Lore To Sleep To ▶ Warhammer 40k: The Dark Imperium

the Imperium Untold Millennia have passed since Humanity took their first tentative steps into the Dark Void of space Stellar empires have risen in glory and fallen in ruin but always mankind has endured now it faces its most desperate War for survival against an endless onslaught of Horrors bent upon the absolute destruction of the human race mankind is beset shadow of damnation spreads across the Stars the waning years of the 41st millennium are an age of constant War in which history reason and hope are ground to dust beneath the inexorable way of the passing years Enlightenment is replaced by superstition understanding by rhetoric wrote an uncomprehending prayer All That Remains is war for all of this the Imperium is the single largest and most powerful Empire in the entirety of human history a million worlds are said to labor beneath the imperium's yoke and at their heart lies holy Terror and the Divine God Emperor entered forever within his Golden Throne this vast domain is envisioned by its rulers as a solid unified whole its star systems divided into segmentums and sectors populous United by bonds of species and by the overarching Imperial faith the high Lords Of Terror the ecclesiarchy and the adeptus administratum issue edicts a rule in the emperor's name countless Mighty armies and potent battle fleets answer their call so is the Dominion of humanity wrought upon the heavens themselves so works the emperor's Divine will the reality is rather different the Imperium is in constant flux worlds Vanishing amidst howling warp stores or annihilated by invading Terrors even as new territories are claimed by Rogue Traders and explorator fleets Imperial Crusades surge across the Stars driving back their enemies or Vanishing in the bloody Maelstrom of War ium is best pictured as many thousands of tiny candles scattered far and wide through a darkened hungry void some burn bright or burst into vibrant life even as others flicker wave wave and or snuff down each Imperial world is the fiefdom of its planetary governor permitted to rule however they see fit so long as their tithes continue to be delivered on time many are deaf spots tyrants or inbred incompetence even the worthy rulers find themselves separated from the next human world by distances measured in light years forever be set by Invaders from within and without in such conditions even the most Equitable of holders needs to become an oppressor they hope to keep their people alive Interstellar travel and system to system communication in the Imperium are entirely dependent upon the strange dimension of Boundless Energy now as the war yet though mankind has exploited the energies of the warm to spread across the Stars it is from this hellish realm that the greatest threats to the Imperium have emerged malevolent entities flow from within its dark currents to drive loyal souls to heresy and Madness War to manifest as monstrous beasts that ravage the worlds of real space everywhere the warp touches insanity and boundless mutation follow and the Twisted worshipers of the dark gods of chaos are rarely far behind or are these the only threats faced by mankind countless alien species team through the darkness between the Stars a ravaged Humanity's far-flung domains even as they feed their rapacious appetites when the boundaries of their own xenos Empires still the Warriors of the Imperium continue to fight on beyond all rational Hope of Victory theirs is not a war for Honor Freedom or the promise of a better tomorrow it is a battle for survival a tooth and nail fight to see the next day Dawn defiant scream to the hungry void the human ever give in there is no room for Hope in this nightmarish future no time for Compassion or Mercy there is only War the Imperium Sanctus though certain that the opening of The Great Rift was the work of foul Heretics the truth of how or why this catastrophic chain of warp storms erupted across the Galaxy it is clear only that the Imperium is split apart born in two by a roiling belt of malevolent empiric energy that has left the emperor's realm divided as never before vast Galactic region known as the Imperium Sanctus is the half of Humanity's realm that fared better in the wake of the great Rifts opening in this time of nightmares better is a comparative term consisting of these segmentum specificus and pestis and solar and both parts of obscurus and Ultima the Imperium Sanctus has holy Terror at its heart from here flows the psychic light of the astronomica a magnificent golden Beacon that shines through the madness of warp space it is a guide for spaceships navigating that perilous Realm the astronomic and light is generated upon Terra by a vast choir of psychers then focused and beaned forth by the emperor himself hundreds of psychers die in agony each day the effort burns out their minds such monstrous attrition is seen as a small price to pay to provide a guide by which Humanity can navigate the Galaxy it is thanks to the light of the astronomic and that despite the opening of The Great Rift having whipped warp space into a hellish frenzy and left countless Imperial worlds was sent the Imperium Sanctus continues to function throughout this immense region of the Galaxy Imperial worlds of every sort raise their tithes of military Manpower and vital resources sending them for them for bolster the armies of the astrum militarum and feed the never-ending hunger of Humanity's Stellar Empire Space Marine strike forces surged from one war zone to the next rattling the deadliest threats to the emperor's Realm while vast Imperial Navy battle fleets engage in blistering void Wars against Invasion swarms of every sort Crusades of battle sisters bear the words of the ecclesiarchy into the Fiery Heart of battle urging Heretics against the Imperial Faith wherever they are found less imperial agents work the emperor's will overtly or secretly throughout the Imperium Sanctus while upon Mars and her countless subsidiary Forge Worlds