences, even the ancient Cassini device, the vast spi- ruins. The entire first edition of the Grimoire of true almost instantly. Of course, the majority were far too defenders filled the daemons with agony and vaporis-
dery construct that it was, powered up its utterly lethal names was brought to Titan, bound in heavy chains, powerful to simply die, and they barreled through ing pain. The humans of titan believed they were the
plasma lance, and trained it upon the wayward vessel. and carried by a veritable army of loyal cultists, such regardless. Many more of the weakened daemon ships last humans in all the universe. They would NOT die,
was its vast size. There, it was safely stored within the were destroyed by the ancient Cassini device and the they cursed with their upraised voices, until their lungs
The Grey Knights of course ordered them to all stand central bastion, under heavy guard. Every name of other defence satellites, that blasted heir ruins to ash, were raw and bloody. They did not fear, but instead
down, when the two Grand masters present upon the every daemon thus far encountered by the Imperium, under the barrage of lasers and blinding flashes of the promised themselves to their own God. They must sur-
moon detected the golden, perfect light of the Adeptus was stored within that most mighty of tomes. deadly plasma lance of the Cassini, which shimmered vive, and they would not be destroyed by this filth.
Custodes aboard the vessel. Once the Custodes were from the device’s vast hyperbolic mirror projector.
safely landed upon the freezing planetoid, the chief The devotional and holy relics, cleared from the under- The Grey Knights, their blades blazing with white
Custodian marched directly to the central fortress of ground areas, were placed into the upper halls. It was Yet still, many of the demonically possessed structures angel-light, waded amongst the daemons, hacking
Titan, and demanded to speak with the Grand Masters said one could not turn their head, without seeing a managed to evade destruction, and entered the dense down the corrupt horrors with every swing of their
in private. The meeting lasted for several days. Nobody beautiful image of the Emperor, or great gilded statues, orange atmosphere of Titan. The defence lasers and blessed glaives. The Golden Custodian joined in battle
knows what was said between the two forces. Secrets which glimmered with psychic resonance. atomic rail guns of Titan, spewed death into the hateful with their silver counterparts. The custodians fought
were exchanged between the two ancient organisa- beasts. Nevertheless, the beasts were not of mortal with the fury of madmen, tears streaming in their eyes,
tions, secrets accumulated by both institutions over the Battlefield engineers, and the scant few Techpriests on matter, and the ruined vessels crashed, allowing their as they screamed in grief-turned-to-hatred. The chief
course of many millennia of service, and plans were Titan, began to plan and devise the extra fortification demonic cargo to drag themselves from the wreck- custodian himself, engaged in battle with Valchocht it-
drawn up. Eventually, they emerged, and the defence of Titan. Bunker construction instructions, cultivated age, and flood towards the stout defenders. The holy self. The titanic daemon was as large as a titan, formed
could begin in earnest. from Cadia and other such heavily fortified worlds, ground of Titan burned the daemons, as they swarmed from the fused hulks of a hundred dreadnoughts, a
were taken out and implemented. Overlapping avenues across the hallowed lands. The human defenders were thousand tanks, and many thousands of cadavers, all
Fortunately for Titan, the Inquisitorial forces around of fire and perfectly positioned bunkers and trench embattled, and many of them died, torn apart or animated by the beast’s dreadful will. In place of its
the rest of Saturn and Jupiter’s moons, had also man- works, were bored into the surface of Titan, by the burned by the abhorrent monstrosities, which howled face, a terrible blasphemy was perpetrated. The husk of
aged to somehow avoid annihilation, and they flocked countless millions of toiling humans and Astartes upon and screamed in delight and agony. However, ever sin- the Emperor, the dried out, dead husk, was fused with
to the most defensible world; Titan itself. The Inquis- the world. Several Imperial Fist Deathwatch, under the gle defender of Titan wielded blessed weapons, anoint- the daemon King. Of course, nothing of the Emper-
itors met with the Custodes and Astartes leadership, instructions of the Ordo Xenos Inquisitors, advised ed and thrice blessed with holy oils and wards glinting or resided within the corpse now, but the heresy was
and they agreed on methods of defence. Vast galleries and helped with the fortifications, ensuring they were with brilliant holy sheen. Lasguns spat death, the beyond comprehension.
beneath Titan, were cleared of ancient relics, devotion- impregnable and immortal.
al artefacts and tapestries, and the Inquisitors brought
all the fusion powered lamps and artificial lighting they Soon, these defences were put to the test. A vast greater
could muster from their own bases, and installed them daemon, Valchocht the Maker, led a vast surge of dae-
as quickly as possible. The Ordo Xenos brought with mons from the daemon world of Terra. Huge daemon
them cultures for rapid plant and microbial growth, engines and vessels were built from the mutated and
and special species of flora, which could survive on semi-sentient ruins of Terra. Ships made from ma-
heat and light alone, and under the heavy lights, they sonry and fallen fragments of Old Terra, were fused
were implanted into these vast, multiple mile long together by daemonflesh, which formed unnatural
halls, which soon began to seethe with succulent, ribs, tentacles and snouts, which pulsed and writhed
life-sustaining material. throughout the daemonic structures. These ruin-ships
were alive with demonic hatred, and crawled with
The Ordo Hereticus that remained around the So- billions of demonic beasts, which scuttled through the
lar system, brought with them all their psychopathic orifice-like passages of the vessels like lice.
cyborgs, from chrono gladiators to Arco flagellants,
from penitent engines, to the colossal excruciating The fleet spread across the Solar System, killing all
machines, tower-sized machines of gears and chains, those humans who evaded initial extermination up
which constantly tortured heretical psykers within until then. Eventually, only Titan remained. The aura
their workings, sending out waves of warding protec- of psychic defence around Titan was immense, and it
tion and powerful anti-psyker energies. shone, as if in imitation of the now-extinct Astronom-
icon itself. Daemon vessels howled as they entered the
Malus brought all the various forbidden tomes it could halo of unseen magical wards and psychic barriers.
The chief Custodian lost his mind, his righteous hatred with fire, blood and endless, deafening screams. On original visage, realised in gold, was placed over his cal marvels the Dragon unleashed upon Titan, from
overriding his conscious mind. He surged forwards, one corner of titan, a group of Terminators began rotten mess of a real face, and the remaining fragments molten Necrons that could not be harmed by any heat
hacking aside everything in his way, and engaged in to sing their litanies of hate, their holy battle hymn, of his old armour were placed upon him. A perfect weapons, to the primarch-sized ‘Thunder God’ Necron
epic conflict with the abhorrence that wore the Em- which would unleash their faith in one grand torrent. golden throne was built for the corpse, and placed in constructs, which pulsed with great arcs of lethal elec-
peror’s face. The Custodian, mounting the countless However, the mundane humans, and the Custodes, plain sight, upon the very highest ramparts of the cen- trical power permanently, to vast mechanical swarms
bodies of the battle, scaled the daemon, battling every and even the inquisitors, began to join in, even as the tral bastion, as a symbol of humanity’s will to survive, of faceless beings, that could drag the souls from the
tendril, every talon, which it swung at him. He was a battle dragged on. They did not, however, unleash and will to remake their god, for as long as they lived, body, and annihilate them utterly. Yet, the Necrons
blur of golden light, hacking and slashing with furious their furious wrath upon completing the hymn, but the Emperor could never die. could never teleport within the psychically defended
abandon. instead merely began to chant and repeat it, over and central fortifications, and thus, the Titanians could
over. Through word of mouth and overhearing, the It was in 666.M43, that the Void Dragon’s armies of not be dislodged so easily. The cold steel cage of faith
The battle lasted three full days, as more and more hymn passed across all of Titan, until it was as if the Necrons and deluded Dragon Cultists assaulted Titan and military determination, managed to prevail, just,
Custodes and Grey Knights drew themselves towards whole world was chanting the litanies as one. Though for the first time. The advanced fleets of the Machine against the wonders of the Necron horde.
the conflict. Silver armoured Grey Knights pumped the words were gotten wrong by many of the distant God ascendant, battled the extensive orbital defences
gallons of blessed promethium onto the horrific co- humans, the feeling was the same all over: Titan was of Titan for a full three weeks, eventually smashing and The Dragon determined that, since he should not have
lossus, as others charged its giant legs, hacking chunks theirs, and no other’s. The whole world seemed incan- destroying each of the starships, orbital gun platforms, Titan, none would ever leave it. Every ship upon Titan
from the monster with furious, frenzied hacks with descent, glowing with brilliant white light, until, after and star forts, which orbited the freezing moon. Even was destroyed, and every spaceport or even runway,
their glaives, before pumping bolter rounds into the a full day of chanting, the psychic holocaust of Titan the great Cassini, a device said to have been wrought was blasted with azure energies, until they were naught
wounds. was unleashed. It pulsed once, a single wave of psychic by the first-era humans, long before even the gold- but molten slag.
magnificence, which rippled across all Titan, and out en age, fell, blown apart by the lethal energies of the
The custodians joined them, stabbing and shooting into the space beyond Titan’s orbit. For a brief instance, Dracolyr-Class tomb ships, the largest kind of tomb The Dragon prepared to unleash apocalypse upon the
at everything they could see of the horror. And, from it was as if Solar had gained a smaller twin of itself, as ship ever made by the Dragon. The heavily armoured
trapped Titan. However, fortune came from a strange
deep beneath Titan’s surface, ten dark figures joined all Titan flickered once, with this brilliant light, before defence guns, however, could not be overcome by mere
place. Abaddon, by chance, had plunged into the Solar
the conflict, unseen by their colleagues. it eventually faded to nothing once more. naval war. They were too well defended, even for the
System, and had encountered the void dragon. Thus,
tomb ships.
the war which ensued, saved Titan from a cowardly
At the height of the battle, the Chief Custodian was Thus ended the first siege of Titan.
murder by the Dragon. Of course, the wars against the
devoured whole, the vast jaws of the Greater Daemon The corrupted Mechanicus vessels, eager to curry
Necrons never stopped, but never again did the Drag-
opening to engulf him, even as he roared defiance. The The defenders dug in again, and for another hundred favour with their God, unleashed the most dread
on contemplate blowing titan to pieces. He had greater
battle drew on for another day, as every spare defender years, they fought off further daemonic attacks, until weapon the Imperium could ever deploy: extermina-
concerns.
turned their weapons upon the abomination. Brother they stopped entirely, on the dawn of the forty third tus. Thus, the vast bombs, filled with the black clouds
Captain Stern, wielding his force sword in two hands, millennium. This was because of the great beast, which of the life eater virus, fell upon the planetoid. However,
managed to hack the Emperor’s shriveled corpse free of has arisen on the red planet. The Void Dragon’s Necron the Mechanicus, in their naïve arrogance, forgot who While they had survived, Titan’s valiant and unbreak-
the daemon, and it was borne away by sobbing priests Fleets, and corrupted Mechanicum Vessels, surged had designed Titan’s defences. The Emperor’s Inquisi- able defenders still suffered. The toxic fumes of war,
and hissing, angry Inquisitors. from Mars, securing all of the solar system, bar Terra tors had been employing exterminatus upon countless combined with the increasingly less nourishing floral
and, inevitably, Titan. worlds for well over ten thousand years. In that time, matter beneath the surface, and the punishing wars
On the seventh day, the daemon shuddered, and then of course they had devised a means to defeat it, in the against abominations, took their toll upon the human
collapsed, dead and banished. The defenders were baf- Over the years, Titan had become almost intolerable to event of viral assault upon Inquisitorial worlds. As defenders. Almost all of the mundane defenders of
fled by this, until, a few hours later, the Chief Custodi- live upon. The nutrient rich gruel, formed from the soon as the billowing clouds of death began to roll Titan were dead within a year, leaving only the Grey
an cut his way free. Drenched in black daemon blood, cultures of mulch supplied by the Ordo Xenos, cen- across the endless trench systems of Titan, great vents Knights and Custodes, alone and lonely, upon their
and with his armour buckled and broken, he raised his turies past, was often stagnant, or otherwise tightly ground open, across the entire surface of Titan. These small adamantine sphere of unbreakable strength.
left hand, from which dangled the putrid heart of the rationed. The human forces upon Titan, though loyal devices sucked the heinous fog of un-life down massive They carefully buried each and every mundane human,
daemon King. and zealous as they had ever been, began to succumb underground vents, drawing the vile substance, like making their tombs each as grand as possible. The
to their own mortal frailties. Diseases were common, pus from a gangrenous wound, deep down, dumping Chaplains of the Grey Knights, canonised every single
The daemons wailed in misery and fury, but still they and the only defenders that seemed immune to this the mixture into the blazing core of Titan itself, burn- fallen human, from infant to old woman, from frail ill
came, the warp stuff spilling over itself, so eager was rot and degradation were the Custodes and the Grey ing the virus into damnation. boy, to vibrant, pious girls, each life miserably short.
it to harm, maim and slaughter their ancient foes. The Knights. They gave the defenders hope. No matter the The Grey Knights memorised every face, every name,
daemons were just as driven as the defenders. If they horrors of existence, humanity would survive, under Titan refused to be poisoned, like a petty political rival carving them into their flesh with the morbid determi-
could destroy Titan, they need never fear banishment the benevolent watch of the immortals. The Custo- to a High Lord. This was a warrior world, and it would nation they always did everything.
by them ever again. des wasted no time, and bound the Emperor’s ruined fight.
corpse in scented bandages and silks and other fabrics. They would avenge every death, one day. They
The war drew on, and many died, as the air was alive Upon his face, a perfect likeness of the Emperor’s The Necrons had to land. Myriad were the technologi- promised that.
 Chaotic daemons and insane monsters were not the jackets, helmets, artillery, and even a special kind of
sole benefactors of the anarchy inflicted upon the carapace armour of highest quality, not to mention
galaxy, in the wake of the twin traumas of being nearly other battlefield equipment (like shovels), and
slaughtered wholesale by the New Devourer, and exported these to Krieg, where the soldiers were
losing the Emperor’s guiding light. Hired guns, and outfitted for war.
soldiers for sale preyed upon the misery of the galaxy,
like vultures picking at the black, distended eyes of a Cocentrine also exported more productive agricultural
waterlogged corpse. It is an inevitable part of any way tools and luxuries, to Omega-Hex, which in turn,
or conflict, that these callous, dead eyed pragmatists, exported numerous food stuffs to both the industrial
would seek to make a swift profit from the anarchy. world complex, and to Krieg, in order to feed her
And, throughout the ten thousand years of Strife, these populace. Of course, these imports were not sufficient
mercenary groups and factions found themselves with to feed both Krieg’s civilian populace, and the massive
a eager market for their services. numbers of soldiers. Thus, the genius of Krieg’s
governor, Viktor Van Conenburg, came into play.
Thus, these forces, loyal to nothing but profit, were a
common sight across the entire breadth of the galaxy. The massive numbers of highly trained, determined
and efficient soldiers of Krieg, were converted to a new
The Serf-soldiery of Krieg purpose. The Death Korps of Krieg became the Serf-
Krieg, a planet of barren toxic deserts and choked, Soldiery of Krieg. Krieg soldiers were sold to any petty
murderous skies, found itself in a terrible predicament Imperium or empire (xenos or otherwise), that could
during the initial stages of the period. The planet afford them. After a one off payment of something
produced no food produce, had very little industry valuable, that Cocentrine needed, the buying Empire
that was not blasted to ruins, or in a permanent state of could purchase varying numbers of Serf-Soldiers,
grim disrepair. With the sudden loss of supplies from anywhere from a couple of squads, to an entire, fully
the wider Imperium, and a vast population of soldiers, equipped regiment of Kriegmarines. The Serf-soldiers,
who could not be used for other purposes on their indoctrinated at birth to believe that serfdom and
world, it would seem Krieg verged on extinction. servitude to foreign masters was the highest form
of piety, did not question their commercialisation.
However, the problem of so much soldiery would soon Once sold to the buying empire in question, the
become a peculiar advantage to the beleaguered Krieg. triad of Krieg and its neighbours, relinquished any
The Planetary Governor of krieg opened responsibility for their soldiers. The empire that
communications with a nearby semi-forge/industrial bought them has to feed them and look after their
world, Cocentrine, which happened to be in contact new soldiers, at their own expense. However, they

SECTION XII: with an agri world, known as Garden Omega-Hex.

This triad of
worlds, each within a few short warp transits of each
were worth this price, as the Kreig remained, as ever,
excellent soldiers.

other (each transit only taking a few months), hatched Thus, by M44, there were examples of Krieg troopers

Warriors of Fortune: a plan to save themselves and their direct neighbours.

Krieg would re-instigate the previously-forbidden

fighting in armies across the entire galaxy, from
tyrannical alien warlord’s armies of conquest, to the
most pious and self-aggrandising of petty Imperiums.
false-womb procedure, creating ever more soldiers, Even the Ophelian Imperium, at some point,

Mercenaries in the Second ever more quickly. These men and women matured
swiftly, and from the age of one, they began to be
trained in war, across the vast wastelands of Krieg.
purchased Krieg-muscle, to aid in their second war
against Tallarn.

Age of Strife
Krieg, the world of war, soon became a world of
These Krieg Marines were equipped by Cocentrine, commercial conflict, growing wealthy and prosperous
which churned out massive numbers of lasguns, flak on the backs of its own self-imposed slave trade.
The Kroot apparent slaughter, that many of the Ethereal councils
The Kroot, a race whose biological imperative is to en- of the inner Sept worlds, began to call for withdrawal
counter as many diverse opponents as possible, would from Pech. After all, they argued, were the Kroot not
inevitably retain its mercenary traditions, regardless intended to be allies? Even Aun’Va became restless
of increasing Tau pressure to stop this practice. This over the war. He did not want his forces bogged down
became more than just a moral issue to the Tau. The in internal conflicts, not when there was an entire gal-
bitter Tau, who had seen the older races ruin and axy to conquer.
despoil so many worlds, believed that the older races
did not deserve the galaxy, and enslavement or coerced Eventually, war broke out between the Tau and their al-
servitude was the only solution. The mere suggestion lies, and the Thexian trade empire, and their own allies,
of the Kroot actually helping their foes, was disgusting in the galactic north. Resources were needed for this
and abhorrent tonthem. war, and thus Aun’Va ordered withdrawal from Pech,
effective immediately. Thus, the Kroot survived. How-
However, the Kroot continued this process, sending ever, what really, really annoyed Commander Hawk-
out war spheres far out into the ever-more anarchic sight, was that throughout the entire conflict, the Kroot
galaxy. Soon, this process had to become much more mercenaries continued to operate, somehow evading
secretive and undercover, as Tau influence expanded Tau patrols. No amount of conflict could prevent the
beyond and around Pech. The Kroot could not openly Kroot from spreading themselves throughout the
dissent, lest they be brought into conflict with the Tau Segmentum, in their quest to bio diversify.
Imperial war machine.

Thus, Kroot were a common sight across the galaxy

throughout the period, lending their services to any
race willing to permit them to devour the slain, or take
a share of the plunder of a successful raid or invasion.

Yet, the Kroot could not hope to continue this prac-

tice indefinitely. Eventually, several Kroot war parties,
returning from a successful war against the Nekulli Re-
public, were intercepted by Tau patrols, and destroyed.
This sparked outrage amongst the Kroot, and equal but
opposite anger from the Tau high command, who saw
this as evidence of Kroot dissent.

In 634.M45, Commander Hawksight, current leader of

the westward reaches of the Tau Empire, mobilised an
expedition into the Kroot-held worlds. The war lasted
almost two decades. Forbidden from exterminating the
Kroot from orbit by Ethereal decree, the Commander
was forced to engage the Kroot on the ground, on their
home worlds of Pech, and the neighbouring ter-
ra-formed worlds, abundant in Kroot life. The Tau,
by this point, had technology almost seven centuries
in advance of the Kroot. Yet, despite this, the Kroot
fought a masterful guerrilla war, assaulting the Tau at
weak moments, before melting back into the wilder-
ness. The Infuriated Tau forces used ever more dev-
astating tactics, in a vain attempt to engage the Kroot
in open war. The war depleted many resources, on
both sides, and costed many, many lives. Such was the
Janisar’s Fremen Janisar’s fremen became infamous across a dozen
This brutal band of mercenaries had a humble start, sectors, as brutal and cold mercenaries, loyal to no
deep within the Hexian Imperium, to the galactic one but themselves. They hired professional killers
north west. They were initially a shipping group, a and soldiers from a wide range of backgrounds. Or-
private company of merchants, who had maintained phaned Imperial Guardsmen and stormtroopers,
a fleet of transports. When the galaxy suddenly shat- former Rogue trader staff, now-penniless and des-
tered into rival groupings, they offered their services perate for work, soldiers from destroyed Imperiums
to the Hexian Imperium. This was a particularly weak and fallen empires. Thugs, murderers and dregs
Imperium, which hadn’t the military power to req- from all across the galaxy’s underworld. Bizarre xe-
uisition the fremen’s cargo fleet, and thus the fremen nos breeds from hundreds of different worlds. All
could charge whatever they wanted, and became rather were permitted to join, provided they pulled their
wealthy. However, due to the lack of military protec- weight, and made the fremen a tidy profit. Their
tion provided by the Hexians, the fremen, under the equipment was of the highest quality, bought from
sickening mutant CEO of the fleet-based enterprise, any xenos or human empire they could buy from.
Janisar, hired soldiers to protect them from piracy and
rival post-Imperial shipping companies. They became one of the most successful of mercenary
brigades across the entire galaxy.
Eventually, the fremen discovered that they could
get far more money from helping to fight in conflicts Of course, these three are but the tip of the iceberg.
across the sectors, and perhaps even beyond. Thus, Thousands of separate bands and companies sprang up
ever more former naval frigates, captured xenos craft, during this period, all hungry to get a share of the un-
and converted cargo ships, were purchased from di- doubtedly lucrative trade of war. For, depressingly, in a
verse entrepreneurs. universe of such misery and pain, war was the only
consistent franchise left.
 “You think we’re finished. We are the hounds! The very Space Wolves made good on their instructions.
hounds of the Emperor! Of Russ! You think you’ve won?
I disagree.” Each Wolf Lord of the twelve Great Company’s deeds
were legendary. Yet, space is limited, and thus only
Reputed vox message from the Wolf Lord Ethelred, some of the Wolf Lords’ exploits can be properly de-
from the battle barge ‘Fenritch’, before the boarding of tailed here.
the daemon vessel Horriblix.
Ethelred (known as ‘the Breaker’), feasting upon Fenris
The Second Age of Strife effected every chapter of upon the death of the Emperor. Thus, he was the Wolf
the Angels of Death differently. Some descended into lord tasked with defending the realm against collapse.
despair-driven barbarity, others broke up into warring He sallied forth from Fenris, flanked by his fleet of
factions. Some, like the Imperial Fists, decided to wait
warships, and travelled to every world within reach
out the abomination (as we shall see later on). Some
of Fenris. Where worlds descended into anarchy, his
lost themselves in their own madness.
wolves would quell the rebellion. Where xenos reared
their foul faces, Ethelred would smash them. Often,
The Wolves were different. During the unfathomable
when a world fell, the Wolf Lord would challenge their
genocide of the New Devourer, the Space Wolves
divided up into their respective companies, and were leaders to an honour duel, marching forwards, alone,
scattered to every corner of the Imperium, for each wielding only his vast mace. Often, a world would sur-
great company was self-sufficient, and thus could func- render, rather than risk dying at his hand.
tion in this fractured state. Logan Grimnar, the Great
Wolf during the early period, gave his wolves a simple This desperate defence of the suddenly powerless Im-
message: perium continued on for many centuries. Daemons,
monsters and aliens constantly assailed the wolves,
“Good hunting! Make our deeds legendary and glorious. from every direction. Supplies often became scarce,
Die well, my brothers. Die well!” and many times, the wolf lord would order a muni-
tions-producing world ransacked for supplies, though,
Thus, when the Devourer vanished, and the Emper- unfortunately, this often ended in butchery, due to the
or died, plunging the Imperium into utter chaos, the heavy-handedness of the Wolves.

