M42 - M42: Note: All dates from this point forward are provisional due to errors in the Imperial Calendar, meaning these events could actually have occurred at any time from the early 41st Millennium to the early 42nd Millennium.Unknown Date.M42 Chaos Ascendant - In the wake of the Fall of Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade and the birth of the Great Rift, a wave of Warp storms roars into being across the length of the galaxy. Astropaths everywhere fear to open their minds to receive or broadcast messages, for the Immaterium rings with mind-splitting peals, possibly the sound of the myriad tears ripping open in the barrier between the material universe and the Warp, or perhaps the laughter of the Dark Gods...Unknown Date.M42 The Noctis Aeterna - The Noctis Aeterna, also known as the "Blackness" in Low Gothic, was a catastrophic event which consumed the Milky Way Galaxy and the Imperium of Man beginning in 999.M41 and lasted at least into the second century of the 42nd Millennium. The Blackness began following the fall of Cadia at the climax of the 13th Black Crusade and the eruption of the Great Rift that cut the Imperium in half, and was marked by the loss of access to the Astronomican for FTL navigation and a disruption in all astrotelepathic communications. This period saw more devastating events consume the increasingly isolated worlds of the human-settled galaxy than at any time since the Age of Strife. Such was the turmoil during the creation of the Great Rift and the period following it that there could be no reliable accounts. As limited communications returned, Historitors and Chronotechs struggled to understand incoming reports. With the influx of Warp energies into such vast regions of realspace, time passed strangely, speeding up in some sectors, slowing in others compared to the sidereal time experienced on Terra, at the heart of the Imperium. These effects on the Warp from the birth of the Great Rift faded with the passage of time, allowing for the reestablishing of interstellar communications with some regions and somewhat more reliable Warp travel. This restoration of stability, combined with the onset of the Imperial counteroffensive known as the Indomitus Crusade, restored the grip of the Emperor over the Imperium once more. However, the price paid proved steep. Slightly less than half of the one thousand Space Marine Chapters known to operate across the galaxy remained unaccounted for, and no less than twelve Space Marine Chapter homeworlds were reported as destroyed during the Noctis Aeterna and the equally bitter campaigns that followed.Unknown Date.M42 The Golden Throne is Failing - The Adeptus Mechanicus discovers that the Golden Throne has irreparable flaws that could ultimately endanger the Emperor's life. Despite the Adeptus Mechanicus' best efforts, its systems continue to fail, and no one still living knows how to repair them. Perceiving such dangerous ignorance as a manifest threat to the Emperor's safety -- and thus falling beneath the purview of the Adeptus Custodes -- Shield-Captain Heraclast Vadrian consults with Captain-General Trajann Valoris and receives permission to seek a solution. He gathers a band of his finest warriors aboard the Cruiser Scion of Argo, and sets off following a lead that points to the lost Forge World of Morvane.Battle of Lion's Gate - Roboute Guilliman defeats a massive daemonic assault by the forces of Khorne upon the Imperial Palace. After the Battle of Lion's Gate, informally known as the "Second Battle of Terra," the High Lords of Terra realised that no place in the Imperium was now safe from an assault by the Archenemy.Defence of the Cadian Gate - The survivors of the Fall of Cadia reinforce and successfully defend the remaining worlds of the Cadian System and the surrounding star systems of the Cadian Gate from the forces of Abaddon the Despoiler.Defence of the Damned - The Legion of the Damned appears to aid desperate Imperial defenders on more than a hundred worlds, including Baal and Armageddon.Chapter Worlds Lost - Contact is lost with slightly less than half of the 1,000 Space Marine Chapters known to be operating across the galaxy at the time the Great Rift was born in ca. 999.M41. Twelve Space Marine Chapter homeworlds are known to be destroyed or overrun during this period, including Pranagar of the Sky Sentinels which was taken by the Daemon Primarch Magnus the Red and his Thousand Sons Traitor Legion, and Sabatine of the White Consuls.To Shield the Shrine Worlds - Shrine Worlds of the Imperial Cult come under assault by Heretic Astartes and Daemons across the Segmentum Solar and Segmentum Pacificus. The Word Bearers Traitor Legion is especially