Imperium Asunder

This page is a work in progress, part of the Imperium Asunder project, a fan remake of the warhammer 40 000 history.

Overview of the Project

It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the Galaxy has been beset by strife and torn by war. The Emperor, who had once dreamed of uniting the Galaxy under His banner, is long dead. Half of the Primarchs, his demigod sons turned against him, and in a climactic battle on Terra the Emperor was cast down. With his death, Terra was consumed by a Warpstorm and half the Imperium fell forever under the shadow of Chaos.

The Dark Imperium reigns in the ring of Segmentum Solar, where the watchful Eyes of the Warmaster consume the souls of the weak. A 1984 state of utter madness where groupthink doesn't even begin to describe things. The Warmaster's agents could be anywhere, and you can be sure they are watching you at all times. Dark foundries churn out metric gigatons of munitions for the Long War, Temples to the Gods of Chaos are found on every street and Daemons lurk in the shadows. Those who grow tired or too weak to work are never heard from again. Those who ask questions are never heard from again. Those who deviate, those who hesitate, all who are doubted even a hair, are never heard from again. Men who whisper dark rumors about the dark things that happen to those who are never heard from again, are never heard from again.

Surrounding the 'ordered' heartland of the Dark Imperium is the Chaos Marches, a screaming anarchy comprising hundreds of chaos warlord states. Some are ruled by Veterans of the Long War that still wear the colors of their legions, but most are ruled by warbands of outcasts, exiles and dissidents with their own ways. Some of these states may last for centuries or millenia, while others rise and fall in a matter of years. The borders between them are constantly shifting as Warlords rise and fall. The citizens of this area live in permanent fear that the Angels of Hell may come from the skies to reap and enslave, to sacrifice and feast.

To the east, across the mighty barrier that is the Firewall in what was once Ultima Segmentum lies the Eastern Imperium, the last lingering fragment of the Emperor's Dream. Yet even here that dream is a sham. The Eastern Imperium is not a united entity, but rather a fractous union of crusader states founded by the blessed loyalist primarchs long ago as they fled the fall of Terra. Imperium Minorum and their Angels of Light, the Forgespace of the Fists of Mars who maintain the Mechanicum in Exile, and in the far Ghoul Stars of the eastern fringe the Paladins of Kor keep their protectorate, where all worlds are safe, xenos or otherwise, so long as they pay fealty to their Astartes lords. These states war with one another as often as they war with the Lords of Chaos to the West, and border disputes often flare up into violence.

Segmentum Tempestus is a warzone. Like the ancient trenches of Verdun, Soldiers of the Dark Imperium and the Crusaders fortify their holes and fight the enemy when their commanders say charge. Thirteen such crusades have been called. Some are renowned as victories, such as the Second Crusade, where the Undying Scions reclaimed the Maelstrom Zone. But none have every truly altered the long, slow tide of defeat. For Chaos is rising, and none can slow it down.

To be a man in such times is to be living on the knife-edge. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody times imaginable, where extinction is just around the corner. These are the tales of those times. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for it died with the Emperor. Forget about unity, for brother against brother is the norm and even the Crusader States remain at each others throats. Forget the hope of final victory, for the inhumanity of man against his fellows is the iron currency of these times. In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.

Timeline

0. Big E creates & loses Primarchs

1. Great Crusade Starts

2. Conquers universe & finds Primarchs

3. Council of Nikeae

4. Warp Raiders go renegade

5. Bloodhounds are sent to bring them back into the fold [a plot from the Warmaster?]

6. Tournament of Blades [Definite plot]

7. The Great Hunt

8. Siege of Terra

9. Big E's Death

10. The Exodus // Death of Klaus Staffel // The Emergence of the Firewall

11. The Council of Titans

12. The Founding of the Crusader States

13. Random Junk for 5,000 years

14. Tau Empire arises in Ultima Segmentum

15. Tau Empire falls in Ultima Segmentum

16. Eldar Resurgent Empire arises in Segmentum Tempestus.

17. Current day.

Imperium Asunder Campaigns

Primarch Order

>1. REDACTED >2. Faustus Ascelpious >3. Raydon Neratos >4. Alexios the White >5. Markus Sinistrum >6. Sarco Funerus >7. Rubinek >8. Enoch the Relentless >9. Klaus Staffel >10. Engerand >11. Anders Kor >12. Xun Tohilcoatl >13. Kashaln >14. Aodhan Kael >15. Saul Sheridan >16. Balthasar Bornhold >17. Gengrat Vannevar >18. Oramar Elthiran >19. Anshul the Resplendant >20. Graha'nak