SECTION XIII:
The wolf lords
Yet, even though many millions died in the endless blade. An obliterator scorched his armour with fire and New Devourer was vanquished, the Space Wolves of
wars of this time, the Wolves managed to rally the melta beam, but he pushed on, hacking it down with his company were depleted to only fifty marines. He
scant few Imperial troops in the sector directly sur- Eventually, Ethelred engaged Lothar himself. The vile his maceband his frost blade. Daemonically corrupt- determined, nevertheless, that he would perform great
rounding the Space Wolf homeworld, urging them on beast was three times the height of a man, and had ed Callidus lunged forth, hurdling poisonous darts deeds, worthy of the grandest of songs. Thus, his fleet
to fight for their honour. For the briefest instant, hope grown a vast, twisted wolf ’s face, in mockery of the into his flesh, and hacking at his limbs with perfectly went off on another great hunt. As their fleet prowled
flickered anew. Space Wolves. Ethelred and his Long Fangs engaged murderous strikes. Though his blood was boiling with the void, it became apparent they were far from the
the fiend. As he swept his mace as the beast, the Long venom, and his limbs were mangled, he still fought Imperium. Their navigator was lost, claiming the Em-
Of course, then the western Chaos Imperium began Fangs would pump fire from their heavy weapons, through them, hacking them down in turn. Voltan the peror’s light was gone (Grimnar nearly killing him for
to advance eastwards, like a vile plague. Two titanic preventing the daemon from striking back at the Wolf bull-prince, a vast chaos lord, charged him, and was even suggesting it), and thus no maps could be made.
armies surged from the Chaos Imperium. One was led Lord. Eventually, Ethelred managed to duck beneath butchered in the wild fury of the Space Wolf, who tore Every world they encountered, as they short warp
by Abaddon himself, while a second force, led by the the prince’s swinging claws, and swung his mace out his throat with his long fangs. jumped between systems, were filled with daemons
daemon prince Lothar, and the Wolf Brother traitor directly into the foul monster’s spine, shattering it. and monsters, ruled by hideous alien beasts, or were
Tosdak. The foul thing fought on, wrestling with Ethelred, and Eventually, he reached Abaddon himself, and battle completely barren, picked clean by the New Devourer.
nearly savaging his throat with its daemonic fangs. was joined. He threw himself onto the Lord of the Cha- Those forces he could combat, he slew with great fury.
With no astropathic communication, Ethelred could Ethelred floundered, and the fight seem to go from his os Imperium. Bestial frenzy fought daemon-enhanced Those too powerful for his fleet, were left alone, but
not determine which force would attack first, and from might, and the two forces paused momentarily, as the Grimnar promised he would find them each in turn,
eyes.
where. He dared not split his forces, for even all 150 of battle was joined between the two combatants. Howev- another day, and there he would slay them.
his wolves, backed up by their supporting hundred er, Abbadon reached out with his Talon, and closed it
Tosdak watched, and he watched, as his gene brother
thousand human soldiers, would be horrendously out- around the Wolf Lord’s throat. Abaddon grinned with However, one world could not be left alone. The Foul
struggled with the devil-wolf prince. He looked upon
numbered, by even one of the titanic armies of chaos. evil delight, as he imitated his gene father’s murder of Library of Coine. Terrified merchants and cowering
his former comrade in blood, as his armour was rent
his own brother, and the memory filled him with glee. human vessels, captured by the Wolves, claimed that
and his body was being slashed by ethereal talons. He
200.M43, the daemon prince attacked. The beast led Ethelred sank to his knees, choking and spluttering for foul, forbidden knowledge was being researched upon
could watch no more. air which wouldn’t come. In one last, defiant strike, he the world, and that the world was building vast librar-
his forces across the northern planets of the fragile
Fenrisian Imperium, murdering and butchering count- swung his frost blade at his opponent, striking him in ies across its entire surface. A silver-tongued man,
With a mighty bestial howl, Tosdak charged into the the face. The gnashing fangs of the blade tore through calling himself Mephet, even told the wolves he knew
less millions, as they ravaged whole systems. When
fray, and plunged his ether lance directly through the skin and flesh, ripping half of Abaddon’s face from his the way to the planet, and he led them there. Grimnar
informed of this by his rune priests, Ethelred ordered
corrupt daemon prince’s black heart. As it roared in corrupt skull. He howled in agony, hacking off the Wolf knew who ruled Coine, even before he entered the sys-
is forces north, to combat the daemonic menace. His
agony, Lothar swept a monstrous paw at the Wolf Lord’s arm with his daemon sword, before plunging it tem, six months later. The glass spires, the vast librar-
fleet surged north, and it was on the world of Stinling,
Brother, decapitating the traitorous Astartes. However, deep into his body. Then, and only then, did Ethelred ies. The cold blue and gold sentinels, guarding each
that Ethelred engaged the evil chaos monsters. The
forces had not expected the wolves to arrive so swiftly, Tosdak had slain the daemon prince, and both sides die, his soul roasted by infernal energies. temple library. The Thousand Sons yet lived. The Great
and the wolf Lord made a surprise assault upon the knew this. Ethelred took up his mace, and drew his Wolf could not spare these ancient Traitors.
daemon infested capital. Battle was joined, and fierce. bolter, and he blasted the foul beast apart, all the while, Yet, inspired by his example, the Wolves threw them-
Fallen Wolf Brothers, Despoiled Dark Cadians, and pulverising its stagnant flesh with his wolf-headed selves upon the chaos forces, reaping a horrendous toll Thus, the space wolves, following a bombardment of
black Legionnaires, battled the frenzied wolves, and mace. on the Chaos Imperium’s forces. Though they died to the glass cities of Coine, made planet fall in great fury.
their allied human warriors. Blood mixed with the a man, the Space Wolves of Ethelred’s great Company When they landed, they realised something terrible.
grey ash, and grimy muck of the planet, as limbs were However, even as it dissolved into warp stuff, Lothar took down over twelve million enemy soldiers. So de- Beneath the shattered glass towers, vast metal ones
hacked, veins were pierced, and man murdered man chuckled heinously. He was only the distraction, and pleted was the chaos force, that Abaddon had to return reared, glimmering with internal verities flame. The
with reckless abandon. Many were the legends associ- Ethelred realised this too late. Fenris was the real tar- to his own lands, to replenish his numbers. very ground of Coine was silver and hard, covered n
ated with the battle. get. It had always been the real target. complex glyphs and symbols.
Thus, the sacrifice of the Wolves of Ethelred bought the
On the bridge into the city, a frenzied Khorne Berserk- He made all speed back to Fenris. However, Abaddon survival of Fenris, and the last survivor, the cunning In orbit, Mephet’s mocking laugh echoed across ev-
er blocked all from crossing the bridge. His twin chain was already there. Mighty Bjorn had fallen, slain by the Blood Claw who helped slay the berserker, kept the ery vox link. For Coine was not the domain of the
glaives were a whirling maelstrom of saw-toothed coward Abaddon, who had pulverised him from orbit, demoralised human population of the Fenrisian Impe- Thousand Sons, but had an altogether more powerful
death. Eventually, he was slain by a cunning Blood along with most of the defence force. Ethelred, howling rium alive, by moving between each world, telling tales patron. Coine was a trap, to ensnare the Space Wolves.
Claw, who clambered underneath the bridge. Scut- curses, immediately assaulted the chaos force. Anoth- of the ancient Space Wolves. Their sacrifice would save As the Deceiver destroyed the orbiting Battlebarges
tling like a beetle, the blood claw manged to plunge er brutal, bloody battle took place, upon the rubble the Fenrisian Imperium from collapse. and strike cruisers, using his powerful silver vessels,
his chainsword upwards, hacking through both the of Fenris herself. The stricken and depleted Wolves which entered the system instantaneously, the Deceiver
Berserker’s Achilles tendons. As he dropped, the Wolf fought like gods of legend, and hacked their way Grimnar, upon the death of the Emperor, was already offered his terms. He wanted Grimnar and his marines
Priest Jalmere charged forwards, and dashed the through the great sea of chaotic filth, towards Abad- leading his Great Company against the New Devourer, alive. Legend does not tell us what the Star God de-
monster’s head from his shoulders in one sweep of his don. Murder was in the old Wolf ’s eyes. and had only just survived the foul horde. Though the sired. Some claim he wanted Morkai, the axe, for some
evil ritual. Others said there was something in the began to shimmer into existence from thin air, azure
blood of the Space Wolves that the golden abomina- weapons crackling with infernal energies. Heroically,
tion craved. Some theories, rather more far fetched Grimanr ordered his Wolves to go through the portal,
and outlandish, claim that the Deceiver wished to use while he held the Necrons off. As they fled, Grimnar
the Wolves as bait, to ensnare the sorcerer Ahriman, in tossed Morkai to his second in command, Long Fang
order for the C’tan to gain access to the Webway, and Brynisson, and the long fang tossed his leader his own
hence engage Cegorach directly. Who knows? All we frost blade in exchange.
know is that Grimnar, honourable as he was, refused,
spitting in defiance, and planting his banner in the “I’ll be wanting that back later,” were the last known
metal soil of Coine. He would not yield. words of Logan Grimnar, before he charged, alone,
into the silver horde, bellowing curses and oaths.
For months, the Necrons assailed the Wolves, and each
time they were pushed back, at a dreadful cost. By the No one knows what happened to him, as he was never
fourth month of the war, only twenty marines still seen again. All the Space Wolves know is that he no
lived, led by the bedraggled, and increasingly insane doubt reaped a great toll amongst his unloving foes.
Grimnar. Each death came as a personal blow to the Some claim he fought the Deceiver itself, but no one
Old Wolf, and each time, he lost a little of his own can ever be certain. Nevertheless, his ballad is sung by
mind. After every battle, the Deceiver would speak the various beleaguered little pockets of Space Wolf
psychically to him, and offer him release, if he would resistance across the galaxy to this day.
only give into the Deceiver’s demands. Every time,
bleary-eyed and sorrowful, he would curse the Star Of course, these are but a few of the tales of the Great
god, and refuse. Companies. The exploits of Ragnar the black-maned
one, the final charge of Wolf Lord Vostor, the dread
At the height of the final month, the Wolves, holed up 13th Company, and all the other Companies, have their
in one of the tall silver tomb towers, desperately fought own tales of honour and sacrifice, each force desperate-
off waves of immortal death machines. Every time the ly fighting in the last dying hope of an already festering
beasts died, they would rise up and knit back together. corpse. The Space Wolves, scattered across the entire
Only the plasma weapons remaining permanently took galaxy, knew they would likely die. However, they
down the silver sentinels, causing them to vanish from would not go quietly into oblivion. They would fight,
sight. It seemed as though the five remaining Space for they were the hounds of the Emperor! Of Russ!
Wolves would be utterly exterminated by the Deceiv- Then the returned great wolf came for the wolf time,
er’s hordes, when help came from a most unwelcome Russ surged forward to the head of the Deceiver…
place.

Within the cold dark chamber, a great fiery rent rup-

tured the air, and from the blazing chaos, stepped three
marines. Two were clad in grey, unmarked power
armour, with every chapter affiliation carefully filed
off. They stood silent, bolters across their chests. The
third marine was different, and the hairs on the Space
Wolves’ necks raised, and they snarled fiercely at the
newcomer. For, standing before them, was a marine
clad in the colours of the Dark Angels, the ancient
rivals of the Wolves of Russ. The marine’s twin pistols
were sheathed, and his hands were raised in a placating
manner. Grimnar snarled, decrying the Dark Angel.
He responded calmly, by offering the Wolves passage
from the world. All they had to do was go through
the portal. After much deliberation, they reluctantly
agreed. However, before they could leave, Necrons
 By the dawn of the 50th millennium, almost eight the immaterial, was born.
thousand years since the death of the Emperor, the
galaxy was like a shattered mosaic. Thousands of To define the origins of this Star Child, we must look
Imperiums, of differing creeds, beliefs, and ever tech- to the Horus Heresy, so many millennia ago. In the
nology, were spread across light years, each weak and instant the Emperor struck down his gene-son, all
alone, compared to the glory of the old days long since his good will and benevolence was driven from him,
passed. Aliens and madmen dominated worlds, and
into the ether, leaving only a bitter, dying husk of cold
countless corpses of worlds devoured or scoured clean
oppression. This husk was placed onto the Golden
by war, lay scattered across every corner of the galactic
disk. There was no rule, no law, no mercy. Throne, thus sealing the warp from Terra and keeping
him alive. Yet, the Throne’s purpose went beyond this.
And, amid all this carnage and mayhem, one thing This throne was once fashioned, to help draw in all
never changed. The blind, desperate devotion of the knowledge of the universe, drawn from the immaterial.
masses, as they prayed and begged the dead emperor And so it continued to do. For thousands upon thou-
to save their souls from this galactic anarchy. Blood sands of years, the misery of the galaxy, the heartache
was sacrificed, people denounced neighbours, friends, and the desperate pleas for protection and submissive
children, to the roving witch hunters and lunatics, who pleas for oppression, filled the Emperor’s mind. Every
eagerly brutalised and slaughtered those sacrifices in event, every death, resonated within the Emperor’s
wild religious glee. From the most isolated and back- mind. Every senseless murder, every despairing tear
wards of villages, huddled around their preacher, as he of a bereaved mother, screaming out for someone to
crushed the skull of an unbeliever with a crude cudgel,
save them, pulsed through the throne, even as millions
to the great, industrial-process of witch burning, which
of psykers were fed into the Emperor, amplifying and
became a near constant feature of the dreadful Oph-
elian Imperium, the majority of humanity were crying intensifying these thoughts of anguish and misery. It
out for order, for protection. drove Him utterly, irreversibly, insane. Trapped inside
his own corpse, he screamed silently, though no one
On 000.M50, they received their wishes, their prayers. could hear him, and those that could were mad zealots
And they regretted it, with all their putrid hearts. As, themselves, and could not understand his babbled,
on that day, the Star Child, fermenting in the womb of confused words.

SECTION XIV:
The star father incarnate
All the while, in the warp, the Star Child grew and ma- sea, and caused the boats above to toss and turn as a Of course, in the materium, the Star Child (or ‘Star
tured, as yet unborn, but waiting for its moment. The result. The Chaos Gods, that great behemoth, wrestled Father’ as it became known) made itself felt far more
Star Child was a being formed from the most seeming- with this sudden resurgent force for order. No one profoundly.
ly positive of emotions possible: compassion, and the could possibly describe the conflict, because, in effect,
will to protect everyone. Of course, fed and nourished it was not a conflict in any conceptual sense. Realms The Star Father’s influence was almost as insidious as
within the warp, these emotions were twisted and overlapped, folded inwards, cursed and shifted into the chaos gods. Tendrils of essence would infest the
stretched, to gargantuan and monstrous proportions. different emotional states, and reason and lunacy sifted minds of the rulers and devout priests of a world. They
The Star Child became fed upon all forms of protec- and pulped emotions of befuddlement and anguish, only wanted to protect their flock, as the Emperor
tion, and this protection was taken to its extreme. To and despair and murderous lust, as the warp churned had wished. The cold, commanding voice of the Star
protect everyone, repression and domination was re- as never before. Nurgle seized upon the empathetic Father, seemed to whisper and bellow in their minds
quired, and these emotions fed into one another, until despair of the Emperor aspect, but was twisted off at once. To protect, one must enslave. But more than
they were as one. Compassion turned to jealous love. course by the hope of dominion and protection, which enslave. Dominate entirely. Thus, a web of influence
In the twisted aspect of the Star Child, love for human- was surrounded by the hope for more hope, and the spread across the whole world, unseen but powerful
ity was love for the Star Child, and no other. It became urge for change. Daemons, whose concepts and feed- beyond measure. Priests and preachers performed ser-
a dark and dreadful force, lurking in the hidden folds ing emotions switched sides as much as their patrons, mons, which opened up people to the possibility of ‘the
of the warp. Waiting. flickered between devil and ordered angel, as the great ultimate piety’. Chaos was emotions, the sick twisted
game played out, confusing and insane as the warp emotions at the heart of sentience. To remove thought
It was not until the forty second millennium, that these ever was. Yet, the warp was as much a process as a of chaos, one must remove thought. Unconsciousness
two forces, one of utter oppression, the other a cold distinct entity, or entities and, like always, the process and servitude eternal, was the only fully secure pro-
being, fed upon slaughter and murderous sacrifice, was the same. tection from chaotic corruption. Thus, they all, slowly,
would merge once more. When the Emperor, strapped began to come around to this way of thinking. Those
to His chair, looked into the cold eyes of His killer, The Star Child rose up, and the chaos gods (nomi- that didn’t, were sacrificed in the name of submission
swathed in a deep hood, He did not resist him, but nally) united against it, overthrowing it at some point to Him, to the Star Father, the great patriarch of all
merely muttered, as the blade was poised over His amongst the non-causal realm of mind-numbing existence (in their minds). All the while, they were
heart: density and dreadful insanity. After the overthrow of the ones corrupted, as they sacrificed more souls to
the Star Child, Nurgle rose in its place, only for the Star the Star Father, until it was powerful enough to break
“END THIS.” Child to unite, however fractionally, with the other down the barriers of reality, and allow his daemons
gods, in overthrowing Nurgle. And hence, the great (which we shall refer to as ‘angyls’ from now on, just to
Terra fell to chaos, but the great spirit of sacrifice game continued, as it ever had. It became one of five differentiate these from daemons, or spirits of chaos)
surged free, into the warp, and the waiting coils of its main facets of the Warp. to walk upon the surface.
counterpart. It took mere instants within the warp, as
the two great energies fused and moulded into some-
thing far, far worse than the sum of its parts. In the
materium, this fusing took thousands of years, the
Imperium shattering and the galaxy falling apart in the
meantime.

The birth, unlike the birth of Slannesh, was not some

great spilling warp storm explosion, but rather a
mighty implosion. Centred around Ophelia, the dark
heart of the Emperor’s bloody worship, space rippled,
as Ophelia was swallowed whole by the warp storm,
before warp space merely returned to normality, leav-
ing the Ophelian Imperium without a capital world. It
survived (barely), but Tallarn took advantage (but that
is a separate tale).

Warp storms suddenly flared into life, galaxy wide,

as the entire galaxy felt… something. It was as if two
ocean behemoths fought beneath the waves of a great
By that time, the world was entranced by these angyls, woman, or any other natural form. Dozens of wings
who set about reshaping the world. Buildings melted arched from them, each devastating and bladed, and
down, and reformed, as uniform, silver and gold mon- the long, blank faces protruded from within these
uments to the Star Father, while the population was wings. They blazed permanently with intense white
forced to walk across the surface of the world for the light, and left trails of sparks behind them, as they
rest of their lives, for no particular reason. However, floated ethereally wherever they went. Some say the
should any of them leave the perfectly straight lines Angyls are formed from the spirits of all those astro-
marked out for their walks, they would be instantly paths, soul bound to the Emperor while still clothed in
destroyed, and their souls dragged into the warp. Men, flesh. None can prove this, but the theory is prevalent.
women and children walked and walked, until they Of the greater Angyls, only one is known to have a
could no longer walk. These people were then either name, and a face. The Malcador, the great Dominion.
killed, or died of exhaustion. Such was the way of the The great dominion has a harsh, stern, humanoid face,
Star Father. Worlds such as these, sprang up across the amidst all the folding robes and razor-edged wings.
galaxy, especially around worlds where devotion to the It is the greatest of them all, the first soul bound to
Emperor had become completely senseless. Unlike the Star Father, so long ago. It is often the voice of its
daemonworlds, angylworlds becalmed the warp di- patron during wars, and he only ever offers one option
rectly around the world, rather than churning it. These to those enemies of the Star Father:
were worlds of horrifying, self-defeating order.
“OBEY!”
The Sensei, the progeny of the Emperor, managed to,
for the most part, resist domination (their tragic stories For, in the grim nightmare of the the 51st Millenium,
are told elsewhere though, so we will not dwell upon it there is no righteous or good path. That was murdered,
here). along with the Emperor, long ago. Tyranny, oppression,
or anarchy and doom, are the only options left to the
The Angyls, the dread avatars of His Will, were pow- faithful. All is dust, and there is no salvation!
erful and as cold as their master. Faceless, the most
common form of the Angyls was of winged beings, Of course, the above statement isn’t quite accurate…
with androgynous, silver and gold shapes, neither man,
 The Aeldari, already a dying race by M41, suffered ever and East Chaos-Imperial space, are likely to be led, in
greater misery during the Second Age of Strife. The secret, by Exodites, such as the Hurom Imperium.
craftworlds, slow and cumbersome as they were, were
difficult to defend against the New Devourer. Many With the death of the Emperor, a great wailing cry
craftworlds, though they fought valiantly for months, erupted throughout the warp, as Slannesh groaned.
eventually fell to the New Devourer. Craftworlds were The Star Father, in its first waking moments, struck at
gutted, their towers cast down, their people slain and Slannesh first, sending the perverse prince reeling, at
devoured. Often, all that remained of a craft world was least initially. This shudder of frustrated lust and pride
its titanic wraith bone skeleton, the pulsing infinity cir- slammed into each craftworld’s Infinity Circuit like a
cuit, and the innumerable scattered soul gems, which hurricane. Though the barrage was resisted easily by
glimmered with the life their murdered bodies had the Craftworlds, the Farseers were suddenly aware of
lost. new potential futures suddenly coming into existence.
No matter how hard they scanned all possible futures,
These ghost Craftworlds drifted, silent and alone, as the predominant one was always the same. A great
the Aeldari race was slowly, gradually culled. With white fist, pressing the galaxy down. The galaxy would
a much reduced population, the remaining Aeldari be silent, cold and heartless. At first, the Farseers
found it hard to defend what little colonial assets they feared that this future represented the final victory of
still possessed. Often, the Exodites, confined to their the Yngir star-hungry. However, this doom came not
paradise worlds, were left to fend for themselves. Some from the sterile dimensions of the C’tan, but instead
Exodite colonies were attacked by opportunistic alien from the warp of all places. Flinching back from their
empires, such as the Hax Paterinius, a race of utterly visions, like children pulling their hands away from
alien, multi-limbed creatures, that traveled the void
fire, they realised they had to act.
using their Unam, ships made of pure energy. The Hax
was thought to have unintentionally destroyed over
The sudden upsurge in Aeldari deaths, due to the New
a dozen Exodite worlds, as the Hax moved onto the
Devourer, opened a new avenue to the Craftworlders.
world, and Terra-formed it to their preferred environ-
They all felt it, shifting beneath the surface of every
ment. Unfortunately, the Hax were native to worlds
single Craftworld. Its name was death, yet it was hope.
filled with sulphuric acid vapour, and temperatures
Ynnead, the god of the dead. It was growing, and they
hot enough to melt lead, and thus their Terra-form-
knew it.
ing often killed the native population. The Hax were
a peaceful race, and only ever fought in self defence.
Nevertheless, they killed millions of Aeldari in those The Aeldari knew, while alive, they could not save
early days. the universe from the ancient enemy, and their souls
would never be safe, not really. Eventually, craftworlds
Some Exodite colonies were far more shrewd. When became less and less frequent. Stories of the Aeldari
the Astronomicon spluttered and died, the sudden became myths, then legends, then lies, to the rest of

SECTION XV: anarchy that shattered the Imperium, drove the surviv-
ing power magnates and opportunistic warlords into a
frenzy of land grabbing, and many maiden worlds were
seized this way. Some Exodite worlds, such as the one
the galaxy, as the craftworlds pulled their forces from
active engagement. The Farseers would not explain
what they were planning, as all their children returned
to the craftworlds. They offered each of their people

The Dying: led by Alessair Hurom, dismantled the physical evi- a stark choice: They could stay with their craftworld,
dence of their culture, including all the buildings and and help save the galaxy and the Aeldari, or they could
even the crop fields, before they hid themselves. Thus, leave their craftworlds, never to return, and their soul
the post-Imperial forces arrived to find pristine, empty stones would be disconnected from the Infinity Cir-

Biel-Tan, the AELDARI, and the

worlds, and eagerly colonised them. However, slowly, cuit, and they would become of the Path of the Out-
the Exodites, under false guises and using trickery, cast. Only roughly seventy thousand Aeldari took this
charm and subterfuge, infiltrated all the high offices of path. The others were too hopeful, or too naïve. Once
these various petty Imperiums, becoming the strange, the outcasts left, the Farseers, in their mercy, unleashed

Lord of the Dead

sinister lords of the realms, who, bizarrely, never a nerve toxin throughout their craftworlds, killing
seemed to die of old age. Many of the northernmost billions of Aeldari at that moment, in an act of betrayal
Imperiums, those small Imperiums bordering Thexian few
Aeldari could comprehend, even as they choked their as a sign, and moved to full mobilisation, leaving their Using their perfectly honed combined arms tactics, could follow. Asiter, the mistress of Biel-Tan, and
last breaths. The Warlocks and Farseers then collected fellow craftworlds to fester, like they wished. and utilising their superior FTL system, the Sword master Autarch, fought off scores of the psychotic
all the soulstones, and ‘emptied’ them, directly into the Wind’s armies were devastatingly effective. From 488. Aeldari, their blades and whips clashing with fine
Infinity Circuit, before they each ritually fell upon their Many of the outcasts from the other craftworlds, M45, to 333.M46, the Biel-Tan engaged and defeated wraith bone blades, and immortal skill.
blades, and their souls too transmitted into the grow- appalled at the actions of the Farseers, joined with three Petty Imperiums, the pathetically slow and
ing Infinity Circuit. Biel-Tan, taking new oaths of loyalty. Wild Riders from inexperienced armies of the small clusters of human Lilith, her near-naked body unblemished by any scars,
Saim Hann, spirit seers and the legendary Yriel, from worlds vastly insufficient in the face of the finely such was her skill, dueled with Yriel, prince of Iyanden,
The great combined spirit rose up, swelled with such crafted killing machine, that was the Aeldari warhost. and husband to Asitar. Their battle ranged from the
a vast sacrifice. It pulsed and swirled and… it did Iyanden, vast numbers of rangers from Alaitoc, and
high-vaulted rafters of the throne room, down to the
nothing. The vast, unimaginable power of Ynnead was even a few dissidents from the black craft world, were
Ignoring the strong advice of the Harlequins, the Biel- personal chambers of Yriel himself. The two
trapped within the Infinity Circuit. For, though many amongst the many Aeldari, loyal to the war effort. Us- Tan struck at Tau targets, and even engaged in a direct combatants’ blades were near invisible, as they
craftworlds followed the route of sacrifice, there was ing their perfectly honed combined arms tactics, and war with the Tau, when they founded a Sept World exchanged blows and parries with inhuman skill and
one notable exception. Biel-Tan refused to accept such utilising their superior FTL system, the Sword Wind’s on the site of a Maiden world. The war lasted several speed. Lilith scored small cut after small cut against
a morbid view of the situation. When approached by armies were devastatingly effective. From 488.M45, years, with Biel-Tan abandoning the world, after Yriel, somehow bypassing his personal force field.
the other Farseers of the other craftworlds, Asitar blade to 333.M46, the Biel-Tan engaged and defeated three seeding it with a special fungus, which would prevent Bleeding and tired, Yriel at last finished the battle,
song, the ruling Autarch of the Swordwind, responded: Petty Imperiums, the pathetically slow and inexperi- the Tau from ever growing crops upon the world, driving the Spear of Twilight straight through the
enced armies of the small clusters of human worlds essentially making it useless for colonisation. cursed Archite witch.
“Sacrifice? Death? Have you all lost your minds? We are vastly insufficient in the face of the finely crafted killing
the Asur! The Aeldari! Our empire is overrun by machine, that was the Aeldari warhost. A large force of Aeldari later struck at Tallarn-occupied
barbarian mon keigh, and pathetic usurpers, and you space, and decimated several worlds. It was only the
wish to give them our empire without even resistance? unexpected (and short-lived) alliance of Tallarn and
Many of the outcasts from the other craftworlds,
This is our galaxy, not theirs! We are close to victory, do Ophelia against the Aeldari, which drove them off.
not falter now!” appalled at the actions of the Farseers, joined with
Biel-Tan, taking new oaths of loyalty. Wild Riders from
Saim Hann, spirit seers and the legendary Yriel, from The Cossedus Imperium, an industrially active power
The delusional leaders of Biel-Tan, could not accept in the galactic centre, was engaged by Biel-Tan’s 1st
defeat. They considered their craftworld was on the Iyanden, vast numbers of rangers from Alaitoc, and
fleet, which stripped that Imperium of its naval power
verge of snatching back the galaxy from the filthy Im- even a few dissidents from the black craft world, were
in just seven years, leaving it open to be torn apart by
perium. When the Imperium collapsed, they took this amongst the many Aeldari, loyal to the war effort. rival Imperiums, ceasing upon the weakness.

Increased Necron activity led to many more

engagements with their ancient foes. Initially, they
were successful. Of course, once the Ophilim-Kiasoz
was unleashed, at the battle of Fornostia, the Biel-Tan
could no longer engage the Necrons on their own, for
fear of the Deceiver unleashing that terrible device
once more. Nevertheless, the Aeldari continued to
engage the Necrons discreetly.

In the year 000.M47, a troupe of harlequins came to

Biel-Tan, to perform the dance of the fall. However,
these supposed Harlequins were, in fact, Dark Aeldari
Wyches in disguise, sent on a mission of assassination.
When they were brought before the twin thrones of
Yriel and Asitar, the Wyches threw off their disguises,
and battle was suddenly joined. These Wyches were of
the Wych Cult of Strife, led by Lilith Hesperax herself.
Startled civilians were slain by the scores suddenly, as
the Dire Avengers, the bodyguards to Yriel and Asitar,
fought with one another. The battle in the throne room
was as if one in legends, with the superhuman Aeldari
darting unbelievably fast, faster than the mortal eye
Lilith hissed perversely, as Yriel kicked her from
his blade. Before her death, it was said she tasted
her own blood, for the first time in her life, and she
giggled mockingly, before Yriel finished her, with a
decapitating blow. The Wyches were defeated.

Asitar, furious, sent the surviving Wyches back to

Commoragh, with every orifice sealed shut, and their
bodies filled with vile wasp-like Jindi Bugs, which tore
them apart from within.

Within a year, the Biel-Tan leaders received another

gift: a cask of perfectly blended Commoraghan wine
(which was surprisingly, un-poisoned), along with a
message, written in blood, but in a supreme hand all
the same. It congratulated Biel-Tan on electing such an
‘exquisitely brutal’ mistress as their leader, and wished
her good luck in her war with the Mon Keigh. It was
signed by Vect himself.

Though the Biel-Tan had fallen out of favour with the

Harlequins, and still enemies of the monstrous Dark
Aeldari, they were still a formidable faction throughout
the period, right up until M51. They never lost their
arrogant sense of self-worth, and still believed that
they could reclaim their empire, even as the galaxy
tumbled down about their ears.

