Chapter Text
Far before the grimdark times of the 40th millennium, the Necrontyr have made a desperate gambit with the Star Gods and traded their mortality for power, now the armies of the soulless machines march through stronghold after stronghold of the Old Ones, the War in Heaven had now resumed once again, as on the contrast of the beginning of the war, the Old Ones were now at the disadvantage with colonies being wiped on the masses. Thousands of species have fallen extinct, their memory and histories wiped from the galaxy. The Old Ones turned their attention to their expertise. The Old Ones were advanced but their species' talent was the ability to create different forms of life or evolve them to their will, a near unparalleled mastery over genetic and biological engineering. Soon, they got to work.
First were the Aeldari, they were elegant and proud warriors that would fight on the front lines, being able to conjure incredible and frightening levels of psychic power that echo throughout the Immaterium, Their abilities would even be able to summon their divine beings into real space as one of the only counters they had towards the hungry Star Gods.
Next were the Krorks, the perfect shock troopers deployed against the Necrons..Their strength sliced through machines like butter and were deployed in the trillions, destroying many Necron worlds. They uphold a strong sense of honor and ferocity that emanates their frightening presence even more as the dreaded greentides wash over worlds.
However, even with them and many other species working to keep the soulless forces of the material realm at bay, the Old Ones knew that defeating them with warp power alone will not be enough. Desperation breeds more and more risky solutions, soon, they begun to create a creation that is unique to all the other races they have created, Instead of having a basis for their technology on the forces of the Empyrean, they would instead focus this new race to have their technology based on science, designed to mimic the Necrontyr but their essence and souls are vastly different, these beings would be known as the Forerunners.
"Ancient Forerunners during the War in Heaven. "
While the Krorks were foils to the Aeldari in their biology and intelligence, the Forerunners were the foils to the Aeldari in their societies and their ways of living. Rather than the militaristic and cultural way of living the Aeldari employ, the Forerunners are more diplomatic and are more flexible. They delve into the mysteries of the universe from the secrets of subatomic particles to the building of large dyson spheres to harness the power of stars. They were also very efficient in strategies and tactics which makes them hard to maneuver around due to their large intellect.
The Old Ones believed in the ideology called the Mantle of Responsibility, the belief that the most developed species should bear the duty of guarding all life in the galaxy. The War in heaven raged on for a staggering 7 million years before both sides became too worn out, The Necrons and their masters disappeared and the Old Ones' population was rapidly dwindling, the last of their kind elected the Forerunners to bear the Mantle of Responsibility as the Old Ones pass on into the great unknown.
The Forerunners, now elected to be the supreme rulers of the galaxy, were determined to succeed the Old Ones on their quest towards galactic prosperity, However, many races harbored ill and envious emotions towards them, most notable of them all were the Aeldari.
The Forerunners and Eldar have always been big rivals, where one draws power from the Empyrean, the other draws power from the stars. The Aeldari become resentful of the Forerunners when the Old Ones seem to favor them more than any other race they had created, this being confirmed when the Forerunners were given the Mantle. They believed themselves to be the true inheritors of the Mantle. They have prided themselves to be the most experienced and advanced race, thus, suitable for the job of upholding the Mantle. Over the many eons, the Aeldari's anger and hatred begins to grow and fester. This occurred as the Aeldari were as much help in the War In Heaven as the Forerunners, the Old Ones favoritism to the Forerunners for their peaceful nature made the Aeldari race feel overshadowed by their rivals.
The galaxy had begun to heal from the scars of the War in Heaven as the Empyrean calmed through the effort of many races, the galaxy became a quiet and peaceful domain, where the other races competed with each other over different things such as their military arsenal or economics. The Forerunners asserted themselves as the will of the Mantle and had worked tirelessly to prevent many wars from sprouting. This and the absence of the Aeldari's military might to help them, had caused them to be more forceful and almost seem like a dictatorship.
As the Aeldari grew more hateful, they had begun to persuade other races to betray and rebel against the Forerunners and join them to create a better galaxy, the answers were very varied.