or

1. The Warmaster

2. Faustus

3. Raydon

4. Alexios

5. Marcus

6. Sarco

7. Rubinek

8. Aodhan

9. Klaus

10. Balthasar

11. Saul

12. Enoch

13. Engerand

14. Xun

15. Kashaln

16. Anders

17. Oramar

18. Anshul

19. Gengrat

20. Graha'nak

Bizzaro Characters

Few humans ever rise to a station of any particular consequence under the oppressive rule of the Warmaster, but from the obscure temple-world of Dimmamar arose such a man. Once a mere mortal, Sebastian Thor was squire to a prominent Excruciator of the Order Dissentia, and later the apprentice to the secret serviceman after he showed exceptional art and true fervour in his service to the Warmaster and the Path of Chaos. A devout Asuran, Thor succeeded his tutor's position in a time upheaval, during the agitating of the Warmaster's Imperium by a spymaster known only as the Apostic. The aforementioned brigand is infamous for passing information on to the foul traitors of the Sky Serpents and the Angels of Light, as well as causing a thousand minor supply issues and logistical failures across the Warmaster's Imperium throughout his time, contributing greatly to the regrettable state of total war that all citizens must endure and support. A scholar of daemon-lore and a man of conviction, the game of cat and mouse between Thor and the Apostic is well-storied, ranging over many decades, until finally the Excruciator located the dissident in the highest of offices - an Understudy Lord of the Orders called Goge Vandire. It is said that though he had man supporters, and the battle against them was fierce, Vandire was a mere clerk in nature, and had achieved all he did through naught but spiteful bureaucracy and tentative political connections. Even in his last moments, he regarded Thor with little more than a sneer of derision, claiming that he was "Too busy to die."

The events that followed are [RECORDS EXPUNGED] of [RECORDS EXPUNGED], subject to [RECORDS EXPUNGED]. Vandire was of course struck down and [RECORDS EXPUNGED]. There was no light, there are no rumours. Reformat this report.

Year	Event	Notes
ca. M30-M31	Eldar foreseeing the dark future for their race refit their starships into Craftworlds and leave the heart of their empire.
ca. 750.M30	Fall of the Eldar. The Eye of Terror erupts in the heart of the eldar empire as Slaanesh is born. She Who Thirsts tears billion of eldar souls from their bodies. Only the Exodite and craftworlds far from the empire and webway domains such as Commoragh survive. The eruption of psychic energy blows away the warp storms that had made interstellar travel impossible for thousands of years.
ca. 750.M30	The Primarch Project. The Emperor of Mankind learns warpcraft from the Chaos gods and uses it and advanced Lunar genetic engineering to create the primarchs and the gene-seed prototypes. The Chaos Gods steal the gestating primarchs from the Emperor's laboratory deep beneath Terra and scatter them across the galaxy.
ca. 780.M30	The Emperor's geneticists refine the creation of the gene-seed that will allow him to create the Space Marine Legions. The Emperor uses DNA samples from the Primarchs to create twenty Space Marine Legions. Grabya's Theorem demonstrates how Primarch genetic data could be used to stabilize genetic development of Space Marines. Sorian's Inductus Excelsus shows requirements for more warriors is vast. Accelerated gene-culturing techniques implemented, reducing processing time to create Space Marine to one year. However, accelerated gene-seed has unseen fundamental flaws.
ca. 784.M30	A brilliant boy is discovered in the great hives of Britannia on Terra. This boy is found to be REDACTED, one of the lost Primarchs. He is granted the REDACTED legion, for it was bred from his genetic code. The Emperor learns of him quickly, and assigns Malcador to raise the boy. The boy is promised he will rule the stars, but feels some resentment towards his neglectful father
ca. 805.M30	The Pacification of Luna. The Warmaster is given his first great martial task: the conquest of the moon. The Warmaster chose 20 men among his legion, and told them to infiltrate Luna and negate its defensive capabilities as best they could. Their voidshields disabled, their AA turrets scrapped, and their sensors jammed, the genosmiths of Luna were caught unawares when the first wave of Astartes attacked. Redacted's spies quickly learn that the leader of the Lunar defenders is another of the lost primarchs, Faustus Ascelpious. Contact is made, treaties drawn, and Luna is pacified as a triumphant victory for REDACTED. Faustus Ascelpious is brought into the fold by the Emperor of Man, and granted command of his IXth Legion.
ca. 805.M30	ca. 805.M30 The Emperor arrives on Mars.

