It is a time of legend.
Mankind huddles upon Terra, scarred by the long age of Old Night, when ignorance and savagery reigned across a galaxy that once bowed to their whims. But a new power has arisen. The Emperor of Mankind, who has thrown down the warlords of his birthworld and now turns his gaze to the glaxy beyond.
A Great Crusade is declared. Vast fleets are mustered, their holds filled with newly-raised Legions of Space Marines. Warriors bred from the Emperor's own hand, stronger and swifter than any soldier of old, though yet untested in the wars to come.
Scattered across the galaxy, lost in infancy or hidden by fate's cruel hand, the Primarchs, the Emperor's most precious creations, are yet to be found. Without their gene-sires to lead them, the Legions march under proxy commanders, their potential as yet unrealized.
Ahead lies a galaxy unconquered: countless alien empires, shattered human civilisations fractured by millennia of isolation, and horrors older than mankind's first steps to the stars. Compliance is no certainty. Every world must be won, by compliance where possible, by annihilation where necessary.
This is not yet an age of golden citadels and recorded triumphs. It is the first march into the dark. The opening chapter of a war that will remake the galaxy. The Emperor leads with one promise above all others, the Stars shall be ours.
Mankind huddles upon Terra, scarred by the long age of Old Night, when ignorance and savagery reigned across a galaxy that once bowed to their whims. But a new power has arisen. The Emperor of Mankind, who has thrown down the warlords of his birthworld and now turns his gaze to the glaxy beyond.
A Great Crusade is declared. Vast fleets are mustered, their holds filled with newly-raised Legions of Space Marines. Warriors bred from the Emperor's own hand, stronger and swifter than any soldier of old, though yet untested in the wars to come.
Scattered across the galaxy, lost in infancy or hidden by fate's cruel hand, the Primarchs, the Emperor's most precious creations, are yet to be found. Without their gene-sires to lead them, the Legions march under proxy commanders, their potential as yet unrealized.
Ahead lies a galaxy unconquered: countless alien empires, shattered human civilisations fractured by millennia of isolation, and horrors older than mankind's first steps to the stars. Compliance is no certainty. Every world must be won, by compliance where possible, by annihilation where necessary.
This is not yet an age of golden citadels and recorded triumphs. It is the first march into the dark. The opening chapter of a war that will remake the galaxy. The Emperor leads with one promise above all others, the Stars shall be ours.
OOC Information
This RP is an alternate reality based on the setting of Warhammer 40,000 and it's origin stories, the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. From Ashes We Rise has now completed the story of the Unification Wars, and so we now look outwards to the wider galaxy.
With the dawn of the Great Crusade. The Unification Wars of Terra have been resolved, and the first Legions of Space Marines, are beginning to carry the Emperor's word out among the stars.
Meanwhile, on far flung planets, the Primarchs, the Emperor's first secret geneproject, find themselves cast across the galaxy. Unaware of their birthright, these beings, utterly superior to the humanity from which they were created, will define the future of their worlds and many more, should they survive to once again meet their father and his growing empire.
There are two main options for characters in this RP. Players can take on the act of creating an Astartes Legion and their Primarch, playing the former as they range across the stars in service of the Crusade, and the latter upon their isolated homeworld until the day they are found and brought into the fold. The second option is to play as a character serving the Crusade itself, be they an officer of the Imperial Army, an adept of the Mechanicum, a member of the Administratum's compliance apparatus, or a native of a newly-conquered world finding their place within the growing Imperium. As time passes in the RP it is likely mortal characters will change, for this is a dangerous era and life is never guarenteed. Thus, instead of players taking on individual characters, you may opt to play a household of characters, represent a sub-faction of a world, or a role within the new Imperial society which will grow and change as the rp carries on. The scope for who or what you want to write is pretty vast.
The only major change at the onset of the game is that the Emperor's gene warriors, be they Custodes, Thunder Warriors, Astartes or Primarchs, are not gender locked. This is not a comment on the canon situation, but just something that myself and the previous writers of Grim Crusade prefer as an exploration of an alternate setting.
Our discord can be found here: https://discord.gg/rWZ7aJpTyb
Rules/Errata:
1. The Era which the RP starts in is the dawn of the Great Crusade, shortly after the Unification Wars have concluded and the Emperor's fleets first set out from Terra, an endeavor that in canon began during the late 30th millennium and lasted two centuries. The aim of the rp is to carry on through the Crusade and into the Heresy itself, but this is not to a set length of time IC or OOC. Characters will be born, live and die over the course of events and so I'd recommend the best way to engage with the rp is to expect to play a flexible suite of characters that will change over time.
2. Participation in the RP requires an acceptance that I as the GM will provide 'encounter' scenarios to your characters and/or factions. How these are dealt with is still a collaborative storytelling process but they cannot simply be ignored or hand waved. These will not always take the form of collabs and may be more of a prompt for you to run with, but the commitment to fulfilling them is still the same.
3. Players in this RP have a mixture of familiarity with the setting, don't neccesarily presume people are as informed as you. Feel free to be helpful, but not condescending, and ultimately my call on any lore matters is final.
4. Other than interactions with GM NPCs and GM provided events/encounters the scope of the RP is quite vast, players are encouraged to forge their own narratives within the remit provided, be they solo or (ideally) collaborations with other players. This isn't an RP with a regimented structure beyond the overall narrative, be prepared to take your own plots in hand.
5. Activity: This is an advanced game with a slower posting cadence, but especially at the onset I wish to set an expectation of engagement. Ideally players will be able to post every two weeks as an expectation. Exceptions do apply both ways, someone playing a relatively minor, isolated plotline can anticipate a more relaxed schedule expectation, while those who take on key characters in the narrative will be expected to do more than the minimum in order to not have the rp flounder. IRL matters are of course more important, extended absences should simply be discussed with the GM.
6. The usual rules of be nice, don't take IC conflict as an OOC issue and listen/abide by the GM.
7. Players who are carrying on with the game from the previous thread will need to repost their character sheets here, updated to the new format. Primarchs who are no longer in play and their legions are not canon to the game, although the actions their legions took in the Unification War are considered to have still happened, with murky details that can be adopted by remaining legions / new ones.
Existing Thread Links
Unification War Thread
Primarch Homeworlds / Wider Galaxy Threads