Out of the thousands of races that inhabit the galaxy, none were more loyal to the Forerunners than the legendary warriors of the Krorks. The Krorks were intensively loyal to the Old Ones, their creatures and viewed them as Gods, worshiping them in near religious faith. This also extends to their successors, the Forerunners. They view the Forerunners as the only ones that could succeed their Gods, to honor their legacy upon this galaxy. Thus, the Aeldari don't even bother.
The Joekaro were a species uplifted by the Forerunners from the brink of extinction, saving them from multiple disasters, attacks from the machines and even other races under the empire of the Old Ones. It is because of this that the race has developed such trust and gratitude towards the Forerunners.
However, many species have doubts and rebelled. One of them was the K'nib, who aligned more towards Aeldari's vision of a galaxy of freedom rather than the rigid nature of the Mantle. A significant faction broke off to rebel which caused a civil war that is waiting to spark.
The Hrud were a chaotic species that ideologies the prides themselves with knowledge and artifacts, Their interest in psychic arts distanced themselves from the Forerunners more technologically based society and were quickly swayed by the Aeldari for the promise of a more psychic society in the future.
Races such as the enigmatic Slann, guardians of ancient knowledge and beings of great wisdom. They remained neutral in the conflict due to their extensive experience in the rise and fall of civilisations. While the conflict begins to build, they isolate themselves and delve deeper into the well of the Warp.
After a few millennia, the tension boiled over and the Aeldari waged war against the Forerunners and their loyalists against them and the other rebels. This conflict would be known as the Great Schism which saw the galaxy plummet into war once again. A battle between physical combatants, a battle between ideologies and beliefs, cosmic forces and the powers of the Warp, that lasted for 50 millenniums, that dug the scars of the War in Heaven deeper into the galaxy than ever before. Both blasted each other with everything they had. The Aeldari and Forerunners fought, one believing they were the worthy ones to inherit the Mantle while the other defended its position to uphold the Mantle.
The war between the two factions caused massive ripples within the warp, causing the empowerment of the 3 Chaos Gods to slowly rise to the stage of galactic domination. The Blood God revels in the blood and fury felt throughout the galaxy. The Grandfather licks his lips as devastating bioweapons, with despair and death lie across the galaxy and The Changer of Ways grows stronger with each intricate scheme and plan devised to counter their enemies. The Warp slowly becomes more and more corrupted, undoing much progress the galaxy had done to calm it back to the Sea of Souls it once was, it became more distorted as the symphony of Chaos grew louder and louder.
The War had come to a close, with only the Aeldari empire left standing as every other race had suffered such losses that many were threatened with extinction, exacting heavy tolls upon all of them.
The Joekaro fought and built valiantly for the Forerunners but once the war looked unwinnable, the central government of the Joekaro surrendered, much to the dismay of many who fight in the frontlines. They were spared and was allowed to live free in the galaxy.
The fate of the Krorks was much worse in comparison. Those that were captured began to be experimented on. The Aeldari, fueled by bitterness and spite, modified the Krorks on a genetic level. They delved, removed and prodded at their minds and bodies, devolving and tampering them into the savage beasts of Orks that know nothing of their honor code or wisdom, only a hunger for nothing but violence. Their Culture and history are lost to them forever.
The Aeldari began to erase the legacies of the Forerunners and those that allied with them. The beautiful and towering cities were reduced to rubble, the technologies were dismantled, the information and scientific study burnt, the records altered or removed, their memory as a civilisation completely removed. All struggle and conflict that used to plague an Aeldari were gone. All tasks could be automated and they began to turn to art, intercourse. Soon, they had forgotten all the ideals proposed by the Mantle of Responsibility, setting them up towards their downfall to depravity.
The Forerunners were devolved alongside the Krorks as well, and forced to live on a backwater planet. These devolved Forerunners would live on and call themselves "Humans" who began to prosper and would expand back into the cosmos with time. Among them, one Forerunner still lives called the Didact, he was a military commander of the Forerunner Empire, his experiences in wars numbering in the millions of years, he was driven mad. He despaired and made a promise to take up the Mantle of Responsibility for all humans, to lead and guide them to their path towards enlightenment whether they agree or not, to be their Emperor.