The fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000 is very well thought out and has a rich history in which key stages can be identified. The first of these can be called the birth of the Emperor in 9000 BC and the birth of the Chaos Gods - Khorne, Tzeentch and Nurgle - in 8000 BC.
Mastering the habitable universe
In the 22nd century, people colonized Mars and began to master interstellar travel. The breakthrough came several thousand years later with the discovery of the Warp (Universal Extramaterial Interspace, Immaterium, Empyrean, Ether, Ocean of Souls, Realm of Chaos), in which it was possible to travel at superluminal speeds. The expansion lasted ten thousand years and spanned a million worlds.
In the 21st millennium, unfamiliar races were discovered - the Eldar (elf-like humanoids) and the Orcs (half-humanoids, half-plants). Wars began with them and between the people themselves.
Psyker navigators have appeared - people with a special gene who can influence the world with the help of the forces of the Warp and make travel in it faster and safer. And then the demons of Chaos, the inhabitants of the Warp, entered the scene. They possessed psykers, causing enormous damage to people and ships.
Warp storms hit the world, making interstellar travel impossible, and the empire fell into small pieces. The Era of Isolation of Free Settlers began, which was paralleled first by the Era of Breakthrough, and then by the Era of Trade.
In the 25th millennium, the fading Eldar civilization created the Virgin Worlds - they mastered lifeless planets. Later, most of them will die.
The Adeptus Mechanicus, the technocrats of the Imperium based on Mars, began to actively explore the inhabited universe.
In the 28th millennium, many free settler worlds perished after the invasion of a huge orc fleet, which marked the beginning of the Age of Wars.
First base
In the 30th millennium, the Emperor of Mankind (aka the God-Emperor or simply the Emperor), an ancient and powerful psyker, founded the Astronomicon, a psionic navigation system, and began the Great Crusade to retake the colonies. For 200 years, he united the human worlds into the Imperium.
Horus Heresy
From his own genetic material, the Emperor created 20 primarchs, who later became the leaders of the Imperium's legions of bio-modified Space Marines. But the forces of Chaos scattered capsules with unborn primarchs throughout the world. And when the Emperor finally found them, many had already changed greatly under the influence of Chaos - both in body and in their worldview.
But they remained loyal to him until the betrayal of the Warmaster - the Primarch Horus, deceived by Chaos - and the primarchs and legions that followed him, called the Chaos Space Marines. A long civil war began, which went down in history as the Horus Heresy. As a result, the Emperor defeated Horus, but he himself was mortally wounded and connected by the tech-priests of Mars to the Golden Throne - a special life support complex. Where it has been for a hundred centuries.
Fall of the Eldar
The era was also marked by the Fall of the Eldar - the death of almost the entire Eldar civilization due to the psionic cry of the newborn Chaos god Slaanesh. Their sector of space was swallowed up by the giant black hole, the Eye of Terror. Only those who had previously flown away on the Ship Worlds, colossal starships, were saved.
These events were called “Warhammer 30,000” in the gaming world.
The Lords of Terra, in order to avoid a repetition of the Horus Heresy, carried out a global reorganization of the Space Marine Legions in the 21st year of the 31st millennium and created the Orders of the Space Marines, smaller units of the best warriors of humanity, 1000 people each. Thus, the largest Ultramarines Legion that survived the war was divided into 23 successor Orders, carrying the gene-seed of the founding primarchs.
Codex Astartes
The Primarch of the Ultramarines Legion, Roboute Guilliman, streamlined the structure of the Imperial Guard, Imperial Navy and Space Marines, creating the Codex Astartes. It includes all the information from insignia to tactics for conducting campaigns to capture the planet. For many Orders this book is sacred.
Over the next ten thousand years, 26 more foundations were held to maintain the number of loyal troops. They met with varying degrees of success, one of them being known as the Cursed Foundation due to the strong mutations that caused the Marine to lose control. New Chapters create the Adeptus Mechanicus from the preserved gene-seed of existing Chapters, growing progenoids in the bodies of slaves and implanting them into Space Marines.
Faith in the Divine Emperor became the binding force of the Imperium. But it also became the reason for the emergence of many fanatics. Ironically, the Emperor himself denied the existence of any gods (although he knew of the Chaos Gods), and under him the Imperium was an exclusively atheistic state.
At the end of the 35th millennium, the first contact took place with the Tau civilization, which was primitive at that time.
Age of Apostasy
By the 36th millennium, the Imperium was torn by internal conflicts. happened on Terra bloody massacres for power. The leaders of the Oficio Assassinorum, the imperial organization of elite assassins, also died. After this, a special department of the Inquisition was created to oversee it. The weakened outskirts were constantly attacked by orcs and other races.
The end of the 38th millennium was marked by the Skopos Incident. The buildings of the Adeptus Mechanicus were captured by unknown aliens - the Necrons (necrons, a race of mechanical warriors created from the Necrontyr, ancient humanoids). The troops sent to destroy them suffered heavy losses and retreated. It was possible to destroy the enemy only by orbital bombardment.
In the 40th Millennium, a group of renegade Tech-Priests travel to the Eye of Terror to create the giant Planet Killer ship under the leadership of Abaddon the Despoiler, leader of the Chaos Space Marines.
Gothic War
The Gothic War began in 138 of the 41st millennium. It is known for its grandiose space battles. Abaddon assembled a huge fleet and led the forces of Chaos into the Gothic sector. The blast wave cut off the sector from the Warp, and the world is isolated.
The distant planet Purgatory was destroyed along with its population. One after another, the defensive orbital fortress stations fell.
By 142, the forces of the Imperium began to stabilize the situation on individual fronts. In addition, given the border area, numerous clashes began between the Chaos fleet and the Orc fleet. Eldar ships also opposed them.
In 150, the Battle of Gesefman was a turning point. The forces of the Imperium forced the remnants of the Chaos fleet to retreat back into the Warp.
Tyranid Wars
In 745 of the 41st millennium, the first contact took place with a previously unknown race - the Tyranids. A research station on the planet Tyrant was destroyed by their hive fleet, the Behemoth. The Tyranids consumed planets, turning them into rocky wastelands. The fleet was driven back, but the fighting resulted in the complete loss of the First Ultramarines Division.
Two hundred years later, a new massive Tyranid invasion began with the Kraken hive fleet. He was defeated with the help of the Eldar. Hive Fleet Leviathan headed for Holy Terra, was nearly destroyed, but still continues to launch surgical strikes on Imperial worlds.
Wars for Armageddon
At the end of the 41st millennium, the planet Armageddon, one of the most important navigation hubs of the Imperium, experienced an invasion of orcs led by Ghazghkull, which turned into a bloody war. Only the appearance of the Space Marines - the Ultramarines, Salamanders and Blood Angels - could turn the tide of the war in favor of the people.