active in this endeavour. To combat the servants of the Ruinous Powers and end this blasphemy, the Black Templars Chapter takes it upon itself to launch Imperial Crusade after crusade to retake each world. They are often joined by the Iron Hands, a score of other Adeptus Astartes Chapters, and whatever forces the Ecclesiarchy can muster.ca. 999.M41-012.M42 Indomitus Crusade First Phase - The Indomitus Crusade, led by Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman is waged against the surging forces of Chaos and the threats of myriad xenos such as the Orks, T'au and Eldar in the wake of the Fall of Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade. Its purpose is to defend and reclaim those regions of the Imperium of Man lost in the wake of the massive tear in reality, the Great Rift, which sunders the Imperium in two, and the subsequent dire period of history known as the Noctis Aeterna.ca. 999.M41 - Unknown Date.M42 Devastation of Baal - After sacrificing the Shieldworlds of the Cryptus System to fend off the xenos' earliest advance on the Baal System, the planet of Baal itself came under intense attack by Hive Fleet Leviathan. The Tyranid Hive Fleet was of such mass, even after its considerable losses, that it blotted the stars from the skies. Lord Commander Dante bolstered the formidable defences of the Blood Angels' homeworld and its moons like never before. Not one to await attack, he also sent forth scores of preemptive strike forces to delay, mislead, and whittle down the living armada. Hundreds of splinter fleets were thus defeated. Dante's call, beseeching the Blood Angels' Successors to send immediate aid to their parent Chapter, did not go unheeded. The Flesh Tearers were the first to arrive, and ultimately all the Successor Chapters save the Lamenters answered the call. Even the Knights of Blood, who had been declared Excommunicate Traitoris by the High Lords of Terra, arrived to bolster the defences. It was still not enough. Learning at an exponential rate, Hive Fleet Leviathan could not be thwarted by the same strategy twice. Advancing steadily, their superior numbers cleared the entire surrounding sector of life before the xenos made planetfall upon Baal and her twin moons. The first nineteen waves, each larger than the last, were driven off at great loss to the Blood Angels and their Successor allies. Five Chapter Masters fell in that bitter fighting, three in the Battle at the Dome of Angels alone. The Tyranids began the process of absorbing all biomass from Baal and its moons, absorbing even the radiation-poisoned deserts of Baal Secundus. With their defences in ruin and Baal's moons stripped and broken, the remaining Space Marines retreated back to the rubble of the Blood Angels' sprawling fortress-monastery. There, they prepared for a last stand as the next wave swept downwards. Doom, it seemed, had at last come to the Sons of Sanguinius. It was then that the Great Rift cracked open the galaxy in the wake of the fall of Cadia to the 13th Black Crusade, and the withered Baal System was blasted by the aetheric storms. Although no further attack waves came from the Leviathan Hive Fleet, not a single Imperial defender remained alive upon the last moon, Baal Prime. On Baal itself there were already enough Tyranids there to destroy the Imperial troops many times over. Even with no chance of victory, Commander Dante led his troops, each fighting retreat seemingly more hopeless than the last. As the final perimeter was broken, the stars reappeared. Looking skywards, the Tyranids on the surface of Baal sought contact with their Hive Fleet, but it was gone, replaced by a newly arrived Imperial fleet. Like an angel of vengeance came Roboute Guilliman and his Indomitus Crusade. After many more battles, Baal was finally cleared of the xenos threat. A great rebuilding of both world and Chapter was undertaken, for the Blood Angels and their Successors were sorely needed elsewhere in the beleaguered Imperium. What became of the Leviathan is a mystery, although a clue was found upon the now-barren moon of Baal Prime. Xenos skulls were piled impossibly high in the much-reviled, eight-pillared symbol of one of the Blood Angels' most terrible and ancient nemeses: the Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha and his army of Khornate daemons.Psychic Awakening - The "Psychic Awakening," also sometimes referred to as the "Age of Witches," is the term given to a phenomenon of the Era Indomitus that dramatically increased the number of new psykers and greatly enhanced existing psychic abilities across the Milky Way Galaxy in the wake of the birth of the Great Rift. While the massive increase in the flow of Warp energy