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  1. Warhammer: The Horus Heresy
  3. Lore

Great Crusade Timeline 1

Chronology

The extent of the Imperium of Man, ca. 892.005.M31, the last year of the Great Crusade

Presented below is a chronological listing of the events of the Great Crusade. The following information was compiled by manifold and diverse hands at the order of the Emperor and the Acting Council of Terra.

The reader should be aware that the dates listed in this chronological compilation are only approximations as Imperial records from this time are too fragmentary to be wholly reliable. As more information is uncovered in newly discovered Imperial records, it will be added to the chronology.

Late M29-800s.M30

  • 992.M29 Ninth Battle of Xozer - In the Nordafrik Conclaves of Old Earth inexplicable ephemeral phenomenon are encountered during the battle where Kalagann, the techno-barbarian warlord of Ursh, is slain. The kingdom of Ursh is brought to heel by the Emperor's forces as the Unification Wars of Terra proceed.

  • Unknown Date.M29 The Primarch Project - The Primarch Project, which was initially begun at some point in the late 29th Millennium by the scientists of the Imperial Biotechnical Division, far beneath the surface of Terra in the Emperor of Mankind's gene-labs, marked the Emperor's attempt to begin the creation of the next generation of Imperial super-soldiers to replace the Thunder Warriors. These were the primarchs, twenty extraordinary superhuman males who would be His generals -- great warriors, intellectuals and political leaders who would conquer thousands of worlds in His name.

  • ca. 550.M30 The Primordial Strain - The Emperor begins His Space Marine project beneath the Himalazian (Himalaya) Mountains, creating the Primordial Strain of prototype Legionaries using the genetic material already created for the ongoing Primarch Project. These warriors are unstable and imperfect, but form the foundation for His future work building the Space Marine Legions.

  • 669.M30 Battle of Mount Arrarat - The Emperor accepted the deaths of the many innocents that resulted from the conquest of Terra with great remorse in order to achieve the greater good of unifying Humanity and protecting it from the manifest predations of the Warp and xenos of the galaxy. Unimaginably large, full-scale battles during the Unity campaign would last for solar weeks on end, with body counts in the millions that sundered mountains and split entire continents. Future Imperial scholars would later dismiss these victories as lurid hyperbole, refusing to believe that such clashes of arms could possibly have been fought, but indeed they were. The Imperial historical chronicles tell of the last battle of the Unification Wars, known as the Battle of Mount Ararat, which was fought in the Kingdom of Urartu. During this final battle the remaining Thunder Warriors -- powerful but short-lived precursors to the Space Marines -- were slain to a man. The chronicles recorded that the famed Thunder Warrior Arik Taranis, known as the "Lightning Bearer," raised the Banner of Lightning at the final declaration of Unity which established the rule of the Emperor of Mankind over the entirety of Terra before dying of his wounds. It was a measure of the Thunder Warriors' heroic sacrifice that they had all died to win the last and greatest victory for the Emperor. While reports say they fell in valiant battle, rumours abound that the Emperor ordered them purged to make way for his nascent Legiones Astartes. One source claims that it is the nascent Ist Legion that is tasked with the elimination of the remaining Thunder Warriors alongside the Legio Custodes when the Thunder Warriors rebel against the Emperor soon after the first introduction of the Astartes. According to this tale, the Thunder Warriors realised after learning of the Space Marines' functional immortality that their inevitable decline into insanity and death was the result of the Emperor's imperfect augmentations of their bodies, and they felt betrayed by their creator.

