[center][indent][indent][sup][i]Long ago, when the God-Emperor still walked amongst men, he created legions of the finest warriors man had ever seen; none stronger, none quicker, none smarter and none purer before or since. So great where their numbers and deeds that they conquered world after world, system after system, star after star. These soldiers without skill were the Legio Astartes, the Space Marines; humanity at its highest apex.

But even during the Emperor's glorious Great Crusade, cracks began to show. Quirks and differences in thinking that only divided the legions. Such could have been ignored or remedied if given time, but something sinister sought to infect the cracks and tear the legions asunder: Chaos. Seeping into the pure minds of the Astartes, it proved that nothing was beyond the corrupting grasp and maleficent gaze of the Chaos Gods. And when the War Master was turned to the dark shadows of the Warp, twas only little time until the the curtains were pulled back to reveal a production most vile.

The void was to be set awash in fire and death as the stars themselves cried and weeped. Billions prayed and hoped in watery eyes that this age would be but a passing moment. But their tears would do nothing to quell the largest civil war mankind had ever faced. Countless lives were lost, planets eradicated and wonders destroyed as super humans warred and fought and the galaxy itself shook under the weight of:[/i][/sup][/indent][/indent]
[hr][hr][h1][u]THE SCHISM OF MAN[/u][/h1]
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[IMG]http://i63.tinypic.com/124zcqv.jpg[/IMG]

[hr][hr][i][sub]"They shall be my finest warriors, these men who give of themselves to me. 
Like clay I shall mould them, and in the furnace of war forge them. 
They will be of iron will and steely muscle. 
In great armour shall I clad them and with the mightiest guns will they be armed.
They will be untouched by plague or disease, no sickness will blight them. 
They will have tactics, strategies and machines so that no foe can best them in battle. 
They are my bulwark against the Terror. 
They are the Defenders of Humanity. 
They are my Space Marines. 
And They Shall Know No Fear."
~ The Emperor of Mankind[/sub][/i]

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[h3]Greetings[/h3]
[indent]And welcome to the Age of Heresy, the age of mankind divided. Now, this is more of a quick thing I'm making to most judge interest. Hence, there's not too much fancy formatting or even a CS guide. Basically this is inspired by [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/79728-the-grand-crusade-an-alternative-warhammer-40k-rp-open/ooc]The Grand Crusade[/url] and [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/93744-the-grim-crusade-warhammer-30-000-rp/ooc]The Grim Crusade[/url] (credits to both GMs/authors), but instead of focusing on the Crusade, it focuses on what I think most people find the most interesting of the era: The Heresy.

Basically, everyone will be playing custom made Legions and Primarchs who will lead them. What I will say about sides and the CS is that [b]YOU WILL PICK YOUR SIDES AND ULTIMATE FATES.[/b] Basically, OOC everyone will know who will end up traitor and who stays loyalist and what ultimately becomes of them (dies, becomes daemon, fucks off somewhere, etc). I trust that people will be mature enough not only not to metagame but to also have their primarchs interact with one another according and NOT be plotting against each other for no real valid in character reason. On that note, I will say that my GM style is harsh and authoritarian but benevolent and something I'd prefer not having to use so take that as you will; those of you who've seen me GM before should know what I'm like as a GM and understand as GM, my goals are fundamentally different than the players's at a level.

The start of the RP will be post-Ullanor Crusade and only two or three people at most falling to chaos from the get go. [b]The fact that the Warmaster will turn traitor is something I will not be changing.[/b] The first event might just be everyone gathering around to decide who will be the Warmaster.

Special note about Primarchs and the lore overall: I am going to bend/break lore. I will basically be using what BCTheEternity did in Grim Crusade and I'll leave this here for explain perhaps the three largest points in which lore will in a new direction:

[quote][hider=Female Space Marines]
In canon, Space Marines can only be male for various reasons, with the Primarchs themselves following this trend. In this game, however, you can choose between male and female for your Primarch's physical gender, with the rest of their Legion following suit. The nature of this decision, of course, will be such that men cannot be inducted into a female Legion, nor can women be inducted into a male Legion, since the geneseed involved will reject those of the opposite gender to their intended recipients, killing the victim and wasting precious resources. That said, whilst gender has a bit more of an effect for the Primarchs themselves, female Space Marines will likely be very similar to their male counterparts. To quote 1d4chan on the matter:

[quote]...[female Space Marines] would probably have very few notable female features left following surgery and genetic fuckery; they'd have very similar musculature to males, most likely would lack breasts (due to both the removal of sex hormones and the trimming of any "fat" that would make armor uncomfortable), their body shape would only differ very slightly to a male's because of their enhanced skeletal structure (though they would have wider hips, as women's pelvis' are wider than men's), and all of this would be compounded by the fact that Space Marines are renowned for wearing fuckhuge suits of armour that obscure most of their physical features anyway. A female Space Marine with her helmet on would look like a regular [male] Space Marine.[/quote]
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[hider=Conversion of Human Adults into Space Marines]
Along similar lines to female Space Marines not existing in canon, viable candidates for Astartes conversion in canon must be around ten to fourteen years old, as the implants and hypno-therapy required will not properly integrate into their bodies and/or function correctly if they are too old. In this setting, the vast changes to the Emperor's biology from canon has changed this state of affairs, vastly expanding the pool of potential Marine candidates to include adult humans by allowing the necessary implants to integrate properly even into theoretically fully-grown men and women, as well as having the implantation of the Catalepsean Node and other brain-integrated organs slightly alter their thought processes to be more malleable to subsequent conditioning toward the ultimate mindset of any given Legion. This has the advantage of allowing human soldiers with many years of experience to be forwarded to a Legion's ranks, often with a somewhat lower chance of death compared to a child due to the hardier overall constitution that adults possess, but comes with the corresponding disadvantage of substantially slower transition from mortal to Marine, since the rapid-onset growth period that is puberty cannot be exploited to speed the conversion process along in an adult.
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[hider=Psykers and Sorcery]
Officially, the position of the Emperor and the Imperium on psychic powers is the same as in canon, i.e. "the human form is absolutely perfect, so no psykers allowed", other than the need for Navigators to ferry ships through the Warp, as well as a certain number of Astropaths specifically gathered for extreme long-distance communication. Unofficially, thanks to a certain amount of internal persuasion, the Emperor is actually a touch more lenient on this topic than in canon, such that whilst the common rabble will still be culled for being a psyker in any form, the higher-ups in the Imperium's ranks such as the Primarchs and their Legions are allowed their psychic quirks under supervision, under the "justification" that having more or less psychic power than average isn't technically an alteration of the human form. Thus, your characters will not be censured unnecessarily for utilising their psychic powers in agreed-upon "safe" manners or being psychic nulls, unless doing so actually screws everything up on a notable scale (see: Magnus the Red). However, consorting with the denizens of the Warp is still absolutely forbidden, for obvious reasons, as is sorcery for purposes beyond those deemed acceptable by the Imperium and, ultimately, the Emperor himself.
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Something else I feel like I should mention is that there are only going to be 18 "playable" legions (the two missing legions are now the 9th and the 17th). While part of me would like all 18 slots to be filled, the other part of me realizes that no only would that be a challenge to keep under control, but is also unlikely to happen. As such, to those who are willing can take on a second legion/primarch as a "minor character". I use the word loosely, but basically not all legions had a massive effect but still did some things of battle. The Iron Hands really didn't do too much compared to the Imperial Fists for example.

I'm also looking for co-GMs to help manage this but will also be responsible for writing posts from the PoV of the Emperor/Chaos so I'd say its not a position for one to throw themselves at willy nilly. Unlike a good deal of other RPs/GMs, I might actually make the coGMs do shit :P In relation, this RP will lean more towards the side of "collaborative story" (I hope) since we will all more or less know what some events will turn out to be.

If you do post interest, please do state which side you'd like to be one (ideally there'll be a natural balance). Feel free to put in your primarch's ultimate fate and what them/their legion's most defining traits or abilities are. I'm hoping for some interesting primarchs exploring some "what ifs" like what if they landed on a forge world/knight world/astroid station/eldar craftworld or what if they had adoptive parents who did their best to give them a normal childhood or what if their personalities don't line up with their legion's (I might be doing something akin to this)? Fun stuff like that.

Now, the Schism of Man is upon us and mankind is divided; Will the Galaxy Burn or Does the Emperor Protect?
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