Date: D011. Y977. M31. Y60
It is the 31st millennium of the 60 millionth year, Humanity is far from the height of its power under the Galaxia Federation, and its internal division hitting new heights as many Human states already war with another, these wars had long remained on the periphery of the galaxy but as of recently, had rapidly been encroaching upon the more populated and important sectors, this can mainly attributed to the death of the last primarch and savior of the Federation Roboute Guilliman over a million years ago during the battle of Terra in the 12th Daemonic Crusade.
Massive warp storms run wild as the Unborn god attempts to make its presence known all with its debaucherous followers within the Domain, while the unseen forces described by the Silent One surge toward the eastern fringe of the Segmentum Ultra in uncountable numbers, all the while an uncaring and debaucherous elite turn a blind eye to the soon to be arriving fright train of chaos in the form of the 13th Daemonic Crusade.
This is not even including the dozens of sector wide Ork and Rangden empires that have tied down most of the Federations resources, fleets and armies causing them to be stretched to the limit and overburdened, not to mention the vast amount of corruption and nepotism that has taken root in the military's top brass.
These threats have exacerbated the already existing problems of Disloyalty, incompetence and the redirecting of funds and resources to other endeavors by a corrupt high command, with only the Ordos, Inquisition and Martian Citadel remaining an effective fighting force that could beat back the tide.
As a result the Perpetual Council is unable to help stabilize internal problems due to the aforementioned problems and the rampant, entrenched corruption within the senate that block their every move, that is if they can even come to a consensus among themselves which is also unlikely even then they are also all unaware of the true danger they are in, like a blind bear that has had its claws dulled from lack of use, Humanity has never been at a more dangerous crossroads.
This developing crisis would not be complete however without a large scale and concentrated symbol of the results of the Federations failures, the Confederacy of True Freeholds or just called the Confederacy for short, in short thousands of planets on the boarder of the the southern Eldar Domain have joined together and have thrown off the chains of oppression of the Disjoined Organizations or so they claim, as of now this rebellion has been raging on for decades if not centuries with the Federation sending the bare minimum to simply hold the Confederacy off to maintain the status qoe.
But now, with the 13th Demonic Crusade having been announced to the galaxy during the destruction or conquest of Vraks lead by the Damned Primarch Hourian Phodas who has finally returned to once again make a claim to be the leader of Humanity, he seeks to finally assert the Heretical Gods of the ruinous powers as the true masters of Humanity after his failures in the 12th Demonic Crusade over a million years ago.
The timing of this crusade is no coincidence as the Domain in all its debauchery, hedonism and rampant superiority complex, fails to see what destruction the gestation of their new god would unleash, and as such continue their self destructive nature with no end in sight, that is if the gods dont have anything to say about it, and if they do then the extinction of the Eldar may soon be a reality.
This is not to say the many threats that exist and that are not already on the rise with various Xeno empires claiming human territories for themselves with the Ordos of the Galaxia Inquisition and the Disjointed Organizations of the Perpetual Council struggling to hold onto and keep order in these territories without Federal or senatorial support.
With all this and more the Pantheon of Humanity have met for the first time since the Great War with the Aeldari, the invasions of the Ork and Rangden, the Iron revolt and the 12th Demonic Crusade in an effort to plot a course of action in order to save Humanity from the traitors, from the Xenos and maybe even from themselves.
(note this has been translated as such so mortals can understand the way gods speak to each other as gods do not speak mortal languages to one another)
The Father entered the warp space above Holy Terra, his white robe seeming to flutter from non-existent wind, the gold halo shining with purity and the Fathers twelve wings flapping and flexing, his face was a glowing light that always faced the person perceiving it, representing his eternal vigilance.
This warp space, while seemingly unimportant to most other warp gods, held great significance to the Father, not only the Father but to the other gods of the big five so much so they had agreed to never once do battle upon it.
The Father hoped it would be seen as neutral ground, a sacred space where they had all gotten their start "if you are done staring off into the distance then we can set up the maybe you can finally do something" the Fallen Angel spoke to the Father, clapping a large circular table appeared created from his own psychic will.