They managed to destroy a significant number of orcs, but many of them disappeared into the jungle and are still hunted by fighter teams. The cities lay in ruins, their restoration was still far away. These are the consequences of the second war for Armageddon. The first occurred one and a half thousand years before, when the demons of Chaos tried to capture the planet.
A few decades later, the third war for Armageddon occurred, known as the Return of the Beast. Ghazghkull returned with the largest fleet in ten thousand years and attacked the sector despite the strengthened planetary defenses. The imperial fleet that arrived to help was better equipped, but several times smaller in number. After lengthy battles in space and on the planet, the orcs were driven back, but both sides suffered huge losses, and Armageddon was almost destroyed.
By 999 of the 41st millennium, the Necrons resume their attacks and the threat of a new invasion by the forces of Chaos is discovered. The latest editions of the game and, in particular, the Warhammer 40,000: Dark Vengeance starter set are based on these and other events of the 40-41 millennia.
This year Warhammer 40,000 celebrates its thirtieth anniversary: in October 1987, the first rule book in this universe was released - Rogue Trader. And today we would like to give you the opportunity to learn about how the setting of the distant and dark future was created.
Translation and editing: the team of the group " Tube transmission »
Material published with permission from the administration
John Blanchet- Games Workshop lead artist, draws and directs creation appearance Warhammer 40,000 is now 25 years old. He is also responsible for creating some of the most famous and key illustrations of the setting.
Jervis Johnson left an indelible mark on Warhammer 40,000 that has been reflected for two and a half decades, both in the codexes he wrote and in the rules themselves.
Alan Merrett, the guardian of Warhammer 40,000 lore, making sure it stays dark and grim. He is also the author of key projects such as Horus Heresy: Collected Visions.
To celebrate Warhammer 40,000's 25th anniversary, we've brought together some of its main creators, in an attempt to illuminate the journey from humble beginnings to one of the most popular tabletop games.
Alan: The first thing that happened, even before the release of Rogue Trader, was the release of a Space Marine miniature.
Jervis: It doesn't sound so strange these days, but back then (around 1985, if I remember correctly) we mostly made fantasy miniatures. It was the era of Warhammer Fantasy Battles.
Alan: It was a Bob Naismith model that we released with Space Pirates. It sold very well, and we ordered more Space Marines from Bob, deciding to create a game with them.
Blanchet: Rick Priestley was commissioned to write it as he was the mastermind behind Warhammer FB and my involvement revolved around the artwork. Although it wasn't so much drawing, it was hiring and coordinating everyone we knew who could competently wield a pencil and brush.
Jervis: This book eventually became Rogue Trader, or more officially Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.
Blanchet: It was a very loud name, but it reflected the essence of the project well. He was clumsy and multi-directional, but that was precisely what gave him a special charm. We had a small group of people who felt like they were creating something important, whether it was the logo, the images or the rules, it was all created with love and was truly special.
Alan: The name itself was great accidental genius. When Rick wrote the book, working title was Rogue Trader. We had been promising Citadel fans for a long time that we would release something under this title, so in our minds this was exactly what we needed. And when someone suggested, I don't remember who, that since our most popular gaming system was Warhammer, why don't we use that brand too?
So we decided to call it Warhammer and add a number to differentiate it from the fantasy game.
Jervis: I remember the then owner of GW, Brian Ansel, suggested "Warhammer 4000", but Rick said that if we put a number in the name, it would be a really big one, so we added another zero.
Blanchet: The game was, of course, more than just a name. But I laugh every time I tell people this: they think we have a well-thought-out plan, when what we did was pure improvisation. It was a punk game, it really had something counter-cultural about it. The dark atmosphere and crazy scenes in the art, it was definitely a product of that time.
Alan: Like John said, we didn't have any general plan. What we take for granted in 40,000ers came out of necessity. As you may remember, we were primarily producing fantasy miniatures, and our boss at the time, Brian, said to Rick, “You do realize that all the models we put out have to be compatible with your game?” Rick's genius was that he did not see this as an obstacle, and was able to turn this situation to his advantage. This helped create the 41st millennium - instead of standard science fiction, we have science fantasy: a distant future in which space elves, space dwarves, space orcs and humanity fight.
Blanchet: If I remember correctly, it was planned to release a set of weapons for fantasy miniatures so that they could be converted to 40k. Miniature designers, however, had other ideas. So instead of just converting existing orcs, they started creating new ones from scratch - they all had "coal bucket" helmets and a general Hell's Angels look (biker club - approx. ed.).
Alan: The rest of the factions soon followed. Instead of conversion kits, you received actual Eldar and Squat miniatures.
Jervis: That's why the Rogue Trader's bestiary is so varied: it's filled with vampires, Catachan devils, and other crazy creatures that, funnily enough, looked like Citadel's monster catalogs for role-playing games.
Alan: Yes, Rick included them all, giving the then Space Marines and Imperial Guard plenty of creatures to kill. In fact, the Rogue Trader Bek was quite imperium-centric, and it is important to note that Chaos was still barely mentioned.
Blanchet: Well, Chaos has always been there, you can’t imagine 40k without it - it’s the Yin to the Yang of the Imperium. It’s just that at that stage we were not ready to delve into it. The soon-to-be-released Realms of Chaos books brought the pantheon of Chaos, in all its glory, to both FB and 40k. A lot of work went into developing those books. I remember drawing the demons for the cover, not fully realizing how important those images and signature silhouettes would become in later years.
Jervis: The addition of Chaos was extremely important; If the Rogue Trader gave the Imperium a myriad of external enemies, then the book "Realms of Chaos" gave them an even more insidious enemy - a threat from within, one that they themselves were responsible for creating.
Alan: Well, I think you were most likely responsible for creating Chaos, Jervis.
Jervis: I just used what Rick had already come up with long before. When we were developing Adeptus Titanicus, we could only afford to put one frame of Warlord Titans in the box. So we needed some reason for these giant war machines, which looked exactly the same, to fight each other. Idea Civil War seemed obvious, and I started looking through Rick's writing for something I could use. I think it was in "Chapter Approved" which you helped write, right Alan?
Alan: I was only doing arm lists. But I understand what you're saying. Rick wrote an almost imperceptible passage about a civil war that happened ten thousand years ago. Rick added it simply to make the backing a little more mythical in tone, to add texture to these giant stretches of time.
Jervis: Exactly, and as we have already mentioned, people often mistake these fortunate coincidences for part of some Great Plan. But this little text gave me exactly the explanation for why these identical models were fighting each other, and from that the Horus Heresy was born.
John: It is from such small seeds that great ideas grow. I've always been fascinated by how Chaos was quickly incorporated into this Civil War idea and subsequently permeated the entire 40K setting. I love finding examples like this of great ideas being born.
Alan: We already mentioned “Chapter Approved,” and looking back at this expansion now, you begin to understand how we were in a hurry to keep up with our own creation.
Jervis: That's right - we released the kraken, the game was flying off the shelves and people were already playing it in ways we never would have thought possible.
