The year is 030.M42, and the Imperium is still standing.
Barely, but it is standing.
Time and time again in the last thirty years the Imperium has come to the brink, but by the grace of the Emperor it has clawed back from the abyss each time.
Cadia, forever shall her sacrifice be remembered, has fallen. Annihilated by the hulk of the Blackstone Fortress crashing onto it, nothing but a lifeless, volcanic rock remains of the once mighty bastion of Imperial power, and the foul forces of Chaos pass freely through the Cadian Gate.
More and more Hive Fleets approach the galaxy, and though the eternal meatgrinder of Octarius has kept their greatest number occupied, a thousand Splinter Fleets ravage the Ultima Segmentum. Of Baal there is no word, for the Shadow shrouds all, the last transmission out of the system being that of Dante leading an Angelic Host of Blood Angels and their successors against the numberless hordes of the great Leviathan.
Orks are on the move in numbers never before seen, and the mighty Warboss Ghazghkull has been spotted in each of the five Segmentums, whipping nascent Waaaghs into full gear.
Even the undying Legions of the Necrons are arising, and reclaiming their long-lost empires. Imotekh the Stormlord rules over large swathes of the Segmentum Ultima, and there are whispers of a ruler even greater than he returning from the depths of aeons.
But the realms of the Emperor are vast, and His armies mighty. Entire Sectors have been stripped bare of defences, their populations either conscripted en-masse or tithed to the point of starvation. The Adepts of Mars have tapped into their deepest wells of knowledge, unleashing techno-arcana not seen since the days of the Heresy. Even the Adeptus Custodes, the eternal sentinels of Terra, have been spotted leaving the Throneworld in their thousands to bolster faltering frontlines.
And through unimaginable sacrifice and heroism, the Imperium stands.
Armageddon is in imperial hands once more, the Orks relegated to ever-smaller warbands marauding across the ash wastes. Cadian Gate may have been lost, but already the Arch-Enemy has begun to fracture and a defensive cordon has been established across Segmentum Obscurus, the 13th Black Crusade ground down into a bloody standstill.
Counterattacks all across the galaxy have seen the Xenos and the Heretics held at bay, and though swathes of territory have been forced to be abandoned as indefensible, the Imperium stands now in a position to consolidate its position, to secure its flanks and strike back.
To such an end, the 27th Founding has been declared. Over a hundred Chapters have gone extinct in the last hundred years alone, and those that survive are badly understrength. New blood is needed to bolster the Imperium's premier fighting force.
And that task falls to you. You are one of the newly-elevated Chapter Masters, a veteran of your bloodline and a savant of warfare, now given the duty of raising a new brotherhood to fulfill His will.
Barely, but it is standing.
Time and time again in the last thirty years the Imperium has come to the brink, but by the grace of the Emperor it has clawed back from the abyss each time.
Cadia, forever shall her sacrifice be remembered, has fallen. Annihilated by the hulk of the Blackstone Fortress crashing onto it, nothing but a lifeless, volcanic rock remains of the once mighty bastion of Imperial power, and the foul forces of Chaos pass freely through the Cadian Gate.
More and more Hive Fleets approach the galaxy, and though the eternal meatgrinder of Octarius has kept their greatest number occupied, a thousand Splinter Fleets ravage the Ultima Segmentum. Of Baal there is no word, for the Shadow shrouds all, the last transmission out of the system being that of Dante leading an Angelic Host of Blood Angels and their successors against the numberless hordes of the great Leviathan.
Orks are on the move in numbers never before seen, and the mighty Warboss Ghazghkull has been spotted in each of the five Segmentums, whipping nascent Waaaghs into full gear.
Even the undying Legions of the Necrons are arising, and reclaiming their long-lost empires. Imotekh the Stormlord rules over large swathes of the Segmentum Ultima, and there are whispers of a ruler even greater than he returning from the depths of aeons.
But the realms of the Emperor are vast, and His armies mighty. Entire Sectors have been stripped bare of defences, their populations either conscripted en-masse or tithed to the point of starvation. The Adepts of Mars have tapped into their deepest wells of knowledge, unleashing techno-arcana not seen since the days of the Heresy. Even the Adeptus Custodes, the eternal sentinels of Terra, have been spotted leaving the Throneworld in their thousands to bolster faltering frontlines.
And through unimaginable sacrifice and heroism, the Imperium stands.
Armageddon is in imperial hands once more, the Orks relegated to ever-smaller warbands marauding across the ash wastes. Cadian Gate may have been lost, but already the Arch-Enemy has begun to fracture and a defensive cordon has been established across Segmentum Obscurus, the 13th Black Crusade ground down into a bloody standstill.
Counterattacks all across the galaxy have seen the Xenos and the Heretics held at bay, and though swathes of territory have been forced to be abandoned as indefensible, the Imperium stands now in a position to consolidate its position, to secure its flanks and strike back.
To such an end, the 27th Founding has been declared. Over a hundred Chapters have gone extinct in the last hundred years alone, and those that survive are badly understrength. New blood is needed to bolster the Imperium's premier fighting force.
And that task falls to you. You are one of the newly-elevated Chapter Masters, a veteran of your bloodline and a savant of warfare, now given the duty of raising a new brotherhood to fulfill His will.
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