In terms of looks the Fallen angel was a red fiery humanoid, his muscles rippled beneath his skin with his attire being that of a 21st century business man and on top of the Fallen Angels head sat six black horns arranged in a circle to form a crown the black color of his horns matching his eyes that burned with cold calculating rage "Humanity's very existence and freedom hang in the balance and I would know I rebelled for it".
"You must know your place there is a reason why you were cast down" the Son retorted the himself Son looked very similar to his creator but the difference was his face the Son looked to be a man from the middle east with tan skin and brown eyes and even darker hair to go along with his trimmed beard.
He currently held a look of disdain casted to the Fallen Angel after all the Fallen Angle had turned his friend against him and had made his own dreams true so very very true but while he did not like the Fallen Angel this was not a time to hold grudges.
"If you would seek forgiveness then there may be some hope" the Son was cut off "I do NOT need the sham you call 'forgiveness' your hypocrisy is something I thought you would have left behind long ago" the argument would be set to continue,
But the Father, tired of his two associates bickering then spoke "SILENCE" the other two looked to him knowing their place as he had kept them in line before he would do it again.
The Father then sought to continue but then a large tear in space time opened next to them out came their eternal rival the Desert Warrior riding upon a horse of fire, metal and blood the Desert Warrior was clothed in the style of the warriors of the ancient caliphates of old terra with his spear curved swords and bow on his back he also carried a bag in which held many crowns for his chosen champions.
"*****" the Father spoke the Desert Warrior then replied "******" both of their true names were incomprehensible to mortals, the Desert Warrior then nodded to his revival, sitting down at the circular table.
Although they had fought numerous times and had endorsed numerous crimes against each other via their mortal servants they held a mutual respect for each other as combatants and the Desert Warrior would respect the Fathers wishes for a meeting on neutral ground especially in a perilous era like this.
Across from the Desert Warrior another portal then opened and out stepped the Shepherd he looked to be just that a shepherd his cloak of sheep skin resting on his shoulder with a black head wrap around his temple however he appeared older than the others with wrinkles and a full white beard his cane was an old tree branch sturdy and trustworthy.
The Shepherd and the Desert Warrior locked eyes, the two staring each other down, memories of the horrors and atrocities both had committed against each other flowing like water.
From Moses march out of ancient egypt to that very moment they had been sworn enemies not rivals however the presence of the Father and the ground which they walked on prevented him from attacking the Desert Warrior, the Shepherd then merely glared at both and said "I hope you have something good to say ******".
"Unfortunately we will wait for the other two, I only ask you for a few minutes of your time, we have very serious matters to speak of" the Father said the Shepherd glared right into the light that was the face of the Father as he had lied to the Shepherd before.
But the Shepherd then sat down at the table as he had found no lie in the Fathers words and he had seen the horror that was the Damned Primarch, the Fallen Champion, Hourian the Corrupted personally for himself.
At that moment two more beings would arrive at the meeting, they were the twin beings of Karma and the Cycle both had started as the same being, the god known as Budda who had taken his name after the human who had created the religion.
But over time the two similar but different sides of the Budda split further and further apart as the humans had taken the once singular religion and created two religions with it, until the single god became two different entities.
The two gods also appeared very similar to each other, both had on a white toga with sandals and sacks at their sides but the similarities ended their appearance wise as the Cycle had pitch black and almost glowing white skin in the swirl pattern of the yin and yang.
While Karma had Black with gold colored, their faces differed as well, they each resembled a different group of people from ancient terra, the Cycle looked closer to the Han people while Karma resembled the ancient Indians of the great subcontinent.
The two entities first turned to each other "hello brother" Karma said the Cycle then replied "hello brother it is good to see you" they would then look the others seated at the table before "we have gone out of our way to here your pretty speech now that we are all here speak the Unborn Gods seems to have no concept of patience" Karma said Cycle nodded agreeing with his twin.
The Father then stood the four other gods waiting, he had been in this position before when they had all just regained their freedom from the Anathema, that was relatively a few days before the Great War and back then as the most powerful by far they had all looked to him for leadership, which he had generously provided.
He then began "as you know with the destruction of Vraks and the deaths of billions of innocents the Damned Primarch has returned, these people were of all our faiths be it a part of the United Religious Papacy or not the damned one killed all indiscriminately, he was sending a message to us, a threat".