the tech Priests of the adeptus mechanicus ward the Arcane secrets of the omniscion they use this dimly understood lore to Fashion the Technologies and weapons Humanity's armies require to battle their foes this is not to say that the Imperium Sanctus is a well-oiled machine only astropathic communication can Bridge the vast distance between passing from one straining warp sensitive mind to another through the treacherous dimension of the immaterium is heavy with symbolism vagary and inaccuracy worse still is the very monolithic bureaucracy by which the Imperial impure Sanctus is governed mindless and uncaring racially slow machineries of administration grind all into dust Millennia of historical learning or lost amidsty catacombs sealed away behind barriers of religious censor response times to crisis can often be measured in years decades even centuries to this vast bureaucratic machine the of entire worlds barely register while individual lives mean less than nothing the living beings of the Imperium are but Grist is ever turning male a resource no different to the Promethean that fuels its engine the iron and adamantine that armors its Warriors and War engines and the protein gruel that feeds its armies in the field of the men and women who populate the sprawling Empire are live their lives of toil and fear and eventually die from hardship malnutrition exhaustion or some barely remarked upon industrial accidents without ever having seen an alien a heretic or even a warrior of Humanity's armies crushed down by the oppressive dictorial rule Imperial wall and comforted in whatever desperate fashion like the Imperial faith every one of them have served their part in Mankind's Galactic War just as does a bullet fired from a gun or blade driven into an enemy's guts truly only those who take to the Stars to war or conquer in the emperor's name stand any chance of seeing more of existence than this and even then much of what witness is invariably horrific for all its nihilistic misery and soulless oppression the Imperium Sanctus continues to grind onwards its sheer weight and momentum hearing it forwards through tragedies unnumbered and hardships Untold is this Humanities every effort turned wholesale to sustaining Total War all the while praying to the emperor that one day this nightmare May finally end the Imperial nihilus vast tracks of Imperial space lie beyond the Royal and warp storms that make up the Great Rift cut off from all but most of the determined Aid blind to the astronomican's light and be set upon all sides by Legions of nightmarish foes of the Imperium nihilists must look to their own Survival by whatever horrific means necessary a region of space known as the Imperium nihilus is cut off from Tara's light by the warp storms of the Great Rift not only is the light of the astronomic unobscured by these raging tempests there are also only two comparatively stable channels through which Imperial fleets are able to cross the Stormfront even these shuttering gauntlets are haunted by empiric phantasms and radical wolf packs but there are at least safer than the narrow passages that open sporadically between the storm belts only to be swept shut the monsters Jaws upon those Brave or desperate enough to DARE The Crossing the severed from the rest of the emperor's realm each world in the Imperium nihilus must stand alone amidst the darkness all during the first nightmarest days of the noctus Eterna when shock waves of psychic upheaval lashed the galaxy in the wake of the rift's opening planets and their populations were annihilated or Twisted beyond recognition as warp storms engulfed them warts of demons spilled from rents in the Fabrics of reality The Butcher and torment all of them the radical Cults arose prophesying the end of all things and whipping formerly loyal citizens into a murderous Frenzy rampant mutation ran Rife Abominations were spawned from the darkest nightmares of men's Minds and entire populations turned on one another self-destructive storms of violence and cannibalism other Imperial worlds held out Fortress has rallied their garrisons ready their weapons and drove back attackers from within and without Party agri-worlders formed defense militias Vanishing into the wilds and fighting Guerrilla Wars against Alien Invaders industrial worlds drafted every man woman and child to churn out endless streams of material Burling wave upon wave scripted soldiery into the teeth of Terrors from beyond the stars even still for many worlds of death might have been the Kinder fate the immaterium boils and churns rendering warp travel catastrophic perilous forced to wrestle with the spiteful empiric Tides wildly erratic destination flux and dramatic temporal distortion Imperial ships can risk only the shortest warp jumps meaning that not only is the travel through the Imperium nihilus terrifyingly dangerous but it must also proceed at a virtual crawl interplanetary communication too has been almost entirely stifled forcing a message across the Imperium nihilus requires Herculean and often fatal effort even those missives that do make it to their intended recipients arrive in the form of recurrent nightmares many worlds are wholly isolated more than one population believing themselves the only surviving Bastion of human civilization in the galaxy many planetary Governors military commanders and religious leaders been forced to make terrible choices and commit monstrous deeds in order to keep the light of civilization burden upon the worlds they rule plagues of mutation Madness and Supernatural disease Blossom while landscape warps and change beneath baleful Skies malefic entities manifest seemingly at will to Prey Upon the unwary while simple despair stalks every human soul and while the Great Rift playsens itself across the firmament corrupting all that its noxious light touches though the human territories within the Imperium nihilus are crippled the same is not true their enemies some xenos racists possess alternate methods be they technological