Alan: Rick created Warhammer as a skirmish game. A huge number of scenarios required a Game Master, but people were putting up big battles, so we started creating arm lists.
Jervis: Vehicle rules were released, followed by improved melee rules. We were releasing new models, including plastic kits like Rhino, and they all needed supported rules.
Alan: Since the early nineties, we realized that Rogue Trader was becoming absolutely unwieldy. The player needed to have several books and issues of White Dwarf in order to play properly. Something had to be done.
Jervis: Warhammer 4th Edition (Fantasy Battles) showed us that releasing boxes full of Citadel miniatures and all the necessary rules for the game is the best solution. This proves that the 2nd Edition 40K format was the logical choice.
John: That was very interesting time to work in the Design Studio on projects such as Warhammer 40,000. The colors were bright and rich. The Space Marine on the box was a deep red color that was eye-catching. In the box itself, the equipment book was bright yellow. I don't think we realized it at the time, but subconsciously it reflected how we felt both creatively and as a company. We were confident and positive about our achievements.
Alan: Games Workshop has entered a new era of growth and we have opened many new Hobby Centers around the world. And you're right, John, that was reflected in the products we were releasing at the time.
Jervis: Along with the 40k rebirth, the entire "internal" content of the game system was added to the main product so that no one had to worry about who had the necessary White Dwarf edition. This freed our hands as writers and designers. This meant that we could concentrate on unexplored areas of the Galaxy, most obviously through the use of Codexes.
Alan: Of course, we followed the path previously paved by Warhammer (Fantasy Battles) with its arm books and arm lists. Before this, individual books dedicated to one faction or race were extremely rare in any wargame. A notable exception was all those Orc books we published during the Rogue Trader era. But this is just an example of what happens when the owner of your company is absolutely obsessed with greenskins!
Jervis: Don't forget about the miniatures that were in this box. This was our second release of plastic Space Marines and Jes Goodwin did an excellent job on them, finally cementing the look of the 'modern' Space Marine as we know it today.
Alan: Then in 1998 the third edition appeared, and with it, a new direction for us.
Jervis: The armies of players grew larger along with the growth of their collections, and, to be honest, the game system could no longer cope with this. It was very easy to get bogged down in close combat, playing a single fight throughout the entire game, and the models hardly used their guns to their full potential.
John: We also saw this as an opportunity to make the darkness of the distant future “dark” again.
Alan: We decided to turn to Rogue Trader for inspiration. If most of The nineties reflected our optimism; by the end of the decade we were yearning for 40K to return to its roots.
Jervis: This caused major changes to the rules - so major that we had to redo all the Codes from scratch. Of course, by this time players were already used to using the codex for their collection, which is why we needed to release a book for each army as soon as possible. To do this, we decided to release smaller, more functional codexes.
Alan: I think they were too functional. Without background and only a small number of illustrations, the books have lost something very important. So once we completed a viable line of Codexes, we went back to producing much larger Arm Books with more meaningful stories, illustrations, and everything else we love and appreciate about Codexes.
John: For me, the chance to re-evaluate our art collection and frame it in the context of a bleak, war-torn future was the greatest achievement of the third edition.
Jervis: The fourth edition was developed in a similar vein. We've gotten really good at producing Codexes, but I think this edition will be remembered for the Expansions era. Then the Apocalypse appeared.
Alan: It's interesting that you mentioned Apocalypse, because Forge World and those massive resin models they produced were very influenced by it. Without their Titans and Super Heavy Equipment, Apocalypse simply would not be what it is now.
John: Don't forget some of our plastic kits of similar scale.
Jervis: Indeed - Stompu, Baneblade and all its variants. When we were working on 40K 25 years ago, it would have been impossible to think that we could produce plastic kits of this size and this complexity. It makes you wonder what will await us in another 25 years, in the future.
Alan: Well, I can say with confidence that it will be dark, it will be gloomy, and there will definitely be war there...
When the sun goes down
And the world goes into darkness,
The flame tears through the darkness
And ale flows into goblets -
Shouldn't we sing sagas?
like dwarves do!
Sigmar's Saga, Warhammer Rulebook
...The discordant ranks of goblins parted and released three little green men, frantically waving huge cast-iron balls on chains. The fanatics crashed into the left flank of the Breton regiment and began their murderous path, crushing bones and taking off heads. Having lost about half of the soldiers, the Bretons wavered and were ready to flee, but from afar they heard the clatter of hooves. These could only be the valiant Kislev lancers! The Breton commander had already opened his mouth to order the soldiers to change formation, but a stray ball from an ogre cannon forever deprived him of the ability to speak. The fight continued.
Curved mirror
Name: Warhammer Fantasy
Emergence: 1981 new era of our world
Creators: Games Workshop
Origin: military tactical board game with miniatures
Manifestations: computer games, collectible card game, literature
Many fantasy writers and game developers try their best to make their world as original as possible. Someone moves the action to Southern Hemisphere, in order to “break stereotypes,” some go inside a hollow planet or to a space station, others add robots to their universe, endow its inhabitants with several lives, or do something else sophisticated. Sometimes it turns out to be truly original.
But there is another school, to which several very good authors also belong. These, on the contrary, try to make their world as recognizable as possible. This is how, for example, Harry Turtledove's Videss is structured: typical Byzantium with its surroundings, only the west and east have swapped places. This approach provides completely new opportunities. Firstly, there is no need to get bogged down in details: once the reader understands what this or that people is like, he will figure out the rest himself. Secondly, you can endlessly play on all sorts of puns, grotesque parallels with reality, and so on.
The fantasy “Hammer of War” belongs precisely to this type.
Take a look at the map. The slightly crumpled Americas, Africa, and Antarctica immediately catch the eye. True, Eurasia was pretty crippled, and in the area Bermuda Triangle some kind of overgrown atoll is hanging out. Let's take a closer look at “Eurasia”... In the east is Cathay, next to it is the kingdom of Indus. In “Europe” the names are not so familiar, but you can hear something familiar in them: Estalia, Bretonnia, Praag, Altdorf...
Let's take a closer look...
Humanity
Humans are the most essential, largest, and most diverse race of almost any fantasy world. In "Hammer of War" they are spread throughout "Eurasia" and represent a motley kaleidoscope of nations, religions and cultures.
Empire
The center of human civilization is the Empire, apparently the largest of the monolithic states of this world. It occupies the middle of the local “Europe” and consists of a number of counties, the rulers of which - the electors, or electors - elect the emperor, as was the case in the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. At the moment, Emperor Karl-Franz has been elected and reigns.
The most influential religion of the Empire is the belief in Sigmar, the once mortal hero who drove back the hordes of Chaos. There are others, like the cult of the Wolffather Ulric. In general, faith is not imposed; there are plenty of “heretics” and even atheists. Recently, the Sigmarite faith has weakened somewhat due to corruption among the priests, but the young and energetic reformer and soothsayer Luther Huss corrected the matter. Science, trade, and crafts flourish in the Empire. The University, the Engineering Academy, and magic guilds are located here.
