The Eldar, who had clung to life for so long, began to wink out one by one. Many of the great Craftworlds were destroyed, the New Devourer consuming their people with nothing but the wraithbone skeletons of the continent sized vessels left behind. On those silent vessel, innumerable soul gems lay glowing with countless murdered Eldar souls.

Many Exodite worlds were also preyed upon by Chaos, other xenos, and Petty Imperiums. However, many of the more clever Exodites instead moved to conceal their presence, infiltrating high positions amongst the humans that colonized their planets. Some of the Petty Imperiums would thus be led in secret by Exodite Eldar, who had so cleverly disguised themselves as the mon’keigh. Their need for survival had outweighed their pride.

In the meantime, the Phoenix Lords kept on fighting the enemies of the Eldar, their power swelling from the hundreds of thousands of Exarchs that had donned their armor by this time. Many a Chaos warband had been slaughtered by these mysterious warriors just as they were about to defile the skeletons of dead Craftworlds.

Nevertheless, the Craftworld Eldar refused to bow to fate. The Ynnari, led by Yvraine, the prophet of Ynnead and supported by Craftworlds Iyanden, Ulthwe, and Altansar, have repeatedly invaded Slaanesh’s palace. Each attempt so far has failed, but they are getting closer and closer to their goal of taking the final Cronesword from beneath the perverse Prince of Pleasure’s throne of excess.

Meanwhile, the remnants of Biel-Tan, allying with Lugganath, Yme-Loc, Alaitoc, and Saim-Hann, have sought to free Isha from the Realm of Nurgle. To the surprise of the galaxy, they have succeeded with the aid of a silver knight, a raven of shadow, and a great gray wolf. It is said that the Wolf had asked for one strand of Isha’s hair, and was granted three. The knight, the raven, and the wolf soon disappeared, leaving the Eldar with their goddess of life, who immediately joined Cegorach in the Webway. Isha offered another path to her children: one of life. Her followers would be known as the Ishari, and would be at odds with the Ynnari.

While the Second Age of Strife may seem to be a Golden Age for the Dark Kin, Commorragh has changed much. Many of the lower class Dark Eldar, fearful of losing their souls, had instead laid their allegiance to the Ynnari or the Ishari rather than their capricious Archons and the Supreme Overlord, often forsaking their cruel ways in order to be assured a place in the Infinity Circuit. The Ynnari and the Dark Eldar would fight many battles in the Webway and realspace in these times.

Seeing the greatest fight since the War in Heaven, Ghazghul Mag Uruk Thraka led a billion trillion Orks, who seemed to be the entirety of their race, against the New Devourer. Through their actions, the Orks may have in fact saved the galaxy, as they delayed the New Devourer and expended its power.

Nevertheless, the New Devourer was still too powerful for them. The gleeful Orks fought and died until none were seemingly left, and since then, the galaxy thought the orks extinct.

In the galactic core, the abhuman Kyn of Leagues of Votann find that almost all of their ancient supercogitators, the Votann, had finally failed. Though some of the Fanes had ascended into Votann, these were few in number, and nowhere as great as those original relics from the Dark Age of Technology. Furthermore, the New Devourer consumed many of the Leagues, with their Votanns going mad as they sought to deny the New Devourer the biomass of the Kyn by feeding on their corpses first. It is said that only the Greater Thurian League, Kronus Hegemony, and Ymyr Conglomerate remained as the powerful Leagues of the Core, though they had expanded many times their original size as thousands of orphaned Kindreds flocked to their banners. The other Leagues, such as the Trans-Hyperian Alliance, still survive, though were greatly diminished. Nevertheless, the Leagues continued to trade with whoever they can reasonably charge prices from, be it human, Eldar, Tau, or any of the numerous xenos empires that arose from the broken shards of the Imperator's broken dream.

The Tau, naive in their hope of unity, expanded into a realm of corpses and ash. Every world they came across was dead, life annihilated by the New Devourer. The hard and unpleasant task of terraforming each world turned the Tau into bitter, self-righteous beings. They were disgusted at the actions of their predecessors and vowed to not understand their fellow races, but to control them. Only the Tau could be trusted with worlds. And so, the Tau Empire grew into a powerful technological juggernaut of ten thousand planets and a hundred species, jaded as they witnessed the full horror of this galaxy.

Jaded, save for the Farsight Enclaves. When the New Devourer came, the Enclaves were seemingly unscathed as the Swarm Waaagh bypassed their hyperfortified planets. Whatever the case, the Enclaves have an alliance of sorts with Ultramar, which began with a meeting between Roboute Guilliman and Commander Farsight himself. This has gone on for ten thousand years as both of these realms grew in power, standing as oases of sanity in a dark ocean of madness.