biological or seemingly sorceress by which they can Traverse the Stars while bypassing the warp altogether others Rebel in the madness that has been Unleashed joyriding the currents of empiric Madness wherever fate Wills falling and Howling Tides upon whatever worlds lie in their path that which blights Imperial worlds fleets and armies serve only to Aid the worshipers of the dark gods even as it churns in Madness warp sweeps these Heretics and traitors along favorable tides more often than not bearing them to their destination swiftly not safely surges of immaterial energies allow Renegade psychers to enact unspeakable rituals that drag entire worlds into damnation or translocate them into the hellish heart of the warp ancient and terrible beings not seen abroad in Millennia for raw energies of unbridled chaos Gathering these strength to force their way through the veil and fall upon Humanity with howls of Glee everywhere hope fails still the loyalist worlds of the Imperium nihilists fight on Shoring up their faltering hope with unbridled hate where every system swallowed by the darkness Crusade blazes a trail across the Stars relieve the desperate defense of another Space Marine chapter planets acquisitorial fortresses and adepta sororitas perceptor is shine as bright beacons of defy and submits the Shadows night worlds light their watch fires and weather the storm just as they did during the dread Millennia of old night meanwhile daring Rogue Traders dogged adeptus mechanicus exploratory fleets and courageous Imperial Navy flotillas Brave the tumult of immaterium to bring hope to Lost worlds or claim new colonies for mankind perhaps the end of the Galaxy draws an eye perhaps the darkness of the Imperium nihilus will spread like a funeral shroud over all Humanity's endeavors however while Faith continues to burn strong The Defenders of the Imperium will not give in the Emperor of mankind to the vast majority of humanity the emperor is a God he is the divine presence who sits at The Golden Throne of Terror he is guider ruler the higher power to which they offer their prayers for Aid and deliverance he is depicted and worshiped in Myriad forms by Souls Beyond Counting most would be driven mad with despair if they knew that knew that ten thousand years have passed since the emperor arose on holy Terror it was he that United the warring remnants of humanity and led them to Proclaim their lost Stellar Empire records of that glorious age are gone round to dust by the weight of passing eons or loss amidst deeply buried in room sealed vaults that none now can open what remains is allegory and religious scripture that tells of a great crusade to drive back the darkness of old night and replace it with the golden light of the Imperium the emperor's Gene Sons the demigods known as primarks let his armies of reconquest before them foe could stand eternal glory beckoned then came heresy then came the arch traitor Horus the Emperors Fallen son Boris made War upon his father's Realm leading fully half his mighty Brothers into damnation alongside him and in doing so served the will of the dark and terrible chaos gods pales tell of a devastating war that swept the Stars world after World burnt is the Imperium tour at itself in Madden Fury and the angels of the emperor battled the Demons of chaos for possession of Humanity's soul glass the orchestrator fell by the emperor's hand but not before he had crushed and rent his sire's body with his Wicked talents Legend tells that the emperor ascended to his Golden Throne that day his physical form was broken sustained only by the devices Arcane machineries yet his soul and his Almighty psychic mind remained as powerful as ever so began the emperor's endless vigil over the human race though he could no longer walk abroad with his Blazing Sword and Lead his armies to battle still the emperor shepherded and protected his people enshrined in countless ecclesiarical sermons illuminated texts magnificent frescoes and immense stained armor glass windows across the Galaxy that teaching remains Central to the Imperial faith the emperor Shields Mankind from harm battling the Demons of the warp in the spaces Beyond reality so long as the servants remain faithful to him the emperor protects in truth the emperor is a carrion Lord his body long withered and decayed the Arcane machineries of The Golden Throne in case his physical remains entire and preserve them using stasis fields Psy Fusion reactors but of the Godlike being he once was only his Supreme will remains the emperor cannot communicate with those who serve him cannot issue commands or make his desires known his rule is far more metaphysical in nature for it is by his will that the dark Terrors of chaos are prevented from overrunning Humanity wholesale even as his mummified corpse arrives in Eternal Purgatory upon the Golden Throne so his potent Spirit still beststrides the warp and does battle with the endless Tides some malefic beings that would otherwise burst forth to tear his people apart has given all he has so the ethereum might endure though it has diverged greatly from the realm of strength and civilization that he envisioned endure it does the emperor's throne room is arguably the most heavily protected location Imperium in sconce at the very heart of the Imperial Palace on Terra it is watched over by the golden armored Giants the adeptus custodes Magnificent Warriors whose bodies resonate with the incredible energies of genetic Alchemy and whose entire existence is devoted to protecting the emperor's physical personage and enacting his Divine will Palace itself is an immense Fortress it's bastions built Atop The Throne world's greatest mountain range it's but dressed fortifications and enormous gun emplacements fit to see off armadas that could just spoil entire star systems the void around Terror throngs with fleets vast orbital defense platforms and void-borne minefields yeah for all of this the emperor is still imperiled from the stars come Invasion fleets Beyond