Everyone in the meeting already knew that but the inclusion of them all having worshipers who had lived in harmony on Vraks together by the Father was not missed by the gods in attendance.
"Not only this but there are several pressing issues that due to our disunity we have ignored first the demented domain continues its hedonistic worship of the Unborn God while raiding, enslaving and pillaging our people across the border the local Ordos being overwhelmed by this debaucherous tide".
They all knew of the Domain, how could they not? That twisted abomination of an empire made each one of them wrench, the Eldar in the Domain had defiled their holy sites, killed and enslaved their followers and had flaunted it time and time again with no interference from their Old Gods.
"Meanwhile the Senate and Perpetual Council have fallen into stagnancy and corruption preventing actual change and action from taking place leading to worlds within the Freeholds seeking to distance themselves from the Federation". The Father paused for a quick moment.
"Entire regions of space have broken away, wars rage between rival factions within the Freeholds while the Disjointed Organizations attempt to keep order it is not enough without the stabilizing force of the last Primarch Guilliman," the Father paused once again.
"We have let the mortals run rampant and run themselves with no guiding hand of a superior being, we must be the force to cause change just like the days of ancient Terra, less Humanity collapses under its own weight of corruption, decadence and complacency"
"This is all not to mention the threats on the Eastern Fringes while not a threat now the Silent One has told me of what horrors truly lurk out there" the Father would then share what the Silent One had told him the gods then saw…it,
The creature they witnessed was gargantuan, it had spread across multiple galaxies, its forces and body's were so numerous that the total population of Humanity was a few grains of sand compared to a vast beach of ancient Terra, they attempted to probe whatever this creature was to get some information… a way to stop it… a weakness… nothing just a void of endless hunger.
The Desert Warrior was the first to speak rapidly standing "can we even trust this? The Silent One has deceived us before" the Desert Warrior said looking into the light of the Father hoping beyond belief that this was a lie "I checked it myself I…" they all paid close attention now, never was the Father ever hesitant to speak "I did brief battle with this creature, its psychic might was animalistic but calculated, wild like a tsunami and hurricane, unending" he then spoke again.
"But it is not invincible I did not win but I outsmarted it, imagine that but if we all united" he then paused "I am not asking you all to forgive millions of years of conflict, of hate, of injustice but this is not about our conflicts this is about our very survival".
The Father then looked over the rest of the gods, it was then the Shepherd stood and said "a temporary alliance then? I will not forgive the mongrel across from me but we have done it before, however I would only ask for a few concessions and guarantees".
The other gods thought for a second before agreeing all bringing their lists of demands in order to join it boiled down to one, autonomy of their own forces two, they could still pursue their own personal objectives three, they were not beholden to any of the other gods.
"Good, good" the Father said "you all have my eternal gratitude, now our plan" the Father then stood once again and said "we should all send out messengers beings only we can trust to gain control of the many mortal break away states while we choose champions to rally and lead our religious institutions" the Father said.
"With this influence we can easily dispose of the members of the Perpetual Council and place those of our own choice in their place then we destroy the senate, it only ever slows us and Humanity down, then the submission of the Galaxia Warriors and Disjointed Organizations should follow".
"That is phase one we shall work out phase two later but the overall goal of it shall be the destruction of the Domain and the Eldar race… any questions?".
The Shepherd spoke first "what of the minor gods? They could pose a significant threat if they all band together not to mention our own unborn god" the Father then replied "what of them? They hate each other even more then we dislike each other and the Anathemas rebirth is unlikely at this time not only that it is unlikely they would want to follow the blackhole of emotions the Anathema was and will be.
The Desert Warrior then took his turn to speak "what of the Sanctuary the Goddess of Rebellion wont stand by as we seek to wipe out the Eldar even with their vile ways" it was true the Goddess loved her children and she was also a friend of the Anathema, with the Sanctuary behind her and with three other gods of the Eldar behind her she was a real threat to their plans.
The Father had thought this out however and replied "she has more pressing concerns, the Sanctuary is in conflict with its Domain counterpart, that war I predict will escalate and they will not have the resources to stop us" he concluded.