Major Battles

The Tournament of Blades

The Warmaster calls a test of strength called the Tournament of Blades in honor of the Emperor. The winner of the tournament is to be named the Praetorian of Terra, tasked with guarding Segmentum Solar for all time. The Primarchs and their honor guard are invited to the newly compliant world of Cadia, where a mighty coliseum has been erected. There, brother will compete against brother to prove their superiority, and thus their worth to the Warmaster. The Judgement Bringers, Warhawks, The Knights Exemplar, Iron Hearts, Paladins of Kor, Silver Spears, Second Sons, Storm Hammers, Bohemoth Guard, Sky Serpents, and of course the Eyes of the Warmster, are all in attendance. The Loyalists are lead to believe that repulsor fields and Oathsworn medica teams will keep the tourney relatively safe, but they are fools to believe so.

Atlas

Important new planets in the Imperium Asunder Timeline go here.

Dark Imperium

Unholy Terra

Terra is a twisted, abominable reflection of its former glory. How humans can even survive on this twisted demon capitol in the heart of the swirling Eye of Terra is perplexing. Its been suggested that Terra is anchored partially in realspace by some powerful force; Whether this is the will of the divine Emperor as a true ascended god, or simply psychic echo, a vestige of his colossal psychic might that won't let Terra slip fully to chaos, it is impossible to tell.

Home to the Judgement Bringers.

Warmaster's Domains

Think Airstrip One

Chaos Marches

The bulk of the Dark Imperium, the Chaos Marches are vast swathes of space comprising most of Obscurus and Pacificus outside of those areas claimed by the main Chaos Legions. No one power claims command of this areas, instead hundreds of not thousands of separate forces vie with one another for control of small fractions of the Marches.

Dark Worlds

Main article: Dark Worlds

The Dark worlds are a truly terrifying sector to behold now that the Emperors light shines no more. The cluster, heavily reliant upon Imperial aid even before the great collapse, as secessionists, heretics and renegades were a constant threat. Loyalists were barely holding ground before, so it comes as no surprise that when the aid stopped arriving, many worlds fell, leaving few stranded worlds left.

The Dark worlds now are a Broken collection of petty states, Daemonic holdings, and renegade kingdoms, held together loosely by their collective hatred of anyone who wishes to invade the dark worlds. Woe befall those who wish to travel through this lawless section of space.

Home to the Behemoth Guard

Crusader States

Storm Kingdoms

Storm Hammers

Jade Empire

The domain of the Sky Serpents.

Imperium Minorum

"The precedence of the Imperium Minorum is a common view in the Imperium Minorum, but one must know that the foundations of the Jade Empire also date back to the crusade era. Now, Minorum was a pre-extant domain during the Dark Age, so whether or not we can really count it as a founding or if Alexios merely inherited a pre-extant domain can be disputed. On the other hand, the foundations of our own state are wholly distinct and spring forth clearly from the union of worlds conquered and forged into an empire by our own illustrious primarch." --from The Decline and Fall of the Western Empire by Eouddar Gibzon of the Jade Empire, M38

New Constantine isn't actually Alexios' homeworld, it's the first world his expeditionary fleet came across which refused peaceful compliance. He decided to make an example of them and burned their world to ash, rebuilding it as his own new Imperial world. He could easily have been discovered in Segmentum Solar, or western Ultima segmentum, or anywhere really.

How about this: Alexios's pod lands on Alexandria, a world in central Pacificus. Alexandria was a world of libraries, deep vault ships launched from Terra long ago brought library records as a sort of time capsule, seeking to conserve the knowledge of mankind as best they could, should something terrible happen to Terra. Alexios rose quickly among the clerk-priests of Alexandria, and soon he ruled the planet as Master of Relics. One night Alexios has a dream of a golden angel, coming in the clouds like a great beacon. The next day, his dream proved prophetic as the Emperor of Mankind, Beloved by all, came to Alexandria. Compliance was swift and welcome. Alexios was given command of his XIIth legion and the 99th Expeditionary fleet. Alexios chose to lead his expedition deeply through the warp to expand his father's realm, and found hmself in the far east of Ultima Segmentum. Many worlds knelt to Alexios as he had knelt to the Emperor, but eventually one stood defiant. The name of that world was expunged from all records of the 99th Expedition or the XIIth legion. All of the inhabitants of the world were purged, the seas boiled away, and the mountains bulldozed with massive constructor fleets. The planet was rebuilt with Imperial colonists, and named Constantine. Alexios made it his formal seat, establishing a military bureaucracy in the great basilicas of his golden city. From there, the Angels conquered many more worlds in the name of the Emperor of Mankind, Beloved by All.