numbers Heretics aliens and foul demons all hurling themselves against the defenses of the Soul system in the hopes of breaking through to tear itself worse still though the finest Magi of the machine God throng Around The Golden Throne in never-ending communication much of their ancient lore has been lost there are none left in the Imperium capable of maintaining the throne's Arcane systems and now Whispers hint Darkly that they may be failing since his interment the emperor has had to consume The Souls of hundreds of psychers a day to sustain his existence but it is said that his appetite for life force is becoming insatiable does this mean his own is fading at last if so humanity is surely doomed for if the emperor dies and his subjects will soon follow him into the abyss rule of the Imperium with the emperor an inscrutable deific presence the rule of his immense realm falls to the high Lords of Terror known also as the senatorium imperialis this conclave of supreme autocrats issues edicts and the emperor's name striving to maintain control of an Ever more dystopian Imperium with its all-consuming Labyrinthian bureaucracy practically complex Wars hunts the Imperium is so vast so thinly spread across nigh unimaginable Cosmic distances that by its very nature it defies centralized rule it can take months sometimes years for a report a distress call or a cry for help carry across the interstellar Gulfs to Terra often the deployment of a response takes even longer thanks in no small part to be fickle and an Arctic nature of warp travel in practice great swaths of the Imperium especially the more remote or hard to reach systems must look to their own Governors and soldiery for protection for those who dwell upon such isolated worlds feel as though the wider Imperium is distant and holds little claim to their planet however just because the emperor's realm is so vast as to be all but ungovernable this does not mean that it's cyclopian bureaucratic machineries do not aggressively continue to try it is a foolish governor who considers themselves beyond the emperor's gaze should a world dare diverge from the rigid status quo it will be brutally repressed punished and beaten back into line such measures are vital to the survival of the Imperium for the emperor's realm is beset on all sides examples must be made if every world is to toil as it must for the galactic war effort and be kept free of the slightest chance of insurrection heresy or worse High Lords themselves always number 12. nine titles upon their Council are considered virtually sacrosanct positions such as the master of the administratum the pattern oval Envoy of the Nevis nobelite and the fabricator general of the adeptus mechanicus being always preeminent other positions varying drawn from amongst the rarefied circles tears great and good it is their duty to attempt to interpret the emperor's will and hope that his potent mind guides the choices they make choices that routinely decide the fate of billions beneath the Aegis of the high Lords lies the adeptus Para the Colossal bureaucratic engine of Imperial governance that is itself broken down into Myriad organizations the largest of these is the adeptus administratum which is comprised of many thousands of subdivisions through its vast military Wing the department follows the duty of marshalling supply and deploying the immense might of the War Machine it is the task of the whiter administrative meanwhile to organize administer Hive and archive the Imperium a task so sisyphean that their administrative backlog is centuries in arrears the cogs of the administratum grind ever onwards however burning through thousands of exhaustion or insane acolytes every day it is enough that the task is performed and understanding is neither required nor welcome there are many other organs of the adeptus Terra Davis nobelief and its illustrious houses of sanctioned mutant Navigators the adeptus Astra telepathica whose black ships were all the Imperial in search of potential psychers and whose Scholastica psychona assesses and trains them or else condemns them to be fed to the emperor's Golden Throne depthus astronomica who trains the psychers that will take their places generating the astronomicon to guide the Imperial ships in the war the adeptus arbitis whose judges and arboreters enforce the word of Imperial law across the emperor's Realm the official assassinorum which takes the most truly Exceptional from amongst the human heart and transforms them into monstrous and highly specialized killing machine the list goes on and on many autonomous and similar autonomous bodies help to rule the Imperium through dogma and Military might the adaptist minostorm adeptus mechanicus adaptusastardis astrom militarum Quest or imperialis and others provide the strength of arms to enforce the high Lord's will Nevis imperialis sends fleets of Warships out into the void following the trails blazed by the rapacious Rogue traders of the adeptus Astra cartographica all the Agents of the Inquisition move through the shadows and fight hidden Wars The Emperor's name efforts of these and other Mighty bodies only a small percentage of distress calls can be answered and only a fraction of threats met with appropriate Force it is the imperium's own weight in ponderous momentum that carries it ever forwards through Millennia of disaster and cruelty more than the actions of any one group angels Joel's death no greater symbol of Imperial Authority and Military might exists in the adeptus to startius known too much of the Imperium as the Space Marines or simply the angels of death these post-human Warriors strike with speed skill and overwhelming Force against the deadliest threats to the Realm it is said that there are one thousand chapters of Space Marines and that each of those chapters consists of one thousand loyal battle brothers who stand ready to do the emperor's bidding in a realm is vast and disjointed as the Imperial it is impossible to make such statements with even the