Such was the way of the last of the few, the remnants of
the great Aeldari corpse.
 Though the Eastern Chaos Imperium is referred to as through the rubbled avenues of their former abodes.
‘eastern’, this is only in relation to the Segmentum Solar Ex Space Wolves, Sons of Guilliman, the Brothers of
and Obscurus. Though Huron’s own Imperium of the Hound, the Black Horns, the Beasts of Ravage, and
Chaos is located within the Ultima Segmentum, it is innumerable other marines from innumerable oth-
focused around the Maelstrom, the second greatest er renegade chapters, all joined in with the slaughter
warp/real space in the galaxy, located towards the and mayhem, daubed in the crude red paint, a sym-
centre of the great galactic spiral. For it was from this bol of the nominal allegiance to Huron Blackheart.
realm of madness that the Blackheart, the Tyrant of Governors were taken hostage, or simple broken into
Badab, renewed his desire to rule an Empire all of his gory pieces, just for the sick laughs of the chaos space
own, as his foes in the Imperium were cast down by marine butchers. Eventually, every world they encoun-
the screaming anarchy brought about by the failing of tered gave them what they wanted: riches and resourc-
the guiding light of humanity. es. In fact, these raids against the seven hundred or so
worlds around the Red Corsairs’ domains became al-
As the New Devourer was violently birthed in the most a sort of tithe. Only, much like an Imperial force,
churning war in Octavius, Huron Blackheart listened the Red Corsairs protected these worlds from external
to the whispering warnings of daemons and devils, threats, such as ravenous aliens, or rival Post-Imperial
who told him of this coming menace. As more and warlords. The people of these planets were the Cor-
more Imperial vessels were drawn off to combat this sairs’, to do with how they wanted.
sudden dread force, he struck, attacking and seizing all
the warp capable vessels he could plunder, before flee- Massive numbers of grubby, cowardly human filth
ing into the Maelstrom once more. There, as the New tended to follow the Corsairs around during their wars
Devourer slew whole civilisations, he and his minions, and murderous excesses, hoping to catch the eye of
drawing together all his resources, consolidated their their superhuman betters. These human scum ranged
place within the realm of madness, defeating and en- from ex-pirates, convict soldiers, released from servi-
slaving all the rival chaotic war bands within the warp tude, and murderers and dissidents, narrowly dodging
interface, and demanding they join his Red Corsairs, the gibbet on their own worlds. Often, particularly
just like all the other chaotic marines within. cunning or brutal human renegades would be grant-
ed the equipment of the planet’s slaughtered PDF, by
The wars within were brutal, bloody, and bitter. Alien their Red Corsair masters. The craven hordes of Huron
monsters, mutants and twisted chaotic daemons fought swelled enormously during the early centuries of the
for all sides during these numerous internal wars. period.
Eventually, with the defeat and destruction of the vast
possessed space hulk Mordrecar, Huron was at last Eventually, after centuries of complete anarchy and
master of the Maelstrom. When the New Devourer chaos, the opponents of Huron finally began to form
had left, and the Astronomicon had died, he surged Petty Imperiums and military forces of their own,
forth from the hellstorm. His fleets found conquering and sought to topple Huron, and pick his lands clean,
remarkably easy, as the Imperial defence fleets and subsuming them into their own ambitiously growing
naval forces remained in terrible disarray following the empires.
initial shock of every astropath and warp route being

SECTION XVI:
destroyed. The first of these usurpers was the Emperor Dotor, and
his attendant Imperium, which attacked from the
Brutal bands of Red Corsairs, their armour painted north. A fleet of seven hundred fully armed naval
crudely with paint mixed with human blood to cover vessels, employed by the wealthy Imperial-impostor

The Blackheart’s Reign:

and insult their former chapters’ colours, brutalised Dotor, entered Huron Blackheart’s territories brazenly.
isolated worlds for light-years around the warp storm. They had the finest vessels, requisitioned from a naval
Their tyrannical assaults would begin with the bomb- dock in the Gothic sector, which bordered the Doto-
ing and bombardment of the capitals of each world. rian Imperium, and had elite soldiers, drawn from
If they still refused to give into Corsair demands, the numerous Guard units taken in by Dotor’s minions.

The Eastern Chaos Imperium crazed marines would make planetfall, and begin kill- This fleet easily entered his borders, and took many of
ing at random in the streets, hunting terrified civilians Huron’s worlds without so much as a fight. Each world
was brutalised and terrified. They had no PDF, their it brought with it a more profound darkness, and the
own forces butchered and confiscated long ago by Hu- life eater swept across the enemy forces, and the entire
ron. In fact, the only symbol of Huron’s ownership of world in turn. In one swoop, they were all vanquished.
the worlds in question were the billions upon billions
of stakes, which lined every city on every world, each Then, plunging from hiding behind the radiation of
with a skewered foe rotting upon them. You see, Black- the sun, Huron’s second fleet struck, taking the reeling
heart was not an Imperialist in the traditional sense. Dotorians by surprise. The vastly larger and more pow-
He didn’t want colonies, he just wanted spoils, and his erful Imperial vessels, were overcome mainly by board-
various fleets were constantly mobile, moving around ing parties. Particularly effective were the psychotically
his empire constantly, their cruel gaze searching out suicidal mercenary space marines of the Purge. They
anyone who challenged their master’s will. Thus, entered battleships and fought their way deep inside
Huron’s extensive fleets merely watched, and waited, the ships, before unleashing chemical and biological
looking for their time to strike Dotor’s forces on their weapons inside. Through the cramped environs, the
own terms. plagues and viruses spread swiftly, killing everyone
onboard, including the purge marines themselves.
On the planet of Helis, Huron sprung his trap. He
landed a small group of his Corsairs on the planet, tak- The few remaining warships which had repelled board-
ing the planetary capital, before he split his fleet into ers, were subsequently vanquished by Huron’s final,
three, and sent one fleet into the asteroid fields, anoth- largest fleet, led by himself, and consisting of all his
er around the far side of the system’s sun, and his own captured battleships and battle barges.
fleet elements around the dark side of the planet.
That day, he had defeated the entire Dotorian expedi-
When Dotor’s fleet arrived, they were instantly taunted tion, and, what is more, had stolen most of their vessels
via vox, by the Corsairs on the planet’s surface. The too.
imperial forces unleashed a barrage of orbital devasta-
tion upon the world, but this merely killed billions of This pattern played out many more times. Each time
normal humans, while the Corsairs were securely dug an Imperium or enemy fleet invaded, he would defeat
in. Once the bombardment stopped, the mocking them, and capture the surviving fleets, thus mak-
transmissions began again, with one of the marines be- ing him stronger for the next campaign. Thus, while
low claiming to be Huron himself (even though he was repelling invaders, he often counter-invaded, stealing
obviously not). resources from his enemies, and making their planets
fear the legend of the Blackheart.
Then, the smallest fleet element, from the asteroid
field, engaged the Imperial Fleet, and were easily At some point, as he consolidated his now rather large,
driven away, losing two ships. The Dotorians, in their sprawling empire, founded upon fear, a potential ally
foolish arrogance, thought that was the full extent of made himself known to Huron.
Huron’s forces. The admiral thought himself secure in
orbit, and sent down his soldiers, to cleanse the world In 327.M44, a vessel bearing the dark and sinister
of chaos filth. However, the Corsairs made themselves runes of chaos, as well as the image of a great aquila,
difficult to dislodge. The streets ran red with blood, as defiled, was intercepted on the western borders of the
brutal street by street fighting erupted. The crimson Eastern Chaos Imperium. This vessel, claiming to bear
maniacs launched random assaults from all angles a message for Huron, was taken directly to Huron’s
and locations, making the enemy army’s job of exter- latest base of operations, the fortress of J’baal.
mination all the harder. The Dotorians were forced
to unleash more and more of their forces onto the Formerly a Ramillies Class Star Fort, the colossal vessel
ground. After a full two weeks of relentless carnage, was twisted and reshaped by chaos. As the emissaries
the Corsairs on the world were almost all dead. How- arrived, the fortress was still under construction.
ever, all the Dotorian ground force was too. It was then Huron, gaining much favour from the entities of the
that Huron struck. On the dark side of the world, he warp, had acquired the services of many daemons and
unleashed exterminatus on the planet. As dusk fell, devilish spirits, which worked on converting and
 enhancing the ruined old fortress, which had been Ever since that day, annually, Huron has returned the unofficial system became known as the ‘hierarchy of However, their religion soon became twisted down the
abandoned long ago. Using Dark Mechanicus, soul emissaries, piece by piece, to Abaddon, to fully enunci- pillage’. Though a brutal system, it allows unprecedent- generations, and the Emperor became more a figure of
forge daemonic entities, and captured slaves which had ate how much he disrespects his rival. ed freedom upon all the worlds within the Imperium, hated oppression, and less of a force of protection. For,
aided Abaddon in constructing the Planet Killer, Hu- to do whatever they want. Perverse and murderous it was not the Angels of the Emperor which protected
ron was building something dark and powerful within Though the palatable hate betwixt the two great powers cults were given pretty much free reign. Some worlds them, but instead the murderous devils of Huron’s war
the decrepit heart of the fortress. stirred the warp in its intensity, neither side could truly
even maintained the religion of the old Imperium. bands.
capitalise upon their foe, or invade their rival. A dozen
The emissaries, seven hulking chaos marines, bear- petty Imperium’s lay between them, and in the process
ing the grim heraldry of Abaddon’s Chaos Imperium, of sending a war fleet into their foe’s territory, the fleet
were led by an escort of several dozen Corsairs, the rag would have to fight the various petty Imperial forces,
not to mention countless raiders and pirates, both
tag, brutal garb of the piratical Red Corsairs contrast-
human and xenos. Thus, the two Chaos Imperium’s are
ing sharply with the hellishly burnished and detailed
the worst of enemies, yet neither side can absorb the
armour of the Black Legionnaires, which writhed other, or destroy their rival either.
with demonic un-life. The corsairs, on the other hand,
were rogues and monsters, and cared nothing for their Huron soon expanded in multiple directions, until it
armour, and it showed, with broken sections of armour stretched from Molov in the north, to Badab in the
simply ripped away, and replaced by mail, or crude south.
iron plates.
By 999.M44, Huron’s Imperium was truly vast, encom-
Eventually, the emissaries for Abaddon were brought passing almost a thousand worlds. His expansion,
before Huron himself. Few beings have ever entered however, is checked in several places. To the south-
his abode and lived. It is said strange trinkets and west of his Imperium, the powerful Ryza-Catachan
artefacts, from across the galaxy, are displayed with- alliance has proven very effective. The vast ranks and
in, testament to Huron’s prolific skill for thievery and crushing industry of Ryza, which had militarised the
entire subsector directly surrounding it, combined
twisted obsession for the arcade and the valuable. Jars
with the unmatched skill and brutal war craft of the
with malformed monsters, and small cages displaying
Catachans, allowed them to contest (and often secure)
mewling mutant freaks are said to line the smoky hall, worlds from Red Corsair dominance. In the north-east
which is filled constantly with smoking incense. lay the gates of Varl. The blockades around that area re-
mained firm (at least until M51, and those dread days
The emissaries came before the Blackheart, and to come…). Even though Huron, if he truly desired,
brought him news from the Despoiler. Abaddon of- could have defeated the permanent battle fleets around
fered him the chance to join the Western Imperium, that sector, Huron dared not do so. Not once the gold-
and in the process, crush the few petty Imperiums en liar had unleashed the Ophilim-Kiasoz…
trapped between the two vast forces of infernal pow-
er. Huron did not wish to be subservient to Abaddon, Despite these checks on his power, Huron remained
who he considered his lesser. He offered a counter of- a powerful warlord, ruling a (comparatively) massive
fer: that Abaddon could join his Imperium, as Huron’s area of the galaxy. Yet, each world was not directly
subservient, and, perhaps, learn how to truly run an ruled by him. His policies were callous, lethal, dan-
Empire of Chaos. gerous and brutal, but they were nevertheless oddly
freeing, to a population bred upon centuries of Impe-
rial oppression. The unspoken deal between the worlds
The great horned leader of the emissaries, Lord Vadek
conquered by him and his forces was thus. His fleets
Suul, upon hearing such a blatant challenge to Abad-
had access to any and all resources they needed, on any
don, cursed Huron for his cowardice and pathetic world within the Empire, and could come to claim it
pride, before charging the Chaos Lord. Huron slew the at any time, meaning the world must be in readiness
Chaos Lord in a mere dozen blows, and his minions to receive his ships at any time. In exchange, only the
were seized by the massively-outnumbering Red cor- forces of Huron would pillage the worlds, and no other.
sairs, aided by the countless malformed beasts which The worlds would also never be destroyed by Huron,
filled Huron’s court. unless he needed to, or really really wanted to. This
 The warp churned as never before, as the Emperor guardians, and breach the defences of the Library, and
finally expired. His presence rippled through the warp, hence uncover all the secrets of chaos.
and the realm of madness fought and twisted in furi-
ous eternity. His seal upon the web way ruptured, and During this period of woe, the Biel-Tan alliance of
daemons spewed from both sides. The Webway flexed Craftworld Eldar made extensive use of the Webway, in
and gagged as devils ploughed through the corridors of order to prosecute their wars of conquest, often dis-
ethereal speed. regarding the wishes of the laughing guardians of the
realm. In their belligerence, the Biel-Tan considered
The flickering forms of the harlequins fought like themselves the unbridled rulers of the Eldar. Their
legends, fighting off daemons from every angle of wars with the Thousand Sons and the Dark Eldar
approach. The Webway was their ally in this conflict. lasted well into the fiftieth millennium. Vect and Asitar
As the Masque of Slannesh led the daemon hordes fought a war of feint and slight of movement, their
through the complex labyrinth dimension, the very forces prowling for each other amidst the twisting
passageways of the Webway distorted and flexed, con- corridors of the interstellar network, while the autom-
stantly in flux. Even the daemons of Tzeentch, mad- ata of Ahriman’s Thousand Sons blundered around
ness incarnate, couldn’t scuttle their way through the the Webway, causing havoc and mayhem wherever
complex realm. they passed. Warp Spiders and Mandrakes hunted
and killed with joy born of ancient rivalries (and, in
Hordes of foes were funnelled into ambushes led by the Mandrakes’ case, literal hunger). On the World of
Harlequins, and vast forces of devils, that would have Kastir, a world half-submerged by the warp, where the
otherwise doomed all the Eldar, were turned against Webway criss-crossed across insanely, a vast force of
one another, the inherent hatred within each daemon’s Incubi, led by the Dark Father, engaged another force
nature used against them. The Dark Eldar, eager to of Striking Scorpions, led by their Phoenix Lord. None
keep their shadowy realms secure, aided the Har- can know the outcome for certain, but most believe the
lequins wherever they could. The howls of insane conflict remains unresolved. For, as the legends say, the
hellions and the grunts and bellows of numerous final battle of the Phoenix Lords would see them all
daemons from beyond nightmares echoed through- dead. This is yet to occur (and may never do so, for the
out space and time, throughout the Webway network. paths of the future are fickle threads of snapping silk.
At the central nexus, where time was irrelevant, the Nothing is certain).
Solitaires fought their devilish foes for a billion years,
before darting, bladed shapes from Commoragh came Vect repeatedly sent assassins to murder the Biel-Tan
to their aid, and together the jesters and murderers leadership, in various unique ways, but was relatively
pushed the daemons from the Webway. Of course, this unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the Dark Eldar continued
act was one of selfish self-interest on the part of the on their old ways of pillage, slaughter and slave-taking,
Dark Eldar. regardless of what else transpired in the wider real
world. Often, the Kabals would fight each other, both
While the Harlequins were hard-pressed to defeat within Commoragh and the wider environs of the
the daemons, Ahriman took advantage of their over- Webway. Sometimes, ambitious Archons would storm
stretched positions, seizing an area within the Webway into the empty ghost Craft Worlds, and there set up

SECTION XVII:
for himself. His Cabal of sorcerers used foul artefacts bases of their own. War even began to spill into those
to dart through the Webway in a similar method to cold dead realms too, as Biel-Tan forces and Har-
Warp Spiders, allowing them to travel from world to lequins battled the degenerate children of the Dark
world, sowingdiscord and gathering knowledge for City, battling amongst the cold forests of crystal trees,

The Webway Wars:

their twisted master. For Ahriman determined that smashing the ancient monuments to the Farseers’ folly.
he would take the secrets of the Black Library, by any
means necessary. Previously, before the Emperor’s fall, Some of the settlements within the network even sent
the guardians were too powerful to overcome. Now, distress signals to their various allies, with claims of
Ahriman had free reign across the whole galaxy, to rampaging green beasts, but none save the master of

The Net Breached find and exploit whole planets, just to find artefacts of
arcane power, powerful enough to unleash upon the
the Webway can verify such insane claims. Even the
twisted abominations from the Crone Worlds have
made attempts to enter the Webway once more. How proper, his clown-like emissaries manipulated the Even more disturbingly (for the Harlequins), by M49 perhaps to find an advantage against his rival C’tan, or
these horrid things survived the fall, none can say. various petty empires and kingdoms of the galaxy, word began to reach them from worlds all across the perhaps simply through the desire to slay Cegorach.
All that is known is that they seek to cast down the often tricking them into attacking and destroying galaxy, of a charismatic immortal who has been us- No one knows, and to second guess such ancient be-
Webway, and open it to Slannesh. The lithe and per- planets where Webway gates owned by Ahriman’s ing subterfuge and lies in attempts to trap Ahriman ings is to invite madness. In any case, this was only one
verse beings, that may once have been Eldar, cavorted followers were located, thus attempting to cut him off and his followers for some reason. It would seem this of many schemes of the Deceiver’s, and paled in com-
through the arteries and capillaries of the Webway net- from support. Of course, Ahriman played his own stranger (know often as the voice of honesty, or some- parison to the Ophilim-Kiasoz, and the events within
work like lustful daemonettes, murdering and fornicat- times simply the messenger) wishes to breach the Web- the Gates of Varl. Compared to the horrendous edifice
games, often capturing bellicose or tyrannical xenos
ing like base monsters as they went. way, as the chaos sorcerer did before. Perhaps coinci- of the Kiasoz, what did breaching the Webway matter?
species, informing them of the Webway network, and
dentally, Necron raiders have been particularly active
Cegorach and his Harlequins watched this carnage directing them to the nearest gates. Thus, Harlequins during the Second Age of Strife, hunting down the Thus, the Webway has become dangerous as never be-
from afar, orchestrating the Webway passages in such a often found their gates besieged by xenos and former Inquisitors of the old Imperium. Some claim fore. Breached in some places, and embattled in most
way as to direct their various foes against one another human empires, eager to take advantage of the secret they are searching for one Inquisitor in particular… other places, the war in the Webway has led to many
in the manner they desired. They could not, however, network. Though they couldn’t get into the Webway, it Eldar and other races’ worlds being cut off from the
oust Ahriman, as his Webway city was shielded by nevertheless made leaving the Webway difficult for the The Deceiver, despite his loathing for the immaterial, network, and generally, the Webway is not the safe,
daemonic wards and hexes. However, in the materium Harlequins. seems to be trying to enter the Webway somehow, secure route it once was.
 Like opportunistic vultures, the myriad alien nations, However, as the Imperium became ever more stretched
empires, collectives and confederates, so long sup- and over-worked by the New Devourer, the alien insect
pressed and brutalised during the Age of Imperium, species took advantage, stealing human navigators
rose up once more, upon the shattering of the Imperi- from the undefended warp shipping in the area. The
um’s power and authority. As mentioned previously, all Q’orl laid vile mind-worms into the central cortex of
attempts for concentrated military endeavour on the the navigators, drugging and controlling the mutant
part of humanity wavered and fell after the Emperor’s human strain.
death, and thus the xenos were free to expand and
dominate as they chose, with only a divided collection They spread rapidly soon after, pushing their borders
of petty Imperium’s and local power magnates to deal out almost a hundred-fold during the first two decades
with. of M42. However, this expansion was sporadic, and not
uniform. The Q’orl, fortunately, did not have an system
Astartes support was sporadic and infrequent, and was of astropaths to aid communication, and thus they
often as damaging to the human forces as they were to couldn’t coordinate as easily as they could travel.
the aliens themselves. However, the Q’orl had an advantage in the warp. The
Q’orl themselves were not a naturally emotive race, and
The Tau, easily the most successful of these Xenos their ships were relatively ‘quiet’ in the frothing mad-
expansionists, have already been touched upon within ness of the ether. Even their navigators, drugged and
this tome. However, their realm is but one of countless transfixed by the Q’orl, could barely remember being
hundreds of alien communities rising during this dark human, and near mindlessly navigated the realm of
period, intent upon conquest, slaughter, and in many madness, numb to the warp’s tendrils.
cases, vengeance.
Thus, even when the Emperor died, throwing the warp
The following are the most important and/or interest- into ever greater fits of churning lunacy, the Q’orl were
ing of these groups. relatively unscathed, and navigated the warp in much
the same way. Of course, the distances capable by their
The Q’orl Swarmhood vessels were cut short by the sudden loss of the As-
On the (completely arbitrary) borders between the tronomicon, but their insensible navigators could still
Segmentum Pacificus and Obscurus, the Q’orl empire fumble their way through the shallows of the warp, and
spread out from Loqiit, their sacred home world, into thus they continued on their expansion.
the punishing void. This race of insectoids were vicious
and violently expansionist. Expansion and victory; The Q’orl eventually began to meet human worlds, who
these are the only justifications the insane race require no longer had defensive aid from their precious
for their Imperialism. A space based race, travelling in Imperium. The jubilant scuttling fiends attacked these
vast conglomerations of conjoined micro-craft which worlds eagerly. Like a giant ant nest, the Q’orl swarmed

SECTION XVIII: link together to form colossal chainships, honeycomb over the worlds. Winged warrior-Q’orl filled the skies
structures of lethal technological power and scale. and scuttled across the ground, their high tech gas-
The entirely male race is short-lived, and those alive based weapons, operated by their own biology inter-
have a fetishism for their dead ancestors, building facing with the metal devices directly, poisoning and

The Xenos Resurgent:

upon their works for generations, while the undying murdering millions of people, as billions of coldly
Swarmqueen, the matriarch, sire and leader of all Q’orl, lethal Q’orl descended upon these worlds. Heavier
lives on, seemingly forever. Q’orl descended in micro-craft, unleashing the heavier
weapons. Tanks and armoured emplacements were

Alien Empires of the Second

During the 41st millennium, the Q’orl were nothing cracked open with their heavy kinetic cannons, and
but a mild annoyance to the old Imperium, due to then the vile poison gas-based warfare of the other
their lack of warp-capable vessels. Even when the meg- Q’orl seeped into them, killing the defenders with ease.
alomanical aliens scavenged and reverse-engineered an
Imperial warp drive, they still lacked the essential com- Once broken by the disturbingly organised aliens, the

Age of Strife ponent. They had no navigators to guide them through worker-Q’orl were unleashed upon the world. Live-
the nightmare realm. stock, flora, fauna, building materials and precious
ores; all were pillaged by the regimented lines of The Vorlic-Taar Nation-worlds The fifth planet’s scientists took apart the sonic weap- their greatest heroes, across a dozen worlds defeated by
workers, guided by the pheromonal and hormonal The Vorlic came perilously close to being devoured by ons and found out how they functioned, soon produc- them. The Vorlic were arrogant and vain, in emulation
orders from the unseen commander drones. Once the the Tyranids, located as they were in the galactic south. ing many more of these weapons. These Vorlic-Taar, as of their master.
orbiting chainships were restocked, the workers would Luckily for them, Kryptmann diverted the Tyranid they now called themselves, defeated their foes easily.
begin seizing humans. The biologically higher-rank- fleet towards Octavius at that point, unknowingly sav- The giant golden towers of their fellow Vorlic were no Hrud
ing Q’orl would have thousands of humans brought ing their entire race. match for the dread howl-engines and scream-staves of Across the galaxy, in every dark nook and hidden
before them, who they would suck dry of blood with their conquerors, which shattered bastion after bastion. space, they survived. Their underworld of darkness
their mosquito-like mouthparts. Then, weeks later, the A feline race, they developed slowly on their worlds. and cold has hidden, between the layers of other civil-
Q’orl would spray all human population centres with a No one is sure how, but five different species of Vorlic The Vorlic-Taar were, by M43, united under the fifth isations. They fed upon the detritus of other ascendant
kind of crimson fog, human blood merged with high- evolved, seemingly independently, on the five inhab- planet. The glittering, beautifully carved and sculpted races, and cobbled together a civilisation from the cast
ly advanced Q’orl pheromones. Soon, the staggering, itable worlds within their system. When they sent the armour of the Vorlic was made in an attempt to em- offs of the decadent races, the arrogant beings who
heart-broken human populace, drenched in gory pher- first chemical rockets to their fellow system worlds, the ulate their gods’ ancient armour. Thus, it was fully clung to the light. Terrified of the darkness. Yet, in
omonal fluid spray, began to howl mindless praises to culture shock was immense, and the Vorlic races (who sealed, and the brazen suits covered the whole bodies the darkness, they watched. Waiting and planning. A
the Q’orl, or the ‘star swarm’ as they became known. had never seen the need to develop ranged weapon- of the feline warriors of Vorlic. Built into the helms race both cursed and blessed by their father and god.
ry by that point) fought long and bloody campaigns of most Vorlic-troopers was a grill, from which the Cursed to skulk in the shadows, to be the shadows.
Hundreds upon hundreds of human worlds fell and of conquest and war. However, it was upon the fifth built-in howl engine would pulse lethal blasts of noise Blessed, to weather any holocaust, any horror the Uni-
were turned in this way, securing Q’orl borders with world, where their destiny changed. The Vorlic upon at their foes, pulverising bones and organs, as the verse could cast upon them.
fanatical human scent-slaves. this world came across some long-crashed wreckage. slender, venomed fighting daggers of the aliens hacked
The shifting, ethereal runes slithering across every sur- apart the survivors in brutally skillful close combat. They were the Hrud.
However, several of the petty Imperiums bordering the face made the feline savages realise that this must be a The leaders of the Troops of Vorlic-Taar wielded staves
swarm hood have begun to trade with the vile vessel of the gods. In particular, the beautiful images which fired invisible, narrow wave length beams of The Hrud possess innumerable colonies, infesting
insectoids. Since the loss of Paternova, and the Navis of the the great half-serpent god became a focus of pure sound, which blasted apart even battle tanks. countless worlds, both alien and human, as well as
Nobilitae, the navigators had become a dying breed. their worship and devotion. The sonic weapons they lurking amidships in millions of vessels across the
Yet, some cunning Imperiums seized as many naviga- uncovered from the bodies of the giant primate skele- Ingeniously, the Vorlic used sonic devices to destabilise galaxy. Thus, when the New Devourer slew a third of
tors as they could, and persuaded them to form com- tons aboard, were seen as a gift by this serpent god, to the structure of the chemical fuel of their rockets, all life, and the doom of the Imperator claimed tril-
munes of Navigators within each petty Imperium who defeat the enemy Vorlic, and take their place amongst eventually developing a bizarre form of engine which lions more lives, the Hrud, though scattered and most
considered this idea. These three-eyed mutants would the void beyond. allowed them to travel across the void of space much certainly affected by the sudden losses of life, were not
be given any indulgence or pleasure they desired. In more quickly. as devastated as other races. They continued to spread
exchange, the navigators would breed with one anoth- forth from their pits, their warp plasma weapons and
er, to produce navigator offspring, which would then Thus, the Brazen Cohorts of Vorlic the fifth, spread out scavenged technologies making them formidable op-
become state-owned property of the petty Imperium, from their home system. Progress was painfully slow, ponents.
to serve on their vessels at the wish of the petty Imperi- due ot the lack of any FTL systems. However, a
um’s kings and leaders. chance encounter with a space hulk changed this. The Oddly, however, Hrud infestations seem to get less
Witch-princes of the 234th Cohort, upon encounter- frequent during this period, rather than more. No one
The Q’orl, baffled by human biology, failed spectacular- ing the space hulk, began to get visions from the ether, can really account for this, but many suspect that the
ly in this regard, often trying to force two same gen- from their ‘gods’ apparently, telling them that the hulks Hrud are abandoning their lesser colonies and out-
dered navigators to mate, or trying to find the biggest moved across space and time freely, allowing the Vorlic posts, as if drawing together their collective strength.
(and hence, to Q’orl perception, female) navigator, and to advance swiftly. Eagerly, the Cohort fleet investigat- For what purpose is, again, a mystery.
then planting hormones in these navigators, in the ed the hulk. They found docks, big enough to harbour
hope it would produce. All these attempts failed. Thus, their fleet, and all the twisted monsters on board the However, strangely, wherever the so-called ‘Penumbra’
the Q’orl were reliant on their human neighbours, ship that could have killed the Vorlic were mysteriously phenomena are located, most witnesses claim that the
who granted them a small tithe of inbred navigators killed before he Vorlic had arrived. Thus, in relative ‘bendies’ were somehow helping them. Of course, hu-
in exchange for their safety from Q’orl assault (at least safety, the Vorlic pillaged the hulk of the strange ar- manity being ignorant as it is, it is likely that terrified
until the petty Imperiums could build up large enough tefacts within, shipping them back to the Vorlic-Taar humans merely mistook an Umbra attack for a Hrud
forces to backstab and destroy the vile aliens). home worlds. one, as both make use of shadows to attack.