The Empire is the center of opposition to Chaos. But it is not at all an “ideal kingdom” and not a “stronghold of goodness.” There are ideological fighters against evil here, and those who simply honestly perform their duty, and ordinary burghers who care mainly about their wallets... there are also many who, for one reason or another, have given themselves over to Chaos. But since it is no secret to anyone how dangerous life is beyond the more or less guarded borders of the Empire, the majority realizes that the state must be preserved and protected. Each county, in case of need, fields a large army, which includes commoner soldiers, sword-bearing guards, noble knights, and rabble of unknown origin - free companies.
The Empire's military strength is not only numerous, but also diverse. Its basis is infantry (the most popular weapon is a halberd or musket), the “tip of the spear” is knightly orders, and its main feature is Combat vehicles from the Engineering Academy of Nuln.
The fact is that in the world of the “Hammer of War” gunpowder is known. It was invented relatively recently by dwarven engineers - and they shared it fraternally (and perhaps for the appropriate amount) with their allies from the Empire. They approached the issue on a grand scale - and now the range of “trunks” from imperial gunsmiths far exceeds those of the dwarves. In addition to the musket and cannon (which they doubled in size), there are multi-barreled guns, mortars, something like a sniper rifle, and “death to all living things” - a nine-barreled mitrailleuse gun.
But that’s not all: in order to completely suppress common sense with the power of the human mind, the cannon is mounted on cart wheels, covered with armor and placed under the lid of a steam boiler. This monster is called a “tank”: it will crush the darkness of enemies until the boiler hits.
The empire is large and not all of its territory is respected central government. The counts are trying to “clean” their lands, but there are enough wild forests, wastelands and just outskirts where you can’t, and you’ll meet an orc, a rat, or even worse. But these are mere flowers compared to what begins beyond the borders of Karl-Franz’s state.
Chaos
Evil in the world of War Hammer is abundant and varied, but it also has an ideological basis. It's called "Chaos". Chaos is a cult of power and permissiveness, worshiped by many thousands. The faith is centered on four gods: Khorne, the god of war and murder, Tzeentch, the god of distortion, transformation and black magic, Nurgle, the god of decay and infection, and Slaanesh, the god of forbidden pleasures. Each of this lovely company has its own army - these are demons, beastmen, people, and other creatures. They usually work together, but this is not necessary.
Those who decide to worship Chaos gather in the north of the world. There they undergo natural selection, indulge in all sorts of abominations, and from time to time, when the gods call, they come to the southern lands to establish the “true faith.” Until now, they have regularly received a blow, but all this has not been cheap for the imperials and their allies. Moreover, on the outskirts of the Empire and other human lands, gangs of undead beastmen settled, and in some places in the cities - unidentified allies of Chaos.
Spawns of Chaos are not distinguished by their aesthetic appearance, but they are effective on the battlefield.
Chaos works not only with fire and sword - that would be too stupid. On the contrary, in his arsenal there are all kinds of temptation. Have you been offended? Do you want revenge? A servant of Khorne will put an ax in your hand in time, and then you won’t be able to wash yourself off - you’ll have to go to the forest gang. Do you like to live for your own pleasure? Surely you'll like some juicy stuff from Slaanesh. Are you looking for the secrets of the universe? Tzeentch has been aware of them for a long time. It’s just that Nurgle, with his buboes and lice, has a hard time attracting a random victim, although he also has his own methods.
Interestingly, the evil races that proliferate in this world are in no hurry to swear allegiance to Chaos. Most of his servants, except for beastmen and demons - ordinary people. Of course, there is a cult of Slaanesh among the dark elves, sometimes the undead support the banners of Chaos, and the rats, by and large, are the fruit of a Chaos experiment... but still, they rarely appear side by side. And in the last invasion, the brave orcs of Grimgor spoiled a lot of blood for the Chaosites.
Bretonnia
And here is a stronghold of goodness and high ideals. True, to be completely honest, it’s not so much “good” as “knightly honor”... But these are details.
Bretonnia is the land of chivalry, serving beautiful ladies and the Maiden of the Lake (they have her instead of a goddess). The lot of the rest of the male population is to serve noble masters and hope with all their might to receive spurs. To do this, they are sometimes given the honor of going out onto the battlefield with a bow or a spear, covering their skin only with a canvas shirt: whoever survives has a chance...
The Bretons look impressive in battle. Decorated armor, figures on helmets, banners... Pegasi and a hippogriff soar in the heights. Knights-errant, seekers of the Grail, and those who have already found it... Here and there among the knightly wedges, on white horses, there are beautiful ladies: they provide magical support and inspire men to exploits.
Bretonnia is located in the southwest of the Empire, in general, where France is supposed to be. Its lands are vast and abundant: of course, to equip so many knights you need a lot of land!
On the frontiers
Once upon a time, the Norsks actively harassed the northern borders of the Empire. Well, you know, the bearded ones with winged helmets. Some of them are still doing this, but under the command of Chaos leaders. However, those who were lucky enough to survive between the rock and the anvil still sometimes rob, and sometimes sell their swords to serve one side or another.
But the inhabitants of the cold eastern steppes, the Kislevites, are in a strong alliance with the Empire. Their Tsar Boris, riding a faithful polar bear, and later his daughter, Tsarina Katerina, came to the aid of the Empire more than once. Kislev - that's their name main city. There are others: Praag, Erengrad (in honor of Ehrenburg, or what?). This country is large, but there are not very many people in it. But he is militant and true to his word. The strength of the Kislevites lies in the famous winged lancers (no, they don’t fly, they just have wings on their backs in their uniform: in our history, these protected the Polish hussars from the Tatar lasso), horse archers and infantry called “kossars”.
Estalia is a country on the southwestern edge of the continent, on a characteristic square peninsula. In the big war and big politics, her participation is small: the locals have enough problems with the Arabs (yes, that’s what they’re called here). An excess of fighting spirit is realized in bullfighting.
Moving east from Estalia, you will see the Tilea Peninsula jutting deep into the sea. At first glance, it has nothing in common with a shoe, and yet it is Italy in person. There is no single government in Tilea; there are many cities and duchies engaged in trade, art and petty internal squabbles. It is extremely rare that Tilea deigns to engage in full-scale hostilities. An exception is sometimes made for our northern neighbors - the rats.
However, if you decided that the Tilean armored train has been standing on a siding for many years, and you can see them on the battlefield only on major holidays - this is by no means true. On the contrary, the Tileans constitute almost the majority among the large caste of mercenaries - the “dogs of war.” Often, each of the warring parties enlists the support of the Tilean condottiere. The Tilean is calm about the prospect of facing his own brother on the battlefield - such is the service, it is dangerous and difficult, but it pays well.