faintest hope of Surety if this claim were true however it would mean that one Space Marine existed for every populated planet in the emperor's Realm it speaks volumes of the abilities of these superlative Warriors that the wider Imperium believes this number sufficient the Space Marines act as sword and shield both they strike from the Heavens to shatter the armies and vastness of their foes as often as they defend the worlds of the Imperium with unshakable determination though their numbers are few each Space Marine is a supremely skilled combatant body is enhanced through genetic Alchemy and whose mind and soul are armored against fear doubt and despair they are girded with the finest War gear the Imperium can provide and make more with a speed and ferocity few can match to become a Space Marine is to become a living weapon these Warriors sacrifice much of their Humanity in the name of protecting their species behind whatever existence they might otherwise have known favor of endless war in the emperor's name in exchange however they become more than they could have ever been and unless death and battle takes them first they may live to fight for centuries in Mankind's service Space Marines are organized into chapters which is self-contained contained largely self-sufficient Army its own monastic culture heraldry traditions and favorite tactics nearly every chapter rules over its own personal planet from a fortified Fortress Monastery of vast size those that do not instead maintain crusading fleets that ply the darkness of the void and Hunt always for the next threat to humanity almost all Space Marine chapters are led by a chapter master a storied Exemplar of both Marshall light and strategic brilliance who wields greater power and autonomy even than a planetary governor there is great variation in culture philosophy and even physical characteristics between Space Marine chapters yet still common threads run through them these can be traced back to the primarks Mighty demigod sons of the emperor himself it was from samples of their genetic material that the original Space Marine Legions were created for the great Crusade and in accordance with the doctrines of a sacred Tome known codex astardius it was those Legions that were broken down into Myriad chapters during the historical second founding many many more chapters have been created since in successive foundings and all have been created using Reserve stocks of the substance known as Gene seed which stems from the primarks of old the most recent of these musters was known as the Ultima founding and it saw a new breed of Space Marine joined the fight for the emperor's Realm as primaris Space Marines these Mighty Warriors were fashioned in vast numbers over ten thousand years by Arch magos call most skilled and obsessive all the adeptus mechanicus Magi Paul based his works on information from an ancient device known as the sang Primus portal given to him by rebute Gilman the Primark of the noble ultramarines chapter it was whispered that the boredom contained secrets of the emperor's own Gene craft and combined with the encyclopedia technological lore of call self these secrets have allowed him to Fashion still mightier adeptus astarties to continue the fight for Humanity's survival their arrival is timely indeed for never has Mankind's realm been beset to this decree it remains to be seen however whether even such powerful warriors as these can tip scales Warriors of the faith the adepta sororitas or sisters of battle as they are widely known throughout the Imperium are the militant arm of the ecclesiarchy to them Falls the duty of defending the Imperial Faith across all the emperor's Realms urging Heretics with bolt blade and Flame and launching star-spanning Crusades to drive back the darkness that ever threatens to engulf Humanity countless preachers confessors priests and missionaries set out each year from the Imperials Cardinal worlds to spread the word of the Imperial faith their duty is to convert the Heathen Savages of Fringe worlds supporting their deviant belief systems and bringing them into the light of the emperor by whatever means necessary a march with Imperial armies their booming rhetoric stoking the fires of faith in all loyal Servants of the Emperor who can hear them they move amongst the demon population serve Imperial worlds join Interstellar Expeditions into the darkest reaches of the point and ensure that more souls every day offer their heartfelt prayers to the god emperor of mankind by comparison the duty of the adepta sororitos is singular they look to the sanctity of the Imperial field striking swiftly and merciless alith who eradicate any threat to their creator as the purveyors of the single state mandated Imperial faith it is unsurprising that the adeptus been a storm commonly called the ecclesiarchy possesses Wealth Beyond the wildest imaginings of the most Covetous Miser when it comes to their Armed Forces however the ministorm are anything but frugal armored battle chapels and vast trans-atmospheric Invasion cathedrums bear the battle sisters to war they March out clad in power armor that bears many similarities to that the adeptus the startings and wielding an array of equally destructive firearms and melee weaponry armored fighting Vehicles Baroque combat Walkers and devastating mobile artillery support them on the field of War in all aspects of battle from their rigorous training and preeminent spiritual Purity to their potent material the battle sisters exemplify the strength of the Imperial faith and the fury of the god emperor made manifest though in theory the adepta sororitos is the weapon of the ecclesiarchy in truth the militant orders take their direction from the most senior of their number the abyss sanctorum they are ruled from the convent prioris of Tara and the convent sanctorum on Ophelia 7. with each adepta sororitos order operating from its own armored sanctuaries and retaining responsibility for its own Parish the majority of which span entire