Thus did the Q’orl come to dominate a vast tract of These technologies allowed the Vorlic to advance be- Where once whole Imperial crusades and Astartes
western galactic space. yond their system, conquering some of the weaker taskforces were assembled to clear out the largest Hrud
civilisations directly near them. The feline monsters infestations, the fractured galaxy of the Second Age of
conquered worlds, building statues of their god, and of Strife could not hope to do this. The Petty Imperiums
were either too weak or self-interested to aid their be- slaves with them. There, they would meet vast, angular were horrifying to behold, as they twisted into snarl- allowed to develop in the absence of Imperial control
leaguered rivals, and the few remaining interstellar craft, big as cities, but silent as whispers. The Hrud ing bat-like monsters. Nevertheless, the Thexian Elite since the fall of the Emperor’s realm, and the hideous
Old-Imperial forces were scant and had greater con- would then enter the mysterious crafts, before return- ruled Thex Prime near perfectly, and their monstrous chaos that engulfed the galaxy. While the Tau had a
cerns to worry about. ing some hours later, forcing the human slaves to lug side was only unleashed upon the enemy and crimi- dedicated army for their empire, the Thexian system,
heavy supplies of food and glinting ornaments and ar- nals. As it soon transpired, the Thexian image of these being based around trade and commerce, used its
Thus, the Hrud ‘empire’ was allowed to fester, and the tefacts onto the titanic vessels themselves. Evidently, if Elites was only a glamour itself, and the bat was the wealth and power to bring in vast forces of mercenar-
Hrud were allowed to grow in numbers and power. In these deluded lunatics are to be believed, the Hrud are true form. The Thexian Elite infiltrated the command ies from across the galaxy.
some of the most isolated human colonies, the surface supplying, and aiding, another, as yet unknown race. A positions of all their trade empire’s member nations,
dwelling humans merely became a cowed and insensi- race potentially yet to reveal its hand… taking on the shape of whatever race they sought to The Forces employed by the Thexian Elite were diverse
ble horde of virtual slaves, as the Hrud took an annual lead. Thus, they kept the peace between the nation and numerous. Ulthian bone-eaters, horrific, non-hu-
tithe of slaves, snatching them, and dragging them Whoever the Hrud worship, and whatever relationship civilisations. manoid beasts, paid in the bones of Tau children.
below, to work the mines and factories deep in the they have to the outside universe, this much is Nestrinian acid Fulgars, strange gaseous creatures,
darkness. abundantly clear: Under the watchful, sinister gaze of the Elite, the Em- contained inside advanced humanoid fighting suits. Of
pire was driven to new heights. More and more races course, Nekulli war parties, Loaxtl warriors, and whole
Few beings ever leave the light-less realms of the Hrud, The Hrud are ready. The Hrud are waiting… began to join the Thexians. The most notable and eager Churches of Drong War-monks of the war-faith, sing-
but those that do are often mad of twisted. They tell of of these new races were the human-hating Tallerians, ing praises to their gods of battle as they killed with
great structures, unseen by human eyes, yet the pres- The Thexian Trade Empire who initially began trading with the Actorians, who their holy shatter cannons, were enticed into the war,
ence of them seems staggering. Complex canals, The Thexian Trade Empire began small, encompassing had developed an artificial gestation technique, allow- for their people were already part of the Trade empire.
dragging detritus and waste through the realm, as the the Borlac, Niscassar and Loaxtl civilisations in their ing the reptilian Tallerians to bolster their dwindling In addition to these, whole battalions of Serf Soldiers
moans of millions of broken slaves murmurs dimly net of interstellar trade. These civilisations prospered numbers with biologically accelerated ‘new Tallerians’. were purchased from far flung Krieg. Backbone to
through the cavernous expanses, along with the wea- and grew, the security of being part of a greater whole these vast forces of mercenaries, were the Tallerian
ry clinking of the chains and shackles, holding all the stimulating greater inter-racial exchange and trade. The troll-like Grongolem smiths were another race to Soldiers, which had become a vast and professional
broken and miserable humans together. Fear of the human Imperium initially drove them eventually join, commissioned by the Empire to pro- army, loyal to the Actorians, who were in turn, Loyal to
together, then fear of the New Devourer pushed sev- duce ships, factories and commercial/fighting vehicles the Thexian Elite. These armies either equipped them-
The Hrud themselves are shadows made flesh, a field of eral more races towards alliance, including the wa- of the finest quality. selves, or were equipped by the Grongolem, and were
un-light flowing around them at all times. Their supple ter-breathing Actorian, the Nekulli, the Soldiers of the eager for slaughter and profit.
and multi-jointed bodies make them fold like shadows. Drong War-Faith, and even the grand Oppressionaia Soon, this Empire of commerce had spread its web
No nook or crack is beyond their reach, as the Hrud of Ka’Vallimar, a group of almost mindless, serpentine across numerous scattered civilisations, both advanced Arrayed against them were over seventeen fifti-
scuttle between the tight, cramped spaces between aliens, entirely ruled by a single group of five individu- and primitive, across the galactic north east. However, eth sphere expedition fleets of Tau, commanded by
their vast, black halls. According to the slaves, the als, who were each oppressed emotionally and concep- soon the Thexian Elite would come into conflict with Commander Moonblade, an infamous commander,
Hrud possess titanic libraries, filled with archaic texts tually by their fellow leader minds, thus ensuring total, a rising force, the Tau Empire. The Niscassar were a known to be brutal amongst the Tau, offering worlds
and books, made from the only viable parchment ma- blessed oppression. client race in the Tau Empire by M41, and by M42-3, the choice of death or conversion to the greater good,
terial available: human skin. Those humans too tired to they were almost entirely integrated. However, the and giving worlds only a few hours to choose, before
continue working are struck down by venomed talons, Initially, this grouping was due to mutual fear, rather Thexians also had massive sway amongst the nomadic bombing and invading soon after. Massive numbers
and sent to the whirring flaying machines, deep below. than common cause, and the profits of the Empire Niscassar psykers, and soon a dispute arose between of Vespid stingwings, several Demiurg brotherhoods,
None of the insane witnesses of these vast Hrud-li- sank slightly in the early years, directly post-Impera- the two xenos empires, with Aun’Tali’e decrying the Gue’Vesa and Hu’Sta armies of human subjects, and
braries knew what was written upon the endless texts, tor-death. Eventually though, through the manipula- Thexians as ‘selfish abusers of the disadvantaged’. This, the League of the Avan, strange, translucent aliens with
though if the stories of the Hrud’s perfect genetic tion and subterfuge of the Thexian elite, the rulers of of course, was true (as the Thexian Elite adopted a pol- advanced laser technology, formed additional auxiliary
memories are true, the libraries of the Hrud could well Thex Prime, and unofficial leaders of the entire Trade icy of ‘survival of the shrewdest’), but this was not the wings of this vast force.
be the documented history of the entire galaxy, since Empire. real reason for Tau antagonism. The Thexians offered
the creation of the Hrud themselves. The Hrud have another route, an option other than the Greater Good. Kroot, as ever, hired themselves out to both sides
been watching for millennia upon millennia. What Before the Thexian Elite arose amongst the Thexians, While the petty Imperiums offered nothing but tyr- during the conflict, much to the annoyance of the Tau.
untold secrets are they privy to? the race was nothing. They were confined to their anny and genocide of xenos, Thexians offered a viable
blood moons, red and dusty planets with few resourc- alternative. The Tau could not accept this. The final The situation in the far galactic east, in the wake of
Some of the most crazy and deluded escaped prison- es. One day, many centuries before the Second Age of straw came in 825.M45, when a Thexian plot to install the New Devourer, was particularly bad. Where the
ers claimed they had witnessed the centre of the great Strife, the Thexian Elites began to appear within Thex- Thexian elites into Tau society was uncovered. War was eastern fringe was once teeming with life, now four out
Hrud fortresses. The Hrud, surrounding a perfectly ian society, working their way into positions of power declared within the year. of every five previously-inhabited worlds were left as
spherical black monument, their shadowy forms pros- across the blood moons. They were charming and cun- barren husks. Often, it was upon these husks, that the
trate before this orb. Others claim the Hrud occasion- ning beyond reason. However, only one of their forms The Tau military machine, by that point, was awe in- brutal and bloody battles between the Thexians and
ally came to the surface, at night, dragging selected looked like a Thexian at all. Their battle forms spiring in its advancement and power, as it had been Tau were fought. And they were bloody. No mercy was
offered, and terrible things were done by both sides. millennium, and claimed billions of lives (especially
Biological warfare, orbital assaults, fire bombings, nu- when the noisome Reek joined the war on the Thexian
clear weapons, viruses and retro-viruses; all were used Elite’s side), before the Thexian Trade Empire and Tau
at some point, in addition to conventional warfare. Empire agreed to a demilitarised area of space between
Massive alien fleets tussled in the void, as armies of them, which they were forbidden to cross.
multitudes of aliens battled fiercely across balls of rock.
The Tau fought with the bitterness of a child inherit-
ing a ruined legacy, and the Thexian side fought for This peace, however, was meaningless. In the Second
greed and reckless, murderous pride. Due to the small Age of Strife, peace was, at best a miscalculation, and at
amount of humans involvedvdirectly in the war, the worst a blatant lie. Unemployed mercenaries continued
Petty Imperiums barely realise how massive the Thex- to murder and pillage post-war. Blood and pain are the
ian-Tau war truly was. It lasted until well into the 46th only currency that truly mean anything in this period.
 “Dig in. Do not yield! Never yield! Close the fist!” did so, and soon his message was taken up by other
- Last words, bellowed by Chapter Master Lastrates, Imperial Fists, stationed off-world, and
as he battled the daemon tide on Terra. to other forces across the galaxy.

When the Emperor fell, and the Custodes abandoned Across the Imperium, even as it began to truly shatter,
Terra for reasons unknown, the garrison of Imperial the Imperial Fists and their successors made good on
Fists led the desperate counterattack against the dae- their orders. Fleets diverted themselves to the nearest
mons which poured forth from the shattered Golden defensible planets, or stayed put upon planets recently
Throne. Their disciplined gun lines and defensive for- taken back from heretics and rebels. Here, they began
mations carefully and calmly pumped bolter shell after to fortify each of these worlds. In some cases, Templar
bolter shell into the onrushing horde, as they led the Chapter houses already existed, and the Black Tem-
Arbites and Terran Imperial Guard on a last, doomed plars stationed there welcomed their founding Chapter
charge on the Imperial palace. The vast galleries and brethren with open arms, and together, they built upon
corridors within the palace ran fluid with daemon these fortresses, and out into the wider world. In other
essence, and they were assailed at every turn by gibber- cases, the Imperial Fists had to find the central palace
ing clerks and adepts, driven wild with fright or cor- of a world, and demand to fortify it. Dorn’s Astartes
ruption. These were gunned down all the same as the began to increase orbital defences, and helped worlds
Imperial Fist contingent pushed onwards. found weapon factories and build bunkers, and to
toughen the structures of buildings currently standing
The throne had connected into the deep warp, and upon the worlds.
hence, as they neared the throne room, older, fouler
daemons spilled into reality. Daemons that had never Any Imperial Navy vessels or Fist ships damaged be-
been manifest before. Tendrils and coiling, maddening yond repair were stripped down, and their guns and
shapes forced themselves through the very fabric of the ammunition stockpiles were cannibalized , and great
air, tearing marines from their feet to their dooms, or orbital guns were built into the surface of these grow-
boiling guardsmen where they stood. However, the ing Imperial Fist Fortress Worlds. The gutted hulks of
Astrates never faltered, never floundered, but pushed the vessels were converted into space stations, stocking
onwards, swinging his twin thunder hammers with additional fighter craft and bombers, in the event they
furious abandon. would be required.

Their Primarch had built the palace defences, and Supply lines and logistical support were installed, and
they made it difficult for the Imperial Fists to enter themade incredibly efficient by the allied Fist chapters.
palace. Ironically, the Fists had made a fortress so well,Food was secured to feed the populace of these worlds,
even they couldn’t get through properly. either from the agricultural areas of worlds, by secur-
ing off world agri-facilities, or creating underground

SECTION XIX: This desperate battle, however, was never about victory. artificial eco-systems, deep beneath the layers of
The Fists had succeeded in their objective. They had
bought the people of Terra a few precious hours,
allowing scores of vessels to flee from the doomed
armour and steel, which began to cover these worlds.
Every building was converted into potential defensive
structures, with angled geometry to allow overlapping

The Fist Clenches:

home world. Amongst the fleeing humans, a single arcs of fire, and maximum avenues of assault. Killing
Imperial Fist Neophyte went as well. zones were subtly crafted, disguised as town squares
or ditches. Bunkers and trench systems were rapidly
As the Imperial Fists fell to the nightmares pouring installed, and rationing was put into immediate effect.

Strongholds of
straight from hell, the neophyte carried a message from
his master, a final order, that would change the history In most cases, these measures were welcomed by the
of the Astartes of Dorn for the next ten thousand years. native populace, who were utterly terrified by the loss
of contact with the wider Imperium, and the near-con-

the Sons of Dorn

He told this neophyte to travel across the galaxy, to ev- stant xenos and chaotic attacks and raids. With the
erywhere a Fist or Iron Lord or other marines of Dorn Imperial Fists there to help defend, they felt their con-
were fighting, and to tell them to dig in, to fortify. He fidence bolster, and aided their superhuman allies
in any way they could. Ranks of the PDF increased by in addition to their traditional billhook weapons, and Nevertheless, Aton’s dread force was still massive. This sat upon a giant void-shielded dais, in all his androgy-
an average of 60% on many of these worlds, with the with the new training and equipment the Falcina bill sizable fleet smashed into the densely-packed orbital nous evil majesty.
reserve PDF forces and militias composed of more men were a force to be reckoned with. The 50 marine stations and defences erected in orbit. Hollowed out
than half of the entire world population of many of the Imperial Fist force, in addition, made the decision to wrecks formed crude carrier vessels, unleashing hun- The army headed, with all speed, towards the capital,
worlds in question. split up into smaller units, and each marine took dreds upon hundreds of fighters, bombers and thunder Sherivar. If Aton could break the centre of Imperial
command of several squads of Falcina, or took com- hawks at the enemy force, as monitor vessels opened Fist power, the planet would be his.
The most famous and effective of these Fortress worlds mand of artillery divisions or armour squadrons, and up upon the fleet, as well as the already in place laser
was Nu Marsus. Nu Marsus was an embattled Imperial hence disseminated their massive siege experience to orbital, and the long range torpedo silos built into the Artillery rained fire and explosives upon the city for
world, even by early M42, besieged as it was by Heli- the masses. While the Arbites precinct, Governor’s pal- planet itself. Another cruiser was blasted apart, as well two full days, before the army charged the fortress.
caour Ravagers, a bizarre species of metal-fanged xe- ace, and Templar Chapter Fortress were all void shield- as two more escorts. Lascannons flared and speared across avenues. Bolters
nos monsters. Captain Huun, of the Imperial Fists 4th fired and auto guns barked, as weapons discharged in
ed from orbital assault, most of the population centres
Company, led a strike force of Imperial Fists against Yet, he managed to get his battleship into orbital strike criss-crossing, confusing arcs. Tanks rumbled through
and cities were not.
these aliens, and drove them off. As a happy coinci- range, and fired. Flames, brimstone, and searing shafts the streets, only to be blown up by concealed missile
dence, a Templars Chapter house was located upon the of light rained down upon the entire world, lighting teams, who were in turn burnt out by hellhounds, or
Huun, scavenging the generators from several of the
surface, which had aided in the defeat of the foe. The up the sky and angry orange and red, as it churned the killed by heavy cannons destroying their buildings.
two forces of marines met up with each other, swap- most damaged and irreparable ships, converted these clouds, and rumbled off the numerous city force fields
star ship shields into city-wide force fields, which were Imperial Fists were present at every gun line, barking
ping stories, as they performed the strange, masochis- across the world. The sound was deafening, but the orders, which had been drilled into every human on
tic rituals of the Dorn Successors. installed on almost every city, much to the gratitude people of Nu Marsus, inspired by their marine bene-
of the human populace. The thirty Black Templars the planet for years, the concentrated and disciplined
factors, showed no fear. It was said that, as the skies firepower driving back wave after murderous wave of
When the astronomicon went out, and warp storms left upon the world remained slightly aloof from the filled with fire, Sergeant Blant of Squad six of the strike
humans, and maintained their squad formations. How- soldiers. Armour battalions clashed in the narrow ave-
began to buckle and flare across the entire galaxy, force, stood in the middle of the capital’s town square,
nues and wider parks, exchanging devastating barrages
killing almost all astropaths, the Space marines found ever, they did submit to Huun’s overall leadership, and and began to laugh loudly, his thunderous voice carry-
of high explosive ammunition.
themselves stranded. Unlike other space marine forces, their thousand-strong force of Chapter Serfs were still ing to all the people of the people of the city, who cow-
they didn’t tear off to assault the nearest foe. The Tem- highly trained and well equipped to defend their keep. ered. He then took up some scraps of metal, and began
The thirty Templars were out in the action, every single
plars amongst them wished to, but the Imperial Fists to beat a tune out upon them, with the pummel of his
one wearing a jump pack. Like angels of doom, they
persuaded them to stay put for the time being. Thus, Nu Marsus was fortified. And, just like all the broadsword, singing a hearty war song as he did so.
darted from kill zone to kill zone, striking viciously
other Fist Strongholds, it was to be tested very soon Eventually, other people began to pile into the streets,
and swiftly, wherever ordered to by Huun. Their fists,
Eventually, word came, via sporadic reinforcement after. and sing along, in defiance.
hammers, picks, axes and whirring chain blades cut
from injured or lost Imperial Fist Chapter serfs, that
their orders were to dig in anyway, and thus, Huun The bombardments lasted for three days. In that time, bloody swathes through the twisted ranks of the fallen
The Petty Imperium of the Aton was ruled by Aton, a
threw himself whole-heartedly into fortifying the plan- only one shield failed. The unfortunate city was blasted post-Imperial troopers.
vain and foolish man. Unfortunately, his vanity allowed
et. Like the other Fists, as mentioned above, he crafted him to become possessed by a daemon of Slannesh. into fiery ruins within a few minutes, the lives of over
efficient and effective orbital defences, built up the seven million people snuffed out as if nothing. The city The Trenches throughout the city were bloody killing
Thus, his entire Imperium was taken over, and the grounds, where troopers and feral things tussled in the
orbital batteries. He placed his fleet and the systems worship of dark gods began in the Atonian Imperium. of Shogar was no more. Yet, the defence lasers reaped a
own defence fleet on constant patrol around the system terrible toll amongst the orbiting fleet. blood and gristle of already dead soldiers. It was work
The daemon-Aton decided that, in order to christen for knives, clubs, and heavy blades, and shotguns, as
boundaries, always within vox contact of Nu Marsus.
his new empire of sixty worlds, he would baptise it in the foes were joined in epic conflict. Huun travelled in
The Governor of Marsus was happy to help the Astart- Yet, the rest of Nu Marsus was unbowed.
blood. The blood of Nu Marsus to be precise. his Land Raider, storming off to every battle he could
es, and with his government’s cooperation, soon every
city became a fortress, and the people, eager to help, Thus, as soon as possible, Aton sent his massive num- find across the city, him and his terminators charging
His fleets penetrated the outer system in 222.M43. For from the bowels of his chariot vehicle, and ripping
took up arms and militia roles. bers of troop ships to land upon the surface. The
weeks, Huun’s Imperial Fist fleet harassed and harried enemy landed with almost no losses, as they landed apart foes with his lightning claws, as his terminator
The small strike-force’s techmarine set to work, guid- the post-Imperial fleet as it travelled towards Nu Mar- upon the ruins of Shogar, which no longer had any AA assault squad smashed apart their foes with hammers
ing the industrial sector of the planet to increase pro- sus, damaging and crippling dozens of Aton’s cargo batteries to combat them. and great tower shields.
duction of arms, armour and munitions, in addition to and supply ships, before fleeting back into the outer
their usual output. Also, he instructed several factories system. Aton’s army was vast, numbering almost 60 million The Falcina fought bravely and fiercely, their bill hooks
how to produce bolter shells (discreetly remembering troopers, with attendant armour and chimera trans- bloody with the terrible toll they reaped amongst their
to not tell them how to produce holy bolters, for they Aton’s main battle fleet consisted of a single battleship, ports. Great banners were unfurled, bearing the cursed traitorous foes. The barely armed militia fought at their
were for the Astartes alone). The PDF of the planet, the over eight cruisers, and many escorts. By the time he runes of Slannesh, crudely painted over the aquila. shoulders, aiding the bill men as the enemy sought to
Falcina, were built up and extensively drilled by their reached Nu Marsus, he had six cruisers, and much Daemonettes groped and cavorted amongst the ranks surround them. All had curses upon their lips, and
superhuman allies. They wielded lasguns and carbines, fewer escorts, not to mention fewer logistical vessels. of Atonian Troopers, as the giant, nude form of Aton faith in their beleaguered hearts.
The Chapter house was a blazing charnel house as the Atonian fleet had to flee into the warp, leaving Aton on
servitor-controlled bi-pod las and auto cannons fired world. Eventually, his forces were forced from the
almost constantly, while defiant Black Templar serfs capital, and hounded, until they reached Shogar from
manned the walls and windows of the fortress, pouring whence they came. For the second time, orbital
bolter and las rounds into the braying, crazed hordes. bombardment fell upon the ruins, and Aton’s army was
It was said that, as the gate was battered down, and the no more.
enemy threatened to storm the building, the senior
Chapter Serf, fearful of failing his superhuman mas- Huun and his marines remained on the planet for the
ters, took up one of the marine power swords, and ran rest of the period, ever fortifying and reinforcing the
to defend the gate. Though the blade was a mere short defences of the planet, fighting off alien tyrants and
sword to a marine, he wielded it like some great dou- devilish monsters, nearly every year. These wars were
ble-handed barbarian sword, howling Templar oaths fierce, murderous and terrible, and soon the good
as he cut down his foes. Though only a serf, the Senior cheer of the defenders became sombre dour determi-
Serf was modified and strong, trained to the peak level
nation and grit. The story was similar across all the
of mortal human strength and speed, and he smote his
Imperial Fist strongholds. As they closed their fists,
foes terrible blows; for hours upon hours, he held the
the Imperial Fists hardened their hearts, and sealed
gate.
themselves from the galaxy, fighting anyone who even
entered their systems, until the galaxy abandoned
Sergeant Blant walked around the city in a defiant state
of good cheer. His insane joy at battle was the stuff of them entirely. The galaxy shattered, and the Age of
legends. He was said to have been juggling swords and Strife flared into horrific life.
blades as he sang at the top of his lungs, to be heard
over the din of battle, as he cackled with laughter, lop- And all the while, the bitter, hard-nosed Fists of Dorn
ping off limbs and heads with dismissive blows of his just dug themselves in, deeper and deeper. Bloodied,
broadsword. At one point, he was said to have even battered, muddy, but unbowed; these were the Fists.
been playing his uilleann pipes in one hand, while he Unbowed, but blind and futile in their defences, for, as
fired his bolter from the hip in the other hand. they suspected, they held out for nothing. No help,
no relief, would ever come. They would remain, en-
The battle was bloody and brutal, and lasted for a full trenched on their muddy, barbed wire swathed fortress
week. The siege was broken, however, as Huun’s fleet worlds, forever. Even the insane cheerfulness of ma-
returned, and assaulted the Aton-devil’s fleet. Caught rines like Blant wouldn’t change this simple, depressing
between the orbital defences and this new fleet, the fact.
 The Imperium fell, and with it fell the Munitorum, the they tried to navigate the tumultuous warp. Sometimes
Navy, and countless other galactic organisations. They only single vessels emerged from the ether, their crews
all tumbled into the void and the horror like everyone either mad or utterly broken.
else. Administratum clerks continued their mindless
tasks, filing reports and signing document that no one The Countless thousands of Imperial Guard regiments
would ever see besides them. As worlds were cut off were scattered across the entire Imperium. Often
from one another, communication was also cut, like shattered into brigades or single regiments, these few
a blade across a vox wire. Fleet dispositions and ship
remaining Imperial Guard often numbered in the
manifests were lost, misfiled, or sent to other account-
thousands or even, in some extreme cases, millions.
ing facilities, on other worlds, and lost forever in the
Some were left stranded on previously conquered war
sea of souls.
zones. These men either tried to found colonies, hired
Central authority took a sharp decline, until any hope themselves out as mercenaries for local tribal warfare,
of contacting superiors became pointless. Vast Crusade or were massacred by the human and non-human
fleets of soldiers and vessels gradually lost contact with natives. Other, more fortunate dispossessed Imperial
any other authorities. Without logistical support from Guard units and squads had access to troopships or
forge worlds and agri-planets, crusades ground to a had seized a naval vessel by force. In various states of
halt, or carried on regardless, their soldiers and troop- disrepair, these Imperial Guard ‘irregulars’ and rogues
ers starving as the grueling crusades wore on. The foes traveled through the galaxy, using short warp jumps to
grew more numerous, and the natives of planets more avoid too much danger to their decrepit vessels. Some,
hostile. Some Crusades, like the Nihilus Crusade, like the remnants of the 343rd Terrax Guard, led by
utterly collapsed, as the Imperial Guard and much of Colonel Harsterbeck, managed to find employment by
the naval staff began to mutiny across every ship in the joining one of the Petty Imperiums they came across.
fleet, rioting over food rationing, which had reached In the case of the 343rd, it was the Ophelian Imperium.
sickening levels. The Lord general, Admiral, and even
These Guardsmen and professional soldiers were used
the chief Cardinal, were butchered, and the various
as garrison forces for these Post-Imperial settlements,
ships of the crusade fleet, each taken over by rival fac-
tions, fought with each other, in a violent and pointless and also were used to train and drill the new armies
naval battle, over the planet of Kioto, the wreckage of the Petty Imperiums, instilling some measure of
from this colossal battle raining upon the planet with expertise and experience into these previously merely
fiery contrails of shattered ships. PDF groups.