Angels of Light

Forge Space

The domain of the Fists of Mars.

Unyielding Vigil

The domain of the Undying Scions.

Independent

Oathsworn

Found among the gene-wrights of Luna, the Primarch of the Hospitaliers and eventual Oathsworn was named Faustus after the Lunar archetype of doctors and sages. The young child grew in seclusion and raised to master every aspect of the flesh and form from the greatest minds on Luna in order to important every facet of gene forging into the rapidly growing boy. Through this harsh education the youth became a man in years, and soon after the leader of Luna itself. Heralded as the manifestation of their occult faith in the flesh, the gene masters propped him as both a holy symbol and a paragon of knowledge. Yet in his heart Faustus knew he was still mortal, and carried in secrecy a burgeoning love for all of mankind even as his foster parents taught him to despise the weak and inefficient. It was under their care and his command that Luna once more was united into one world just as Terra itself finished doing the same.

The Emperor, there seeking to tame the gene-wrights and their arcane sciences, sent for his legions astartes under the rule of the future warmaster. His spies were omnipresent, and all but sabotaged the initial defense of Luna. The first found Primarch almost captured the moon within six hours of the first gunshot, yet by Faustus' expertise and mastery of all things biological the Terran saboteurs were repelled and peace talks forced. Though every mortal on Luna felt fear in their heart for the Eyes of Luna as they were now called, Faustus himself would not be so easily broken. What was intended to be a declaration of defiance became a matter of annexation however when upon the delegations arrival Faustus met with the Warmaster and Emperor. The words that passed between them have long been lost, but legend recalls of terse words and labored dealings to secure his people's freedoms. In the end though, all acknowledge that the Primarch bent his knee to the Emperor, and became the head of the IXth legion.

The Kor Protectorate

Anders Kor and his Paladins reside in the Kor Protectorate to the galactic East, among the Exodite worlds of the Eldar. They preach tolerance and peace among all peoples, and allow anyone who wishes to live a fulfilling life to become a citizen. The Paladins of Kor police the Protectorate's worlds, and the Errant Paladins venture outside the borders to assist those who need their help. The Paladins are shock-troops that operate under heavy artillery support and work very well with any ally they may have. This includes xenos and peaceful heretics as well as Loyalist forces, which angers some of Anders' more conservative brothers.

Contested Territory

Tempestus Gap

The Tempestus Gap is the region dividing the Chaos Marches from the Crusader States, where the firewall comes to an end in the Tempestus Segmentum. The Chaos Marches and the Crusader States do not directly border each other here. Rather, the two are divided by a wide region of space which has no overall ruler. Millennia of warfare and raiding have reduced the Tempestus Gap to a cesspit of anarchy and misery. The continuous back-and-forth between Chaos warbands, Xenos pirates, and Crusader State expeditionary forces have gradually destroyed most infrastructure and nearly all governance. The average world of the Gap is helpless, with no knowledge of what happens beyond its system's boundaries and no navy or ground forces capable of holding off any but the most anemic raider.

On the Chaos side of the gap, the primary force is the Iron Hearts, who rule the line of fortress-worlds that forestall any attempt by the Crusader States to launch a raid through the gap into the Dark Imperium itself. On the far side, the Unyielding Vigil and the Forgespace maintain similar lines of defensive works. However, forces from all over the galaxy can make their way into the gap, lured by promises of glory, plunder, and blood, contributing even more to the utter anarchy.

The forces of Chaos and the Crusader States both occasionally attempt to establish a foothold here, but they rarely last. Such footholds almost inevitably attract attacks once they are discovered; even if one attack is beaten off, or two, or three, there will always be more, until the strongholds are reduced to dust. Planets which seek out some greater patron often meet the same fate; assuming, of course, that their patron doesn't have its own horrible fate in store for them. (This is more a Chaos or Xenos thing than a Crusader State thing; but I would be lying if I said that the loyalists had no atrocities to their name at all.)

For more information, some of the forces operating in the Gap have been detailed in Realm Guard and Mercenaries.

The Hunting Grounds

As the Iron Hearts, Forgespace, and the Unyielding vigil face off across the Tempestus Gap, so too do the Storm Kingdoms and the Bloodhounds face off across the Hunting Grounds. Above the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath, where the Firewall 'begins', there are the Hunting Grounds. This is a very different environment than the Tempestus Gap, despite the similarities in astrography. First, it's simply less dense than the Gap; further out on the galactic rim, stars are further apart, journey times are longer. Second, the temperament of the Bloodhounds are very different from the temperament of the Iron Hearts. Where the Iron Hearts are (relatively) content to keep to their fortress-line and leave the fighting in the gap to lesser warbands, the Bloodhounds regard the Hunting grounds as their personal, well, hunting grounds. The majority of Chaos forces operating in the Grounds are therefore either the Bloodhounds themselves or their direct vassals, affiliates, franchisees, and subordinates.