into the local realspace of the galaxy through the Cicatrix Maledictum dramatically enhanced the power and duration of Daemonic incursions, particularly on worlds adjacent to the Great Rift, it also intensified the psychic abilities of the Craftworld Aeldari and the "miraculous" psychic phenomenon that had once rarely accompanied the worship of the Emperor as the god of Humanity. The Psychic Awakening thus proved both a boon and a hindrance to the attempts of the forces of Chaos to overwhelm realspace in the wake of the victory earned in the 13th Black Crusade. For every world that fell to the dominion of the Dark Gods there were also increasing reports of "miracles" in which even individuals who had never manifested the abilities of a psyker were saved by the spontaneous eruption of supernatural abilities. This was particularly true for those servants of the God-Emperor like the Sisters of Battle of the Adepta Sororitas whose unshakable faith in their deity now seemed capable of manifesting into potent mystical protections or miraculous defences against the machinations of Chaos and xenos forces. This phenomenon affected every faction in the galaxy, hindering or advancing the next steps in their various agendas.Unknown Date.M42 Into Shadow - Upon the direct orders of Captain-General Trajann Valoris, a small, fast-moving force of Custodians makes haste for the ruined remains of Cadia. Details of their mission are suppressed, even amongst their comrades, but they are accompanied by a number of warriors drawn from the ranks of the Shield Host known as the Shadowkeepers.ca. 000.M41 - 025.M42 War of Beasts - The strategically located Hive World of Vigilus linked the Imperium Nihilus with the Imperium Sanctus through the Nachmund Gauntlet, one of the only known stable passes through the Great Rift. Realising the importance of this planet to the survival of the Imperium, it was assaulted by multiple xenos and Chaos forces, including the Black Legion under the command of Abaddon the Despoiler. Though the Despoiler's invasion was ultimately defeated by warriors drawn from multiple Space Marine Chapters under the command of the Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, Vigilus remained a world largely under siege from Ork, Drukhari and Genestealer Cult factions.  In the wake of Marneus Calgar's victory, a reprieve from the executioner's axe is beheld as a miracle on the Bastion World. More Astra Militarum regiments are funnelled through the nightmarish Nachmund Gauntlet in a bid to take advantage of a seeming reversal in Imperial fortunes. But the picture becomes bleaker with every astropathic data transfer; Vigilus' neighbours fall quiet one by one, and though Abaddon is said to have retreated, more of his forces continue to spill onto the world.Unknown Date.M42 The Beast Hunters - Hive Fleet Leviathan and the remaining splinter fleets from the earlier invasions of the Milky Way Galaxy by Hive Fleet Behemoth and Hive Fleet Kraken, continue to assault myriad worlds of the Imperium, slowly making their inexorable way towards Terra and the gleaming psychic beacon calling them like moths to a flame that is the Astronomican.War Zone Armageddon - As the forces of the Orks and the Imperium were still battling amongst the ruins of the Hive World of Armageddon, the world was overrun by the Daemonic legions of Khorne and Tzeentch, which soon began to assault each other as well as anything else in their way. The Greenskins and the Humans were often forced to forge alliances of convenience to defend themselves against their common foe. The arrival of reinforcing Imperial forces, accompanied by elements of nine Space Marine Chapters led by the Salamanders, ultimately succeeded in halting a ritual that would have brought Angron, the Daemon Primarch of the World Eaters, back to the planet that had defied him centuries before during the First War for Armageddon.Unknown Date.M42 The Fourth Sphere Expansion is Lost - The T'au Empire's Fourth Sphere Expansion is lost in the Imperium's Eastern Fringes soon after its inception due to the effects of the Noctis Aeterna and the spiraling Warp Storms that afflict the galaxy following the birth of the Great Rift.Unknown Date.M42 Rise of the Undying Legions - The Necrons continue to awaken at a rapidly increasing pace on their Tomb Worlds across the galaxy, ready to rebuild their ancient interstellar empire, and wipe away all the "lesser races" that stand in their way.Absorption Wars - It has always been the wish of the Necron Overlord Imotekh to reunite all the Tomb Worlds of the Necron species beneath his rule and nothing could deter his plans, not even rampant Daemonic incursions. As the Great Rift opened, the