Often, crusades would find that the various Imperi- Some, like the Harakoni Warhawks and Elysian Drop
al worlds they encountered did not recognise their Troops, refused to compromise their integrity, and
authority, and would attempt to resist the landing and remained in their own uniforms and maintained their
respelling of crusade ships. More often than not these own traditions. Nevertheless, in a hostile galaxy, even
crusade fleets would end up battering the worlds into these elites were forced to join other local-level power
submission, and taking what they needed, often send- groups. It is claimed that somewhere within the Seg-
ing the Imperial Guard forces down to conquer the mentum Pacificus a group of soldiers, from various dif-
planets personally. The enemies of the crusade thus

SECTION XX:
ferent Imperial Guard regiments, have been gathering
became more and more. Not only were heretics and around an abandoned and ruined Star Fort, and are
xenos enemies, but also the various petty Imperiums
organising a resistance. Against who, even they do not
that the crusade fleets inevitably trespassed within,
know. They raid various Petty Imperiums, in the hope
causing yet more wars. Crusades, who had precious

the hammer shattered:

few resources to begin with, swiftly ran low, and were that one day, the ‘real’ Imperium will come and relieve
often defeated. By M46, most major Imperial Cru- them. Unfortunately, they have no idea the real Impe-
sades, depleted and battered, were no longer effective, rium, no longer exists. Thus, they are little more than
and fell apart. organised terrorists, waging a war against an imaginary

The imperial guard

enemy, and slaughtering citizens of countless Petty
However, they were the lucky few. The majority of Imperiums, without realising these very Imperiums are
Imperial Crusades and forces were utterly scattered, as the Imperium.
Around the systems near to Armageddon, the Savlar using their military training to beat the competition in
Chem Dogs, who were fighting on many worlds, man- many cases. They were also notorious gun runners and
aged to not only survive the misery of the loss of the arms dealers, selling weapons to both sides in wars,
Imperium, but in fact flourished and festered, as lice profiting from others’ misery.
and other such vermin such as them have a special skill Though Savlar, their home world, was caught up in the
for. They formed an unofficial black market, dealing in terrible effects of the Ophilim Kiasoz, the Savlar Chem
vile narcotics and other illicit substances, cooperating Dogs managed to continue on their horrid little lives.
with the equally devious and immoral Ratlings. The
Savlars had no real interest in defending the worlds Of the worlds which spawned the various Imperial
of humanity. Instead, as worlds desperately fought Guard Regiments, they faced a problem. Many of the
off foes and became poverty-stricken and vulnerable, best Imperial Guard worlds, like Catachan and Krieg,
Savlar drug cartels and protection rackets sprang up were focused around providing soldiers for the Im-
on underhive streets and slum-zones across hundreds perium. With nowhere to export these soldiers, their
of worlds, muscling in onto other criminal businesses, populations grew enormously. Their soldiers needed to
be utilised, and used to help keep their planets safe.

Each took a different approach to this. The Gover-

nor-General of Catachan wisely formed a close alli-
ance with Ryza. In exchange for ships and weapons,
Catachan gave Ryza large numbers of quality fighters
to supplement its Skitarii, who were few in numbers,
comparatively. This alliance allowed them to secure a
wide area, and defend it from all comers, even mighty
Huron’s Chaos Imperium.

Krieg, as mentioned before, turned its soldiers into

commodities, and exported them across the galaxy.
Some Guard worlds joined Petty Imperiums, and used
their unused soldier tithe to boost the defences of these
post-Imperial empires.

In some rare cases, Imperial Guard home worlds had

mini Empires of their own to begin with, before the
Second Age of Strife, such as Tallarn. Tallarn used its
wealth and massive armies to expand their lands, and
formed a petty Imperium of their own.

Of the Steel Legions… their story links closely with

the ballad of Armageddon, and thus shall be explained
there, not here…

In the Period of Woe, this Second Age of Strife, where

war and domination is currency, the Imperial Guard,
the second best fighting force in all the old Imperium,
were incredibly valuable. Whoever had the most guns,
had the power. Whoever had the power would survive.
This was the depressing, torturous creed of the 51st
Millennium.
 The Death of the Emperor was a near-lethal blow to thirsters, to blood crushers, and other, indescribable
existence itself, more so than any living being could horrors. Legions of daemon princes, armoured with
fully comprehend. When the Emperor’s heart was daemon-mail and blades of lethal effect, marched un-
pierced by that most foolish of traitors, his soul, scat- der banners of slaughtered skin and bloodied flesh.
tered and insane, burst apart, flinging itself into the
swirling maelstrom. The Warp washed into reality in a Khorne himself besieged the great silver wall, pound-
tidal flood, killing Terra. Similarly, reality, to a certain ing it with every weapon and devil he could. The wall
extent, washed into the warp. The great edifice, the link constantly shattered, yet merely split into innumerable
to the Webway forged by the Imperator, was smashed grinding walls, which ensnared the Blood God, who
from its moorings in reality, and floundered in the howled in frustration. The mindless Skarbrand dueled
madness sea. The living mesh that was the Webway the Dominion itself, Malcador-angyl. Infinite energies
writhed and convulsed, as the strand of reality tumbled flowed across the beings, as fire fought light, and
through the warp. We shall come to this later… bloody blade clashed with burnished nightmare-steel.

The deepest depths of the warp were disturbed, and The walls continued, smashing aside even the formless
forces beyond reckoning or sanity, strove for the sur- waste, spearing through like a thunderbolt. Tzeentch,
face of their inverted emotion spherical realm. They using every trick and scheme and power, misdirected
burst the surface, turning inwards, and shattering like and deceived the walls, splitting them and dividing
glass, as they envied and giggled and felt emotions them, as he hastily made alliances and dark pacts
only the most incomprehensible of xenos ever felt. A with his brothers and sisters. Guided by the babbling
great blanketing numbness flooding inwards, spilling predictions of the Fateweaver, Tzeentch tricked and
outwards as it pushed in parallel to the madness. Grim tracked the infinite enemy, and guided his enemy-allies
sanity spread like a glass plate, sliding over a churning against this true threat. The great game took on a new
mad sea. It was shattered in places, or melted, or any face.
number of futile analogies. The Star Father was rous-
ing, and the ‘war’/migration/exodus, began in earnest. Nurgle, advised by his brother, cast a bile-filled conta-
gion, which tarnished the silver bastions, and allowed
It would be utterly impossible to explain what was hap- plague bearers and capering daemonettes to wriggle
pening in the warp accurately, thus I must drift into within the structure. Innumerable devils and monsters
colourful analogy to continue. dueled the blank beings which glowed within, form-
less yet mighty and bleak. Nurgle, empowered by the
Across all the realms of chaos, from the living rot-for- despair of the losing battle, surged forth, resplendent
ests of Nurgle to the churning brass forges of the Lord and powerful. A morass of stinking flesh and foulness
of Rage, a great silver wall, solid and blank, was grind- formed his bulk, and he sprouted rotten forests of de-
ing, pushing aside the demonic realms like a plough cay in his slug-like wake, as he drew forth his cauldron,
through snow. The crystal maze of Tzeentch was to personally pour its contents down the soul father’s
shattered and ground to dust, then reformed, and was throat.
shattered anew. The rings of Slaanesh’s inferno were
breached, as the faceless, blade-winged angyls of the He boiled the silver wall aside, as his corruptive in-

SECTION XXI:
Star Father spread forth, one with the wall, yet apart fluence plunged through, into the Star Realm. Like a
from it. billion universes, stars and tranquil evening skies filled
the bastion in all directions, and Nurgle himself had to
At last, Khorne could take no more. A voice that could form a bridge of corruption, just to cross the expanse.

The Psychic Apocalypse, The

shatter continents resounded across the entire realm of And there, at the centre of the spiral, stood the Star
chaos, plunging mountains into lava lakes, and pul- Father.
verising daemon trees and devil-spawn. It was a call to
war, as he rose from the Skull Throne, black sword of A thousand miles tall, the colossus glowed a blinding
destruction clutched in his vast talons. gold, and where his burning golden stare landed,

Black Ships, and the Nex A billion billion daemons arose with him, from blood-
corruption could not flourish, chaos became set. Tril-
lions of souls stood, utterly frozen under the gaze of
the Star Father, unthinking, unfeeling. One by one, the worked his illusions and magics upon the God of became becalmed, trapped in the void, light-years
great being plucked them up, and broke them. He had Order. However, amazingly, the Star Father and his from anywhere. Trapped in reality, psykers, driven
no face, just a titanic golden crown, which enclosed his Angyls fought back all these endless foes. Their gold insane and empowered by the churning warp, fought
head, and blazed with internal fire. and silver light was as a torch to hay, as it burnt and at their restraints and cells. The grim dark halls of the
scorched the daemons fiercely, flinging them back- psyker ships became battlegrounds, where cold-heart-
Nurgle, undaunted, ploughed forth, like a living tide of wards, filling their hearts with the dread of Order. ed Storm Troopers and Sororitas engaged the gibber-
filth. The blades of the Father smashed the daemon ing hordes of psyker horrors. Soon these Black Ships
thing to the ground, and Nurgle’s corrupted blades just However, as they faltered, the final god descended. became tombships, as their defenders engaged their
held back the merciless force of the Star Father. Then, Smashing through the crystal roof of the bastions, failsafe devices, pumping cyanide and neuro-toxins
something even the Grandfather of Disease couldn’t Khorne leapt into the Star Realm. His first strike struck throughout the vessels, mutually destroying both Im-
predict, occurred. Upon pinions of flayed and stagnant the helm of the Star Father, dealing him a deathly blow, perial and monster equally.
flesh, the angel of despair, Isha herself, appeared. Wrig- and staggering the confused god. The second flurry of
gling free of her chains, the Goddess wailed, howling blows were parried desperately by the flaming golden They were the lucky ones.
in agony and misery, flickering tears of despair rattling blade of the Star Father. The five gods exchanged and
against the Order God’s impregnable armour. Over the traded blows for eternities upon eternities, destroying Many of the Black Ships were trapped within the warp,
eternity of imprisonment, she was quite insane, and realms, only to remake them within instants. Daemons as the guiding light faltered. Some were torn asunder
such was Nurgle’s influence, that she was bound to him and Angyls wailed and bitterly fought, as they were instantly. Others became utterly lost in the warp, their
eternally, in a marriage of abomination. He, the Star plunged into oblivion again and again. navigators lost or executed. Some, believing they had
Father, paused, his voice a deep rumble, as glacial ice re-discovered the Astronomicon, headed towards
over rocks: However, this war was one thing the Star Father could an area of deep warp where a golden light seemed to
not control; it was chaotic. The chaos unleashed upon becalm the warp. These vessels disappeared, frozen for-
“OBEY!” he bawled, swatting Isha aside. everything and everybody within the realm of the ever in mid-action. The infant Star Child had ensnared
warp fought to the Primordial Annihilator’s strengths. them forever. Others crashed into driving hulks, fusing
However, her intent was never to defeat him. Her free- Chaos drove back order, and the Order God was cast at the physical, and even spiritual, level. Their liberated
dom had attracted another being that lusted after her down. Yet, such was his power, he could not be ban- cargo would then flee into the depths of the hulks, or
essence. Suddenly a dozen singing blades sank into ished as daemons and spirits could be. He became a else die, moaning silently, as their bodies fused pain-
the Armour of the Star Father, as the Prince of Plea- fixed, dreadful point in the ever-mad seas of souls. fully with the walls.
sure, She Who Thirsts, slithered upwards to engage the
monster. The Father wrestled the heinous goddess-god, Of course, this account above is merely an analogy, for The most infamous example of a Black Ship through
venom, fire and blades darting and twisting beneath the churning storm of abomination, which rippled the warp, was that of the Tersis. Its tale is long, and, in
and above the combat, as god faced god. Nurgle be- throughout the warp, in all directions and chronolo- some places, incomprehensible. Nevertheless, I shall
came a vast swamp, ensnaring the titanic legs of the gies, defies description and explanation. It snatched endeavour to narrate their tale.
Star Father, with sucking, demonic mud. away the souls of almost all Astropaths, dragging them
into the bodies of Angyls, to fight the incomprehensi- The Tersis’ Captain, as the Beacon of the Astronomi-
Angyls poured from the walls and roofs, at the sight of ble war. It made the deep warp an impenetrable bas- con vanished, ordered the ship to leave the warp
the Star Father in distress, echoing him utterly, as they tion of utter lunacy, destroying any vessels travelling immediately. The Navigator tried his best, wrestling his
plunged into combat. Daemons wriggled from be- through those routes. Only the shallows of the warp ship through the unimaginable tides and fluctuations,
tween the toes and talons of the battling chaos gods, were safe now. as things beyond understanding clashed and rolled
intercepting the glowing beings, engaging in epic con- within the madness. He approached the shallows. To
flict. Of the Black Ships, many separate tragedies befell his horror, however, there was no reality beyond, and
them. The Black Ships, vessels dedicated to rounding they plunged back into the madness. They were lost!
The bastions advanced and retreated, as the other up psykers and transporting them to Terra, were sud- Lost forever! The Navigator soon began to descend
realms plunged over each other like tides on a beach, denly made obsolete, as the Astronomicon spluttered, into madness, and was replaced by his assistant. He
coming from all angles at once. over the course of years, until it was nothing. Then was killed by his minder, with a bolt to the brain.
Terra tumbled into hell, and madness took hold of the
The three gods wrestled, but the Star Father was the galaxy. Battered by the tides and churning masses of mad-
stronger, and he beat them back, his voice a thunder- dening warpstuff, battering the Gellar field, the Tersis
ous gale, as he cursed and bellowed at the hated foes. The Black Ships, crammed with psykers, that were dived. Like a black dart they descended, upwards, into
Whispers and confusing illusions assailed the Star about to enter the warp, suddenly were forced to pull the surrounding deep warp. The engines bucked and
Father, and saved Slaanesh and Nurgle, as Tzeentch away, their navigators going mad instantly. These ships hissed and crackled. Smoke and murderous vapours
filled the cabins of the ship, incensing and driving the painful to even look upon, the crew realised it was, in None can possibly say how far, and how long, they worlds, attacking furiously with fangs and warpish
psykers beyond sanity. They launched all their psychic fact, ‘real’. Some of the more desperate/insane crew tumbled, for both measurements are irrelevant in the flame.
abilities against the cells and restraints, burning out forced open access hatches, and crawled out into this warp. The ship fell past countless indefinable horrors,
their broken minds. The Sisters on board, led by Sister mad wilderness, sobbing with hope and elation. The and wonders that would make a saint weep. Eventually These common occurrences would later be nicknamed
Superior Medeline, fought like legends, slaughtering ground above them formed into multi-coloured hor- they entered the final depth, the full doom. ‘hell-subs’, due to the submerged nature of the twisted
and murdering the flaming witches wherever they rors, and dragged them off, through the floor, into the wrecks.
found them. Stormtroopers barricaded all then on-cell warp. Hope was not a safe emotion to exude, evidently. [Record missing: Document descends
chambers, barring the entrance of the mad warp-ter- The hatches were sealed soon after this. into bizarre glyphs and runes, burst- No matter the horrors the Second Age of Strife would
rors. The actual ship’s crew managed to be protected ing into multi-hued flames, before soon bring to the galaxy, it was nothing compared with
from the worst of the horrors. Every human chanted And so, riding upon a diseased fragment of reality, the forming a sea of spiders, and scut- the numbing abomination of the deep warp. For, as the
litanies of protection, and prayers to the Emperor. Black Ship plunged. Monsters assailed the defenders at tling away, across the desk. Servitor guns mariners of ancient legend would warn, there be
random, plunging into the ship with no effort. Back to forced to destroy record. Record monsters…
The ship plummeted, faster and faster, and slower, as back, the Troopers and Sisters fought, battering back resumes…]
they ascended into the deepness of the most dark and the devilish foes. They fired their pistols, until spent.
unbound warp depths. The walls began to bleed, as They hacked with blades, until blunt and broken. They -and they screamed “Nex! Notkor Tan!” and there was
gibbering things shoved their way into their reality battled with fists, until their limbs were broken and ice-fire in their hearts.
bubble. Talons and tentacles, everywhere. Hellguns useless. Then they fought with their teeth, and their
glowed white hot, such was their rate of fire. Bolters bodies. Desperately, the underlings of the Magos Yet, the ship, shorn of its reality raft, descended up and
barked and roared, blasting chunks of masonry and sought to repair the destroyed Gellar field, as dae- across, evading the lingering tendrils of the Nex. What
maggot-ridden flesh-architecture, as power weapons mons lapped mere inches from their workspace, held happened in the realm cannot be explained. Nor
and holy objects smashed apart devil-faced daemons, back only by the wild, savage strength of the desperate should it. The Psyker from cell one purged the souls of
and scuttled semi-humanoids and psyker monsters, Stormtroopers and Sororitas. To the great surprise of dozens of his followers, boiling their souls, for fear that
all fire and misery, as they literally flew at their foes, several defending Imperials, the surviving psykers, any trace of the Nex remained within them.
blazing talons drawn. who still lived, fought back against the daemons,
driving them back with sorcerous chants, and searing Yet, it seemed as though sanity began to reassert itself.
Yet, they endured, as they plunged into the deep warp blasts. One such patient, the former occupant of Gravity began to express itself upon their limbs. Air
warp even deeper, and ever outwards. Slug-monsters cell #1, pulverised daemons and warp creatures, his began to have a taste, not just an emotion, once more.
emerged in the engine block, and the Magos aboard vast psychic energies driving the monsters insane, and The walls were solid, for the most part. Each defender
fought them with all his cold, logical might. Unfurling bursting their stolen bodies. It was said the psyker even of the ship now had a single shape, unlike in the final
dozens of bladed mechanical appendages, the Magos saved the life of Medeline, boiling the blood of a tusked depth.
flung himself at the slug-wolf things, cackling binary daemon in mail armour, even as it reared over her
nonsense as he howled mechanically. He hacked down prone form.
Eventually, with a burst of mind-shattering horror,
countless hundreds of the things, but their blood just the Tersis emerged, heralded by a storm of bile and
clung to the walls, and sprouted more devils, which Aided by their surviving psyker quarry, the defenders
coloured lights.
surrounded and befouled him, dragging him down, forced back the beasts, as the Gellar field shuddered,
into their foul embrace. spluttering, into life once more.
They emerged in 999.M42, roughly a hundred years
since becoming ensnared in the immaterial. It was a
The Gellar field failed. Like a foul gale, the walls began As they tumbled, the various defenders began to age.
darkly changed vessel now though. Like a semi-living
to shatter and bleed, as they came apart at the instant Some grew older, rapidly. Some stayed the same age,
flesh-shark, the possessed vessel drifted, a hellscape
of failure. while others began to get more youthful. Others were
made flesh. Arm in arm, the corrupted Medeline
slowly devoured by the walls, wailing weakly, as the
and the Wych-Lord of Cell #1, resided over a crew of
Suddenly, they regained integrity, the ship reforming possessed metal sucked them in like quicksand.
twisted monsters, who worked the machineries of the
partially. The daemons eased off, and were forced back,
They ate mutant and daemon flesh, they drank stag- vessel as if all was normal, their minds shattered and
at great cost. Only then did the defenders gaze outside.
nant blood and thick, sentient fluids. In the immaterial splintered.
The fallen edifice. The fragment of reality, tumbling,
warded, down into the upper heights of the deep warp. realm, the defenders became something less than hu-
man, something more than mortal. The miserable and This horrific ordeal was not unique to the Tersis.
They had crashed inside it.
monstrous occupants of the vessel began to copulate Vessels lost in the warp would frequently, throughout
and fornicate, as the years wore on. Their children were the Second Age of Strife, emerge from the warp,
Unlight flooded the view screens, as they gazed across
hoofed and twisted, bawling bundles of claws and mal- transformed into colossal warp-possessed beasts,
the strange realm, which loomed under and over them
simultaneously. Though it crawled with runes, and was ice. Yet still they tumbled. which would then fall upon unsuspecting mortal
 The cataclysm left no planet, no person, unaffected. entire habs slid under the bombardment of hyper-pow-
From the Eye, all the way to the very furthest fringes of erful lances and invisible beamsof murderous Vastinar
the eastern expanses, the rampage of the New Devour- light beams, misfires in the naval engagement above.
er claimed untold quadrillions of beings, ripping them
asunder in orgies of bestial hunger. Dante himself teleported aboard the lead xenos vessel,
his golden honour guard flying at his heels, as the
As if in mocking irony, the Emperor toppled from his legendary warrior charged the barbed prism-fiends, his
throne, slain or merely dying. It did not matter, for the axe and blazing pistol reaping a heavy toll amongst the
result was the same besides. The doom of the Impera- evil aliens. Energy beams tore at their armour, and
tor affected all who could perceive the great surging bladed limbs hacked at them furiously, but they could
changes, resounding across the entirety of existence. not be beaten by the xenos filth. After losing almost
a hundred marines, Dante, with a defiant scream,
The Children of Baal, the Blood Angels, unlike all oth- charged for the centre of the lead vessel. At its centre,
er chapters, experienced all three of these outcomes. a vast machine, part crystal, part something else, sat,
linked to all things within the crystal vessel. He bat-
During the 41st millennium, it was claimed the Blood tled the fiend for almost three days, fighting through
Angels were already on the road to division. Dark wave after wave of burning energy, which scorched his
whispers claimed that Angel fought Angel, through the armour as black as soot, melting his Primarch’s death
staggering vaults of their fortress monastery. Succes- mask painfully onto his face in the process. At last,
sors were drawn to their ancestral homeworld. None with a final howl of wrath, he hacked the thing’s glacial
can be sure what transpired, but the events bound mind in twain. With that, a mighty roar resounded
the children of the blood together tightly. Their con- throughout the vessel, and it did fall from the heav-
flagration cost the lives of many of the marines and ens, shattering and crumbling as it did so. Karsus I,
serfs, leaving the founding chapter broken down to an already mortally wounded by the chaotic battle above,
unprecedentedly low number. was finally slain by the fallen mountains of glass, many
kilometres long.
However, when the Astronomicon failed, flickering out
like a firefly, the Sons of Sanguinius, from several of the Blast waves, miles wide, fanned out from the deadly
chapters, found themselves fortunately close together. impacts, destroying billions of lives in an instant. Yet,
Thus, when the Vastinar crystal empire took their disgustingly, the crystal aliens survived. Dante, furious
moment to strike an apparently weak Imperial sector, at the monsters, ordered cyclonic barrages and torpedo

SECTION XXII: Dante and the Blood Angels were ready. Their fleets,
hopping from system to system using short warp
jumps, managed to engage the fiends, who used their
bodies as deadly prisms, amplifying and channeling
volleys to pulverise the surface and slay the beasts,
regardless of casualties.

The entire civilisation of the Vastinar was snuffed out a

The Blood and the Sword:

light into tight beams of death. The combined force of year later, after months of bitter and futile hit and run
crimson-armoured warriors descended upon the xenos naval engagements across the asteroid fields of the
with great wrath and fury, in the system of Kasus. system. Seventy Blood Angel vessels were destroyed,
almost a hundred damaged. It was a hateful, miserable

BloodKnights of Baal
The crystalline vessels clashed with the Astartes battle campaign, which left the Blood Angels drained, and
barges, arcs of glimmering light and energy passing the humans of the system all but exterminated.
between them like crimson tapers. Whole ships were
plunged into smouldering ruins, and colonies of Yet, the Angels could not rest. Over the next hundred

and the Legacy of

Vastinar shattered into blazing shards. Kasus I, the hive years of conflict, the Angels traveled up and down the
world the two forces battled over, watched in barely sector surrounding Baal Secundus, battling xenos
disguised awe as shapes moved in the heavens, rum- threat after xenos threat, putting down swarms of rav-
bling and lighting the skies, like battling gods of war. ening daemonspawn, destroying psyker covens which
Awe turned to horror as arcs of energy fell amongst had driven worlds insane, as well as heretical armies of

Mephiston the Undying their spires and eco-domes. The streets ran with
scorching molten glass and searing plasma storms, as
deluded men. They fought on, but with every battle the
Angels realised they were more and more alone. No
Imperial forces came to aid them, no thanks came Secundus against the invaders. The traitorous post-Im- Dante was dragged from the field by his retainers on out beyond the cities, into the nuclear hell beyond.
from Sector capitals. Nothing. And, with every war perials themselves had allies, in the mutant warbands the orders of Mephiston, the highest ranking survivor These deranged Death Company marines and errant
and every barely won victory, the death toll amongst which roamed Baal Secundus like a cancer, and the of the preceding centuries of war. Thus, the master of flesh tearers, descended further, becoming abomina-
their human charges increased and increased. As the bitter war had obviously been raging for many years. death became master of the Blood as well. tions. Out in the wastes they encountered the original
years wore on, many more of the Blood Angels found mutant tribes, twisted monstrous beasts, failed Blood
themselves in the Death Company, and those not suc- Dante, his heart utterly broken, finally succumbed to Mephiston was a strange and sinister being. An aura of Angel clones, and other terrors, and fought and ripped
cumbing to their urges hardened their hearts further the rage. The Black Rage. Like righteous daemons, the utter dread surrounded the Chief Librarian/now and tore. Their battered armour became tatters around
and further. Blood Angels fell upon their enemy, the Trivit. Bolters Chapter Master. He had lived beyond the Black Rage, their bulking, rage-fueled limbs. They killed anything
barked, chainswords tore. Blood was drunk, and bones his own will quenching the terrible psychic curse with- and everything, with the truly insane Dante at their
Eventually, seven hundred Astartes returned to Baal were pulverised. And, through all the slaughter and in. He had reached into his own mind, and plucked head.
Secundus, battered and bloody, dragging almost one death, Dante, his scorched armour dull and go- out the defect. No mortal should be able to do so, and
hundred frothing mad Death Company with them. re-soaked, wept beneath his mask. yet he did. Some say when he did so, and returned to Deep within the cities, the Blood Angels implemented
When they entered the system, they knew something reality, he was not the same being that had left. their plans. Taking only dissidents and criminals at
was very wrong. The orbital defence batteries were “Horus! Horus!” he cried, his mind replaying the first, their vampiric rule was relatively benevolent. The
blazing with weapons discharge and launching torpe- events of a long lost past, as he slew all around him As leader, he looked upon his homeworld with conde- townsmen feared the dread, thirsting giants, yet they
does. The other planets of the system rumbled with with his glowing axe. scending malice. It was primitive, despite all the Blood knew obedience would keep them alive.
tense conflict. And, most sickening of all, Imperial na- Angel’s purity and culture, they would always come
val craft were at the forefront. These were no heretics, The Petty Imperial forces were driven from the system, from beasts. Mephiston had chroniclers write of their epic wars,
but their hulls were painted in the triple helix pattern their numbers greatly culled by the experienced naval in poetry and song and art. Classical learning and
of the Trivit Imperium, one of the many petty realms commanders of the Blood Angels. Those vessels too “Let us remake our cattle anew, lest their brutishness complex theology were openly discussed. By the dull
of post-Imperial mankind. They were invading Baal, slow to flee were boarded and captured. Serfs swarmed taint our perfection,” he was quoted as remarking once, days of Baal, high culture, based upon internal factors,
warring with the defiant Chapter Serfs, who fought the vessels and brought them back to the fortress mon- in reference to the tribal humans, cowering in the toxic reigned supreme. By night, terror and blood reigned all
alongside furious tribesmen of the Blood Tribes of astery, to be consecrated as worthy of Astartes use. hellscape of Baal Secundus. the more fiercely, as the Blood Angels began to become
desperate. Criminals were in short supply, and con-
Upon the blighted soil, he had great bastions crafted, stant replenishment was required to prevent the Black
by the toil of millions. Each bastion was a complete Rage consuming their bodies. They began to hunt
walled city. Marble and grand carvings dominated the people, careful to leave enough alive to sustain a
every archway, every door. These became shelters for population. No one could flee, because the Astartes
the tribesmen against the various horrors of Baal, controlled the space craft, and outside the imposing
who eventually, through Mephiston’s propaganda and walls mutants and black-rage filled nightmares stalked
persuasion, became residents of these baroque and the lands.
magnificent edifices.
Gradually, over centuries upon centuries, the Blood
At the centre of these great cities, towers rose uneasily. Angels changed. Gone were the white knights of purity
Their chambers were forbidden, and the processes and legend. Now they were infamous and dreadful.
therein were secret. For Mephiston and his sanguinary Many of the Astartes loathed this existence, and peti-
priests had discovered a means to cure the Black Rage. tioned for exile into the wider galaxy, to ‘find the Impe-
He had found that, once injected with a viral strain of rium’ as they put it (which most suspected meant ‘find
geneseed, before being completely drained of blood, a a true cure’ for their affliction, in actuality). However,
human could provide the means to cure the Black most of the Blood Angels began to revel in the awe and
Rage. However, this draining of blood became a gut-wrenching fear they created in their cattle. Many
method to unleash controlled bursts of the Red Thirst. converted their armour, giving it the fearsome appear-
The great and ravening hunger and rage of their long ance of ancient plate armour of ages past, as if ancient
dead gene father allowed them to boil away the psychic polytheistic gods of pagan primitivity had arisen
backlash of their Primarch. In resisting the Black Rage, amongst man, and had come to feast. Many sculpted
they succumbed to the Red Thirst. or adorned their helms with skull imagery, or other-
wise created the impression they were agents of bloody
Yet, for the unfortunate marines still suffering the em- death. Some fitted strange vox units to their helms,
pathetic rage of Sanguinius, there was little hope. which made disturbing electronic howls during their
Mephiston had these monsters cast out, tossing them hunts, thus amplifying their horror.
They forgot the traditions of their Chapter, becoming
obsessed with their own fabricated ‘high cultures’.
Sanguinius and the Emperor were still praised, yet the
now-titled Blood Knights of Baal became almost like
saints, on par with their gene fathers. The great heights
of their past lay in ruins, forgotten in the red sands of
Baal. The legends of their forefathers now only served
to justify and excuse the excesses of their rage and
thirst.

