History

The history of Sector Gondwana is studied by the scholars of many worlds in the search for the truth and wisdom of elder days when the Emperor walked among mankind and his guidance set humanity on a path for a bright and prosperous future.

There exist as many histories and accounts of ages past as there are worlds under all suns of the Sector. The chronicles of Gondwana are plagued by inconsistencies and missing links and what pieces exist are treasured in the libraries and archives of rivaling worlds, so that no one cohesive story of all millennia may ever be told.

Nonetheless, by order of Holy Terra, a rough outline of the past was drawn, based on the undeniable truths of the Imperial Creed. This account of the more than ten millennia of Gondwana's history describes only the largest events in its history, which shaped entire eras over thousands of years. Therefore, it excludes an endless list of lesser times of war and peace, even though those themselves might have lasted centuries and decided the fate of dozens of worlds.

Even among the wise and ancient of this sector, this history is not well-known, and the general populace can only ever hope to garner slivers of the truth in myth and legend. For as much wisdom and glory the past entails, it holds even greater horrors and secrets which are never to be unveiled.

## Elder Ages

This is a time beyond scripture and memory, lost to the stream of passing ages. Yet, in spite of all of galactic history, a single thread ties Sector Gondwana closer to this forgotten age than nearly any of the outer regions.

For a world of the Elder Age was captured by currents of the Warp rippling back through the eons when the Immaterium was thrown into turmoil. Transported through the very fabric of time, this world by the name of Feirefitz was delivered into the early Imperial Age.

## Dark Ages

The first great civilizations of Gondwana rose at the zenith of the Dark Age of Technology, when the star of humanity shone brightest, before the black abyss to come. In this time, the Ringworld Cambria was forged over long millennia, and the menace of abominable Intelligence arose.

## Weltenbrand

Darkness engulfed all the galaxy when there began the age of Weltenbrand. Storms of the Immaterium divided the worlds of old and civilizations were left alone in the dark. The reign of humanity faltered, and the galaxy was left unclaimed.

At its end, when the Aeldari fell, their heresy tainted all the firmament. During the Weltenbrand, the shores of Thetys were tainted and it became the Thetys Rift, where only demons and horrors dwell.

## Great Crusade

The light of the Galaxy arose anew with the coming of the Great Crusade. From where the Emperor had awoken on Holy Terra, he waged war to united all of the humankind and his coming would free Sector Gondwana from the shackles of plight and ignorance. His forces were welcomed than by the Crimson Queen, and Her court was the only to survive through submission.

Sector Gondwana became part of the Imperium, just before the Great Crusade halted and the arch-heresy ensued.

## Gondwana Schism

Following the rise of the Imperium and the horrors of the Horus Heresy, there came a time of distrust among the stars of Sector Gondwana. It's two mightiest worlds, Cambria and Trantor, were split in a feud between the two imperial factions making their claims for leadership over all the sector.

On the ancient Ringworld Cambria, the Adeptus Mechanicus pacified the Technobarbarian Clans and began unveiling more of the ancient machinery of ages past. On venerable Trantor, the Adeptus Administratum facilitated the conquest of the deep layers, unveiling ancient archives and the governance machine.

Both saw fit to declare themselves sole leaders of the region and their feud grew hot in some systems, as the lesser worlds had to pledge their allegiance to either one. For more than a thousand years this schism lasted until peace was imposed by order of Holy Terra.

## Taming the Frontier

United by force, the mighty worlds of Sector Gondwana turned to inward perfection. Upon the stellar ring of Cambria, the Mechanicus set out for the Cambrian Technicides, eradicating all technobarbarian tribes and feral Ork infestations on their holy ground. At the same time, the deepest caverns and inner shells of Trantor were pried open and the Administratum went about establishing trade and bureaucracy to more effectively govern the sector.

The worlds under Gondwana's suns were tamed and the borders of the Imperium pushed by the Frontier Crusades right onto the shores of the Thetys Rift.

## The First Golden Age

The efforts of both worlds led into the First Golden Age lasting for much of the 33rd Millennium. Blessed by the Emperor's grace, Sector Gondwana prospered. Great wonders were created, knowledge regained and machinery reproduced. The populace of many worlds multiplied and soon billions of devout imperial citizens called the worlds of Gondwana their home. In this millennium, many honorable dynasties, treasures, and riches of the sector are rooted. It was a time of splendor which would not be seen again for the longest time.

## Pacificus Strife

The glory days of the First Golden Age were not ended from within Sector Gondwana nor what lies beyond the frontier. Strife within the Imperium, the Nova Terra Interregnum, shook galactic order to its core and tested the faith of uncounted worlds.

Sector Gondwana remained loyal to the eternal reign of Holy Terra after a handful of seditious worlds were subdued with righteous fury in the Crusades for the Sake of Gondwana. All its worlds were loyal when the Days of Judgment came and the strife was vanquished from galactic history.

## Wars of the Pillar Worlds

The proven faith of Gondwana would be tested yet again not long after the Nova Interregnum ceased. On the utmost frontier of the Imperium, there erupted a War which would be marked by silence upon all worlds thereafter, a war against something on the far side of the Rift, referred to only as of the "Pillar Worlds."

Any and all scripture of the time was hidden in the deepest catacombs of the mighty worlds and destroyed anywhere else. It is said it was a war waged against a Xenos race, a war humbling the imperial force to a point where the truth of it could not be allowed to enter living memory.

When the War ended, it is said, many worlds along the Limes Gondwana rebelled, some were thrown into the rift, others were taken elsewhere entirely. The truth of the matter is a well-guarded secret, unfit for any historical account.

