The galaxy didn't notice at first.
It couldn't with all the other issues happening at the same time.
CADIA had fallen.
It wasn't something that could be fixed with adding more bodies to the fray. No, Cadia was gone, planet destroyed with nothing alive left.
The Necron Pylons destroyed leading the warp to pour through, like a small crack in a glass tank filled with water.
The skies and void split, a scar called the Great Rift carved its way across the stars.
This scar divided the Imperium in half. Light swallowed by darkness. Entire systems cut off in an instant. Astropathic choirs went silent mid-scream. Fleets vanished between one jump and the next.
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It was in those first months that everything changed. It wasn't caused by anything the universe can produce.
It came from the crack in the warp.
At the edge of a forgotten sector, one barely worth charting, something slipped through.
There were no prophecies or warnings. Something huge just shot out appearing in a place that was previously empty.
It wasn't a ship, or some daemon host clawing its way out the warp. No it was something bigger and if left unattended could be worse.
What appeared was a planet.
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Cold void surrounded it as it settled into orbit around a star that had no record of ever holding such a world.
Positioned just beneath Sable.
To the left of Hexos.
An empty stretch of nothing that suddenly wasn't empty anymore.
It shouldn't have worked.
Gravity didn't react the way it should have.
The system didn't destabilize.
No shockwaves or something akin to stellar disruption.
Just a planet.
Sitting where it had no right to be.
And the most confusing thing was how this world looked.
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From orbit, the planet below looked off.
Not in the way worlds controlled by Chaos did.
The world didn't look twisted or corrupted.
It looked clean and blue. Teeming with life in certain areas.
White clouds stretching over vast oceans. Green landmasses untouched by industry or war. Areas dotted with lights in certain spots of the globe.
For all its worth it looked familiar.
It looked like a world that existed millennia ago before the world was changed to what is now called Holy Terra.
Long before the Imperium and throne.
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It had a name, though no one there old enough to recognize it yet.
Only the ones on the planet can say it with certainty.
Earth.
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For a time it remained unseen.
The sector it appeared in saw little travel even before the Rift. Now? Even less. Warp routes were unstable. Navigators refused certain paths. Entire regions were written off as lost or not worth the risk.
So it sat in silence.
Waiting with flashes of light flickering around the European region. Something that anyone experienced would recognize as war.
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However even while no one noticed this world appearing yet, something else came along as well. Something that could not be ignored.
The Warp shifted. In a way to give room to something similar to itself.
Something just as large and just as dangerous. Or even more.
While not older it was something that was not as prevalent.
This 'new dimension' spread like ink in water. It didn't replace what was already there or consume, no all it did was expand its existence to coexist alongside the warp.
A name that almost all religions had a version of.
Hell.
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The first to notice were not the mortals. They couldn't afford to be even if they wanted to.
The immaterium, where thought became form and emotion becomes power, the shift was immediate.
A shift big enough to draw attention from the highest forces.
The Chaos Gods.
They felt it the strongest. After all the Warp was their domain.
They didn't show fear nor curiosity.
But something closer to irritation.
Like something uninvited had stepped into a domain that wasn't theirs.
The irritation came from the uncertainty of not having whatever this was bound to them. They couldn't control it even if they wanted to. A film blocked them out from invading this domain.
Khorne's realm trembled with distant thunder, not from battle, but from something else intruding on the concept of it.
Tzeentch watched.
And for once didn't already know the answer.
Nurgle grew excited.
As if something new had begun to spread and rot, not of his own creation.
And Slaanesh just grew more fervent. Excited of the new toys.
On Terra far from what it once was the Emperor stirred.
Deep within the Golden Throne.
Silent for ten thousand years.
Watching, waiting and enduring.
The Emperor did not move.
He could not.
But something in the Warp shifted in response.
A recognition.
Not something that belonged to this universe.
It was old, very old.
It came from an entity that in its own way shared the same beliefs as the Emperor.
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And far below in this new dimensions.
Where light does not reach.
Something else took notice.
Hell was not empty, it never had been.
It has rulers just as troublesome as the Chaos Gods.
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The rulers did not rage or lash out blindly like the beasts that served them.
No they watched, measured what they could and all of them understood something at the same time.
They were in a new universe.
One plagued with war far worse than what they are already dealing with.
To them it was a new war, with plenty of new opportunities.
But even if they wanted to do something, they couldn't yet. Something was blocking them from expanding their influence. With no idea when this barrier would let them free.
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Back in realspace. Nothing changed, not yet at least.
No fleets arrived, no invasions began.
The Imperium continued as it always had. Split with war spanning countless worlds.
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But one thing's for certain.
A new player or players have joined the game.
Quietly with only select few noticing.
A third force, not of Chaos, nor of Man. But something just as deadly.
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And somewhere on a world that should not exist.
Time resumed, as if the world was on hold for a brief moment to allow all these changes to take place.
The life on the planet unaware about the new enemies around the corner.
They already had a lot on their plate anyway.
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And on that world, a soul that could change nothing and everything based on his choices, arrived.
A soul given form once more. More than man yet less than god.
Memories and purpose intact.
And on this world Guss drew his first breath.
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That's it for this chapter. A quick introduction of the galaxy and the changes added to it.
If you don't know about Trench Crusade I would highly suggest giving the lore a listen. It's not long and it's honestly cool as hell.
Anyway if you enjoyed leave a comment or some powerstones.
Also I have a very busy work schedule so I'll upload as much as I can between my work days. So there may be times I don't upload for 2 or 3 days.