Introduction
Fear had ruled in the final days of the universe. Trillions of souls had cried out to their gods. Praying for peace or salvation. Great swathes of the universe burned. Gods and men fought. Innumerable abominations spread in the black void of space, crushing world after world.
The Imperium was in its final days. A hulking carcass finally rotted. It's borders collapsed as wave after wave of Tyranids and Chaos Traitors assaulted the galaxy. The once inexhaustible Imperial Guard was shattered and bloody. Once the tide of men may have stemmed the flow of enemies the humans had faced. However, the lure of the dark powers had claimed many. Even the space marines, the Emperor's chosen servants were all but defeated or turned, barring a few hold out chapters that held onto their worlds. Content to watch over their subjects in the final days. Only these few words, and Terra, the last bastion of the humans remained. Still clinging to their God Emperor.
The other civilizations fared little better. The Tau, optimistic till the end fell against the great devourer and the ruinous powers. The once mighty nation reduced to prey for the eternally advancing Tyranids. Few of their number survived. Small pockets of desperate ships fled into the stars. Every stop a brush with oblivion. Only the Far Sight Conclaves remained, small hidden worlds and moons. The proud Tau reduced to frightened vermin cowering the blackness.
The Necrons had gathered and consolidated. Unable to assimilate them, the Tyranids had fallen upon an unyielding and cruel enemy. One with the callus will to challenge the Hive Mind. The Silent Kings had thrown their considerable might together and stood against the ruinous powers and the Tyranids with general success. The chaos followers tried to tempt or destroy them, but their wrath had been met with cold extermination. The Necrons were locked in a stalemate against both. Bathing the galaxy in fire and blood.
The orks were the only race to thrive right up until the end. Belligerent to the end, they had fought all comers. They met daemons, men, and other aliens alike with equal contempt and blood rage. Even greater servants of the dark gods fell to the green tide. But the swarm did not break so easily. The Tyranids had grown strong off of the many orks they had assimilated. In the end the Tyranids proved more evolved for killing, than even the greenskins.
My own people watched the end approach with no small amount of sadness. We, the children of Asuryan, are no strangers to sorrow and death. My people had been living on indebted time since our Fall so long ago. When the human world of Cadia fell and the black crusade burned across the stars, we ran. our craftworlds fled to very edge of the galaxy. Some perished before then. Ulthwe and Bel Tian, once our strongest, fell in defense of Cadia. Sacrificed to buy the galaxy time. It wasn't enough. The Tyranids and the dark ones battled across the galaxy. Two innumerable hordes. Sorcery and Hellfire against endless biological monstrosities. The worst of both realms. Between them the peoples of the galaxy burned
As death spreads across the void, so few of my people remain. I have taken it upon myself to record our history and failings in these final days. Maybe the next cycle of life in the cosmos will be wiser because of it. Perhaps not. We Eldar deserve this for our role in She-Who-Thirst's birth. Our vanity caused us to doom ourselves. The humans are little better. Their depravity and violence only furthers the strength of the gods.
My Name is Tanmar of Saim-Hann. I am one of the last of the Eldar. I look now at my daughter. She is so still. She sleeps next to me as I write. Her mind is too young to understand the horrors that have befallen the galaxy. I wished for a better universe for her. One where our best and brightest didn't have to be sacrificed. This is the story of the end of all life. Rhana Dandra is upon us. Isha preserve us.