The signature weapon of the Tileans is a long pike, like the Macedonian sarissa, striking through three rows of soldiers. However, mercenaries are not averse to other novelties, such as a giant pavese shield or cunning daggers with a grip for the enemy’s sword.
To fully describe the customs of the Tileans, I will say that instead of a battle banner, mercenary regiments are often accompanied by a “sponsor” with a chest of money. As soon as the formation begins to sag, he shouts: “Everyone gets a two-ducat increase!” - and the emboldened soldiers rush forward.
The borderlands are “spread out” along the borders of the Empire. Bandits, orcs, mercenaries and other various creatures live here, and the microscopic armies of microscopic rulers do not even pretend to maintain order. If you pass by, go ahead. Better - quickly.
Arabs and Cathay
These countries are still less well known than some even more distant lands, but from the names it is not difficult to guess what awaits us there. Sooner or later we will know this for sure. Maybe even this year.
Gnomes
The gnome is a short, stubborn, quarrelsome, but somewhere inside a good-natured creature. It consists of five parts: beard, axe, armor, grunt and engineering. The ax can be replaced with a gun, pickaxe or other tool, and the rest are necessary parts.
Dwarves live, as expected, in the mountains, where they have several fairly large cities. But in general, the heyday of the dwarven race is behind us. Now there are too few of them, and history has prepared for them the role of a permanent ally of the Empire. However, they defend their cities themselves, and very successfully.
Dwarves cannot be called slow-witted. They invented gunpowder. As well as a steam engine and other little joys of life. Alas, people happily borrowed all this from them, and dwarf technology today is, perhaps, no longer the best in the world. But in terms of creating magical, or more precisely, runic objects, they have no equal to this day.
The dwarves fight predictably: infantry, infantry, two more times infantry and several cannons. For exotic lovers - a steam helicopter. Combat tactics basically boil down to the principle: “We have always stood here, and we stand, and we will stand here!” Dwarfs have short legs, and therefore they are not capable of cunning maneuvers with flanking.
If you see a gnome with a bright red crest on the top of its head, save yourself. This guy once committed a crime. The gnomes have one punishment for such people: they voluntarily become troll fighters. From now on, they dye their hair red and seek a glorious death. Usually the search process brings a lot of unpleasant moments to those around you, and not only to those who have reason to consider themselves an enemy. By the way, a certain Felix Jaeger, an imperial minstrel, wrote an entertaining book about this, “Lord of the Trolls,” which was also published here.
Orcs and goblins
Here, these cute creatures do not represent universal evil, as in Tolkien, which does not prevent neighbors from hating them. Greenskins are a race of cheerful goofballs for whom there is no greater joy than to clean someone's face. A reason is not required: if one has a fist and the other has a face, this is already a reason to bring them into contact.
The Chaos Warriors will attack when ordered, the Dark Elves - sensing an easy victory, and the Orcs - if the leader's left heel wants it. They appear out of nowhere at any time of the year and would be the scourge of the whole world if their good-natured nature did not force them to reduce their own numbers in peacetime as effectively as their enemies would.
It is unclear how orcs are related to goblins. Both are green-skinned, but goblins are twice as small and have lighter skin. There are even smaller creatures - snotlings. According to some versions (canonical), a Snotling, if it grows up and survives, becomes a goblin; he, having gone through natural selection, became an orc; Well, if an orc matures and grows old, the skin becomes dark, and he goes into the elite, into the black orcs. Other (equally canonical) versions vehemently deny this: apparently, they were written by the orcs themselves, who did not want to be suspected of such a relationship...
On the battlefield, the orc horde looks as unpredictable as in peacetime. Firstly, nothing prevents them, right under the fire of imperial artillery, from starting to find out who spat on whose boots, immediately tearing off the spittoon of the culprit. Secondly, most of their military innovations work according to the principle of “whoever God sends,” often reducing their own ranks.
No self-respecting horse would carry a stinking orc. Therefore, for them, a horse is a meat animal, and orcs ride gloomy brown pigs, which are sublimely called boars. Goblins don't get pigs - they have to be content with wolves. This strengthens their morale: if you don’t kill the enemy, the wolf will still get his lunch, and it’s not hard to guess how...
Ogres
Orcs have distant relatives - ogres and giants. If giants are lone heroes, then ogres have recently begun to unite into their own “kingdoms” in the far north. Ogres, no less than orcs, know a lot about good fights, but they still have another vital interest. The ogre loves to eat. Tasty and, most importantly, a lot. This, however, goes well with the desire to fight.
The main organ of an ogre is its belly. It is always covered with a special iron shield. Without a shield, only a berserker can go into battle; hence the national ogre saying - “not sparing your belly.” However, ogres have a head not only to eat into it (although mostly, of course...). They came up with the idea that it was irrational to fight with whomever they had to fight. Why make everyone angry? In the civilized world there is this, what’s-his-name… casus belli. True, ogres don’t know what it is, but why not rely on the opinion of experts? Therefore, ogres fight for others with the greatest willingness. They are hired wholesale and retail; quite a few, for example, serve the Empire. As a result, everyone is happy: the belly growls satiatedly, and no one is offended by the ogre. He, one might say, fought for a holy cause. Grace!
In addition, the ogres found out that in war they kill. To kill less, they breed gnoblars - the same goblins, only in profile. Their combat task is to collect arrows, cannonballs and bullets while their masters take on the Main Danger.
Attempts to perch on the war pig, following the example of their relatives, failed: the pig was crushed soft-boiled. But even here a solution was found - called the “woolly polar rhinoceros”. True, the ogres still don’t ride it very well, but they made a chariot.
The ogres also mastered gunpowder. True, where they get it is unclear, apparently - in the Empire. They really liked the gun, but they did not understand why the gun carriage was needed. The Ogre's belly is a much more reliable support. So the ogres became one of the few races that fought with firearms. One word - intellectuals!
Ratmen
The Rat Tribe clearly arrived in the world of Hammer of War from other fantasy genres. In essence, these are typical “evil mutants”, hostile to all living things. Officially, rats are called Skaven, most accurately translated as “vultures” (by analogy with “vultures” - scavenger). This evil spirit lives mainly under the mountains that separate Tilea from the rest of the civilized world; but since there are dungeons everywhere, there is a risk of meeting a rat everywhere. And not just one: as Sheckley’s character said, where he met one monkey with a machete, fifty more were sitting in the bushes. In the case of rats, feel free to add a couple of zeros. There are rat populations on other continents; for example, they created a lot of problems for the lizards and sometimes even encroached on the pyramids of the Tomb Kings.
The rat family owes its existence to a harmful mineral, which they extract in large quantities and use both internally and externally. It is called warpstone (in a successful Russian translation - “rotten stone”) and serves as a local analogue of uranium. However, it hasn’t come to either the peaceful atom or Hiroshima yet, but...