sectors of the Imperium the Inquisition few Imperial organizations are as shadowy in nature or reaching in their power as the ordos of the Inquisition an Inquisitor as the authority to requisition whatever military or covert assets they require to complete their mission employ private armies at will and even unleash the ultimate section of exterminatus upon worlds considered loss to damnation the duty of the inquisitors is no less than to ensure through whatever means necessary the ultimate survival of the Imperial itself with such a weight upon their shoulders and such power at their command it is unsurprising that these singular individuals are Machiavellian utterly merciless many inquisitors think nothing of Mind wiping or executing entire regiments garrisons or even planetary populations empathy necessary they act with the implicit authority of The Emperor's own hand to deny them is death be genetically encoded rosette that each Inquisitor carries emits Vermilion level clearance codes that leave no door locked against them and no asset beyond their reach those who know that the Inquisition exists at all hail but the very Whisper of its name and with good cause the Inquisition is not a single organization but rather is broken down into a vast number of bodies known as ordos each Ordo has its own focus and area of responsibility some are very broad such as the witch-hunting ordos erraticus or the expert alien Slayers of the ordo xenos others are smaller or more specialized Ordo sepulturum for instance was founded to understand and combat the supernatural diseases spread by the worshipers of the plague God nurgle the Ordo Kronos exists to Monitor and swiftly neutralize contradictory time streams that are caused by the vagaries of warp travel the Ordo barbaris overseas pre-industrial human worlds and ensures that they do not fall into deviant worship zacarius monitors the deeds and operatives of the officio assessor Norm there is even an ordo necros whose purpose is shrouded in mystery and in ordo vigilis that was founded solely to keep watch on the ordo necros Ordo varies enormously in size though in truth many inquisitorial operatives so secretive in their ways that even the ordos themselves can give no accurate accounting how many agents make up their ranks though groups of inquisitors occasionally form like-minded conclaves a more usually work alone often on extended undercover missions or that one Inquisitor has been declared long dead only to reappear decades even centuries later with their mission finally complete by their very nature inquisitors are strong-willed isolationist and controlling individuals who rarely work well with peers however many do employ bands of hand-picked operatives whose particular skills specialisms or knowledge bases are deemed useful these henchmen typically become fiercely loyal to their Inquisitor vary enormously in nature Law Enforcement Officers Warrior bodyguards adepts and savants of All Sorts are common amongst inquisitorial War bands stranger beings may also be seen such as xenos Mercenaries sanctioned psychers cult assassins and countless other unusual and deadly operatives such operatives work from the Shadows on their inquisitor's behalf until he or she deems it time to unleash overt military force even within each order there are vastly deferring schools of thought so much so that it is not uncommon for different ordos or even individual inquisitors to gauge in silent Wars with one another through the shadows of Imperial worlds the most common division lies between those inquisitors described as Puritan cleave to the absolute letter of the ordos laws and operate within fiercely conservative parameters and the radicals who view the tools Technologies and lore of the Imperial Imperium as tools to be used for Humanity's gain inquisitors reach such positions by degrees and may move from one school of thought to another during their years of toiling against the darkest horrors of the Galaxy one thing is always true the longer and Inquisitor fights for the Imperium the more they learn of the threats they face and the terrifying consequences of failure the more extreme their methods become and the harder it gets for them to discern right from wrong perils unknown the Imperium is the largest and most powerful Empire to span the Stars since the days when the necron tier warned with the ancient aldari immensity of The Emperor's realm provides vast resources and martial strength yet it also brings Humanity into conflict with countless enemies and ensures that every sector of the Imperium knows constant Danger though official cartographs make the borders of Imperial space look clearly defined and secure in truth they are in constant flux even the segmentum solar is not as unified and stable a human Heartland as the administratum would have their subjects believed while the further one travels from holy Terror the more rapidly Imperial space becomes wild and dangerous parked with vast regions outside of human control the far-flung borders of such regions says the Halo Stars the veiled region and the Western Fringe are the wildest of all to Invasion or turning traitor as quickly as new planets can be claimed and settled by rapacious exploratory fleets and daring Rogue Traders those loyal to the Imperial huddle behind their battlements and stare out at the Dark Void Beyond ever wary of the Myriad perils that lie in wait in the darkness between the Stars for most it is less a question of if some terrible threat will descend upon their world is when it will arrive and what monstrous form will it take when it does countless enemies lurk beyond the nominal borders of the Imperium Gathering their strength choosing their moment to strike the chaos serving heretic astartis our chief amongst these malevolent foes earn coat Space Marines who rule over their own empires in the name of the dark gods and descend upon the emperor's realm to reap and plunder at will some ride the empiric tides of aren't Russian warp storms While others