Editing Great Crusade (section)

==The Age of the Imperium==
Over the course of the next two hundred years or so, the Space Marine Legions found their Primarchs and the [[Imperium of Man]] grew world by world, until it spanned almost the whole galaxy. Many [[Xenos]] species were exterminated along the way, as well as non-Imperial human civilizations like the [[Interex]], as the Emperor believed them to be a threat to his dominance. Between this directive and the influence of his [[Slaanesh|Slaaneshi]] daemon blade, [[Fulgrim]] wiped out many [[Eldar]] worlds, resulting in mutual animosity between the Imperium and the Eldar for millennia to come; of course, considering the Eldar had been frequently raiding human worlds throughout the Age of Strife, tough shit. It was generally considered [[Kharn|a pretty fun move on Fulgrim's part]]. To be fair, though, nearly all the xenos killed had descended upon human worlds during the Age of Strife and turned them into "Nightmare Worlds" and "Hell Worlds". As you might imagine, the crusading Imperium was [[RAGE|not amused.]] In fact, most worlds added to the Imperium were of this sort, which went a long way to entrenching humanity's hatred of all things alien. Even the Jovian colonies in the Sol system were pretty much horror-infested hellholes ruled over by incalculably cruel alien overlords. Some examples of worlds liberated included electricity-blasting worm things that literally bred and harvested humans like cattle and a species that used tortured human souls as power generators.

When Eldrad tried to contact the Emperor to warn him that he should be more concerned with stopping Chaos than with expanding the Imperium, the Emperor refused to listen to him, both because Eldrad ordered his forces to attack Fulgrim upon realizing the Primarch was corrupted without realizing that Fulgrim was not yet corrupted by the sword and could still be saved (also attacking a Primarch is unbelievably stupid if you want to live). It didn't hurt that the Emperor's creation of the Imperium was performed in a way crafted by Him to specifically act as an anti-Chaos civilization by virtue of being not only massive but also [[Malal|atheist]] (alas, he didn't realize faith hurt Chaos until the very end of the Horus Heresy). What's more, Eldrad's orders were the reason for Eldar raids - not something that screams trustworthiness, especially when the raiders hail from a ''post-scarcity society'' and so have literally no reason to go raiding but for teh lulz. The Emperor was probably also aware of the Eldar's plan to create a god made of Eldar souls to combat Slaanesh, an entity that actively drains and devours Eldar souls for funsies. Yeah, probably not a good idea to let the space elves succeed at that one.

After the Ullanor Crusade, the Emperor announced that he was returning to Terra, saying that his sons were to prove that they were the leaders he had made them to be. He appointed [[Horus]], Primarch of the [[Black Legion|Luna Wolves]], as Warmaster of the Great Crusade and withdrew to the Imperial Palace. In truth, the Emperor was ready to begin his next phase of star travel, creating a [[Webway]] portal under the Palace using the Golden Throne. Unfortunately, the Emperor's detachment from humanity created a great deal of rivalry and resentment among his sons, and his failure to fully explain matters to them only exacerbated the situation. The [[Chaos|Ruinous Powers]] were quick to take advantage of these weak spots, and slowly but steadily began to corrupt some of the [[Primarchs]].

This culminated with the [[Horus Heresy]].