Across the galaxy, the Necrons have yet to awaken in full, though they have become a powerful force that all other races know and fear. Imotekh the Stormlord and his Sautekh forces continually battle the vast Tau Empire in the east; the Silent King has continued to seek out ways to return his people to the flesh in the wake of the New Devourer. The Empire of the Severed continues to grow as a malignant tumor, robbing Necrons of what little spark of a soul they have left. And in other places of the galaxy, it is said that the Infinite and the Divine have continued their feud over the millennia, with entire planets destroyed in the wake of their petty rivalry.

Some Necron Tomb Worlds, however, have fallen to the C'tan, those shattered gods of realspace. These monstrous entities, ever conniving and cruel, have taken control of numerous Necron Dynasties whose populations had been driven to absolute madness by the Long Sleep. Thus the Yngir star hungry rise again, seeking to impose their will upon all life.

Surging from the Eye of Terror and Circatrix Maledictum, Abaddon the Despoiler’s 19th Black Crusade swept across the west, and conquered thousands of planets. In a galaxy bereft of the Emperor’s light, there could be no coordinated response, no crusade to be launched. Abaddon forged his own Chaos Imperium, naive in the belief that the Chaos Gods do not control him.

Around the Maelstrom, Huron Blackheart did the same, with his Red Corsairs and hordes of Chaos cultists seizing control of hundreds of systems. Thus were the two Chaos Empires of realspace born, forever vying with each other for control even as the ten thousand worlds of Ultramar defied them.

In the turbulent energies of the Warp, the Chaos Gods also suffered, for with the end of the Emperor, something else was stirred. Birthed upon the death of the Carrion Lord on Terra, the Starchild suckled upon the rage and religious lunacy of the dying Imperium, consuming every soul remaining upon Terra in its birth pangs. This is what killed the Astronomicon. Ophelia became a focus for this dark zeal. At the dawn of the 50th millennium, the Starchild became the Star Father, and the Warp became a battleground. For a brief instance (or perhaps an eternity-- in the warp, none can tell for sure) the Star Father became dominant over the Chaos foes. Then, with the sickening inevitability of the great game of Chaos, the Star Father became one amongst the five, a god of order amongst gods of chaos.

Name: Paolo Piacere
Species: Human?
Appearance:


Hight: 6ft 3in
Role in the ship: Protector of noble souls

Notable Equipment and Augmentations:
Clothing:
- Winter Greatcoat of his home regiment
- Complete Type 5 armoured rebreather pressure helm
Armour:
- Master Crafted Flak of the Scholastica-Psykana
Augmentations:
- An electoo of the imperial symbol along with protective runes across his back
- Psychic hood with cranial integration to improve his deny the witch
Weapons:
- Neo-Vokite Torrentor; A phased cyclonic dispersal volkite weapon. Basically a shotgun.
- “Knives whist”; A collection of ceremonial knives with the mono upgrade hanging in sheaths from a waste band. There are 12 in total.
- “Kinematics”; A force axe inscribed with runes to focus the users mind
Equipment:
- Emperors Tarot (cards deck)

Skills:
Psychic powers:
- Biomancy (Primary)
- Telekinesis (Secondary)
- Deny the witch (Tertiary)

While Paolo started off in the guard as a mere sanctioned psyker he soon rose through the ranks to a trusted Primaris Psyker and was initiated into more disciplines in the Scholastica-psykana. During that time he received expert instruction in how to lead, such that he can infact lead a platoon of guardsmen all by himself and issue orders with a discerning eye. As neo-volkites were brought back into use his regiment saw wider use of volkite sections and he was granted as second in command of one such elite battle group. Upon his promotion he was gifted a volkite torrentor so he could keep up with his battle group.

Biography:
Paolo was first discovered to be a psyker when he was only 3 and found playing with a small white mouse. None know where the mouse came from. He was put onto the black ships and spent virtually his entire young life learning the warding incantations which were to protect his mind, and the mind of his charges.

When he was finally released at the tender age of 16 he was sent first to the war world of Harakon of the famous Harakoni war-hawks. There he trained with them and even hunted the vypor wyrms at their capital hive. This was exhilarating and the warhawks, who were initially skeptical of the young Paolo soon found that, by the advantage of his telekinetic skills, he could maneuver the grav chute just as deftly as one of their own.