## The Falling Shadow

Many coming centuries in the late 35th and 36th millennium were marked by Thetys' Falling Shadow. Awoken, perhaps, by the War with the Pillar Worlds, the ruinous powers within the Rift began to stir.

There was no great war against the Ruinous Powers in this time, no great incursions from the Immaterium. By all accounts, Sector Gondwana could have been calm, if not for mysterious series of unfortunate events, escalating conflicts and feuds flaring up here and there, keeping Subsector Cambria in a perpetual state of unrest and uncertainty.

In this Age, many forces were bolstered and raised. Trantor fortified the Limes Gondwana and released the Castellum Fortresses from direct control of the Governance Machine. The Adeptus Mechanicus finished construction on the Nimbus Imperatoria Laurentia, a vanguard fortress in the name of the Omnissiah.

Though locked still in their ancient feud, the two mighty worlds of Gondwana sensed a greater evil coming, something ancient awaiting its chance to strike. At the height of the Shadow Falling, every last soul of Gondwana was plagued by bad dreams and visions. Until all worries were seemingly suddenly alleviated.

## Millennium of Respite

There followed the Millennium of Respite, at the time believed to be the Second Golden Age. But it was never recorded as such in later ages, for the horrors which came thereafter made the notion of a golden time all too false and treacherous.

The stirring within the Thetys Rift seemed to have ceased and the imperial worlds lived through a resurgence of wealth and prosperity. The bad times for trading dynasties, armies and fleets seemed to have passed and the souls were free of nightmares and visions.

During the Millennium of Respite, the last great Explorator Fleet was sent into the Uncharted Regions, and in the War of Theomachia, the Imperium saw one of its greatest victories, smiting the Arandrim.

Only a few vestiges of doubt remained, worlds declared forlorn and immoral, insisting on the coming of terrible horror. Their voices remained unheard by those who wanted to believe in a better time. And they were the first to fall when the true surge came.

## Thetys Surge

In the first years following the Millennium of respite, the tides Thetys receded and it almost seemed like the Rift would close entirely. But instead, the raw unnatural force of the Immaterium returned in a sudden surge overwhelming all defenses put in place by the Imperium.

The Surge came with a warping of the spatial fabric itself and contorted time, and within years, stretched into subjective centuries for the worlds on the precipice, the Limes Gondwana was broken, torn away and forces of the Ruinous powers spilled into all of Subsector Cambria.

The universe itself gave way to the whims of unholy gods, and to the worlds of the Imperium, the biggest threat were not their fleets nor demons – despite all the horror those brought – but the phenomena of the Immaterium themselves, the detonation of suns and their sudden death, the twisting of space and time and the nebulae sent forth corroding planets, setting worlds aflame and freezing entire systems over.

Against these terrible horrors, the worlds of Sector Gondwana were powerless and relied on the will of the Emperor entirely, to save them and deliver them from this most terrible war, to somehow survive into the coming age.

The Thetys Surge culminated in the Siege of Trantor itself, where the last bulwark stood for decades against the onslaught of the demonic force.

## The Weak Centuries

During the Thetys Surge, the worlds of Gondwana had been humbled. The mighty had fallen and a new force arisen. To cope with the destruction and chaos all around, the strongest survivors, Cambria, Trantor and the newly arrived Astartes of the Hallowed Glaive, banded together to found the Triumvirate Gondwana.

In the wake of the widespread destruction, both the Administratum World Trantor and Forge World Cambria ceased more centralized control over their domain and began fortifying their worlds anew, putting greater emphasis on planetary hold-outs and the endurance of their void-borne fleets.

The Weak Centuries were marked also by minor incursions and uprising, for many lesser foes sought to seize the opportunity of Gondwana's weakness to raid and conquer. Most notably among these was the reign of Princeling Laurelin of a Drukhari Cabal which discovered direct gateways onto worlds close to the Rift.

## War of Mirrors

As the weakness and aftermath of the Thetys Surge passed, both Trantor and Cambria grew strong once more and their feud was finally reignited. Though no longer waged on open battlefields, the conflict continued as a war of mirrors, of intrigue and politics. A great game of power was played by the Executor of Trantor and the Archmagos of Cambria, and both carefully set out pieces throughout all of Sector Gondwana to ensure their own strength and the other's waning days.

While the mirror war waged among the highest echelons of diplomacy and power took its toll among the nobility and on the higher ranks of imperial society, it was felt less by the general populace. Sector Gondwana prospered as both powers sought to uplift the worlds of their domains to triumph above the other, and loyalty was rewarded by both with gifts and blessings of the highest sort. And while millions were sacrificed on more than one occasion, the citizens would never know their fate had been decided in the wake of this mirror war, rather than by chance or tragedy.

## The Second Golden Age

Thus, from the War of Mirrors blossomed a Second Golden Age. Reborn anew from heavy trials in the past, the worlds of Gondwana strived to reach the glory old once more and new wonders were begun.

Ten-thousand years after the Imperium's coming, a cycle for many seemed to end. Old prophecies would come true, old treasures would be rediscovered and above all, the glory of legends would be renewed. As the galaxy as a whole grew more restless with the passing of centuries, Sector Gondwana was one of few places untouched by strife and misery. There were war and peace, famine and abundance, but in the end, the souls of this region seemed blessed by the Golden Throne.

## The Crusade of Grass and Iron

At the height of the Second Golden Age an ancient work, begun by the Mechanicum when it first arrived on the ringworld, comes to an end. The Gates of Cambria open and a signal is sent beyond the Thetys Rift.

For the first time in millennia, the high and mighty worlds of Gondwana gaze upon the uncharted regions. For the first time in millennia, Gondwana mounts a great crusade.