To maintain strong recruits, children gladiatorial pits

were crafted in the townships, and the young of the
cities were forced to battle for supremacy. Few made
the cut, but occasionally a warrior child with enough
naked aggression and skill passed the tests. Of these,
few survived the implanting process. Those that did
became Blood Knights themselves, and began to learn
the ‘history’ of their realm, and their place within it.
It was often said the youngest Knights were the worst.
They felt the Red Thirst keenly, and greedily ripped
open throats and veins, injecting gene-seed into their
prey through complex narthecarium devices, before
draining their victims dry, thus staving off the Black
Rage for another month or so.

By 342.M43 there had to be a change. Mephiston, the

ever-living psychic Lord and Master of Baal, decided it
was time for the Knights to truly rise again. They
would find new blood, and new foes. They would see
what (if anything) survived the combined horrors of
both the New Devourer, the doom of the Imperator,
and the loss of the guiding light. While before, as the
Imperium shattered around them, the Blood An-
gels fought to maintain their realm. Now, the Blood
Knights fought to reclaim, and remake their realm.

For they thirsted, as never before. “New blood and new

life!” became the dread war cry of these descended
savages, as their captured fleets began to make their
first, tentative steps, out into the ruined monstrosity
that was the galaxy of the Second Age of Strife period.
They desired but one thing: to wash the Petty Impe-
riums, the heretics, the monsters, the rebels, all away,
in a vile tide of blood-soaked carnage. If they were to
suffer the Thirst, so would the galaxy suffer.
 The triumphant death howl of the Emperor upon his under their control, and saved the planet from de-
destruction was as a grand gale of psychic force. As struction. This, unfortunately, was not to last. Across
with the first Age of Strife, psykers sprang up with ever the planet, a virulent disease began to spread. Some
increasing frequency. It was said not a single world in claimed it was a daemon virus, spread by a travelling
the galaxy didn’t have a psyker living upon its surface. troupe of Nurglish cultists, disguised as pleasure girls,
Many were cruelly murdered by the ignorant barbar- who were prevalent across the world, travelling across
ians of their now fully-isolated primal (and, in some national and cultural boundaries seemingly at will.
extreme case studies, more developed industrial and Whatever the cause, the virus began to kill everything
hive) worlds. Often the reverse was true; psykers rose on the planet, spreading from the crotch outwards,
up to drown their worlds in madness and blood. rotting the victims internally as they screamed, aghast
at their fates.
The black ships visited worlds less and less frequently,
eventually, by M46, ceasing their rounds entirely. Thus, Only the psyker monks managed to stave off cor-
the psyker epidemic was further exacerbated. Dae- ruption. Their minds drove away the daemon virus,
mons and other warp devils took advantage. Hundreds pulverising the microscopic daemons, which surged
of worlds, both within Petty Imperiums and beyond, invisibly across the entire planet. Some were consumed
were utterly consumed by ravening warp energies, physically. However, such was their psychic might,
capering daemons, and all manner of heinous things. that their minds, impossibly, remained, disembodied
Vampyres openly rose up on a dozen planets, draining and screaming silently. However, most managed to
thousands upon thousands of people dry, their eternal seal themselves within their towers, fashioning wards
thirst for psychic sustenance unbearable. Mind-walkers of unimaginable power. The daemon virus, frustrated
and Psychneuein wasps spread from world to world, as at being denied, possessed the countless dead of the
croatalids migrated in ever greater numbers. planet, fashioning itself a host of billions. The army of
corpses assailed their magical towers for decades, until
On one world, the warp was so disturbed, it was the warp energy accumulated by the virus dissipat-
claimed that an element of the Nex- ed, and the daemon was banished, leaving a world of
corpses.
[ journal author begins vomiting, babbling in language
untranslatable by cogitators. Servitors on stand by. The priests vowed that this would never happen again.
Subject recovers ] They saw that the plague was a sign: psykers were the
future of humanity, and only they were worthy. Across
- and the entire sector was utterly removed from exis- the warp they pooled their powers, and sent out a
tence. Luckily, the vile essence of the deep warp did not message, to any witches or psychics in range:
crop up again, throughout the entire period. We can
only pray it never does… “The Cognate is come! Gather at San-Vaagar. Bring only
your mind and your magicks. The future starts now.”
Anyway, even as the petty Imperiums squabbled and
made war against one another, and as xenos, rogues Over the next few decades psykers of varying powers
and chaotic armies rampaged across the milky way, and specialities began to arrive. Some had stolen tiny

SECTION XXIII:
this subtle increase of psykers caused untold damage, transport craft, using their own powers to guide them
beyond the realisation of these ignorant little empires through the sea of souls. Others chartered ships who
and power magnates. became becalmed or lost in the warp, leaving the
psykers to escape in pods. Some had banded together

The Cognate
Yet, with every rule, there is an exception. Upon the and traded for a vessel, and collectively piloted it to the
world of San-Vaagar there had always been a tradition planet.
of Psychic disipline. When the warp was thrown into
turmoil this discipline was kept intact. Though their Thousands of psykers came. Then came the trials. The
astropaths and navigators died or went mad, the disci- first was the planet itself. Swirling with despairing

(200.M43 - 992.M48) plined psyker-priests of the world did not go berserk, souls, the psykers had to travel through the mountains
and in fact managed to bring the newly created psykers of rotten dead, to reach the towers. Many went insane.
Many did not. The second was the corruption trial. The ing and developing their understanding of the warp “My dear witch doctors and soothsayers,” he was said to devastating magicks in response. While they prepared,
priests tested each psyker who came, scrying through and their powers. Devices were fashioned and artefacts have uttered. “My Lord, Magnus the omniscient, the the Astartes Strike Cruiser unleashed a barrage of
their minds with their powerful abilities. Those who crafted in the deep vaults of the Cognate’s towers. As Red Cyclops of the all-knowledge, has looked upon your scorching bombardment shells upon the sixty-six tow-
were corrupt, were destroyed. a soul is a firefly, flickering in the warp, the world of great works, and is impressed. Should you wish it, he ers of the Cognate. Yet, even as the munitions neared,
the cognate was a vast unreal sun, blazing with soul- would gladly allow your highest thinkers into his own invisible forces plucked them from reality, or crushed
When the trials were complete, the Cognate began to fire and leeching ever more energy from the warp. great Cabal. All that he asks for in return, is knowledge. them in mid air, detonating them harmlessly miles
take shape. A series of tiers made up the ranks of the Daemons and Angyls flocked around the world like a Is this not a grand and merciful gift?” above the towers. The powers of the Cognate were
psychic organisation. The first tier were the oldest and/ warp-spawned miasma. Only the titanic wards crafted mighty indeed.
or most powerful members of the Cognate. Those of by the founders kept the madness at bay, locked behind The second tier were outraged, and the psykers had
the original priests, the Alpha Level psykers and above, a colossal conceptual wall of hexes and runes. Words to concentrate in order to repress such murderous Then the Thousand Sons unleashed their sorcerous
and some of the most powerful psyker-wraiths. The and whispers travelled, across the churning sea of thoughts. The grim, hooded figures of the council of return fire. Like two ships duelling in the void, the two
second tier ranged from the Beta psykers down to the chaos, through the realm of the soul. Rumours became Sixty-Six, the greatest of all the Cognate, were quiet. Of Cabals battled across the psychic plane, unleashing
Delta levels. Beneath them were all the rest, the third literal beasts which scampered through the madness, course, none of the cognate truly spoke verbally any- hellish powers and terrible energies upon each other.
tier. The first tier decided upon topics of research, bringing their diabolical message to any who had the more, but even their minds were silent, as they consid- Mewling spawn monsters were created which battered
and judged the others. The second tier researched the power to comprehend it. ered the disgusting proposal of Severanus. Eventually the towers, only to be destroyed by dozens of vortex
topics, and gathered power and sorcerous magicks. The they responded, as a single voice, or dread power. portals. Wraiths were weaponries, some were banished.
Over six years, the two psychic forces fought each
third tier did the grunt work, serving the upper tiers, Languishing in his realm of crystal and glass, the mes-
“We recognize your master not. His god is not our god, other to near exhaustion. Yet, the Cognate landed the
maintaining the towers and forming the Sacren, an sage-beings gathered around the great Red Sorcerer’s
and his authority does not hold sway here. Be gone, final, decisive blow. A great warp-borne wind swept
army of warrior psykers to defend the Cognate, using a warp-bound listening horn. Magnus, the vast lord
insect!” impossibly across the void, buffeting the entire star
combination of captured PDF weapons and their own of the Thousand Sons, became aware of this clan of
ship away from their world, forcing it to enter the warp
warp-spawned powers. psykers. He looked upon their world through his sin-
At this, it was said Severanus erupted into a fit of hys- against its will. Severanus, howling curses, was de-
gular warp sight, and he grew envious. He must pos- terical laughter. “Not his realm? The Lord of all Change nied. Little more than a charred skeleton supported by
sess their knowledge! has dominion over all things! Think not that even you, scorched, enchanted power armour, Severanus looked
walled up in your towers, are unassailable. Reconsider, like the face of death, as he fled back to his master in
In 992.M46, after centuries of fraught travel through or you shall surely perish! By the very well of eternity, disgrace.
the even more insane and hazardous warp, visitors your Cognate shall fall, without my master!” the crea-
arrived upon San-Vaagar. The Cognate became aware ture proclaimed. It seemed as if the Cognate had defeated Severanus’
of them when a vessel inscribed with curious, forbid- prophecy, and had survived. However, the war had
den runes entered orbit above their world. Within that Again, the cognate dismissed him. In a fit of rage, his taken its toll. The Cognate found that its numbers
same week, a party of nine landed upon the psyker patience exhausted, Severanus lashed out with his dwindled over the following two thousand years. Null
world. These nine passed across the surface of the venomous mind, striking at the leader of the cognate ships would sneak into their territories, and greedy
world, without being driven insane by the howling himself. Suddenly, the central hall was in uproar and bounty hunters and mercenaries would steal psyker
wraiths. When they reached the gates of the sixty-six madness, as the Thousand Sons turned their bolters children from their beds, to be sold into slavery for
towers of the Cognate, they, unbelievably, bypassed upon the surrounding witches and psykers, who in the many Petty Imperiums, who paid handsomely for
the powerfully warded barriers, their sorcery allowing turn lashed out with their own powers. Severanus Cognate-trained psykers. Daemons constantly assailed
them to step through a shimmering portal, directly was a tornado of power, arcs of blue and pinkish fire them from the abyss, desperate to devour the suc-
into the central hall of the cognate, to the astonished erupting from him in devastating arcs, as lightning and culent souls within their hard shell. Likewise, chaos
gasps of the psyker-lords themselves. blazing darkness poured from his talon-tipped gaunt- warbands, eager to test their meddle, would constantly
lets. Bodies were blown apart by gunfire, Astartes were send warriors to assail the world, stretching the power
Before them stood nine towering giants, bedecked blasted to pieces or forcibly banished from the hall, of the Sacren wafer thin, as they fought off threat after
in glimmering gold and blue plate. Eight of the party and warp power flowed like oil throughout the room.
threat.
stood perfectly still, their hollow helms staring im- Yet, while Sveranus was as a tornado, the lords of the
passively, as they held their bolters perfectly still. The Cognate were as hurricanes. Mechivoe, a master pyro-
As with all empires in the Second Age of Strife, they
ninth was obviously a sorcerer, his armour even more kine, speared warp fire across the evil Sorceror, burn-
were gradually eroded, like a tide erodes a beach. No
ostentatious than his comrades, his staff held loosely in ing him to his very soul. Lord Severanus hissed in utter
matter their power, they were not all powerful. Des-
his heavy gauntlets. This was Lord Severanus, the latest agony, only just managing to teleport from the hall and
back to his waiting ship in orbit. perate for new recruits and new blood, the Cognate
in the line of chief Librarians of Magnus’ personal Ca- sent out ambassadors across the warp, blindly hoping
bal of heathen warp-channelers and psykers. Arrogant- these ambassadors would bring new recruits, or hire
The centuries wore on, and the Cognate turned all its ly, he addressed the Cognate’s leaders directly, ignoring Back upon his vessel his own cabal of sorcerers, both
human and Thousand Son, began to weave their own themselves out to local Imperiums. However, few ever
sorcery, knowledge and unthinkable power into learn- protocol entirely. returned. Most were simply killed in the warp, as with
out the Astronomicon long distance travel was essen-
tially suicide. Those that survived often found they
did not wish to make the return journey, and instead
offered their services to any who could offer them
security, or pay. Often they were simply enslaved or
tortured. A scant few were employed by powerful lords
of entire petty imperiums, or became captains of great
vessels.

Meanwhile, the Cognate became weary and distressed.

The second tier became disillusioned with the top tier,
and many civil wars erupted intermittently, costing yet
more lives they simply couldn’t spare. Eventually, in
992.M48, when a group of the league of the Purge en-
tered the system, the psykers (most of whom were now
just second tier or lower) were unable to prevent the
Purge from callously launching multiple virus bomb
assaults upon the world, utterly killing everyone on the
world. Such is the price of hope in the Post-Imperial
galaxy.
 Men, so it was once said, make their own monsters, forth, snatching the thunder hammer from the leader
as well as their own heroes. Whilst not strictly true of the Astartes, and dashing his head from his shoul-
in such a time as the Age of Strife, the human urge ders, before laying into the other marines. As the
to mythologise the mysterious and the unbelievable marines were battled back, the crowds grew in cour-
is equally strong in this period. Stories are traded age, and charged the gates as one, smashing them from
amongst the star farers, or between huddled families, their hinges, and flooding the capital. Mauvais was
hiding in the dark and cold, or through the countless defeated, and the people cheered. However, the hermit
millions of refugee camps across the galaxy, whispered was gone.
through dry lips, into the ears of equally miserable or
terrified people. Courts surrounding the affluent petty Another world in the Segmentum Solar was attacked
Imperators were no different, uneasy rumours and by Despoiled regiments from the Western Chaos
tales passed as a subtle undertone, throughout courtly Imperium, who pulverised their capital, and demand-
proceedings. ed their surrender. However, a hermit had begun
preaching a creed of salvation; of unification. Thus,
One of the most prevalent of these legends and myths, the people rejected the devilish soldiers, who decid-
is that of ‘The Hermit’, or ‘ the six hermits’ or ‘The ed to punish the non-chaos Imperials directly. The
Wandering one’, depending upon which sector’s stories bat-winged Apostle Grasis, the Underlord of Sector
you choose to listen to. Variations of this rumoured Champion Kailus of the Chaos Imperium, descended
being crop up from the Segmentum Obscurus, all the on his dreadful pinions, leading the evil cadians from
way to the barter worlds of the far fringe, where human the very front. However, when confronted, the peo-
life is a mere commodity of various xenos overlords. ple of the world were armed with fantastic weapons,
Though these tales often differ greatly, the (in)famous fashioned by the hermit himself, and they held back
hermit character seems to share several similarities. A the rampaging hordes. However, they could not van-
large cowl or hood, obscuring his features, generally quish Grasis, who merely laughed, as their flamers and
shabby clothes, piercing eyes, and often possessing hyper-cannons merely rippled across his demoniacally
miraculous, possibly warp-bound powers. invincible flesh. He slew thousands personally, his
scythe reaping a bloody toll amongst the people. Then,
In the Segmentum Solar, the hermit is an almost sort when home seemed to fail, the hermit emerged. The
of folk hero. On the planet of Chinaire, the hermit daemon and the hero wrestled, as the hermit battled
came to the rescue of the Cinairian, when their over- the bat-like horror from tower to tower. At last, the
lord, a Former Inquisitor calling himself Mauvais, hermit unleashed a heavy blast from his flamer. Grasis
began to terrorise and oppress them terribly. The laughed again, as the flames rippled across him
hermit came, and within a few weeks, it was claimed, harmlessly. However, that was never the intended
the entire planet was in revolt, as his oratory and word target. Instead, the hermit melted the adamantine
skills swayed the people against this false tyrant. The structure above the devil’s head. As the beast laughed,
inquisitor sent an entire battalion of soldiers to murder the hermit seized him in a hold, and forced the mol-
the hermit, in his forest cave which he called home. ten super-alloy down the monster’s vile gullet. With a
The hermit, using skill and his insane strength and howl, the thing was banished, and the Despoiled, lead-
speed, destroyed the entire army. The survivors fled, erless, chose to fight to the death. The hermit didn’t
screaming ‘black beast! Black beast!’, haunted by the disappoint, as he and the defenders overran and slew
hermit’s form. At the height of the demonstrations, as them all.
the people united against Mauvais, and besieged his
capital, the desperate Inquisitor unleashed his hardiest And so on, the stories go, across the entire segmentum

SECTION XXIV:
warriors: a twenty strong band of Marines Malevolent. Solar and Pacificus. We can infer several interesting
The callous, evil marines, butchered hundreds in their points about this ‘hermit, from these many tales. Over-
fury, driving amongst the crowdvlike mad zealots. all, he is phenomenally strong, able to wrestle a dae-
mon prince, and even tackle an adult Ambull in one of
Then came the hermit. Hidden by the bulging crowd, the legends of Innut. He also is claimed to be a giant,

Legends of the Hermit he had managed to sneak into the capital unnoticed.
As the marines prepared their final assault, he lunged
anywhere from ninety foot tall, to roughly seven foot.
However, he generally seems to be nearing astartes
height in most of these stories, and thus I feel confi- if the reaver in question was damaged, as the story
dent in speculating that he is possibly some form of suggests, the power needed to destroy something that
space marine renegade, whose deeds have been exag- large must be phenomenal), or killing with a gesture. I
gerated, as all heroes are. In particular, this seems to be would tend to suggest that perhaps a group of intensely
the modus operandi of the Salamander chapter. Since puritanical Inquisitors, aided by significant resourc-
they shattered into nearly individual units after the Im- es, may be the source of the legend. One being surely
perator fell, it is likely that perhaps these hermits, are couldn’t be so powerful.
squads of salamanders, claiming to be a single mighty
figure. The frequent depictions of the hermit being a The Ultima segmentum has numerous hermit myths.
‘black beast’ would seem to support this. In some he is armed, others unarmed. His cowl goes
from deep blue or grey, through to bone white, or a
The mysterious figure of the hermit seems to alter radi- deep blackened hue. His height fluctuates as much as
cally in the legends of segmentum obscurus. In these his objectives. In the south, near to Grand Sicarium
legends, he is a sinister being, who moves unseen and the Ulfian Pain-Conglomerate, the hermit seems
through society, murdering and mutilating wtches and to be a master huntsmen, stalking wrong-doers with
psykers, seemingly at random. This makes this depic- his hunting bow. These seem to merge eerily well with
tion particularly ambiguous. Sometimes the psykers in similar legends of Telion and his hooded company, and
question are tyrannical puppet-masters, dominating well could be a case of stories merging into an amal-
their mortal minions, and the hermit there Is a libera- gam. The hermit being armed is often down to confu-
tor. Other times, however, he is merely shown to be a sion on the part of the observers to events. How can
bizarre and crazy butcher, randomly murdering oth- a mortal tell the difference between a Reaper soul, a
er-wise innocent psykers and witches, often dooming Watcher in the Dark, Fallen, or cowled warrior zealots?
the planets in question. This hermit is not depicted as Especially during an intense fire fight? The northern
some giant, in fact often being depicted as a frail being hermit seems completely non-violent, healing the ill
by most accounts, but still seems to perform feats be- and dying, and preaching word of the ‘third path’, the
yond a mortal, such as removing all the air in a room path of moderation. He/she, has never been associated
to evade Arbites, ripping a reaver titan in half (even with any warmongering activities. The north eastern
hermit legends tell of a different tale, a lithe woman,
cowled in shimmering cowls of black silk, as a widow.
She brings death to any who do not pray to the Emper-
or for his rebirth. Children are frightened by bed time
tales of the widow-hermit, the cowled crone of the
north.

Thus, we can see that, perhaps, there is no ‘one’ hermit,

but perhaps several stories, overlapping and influenc-
ing each other, as the stories are re-told, over and over.

However, one thing upsets this theory. Almost unan-

imously, the tales have an element of destiny to them.
No matter the local, no matter the local dialect or pre-
vious myths, each legend mentions ‘the world-named-
war’, and how the hermit is travelling, slowly, towards
this mythical place. How so many diverse cultures,
many of which could not possibly contact each oth-
er, due to warp storms and lack of the astronomicon,
came up with, word for word, the exact same phrase,
over and over, suggests something disturbing. Espe-
cially in light of the events known to have occurred
upon the planet of Armaggedon…
 [distant rumbles are heard far distant from the journal upon sensing a call from Waaaghraz Gharr, the sup-
author. Journal author gazes up at ceiling, as flecks of posed ‘dad of Gork and Mork’, led his entire warband
dust dislodge from ceiling. Journal resumes. Exchange away from the Octavian system, and the Armageddon
of words between author, and hooded figure in door- system, and instead assaulted the maiden world of
way. Figure exits.] Fourst-K’tikaritix-HeHet Mudastiron (or ‘pretty wurld’
to the Orks).
Apologies must be given to the tardiness of the latest
input. Unforeseen assaults have begun upon the world The famous Yarrick, Hero of Hades Hive (and later,
ofmy Order. The Mercenaries we hired are dealing hated butcher of Betek, but that shall be covered later),
with the problem, so- and a number of Black Templars, pursued him every
step of the way. However, eventually the Orks’ superior
I digress - the current status of my Order is irrelevant system of FTL, which didn’t rely upon the Astronom-
to my rendition of the Second Age of Strife. The Jour- icon, outpaced the Imperials, who became scattered
nal shall resume now, covering a topic of much mys- by increasingly treacherous warp currents (due to the
tique and intrigue. dying Imperator of this period, as mentioned before).
The Imperial Crusade to hunt him was shattered, and
It has been generally assumed that Wazdakka and his the separate elements never reformed again. Some of
Outriders, at the very start of this period, led all Orks the least damaged vessels limped back to Armageddon,
in existence into epic conflict with the invincible forces while others were smashed in the warp, or tossed to
of the New Devourer, and were utterly annihilated in a distant systems, far away, to be preyed upon (and prey
war involving trillions upon trillions of Orks, and upon) enemy shipping.
billions of New Devourer beasts, as Wazdakka’s forces
lunged from his super highway in a veritable tide. Now, back to the Warboss. The few Exodites living
upon the pretty Exodite world were slaughtered and
Of course, it would be a sweeping generalisation to eaten after a relatively short campaign. Once con-
conclude this was universally the case. Though any quered, the Warboss, Thraka the head-wound, led his
orks directly fighting the New Devourer, were utterly boys against the Webway portals of the world, smash-
destroyed, along with their spore-born reproductive ing the seals using brute force, and psychic assaults by
systems, some of the more primitive, scattered, and his weirdboys.
broken ork infected worlds, survived. These were the
worlds too far from combat, where only scant traces of Soon, his force had breached the Webway, and began
orkoid fungus remained. However, Orks are nothing to travel inside the strange, almost friction-less realm.
if not tenacious. These light patches of growth even- Corridors traveled to nowhere, or took you back in
tually bred orks, and other variants of orkoid genus. time, or turned to insane. Passages were too small for
Thus, scattered, primitive bands of feral orks sprang a single Ork to fit in, yet whole gargants tripped over
up, along with the far more common gretchin colonies. inside them. Buggys lost all grip to the ‘ground’, and
These Orks, however, were not the technologically crashed or smashed themselves to bits. Sometimes up
‘advanced’ (I just the term loosely. Their technology wasn’t up, but sideways, and time seemed to slow and
was as ramshackle as it was genius) versions, which speed up at random.
terrorised the 41st millennium. They were mild lo-
cal threats, often dwelling in deep forests or swamps. After he lost almost half his number, it was said Thraka
They were the semi-mythical menace on the borders gave a sensible order to his Orks:
of civilisation, and little else. In large numbers, they

SECTION XXV:
could perhaps overrun a small Petty Imperium, if they “Ok ladz. Don’t tutch nuffin, right?”
gained the element of surprise, but little else.
With a new found, strange sense of caution, the Orks
Of course, there was also the infamous “bolt boy”, a advanced. Many were the battles and wars they faced,
war boss who terrorised the world of Armageddon, us- asthey hopelessly wandered the Webway, battling Dark

Of the Webway Waaaaggh ing the cunning and knowledge unlocked in his alien
mind, via a bolter round to the brain. This war boss,
Eldar raids, Biel-Tan strike forces, daemons trapped
within the warded labyrinth, or Ahriman’s minions,
 who launched sorcerous blasts at the rag tag bands of Waaaghraz Gharr was calling. Waaaghraz Gharr was However, it is the fact these broad giants are led by
Orks. Despite their caution, the labyrinth dimension listening. frail, incredibly short beings, similarly attired, which
still disorientated many, who wandered off on their unnerves me, along with the insanely perfect discipline
own. Whole warbands and kults of speed, were simply No evidence tells us what finally happened, when the of these warriors.
lost in the Webway. Some were killed, some continued Orks met their supposed ‘overgod’. However, after that
to fight, oblivious to where they were. A good few Orks point, the sightings of Orks blundering around the That and their war cries, which sound suspiciously like
took wrong turns, and stumbled into starship-sized Webway shrank to nearly zero. another race of war mongers. However, these chants
++++
Webway tunnels, only to be splattered by a passing are more disciplined and perfect, and the race’s name is
Void Stalker or Eldar cruiser, as they sped through the It is possible the god’s call was a ruse by the Harle- different. [Vox Transcript Beta-Four-Delta]
tunnels, towards their destiny. quins, who then murdered the Orks.
Is it possible? Could the green skins really have always ++++
Crystalline spiders became a very common foe, who Yet, this does not even come close to explaining why, been merely the degenerative offspring of these Kr-
tested the Orks’ combat prowess to the limit. They were on over two thousand separate occasions, strange,
regenerative, deadly, and could merge with the walls bulky shapes have emerged from the Webway, killed [Another rumble rocks entire chamber. Journal is dis-
[Conduit: Servitor 1-DX, Servitor 4-DV]
themselves. entire settlements across the galaxy, seemingly at ran- lodged and topples to floor. Author picks up, dusting
dom, before returning to the Webway. These strange off. ++++
Yet, despite all this anarchy throughout the Labyrinth things are said to be eight feet tall, and covered with Distinct weapon discharges audible.]
dimension, those Orks surrounding Thraka head- overlapping, crystalline armour, which glitters like
wound, never seemed to get lost, as they battle through organic flesh, and each being is said to be capable of
+++Transcript begins:
Journal shall resume in a few days. We must evacuate
the Webway, incorporating wraithbone into their flight, and could fire devastating blue energy from to a secure lower level, and let the mercenaries deal
weapons, as their devices broke or were exhausted by bulky, sturdy weapons. [Subject 1]- We need assurances Oder!
with the problem. The foe should leave once our world We were promised results. Is the re-
constant combat. Something was calling him, across
passes under the glare of the Blue Star. pulsion nearing completion?
the realm. Dancing, colourful spectres teased and crew Now, of course, these depictions could be of new
the Orks forward, ever elusive to the mindless violence wraith constructs, or even simple fabrications by
For now, journal curtailed. Will resume in approxi- [Subject 2]- (large detonation audi-
of their quarry. civilians with no concept of the strange beings of the
mately four (Terran) days. ble. Gunfire sporadic) They’re more per-
universe.
sistent than before! Had to drag almost
[Journal is closed by author, as he runs for chamber half my hosts around to repel them
door.] this time. We couldn’t have known ar-
tillery would become an issue.

