MISSION BOOK
THE SPACE HULKS
There are currents in warpspace. Spacecraft ride these currents, entering the warp at a warp gate, travelling along them for a time, then, hopefully, emerging back into our universe again at another gate. Some vessels never return. Sometimes they founder and are ripped apart by the tremendous force of warpstorms. Sometimes they miss their exit gate, and journey forever through the warp, eternal prisoners of the void, or drop back into the universe countless untold miles and endless years from their intended destination. Perhaps that's how the first Genestealers arrived in this galaxy. No one knows. Some vessels, however, become locked in a strange current of the warp, emerging from time to time in realspace, but then later helplessly sucked back into the warp. They have no control over their destination and may travel in the warp for centuries, appearing at the same gate whence they came, or light-centuries away, only to disappear once more after several hours or days. For some reason, according to the demented physics of the warp, more than one of these prison-ships from time to time emerge at the same gate at the same time. One vessel might be an abandoned wreck, another a new craft, complete with living crew. If possible, the crew will scavenge the wreck, perhaps binding it to their own vessel, to increase their living space, and perhaps in the in hope that they will be able to fashion an escape vessel out of the wreck. Thus are born space hulks.
No one knows how many space hulks there are. Millions of Human vessels have been lost in the warp countless billions more must have been lost by other races over the millennia. Most are empty piles of junk -space flotsam , some, however, contain treasures of bygone ages, the lost science of the fantastic Dark Age of Technology or of other races. as far advanced above Humanity as we-ire above the insects. Thus. some seek out the spacehulks. travelling aboard them in the hope of discovering treasure. risking eternal prison for the chance of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice.
Some creatures, particularly chaos Renegades, use the hulks as pirate vessels ' appearing in a system, sending out smaller ships to murder and rob nearby Planets or vessels' then escaping to safety in the random warp jumps of the space is dangerous in the extreme' but chaos Renegades do not fear danger.
THE INVASION OF IMPEPERIAL SPACE
Despite its growing weakness, the Imperium of Man is still an extremely formidable opponent. Humanity is a warrior race, like the Genestealers, and, though no match for the Genestealers in hand-to-hand combat, their ability to use sophisticated weaponry makes them deadly fighters indeed. The Imperium cannot be cowed or bargained with. The Imperial inquisition ruthlessly exterminate any infected planets they discover - they are not afraid to kill the innocent to ensure that all of the tainted ones are destroyed. The Inquisition keep strict silence about this threat to the Imperium, ruthlessly killing or mindwiping all who come into contact with the aliens, fearing the taint of Chaos and spiritual contamination.
As a whole, Mankind is psychically weak, but some individual Men are strong. The Emperor of Mankind is all but dying, but the Stealers have tasted his mind from afar- and they fear him, more than any being they have ever encountered.
But the Stealers have no choice. They are driven. They must conquer - or perish.
The Genestealers' plan, evolved over eons of conquest, is simple, yet very subtle. Individual Genestealers will infiltrate a large number of Imperial planets, establishing small covens amongst the disaffected populace which exist throughout Humanity. They will increase their families slowly - as slowly as their burning drive to procreate will allow - taking great pains to avoid detection. After the fourth generation hybrids are born, they will leave their planet as merchants, diplomats, trades, and even soldiers in the Imperium, to found covens on new planets.
Using their psychic powers and shrewd diplomatic skills, honed by millennia of inter-family warfare, the Stealers' covens will make alliances with other. non-Stealer covens- those created by Vampires, mad Humans, the forces of Chaos - extending their power and influence a thousandfold. When the time is right, q/hen the Imperium is at its weakest, under some grave threat from outside, the Stealers will strike, fomenting unrest and rebellion amongst the populace across a thousand thousand Imperial worlds.
THC DARK AGE OF TECHNOLOGY
Exploration brought new ideas, never wealth, new arrogance, and science became God. The machines of travel and conquest achieved incredible levels of sophistication. There seemed nothing that Man couldn't do. Man himself was changing, and psychic power, once the stuff of quack science and trashy pulp thrillers, came to be accepted, and studied.
Though few realized it at the time, the end of the Age of Technology was heralded by the appearance of psykers -humans capable of using psionic powers such as telekinesis The trigger for this appearance has never been precisely determined, but within mere centuries psykers were recorded on almost every planet known to Man. some went mad uncounted millions were burnt as witches, destroyed by ignorance and fear, and, possibly, prescience. A few those on civilized, 'enlightened' planets, were protected and nurtured, allowed to test and explore their new-found skills.
This was to prove the greatest calamity that Man has ever perpetrated upon himself in a long history of foolish arrogance and stupidity.
Untrained and ignorant of what they meddled with, the novice psykers opened the galaxy to invasion. Daemons- fell creatures in the warp, born of Chaos - attacked the minds of the unprotected psykers, and through them, gained entrance to our galaxy. Monsters walked the worlds. Ignorance and madness replaced enlightenment and technology. Aliens, sensing Man's weakness, attacked savagely, attempting to regain all that they had lost. The Age of Strife was born.
