[center][h1][b]Warhammer 50k: The Second Age of Strife[/b][/h1]

[img]https://i.ibb.co/YQb0Cmb/images-67.jpg[/img]

[h3]The Setting[/h3][/center]
In the grim darkness of the 51st Millennium, the endless war continues.

There was no great conflagration or calamitous final battle. 

Across the vastness of the galaxy, the Imperium died-- not with a bang, but a whimper. The galactic empire of humanity crumbled, its enemies too many, too great and too terrible to imagine. The great conflict of Octarius had no victory, a war without end. In the fiery chasm of strife, the locust and the green holocaust fused, as beast looked upon barbarian and both saw the other as kin. The new entity spread with a speed undreamt of by Ork or Tyranid. War and hunger melded into a singular desire to ravage and remake all in the image of the New Devourer. The Devourer's hybrid nightmares were regenerative and spore-born, combining into a grand horror which murdered the galaxy, leaving naught but fragments as it left. 

Just as the New Devourer ravaged the galaxy, the Emperor perished. It is said by some that he could no longer bear the torment of sitting upon the Golden Throne; others believe that an assassin somehow slew him once and for all. Whatever the case, Terra collapsed into a second Eye of Terror, and every soul in the Sol System was consumed. The Astronomicon's light was snuffed out.

With the death of the God Emperor, the Imperium shattered like glass. Echoing the fate of the old Greater Human Federation during the final days of the Dark Age of Technology, its territories were isolated from each other. Numerous unfortunate worlds were set upon by the devious legions of Chaos, hungering xenos, or simply fell to the internal strife inherent to humanity. Many planets, reliant on shipments from agri-worlds, simply starved to death. Mad preachers roared a new rhetoric; the God-Emperor had punished humanity for its sin, and that they rightfully deserved their fate.  

However, there are some worlds that refuse to succumb to despair and madness. The greatest of these patches of sanity left is Ultramar, reigned over by the three returned Primarchs; Roboute Guilliman, Vulkan, and the Lion. From here, they plan the grand reclamation of their Father’s dream. How could they accomplish this, however, when His light can no longer be seen in the Warp? Even with their allies (though 'allies' may be a strong word to describe them; some are utterly self serving, but useful regardless), such as Belisarius Cawl and his string of four score Forge Worlds, the highly advanced Farsight Enclaves, the mysterious Realm of Fathers, and at times, the Craftworld Eldar, whose diplomatic missives are led by the ancient Wraithseer and arch-manipulator Eldrad Ulthran, what they have before them is a seemingly impossible task. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the galaxy had suffered just as much as mankind had. Here is what happened to them…

(You don't have to read this part to play. This are just lore tidbits.)
[hider=The Eldar]
The Eldar, who had clung to life for so long, began to wink out one by one. Many of the great Craftworlds were destroyed, the New Devourer consuming their people with nothing but the wraithbone skeletons of the continent sized vessels left behind. On those silent vessel, innumerable soul gems lay glowing with countless murdered Eldar souls. 

Many Exodite worlds were also preyed upon by Chaos, other xenos, and Petty Imperiums. However, many of the more clever Exodites instead moved to conceal their presence, infiltrating high positions amongst the humans that colonized their planets. Some of the Petty Imperiums would thus be led in secret by Exodite Eldar, who had so cleverly disguised themselves as the mon’keigh. Their need for survival had outweighed their pride. 

In the meantime, the Phoenix Lords kept on fighting the enemies of the Eldar, their power swelling from the hundreds of thousands of Exarchs that had donned their armor by this time. Many a Chaos warband had been slaughtered by these mysterious warriors just as they were about to defile the skeletons of dead Craftworlds.

Nevertheless, the Craftworld Eldar refused to bow to fate. The Ynnari, led by Yvraine, the prophet of Ynnead and supported by Craftworlds Iyanden, Ulthwe, and Altansar, have repeatedly invaded Slaanesh’s palace. Each attempt so far has failed, but they are getting closer and closer to their goal of taking the final Cronesword from beneath the perverse Prince of Pleasure’s throne of excess. 

Meanwhile, the remnants of Biel-Tan, allying with Lugganath, Yme-Loc, Alaitoc, and Saim-Hann, have sought to free Isha from the Realm of Nurgle. To the surprise of the galaxy, they have succeeded with the aid of a silver knight, a raven of shadow, and a great gray wolf. It is said that the Wolf had asked for one strand of Isha’s hair, and was granted three. The knight, the raven, and the wolf soon disappeared, leaving the Eldar with their goddess of life, who immediately joined Cegorach in the Webway. Isha offered another path to her children: one of life. Her followers would be known as the Ishari, and would be at odds with the Ynnari.