His regiment was soon deployed against the predations of she who thursts. Where they both saw action and loss alike before the planet was torn from its rotation and into the warp. Before this happened the warhawks were some of the few regiments able to extricate themselves by dint of their large air wing consisting of valkyrie type 2’s. However they were forced to stay adrift in space for several months before being picked up by an imperial navy wolfpack. Thanks to Paolos aptitude with the Biomantic arts he managed to keep his entire command squad alive during the months, which at the time included the Harakoni General. Though none were spared the torment of survivor's guilt.

After the wolfpack brought his beleaguered platoon back to a local orbital station most of the men had to recover from extreme starvation. The General chose to split their forces and make contact with the Administratium. He took the bulk of the battle group and Paolo was put in charge of a single platoon. They bartered for travel on a Rogue Trader ship in exchange for the protection of the immunity of the warrant of trade. They cared not the mission, just the opportunity to serve a rogue trader was reward enough. It was reasoned that this would bring more honour than becoming merged with other under strength regiments.

Additional Notes:
He is known to suffer from cluster headaches, he can reduce the effects of these by taking in recaff. Infact its ability to aid his concentration is what allows him to conjure his more impressive powers. Without the strong smell of recaff he is mostly meek and powerless.

Name:Grummore Returned of Ukulak
Species: Kin
Age: 197
Appearance:Picture Standard Kin height being four feet tall
Role in the ship: Grummore is an explorer and a survivalist, often tasked with reconnaissance and the occasional flanking maneuver and anti-armor needs.

Skills:
Survivor - Not much to say, still adhering vehemently to the tenants of the Trans-Hyperian Alliance in unreasonable resolve in the face of hardship to honor the ancients and the ancestors that came before. Knowing he's part of an endangered line makes it all the more pressing. He's been a Pioneer since Ukulak called him for his mandatory service and even after their destruction, he's continued to hold the mantel. This means he will fight dirty and underhanded and retreat in order to survive and kill the next day.

Lifelong Friend/Foe - Being orphaned from his Kindred, he's lost the connections he once cherished even if he would only see them sparingly. Now that they're gone, he's taken to truly appreciating his family even if they aren't his flesh and blood. If you were to earn his respect and admiration, he would look out for you for life. Conversely, his capacity to hold grudges has only magnified as time as gone on and he holds the greatest hatred for the Devourer and Tyranid in general with the Green Skins coming in at a very close second. There are a few individuals in the Imperium which also hold his grudge for life but he's not even sure if they're still alive.

Biography:
Grummore was born into a time of desperation. The secret Votann's of the Kin, going dark one-by-one leaving the Kin lost without their guidance, wisdom, or technological powers. Already the Kin were expanding beyond the Galactic Core, tearing through space in desperation, searching for a means to rejuvenate their Votanns before it was too late. For many of the Kindred, it was simply not enough and they watched in horror as their guardian fell silent with only a scant few across the Leagues ascending from Fanes to fulfill the duty. Grummore was a Pioneer of the Ukulak tasked primarily with searching for a means to repair the Trans-Hyperian's Votanns as a prime directive with trade, resource scouting and all the usual tenants of the Pioneer as a distant second. With that he searched the cosmos, avoiding the dark clouds of the Devourer that seemed to spread to all corners leaving behind space for Chaos to worm into. He watched as other nomadic Holds of the Trans-Hyperian Alliance were consumed by raiders, war-parties, or the New Devourer itself, their failing Votanns no longer supplying them with the supreme technological advantage they'd enjoyed for so long. Grummore negotiated with the jaded Tau, the all-but-extinct Eldar, and of course, the Imperial splinters still clawing to keep their head above water as their kingdom that just barely stood was blown down by the winds of the New Devourer. Grummore returned with hints of where something capable of powering the Votann might be to find his own mobile Hold, an empty waste, There were no bodies left but there was plenty of damage indicating a struggle had happened. Damage from gunfire, claws, bioweapons, his own Hold of Ukulak had been consumed, or at least whoever was left.

Horrified and lost, Grummore found the Kahl's plasma knife among the dirt and took it as memory to his fallen Kindred and set out, he couldn't avoid other Kin and worked with others while never forsaking his own Kindred and Guild. He set out again, hoping to find whatever was left of the Trans-Hyperian League, if there was anything left of his own Kindred, and most importantly, he never forgot his original directive to find a means of enriching the Votann. With that in mind Grummore found himself on an Imperial world where gossip is cheap and the truth far too expensive. A Rogue Trader was commissioned with a nigh impossible task to set off on a recovery. As Grummore learned more about what the vessel might carry, he saw the hope of something he might use to enrich his own Votann, it was scant more than hope as there was next to no information on what the Mechanicus vessel might have but it was enough for him to sign on. If it was indeed something of use to the Votann he would return it to his own people, if the others resisted, he would bring their corpses.
Additional Notes: Absolutely hates the New-Devourer, Tyranid, and, to a lesser extent, Orks. There are a few in the Imperium that also hold this status.