Stormlord launched his Absorption Wars, a many-pronged campaign to seize dozens of Tomb Worlds awakened by the Warp influx. Imotekh sought to conquer them before they could fully rise from their stasis slumber, ensuring the continued rise of his Sautekh Dynasty.Blood Crusade - The Blood Crusade was a massive offensive unleashed by the forces of Chaos loyal to the Blood God Khorne. His followers -- from daemon legions to brutish beasts to violent-minded hive city Chaos Cultists -- all took up that call to arms. Riding new crests of the Warp Storms known as the "Blood Waves," the daemon legions erupted from the Cicatrix Maledictum, bringing new orgies of slaughter across the galaxy. Thus began the Blood Crusade. The red-raged armies did not seek out destinations. Instead, the gore-slavering fiends merely rode where the storms took them, materialising upon a planet to unleash carnage, and leaving when the tempests moved beyond. Eight distinct spearheads drove out into the galaxy in all directions, and as blood-trails draw in predators, so too did the Blood Crusade.Red Tide - The Red Tide is an enormous Chaos horde that erupted out of the Warp in the wake of the Great Rift's birth. The Red Tide had no plan or agenda beyond destruction, and was simply a carnage-filled crusade of wanton slaughter that carved a bloody path across the galaxy.Invasion of the Stygius Sector - In the wake of the birth of the Great Rift following the 13th Black Crusade of 999.M41, Tzeentch looked upon his brothers. Without plan or agenda, Khorne and Slaanesh were glutting themselves on slaughter and torment, consumed by their rampages, but when Tzeentch saw Nurgle corrupting a whole realm of the galaxy in Ultramar, he grew jealous, seeking as ever to conspire against him, but also wishing to seize star systems for his own. So did the Architect of Fate put a million plans in motion. The Crystal Stars intrigued Tzeentch, as did the Shrouded Zone. It was the Stygius Sector, however, that he would attempt to claim first. It was in the Segmentum Obscurus, near the Eye of Terror and cut off from the Light of the Emperor's Astronomican during the Noctis Aeterna. There, entropy raged the fiercest, and amidst the maelstrom of unnatural energies the tightly packed pattern of nine-times-nine star systems called out irresistibly to Tzeentch. Though the assault was contested by a powerful Imperial force and even aid from the Aeldari of Craftworld Ulthwe, the sector was ultimately surrendered to Tzeentch, who saw it as only the first of the regions of realspace he intended to claim for his own.Unknown Date.M42 Talledus War - The Talledus War was a War of Faith fought in the Era Indomitus between the forces of Chaos and the Imperium of Man to defend the Shrine World of Benediction in the Talledus System of the Veritus Sub-sector.  Though Benediction was the Chaos forces' primary target, all the inhabited worlds of the system faced a large-scale assault led by the Dark Apostle Kor Phaeron of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion. The Word Bearers, as always, sought to convert the bulk of Humanity to the service and worship of the Chaos Gods. They took great pleasure in furthering this agenda by attacking a world and system that was of such importance to the Imperial state religion that they deemed a fraud. The fall of Talledus and Benediction to Chaos, and the conversion of its people to the true faith of Chaos, were deemed a potentially major milestone in the Word Bearers' plan to throw down the Corpse God of the Imperium and claim Mankind for the Dark Gods. The war proceeded on three fronts, on Benediction, on the Astra Militarum Fortress World of Ghreddask and in the void surrounding the asteroid belt called the Tears of the Emperor at the very edge of the system. On Benediction, the Word Bearers forces commanded by Kor Phaeron nearly seized control of the Grand Honorificum cathedral-city complex. The Loyalists were saved by an unusual phenomenon that was part of the Psychic Awakening when the faith of those gathered in the cathedral summoned forth from the Warp the protective spirits of the sacred Imperial dead. This supernatural force, later remembered as the "Saints' Wall," surrounded the Grand Honorificum in a protective psychic shield and extinguished the grip on reality held by many of the Daemons making up Kor Phaeron's attacking army. This miracle allowed a demi-company of Salamanders Astartes to cut the remaining force of Chaos troops in two and establish a new defensive perimeter for the cathedral complex. On Ghreddask, the intervention of a Black Templars strike force destroyed the Soul Harvester mobile fortress-factory that had left the Imperial