Time in the Warp is as meaningful as a politician's promise. Ten thousand years? An instant? Eternity? It's all just a blur of psychic turbulence and demonic high-fives. Amidst this temporal mush, the mysterious soul, protected by the four squabbling Chaos Gods, continued to grow in power, its light a beacon at their shared borders.
The churning of the Warp's endless seas portended a major shift in the mortal universe. A momentous, galaxy-shattering event was about to go down.
This story begins with the Aeldari, a people "uplifted" by the Old Ones. During the "War in Heaven"—a conflict that forever twisted the fabric of the Warp—they were given a leg up and broke free from their primitive, dirt-worshipping existence. They became a galactic superpower, helping the Old Ones fight off the Star Gods (a.k.a. the cosmic vampires) and their scary robot servants, the Necrons.
After an epoch-long war, the Old Ones were defeated and vanished. In a brilliant move of betrayal, the Necrons turned on the Star Gods, and after paying a truly horrifying price, managed to shatter their masters into countless pieces. The cost was so high that the Necrons, now a bunch of rusty skeletons, knew they couldn't rule the galaxy. So they decided to take a nice, long nap, a "Great Sleep" that would last for millennia.
With everyone else gone, the Aeldari, once a mere sidekick, inherited a galaxy and became its new top dog. For tens of millions of years, they reigned supreme, their technology and psychic abilities far surpassing everyone else. They were the masters of the stars, and they knew it.
This unchecked power and success led to a galaxy-sized ego. They began to see every other race as "less than," a bunch of primitive monkeys not worth their time. It was this monumental arrogance that blinded them to the catastrophe they were brewing.
Aeldari society became a never-ending party. Hedonism wasn't a pastime; it was a way of life. The temples to their gods became venues for increasingly depraved acts, and their faith—once the source of their divine protection—collapsed. As simple pleasures became boring, they moved on to more extreme forms of gratification, and their powerful psychic abilities, a gift from their creators, became a deadly weapon pointed at their own heads.
Psychic talent is like a neon sign in a dark alley. Every time a psychic uses their power, their soul shines brightly in the Warp, drawing in hungry demons like a moth to a flame. The demons then possess them, creating a handy Warp-to-real-space portal. Almost every member of the Aeldari was a powerful psychic, so their depravity became a cosmic broadcast. All of their extreme emotions—their joy, their pain, their unchecked indulgence—swirled together in the Sea of Souls, creating a bizarre and very loud storm.
The dark emotions of a galaxy-spanning empire of pleasure-seekers converged in the Warp, fueling and awakening a new Chaos God that had been quietly gestating. Then, with a single, universe-shattering shriek, they were born: Slaanesh.
From the moment of his birth, the Dark Prince already existed in all past and future timelines. The real-world events merely "anchored" what had already happened. Slaanesh's first scream tore open a Warp rift right in the middle of the Aeldari Empire, swallowing most of their galaxy-spanning territory into the hellish realm.
This was a particularly rude birth, even by Chaos standards. Slaanesh had been nourished by the Aeldari, so they were the perfect snack for them. The gods they worshipped? Even better. They were the perfect birth-day treat. They consumed them, all of them, in one go.
The Aeldari Empire, which had ruled for tens of millions of years, came crashing down. The heart of their civilization was replaced by a permanent scar on reality, a wound in space that would forever serve as a warning.
In the wake of this total cosmic collapse, only a handful of Aeldari survivors, who had seen the writing on the wall, managed to escape. Their pantheon of gods was no more; some fled, most died.
After a feast that would make a Gluttony Daemon blush, Slaanesh retreated to their new divine realm to begin an eternity of indulgence. The Warp storm dissipated, and the new god took his place in the "Great Game."
The Four Gods turned their gaze back to their favorite soul, still wishing to claim it for themselves, but their attention was suddenly diverted by something far more interesting.
A wisp of golden light appeared in the Warp, and a golden sun rose.
It shone with a cold, pure light that drove demons to their knees and made lesser creatures shiver. It was a powerful, psychic beacon, a brazen challenge to the gods themselves.
Where the golden sun passed, the power of the Warp receded. Demons who dared to look directly at it were simply incinerated, erased from existence.
"Chaos Gods!!!" a voice boomed, echoing in every known language and countless unknown whispers. The golden sun hung in the void, waiting for a response.
A Greater Daemon of Khorne, the kind that was made of pure spite and a million blades, roared and charged toward the golden sun, his twin axes held high. "I'll take your head and give it to my Lord!"
The golden will simply ignored him. Its attention wasn't on the daemon, but on the true powers of the Warp. "Gods," it called out again. "I am here to negotiate."
Humiliated, the Greater Daemon roared even louder, cleaving the Warp's chaotic currents with a blood-red axe-light. The blow would have annihilated a planet, but the golden sun remained completely still. It didn't even have a defense up.
When the axes finally hit, something impossible happened. The Khorne Daemon, an unstoppable force, simply vanished. As its body touched the light, it was instantly incinerated, turning into a cloud of dust that was scattered by the holy rays.
"Human," a voice rumbled, the will of the Four Gods descending at once. "You have returned. What do you wish to gain now?"
The Four Gods, burning with unlookable-at majesty, converged on the golden sun. Burning fireballs, lightning storms, and icy winds appeared, and demons all around knelt in worship. The golden sun, however, remained utterly calm.
"A new transaction," the golden will whispered, "a concept unheard of in both the mortal universe and the Warp."
"My knowledge, combined with the knowledge you grant, a convergence of the Warp and reality, to create a unique and powerful existence."
"Here are the specifics." Golden light burst forth as the sun sent four orbs of light toward the Gods, each containing the full terms of the deal. The Gods understood the contents instantly.
The human had been here before, bargaining for forbidden knowledge. This time, he was even more audacious. He knew the Gods couldn't refuse.
"We agree to your transaction, human," Tzeentch said, speaking for all of them. "However... I think we should add one more condition." The Lord of Change's face stretched into a wide, wild, and truly evil grin.