Not only is rotten stone a source of mutations. Although on the battlefield, the rats are mainly taken by numbers, they have many engineers, lovers of strange guns, large guns and lightning throwers; the source of energy of which is you know what.
Rats are divided into four main clans and a bunch of small ones. Skryr is in charge of the above-mentioned weapons; Eshin specializes in covert operations and assassinations; pestilence - on the spread of plague (which they worship as a deity); distorters continue the work of mutation, breeding obscene creatures like rat ogres.
The fighting of rats is alien to any heroism. Even if they are led personally by the Gray Prophet riding a groaning alarm bell, escaping from the battlefield is a natural thing for them and is not at all shameful. According to the rat saying, “Whoever runs the fastest lives the longest.” Numbers give courage to cowardly rodents: the larger the crowd, the braver it is. Even rat heroes (yes, this happens...) often inspire soldiers to fight from the back row. That's how mysterious it is - rat's valor.
Like orcs, rats do not respect the lives of either enemies or friends (but, unlike them, they value their own). They are a pragmatic people: if there is a chance to cover ten people and twenty rats with a shell, this is a reason to command: “Fire!” According to another rat saying, “whatever, there will always be new rats.”
Elves
You probably noticed on the map in the area of the well-known triangle a sort of... Bermuda Circle. Correctly it is called Ulthuan. Elves live there - not ordinary ones, but high ones. The forest elves, who have renounced civilization, inhabited the Loren thicket on the border of Bretonnia; little is known about them, but they prefer not to meddle in the forest without permission. And the rebels, the dark elves, fled to Naggaroth (in our world, their land is owned by the Americans).
The dark elves of the Hammer of War, unlike their cousins from the Forgotten Realms, boast snow-white skin.
As they should be, elves are famous for their keen eye (used for aiming) and talent for magic. At the same time, the high elves prefer magic, the forest elves are “a little illiterate” and value the bow more, and the dark ones, as expected, made a repeating crossbow from a bow. All this is mainly to avoid engaging in close combat. Although blade masters and other specialists in artistic cutting and serving the enemy serve in the elven armies, they are always let down by the fragility and fragility of the body. They die easily, and elven military science requires taking into account losses: elves do not know how to reproduce at the speed of rats or orcs. Wood elves even prefer to hide in the forests, unleashing rabid dryads and treemen on the enemy.
In their free time from magic and the bow, elves engage in fine arts: poetry, painting (dark ones - carrion painting), and so on. They love domestic animals, especially dragons and eagles; in Naggaroth, the fashion of the season is fighting hydras: they are unpretentious in feeding and do not require frequent walking.
Fallen but alive
A long time ago, in a completely different world, an aphorism was heard: “Mercenaries do not die: they go into the Abyss to regroup.” In the Hammer of War universe, this principle is quite relevant.
They say it all began several thousand years ago in the hot desert country of Nekehara. It was there that the first king-priest Settra appeared, deciding that a measly 70 years was too short a period of time to serve the pharaoh, and it was even more illogical to limit the time of the pharaoh’s activities for the benefit of his native Nekekhara to such a period. Not much time passed from this important decision to the moment when the canning of the deceased Nekeharians acquired an industrial scale. And by our time, legions of them would have accumulated, if not for the fact that, in order to ensure their afterlife, the desert inhabitants gradually forgot to reproduce.
Now this country is called Khemri, and its rulers are called the Tomb Kings. They mastered the art of taking with them into the afterlife all kinds of decorative living creatures, such as scorpions and vultures, and those subjects who did not show the proper behavior during their lifetime moral qualities, they were allowed to make bone giants. The only good thing is that the Tomb Kings have not yet mastered the path from Khemri across the sea... and, by and large, they don’t really need these barbaric cold lands. Therefore, only lizards from the southern jungles and nomadic Arabs often have the pleasure of observing military science antiquity in all its glory.
But those who want to observe the wonders of necromancy with their own eyes do not have to travel so far. In the same southern regions, a lady named Lamia mastered a more pleasant way of non-life, which did not require giving up physical pleasures of all kinds. This may not be as highly spiritual as the Khemri exercises, but it is much more attractive, and therefore the Lamia method spread widely in the north.
So, for example, not far from the imperial borders, a former imperial nobleman lives and does not bother - their Excellency Count von Carstein. He transformed his subjects no worse than the Khemrians, but scorpions did not take root in the temperate climate (didn’t they try?), and he had to raise replacements for them from wolves and bats. But the count's court is brilliant, and only the most valuable varieties of blood are served at the table.
In the swamps closer to Kislev and in some other places, feral representatives of the vampire tribe - Strigi - are found. Former Breton and Imperial knights make excellent fighters for the Blood Dragon clan. Well, the family of old lady Lamia has not died out either. There is somewhere for a young death lover to go.
Of course, the activities of the vampire counts do not meet with understanding among those around them. But those around you are mortal, and vampires are not entirely mortal. So all critics of the vampire lifestyle are invited to come back in five hundred years - there, they say, we’ll talk.
Today, the undead do not pose a key threat to the world, having ceded this role to Chaos. But the times of the great necromancer Nagash (and attempts to revive him) are still remembered with horror. By the way, the last such attempt was already under Karl-Franz.
Lizards
Have you ever been surprised that this world was created by a god (or gods) so imperfect? It's very simple: it hasn't been finished yet. We brazenly settled right on the construction site and now we are complaining that cement is being carried past, garbage is falling from the rafters, and someone was hit on the back of the neck by the hook of a portal crane.
So, while we are all trying to settle down among the piles of bricks as best we can, the lizards continue construction. They know the master plan. They served the Ancients. The main work is carried out in the jungles of Lustria (aka South America) and the second tropical continent. But sometimes you have to do something off-site.
The work is led by the Slann - engineers and foremen of the Ancients. These lumps of intellect, shaped like large green toads, are immersed in contemplation of the huge labor calluses on their belly. They know how to do it, know all the magic in the world and live for thousands of years. Slann sounds proud.
As you can see, the teams are well organized and clearly specialized. But that’s not all: the lizards serve many non-intelligent, but related life forms. Instead of a bulldozer and a tank, a monumental stegodon serves, the view from above is provided by hymenoptera terradons, salamanders disinfect entire areas of the terrain with their spittle, and personal transport is provided by the so-called “cold” ones - reptiles slightly larger than a horse. By the way, the dark elves borrowed these creatures from the lizards and thereby put the quarterly plan at risk.
Warhammer on the table
The main thing for which the world of “Hammer of War” was created was for the needs of the military-tactical board game Warhammer Fantasy Battles, the most popular of its kind.
You can easily place most of the races described in this review at home; To do this, you need to purchase a set of figures, paint them yourself or with someone else’s help - and prove the superiority of the chosen race to everyone who doubts it on the gaming table.