While the Second Age of Strife may seem to be a Golden Age for the Dark Kin, Commorragh has changed much. Many of the lower class Dark Eldar, fearful of losing their souls, had instead laid their allegiance to the Ynnari or the Ishari rather than their capricious Archons and the Supreme Overlord, often forsaking their cruel ways in order to be assured a place in the Infinity Circuit. The Ynnari and the Dark Eldar would fight many battles in the Webway and realspace in these times.[/hider]

[hider=The Orks]Seeing the greatest fight since the War in Heaven, Ghazghul Mag Uruk Thraka led a billion trillion Orks, who seemed to be the entirety of their race, against the New Devourer. Through their actions, the Orks may have in fact saved the galaxy, as they delayed the New Devourer and expended its power. 

Nevertheless, the New Devourer was still too powerful for them. The gleeful Orks fought and died until none were seemingly left, and since then, the galaxy thought the orks extinct.[/hider]

[hider=The Leagues of Votann]In the galactic core, the abhuman Kyn of Leagues of Votann find that almost all of their ancient supercogitators, the Votann, had finally failed. Though some of the Fanes had ascended into Votann, these were few in number, and nowhere as great as those original relics from the Dark Age of Technology. Furthermore, the New Devourer consumed many of the Leagues, with their Votanns going mad as they sought to deny the New Devourer the biomass of the Kyn by feeding on their corpses first. It is said that only the Greater Thurian League, Kronus Hegemony, and Ymyr Conglomerate remained as the powerful Leagues of the Core, though they had expanded many times their original size as thousands of orphaned Kindreds flocked to their banners. The other Leagues, such as the Trans-Hyperian Alliance, still survive, though were greatly diminished. Nevertheless, the Leagues continued to trade with whoever they can reasonably charge prices from, be it human, Eldar, Tau, or any of the numerous xenos empires that arose from the broken shards of the Imperator's broken dream.[/hider]

[hider=The Tau]
The Tau, naive in their hope of unity, expanded into a realm of corpses and ash. Every world they came across was dead, life annihilated by the New Devourer. The hard and unpleasant task of terraforming each world turned the Tau into bitter, self-righteous beings. They were disgusted at the actions of their predecessors and vowed to not understand their fellow races, but to control them. Only the Tau could be trusted with worlds. And so, the Tau Empire grew into a powerful technological juggernaut of ten thousand planets and a hundred species, jaded as they witnessed the full horror of this galaxy. 

Jaded, save for the Farsight Enclaves. When the New Devourer came, the Enclaves were seemingly unscathed as the Swarm Waaagh bypassed their hyperfortified planets. Whatever the case, the Enclaves have an alliance of sorts with Ultramar, which began with a meeting between Roboute Guilliman and Commander Farsight himself. This has gone on for ten thousand years as both of these realms grew in power, standing as oases of sanity in a dark ocean of madness.[/hider]

[hider=The Necrons]
Across the galaxy, the Necrons have yet to awaken in full, though they have become a powerful force that all other races know and fear. Imotekh the Stormlord and his Sautekh forces continually battle the vast Tau Empire in the east; the Silent King has continued to seek out ways to return his people to the flesh in the wake of the New Devourer. The Empire of the Severed continues to grow as a malignant tumor, robbing Necrons of what little spark of a soul they have left. And in other places of the galaxy, it is said that the Infinite and the Divine have continued their feud over the millennia, with entire planets destroyed in the wake of their petty rivalry.

Some Necron Tomb Worlds, however, have fallen to the C'tan, those shattered gods of realspace. These monstrous entities, ever conniving and cruel, have taken control of numerous Necron Dynasties whose populations had been driven to absolute madness by the Long Sleep. Thus the Yngir star hungry rise again, seeking to impose their will upon all life.[/hider]


[hider=The Forces of Chaos]
Surging from the Eye of Terror and Circatrix Maledictum, Abaddon the Despoiler’s 19th Black Crusade swept across the west, and conquered thousands of planets. In a galaxy bereft of the Emperor’s light, there could be no coordinated response, no crusade to be launched. Abaddon forged his own Chaos Imperium, naive in the belief that the Chaos Gods do not control him.