launch paradical raids or gather together into immense Invasion fleets commanded by some suitably powerful Warlord the most devastating examples of the latter 13 black Crusades of avadon the spoiler which between them shattered the linchpins of reality itself and some say heralded the opening of The Great Raft xenos threats Beyond number also surround the Imperium on every side Humanity encounters strains and inimical species every day the mind-steeling enslavers and the Chrono manic crud to the thermoparasitic vigor some preachers are indigenous to a single world many more are barely above the level of predatory beasts or parasitic organisms dangerous certainly but not on a grand scale or threatening by far are the Xeno species whose territorial Empire span star systems and whose borders Clash violently with those of the Imperium the expansionists Tau Empire presses aggressively into the imperium's Eastern reaches barbarous orc invasions crash like bloody waves against the bulk work of humanities defenses time and time again necron Two Worlds awaken often beneath the feet of horrified Imperial settlers and their Invasion Fleet sweep down from space to swat aside Humanities defenses with arrogant ease and eradicate the emperor's servants like Armin pyramid Splinter fleets pushed into the Galaxy from every side writhing from the darkness like the tendrils of some immense Beast and scouring all organic life that lies in their path meanwhile new xenos threats arise all the time fresh and monstrous terrors merging from the darkness beyond the imperium's borders the plunge Schuman worlds into Anarchy and apocalypse Enemy Within countless perils lurk within the bounds of The Emperor's Realm the hardship of daily life plants seeds of resentment and rebellion in Minds made fertile through suffering monsters and concealed foes stalk the Shadows in the ravings of Twisted demagogues lead the faithful into damnation against these threats Humanity must be ever vigilant for all the Unholy threats prowl and Beyond the frail lights of Imperial civilization many believe that is the darkness lurking within that Civilization itself that presents the greatest danger to the emperor's Realm twisted instabilities and unnatural deviance to dean of worship heresy and xenophile Traders Myriad enemies rise from amongst the human herd with every passing day piracy and Sedition are a constant threat of course the rule of Imperial law is Harsh and many are unwilling to exist within its strictures even without the corrosive effects of and full -blown heresy many ship captains Astro militarum regiments and planetary Governors Give In To The Lure of disloyalty with every passing year their punishment may be slow and coming for the Imperium is lumbering and monolithic it always comes eventually however and the sentence is invariably death thank you mutation is another widespread Scourge that lurks in the dark corners of countless Imperial colonies outposts five cities and Industrial sprawls its causes are Myriad industrial runoff and toxic environs iterative Generations exposed to strange planetary conditions alien radiation simple genetic deviation or most Insidious of all the warping influence of Chaos this last has become a more pressing danger than ever since the Symphony of The Great Raft it is at the heart of why the Imperium is almost entirely intolerant of mutation while a useful strange of ab humans such as ogrens rattlings or Navigators are officially sanctioned the curse of mutation is normally met with violent abhorrence lest such rampant deviance be a dangerous warpaint period were taught to hate fear and revile the mutant and failure to report such Abominations is considered tantamount to heresy of course such a culture of intolerance serves to drive vast numbers of otherwise sane and loyal app humans to Desperate Measures and has ushered countless lost souls in the arms of the dark Gods over the millennium in an era of such all-pervading War however perium can ill-afford the weakness of Mercy not all Heretics are mutants however amidst the grinding misery of the dystopian and Imperium there are countless reasons that a human soul might turn to the worship of chaos some seek release from lives of slavery poverty and hopeless hopelandless toil others desire power or influence whether to provide for those who depend upon them or to have Revenge themselves upon those who have oppressed or mistreated them few who fall to the hunted Promises of the dark Gods truly start out as evil however it is a slippery slope of morally compromising choices that lead from desperation or idealistic recidivism to full-blown heresy holds Beyond a number Gather in the dark corners of Hive cities to worship deities primitive priests work forbidden blood rights upon Frontier worlds Imperial Nobles fall to hedonistic pleasure sects while Twisted misinterpretations of Imperial scripture lead unwriting practitioners into summoning rituals that can damn worlds the dark gods the gods of chaos dwell within the endless and infinitely mutable Realm of the warp ancient entities of unimaginable power and infinite malice they look upon real space with Covetous eyes and scheme endlessly for its overthrow there are four of these monstrous beings each an Exemplar of mortal obsessions and fears each certain that they and they alone should rule all the warp similar thoughts and emotions gather like rivulets of water they form streams and Eddies of Anguish and desire rules of hatred and torrents of pride since the dawn of time these Tides have flowed through the warp such as their power that they formed creatures made of the very stuff of Dreams and Nightmares eventually the SE instinctual formless beings gained a rudimentary consciousness the chaos gods were born vast psychic presences made from the fantasies and horrors of Mortals as the races of the Galaxy prospered and grew so too did their hopes and dreams their rage and Wars their love and hatred this burgeoning flood of raw emotion fed the nascent chaos gods