The Time of Change - 42nd Millennium and Beyond [Part 1]

Okay, here's what I've been working on lately - why I haven't made much progress on Project: Urban Holmes like I probably should have. But, I'm still writing, right? Anyway, here's a look into the future of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe, and this is my take as to what might happen when the official 'canon' ends. Complete with Bob Dylan lyrics. Here's the first part to get you into it - and I'll put up part two tommorow. If you enjoyed it, or not either  leave feedback below, or over at the Black Library Bolthole, here: http://www.thebolthole.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1650

The Time of Change

The 42^nd Millennium and Beyond

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

~Bob Dylan, These times they are a changin’

As the Galaxy entered the 42^nd Millennium, something terrible happened to the Imperium of Man. There was no glorious ending, as Russ had said that he would come to witness, for the Golden Throne finally stopped working, the Emperor crumbing to ruins before the distraught bodyguards, who watched in horror as their leader met an untimely end. And, the galaxy wept as news reached the corners of the Imperium. No longer did they have an Emperor to worship, and their belief in the Emperor’s divinity was shattered, creating a huge divide in not just the Imperium, but also throughout the entire galaxy.

The Imperium crumbled, splitting into several fractures. Smaller empires emerged in the wake of one last one, old age feuds coming to the forefront between those who would once give their lives for one another, in the name of the Emperor. Thousands of mini-Imperiums were created in the aftermath of this one, although none would ever emerge as strong as the great one, simply due to the reasons that they lacked warp-travel, as with the death of the Golden Throne had come the death of the Astronomican, and they also lacked sufficient numbers to conquer vast amounts of territories. In the time when the forces of man needed to stand together on a united front against both the threat of Chaos and the xenos, they were now more divided than ever before.

The Space Marines didn’t fare as well as they would have hoped. Whilst many remained true to the ideals of the Emperor, there were several Chapters that fell, destroyed in battle by the outnumbering alien hordes, or simply just turned renegade themselves. Indeed, the most effective traitor force that emerged since the fall of the Emperor was a large force of Flesh Tearers, having finally fallen to Chaos, and lead by the Daemon Prince Gabriel Seth, conquered many worlds near their homeworld in the name of Khorne, the Blood God.

One of the greatest incidents that has been recorded in history took place shortly after the Imperium’s demise. Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines, awoke from his stasis field not long after being declared fully, and defiantly dead, in an act that at any other time in history, would have caused the Ultramarines Chapter to rejoice. However, sadly – this was not the case. The 2^nd Company of the Ultramarines, lead by Captain Sicarus, believed that Guilliman, their Primarch – had been tainted by the Chaos Gods, how else could he have returned from the dead like that? Those who joined Guilliman’s forces believed that Sicarus was merely jealous of the fact that with the awakening of Guilliman, he would not get to command the Ultramarines after the recent death of Marneus Calgar, who failed to survive a surprise boarding attack from an overwhelming boarding force of Red Corsairs, lead by Huron Blackheart himself. Huron has since taken the Gauntlets of Ultramar for his own, wearing them to battle whenever he faces the Ultramarines, to remind them of the death of Calgar.

If anybody could restore the Imperium of Man to its former glory, it would have been Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines, the Master Tactician, and roughly half of the Ultramarines that now joined his side, under the influence of Varro Tigurius, Chaplain Cassius and Agemman, the First Captain of the Ultramarines, and a large portion of the Ultramarines elite. It seemed that this civil war would indeed be a battle of the old and the young, as Sicarus had gained the support of several newly initiated marines, as well as the famous Fourth Company, lead by Uriel Ventris, overcome with anger and revenge after half of his company had been abandoned on a nearby planet named Ravendor Secondus, where the Great Devourer was allowed to overcome them completely.

Whilst Guilliman was dealing with the insurgents in his own realm, the entire Galaxy remained at war. Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, the self-proclaimed ‘Prophet of the Waaagh!’ conducted his strongest assault on Armageddon yet. However, he was not alone. With the death of the Emperor, Angron, the World Eaters Primarch – was no longer banished to the Eye of Terror and set forth to launch a new Dominion of Fire, where several worlds burned beneath the blitzkrieg attack of the Khornate forces under his command. Heading for Armageddon, he looked set to plunge the planet into a three-way battle, between the Orks, the Imperium, and Chaos. All the while, more reinforcements from the Imperium were re-diverted to meet this threat, and several Space Marine Chapters birthed to meet it, the most prominent being the White Scars descendants Armageddon’s Avengers, lead by Chapter Master Mong’ol Thorn, who were one of the key forces stationed on the planet during the darkest days of the Imperium.

The Tau Empire expanded shortly after the death of the Emperor, claiming a large chunk of the Eastern Fringe particularly after the infighting of the Ultramarines meant that many of their forces were forced to withdraw from Eastern worlds, and those humans that were left behind gave into the Tau Empire without much a fight. The Eldar, on the other hand, performed several surgical strikes for an unknown purpose around the homeworld of the Tau, forcing them to not expand as they had done so initially, but divert several forces back to their homeworld, in case that was where the Eldar struck next. For some reason, the Dark Eldar also participated in several strikes around the Tau Empire as well, never coming into direct conflict with their cousins, always staying at arm’s length from the Eldar.

The Necrons remained largely inactive at this point in history. There was no massed invasion, and some believed that they had finally decided to leave this Galaxy altogether, like several Space Marine Chapters had attempted to do, to try and start a new life for humanity elsewhere. However, it soon became apparent that they were waiting. Waiting for what though, none could say. The galaxy could only hope and pray that it would not see the end of them.