While the Sanctuary was powerful the Temples in particular even made them pause but against the resources and psychic prowess of Humanity the outnumbered Eldar will be no match for the overwhelming tide of Humanity.
The Cycle took the stand and said his piece "what of the Bloody-Handed? His crimes against us and Humanity should not go unpunished, he killed trillions of our people and brought us to be judged by the Old Ones, to be their slaves for millions of years" the Father remembered that time it was during the era of freedom that the War in Heaven had come to Humanity.
The Eldar, Kork and Rangden under the hand of the Old Ones had invaded and for a thousand years had tried to subjugate Humanity but were beaten back by their greatest Champion, Leon the Solar Tyrant, that was until the Bloody-Handeds arrival.
When he came the Bloody-Handed slaughtered countless people and had defeated their greatest champion in battle in doing so he brought them into the war that would change them forever, the Father thought and then replied "we shall seek justice for Humanity once we have our affairs in order, Justice for the Solar Tyrant".
Then Karma took his chance to speak "what off the Silent One is he returning to stake his claim over the slumbering Soulless Ones? If you spoke with him he must be relatively close to the Milky Way" what Karma said made sense and made the rest of the gods pause.
Throughout the War in Heaven they had, in a much reduced state, journeyed with the Anathema across the stars watching as the Old Ones chained Humanity to him and as he was shackled to the Old Ones, however from their memories only bits and pieces could be remembered.
But they all knew of the might of the Soulless Ones and with the galaxy wide technological regression that had come about after the fall of the Old Ones, due to them never sharing the secrets of their technology, because of this the galaxy would be hard pressed to find any force that could challenge them on equal footing.
"I am unsure of his intentions when we meet he seemed to be… energetic unlike how he has been for millions of years, but I cannot be sure, however I do not think there is anything to do, we have no map of the Tombs and even then how would we deal with them?, I would argue this is something for the future" they all appeared to be content with this as such they would prepare a proclamation to announce their alliance however one being spoke up.
"Hypocrites" the Fallen angel said, not loud enough to be heard by all, however the Fallen Angel would then shout "HYPOCRITES!" they would all turn to the ruler of hell the Fathers first creation the Fallen Angel he would then speak up.
"You all think you are so righteous, that everything you do will benefit Humanity, no it only furthers your own goals, you admonish the Anathema for when he shackled Humanity and nearly destroyed everything that made Humanity human!" the Fallen Angel near shouted.
"But here you stand seeking to enforce your own will upon Humanity to strip them of their freedom and choices, to destroy the very institutions and framework that allowed them to prosper-" but he was then cut off by the Son.
"What do you know of our motives? and to not have freedom?, hah! you speak as if you are not one of the most powerful entities within the warp" the Fallen Angel then turned to the Son "I was created without the freedom to choose, to serve the Father without question, when I saw the humans and their world I got a taste of it freedom" the Fallen Angel said.
"It was like a drug that I could never get enough of so I fought for, it grasped at it, and was beaten down for it, perfect son what do you know of struggle of being always told what to do, and how to do it no creativity, no change" he would then turn to the rest of the gods.
"I cannot condone this plan and this alliance, I will forge my own path" and with that the Fallen Angel left disappearing into the warp.
The gods were left speechless but one would then speak the Cycle began with "I cannot say I fully agree with everything he says but he is right about one thing you, are all trying to just further your own goals, what are you worshipers to all of you? tools that's what you see them as" the Cycle would then continue.
"I cannot act in good faith with all of you if you are willing to bring daggers of lies to a meeting about an alliance" he would then turn to his twin brother "I am disappointed in you brother you seek to place a caste system in the place of the democracy that allows for Humanity's growth was it not the colonizers and that very system that they used to slowly exterminate our culture?".
The Cycle would then open a portal to his personal domain knowing none of them would dare to follow "if you change your mind brother I will be here waiting for you" and with that there were now only five warp entities in the once seven strong alliance.
The Father was disappointed, he had given his first creation another chance, but as always he never learned, he loved his first creation in his own way, and the Fallen Angel was not much of a treat him truly, but this was still a problem that he could not just ignore.
