'Possession of this galaxy is Mankind's birth right. The stars are ours for the taking.'
In a time that is but a memory, humanity ruled the stars. With the power of technology they remade worlds, and even themselves, becoming unto gods of creation and building a stellar empire that rivalled the greatest alien civilisations of the time. This time of ascendancy was short lived, however, spanning mere centuries of dominance, before a collapse that would last millennia. Horrific stellar events known as warp storms burst into life across the galaxy, fed by the blazing souls of human psykers that were born in ever greater numbers. Vast and horrific wars were fought among humanity's fraying civilisation, as well as with the unrelenting Men of Iron, an enemy of mankind's own creation. Mankind was cut off from its cradle, the beating heart of its empire, and all fell into darkness. For over two thousand years since this great collapse, humanity has been isolated from itself, at the mercy of warlords, aliens and worse, in the great dark beyond.
The homeworld, Terra (Earth as it was once known) has not remained unscathed by this. Wars among the other Stellar bodies of our home system have burned as hotly as anywhere else, the Saturnye Ordo, the Tech-claves of Mars, the Selenar Gene-Cults of Luna and many more each vied for dominance while interplanetary travel became increasingly difficult as humanity stagnated. Upon Terra itself, great warlords vied for dominance, unleashing the worst technologies of Mankind's ascendancy upon each other, lands were irradiated and oceans boiled away, leaving those still alive to wage further wars over the dirt. Countless nations and empires have risen and fallen in the span of these long horrific years, haunted by their ghosts and worse, some cling to a forgotten idea of civilisation, while others revel in the atrocity of what they have become.
In the waning years of the 29th Millennium, a secret hope has begun to spark. A mysterious being calling himself the Emperor of Mankind has risen to power among the technocratic clans of Hymalazia, aligned with the mysterious custodian of the Sigillite Order. Through pacts made with the Gene-Cults of Luna he has created gene-crafted warriors of unrivalled ability, the noble Custodes and the brutal Thunder Warriors, as well as enhancing the abilities of many others. Beneath the mountains, the Emperor's hidden laboratories continue to work away, at projects secret to all but his most trusted allies and advisers. The Emperor's aim is a feat that has not been achieved for millennia, to unite the warring people of Terra and for humanity to once more stride forth from its cradle, unto the stars.
OOC Information
This RP is an alternate reality based on the setting of Warhammer 40,000 and it's origin stories, the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. It takes great inspiration from a previous RP, the Grim Crusade, hosted originally by @BCTheEntity . Unlike the Grim Crusade, however, this RP starts right at the beginning of the Imperium's story, with the Unification Wars for Terra. The Space Marine legions have yet to see the light of day, and the long brutal years of war that will be required for the Unification are just about to begin.
Meanwhile, on far flung planets, the Primarchs, the Emperor's first secret geneproject, find themselves cast across the galaxy. Unaware of their birthright, these beings, utterly superior to the humanity from which they were created, will define the future of their worlds and many more, should they survive to once again meet their father and his growing empire.
There are two main options for characters in this RP. Players can take on the act of creating an Astartes Legion and their Primarch, playing the former when they are unleashed during the later stages of the Unification and the latter upon their isolated homeworld, and then during the Great Crusade should the rp progress to this point. The second option, and the primary focus of the rp, is to play as a character on Terra, be they a technobarbarian warlord, member of a gene-cult, officer in the new Imperial army or more beside. As time passed in the RP it is likely mortal characters will change, for this is a dangerous era and life is never guarenteed. Thus, instead of players taking on individual characters, you may opt to play a household of characters, represent a sub-faction of the world, or a role within the new Imperial society which will grow and change as the rp carries on. The scope for who or what you want to write is pretty vast.
The only major change at the onset of the game is that the Emperor's gene warriors, be they Custodes, Thunder Warriors, Astartes or Primarchs, are not gender locked. This is not a comment on the canon situation, but just something that myself and the previous writers of Grim Crusade prefer as an exploration of an alternate setting.
Any questions feel free to ask, Character Sheets and a formal set of rules will be added to the OOC.
Our discord can be found here: https://discord.gg/rWZ7aJpTyb
Map Credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ImaginaryWarhammer/comments/d70e3t/map_of_preunification_terra_created_by_me_but/?utm_source=ifttt
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