and nurtured their Unholy power eventually the gods reached back to their makers into and through the dreams of Mortals soon seeing the fruits of their labors they began an eternal venture to influence the Physical Realm and its Myriad races a chaos God grows in power through the actions and thoughts of Mortals those who worship such a dark God and behave in a way that feeds it are rewarded with strange gifts extraordinary power and potentially immortality the chaos Gods battle one another constantly in the warp early endless armies of their demon followers into conflict across the ever-changing hellscapes of the realm of Chaos so too to their mortal followers make war across real space fighting always to further the goals of their Patron deity hope that their reward will Elevate them to greater power blood God embodying battle bloodshed as rage his followers depict him most commonly as a towering and monstrously viewed warrior-clad in Brazen armor seated upon an immense Throne of brass sat atop a mountain of trillions of mortal skulls head is styled as that of a bestial war hound from nostril spurt smoke and Flame and whose grotesque features are half hidden by a skull-like helm feet are pictured as cloven hooves his eyes are fiery Crimson pits of the deepest and most intense hatred imaginable at corn side this show the greatest and most destructive sword ever created known across the Galaxy as woebringer acre and the end of all things it is said that when corn swings this Titanic blade he can hack apart the stuff of reality itself allowing his frenzy demon Legions to spill forth it is the Creed of corns worshipers that he desires Eternal war and endless bloodshed he cares not whether it is his own Warriors or those of his many enemies who bleed only that the blood continues to flow the Lord of battles wrath is infinite they say his hatred and bloodlust utterly is unquenchable his Temple is the battlefield is Alter the Blazing Trench bloodied Arena or shell blasted City all who make war worship porn by their deeds whether they intend to or not in this age of ceaseless Galactic conflict the blood God has grown Mighty indeed titles as the changer of the ways the great Sorcerer And the architect of faith zinch is the patron deity of change Destiny and Unbound sorcery is worshipers Empower their God through manipulation in politicking and by their desire for continual change and reshaping of reality did as an ever-shifting being whose flesh crawls with laughing Whispering sobbing prophecy lying faces shown crowned by sweeping horns wreathed in Arcane fire and surrounded by nebulae of magical energies which twist and change to show those places and people upon whose fate the deity muses worshipers know that he has plans of his own schemes of insane labyrinthine complexity fit to drive even the most ferociously intelligent mortal Minds to Madness the change God's servants labor constantly to fulfill his ineffable plots and their purposes and deeds often seem like utter lunacy to their enemies till the precise moment they come to spectacular and bloody fruition nurgle grandfather nergel is said to be as generous as he is malignant for he is the source of every disease pestilence parasite and epidemic ever to trouble moral beings nurgle is rarely described as a spiteful God but rather he sees his plagues as gifts given freely so as to maintain the endless second cycle of death Decay and Unbound life that follows in its wake he is commonly depicted as a vast Hulk of rotting parasite riddled flesh through which an infinite number of diseases and vast swarms of plague mites run rampant is boil parked skin there's leathery and green while the bloated innards that spill through its rinse are said to give off a stench that can rot reality itself nurgle is depicted as hunched over his cauldron of boxes humming cheerfully to himself as he Brews up another infectious concoction with which to bless the Mortal races of real space the plague God's realm within the immaterium is depicted as a monstrous Garden of unimaginable foulness and rampant life amongst voted swamps and Bloated plant life his demons Gamble and trudge and the land itself can spill through into a real space disease entropy and misery is concentrated upon a single point Virgo's power fluctuates the most of all the chaos gods at its apex when his metaphysical epidemics ravaged the Stars only to fall into remission when the tides of sickness burn themselves out he always rises again for entropy is Everlasting the mesh is the Dark Prince the hideously beautiful embodiment of excess in all its mortal forms is is the power of endless temptation of even the most virtuous Beginnings transformed and perverted into hideous Vice arrogance lust greed sadism desire ambition all serve to feed the dark Prince's power yet so too does any excess of Love generosity determination or Pride in short as soon as a mortal being's efforts pass into the Realms of obsession they give worship to slanesh however inadvertently depictions of slaanesh vary depending upon what speaks loudest to the worshiper's hidden desires the Dark Prince is most often described in human lore as androgynous and listen figure guileless in their innocence yet with the eyes that instantly steal the soul of any mortal Who Dares look into them slanish's domain within the realm of chaos is said to be a vast Palace of pleasure that resides at the heart of six concentric circles of Temptation each of these perverse Realms appears at first glance to be a paradise devoted to a different mortal desire be in vain Glory gluttony lust sloth or any other obsession yet in truth each is a hellish snare intended to waylay those who would invade the dark princess territory and trap them forever in the torments of their own making foreign thank you foreign foreign foreign

Channel: The Ashen Hollow

Views: 202,859

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Id: 2UaIHACREdw

Length: 84min 3sec (5043 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 20 2023