  • ca. 700.M30 The First Founding - Utilising the genetic material derived from the still-unborn primarchs, the Emperor, with the aid of the scientists of the Biotechnical Division and its director Amar Astarte, created the first gene-seed and implants it into His already elite Terran soldiers. These warriors provide the genesis of His Legiones Astartes. The 20 original Space Marine Legions are created during this so-called "First Founding." Grabiya's Theorem provides the solution to solve the diminishing stability of the Space Marines' gene-seed stores through over-use, due to the rapid expansion of the nascent Imperium of Man by the Legiones Astartes in this era. This theorem demonstrated that a primarch's genetic code could be used to stabilise and expand existing Astartes gene-seed stocks with what was hoped to be "minimal deviation" and mutation from the baseline genetic code. Sorian's Inductus Excelsus demonstrated that the need of the rapidly growing Imperium for more warriors was vast. Accelerated gene-culturing techniques were implemented, reducing the processing time to create a Space Marine from a mortal man to a single solar year. However, the gene-seed produced by these accelerated processes possessed unseen fundamental flaws.

  • 703.M30 First Pacification of Luna - This early Imperial campaign was the first operation mounted by elements of the early Space Marine Legions beyond the skies of Terra while the Terran Unification Wars were still raging across the surface of Mankind's birth world. The Imperium's first off-world target was Terra's own moon Luna -- domain of the Selenar gene-cults, whose technology is vital to expanding the numbers of the Legiones Astartes. The Selenar reject the diplomatic overtures of the burgeoning Imperium, and three nascent Space Marine Legions are unleashed to force Imperial Compliance. The combined force of the VII, XIII and XVI Legions (later named the Imperial Fists, Ultramarines and Luna Wolves, respectively) lifted from the surface of Terra in a scattering of rocket flame. The as yet unnamed XVI Legion had been chosen to serve as the Space Marine force's vanguard, and had brought its full strength to bear. In a daring surprise assault, the XVI Legion launched a planetary strike while their brother Legions drew fire from Luna's defensive weapons. Within six solar hours of the first shot being fired, Luna had been pacified and brought into Compliance, the first off-world conquest of the Imperium of Man. Faced with annihilation, the surviving Selenar cultists bent the knee to the Emperor instead, their surrender communique transmitted to Terra calling for the Emperor to "call off his wolves." The XVI Legion thus earned their name -- the Luna Wolves. During the conflict, the XVI Legion encountered evidence of occultism amongst the Selenar gene-wrights. The Selenar methodology is sequestered into the Imperial Dungeon beneath the Imperial Palace.

  • 712.M30 End of the Unification Wars - The Emperor consolidates His control over Terra and formally declares victory in the Unification Wars, bringing centuries of conflict to a close. Work intensifies on enforcing the rationalist state ideology of the Imperial Truth across the planet.

  • 739.M30 Treaty of Mars (Treaty of Olympus Mons) - Realising that war with the techno-cults of the ancient Mechanicum of Mars would be a long and costly affair, the Emperor instead brokers an alliance. In return for constructing a mighty war fleet and supplying weapons and machinery for his Legions, the Mechanicum are granted unparalleled autonomy as a client state of the Imperium, and continue to practice their faith in the Omnissiah as the Cult Mechanicus in violation of the Imperial Truth. When the Emperor of Mankind came to Mars He first landed atop the great volcano of Olympus Mons. At their first sight of the Master of Mankind, many Tech-priests were overcome with the feeling that they had met the living embodiment of the Omnissiah, their Machine God clad in Human form. In return for peace between Terra and Mars, the Emperor granted recognition of the Tech-priests' right to practice their faith and their right to maintain autonomous control over both Mars and the other Forge Worlds they had settled across the galaxy. In return, the Mechanicum agreed to build and maintain the Imperium's starships and provide all of the war materiel necessary for the armies of the Emperor's Great Crusade. The Mechanicum also agreed to be bound by the Emperor's commandment to never develop certain forbidden technologies such as "Abominable Intelligence" (artificial general intelligence). With the signing of this agreement, known as the Treaty of Mars or the Treaty of Olympus Mons within the Mechanicum, the Cult Mechanicus became the corps of scientists and engineers of the newly-forged Imperium of Man, and the Palatine Aquila was refashioned to bear two heads, one for Terra and one for Mars, the twin foundations of Mankind's interstellar dominion.