It would seem that in our days, when a couple of hundred computer strategies are released a year, such entertainment should die out on its own: after all, not a single computer game will require you to purchase a bunch of figures and then paint them with a brush. However, nothing like that. And the reason for this is not only the beauty of the game (if you don’t see it, you won’t imagine it!), or even the joy of fighting a living opponent. The tactical depth and richness of Warhammer's capabilities is far greater than any computer game I know of. At the same time, the games are so dynamic that one can only be amazed at the stupidity of computer developers who have not yet implemented anything like this on a monitor.
For those who find it difficult to acquire a large army, there is another, similar game - Mordheim. It does not involve epic battles, but fights between small groups of fighters. It is much easier to assemble “ammunition” for it.
In addition, there is also a card game - WarCry. Regular readers of MF are already familiar with it: on the poster of the April issue for this year we printed a demo version of this CCG. The mechanics embedded in it are quite unusual; in any case, only the ignorant can call it a clone of Magic The Gathering. Unfortunately, it let me down a bit... Warhammer's greatest strength is its style. The texts on the cards boil down to assurances of the toughness or durability of this or that unit - and this is after the hilarious notes in MTG!
And finally, it would be strange if role-playing adventures didn’t take place in such a stylish world. There is a special set of Warhammer Roleplaying rules, and there is plenty of originality here too. The role system involves choosing a career - in youth, in adulthood, and so on. That is, at first the hero was an apprentice to a blacksmith, then he enlisted as a soldier, then... Something similar happened in one of the greatest computer RPGs of all time - Darklands.
The card “Hammer of War” is also published in Russian.
Warhammer on the computer
But here the “Hammer of War” was much less lucky. There are, alas, only two computer games in this universe - Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen. The last one is already seven years old.
The hero of these games is Morgan Bernhard, captain of the “dogs of war,” that is, a mercenary. Gradually, he gathers an entire mercenary army - with infantry, cavalry, cannons, magicians - with which he decides the fate of the world, without forgetting the interests of his own wallet. After all, soldiers, you know, require wages, and no matter how important the events taking place are, we should not forget about the profitability of battles...
In the first game, the hero was opposed by one of the most interesting races - rat people (and not only them). Alas, “Shadow of the Horned Rat” had one serious drawback: a poorly thought-out interface. He couldn't be called intuitive, even if he wanted to.
This was corrected in Dark Omen, a game that immediately took its place in the pantheon of great strategy games. The opponents here are undead and partly orcs. The undead don't flee the battlefield, which makes the game a little less subtle, but it's not that big of a deal. The main thing is that it became convenient to play. In addition, they removed the idea from tabletop Warhammer that guns would explode on their own from time to time, and this made the game much more interesting.
If you haven't played it, be sure to try it. And don't be put off by the outdated graphics. It's worth it.
Warhammer: Dark Omen deserves close attention not only among fans of retro games.
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The world of War Hammer is a place where a variety of fantasy genres intersect. Fantasy and steampunk, gothic and alternative geography, legends of the North and South, East and West... Perhaps few fictional universes can boast of such diversity and such loving care. This means that we will return more than once to the freely spread continents and islands of this world. Both on the pages of our magazine and on the battlefields.
What is so attractive about the dark and bleak world of Warhammer 40,000? There is some kind of Gothic charm in Warhammer. Something like what brought popularity to Bram Stoker's Dracula. Gothic fiction. A world in which the fall and collapse of human civilization can be traced. Not its heyday or, conversely, the lowest point of development, but which follows an ascent, namely the path into darkness, long but inevitable. So, welcome to the world of Warhammer 40,000. A world where science-fiction coexists with fantasy, where knights of light are products of genetic engineering, where the supreme god of people lives in a sarcophagus created by the priests of God -Machines where demons are armed with plasma rifles, where faith has visible power, and the descendants of an angel are vampires.
At first
Human history in Warhammer 40,000 begins in the 15th millennium. That is, there was something before this period, but it is not important. It was then that humanity began to spread across the stars. Slowly at first, using primitive sublight starships with a sleeping crew, humanity reached out to other worlds. The colonies were founded haphazardly and had no contact with each other. Then, after 5,000 years of such development, warp drive was invented, an engine that made it possible to move through warp space much faster and easier than just through space. Ships in the warp were controlled by navigators, people whose genetics allowed them to sense the warp and its currents. Humanity rushed to the stars like a deep river overflowing its banks (or, as Eldrad Ultran put it, like the bubonic plague). The Warp was taken for granted by everyone, and no one knew that the Warp was as densely populated as a mangy yard dog. The creatures from the warp, who were later called daemons, did not have the power they should have, for the greatest of their victories was yet to come. They watched people, listened to their thoughts, feelings and made insidious and cruel plans for the enslavement and destruction of humanity (and what other plans can demons make?). For ten thousand years, humanity spread throughout space, met other races, communicated and traded with the Eldar, fought with the orcs, dabbled internecine wars and conquests. But at the 25th millennium, the peaceful existence of humanity ended. Of course, later the Eldar, burdened with guilt and arrogance, said that the people who led to the Fall were to blame for everything, but we know the truth.
Fall of the Eldar
The ancient and powerful Eldar civilization existed long before the first ancestor of man turned over a stone to extract worms from under it for dinner. Powerful psionics (or psykers, as they say here) - they put the power of the warp itself at their service. Obeying their songs and spells, their cities grew straight from the ground, and grew into the most beautiful and unique creations. Their souls were so strong that they defeated death itself and, when dying, did not disappear from the face of the universe like the extinguished flame of a candle, but were reborn in new generations, living life after life. Their souls waited in the warp for the birth of an Eldar child to fill his virgin mind with the power and knowledge of hundreds of centuries. But, as often happens, a wonderful life was not conducive to the hassle associated with having children. Even in a material shell, the Eldar were immortal, and for hundreds of years of feasts and entertainment no one wanted to interrupt even for the sake of their relatives who were waiting in the warp for the opportunity to be reborn. Gradually, the disembodied souls of the Eldar became more and more numerous in the warp and, at one fine (or rather terrible) moment, the demons of the warp dealt a mortal blow to the Eldar civilization. In one second, the souls of the Eldar lost their integrity and individuality, and the released energy led to the birth of the super-demon, or rather the god of chaos, Slaanesh. The young god, uniting with the other gods of chaos - Horn, Nurgle and Zinch, rushed into real world. A monstrous tear in the fabric of the universe formed at the site of the center of the Eldar empire, and billions of Eldar were swallowed up by the power of Slaanesh. A huge vortex, a monstrous blob of warp in the real world was called the Eye of Terror. Through it, demons rushed to consume and enslave the universe. Many human colonies fell victim to the madness of demons. It turned out that the navigator gene, which was considered a blessing, is also a curse for people. The ability to sense the warp also meant increased vulnerability to daemon attacks. Deprived of material bodies in the real world, demons inhabited the minds of human psykers, bringing madness, death and destruction through them. Space and the warp have gone crazy. In many places, the warp broke through into the real world, and powerful warp storms swirled across vast spaces, cutting off human worlds from each other and from the Earth, for not a single navigator dared to go through a warp storm, risking his mind and soul itself. Human civilization has fallen into thousands of pieces. Unable to pass through the frenzied warp, the population of many planets sank into barbarism, or, worse, fell prey to demons or other alien races. The golden age of human civilization ended before it really began.