Which is not to say the Bloodhounds rule the grounds, of course. No; they cultivate it, as a game warden cultivates a hunting ground. A rapidly industrializing and militarizing world might be left alone for decades or centuries, so that it develops into a worthy and entertaining fight. Another might suffer relatively light yearly raids, to keep the population sufficiently cowed without ever dropping below sustainable levels. A third might be carefully goaded, calculated indignities heaped upon one another to encourage dreams of revenge- and an eventual fall to Khorne. Each warband has its own preferred methods and prey, and conflicts often arise when one poaching warband strays onto another's turf. Like cultivating bonsai, but with more chainswords and screaming.

In response, the Storm Kingdoms also have a generally higher level of activity in the Hunting Grounds than the Unyielding Vigil or Forgespace do in the Gap. Despite the sparsity of stars, direct Astartes-on-Astartes combat is commonplace in the Hunting Grounds. Which is just how the Bloodhounds like it- you will find little worthier prey than Astartes.

Legions

Loyalists

Primarch	Legion	Legion Number	Location	Specialisation
Raydon Neratos	Crimson Warhawks	II	Reaving the Dark Imperium	Masters of the sky & peerless void combatants
Marcus Sinistrum	Fists of Mars	III	Forge Space	Mechanised war fighters, Mechanicus in Exile.
Engerand	Storm Hammers	VI	Storm Kingdom	Heavy Infantry and shock assaults
Graha'nak	Void Lords	VIII	Contested Space	Planetary cleansing, terror tactics, and close combat.
Alexios the White	Angels of Light	XII	Imperium Minoris	Compliance and empire building
Xun Tohilcoatl	Sky Serpents	XIII	Jade Empire	Sorcery and encirclement tactics
Sarco Funerus	Undying Scions	XVIII	Unyielding Vigil	Armies of Dreadnoughts, the Wisdom and Fury of Ages.
Klaus Staffel	Knights Exemplar	XX	Tempestus Gap	Terminators and Single Combat

Renegades

Primarch	Legion	Legion Number	Location	Specialisation
Oramar Elthiran	Warp Raiders	V	Lost to the Warp	Students of Xenos lore, witchcraft, and technology.
Anders Kor	Paladins of Kor	X	Kor Protectrate	Masters of Coordination and Combined Arms
Faustus Ascelpious	Oathsworn	IX	Fleet Based Chapters	Apothecary Specialists. Claim Neutrality. Fragmented.

Traitors

Primarch	Legion	Legion Number	Location	Specialisation
REDACTED	Eyes of the Warmaster	XVI	Dark Imperium	Information Dominance and Deception
Balthasar the Bloody	Bloodhounds	I	Chaos Marches	Close combat specialists known for relentlessness and 'the hunt'.
Kashaln	Silver Spears	IV	The Warp, raiding Realspace	Infantry specialist with a prolific martial culture and oratory skills.
Enoch the Relentless	Judgement Bringers	VII	Dark Imperium	Experts of shock and awe, uncontested masters of ordnance.
Saul Sheridan	Second Sons	XI	Halo Stars	Driven mad by radiation on the Red Road to Terra. Irradiated cultists.
Rubinek	Iron Hearts	XVII	Dark Imperium	Hereteks with bionically enhanced endurance
Gengrat Vannevar	Behemoth Guard	XIV	Dark Worlds	Warpsmithing and technosorcery
Anshul the Resplendent	Arms of Asura	XV	Chaos Marches	Daemonic Posession and religious ritual.
Aodhán Kael	Negators	XIX	Commorragh	Anti-armour operations, rapid redeployment, monster slayers

Independent Astartes Factions

Name	Leader	Allegiance	Size	Location	Current Status
Diamond Watch	Cpt. Romero Whitefall	Loyalist	Hundreds	Planet Cystral	Lost (Destroyed)

Non-Astartes Factions

Leader	Name	Location	Specialisation
Isador Vanth	Archaeotect Collective	Far Galactic North	Human refugees of the Heresy embraced by an ancient nanomachine collective.
Muirthandril	Resurgent Eldar Empire	Southern Tempestus	Make the Eldar Empire great again!
Various	Realm Guard and Mercenaries	Throughout the Galaxy	Not being space marines