Around the Maelstrom, Huron Blackheart did the same, with his Red Corsairs and hordes of Chaos cultists seizing control of hundreds of systems. Thus were the two Chaos Empires of realspace born, forever vying with each other for control even as the ten thousand worlds of Ultramar defied them.
[/hider]

[hider=The Warp]
In the turbulent energies of the Warp, the Chaos Gods also suffered, for with the end of the Emperor, something else was stirred. Birthed upon the death of the Carrion Lord on Terra, the Starchild suckled upon the rage and religious lunacy of the dying Imperium, consuming every soul remaining upon Terra in its birth pangs. This is what killed the Astronomicon. Ophelia became a focus for this dark zeal. At the dawn of the 50th millennium, the Starchild became the Star Father, and the Warp became a battleground. For a brief instance (or perhaps an eternity-- in the warp, none can tell for sure) the Star Father became dominant over the Chaos foes. Then, with the sickening inevitability of the great game of Chaos, the Star Father became one amongst the five, a god of order amongst gods of chaos. [/hider]

[hr]
[h3]The Plot[/h3]
From a planet in the Eastern Fringes, a Mechanicus Explorator vessel had returned, reporting of an artifact with great power. The techpriests were unable to extract and analyze it as they were attacked by mysterious foes. With no resources to be spared from keeping Ultramar protected from outside forces, several rogue traders had been commissioned by the Primarchs to seek out this artifact, and return it to Ultramar. Only time can tell if they succeed.

[hr]

Hello, everyone! Long story short, this will be set in a hypothetical Warhammer timeline loosely based on the fanfiction by LordLucan, the Shape of the Nightmare to Come. Here, the Emperor suddenly died on the dawn of the 42nd millennium and the Imperium perished with him. Players will be playing as members of a rogue trader crew sanctioned by the three Primarchs of Ultramar in a mission to recover an artifact of some kind. If you fail and die, well, nothing of value has been lost. If you succeed, however, you will be elevated as heroes, and be exalted by the Primarchs themselves. What is there for you to lose, anyway?

Players can initially apply as humans, Kin/Squats from the Leagues of Votann, or any of the other accepted abhumans, such as Ratlings and Ogryns. The RP will be open for as long as it runs; this gives the opportunity for people to app as other races such as Tau or Eldar, who we may pick up in the middle of our mission as our desperate situation demands.

As for knowledge of the Warhammer universe, you just need to know the gist of it. Any questions on the lore could simply be answered, either here or in the discord server.

[hr]
[h3]Character Sheet[/h3]
Take note that we'll be playing as higher ranking members of the expedition, as in the ones that will regularly come to/be regularly contacted by the bridge. Being a menial in the bowels of the ship wouldn't have too many opportunities for interactions with others.

You may have noticed that I didn't add a personality section. That's because I prefer that to be developed naturally in the IC over time. 

[code][h4][b][u]CS[/u][/b][/h4]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Species:[/b] Human? Transhuman? Abhuman? Kyn? (xenos can join sometime in the middle of the expedition)
[b]Appearance:[/b] Image, along with height in feet and inches.
[b]Role in the ship:[/b] Basically what you do as part of the expedition. Are you in charge of maintaining the engines, leading boarding actions, or what?
[b]Notable Equipment and Augmentations:[/b] No need for a detailed list for literally everything. Just need what weapons, armor, and cybernetic enhancement your character has, if any. Make sure to describe their capabilities.
[b]Skills:[/b] What are you good at? Are you a good shot? Great at stabbing heretics? If you're a psyker, add what psychic disciplines you specialize in.
[b]Biography:[/b] Basically your life story. Two paragraphs minimum. It is essential that you add how they got to be part of the Rogue Trader expedition to begin with.
[b]Additional Notes:[/b] Trivia, theme, or whatever else that isn't covered yet.[/code]

[b][h3]Rules[/h3][/b]
1. Be nice. I believe we can all gain something by being nice to one another (even if our characters are not), so please. Be nice.
2. The word of the OP and Co-Gms (whenever I get one or more, anyway) is final when it comes to arguments.
3. Even though the Warhammer universe is generally over the top, that doesn't mean that a roleplay in it should be a power fantasy. Cooperative storytelling comes first; our primary purpose is to have fun while telling a story through the lenses of the characters. This isn't an arms race of who's stronger.
4. Character death shouldn't be a thing, unless if you do something very stupid like charge screaming towards a Greater Demon. Even if you're a Space Marine, that Bloodthirster is still going to krump you.
5. Post length is about five sentences minimum, in most cases. Do try to make it a bit longer though, even if you think it's just your character rambling in their head.
6. Keep things at PG-13. Even if you get an Eldar girlfriend.
7. Most importantly, have fun!

Discord: https://discord.gg/ypM5Zy4hvu