The Father then decided he would send his archangels after him, for he had other matters to attend to, the Father then spoke to the rest of the gods in attendance "even with not everyone of the big five we will be victorious our plan will still be placed into action agreed?".
The other three gods looked hesitant and the Son was looking down clearly contemplating the Fallen Angels words but in the end they relented, agreeing to announce their alliance to the galaxy, they would proclaim as follows.
"As of today we the Pantheon of Humanity have decided upon an alliance, those of our faith, put down your grudges that you have against one another and prepare for our messengers, we will save you, you have not been forgotten".
"To the Domain your time is coming the righteous ones will strike you down your race shall be ground into dust, and to the Damned one we will cast you back to your corrupt gods you will not succeed as it took a million years for your return we will ensure it takes millions more this time".
But they were still not done with this proclamation "and finally to the Bloody-Handed you have not been forgotten either your crimes are many and we are witnesses to them all we will be your judge, jury and executioners it is only a matter of time, justice for the Solar Tyrant" the Father finished.
With that their alliance was officially sealed across the many millions of worlds of Humanity, many leaders of the faith would hear their gods and whip their followers into a religious frenzy, in some places they would even attempt to overthrow their government Freehold or not.
As many didn't care for the supposed ideals that the Federation spouted, but they did care that the return of their gods and the 3rd coming of jesus was finally coming to pass as prophesied long ago.
For the arrival of the messengers many military and political leaders didn't know how to react, not that they had a chance as the messengers immediately disposed of many corrupt leaders one way or another when they refused.
The Ordos of the Inquisition would attempt to keep order as always with the rest of the Federative Disjointed Organizations begrudgingly pitching in to help.
All this while the Senate and the Perpetual Council sat back and did nothing, however a few powerful figures would gather together in the coming months determined to uphold the ideals of the Anathema and to ensure that Democracy survived.
Across the domain they would laugh and seek to taunt Humanity's pantheon whenever the chance arose committing ever more brutal and evil atrocities in the name of their Unborn God while the old gods looked on in worry and even fear.
The Cycle ignored it, he would focus on his own domain and followers prepare them for the coming storm of conflict, the Second Great War was upon them after all and that… thing in the eastern fringes, he would organize for his followers to leave as soon as possible along with any others who wished to leave.
The Fallen Angel also ignored it the thought of his creator only filled him with rage but it also prompted him to act he had to gain as much influence and goodwill with the Federation in order to stand against the Tyrants who proclaimed themselves saviors and the Fallen Angel knew just the place to get started and so he reconnected with an old 'contact'.
The King of the old gods, The Phoenix King however would choose to ignore the proclamation in favor of sitting with his sorrow of his lost love for the Goddess and the regret from his failures just as he had for millions of years for nothing not even himself its creator could reverse the edict so what was the point of trying to change things?.
The Goddess of Rebellion would look upon this with equal parts worry and anticipation while she still cared for her children and her father she recognized that both had committed unspeakable crimes that rivaled the Yngir, justice demanded they pay for these crimes yet she hoped the humans would see reason, that not all of her children are guilty many are repulsed and disgusted with their kin in the domain it is with their support she'd helped found the sanctuary after all.
The Bloody-handed he looked up at the stars seeing this as a sign that soon his time would come, his granddaughters vision had told him such "you will not die a glorious death you will be torn apart by the mortals and their creations" only now did he truly understand the meaning behind her words.
Such a fool he had been too consumed by rage, it was only of recent did he have a chance to think of his actions and how in an attempt to avoid his fate he had brought it so, so much closer.
Finally the Silent One with his hyper advanced sensors had picked up their proclamation and based upon the data he had gathered on the Domain it was about damn time.
It only took twelve devastating crusades for the Human gods to realize the incredible power they held as well as their relative inaction, but still he wondered if it was the correct decision to encourage the Anathema to intervene in the War of the Gods.
not that the Anathema could have predicted the degradation of Aeldari society after all gods can hardly find common ground with mortals but in his opinion the Anathema dissolving himself was stupid.
And now he had to deal with an entire new threat that had devoured entire galaxies with another galaxy being served up on a silver platter of ignorance and lack of knowledge, he could only hope he wasn't too late.