[Subject 1]- It doesn’t matter. We shall

pay double, if you can repulse them as
soon as possible. Our vaults are
sealed. They can’t get in, but my Breth-
ren need reassurances Oder.

[Subject 2]- (garbled)

[Subject 1]- Oder? Oder!

[Subject 2]- (yelling) Understood! Oder out!

(high volume detonations distinguishable)]

++++
 Though the most mighty of all the C’tan, the Void al automated defence systems of their Tomb Worlds,
Dragon, was roused and trapped within the Solar and unleash the dreadful mechanical legions against
System, due to Abaddon’s devilish guile (as we have whole sectors, slaughtering billions upon billions of
already covered), this was far from the curtailing of the innocents.
threat of the Star Gods, and their Silver fiends.
This was an unforeseeable consequences of increased
At the close of the forty first millennium, humanity at Necron activity. However, the fears of the general
large was ignorant of these dread legions. They were populace were misplaced. The Necrons were merely
mere myths, rumours, legends told by wary adventur- the servants, to the greater, unseen evil, directing the
ers to the gullible or the foolish. Even those of the very majority of the Necron race. Like a puppet-master
highest power, the High Lords, the Adeptus Mechan- plucks the strings of his charges.
icus, and the Inquisition, had only the mere inkling
that the seemingly random attacks by metallic alien The C’tan. The dread Star Gods. Every race had their
androids, were in fact, parts of a grander and more own legends regarding these fiends, but few believed in
terrible threat. them, and thus, when the Necrons began to fully mo-
bilise under their cold, heartless stares, the galaxy at
As the New Devourer swept across the galaxy like a large was largely unprepared for their rampages.
vile cancerous disease, the Necrons purged their Tomb
Worlds of life, cunningly evading the predations of the Of the three C’tan abroad, the dark force known as the
new threat, which they weathered, as they have always Reaper, was by far the most overt and blatant of the
weathered the storm. Then, the Astronomicon, over threats. While its grand rampage came late in the Sec-
decades, spluttered and blinked out of existence, ond Age of Strife, occurring during M47, it was no less
heralding the doom of the Imperator, and the disin- devastating for this.
tegration of any semblance of unified galactic order,
seemingly forever. For millennia, the unloving servants of the Reaper
had been brazenly gathering and capturing beings
Into this universe in turmoil, the Necrons were in a of psychic potential, and bringing them to the world
strong position. Their fleets and forces were indepen- of Tovanis, in the Ultima Segmentum. Though the
dent of the warp, and could span the galaxy in mere Reaper made no secret of these attacks, there was no
days. Yet, the scattered Necron worlds, despite their force which could prevent it from taking these poten-
dread might, were near automatons, simply reacting tials, as the self-interested and cowardly petty Impe-
to events as they unfolded, utilizing pre-programmed riums sought to protect themselves and fight their
responses. Some of the more delusional or insane Ne- rivals, while the majority of the Xenos empires fought
cron Lords, driven utterly psychotic by the loss of their amongst themselves likewise, or ignored this growing
physical form, crafted grandiose necrodermis bodies threat in the east in favour of expanding their colonial
for themselves. These Necrons would override the nod- assets in the momentous power vacuum created upon
al automated defence systems of their Tomb Worlds, the death of the Emperor.
and unleash the dreadful mechanical legions against
whole sectors, slaughtering billions upon billions of Thus, unimpeded in their baffling work, the Necron
innocents. Lords gathered these psychics together, herding them

SECTION XXVI: Into this universe in turmoil, the Necrons were in a

strong position. Their fleets and forces were indepen-
dent of the warp, and could span the galaxy in mere
to the world in night-shrouded vessels, under con-
stant guard by hundreds of Pariah Cyborgs. Upon this
world, hundreds of captured Tech Priests, and Dragon
Cultists fooled into believing the Reaper was, in fact,

Of the C’tan and days. Yet, the scattered Necron worlds, despite their the void Dragon, began work on a vast machine. A
dread might, were near automatons, simply reacting unholy meld of psychic technology, and Necrontyr
to events as they unfolded, utilizing pre-programmed artifice, crafted using C’tan knowledge of the physi-
responses. Some of the more delusional or insane Ne- cal, with domesticated psykers’ knowledge of warp-

the Ophilim Kiasoz

cron Lords, driven utterly psychotic by the loss of their craft (and the endless toilof billions upon billions of
physical form, crafted grandiose necrodermis bodies mind-broken slave workers whipped into work by
for themselves. These Necrons would override the nod- careless pariah), a great edifice was constructed.
Known as the Domphir, this device was colossal, easily were possessed and destroyed, paving the path for ever These were not the scant and mysterious Necron Yet, for all their resources and manpower, the Thexian
covering the entire planet’s surface, and tapering to a greater daemons and monsters to be born. Within raiding forces of the forty first millennium. These were trade Empire could only slow the relentless forces of
thousand mile high spire, the apex and focus for the years, the warp consumed the planet, and at last, its the full warhosts of the Necrons. Multiple-mile long the Reaper. Whenever there was a prolonged stalemate
grand machine. It is a supreme irony that the largest core shattered, and it collapsed upon itself. There were columns of silver death marched wordlessly across the between navies, the Scythe of Kaelis Ra would arrive to
warp engine ever constructed, was devised by a C’tan, no survivors. devastated planets, firing their lethal green gauss weap- break the stalemate, the vessel was vast and terrible be-
as it loathed the realm it sought to breach. ons seemingly in unison at pre-determined targets. In yond comprehension. On the planets, even the diverse
Yet, the Reaper had his prize, at last. After a century of several volleys of combined gauss arcs, whole fortress and deadly forces of the Trade Empire couldn’t van-
In M46, the Domphir was engaged. Like a vast and purging and restructuring, the C’tan’s warship was cities were slagged, whole armies reduced to billowing quish the legions of Necrons, which swept all before
blinding torch of psychic energy, it punched through finally purged of any lingering warp-stuff, and then it ash, or smoking skeletons. Wraith swarmed the skies it. On the world of Tatisan, it was said an entire Krieg
the veil of un-reality. The vast beam of conceptual was ready. and streets like silver clouds of incorporeal doom. Serf Battalion marched directly into open combat with
nothingness surged through the sea of souls like a Scarabs, like a moving carpet, destroyed anything the Necron host. Scouring green arcs of malevolent
spear, ensnaring something, hidden deep within a In 536.M47, the Reaper made its presence felt in grand which moved or breathed. Smaller Monoliths followed gauss energy played across the battlefield, destroying
warp fold, before dragging the thing out of the warp style. Spreading rapidly from the far north-eastern these great phalanxes, their weapons just as devastat- them within minutes. Yet, never once did the Kreig
violently. Emerging slowly from the portal of mad- sectors of the galaxy, the Reaper’s war fleet purged sys- ing, and their payloads equally terrifying. Needless falter. They marched fearlessly to their dooms, firing
ness, came the Scythe of Kaelis Ra, the great flagship tems and destroyed entire populations, while enslaving to say, these worlds were rapidly dominated by the their lasguns, as they chanted ancient Krieg war hymns
of the Reaper’s fleet. Yet, the entire Necron force was the rest to be later fed to the monstrous star god. Xenos Necrons. 80% of all life upon these worlds were mas- through the dark respirator masks.
forced to retreat, as the warp spilled outwards like civilisations would rise up to challenge his fleets, only sacred in the first few weeks of occupation. The rest
an avalanche of sense and madness. The C’tan knew to be shattered by the devilishly swift and lethal vessels were enslaved. As the main host phased off the worlds, Several of the less important colonies were evacuated
nothing of how to control the warp, and the reaper fled of the Necrons, whose terrible arcs of eldritch lightning to rejoin the main Necron fleet, many remained upon wholesale. The Thexian Empire needed workers for its
in hatred and loathing, fearing the dreadful danger it destroyed vessels with a mere flicker of their arcane these worlds, forcing the populations to construct tow- monstrous Capital-based society, and it couldn’t allow
posed to its forces and itself. Tovanis was consumed, energies. Xenos homeworlds were simultaneously ering statues in the name of the Reaper, and massive the Necron legions to bleed them dry in this manner.
as the Necron fleet surrounding the planet vanished assaulted. As their fleets died in the void, their capi- shimmering machines, reminiscent of the arcane de- In most cases, the evacuations occurred just before the
in the blink of an eye, dragging their prize with them. tals were suddenly assailed by thousands of towering vices upon Phobos, fed humans into them, thus being Necrons arrived. Yet some cases, like that of Horosa,
Of Tovanis, it was doomed. The Domphir overloaded, monoliths. Some of the great floating edifices were broken down into energy, and pulsed directly into the were too slow. As the starport of the single city upon
spilling warp-stuff across the world, and pulsing vile said to be as tall as mountains, emitting triumphant, Scythe of Kaelis Ra, directly enriching the Reaper with the world became flooded with desperate, fleeing
ethereal energies into the very core of the planet. The sonorous horns, which blared across entire continents, their energies. citizens, the dark, crescent shadows of the Necron
Cowering Tech Priests and slaves were destroyed by as they unleashed millions of immortal Necrons from vessels loomed in the darkening, discoloured skies. A
daemons formed from madness and woe. The psykers their ethereal portals. It was claimed that within three years, six sectors were great wail erupted from the predominantly serf-hu-
cleansed of resistance, and virtually all life exterminat- man populace, as they floundered to get upon the last
ed. Within a decade this area of devastation soon bor- transport, as it idled in the port’s docking bay. People
dered upon the Thexian Trade Empire, which pulled bit and tore and found, as they all desperately surged
thousands of its vessels and millions upon millions of towards their final hope of salvation. With grave regret,
its mercenary troops, slave soldiers, and professional the Actonian pilot engaged the thrust systems, and the
Tallerian armed soldiery, from the Tau front, in an ships slowly rose from the port, the backwash of its
attempt to curb the Reaper’s relentless, systematic engines boiling away hundreds of civilians, too slow or
advance. too weak to fight their way aboard. Yet, on the horizon,
stabbing spears of luminescent energy stabbed from
The Thexian war machine, hardened by long and bitter the sky, signalling the teleportation of four monoliths
border wars, and financed by the double-dealing onto the surface, mere hundreds of metres from the
Thexian Elite, was a formidable force. The Ulthian port. Sure enough, the towering machines hovered
bone-eaters, employed specialist trans-phasing torpe- into view. Their arcing weaponry was drawn along the
does, which used miniture warp teleporters to teleport mass of planet-bound humans, scything them down
within enemy vessels, detonating inside. These were like a reaping machine across a Wheatfield. Within
effective against even the god-like Cairn Class Necron moments, the monoliths would be finished with the
Vessels, blasting them from within. The Ellicin Colos- planet-bound, and would e targeting the single trans-
ine, vast grey juggernauts built by the Gorngolem, also port, which climbed agonisingly slowly into the sky.
held their own against the immortals, using their pow- Just then, springing from its hiding place amidst the
erful anti-matter cannons and scavenged dark lance rubble of the ruined city, emerged the bulky form of
technology to great effect. Vengeance, a Krieg bane blade, representing the last of
the military forces upon Horosa. Its cannons blazed,
as the super heavy drove towards the monoliths. In its main foe, against the Necrons. This was not due to Coven, eager to learn the secrets of entering the Web-
first salvo, a lucky hit struck a monolith in its crys- kindness or camaraderie with the Thexians, however. way, and punishing his ancient nemesis. Not only this, Reports vary on the appearance of the foul force. All
tal nexus, detonating the alien death machine with a Master Ho’Taa of the Iron Lords, secretly hoped the but a mysterious man calling himself simply Ralei, that is known is that, when the Ophilim enters a sys-
throaty roar. Gauss arcs and particle projectors fired Barghesi and Necrons would destroy each other. As it went abroad in the galaxy, asking any settlement he tem, all things die, and the star at its heart withers like
upon the tank, blasting off panels, burning the crew, turned out, the Barghesi were able to deeply challenge came to, where he could find an Inquisitor Czevak. a rotten fruit. Ships which escape, claim it cannot be
and pulverising its whirring innards. Yet, the machine the Necrons on the battlefield, due to their hyper-vi- seen, though others say it can be seen only by the stars
spirit, outraged at the mere existence of the diabolical olent and destructive biologies, yet were unable to Yet, the very worst of the Liar’s machinations occurred in the sky it obscures. Is it machine, or is it living? We
Necrons, continued, pushing the vehicle forwards at overwhelm the immortal forces of the star god. late in the Period. Leading a band of Necrons, through cannot know. How the Deceiver roused and/or tamed
an ever faster pace. Necrons began to emerge from the grim blockage around the Gates of Varl, the De- the thing, we also cannot know. All we can know is
the closest monolith, as the bane blade closed the gap Using these new allies, weapons, and the sheer man- ceiver passed through the incomprehensible portal. that it is free, and it is something…wrong.
betwixt them. The skeletal nightmares were ground power of the combined Thexian/Tau empires, the None can say for sure what it fashioned in that dark
under track, as the vehicle finally slammed into the Necrons were halted, and the Reaper forced to consoli- and dreadful region. Perhaps it crafted it, or maybe I have already said too much I fear, for this log was not
machine, simultaneously firing its demolisher can- date his forces. merely used the power afforded by the inverse sun at intended to look to the future of our universe, but to
non, directly into the alien machine. The two vehicles the centre of the galaxy to awaken it. Whatever it did, it document the horror of these past ten thousand years
exploded spectacularly. With the tank’s sacrifice, the The first C’tan incursion was curbed, but at a terrible had awoken and unleashed the Ophilim Kiasoz. of hell. I have barely touched upon the great Orb of the
transport escaped, and the world it left behind was cost. Mad One, but I fear if I were to continue, I should
utterly slain. I can name this terror easily, but this is because my drive myself mad. Sufficed to say. As dreadful and
Of course, throughout the thousands of years of the order researched the old tales, the legends that were hateful as the Second Age of Strife has been for all of
Similarly hopeless situations were repeated, across Reaper’s preparations for epic warfare, the Lying God legendary amongst even the Eldar. Mercenaries and us, cowering from the monsters at our door, at least
was abroad and active for far longer, and far more bounty hunters were hired to search the haunted it IS living. No matter how wretched life is, it is still
dozens of worlds, hundreds of battlefields.
covertly. corpse-craft worlds, and find the scriptures, the psychi- life. Long may our misery continue, but if it means we
The situation became so desperate that the Thexians cally active manuscripts of the old Eldar… of the First survive the coming shadow, falling upon our galaxy
Across the galaxy, from M44-M49, nearly seventy petty Ones themselves. It spoke of a war. The Yngir, the great once more.
began to make overtures to nearby empires and
Imperiums, independent human secession colonies Khaine Bloody-handed, the Asuryan, the ancient gods,
conglomerates. Some, such as the Nihilist League,
and xenos enclaves, were approached by mysterious the cyclopean hordes. Mirror devils drowning the
openly murdered their representatives to show how
emissaries, from the so-called ‘Rigny conglomerate’ gardens of paradise in silent death. The puppet-mas- [A man enters, carrying a censer. The author waves
little they cared for the duplicitous Thexians. Amaz-
(more vigilant readers can see the obvious implications ters, seeping through the cracks in sanity. These leg-
ingly the Tau -the most powerful local faction in the him out. There is an argument. The censer bearer
of the title, I’m sure…). These smiling human orators, ends were self-contradictory and metaphorical in the
Eastern fringe did agree to send troops and supplies to leaves.
in their simple silver garbs, offered advice and/or mili- extreme. They were as abstract as they were dreadful in
their old foes. This was in exchange for the Thexians Extract ends]
tary and social aid to the governments of these various their implications.
agreeing to join the Tau Empire. Grudgingly, the Thex- empires.
ians accepted (in later years, they broke away from the
One passage informed us of what spread from the
Tau, and the second Thexian/Tau wars began, but that However, their advice was venom disguised as sage Gates. The great net, cast by the hunter Kurnous. A
is beyond the scope of this background section). Tau wisdom. These messengers fed false information to the black net, forged with Vaul’s magics, and Khaine’s
vessels and materiel flooded across the neutral borders gullible leaders of these petty empires. Some were hatred. Subverted, driven into a new form. This black
between the two local Empires. Though distrustful, the guided to attacking Exodite worlds, killing thousands net was known as Kiasoz. Yet, when it was cast upon
two forces worked together well, held together by the of innocent Eldar in the process. Some tricked empires the Yngir known as Avelor, the breaker, the Yngir
mercenary professionalism of the Thexian forces, and into conflict with one another, or turned them against star-hungry wriggled free, and cast the net into the
the technological powerhouse of the Tau empire. the ancient warrior races. Covertly, the messengers wasteland, the realm beyond the realm. The place
sent disguised Necrons deep within enemy territories, where the Ophilim, the godless ones, resided. Such was
Even more fortunately for the allies, the Tau had spreading lies, misinformation and rumour, as well the grim artifice present in the Kiasoz, it ensnared the
discovered a form of advanced D-cannon technology, as snatching those sentient beings considered wor- greatest of the Ophilim, and drove it mad. Even Khaine
upon the dead world of Janis, a few hundred years be- thy of conversion to the next phase of C’tan warrior feared to touch the black net, as the rending horror
fore the invasions of the Reaper. Some said mysterious constructs; the Pariah cyborgs. In some cases, covert thrashed like a mad thing. When the war ended, and
and colourful aliens had left the weapons there, and Necron cells, would clash with other espionage centred
the other realms finally sealed off the outer realm, the
this chronicler could well believe this in light of the organisations. In darkened streets, Alpha Legionnaires,
realm not of the ether and not of the other realms, was
Harlequin’s activities across the galaxy at that time. spies, brigands, assassins, and silver fiends, clashed
sealed too. As was the Ophilim Kiasoz.
silently and brutally.
Even the relatively intact Iron Lords Chapter of Space
Until the Second Age of Strife, countless millions of
Marines, usually so aloof and disdainful of aliens, aid- The Lying God set traps and fabrications across the
years later.
ed the xenos war effort, by directing the Barghesi, their galaxy, seeking to ensnare Ahriman or one of his
 While we talk of the grand dynasties, and marauding whole by treacherous warp currents, did not become
nations which ruled and suffered together during the a petty Imperium in its own right. The sub-Sector
period of anarchy and darkness, we must also remem- Governor, Pilitaes, did not declare himself overlord,
ber that history is not just the deeds of the many we or Imperator, or anything as pretentious and vain as
need concern ourselves in. Each individual experi- the other Petty Emperors. He maintained the title
enced this grand horror in a different manner. Some Governor, and instead set up his own council, known
fled to the the deepest reaches of their worlds. Some as ‘the Interrim body’. He and his government consid-
wallowed in villainy, using the unrelenting misery of ered themselves part of THE Imperium, an indivisible
the period to justify any horrendous actions employed structure.
by the callous, the cruel and the desperate. Some self-
harmed, whipping themselves raw in mute horror. When Yarrick arrived, Pilitaes saw this as validation
Some found solace in debauchery, some in heroic sac- of his theory, that the Imperium had survived, and if
rifice. Some felt some kindling embers of hope, deep he was patient, relief would come. However, the sight
in their hardened hearts. For isn’t the darkness darkest that greeted him was somewhat disappointing. Seven
before the dawn? This next section shall cover five such battered, battle-damaged troop ships, and an ancient
figures of importance, and chart their place within the Grand Cruiser, which listed to one side permanently,
bitter tapestry of this age of doom. its flanks seemingly ravaged by years, nay centuries,
of warfare. The naval staff were embittered and tired.
Yarrick, Hero of Hades Hive, Butcher of Betek Likewise, the Guardsmen who came with Yarrick were
Commissar Yarrick was once the hero of Armageddon. similarly weary.
Beloved by his men, and almost feared by the orks he
made his enemy. Yet, he chose to abandon the world, Nevertheless, Pilitaes invited them to set up a sector
in favour of chasing the great war boss Ghazghkull base within his area of space. Yarrick readily accepted.
Mag Uruk Thraka and his fleet, as it fled the Armagge- His Guardsmen and fawning PDF followers set up a
don system in the latter part of M41. He and a sizeable large base upon the Governor’s capital world, known as
force of Guardsmen, along with regiments of PDF Betek. Here, he was resupplied, and his troops drilled
Steel Legion, desperate to join their hero in battle once and trained, until they had regained some of their for-
more, joined the large Black Templar fleet of Helbrecht, mer elite lethality. Yet, all was not well upon Betek.
as he gave chase to the green fiend.
While Pilitaes and his interim body considered every-
In the madness and confusion of the period of the New thing to be ‘business as usual’ in the Sector, his people
Devourer, worlds were vanquished of life, and chaos did not. Rumours spread of the collapse of the Impe-
became norm. Lost amidst a storm of fleeing pilgrims, rium, of how Betek had not received communication
xenos and refugee fleets, as well as the stifling shadow from the Adeptus Terra in countless centuries, and
in the warp, the fleet lost their quarry. What was worse, how supplies from neighbouring sub-sectors had not
after decades of fruitless, violent searching, the warp arrived in system in living memory. Food and patience
grew restless as never before. The astronomicon was became scarce. The deluded Governor continued to
faltering, and bit by bit, piece by piece and ship by ship, send his annual Tithes dutifully to Terra. When no
their fleet was separated and lost, scattered across the word came back, the governor saw nothing wrong, and

SECTION XXVII:
entire Segmentum Solar and Ultima. Of the Templars, sent next year’s Tithe out just the same, fearing pos-
we have already discussed, yet Yarrick’s fate was to sible retaliation should he not do so. This, combined
shape him as a figure of fear and loathing, rather than with the lack of imports, began to take its toll upon the
adoration. heavily populated worlds of the system. Most notably,

Infamous Persons of the

Betek.
Tossed upon the torrents of madness for three years,
eventually Yarrick and his small collection of vessels Upon the planet, mass movements and demonstrations
were vomited back into real space, into the Dalinus began to spring up, across the entire world. Some were
movements in favour of the planet being run by com-