defenders at a loss, though the suicidal counterassault cost the life of the Astartes commander, Castellan Dramos. In the void, within the Tears of the Emperor, a piratical Night Lords fleet commanded by the battleship Nightmare of Celyx sought to draw in Imperial military and commercial shipping translating into the system from the Warp by using captured Imperial astropaths to throw off their Navigators' abilities. The Night Lords then took the spoils and reaped with great pleasure the terror of their victims. The arrival of Vanguard Marines from the White Scars' 10th Brotherhood turned the tables on the Heretic Astartes pirates. Their hit-and-run strikes soon transformed into a vicious, void-based guerilla war as each side tried to lure the other into ambushes. The White Scars succeeded in blunting the Night Lords' attacks on incoming Imperial shipping, but were unable to annihilate the Chaos raiding force entirely. Though the Imperium has so far managed to blunt the Chaos assault on the Talledus System on every front, the conflict is far from over.ca. 005.M42 Ciaphas Cain Publishes Personal Memoirs - The famous Imperial hero, Commissar Ciaphas Cain publishes his personal memoris, To Serve the Emperor: A Commissar's Life. In his later years, Cain wished to gather and write a full accounting of his long and distinguished career. However, his more personal and candid memoir never sees the light of day and is put under Inquisitorial seal by the order of Inquisitor Amberley Vail. His personal archives contain far too many sensitive and restricted information. Undertaking the monumental task of organising Cain's files into a vast archive, she names it the Cain Archive, and publishes it for Inquisitors only. Many Inquisitors read Cain's candid accounts. Inquisitor Amberley is later persuaded to expand it considerably, making it somewhat of a bestseller amongst the agents of the Inquisition.ca. 012.M42 Battle of Herodian IV - The Mantis Warriors, augmented by an Imperial Navy taskforce, comes to the aid of the beleaguered world of Herodian IV that is under attack by a large Tyranid splinter fleet. Despite taking a high number of casualties, the Imperials begin to turn the tide of the battle against the horde of bioform horrors, when Inquisitor Lord Brutius Parthon orders the Mantis Warriors to undertake an Exterminatus of the fallen world. This was carried out only after a Deathwatch Kill-team was extracted from a hidden Ordo Xenos weapons laboratory on the surface of the doomed planet.ca. 012.M42 Battle of Raukos - Roboute Guilliman calls for an end to the first phase of the Indomitus Crusade following the epic final battle for the Pit of Raukos. The Battle of Raukos is a two-pronged assault upon the world of 108/Beta-Kalapus-9.2 and the Warp rift known as the Pit of Raukos in Wilderness Space. The Loyalist forces quickly overwhelmed the allied Traitor Legions -- including the Word Bearers, the Iron Warriors and the Black Legion -- using the strategic location of the Warp rift to carry out assaults upon the surrounding Imperial worlds. This victory marked the end of the Indomitus Crusade's first phase with the stabilisation of the Imperium Sanctus and the start of Guilliman's involvement in the Plague Wars.Third War for Damnos - The Third War for Damnos began when an invasion force of the Necron Szarekhan Dynasty descended upon the Mining World of Damnos during the Era Indomitus. The Human settlers of that world sent out a plea for aid once more to the Ultramarines, who at that time were engaged in a number of major conflicts of the era, including the Indomitus Crusade, the Plague Wars and the War of Beasts. With most of their strength utilised elsewhere, the Chapter had few Astartes to spare to help the besieged planet.  Nonetheless, the Chapter had given too much previously in Damnos' defence to abandon it and a small strike force of Ultramarines and several regiments of the Ultramar Auxilia were sent to aid it. The Chapter knew that the forces that had been deployed to Damnos would be insufficient to defeat the Necrons and so requested aid from their allies in different Chapters. Their requests were answered and when the Ultramarines arrived at Damnos they were joined by contingents from several Successor Chapters, including the Iron Hounds, Brazen Consuls and Libators. Their combined might of these Adeptus Astartes, however, was not enough to defeat the invading Szarekhan Dynasty, whose forces were numberless. This was due to the undying xenos arriving in their thousands by Tomb Ships and through a Dolmen Gate to ensure they reconquered Damnos. When the Mandeville Point for the Damnos System once again flared as it opened to the Warp, the