Emperor
For nearly 5,000 years, the galaxy was shaken by the mighty tides of the warp. Human colonies fought with demons, eldar, orcs, gene stealers and other evil spirits, defending their right to exist. Earth, isolated from the rest of space by warp storms, existed on its own, without influence on other human worlds. Technology was in decline, and the only guardians of the knowledge of the Golden Age remained the tech-priests of Mars, who worshiped the Machine God. It was at this time that a man was born on Earth who was to change the face of the galaxy for the next 10,000 years. No one now remembers his real name, but everyone knows him as the Emperor. His childhood, youth and even maturity are also shrouded in the darkness of the unknown. For the first time he became something more than just a man when he came, accompanied by supporters, to the capital of one of the many states of the Earth and in one night conquered the entire state, crushing an army of thousands with the strength of a detachment that did not have even a hundred soldiers. Having become a ruler, he began to systematically conquer the Earth until he became the sole ruler of the cradle of humanity. The Emperor's backbone and the main strength of his army were the first Space Marines, genetically enhanced human warriors. Created by the Emperor, they were inhumanly strong, agile, tenacious and fast, far exceeding the capabilities of common man and fighting on equal terms even with demons. But the Emperor was also a psyker, the strongest in the entire history of the human race. By the time the Emperor conquered Earth, warp storms in the galaxy had begun to subside and eventually ceased altogether, making interstellar travel possible again. Who knows, maybe the will of the Emperor did this. Having conquered the Earth, the Emperor began preparing for a great Crusade into the galaxy with the goal of reuniting fragmented humanity to jointly confront the threat of chaos and aliens. For this, the Emperor created 12 supermarines, Primarchs, who were destined for the role of leaders and commanders in the future campaign. The Emperor's actions could not fail to attract the attention of humanity's greatest enemy, Chaos. The gods of chaos sent their faithful servants, the Warp Winds, to Earth, and they, swirling the Earth in a wild storm, stole incubators with unborn primarchs and scattered them across the galaxy. The touch of the will of the Chaos Gods poisoned the primarchs and disrupted the implementation of the emperor's plan to create ideal people. Primarchs were born in different parts of the galaxy, and each of them had a flaw. One of them was born one-eyed like a Cyclops, the other received the wings of an angel, and some, without physical disabilities, carried within themselves the poison of chaos, which sharpened their will and strength from within. However, the Emperor, having begun the Great Crusade, eventually returned all the primarchs to himself, and they, recognizing the Emperor as creator and master, served him faithfully in the field of the great war.
The greatest of the primarchs was Horus. He was the Emperor's very first creation and his most beloved. Horus had no equal on the battlefield, and other primarchs bowed before his strength and will. But the poison of chaos was also strong in Horus, and thousands of voices whispered to him in every possible way about his strength, will and that he was more worthy than his creator to become the ruler of mankind. For a long time Horus resisted this whisper, but could not stand it, and his pride overcame his loyalty to the Emperor. After finishing crusade Horus rebelled and went to war against his creator. The greatest of humanity's warriors, the Space Marines, are divided into two warring camps. Of the twenty Legions of the Emperor, only nine remained loyal to their master, another nine sided with Horus, and two legions were lost in the fire of war. Like the biblical wheels of fire, war rolled across the expanses of the newly created human empire. Not only did the Marines fight each other, but also the Imperial Guard and the Titanic Legions took part in this war. The war lasted a long time and with varying success, but in the end, Horus overcame the resistance of loyal troops and his ships rushed to Earth, the heart of the Empire, the abode of the Emperor. The bloodiest and most stubborn battle took place around the imperial palace. The best forces of loyal paratroopers defended it, and the most fanatical of the followers of Chaos rushed to its walls. In the end, seeing that he was losing, the Emperor made the only right decision. Together with two loyal Primarchs and a squad of Terminator heavy infantry, he traveled to Horus's battle barge to strike at the heart of the rebellion.
A titanic battle took place on the barge. In it, the angel-winged Sanguinus, primarch of the Blood Angels, fell at the hands of Horus, covering his master the Emperor. Another Primarch of the Imperial Fists, Rogal Dorn, defeated two Princes of Chaos from Horus's retinue in personal combat, and thereby covered himself with unfading glory. The duel between the Emperor and Horus ended tragically for both sides. Horus fell, struck down by the hand of the Emperor, and his last thought was the unbearable awareness of the depth and blackness of his fall. The Emperor received a mortal wound and would certainly have died if Rogal Dorn had not saved him. He carried his master's body back to the ruined palace where the remaining seven loyal Primarchs had gathered after driving out the demoralized and scattered Chaos forces. They bitterly mourned the inevitable death of their master. Of all of them, only Lerman Russ, Primarch of the Star Wolves, did not cry.
And it was he who came up with the idea that pierced the darkness of despair and brought a solution. He turned to his followers, the Iron Priests of the Star Wolves, and they, calling on the tech-priests of Mars for help, created the Golden Throne, a sarcophagus in which a stasis field supported physical life in the Emperor's body. As a powerful psyker, the Emperor was able to mentally communicate with his followers while in stasis. Thus the light of the Empire was saved. From that moment on, the Golden Throne of Earth became the center of the Empire of Man in every sense. The Emperor is the source of the power of the Astromicon, a warp beacon that allows travel through the warp without fear of demonic traps. The Emperor, through the power of his thoughts, communicates with the current rulers of the Earth, the High Lords, who rule in the name of the Emperor and according to his word.
Conclusion
That's all. Although no. Not all. This is only the past of the Empire. Distant past. The empire has existed for over 10,000 years, and its history is filled with wars and bloodshed. Thousands of enemies dream of destroying the bastion of light and order in the galaxy, but so far no one has succeeded. In order to tell about the present of the empire and its enemies, you will need a less voluminous article than this. Each of the primarchs founded their own order of Space Marines, with their own traditions and orders. The Chaos Marines, having retreated to the Eye of Terror, are making plans to destroy the False Emperor and want to wash humanity off the face of the galaxy with rivers of blood. The Eldar split into four nations, and each of them followed their own path in the difficult task of survival in a hostile galaxy. Orcs, as before, roam the galaxy in search of battles and battles. The Imperial Guard vigilantly guards order and law in the worlds of the Empire. Together with them, the light of the Emperor is carried by the Sisters of Battle, powerful and beautiful, angel-like servants of the cult of the God-Emperor. And outside the galaxy, the Tyranid Superbrain may already be preparing the next invasion of countless hordes of planet eaters. Metallic Necron warriors move across the sands of desert planets like skeletal ghosts.