Thinks of Recaff as a simple tea, almost waterlike and barely an upper, and personally entertains his own Bru distillery as its one of the few ways of easily maintaining proper nutrients on long treks.

Name: Gerard Stukov
Age: 54
Species: Human
Appearance:

Height: 5'9"
Weight: 221lbs

Role in the ship: Senior Voidmaster
Notable Equipment and Augmentations:
Bionics - Stukov has seen limited bionic implantation, mostly to repair and make good damage he has received during his time fighting bloody and pitched boarding actions, providing security during shore parties investigating planetary situations, and otherwise requiring rebuilding. While having no limbs fully replaced, he has had a number of internal organs replaced, machinery taking the place of flesh and blood, his experience valued more highly than the resources spent on keeping him alive. The most overt is the left half of his head has a sturdy plate in place, a bionic eye replacing what was lost as well as providing some degree of additional protection.

Mixed Carapace/Flak Armor - While he doesn't wear a full suit of it, Stukov has salvaged, requisitioned, and 'acquired' enough material to have a carapace breastplate sturdy enough to keep his already ravaged insides from getting any worse. When deploying or on duty, he also has flak armor that he wears over his legs and upper arms, preferring to keep more on his feet rather than simply try to soak up incoming fire, though given his previous injuries, this was very much a hard learned lesson. Otherwise, he favors fairly standard fatigues, sleeves rolled up or cut off completely as appropriate.

Artificer Shotgun - The weapon that marks Voidmasters out from their subordinates, the expertly crafted weapon is as much an heirloom at this point as it is simply a master crafted weapon. Pump action, to not risk mechanical failure during prolonged combat, the weapon has seen more combat and conflict than its current owner. Reinforced for close quarters engagements, including a permanent bayonet fixed to the front, it is capable of loading a wide variety of shotgun loads and tackling a variety of situations. Stukov prefers buckshot, though keeps a handful of slugs and inferno shells on hand just in case a special situation arises.

Naval Pistol - Standard issue sidearm for Imperial Naval personnel, even now, Stukov favors it over heftier options like bolt pistols, or more ubiquitous ones like las pistols. Using a specialized autopistol ammo designed to fragment and reduce damage to ship systems while maximizing damage to minimally armored or unarmored flesh. Like other models, the weapon is reinforced and sturdy enough to use as in a melee as a bludgeon without immediate risk to damage or misfire.

Combat Knife - Kept in a boot sheath, there is not much to say about the ubiquitous combat knife. Single edged, mono edged, and weighted for both fighting and throwing, when all else fails, there's always a knife for a last ditch stand, or prying open a ration can.

Concussion Grenades - Another voidsman favorite, these weapons rely on sheer force of the detonation to damage and kill threats, and only grow more dangerous the more compact and confined the space they are thrown into becomes. Stukov always has several on hand at any given time, and values them highly, even if a frag might do more immediate damage, the concussive force can do wonders on modestly armored infantry, especially if caught at ground zero or hemmed in and unable to get clear.

Skills:
Close Quarters Combat - Broadly speaking, Stukov's specialty is in getting stuck into a fight and carrying out a battle as close as he can get. A reliable shot, though no marksman or even on the same footing as most Guard troops drilled in lasgun fire, he often acts as a first line between hostiles getting close to his subordinates, directing fire when necessary but otherwise screening enemy combatants. Between shotgun, bayonet, and naval pistol, the voidmaster tends to blend close range shooting and melee in a way informed and trained by long years of experience and training. The style is necessarily brutal, aimed at finishing a fight quickly, lacking the elegance of a duelist or the precision of a sniper, though more than one hostile has seen their last mistake being to underestimate the brutality as simplicity.

Security Operations - A great deal of Stukov's life revolved around patrolling the ship he was on, always alert for trouble that might be brewing, be it stowaways, mutinous crew, or worse. Securing an area is a necessary skill, as well, when retaking overrun decks or setting up a forward post on an enemy ship to coordinate further boarding actions, just being able to set up barricades and seal bulkheads isn't enough. Being able to spot problems or things that are out of place are just as vital as the knowledge of how to, at a glance, pick out how to not only best fortify a location, but with what they might have on hand.

