Five Ruins

The Five Ruins was a galaxy-spanning civil war that consumed the worlds of Mankind for X Terran years. Although the Great Crusade had been put on halt by the Vanishing, the Ruins marked the true end of the dream of a strong and united Imperium of Man. The Five Ruins is in many ways the founding event of the Imperium of Man as it now exists.

The civil wars began following the disappearance of the Emperor, as Chaos slowly corrupted several Primarchs and the internal divisions within the Imperium grew larger and larger without the Emperor's leadership. One by one, legions fell to Chaos and the Imperium was racked by xenos invasions that forced it onto the defensive. The first Primarch to fall was Rang Talyc, The Ash-Blooded, attacked by his brother Araphel in what would prove the first blow in the Ruins.

As time progressed, legions became more and more disenfranchised with the Imperium, some put off by the growing bureaucracy and lack of care for the people of the Imperium, others desiring more power for themselves at the expense of Terra. The xenos threats that had been knocked back during the Great Crusade recovered and went on the offensive, and treacherous and separatist Legions broke away. As the Necrons surged, The Riven spread chaos across Segmentum Tempestus. As the Khrave rose, 5 Legions declared separation and formed their own Imperium and the Black Stars aimed to usurp the rule of the Imperium from the High Regent. As the Rangdan returned, the Red Eyes journeyed into the Eye of Terror and 4 Traitor Legions made a lightning strike at Terra. As the Orks of Ullanor were finally dealt with, the Alabaster Order revealed their second treachery and the Warriors of Peace were forced to make an impossible choice. Across the entire Imperium, worlds burned and peoples were slaughtered.

The conflict was fought across the Milky Way Galaxy early in the first century of the 31st Millennium and resulted in trillions dead, Primarchs slain, and setting the galaxy up for constant war.

The Seeds are Sown
After more than 200 standard years of hard conflict by the early 31st Millennium, over two million human-settled worlds across the Milky Way Galaxy had been reclaimed by the Emperor in the name of the Imperium of Man. But now the Emperor had to consolidate his newborn Imperium, and undertake the next phase of his Grand Plan. He intended to create a Webway through the Immaterium much like that used by the Eldar that would be open to humanity by wielding the psychic augmentation technology of the artefact from the Dark Age of Technology known as the Golden Throne. The Ullanor Crusade was to be his last campaign in command of the Legions. Alas, the Emperor would never make it there, disappearing on the way. The Imperium reeled, those recently conquered sought to throw off their shackles and rogue governors made plays for autonomy or even rulership. Xenos took the opportunity to exploit the weakness, with wide-ranging raids and sacking of worlds in retribution.

But the Imperium recovered. One year after the Emperor's disappearance, the Imperium was stable enough for a grand meeting of all of the Imperium's high command to decide the fate of the Imperium. Primarchs, High Lords, Lord Militants and Archmagi all arrived on Terra to debate the many issues that needed resolution. At this conclave, Alexandros Darshan VonSalim was voted High Regent of the Imperium in the Emperor's absence, a divisive decision that ranckled both those who opposed a single ruler in principle and those who desired the position for themselves.

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