Second Age of Strife

system. This happened to be the sub-sector capital of
the Mobian sub-sector. The Mobian sub-sector, unlike mittees of civilians. Most simply demanded representa-
other tracts of Imperial space cut off from the wider tion. In their eyes, the Imperium had fallen, and they
 had no obligation to a dead god. The Governor had rumbled forth, pouring death into the packed togeth- word was spreading to every other city across the go insane. His forces destroyed the star port of Betek,
failed them, and these degenerate ‘equality’ bands, er crowds. Screams and startled yells rose up from planet. Native media spread the word. Revolution. The in order to prevent any further ‘cowardly retreat’ as he
began preaching of the prospect of representative the aghast group, the chilling collective scream soon Butcher of Betek must be punished. said.
governance of their planet, in the hope that such a drowned out by the roar of auto cannon fire, and the
government would redistribute resources, and relieve hiss of las cannon and multi-lasers. The Capital city Within scant months, every city across the world was 265.M46. The capital was once more besieged by dissi-
the growing economic misery Pilitaes was inadver- became filled with confused and terrified crowds of
tently inflicting upon his own people. These protests revolting. Though there was no single leadership of the dents. However, this time they were well-trained, well
civilians, who fled through the streets, crushing many
were suppressed violently by the mauls and tear gas of disparate and disorganised revolutionaries, they were armed, and hungry for vengeance. All but three of Yar-
of themselves amidst the chaos. Thousands more were
the grim-visaged Adeptus Arbites Precincts across the mown down by the violence volleys of the tanks and united in one thing: utter contempt for the butcher rick’s battalions were destroyed over that year. The
world cities of Betek. Yet, their actions merely fueled accompanying Armoured fist squadrons, who executed Yarrick, and the Pilitaes, who they considered to be a Arbites were all dead or in hiding. Most of the native
and fanned the outrage and disgust of the protesters. countless protesters with a callous efficiency. Just as the puppet of Yarrick (even though this was not strictly PDF were part of the massive revolt now. Only the pal-
armed forces seemed to have relaxed, that was when true). Arbites precincts were besieged by millions upon ace, besieged on all sides, remained in Yarrick’s hands.
Pilitaes requested Yarrick’s aid in ending the riots and
the rebels chose to strike. Missile launchers and plasma millions of vengeful rioters, and the less numerous, but
disruptions. He claimed the equality bands were
projectors suddenly began to stream from houses, sew- far more deadly, equality bands, who had developed Surrounded by foes, even his fellow allies began to
undermining Imperial ideals. Something had to be
er entrances and various other buildings. Tanks were into a semi-professional para-military force.
done. Thus, Yarrick and his soldiers collaborated with realise Yarrick was a failure. Yarrick, never known for
the few Arbites forces upon the world, spreading the upturned and damaged, soldiers ambushed, even more
civilians caught in the vile cross-fire which now devel- despair, called for a final, glorious charge. Most of his
propaganda message of obedience and submission. Yarrick’s Guardsmen, and delusional former-Armagge-
oped.The Leman Russ squadrons patrolled the wider men refused, but he still managed to persuade his bane
Yarrick orated to the crowds. Was he not the hero of don PDF, moved from site to site, battling and destroy-
Hades Hive? Beloved by all? avenues, leveling any building which seemed to har- blade crew to join him in this final act.
ing whichever foe rose up to engage them. While the
bour fugitives. Hellhounds moved through the smaller
streets, their flaming main armament spearing fire Imperial forces were near-invincible in open battle
However, he was not their hero. Why should they lis- As dusk fell on Yarrick’s final days, a great roar arose
ten to this warmonger, they began to argue, and their directly into enemy held buildings, roasting all those with the rag-tag para-military armies, they could not
from behind the great gates of the palace. Out surged
protests became more blatant and defiant. Hidden within with searing promethium. Windows burst with handle the guerrilla campaign, which was underway
the Fortress of Arrogance. Its weapons were spent, its
amongst the population, a people’s rebellion began to the over pressure, the anguished cries of those within across seven continents, and in conjunction with con-
fuel low. Nevertheless, it charged, its loud hailers blar-
develop. If the Governor could not grant them liber- signalling their demise. stant pitched battles and uprisings. Over that decade,
ing the ‘Emperor’s Glory’ a well-known Imperial bat-
ty, then he was not their Governor, in their view. On Yarrick and his men fought near constantly. The rebels,
the fiftieth Candlemas of the 200s of M46, over seven Yarrick was at the forefront of this massacre. This was a tle-hymn of the 41st millennium. It ploughed through
armed with improvised explosives, captured armour
million men, women and children, emerged onto the war. He knew how to fight wars. As he howled Imperial the masses of enemy soldiers, as an evil amount of ord-
and armaments, and fanatical devotion to their cause,
streets of the main city, within sight of the governor’s rhetoric from his lecturn aboard the fortress of Ar- nance and weapons fire impacted the dying leviathan.
took a heavy toll on their oppressors. In some cases,
palace. A more blatant provocation could not be made. rogance, the titanic tank ground through the streets. Engines ruptured, sponsors toppled off in flames, and
As the colourful banners and chants filled the vast the Betekian PDF battalions found they could no lon-
Smaller buildings, and people too old or crippled to the crew died, one by one. Yet still the vehicle ploughed
courtyards before the palace, a great rumble resound- ger murder their own people, and the record of deser-
evade his vehicle’s monstrous tracks, were driven over forwards, scattering the enemy before it.
ed, drowning out the defiant challenges of the pop- entirely by the bane blade. Its heavy bolters, las-can- tion was unbelievably high.
ulace. The titanic gates to the palace ground open pain- nons and demolisher cannon, pulverised anything
fully, and from this grim portal, rolled the monstrous Soon, the situation was untenable . Pilitaes and his No one knows who killed Yarrick, such was the confu-
within range. Men, women, insurgent rebels, build-
form of the Fortress of Arrogance, flanked by two ‘Interim Body’ decided to flee the capital world, and sion. All the same, a single las bolt struck Yarrick in the
ings, children: all were treated with the same heart-
whole armoured companies. Yarrick, riding atop the throat, blasting his head from his shoulders, causing
less distaste. It was claimed that Yarrick himself took found their capital on another of the worlds within
tank like some heathen king of old, echoed the blaring his stiff corpse to pitch itself from the chassis of his
his storm bolter to many of the fleeing ‘combatants’, the Sub-Sector. Yarrick cursed them, decrying them
roar of the Arbitrators across the city, howling through
screaming hateful litanies as they were burst asunder as cowards and pacifists. Nevertheless, in 264.M46, battle tank, to be torn apart by the baying hordes of
a loud hailer built into his Baneblade: “Disperse of be
destroyed!” by his butcher’s tool. the transport bearing the rulers of the Mobian sub enemies (so romantic revolutionary writers, writing
sector, began to rise from the star port. Disgusted and about the glorious revolution after the event, claim the
Then something terrible happened. A single rioter, Within six hours, three million civilians and rebels, las bolt came from the same anonymous shooter in the
betrayed, the ancient Commissar ordered his Fortress
hidden amongst the bustling mobs of civilians, fired and six thousand soldiers, were dead, with over four
of Arrogance to fire upon the transport. Though the summer of 250.M46, making up for missing the butch-
upon the force. It was an ineffectual shot, the single million more unarmed citizens fleeing the city in disar-
treacherous barrage severely damaged the transport, it er originally. However, there is no evidence to support
las bolt impacting harmlessly into the hull of a Leman ray. Even as the men cheered their ‘victory’, Yarrick was
perturbed. He kew that it was far from over. managed to escape the world. this).
Russ.

Yarrick, his patience and nerve stretched thin by Even as Yarrick and his fellow Commissars held mock Yarrick, who was by now so very old, even his bionics Thus, in infamy and dishonour, Yarrick, hero of Arma-
multiple antagonistic riots, finally snapped. His tanks trials for the captured rebels before executing them, weren’t keeping him flushed with vigour, began to truly ggedon, and Butcher of Betek, met his end.
Honorin Sung, Grand Master of the Order of the over their theological foes), allowed the order ot rap- Honorin’s order refused to fight in inter-Imperial con-
Tempestrian League idly expand and develop. Honorin, though he himself flicts, and instead committed itself with butchering
The Segmentum Tempestus was divided into many dif- was a skilled warrior and orator (due to his role of worlds of heretics and exterminating xenos infesta-
ferent Theocracies between 209-999 of M49 and well battle-missionary of his order), he knew most of his
tions. The Velten beings, pale and frail witch-aliens
into M50. The Ophelian Imperium continued to bitter- brothers and sisters of the faith weren’t so skilled.
Luckily, several prominent Sororitas patronised his living on the borders of the Segmentum, were utterly
ly oppose the Tallarn Imperium, even after the
order, and their battle orders soon began to aid in the killed by the hate-filled League’s crusading elements,
destruction of Ophelia in M50. As well as this conflict,
these two large Theocracies fought multiple individual training and recruitment of his developing force. He all in one week.
wars with numerous other, far smaller Imperiums. eventually allowed the various suits of Frateris Templar
Many were merely one of two seperatist planets band- armour to be examined by serf-Tech Adepts and other With every pasing year, and every victory, the Tempes-
ing together. Yet, several, such as the Balcull Imperium mechanics of the Imperial cults of machine, allowing trian League’s reputation between the warring theo-
and the Matriarchy of Meledore, were powerful and more suits to be built. It took many years, and much
cratic Imperiums of Tempestus grew massively. While
influential petty Imperiums in their own right, and blood and money, but eventually, the ‘Reborn Frat-
rnity’ was forged. Ships gifted or built for the Order, Inter-Imperial war could not be stopped, even by the
engaged in wars with each other, on and off, through-
spread throughout the sub-sector, then sector, then league, the orders were essential. In fact, when Ophelia
out the period. Yet, these Imperiums also had to face
countless Heretical cult uprisings, piracy and repeat- segmentum. was utterly destroyed, and its Imperium looked as if
ed xenos surges at the same time. So concerned with it would be torn apart by war between the two rival
theological and territorial dominance, these Imperi- Using a revolutionary tactic of way station and Eccliesiarchs elected in the aftermath, and the expan-
ums often found themselves ill at ease to cope. ‘leap-frogging’ warp transit (which this chronicler
sionist Tallarns, it was the League (and the powerful
maintains was a tactic stolen from early Tau fleet
tactics, despite the venomous retorts of the many oratory of the now-ancient Sung) who held together
Luckily for them, by chance, a new force was in the
major League Masters I have encountered), the order the broken realm, and served as neutral arbitrator in
process of being created.
managed, over a decade, to establish order houses the many conclaves and councils that conveyed to
Honorim Sung was a Cleric from Damasr, a world on across the Segmentum, with Grand Master Honorin decide upon the true ecclesiarch (which was eventually
the embattled border between Tallarn and Ophelian Sung lossely in charge of all of them, from his Mon- decided to be Eccliesiarch Gregorin III, of Teteheim,
interests. His Monastic order, the Divine Sculptrists, astery upon Damasr. His Order was tasked by him to elected in 005.M50), and prevented the Tallarns from
were on generally good terms with the two Imperiums, defend any Emperor-worshipping faction’s vessels, as
utterly shattering their ancient foe.
and thus were largely left alone. Of course, the rest of they travelled through the void, defending them from
the world was Tallarn dominated, with a large Oph- marauding xenos and any pirates that chose to attack.
Similarly, Honorin, who often sallied forth from his Three days after this election, Honorin Sung himself
elian population. War was commonplace on the world.
keep upon Damasr, called for his brothers and sisters died of an infected battle-wound. His place was taken
While on a justice pilgrimage, It was said a man, ar- to: by Grand Mistress Ducarf, who began a long line of
moured in perfect grey armour, studded with scripture, Grand Masters and Mistresses in the league.
appeared before him, guiding him to a data-vault, deep “Cast aside the chains of segregation and division.
within the eastern hemisphere of his world. There, he Division is weakness, a heresy the Imperator ascendant
In the fiftieth millennium, the order was nearly de-
discovered a vault, filled with information and doc- would never permit. We are children of the master of
man one and all. Let our tremendous wrath and hatred stroyed, by a combination of greedy local petty Impe-
umentation, written in ancient, pre-second strife era
Gothic. As a learned scholar, he soon translated all the turn upon those that truly deserve our murderous wrath. riums seizing their assets, and the growing menace of
documents, and deciphered the meanings of many of Let the ad humanist taint be expunged from our collec- the Star Father’s Angylic hosts, who becalmed massive
the artefacts. He learned of this ancient Order of War- tive realms. Let the heretic and the unclean beast-man areas of the warp. Yet, amazingly, they survive until
riors. Soldiers of the faith and champions of the rule of and children of mutant filth be our foes. Let the anti-hu- this day, though they are much weakened. Many heroic
the Eccliesiarch. They were known as the Frateris Tem- man, the cursed xenos, be our foe. Let hate be directed
and influential Masters of the Order have existed since
plar. He returned to his order, and brought them into outwards. Let the outer-dwellers fear us, the children of
Imperator! Ave Imperator!” Honorin’s passing, many of whom deserve their own
knowledge of his discovery. He formed a following.
legends. However, none were as influential or as well
Sung’s new movement converted almost all his fellow
clerics, and within the year, his beliefs became wide- This ‘Tempestrian League’ as it was now called, was loved as their founder, Honorin Sung the pious, the
spread and popular, across the entire world. Patronage readily joined by elder Battle Sisters and deranged zeal- man who created the first of the Trans-post-Imperial
by local power magnates and religious backing by both ots, who dimly recalled the ancient days, where the So- organisations, Leagues not bound within the social
Ophelian and Tallarn canons (each eager to use the roritas performed similar roles. Not only this, former and/or geographical framework of a single restrictive
movement’s popularity to gain them oral high ground mercenaries and converted pirates, eagerly joined these
petty Imperium.
 Belius, the Barter King and merchants flocked to the world, rather security force was far more secretive. The
+++++ Belius, colloquially known as ‘the Barter King’, is an than using it as a stopping off point. Traders, couriers, hooded brotherhood of Han, were speculated to be
enigmatic figure, famous across much of the Ultima envoys, usurers and ambassadors began to fill the made from the deformed relatives of Belius, who
[Opening Pict feed: Upper Hallway 35B] Segmentum, throughout the centuries of the forty system near-constantly, and Belius became very, very formed a secret police force. They would discreetly
ninth millennium. His world is located on the border wealthly. Numerous banks and semi-corrupt casinos remove any troublesome guests, without incriminating
+++++ between not only the twin juggernauts of the Thexian (many of whom were secretly owned by Belius and his Belius in the slightest.
Trade Empire and the Tau Empire, but also five ruling family, who gained even more profit) sprang up
[Visual: Five heavily armed men (elements of Ober overlapping Petty Imperial borders, not to mention the to deal with monetry and physical capital. Inevitably, Free Geld was barbaric, murderous and chaotic in the
Vik’s Combat group). Running towards pict-imager. World-Weave of the Reek. Yet, rather than a subjugated across the crowded and bustling cities across free extreme. Yet, somehow, it worked.
Weapons discharges into darkened far corridor. realm, his world (known as ‘free geld’ by most scholars geld, criminals and brigands were drawn to these rich
Blue flashes of luminescence return fire. Three fall, of the age) was a haven of trade and enterprise, a sort targets, like lice to a canine. Of course, as the many, many divergent empires of
splattering bio matter across hall. Strobing autogun of ‘neutral ground’ where Empires of differing xenos, the galaxy expanded their ragged borders, there was
fire.] and innumerable free, independent traders, could Fences, pick pockets, theives, con-men, nuttilian bound to be trouble. One would have expected the
trade technologies, secrets, knowledge and produce, soul-snatchers and bounty hunters of various brutish empires to tear free geld to pieces, each side
+++++ such as the vibrant slave trade functioning throughout genders, creeds and races, flocked to the world to fighting over who owned the planet, or destroying any
the Age of Strife, or the corrosive trade in the Narcotic take advantage. Pirates and crime syndicates sought resistance on thep lanet. However, the Barter King
[Audio: “Get the warp in-boys, lads! Gush ‘em!” ‘Psyconot’, which was gradually, somehow migrating shelter from authorities in the free-trading mire of avoided this, in a very simple manner. He joined them
from the Savlar realms, many lightyears from free geld. free geld, seeking to avoid prosecution or execution, all. The Tau entered his system, and demanded he join
(heavy drone of heavy stubber discharge) or simply coming to the world to purchase weaponry them. He joined them.The Thexians sent emissaries
How he survived (and indeed, thrived) in such a time and supplies, in order to continue their destructive to his realm, suggesting an alliance. He accepted (and
“Frag them! Frag them!” of misery and monstrosity, is testament to his ruthless and despicable actions. Prostitutes, actors walked in thus removed the need for the Thexians to impose
intelligence and shrewd cunning. the darkest alleys, actors and their play companies their own ruler upon the system) and joined the trade
“Imperator, eva Tetrinas!” performed in the streets, or in dedicated playing Empire. The Pan-Haritic Imperium entered the system,
No one knows the origins of Belius. The vast being’s houses. Assassins left discreet advertisements in ale- their dread vessels swarming with stolen Necron
(rushing sound. Query: Flamer?) visage is hidden behind many veils, and only his dens and public conveniences, their adverts making arc-weaponry. They threatened invasion. Belius sent
closest guardians have seen his true appearance. Some only one stipulation: ‘no hits upon the Barter King’. envoys, saying the King surrendered. The Imperium
(Unidentified language. Non-human?)] claim he is a rogue Thexian, or possibly an outcast and Gladiatorial pits sprang up, sating the hateful bloodlust accepted, and didn’t interfere with the world (as it
decadent Eldar (a mythic race by this point). Others which all the cowering masses of the galaxy felt during provided a lot of income revenue to them). Each time a
+++++ claim darker origins. Records from M42 suggest the Age of pitiless misery. The bloody combat of these force came, he became a subject to this force. Handily,
there was a gene stealer infestation upon the world, chrono-constructs gave release to the futile, pent up while it made him technically subordinate to these
[Visual: Flashing weapons fire. Lumen globes due for purging. Since records beyond M42 for the rage of the masses, who bayed constantly for blood. empires, it also meant that many of these empires
damaged. Switching to dark-sight…] Imperium are simply non-existant, we cannot be sure granted him treaties, ‘research’ grants, and various
the infestation was destroyed. It is possible that the Though numerous private paramilitary, security other funding. He then used these grants and loans,
[Visual: Humanoid figures. Engaging mercenaries. departing of the Tyranid hordes soon after this point groups and bodyguards flogged their services to clients to pay his tithes to his other Imperial overlords. He
Single intruder cut down by autogun exchange. could have killed off the infestation, we cannot know. wishing to avoid being disembowled by vagabonds played each realm off one another, without them ever
Remaining figures engage. Mercinaries extinguished.] across the world, Belius had two main groups of ‘state’ realising.
Whatever it was, Belius built up an effective system owned forces under his direct control. The first were
[Audio: (unidentifiable screams)] of catering for the struggling Traders and merchants, the Suftem, a group of warrior abhumans, who had a Though it seemed like free geld was invincible, it was
which plied their trade across Governor(?) Belius’ strange desire to perfect their martial abilities using evidently not the system which held it together, but the
[Visual: Humanoids turn device towards pict feed. world. Warp travel could only be undertaken via cybernetics and mechanical engineering upon their influence of the Barter King himself. When he died in
multiple short warp jumps, which made journeys bodies. Their goat-like physical bodies were enhanced his sleep, in 800.M49, his realm collapsed within seven
(Query: Weapon analo- across even sector-sized areas decades-long affairs. with claws, built in weapons and digital lasers, and decades. His tithes became delayed and mismanaged,
Belius provided rest, refuge and re-fuelling for these their flesh interwoven with various metal plates, tri- by blundering underlings, and this angered the
[…………] weary travellers, in exchange for minimal fees, and weave flak fibres, and minute force fields. These beast- empires that ruled the realm. Civil wars between
the chance to cut into these various trades. Uniquely, men had been shunned by most societies, due to their rival successors to the throne of ‘Barter King’ led to
[………………….] Belius allowed not only humans of various political violence and their strong lusts (for both violence, and his private forces becoming rather more violent and
affiliations acess to his world, but also all many of intercourse, incidentally…). On free geld, they found public. In one incident, a merchant was killed in the
[echoing detonation. Muffled by roof] xenos and bizarre creatures, defying exact decriptions. plenty of both. They guarded the main holdings of crossfire, and his White Scars hired goons turned their
All paid the fees, all shared in the trades. Eventually, the barter King, who paid them in slaves and ale, all gleaming bolters and scimitars upon the native forces,
Belius’ world began to be well known as a trading post, of which were very abundant in the cities. The other causing anarchy and confusion, as thousands
of different mercenary groups, bodyguard units, and nothing but wilderness beyond it and between it. In most accounts, the planet crashes, yet somehow This Order, the Order of the Recollectors, brought me
criminal gangs, turned their guns upon their rivals they survive. They are dragged before the silent one. here to collate a summary of the universe from the
and their apparent foes, each believing their clients Yet, even the wilderness space is inhabited, by His mouth like a rotting cavern, Festielle screams in billions of source-materiel they have hoarded in these
and brethren were under threat from a hostile force. countless pirates, mercenaries and obscene monsters. their faces, no noise erupting from his lips. He rips vaults over the millennia of degeneration, to store here
‘The War with no enemies’ was a baffling and senseless The same cannot be said of ghost space. In some place, apart most of the men with his claws, in frustration. as a permanent record of all the gods to see. I have
engagement, which cost over seven million lives in the where the warp was weak, and the death toll from The survivors (those to relate the tales) claim they were done as you asked, but I must break our contract.
two years it lasted. Afterwards, merchants came less invasions, the new devourer and the death of stars was spared for a purpose. Festielle wants to be heard, wants
and less frequently to the world. Profits dropped, and 100%, the destroyed and murdered souls are said to to be known. [Metallic bangs begin to resound behind the author.
tithes were not paid. cling to existence. Massive battering ram/humanoid foes attempting to
Though undoubtedly horrific to hear, these stories are breach the vaults? Author ignores.]
The seventeen empires which apparently ruled the Such a being is Festielle. Knowledge of the Festielle, the nothing compared to simple existence in this accursed
system, came to collect. free geld was destroyed over a broken one, is scant at best. Some call him legend, universe, and so- I built a device. This world was naturally linked to the
period of two centuries, as fleet after fleet of militaries others myth. Yet, the stories are too many and too web. Perhaps this is how the Recollectors first got here?
came, bombarded, and looted the decaying world. similar to discount entirely. On an orphan world, … It doesn’t matter. There was a Gate. I studied it. I took it
Eventually, with no ruling government, and no laws in drifting in the deep dark, where no light falls, resides apart, and rebuilt it. It took me centuries, but I did it.
particular, the now increasely barren and sickly world the Festielle. No- Originally, I tailored the Gate as a getaway system for
was abandoned by its ruling empires, and it fell into myself, but I know now that it is this log, this record,
disarray. By M50, it was still a realm of meetings and Amidst a world of corpses, where the entire world was [author tears auto-quill link from forehead. Begins which needs to survive this. I can’t let my legacy be
trading. However, it is almost exclusively criminal in dead and rotten to ash, the Festielle roams. Some say scribbling across data-slate, for direct log interface. destroyed. I have already lived too long. Done too
nature, with grimy thugs and robbers roaming the he is a corrupted Night Lord, driven into insanity and Interfacing…] much evil.
streets murdering and stealing, while large bands of bitterness by despairing lunacy. Others claim the fiend
pirates and reavers met to trade stolen goods, and plan is a fury, tossed from the realm of the warp during [sounds of gunfire]
further atrocities in other sectors, or simply to get the conflagration with the Star Father, to be trapped As I write this, I am disgusted. I cannot be
drunk and violent. within the material realm, taking the body of a fallen dispassionate any longer! I sit in the darkness of these I suppose then this should be my last declaration…
man, filling him with bitterness and rendering the man Vaults, cowering from the Reavers above, who even First, to organise.
In 103.M50, by Ethereal degree, the 400th phase incorporeal. The stories are countless, and futile. He now slaughter our defenders to a man above us, and I
Expansion fleet of Commander Blueheart, cracked the simply is. talk about legends and ghost stories, as if they matter!
planet by directing seven hundred asteroids into the +++++
planet, until it broke up, killing any rogues and crooks It is said the realm is utterly silent. Unnaturally so, as if I contemplated destroying this log, just to stop them [User #17382: Request= File data summary.]
stupid enough to still be on the planet when they did the planet is cursed with silence. Creeping things, with from corrupting it or defiling it. Then I realised. This
so. This was to ‘deter’ piratical assemblies, and hence their orifices sewn shut, and their flesh wasted and log is more important than this whole facility. This log [Process?]
keep Tau shipping safe from reavers. thinned until their dry bones can be seen, crawl and is evidence. It is proof. Thoughout the millennia of my
scrape silently. Furies flutter from crumbling towers,
existence, not once have I found another history of this Yes.
So endeth the realm of the Barter King. Yet, while snarling soundlessly in futile dislocation.
Age. Nothing so complete.
he lived, it was possibly the closest to a functioning [Files located: 1003 Sections. Begin packaging
society capable during such a turbulent period of The rogue planet appears in the void, when vessels
[Pict display shakes, as detonations from above sequence?]
genocide, extortion and the death of a God. are forced to drop out of the warp, short of their
become audible above a rumble. Voices beyond room
destinations. As they ready themselves for another
begin to scream. Gunfire beyond chamber door.] No.
Festiellle, the Broken jump, the dark planetoid appears, a black shape against
After so much devastation and death across so many a black void. The vessels inexplicably break down,
I would not be so arrogant as to say this history [Please state desired functions.]
millennia, our universe is a realm made hollow and their engines bafflingly non-functional, despite the
is anywhere near a complete log of this period of
heartless by necessity and misery. Great tracts of best efforts of captured tech priests or serf-Demiurg
abomination. I cannot depict everything, for I am only Use the initial twenty-seven as the hash index
space, thousands of lightyears across, lay barren engineers aboard. They simply stop. Then the silence
human… for the package salt. Use the rest for interspersed
and destroyed.bWilderness space makes up the vast comes. The whole vessel becomes silent. Panic ensues,
obfuscation code using quantum-algorithim delta5.
majority of the realms of the galaxy, the few areas of as men desperately scream to be heard, clawing at their
heads and ears furiously. Before long, the beleagured [bitter laugh] Collate, then package.
lucrative or habitable territory fought over, like scraps
of fresh meat clinging to the bones of a corpse, being crews either enter the orbit of the void world, or
are ensnared (the accounts differ). Desperate for a But I am the only one left. The only one who has a … [Collation complete. Awaiting instruction beta/six.]
pecked at by ravenous vultures. Petty Imperiums, alien
solution, they send shuttles to the surface. No one continuity of vision. I was there before, during and
empires and monolithic societies of abominations, all
cluster around these decadent and murderous regions returns. Soon, the vessels begin to orbit closer and after. The human race needs to know what it once
of ironically named ‘paradise space’. For there is closer. was… and what it can be again.
I am an evil man. Perhaps never intended. No, never [Figure 1 taps controls at side of log device. Figure
intended. This changes nothing though. My actions [Author spits at silhouetted figure. Gunshots. Viscera 2 remains motionless, transfixed by device. Spectro-
may very well have doomed us all. obscures pict lens] matching indicates: humans.]

Armageddon, the planet of battles. I know what [5 sec] [Human 1 continues adjustments.]
happened there, and I know who leads the Imperium
growing there. If you are indeed reading this ‘hermit’, [4 sec] Human 2: Are you supposed to do that? It’s tech-
I know your name, and I have one thing to say to no-magic. We should burn it.
you: [Figure advances. Author falls. Figure strikes
dataslates from desk. Spectromatching initated via Human 1: No! He said we weren’t to burn tech-
Save us. Please save us Primarch. Save us Vulkan. proximity trigger.] no-horrors anymore. We bring it to him when we
find them. He’ll know what to do.
/Encrypted Section/ [3 sec]
[Further adjustments. Stasis field deactivated. Human
So, I commend my soul to… (laughs softly) I almost [2 sec] 2 recoils from deactivation sequence.]
said God-Emperor then! He’s not worship of that
title. Not now. [Figure focuses upon log device, lunges for log device. Human 2: Devil!
Spectromatch found. Figure=Subject #2352. Code-
I commend my soul to the Imperium. May it rise name designation: Bile.] Human 1: Nah, nothing heathen ‘bout it. Go! Go get
again. the Hermit! Go, go tell him, or one of the Angel-fire
[1 sec] warriors. Go!
Forgive me.
[Stasis engaged.] [Human 2 departs. Human 1 smiles at device.]
Regards,
Colours, swirling and blistering and monstrous. The [log Ends]
---Lord Inquisitor Kryptmann cogitator brain cannot identify the realm it slides,
like a bullet through the concept of envy. Oily shapes,
milky white eyes in the side of twisting, snarling figures.
[Author concludes log.] Vague structure, shifting along smooth walls.

[Log locked and secured. Stasis field engaging in 10 More colours splash into view. Waves at a beach.
sec]
Cross-referencing fails, as the images before the cogi-
[10 sec] tator unit shift constantly. The temperature fluctuated
and flexed, forming ribbons around the capsule, as it
[Humanoid figure bursts into room. Author turns to flew through the frictionless realm. Hot, cold, hot, all
them, obscures image of figure] formed spider-like structures on its flank, before they
dissolved in logic.
[9 sec]
Eventually, perhaps before it set off, the capsule finally
Author: Too late. Your realm will fall! stopped, with a hiss and a gargle.

[8 sec] ###

Humanoid: The Templates. Where are they?

[Opening pict feed]
[7 sec]
[Two figures, located in room. Room analogus to bun-
[6 sec] ker system.]