Ultramarines feared that another foe was about to join conflict, but instead it marked the arrival of reinforcements sent by the Salamanders and White Scars Chapters. They had received the Ultramarines' request for aid and proceeded to join the battle to retake Damnos once more for the Emperor from the Szarekhan Dynasty.ca. 012.M42 The Plague Wars - The Plague Wars are a series of battles that occurred within the Realm of Ultramar between the forces of Nurgle, led by the Daemon Primarch Mortarion, and his Death Guard Traitor Legion against the Ultramarines, their Successor Chapters and other Imperial forces. This conflict began following the events of the 13th Black Crusade and the opening of the massive Warp rift known as the Cicatrix Maledictum. By ca. 111.M42, over a hundred standard years after the start of the Indomitus Crusade, the Imperial defenders all across Ultramar were depleted in dozens of ground campaigns, while a Plague Fleet systematically destroyed the realm's Ultramar Defence Fleet and star fortresses. Guilliman returned from the Indomitus Crusade after over a standard century of campaigning to stabilise the Imperium, and his deft and defensive manoeuvres bought time to launch what became known as the "Spear of Espandor" counterattack. The combined plague armies were eventually fought to a standstill amongst the ruins of Iax, before the Daemon Primarch Mortarion escaped with his forces back to the Scourge Stars under cover of a Virus Bomb attack, both because of his brother's staunch defence and because Nurgle's realm in realspace had come under assault by the forces of the Blood God Khorne. In a brief respite from the work of safeguarding the Emperor's realm after Mortarion's defeat, Guilliman ordered the rebuilding and decontamination of Ultramar, as well as the establishing of new procedures for creating further Primaris Ultramarines. It was not long before new Imperial Crusades called the Lord Commander of the Imperium away from Ultramar and back out into the dark galaxy. The Ultramarines then began the work of preparing their vengeance against the servants of the Dark Gods.Fourth Tyrannic War - The Fourth Tyrannic War began when the largest mass of Hive Fleet Leviathan yet encountered attacked the Western Reaches of the Segmentum Pacificus, seeking to strike at a relatively undefended region of the galaxy while the defenders of the Imperium were otherwise engaged with the forces of Chaos emanating out of the Great Rift. The great Tyranid assault began with the coordinated attack from above and below the galactic plane by three new tendrils of the Leviathan dubbed Hive Fleet Nautilon, Hive Fleet Promethor, and Hive Fleet Grendyllus, respectively, by the Imperium. The two tendrils were moving in parallel towards their ultimate goal of Terra in the Segmentum Solar, and with the Imperium distracted by the demands of the Indomitus Crusade few Human forces initially were available to stand against it.ca. 037.M42 Cain Archive First Expanded - Orten Bassit publishes The Return of the Liberator: Ciaphas Cain and the Second Siege of Perlia. This book is later incorporated by Inquisitor Amberly Vail and used as an extract within the Cain Archive.ca. 085.M42 Cain Archive Second Expansion - Stententious Logar publishes Purge the Guilty! An Imperial Account of the Liberation of Gravalax. It is later utilised by Inquisitor Amberly Vail and incorporated as an extract within the Cain Archive.ca. 087.M42 Cain Archive Third Expansion - Nelson Lawford publishes Just Visitin': The Life of a Naval Hero, a biography of retired Imperial Navy Commodore Hubert Visiter. It is later utilised by Inquisitor Amberly Vail and incorporated as an extract within the Cain Archive.ca. 095.M42 Cain Archive Fourth Expansion - Arten Burrar publishes The Abominable Chitin: A Concise History of the Tyrannic Wars. It is later utilised by Inquisitor Amberly Vail and incorporated as an extract within the Cain Archive.ca. 097.M42 Cain Archive Fifth Expansion - Retired Lady General Jenit Sulla publishes Like a Phoenix From the Flames: The Founding of the Valhallan 597th. It is later utilised by Inquisitor Amberly Vail and incorporated as an extract within the Cain Archive.ca. 101.M42 Cain Archive Sixth Expansion - Retired Lady General Jenit Sulla publishes Like a Phoenix On The Wing: The Early Campaigns and Victories of the Valhallan 597th. It is later utilised by Inquisitor Amberly Vail and incorporated as an extract within the Cain Archive.ca. 127.M42 Cain Archive Seventh Expansion - Ayjaepi Clothier publishes In Blackest Night: The Millennial Wars Appraised. It is later utilised by Inquisitor Amberly Vail and incorporated as an extract within the Cain Archive.