THE AGE Of STRIFE
For more than five thousand years, warfare wracked Mankind. Nation battled nation, planet fought planet, system laid waste system. Man fought Himself, Daemon, and Alien. The fragile bonds of civilisation were lost. Abandoned colonies perished by the scores or reverted to barbaric savagery. Outspacers and aliens plundered and grew fat on the wreck of Humanity. It v/as at this time that the mutants began to appear in great numbers. As science crumbled, terraformed worlds slowly reverted to their natural conditions the Men on them adapted, or died. Thus were born the abhumans - the stocky Squats, the powerful Ogryns, the mad Beastmen, and many others. Only the worlds where psykers were rigorously suppressed survived intact. The retrenchment of Mankind was almost total
THE SPACE HULKS
There are currents in warpspace. Spacecraft ride these currents, entering the warp at a warp gate, travelling along them for a time, then, hopefully, emerging back into our universe again at another gate. Some vessels never return. Sometimes they founder and are ripped apart by the tremendous force of warpstorms. Sometimes they miss their exit gate, and journey forever through the warp, eternal prisoners of the void, or drop back into the universe countless untold miles and endless years from their intended destination. Perhaps that's how the first Genestealers arrived in this galaxy. No one knows. Some vessels, however, become locked in a strange current of the warp, emerging from time to time in realspace, but then later helplessly sucked back into the warp. They have no control over their destination and may travel in the warp for centuries, appearing at the same gate whence they came, or light-centuries away, only to disappear once more after several hours or days. For some reason, according to the demented physics of the warp, more than one of these prison-ships from time to time emerge at the same gate at the same time. One vessel might be an abandoned wreck, another a new craft, complete with living crew. If possible, the crew will scavenge the wreck, perhaps binding it to their own vessel, to increase their living space, and perhaps in the in hope that they will be able to fashion an escape vessel out of the wreck. Thus are born space hulks.
No one knows how many space hulks there are. Millions of Human vessels have been lost in the warp countless billions more must have been lost by other races over the millennia. Most are empty piles of junk -space flotsam , some, however, contain treasures of bygone ages, the lost science of the fantastic Dark Age of Technology or of other races. as far advanced above Humanity as we-ire above the insects. Thus. some seek out the spacehulks. travelling aboard them in the hope of discovering treasure. risking eternal prison for the chance of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice.
Some creatures, particularly chaos Renegades, use the hulks as pirate vessels ' appearing in a system, sending out smaller ships to murder and rob nearby Planets or vessels' then escaping to safety in the random warp jumps of the space is dangerous in the extreme' but chaos Renegades do not fear danger.
THE INVASION OF IMPEPERIAL SPACE
Despite its growing weakness, the Imperium of Man is still an extremely formidable opponent. Humanity is a warrior race, like the Genestealers, and, though no match for the Genestealers in hand-to-hand combat, their ability to use sophisticated weaponry makes them deadly fighters indeed. The Imperium cannot be cowed or bargained with. The Imperial inquisition ruthlessly exterminate any infected planets they discover - they are not afraid to kill the innocent to ensure that all of the tainted ones are destroyed. The Inquisition keep strict silence about this threat to the Imperium, ruthlessly killing or mindwiping all who come into contact with the aliens, fearing the taint of Chaos and spiritual contamination.
As a whole, Mankind is psychically weak, but some individual Men are strong. The Emperor of Mankind is all but dying, but the Stealers have tasted his mind from afar- and they fear him, more than any being they have ever encountered.
But the Stealers have no choice. They are driven. They must conquer - or perish.
The Genestealers' plan, evolved over eons of conquest, is simple, yet very subtle. Individual Genestealers will infiltrate a large number of Imperial planets, establishing small covens amongst the disaffected populace which exist throughout Humanity. They will increase their families slowly - as slowly as their burning drive to procreate will allow - taking great pains to avoid detection. After the fourth generation hybrids are born, they will leave their planet as merchants, diplomats, trades, and even soldiers in the Imperium, to found covens on new planets.
Using their psychic powers and shrewd diplomatic skills, honed by millennia of inter-family warfare, the Stealers' covens will make alliances with other. non-Stealer covens- those created by Vampires, mad Humans, the forces of Chaos - extending their power and influence a thousandfold. When the time is right, q/hen the Imperium is at its weakest, under some grave threat from outside, the Stealers will strike, fomenting unrest and rebellion amongst the populace across a thousand thousand Imperial worlds.
THC DARK AGE OF TECHNOLOGY
Exploration brought new ideas, never wealth, new arrogance, and science became God. The machines of travel and conquest achieved incredible levels of sophistication. There seemed nothing that Man couldn't do. Man himself was changing, and psychic power, once the stuff of quack science and trashy pulp thrillers, came to be accepted, and studied.
Though few realized it at the time, the end of the Age of Technology was heralded by the appearance of psykers -humans capable of using psionic powers such as telekinesis The trigger for this appearance has never been precisely determined, but within mere centuries psykers were recorded on almost every planet known to Man. some went mad uncounted millions were burnt as witches, destroyed by ignorance and fear, and, possibly, prescience. A few those on civilized, 'enlightened' planets, were protected and nurtured, allowed to test and explore their new-found skills.
This was to prove the greatest calamity that Man has ever perpetrated upon himself in a long history of foolish arrogance and stupidity.
Untrained and ignorant of what they meddled with, the novice psykers opened the galaxy to invasion. Daemons- fell creatures in the warp, born of Chaos - attacked the minds of the unprotected psykers, and through them, gained entrance to our galaxy. Monsters walked the worlds. Ignorance and madness replaced enlightenment and technology. Aliens, sensing Man's weakness, attacked savagely, attempting to regain all that they had lost. The Age of Strife was born.
THE AGE Of STRIFE
For more than five thousand years, warfare wracked Mankind. Nation battled nation, planet fought planet, system laid waste system. Man fought Himself, Daemon, and Alien. The fragile bonds of civilisation were lost. Abandoned colonies perished by the scores or reverted to barbaric savagery. Outspacers and aliens plundered and grew fat on the wreck of Humanity. It v/as at this time that the mutants began to appear in great numbers. As science crumbled, terraformed worlds slowly reverted to their natural conditions the Men on them adapted, or died. Thus were born the abhumans - the stocky Squats, the powerful Ogryns, the mad Beastmen, and many others. Only the worlds where psykers were rigorously suppressed survived intact. The retrenchment of Mankind was almost total
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