Space Marines - Background Primer
They say the Emperor is dead and gone.
They hush it in the darkest corners, where none can see their faces, places where identity is a far second priority to information. But the rumor spreads, takes root. The Emperor is gone. The Administratum's grasp over the Imperium of the 41st Millenium is slipping. They say the Space Wolves have taken to piracy, no longer heeding the entreaties of High Lords of Terra. They say Inquisitor Lothario assembles a private army, has conquered worlds in the name of the Ordo Nova Lux, and faces no retribution. They say the Ordo Malleus is no longer employed against Daemons, whose like have not been seen in hundreds of years, but against dissenters or delinquents.
The Ecclesiarchy dismisses this as nonsense. Not in public, of course; the Emperor's Immortal Strength would strike down any who dared even question His eternal reign. In those dark corners, they proclaim the Emperor as strong as ever, for how would the Astronomican reach into the fringes of the Imperium without His divine will? They point at the everpresent threat of Chaos; it is only His will that keeps back the darker side of Man's nature.
And yet, some of this hearsay must be true. Enemies of the Emperor close in on all sides; the fearsome Tyranids, slowly devouring the Ultima Segmentum; the upstart Tau, carving out a harmonious existence with the aliens that the Ordo Xenos struggles to exterminate; the ancient and inscrutable Eldar, appearing without rhyme or reason, terrorizing planetary governments and disappearing before the massive Imperial war machine can be mobilized.
Even Holy Terra is fragmented in these dark times. The Ecclesiarchy, in its zeal, often falls into dispute with the more practical Administratum; the edicts of His Worship dictate that compromise is unacceptable when dealing with the aliens or the heretics, when the practical matters dictate that the Imperial Guard do not have the mobility or numbers any longer to maintain such a autocratic regime. The Adeptus Sororitas often clash with planetary regiments in attempts to enforce the Holy Word.
The Codex Astartes, for their part, are egnimatic and sundered. The Imperial Fists, in their zeal, often serve as a vicious enforcement arm of the Ecclesiarchy, while the Ultramarines are known to leverage their might to produce compromise. Many other Chapters are rumored to have carved out their own feifdoms, and retreated from service to Terra to policing their borders. Merchants speak in nervous tones of the fall of the Blood Angels, and warn each other to avoid their crimson battle-barges, and to never accept help from the Drinkers.