Field Maintenance/Jury Rigging - Stukov has a practical understanding of a broad spectrum of mechanical and weapons systems, capable of field stripping lasguns and other infantry weapons down, rigging up a fix for a problem, and slapping it back together. He doesn't do this in front of the Mechanicus, when he can help it, of course, but he is quite the natural at jury rigging and improvising when push comes to shove. More electronic systems, however, are not nearly as certain a thing, though if its nothing more complex than a hatch control panel, he can rig it up reliably enough, though the more complex the electronics, the less reliable this talent is.

Biography: Gerard Stukov was born on a refueling and rearming space station, one that saw a great deal of traffic by forces both going to, and from, besieged planets and systems, seeing the near constant bustle and traffic of supplies, soldiers, and others who had a reason to dock and walk the station decks. His family had been voidsmen for as long as they could track, and Gerard was going to be no different, regardless of any personal beliefs in the matter. Raised by the station security as much as his own flesh and blood, he would sign onto the first vessel in service of Ultramar that was in need of fresh voidsmen. A rather short wait, by all accounts, and he was inducted on board the Blind Judgment as one of the freshest voidsmen tasked with protecting the ship, and engaging in boarding actions.

It would not take long for conflict to find them, or the other way around, and would spend the next 30 years serving across various fronts and facing various foes of Ultramar. Whether it was luck or skill, the Blind Judgment had a long and successful career, the cruiser would carry out a variety of anti pirate operations, engagements against hostile fleets, and patrolling the cold void of the space between planets and systems. Of course nothing lasts forever, and that included the ship that the recently minted Voidmaster, having spent his entire career working up the ranks from rank and file to increasingly senior leadership positions as those above him perished or themselves filled the boots of the dead above them, and it would be Chaos renegades that spelled the ship and most of the crew's doom.

On an independent patrol they would be jumped by a four cruisers to match the Blind Judgement, a light cruiser, alone with her few escorts. The boarding craft were quick to launch, after a valiant effort by gun crews to stave off the impending assaults, blunting the first wave of assaults that led to pitched battles across the decks that only become more desperate, eventually leading to the armed crew holding the engine room to make the fateful decision to overload her reactors, consigning her to death over capture. Stukov led as many voidsman and crew as he could to the lifepods, aiming for the nearest planet. Better to risk getting shot to pieces by chaos fighters than a certain death from the overloading reactor. Most of the escape pods would not make it, indeed torn apart by withering passes by fighters or, worse, captured and hauled back towards the chaos pirate fleet. Of course, the final explosion of the Blind Judgement would take countless pirates and traitors out, and more importantly, provide cover for the surviving life pods.

Crash landing on the nearby planet, weeks away from the nearest settlement of any sort, Stukov would gather as many as he could, administer mercies to those who could not move or keep up, and led the grim march through the jungles towards the clearings they saw on the, albeit incredibly rocky, descent into atmosphere. Nearly half the already depleted survivors of the crew wouldn't make it, the jungle proving almost as deadly as the conflict they'd already survived in the void above, but the depleted members of the crew, Stukov at the head, stumbled into the seemingly abandoned observation outposts, though forgotten supplies and prefabricated buildings would prove far more welcome shelter than huddled clearings, trying to keep the hostile jungle at bay.

A Rogue Trader would respond to the distress beacon the survivors jury rigged, the away team finding a skeleton crew of survivors who would be glad to never see a jungle again. Stukov, for his part, stayed aboard the Rogue Trader, the rest of the survivors departing at the next station to report what happened to the Blind Judgment to their supreriors and work from there. Stukov felt he owed a debt to the Rogue Trader, and with his old ship dead and gone, he didn't want to simply wait idly by on another vessel for the same to happen again. Plenty of stories, maybe even some of them true, were told of Rogue Traders and the kinds of lives they led. Stukov signed on as seasoned Voidmaster, and would remain aboard when the new orders came down from on high.

A suicide mission, to reclaim some artifact found by Mechanicus forces, and bring it back. No excess could be spared, which was typical. Stukov would wonder about the details they didn't have, but ultimately, he had sworn an oath. The Rogue Trader's vessel was his charge as much as those he served, and it would only end when he died, or if another ship was shot out from underneath him. He would almost prefer the former at this point, given the far flung distances they will be at, it was unlikely rescue would ever arrive in time. But, Stukov knew his orders, and the orders of those around him, and he would see them through. Even if it felt like a fool's errand, nicely as that could be put.

Additional Notes: Stukov has an intense dislike of climates both bitterly hot and miserably humid, as they remind him of the jungles and predators that had dogged their every step. While having no preferences for most luxuries, the man does enjoy a good cigar when he can afford to get his hands on one, or three.