Great Crusade
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Great Crusade | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Combatants | |||||||||
| Imperium of Man, Space Marine Legions, Adeptus Mechanicus, Imperial Army, Adeptus Custodes | Humans opposed to the Emperor, Chaos forces, Orks, Eldar, other minor alien races | ||||||||
| Commanders | |||||||||
| The Emperor, others | Various independent alien and human leaders | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| At least 18 Space Marine Legions, associated allies | Unaccounted, numerous planetary populations, mass migrations | ||||||||
| Casualties | |||||||||
| Heavy but sustainable, fairly large among Space Marines and Imperial Army | Vast, unaccounted, countless alien races exterminated and human empires crushed. | ||||||||
The Great Crusade is a historical period in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe, lasting from the late 30th to early 31st millennia (approximately two centuries). The Emperor wanted to unite all of humanity under the one banner, and end inter-human conflict. Once united, the Emperor would begin the next stage of his great plan.
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[edit] Beginnings
[edit] The Unification of Terra
During the Age of Strife the Emperor, who had spent his near-immortal life guiding and influencing mankind, was trapped on Earth, due to Warp Storms. Not content to sit on his laurels, the Emperor spent this time performing biological research on the human genetic code; specifically ones dealing with psychic powers. The result of this work was the creation of 20 highly advanced, genetically engineered superhumans known as the Primarchs. These superhumans, created from the Emperor's own genetic stock, were intended to be the next stage in human evolution.
The powers of Chaos, however, managed to infiltrate the Emperor's secret laboratory. Teleporting the unborn Primarchs away from Earth, the Emperor's plans were in disarray. With no other option, the Emperor used the stored genetic information of the lost Primarchs as a template to create the first prototype supersoldiers later known as Space Marines. Using these first Space Marines, the Emperor united the tribes of Terra under one government. This event was later known as the Unification.
[edit] The End of the Age of Strife
After five millennia, the Warp storms had dissipated from Earth. With the storms gone, and extraplanetary travel was again possible, the Emperor began his plans again.
[edit] Mars and the Adeptus Mechanicus
The Emperor's first obstacle was the existence of the empire of the Techpriests of Mars, who had historically been fiercely independent of Earth. Instead of an outright war, the Emperor used the threat of his Space Marines to form an alliance with the techpriests of the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars. Despite his disdain for their reliance on religion and cybernetics, the Emperor knew that he would need Mars' factories, mechanical output and ancient technological know-how to unify humanity, and he incorporated them into the Imperium.
The Techpriests of Mars, likewise, saw the Emperor's scientific background as proof that he was the Machine God (or Omnissiah), which their religion had promised would return one day to the Red Planet and offer the way forward for humanity.
[edit] Rediscovery of the Primarchs
Expansion from Earth was slow, primarily due to reasons of manpower. Without the Primarchs, the time required to create a Space Marine was far longer than ideal.
After a time, the Emperor was reunited with one of his Primarchs in the Cthonian system: Horus. Being the first Primarch (and, in some ways, his first son), Horus and the Emperor formed a truly unique bond, saving one another's' lives on many occasions. With the decreased Space Marine production time, the Great Crusade began picking up steam, with the Emperor's "Pure Human Empire" attracted entire planets to his cause.
After 30 years of successful Crusade, the Emperor discovered another of the Primarchs. Although Horus was pleased at the discovery of one of his brothers, he secretly pledged to always be the Emperor's favorite son, no matter what else.
Over time, all of the Primarchs were rediscovered and given command of the Space Marine legion for which their genetic code was the basis. With the rediscovery of the Primarchs, Space Marine production was drastically decreased in time; a Space Marine could be made in as little as a year. This rapid creation, it should be noted, would prove disastrous: mental defects and unique eccentricities crept into the ranks.
[edit] Fractures in Loyalty
As the Imperium grew (and there was a lesser need for a single crusading army), the Primarchs and their Emperor began to grow distant from each other. Isolated from each other, Legions began to conduct acts that would have never been tolerated in the past. For example, the Night Lords and World Eaters Legions began to commit ever-greater atrocities, while the Word Bearers fanatical religious beliefs led to a rift between them and the Emperor.
The Imperial Army, composed entirely of normal human soldiers, provided much-needed manpower for garrison and support duties for the planets conquered by the Crusade. Freed from garrison duties, Space Marines could conquer yet more worlds in a shorter space of time. Many Marines and Guardsmen began speaking only of their loyalty to their Primarch, not their Emperor. Owing to the isolation between Legions and the Emperor, this essentially went unnoticed.
[edit] Twilight of the Great Crusade
After Horus' successful campaign to destroy the Ork empire of Ullanor, the Emperor declared it the greatest victory of the Imperium to date. Horus' reward was the title of Warmaster, with it the supreme command of the Imperium's Military.
After doing so, the Emperor made it known that he was needed on Terra, where he would begin his next phase for human evolution. Horus was not informed of the Emperor's plans on Terra, and felt troubled by that. To make matters worse, some of his fellow Primarchs did not easily accept Horus's new authority, believing that the Emperor would disband or reduce their own legions to peacekeeping forces.
Horus resented his brother's feelings and thought that while he was winning the Imperium the Emperor was just pursuing Godhood, which was all the powers of Chaos needed to sow the seeds of dissension into his mind. Over time, the whispers of the Dark Gods convinced Horus to attempt to take control of the Imperium from the Emperor, an event known as the Horus Heresy. The Heresy would end with the death of Horus, the exile of his traitor Legions, and the quasi-death of the Emperor of Man.
