Imperial Army

The Imperial Army is the precursor to the modern Imperial Guard of the late 41st Millennium. The origins of the Imperial Guard date back to the time of the Great Crusade when the Emperor conquered stars and forged the Imperium of Man. As tire Great Crusade progressed and more worlds needed to be liberated, the Imperiums need for more troops increased dramatically. Even the mighty armies of the Legiones Astartes could not alone complete the task at hand. It was therefore decreed that each of the liberated worlds would supply men-at-arms to bolster the war effort. Although not as powerful as the Space Marine Legions under the various Primarchs' command, the Imperial Army regiments were nevertheless useful additions to the Astartes' fighting strength. In the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, massive changes were implemented to the forces of the Imperium. To prevent the possibility of large-scale rebellion occurring again, the titanic armies of the Imperial forces were divided. This led to the formation of the modern Imperial Guard.

Wars of Unification
During the turbulent era known as the Age of Strife, the Sol System and the nearby star systems that had been colonised by humanity during the Dark Age of Technology were effectively cut off from interstellar travel or communication with each other due to the massive Warp Storms that swept the galaxy. Little remained of the once sophisticated civilisation of Old Earth's glorious past as the center of a growing human interstellar civilisation marked by advanced science, high culture and wondrous technologies. Techno-barbarian warlords and their warrior hordes continuously fought over the planet, which had become little more than a massive battleground for their wars of attrition. They made use of chemical, biological and even thermonuclear weapons of mass destruction, and slowly transformed the cradle of Mankind into a battered, post-apocalyptic wasteland across most of its scarred surface.

It was against this backdrop of oppression, violence and casual brutality that the Emperor of Mankind first revealed himself to the people of Terra. In secret, he had been planning for this moment in history for millennia, ever since the Age of Strife had fractured what remained of the ancient human federation. During this time the Emperor created a number of military organisations, such as the Strife Epoch regiments that would later serve as the core of the newly formed Imperial Army, which would become the nucleus of the armed forces that would support his Legiones Astartes and his reconquest of the human-settled galaxy. Formed during the savage continental wars that had engulfed Terra, these genetically-enhanced warriors of genetic units known as Genos, comprised the first units of the Imperial Army and would serve as the prototypes for the later development of the proto-Space Marines known as the Thunder Warriors. The Emperor began his conquest of Terra with the intent to reunite the warring nations into a unified planetary government and then use Terra as the springboard from which to begin his reconquest of the galaxy under the aegis of an Imperium of Man dedicated to the Imperial Truth of progress and reason.

The Old Hundred
The Genos proved throughout the Unification Wars to be a most effective and adaptable force. During this time, the genos practised gene mustering, an essential tool during those caustic years of atomic hurricanes and drifting rad clouds. Through the use of genetic manipulation, the genos were able to grow tough warriors, but they complemented their brute strength and resilience by keeping the genetic pool clean by importing smart, proven field commanders from other forces. Units such as the lauded Geno Five-Two Chiliad would go on to become amongst some of the oldest brigades in the Imperial Army. Each geno was an elite force composed of one thousand companies, with each maintaining a proud martial tradition. These surviving genos were proud members of the "Old Hundred," the Strife Epoch regiments that the Emperor, in his grace, had maintained after Unification, provided they pledged loyalty to him. Many thousands of others had been forced to disband, or had been actively purged and neutered, depending on their level of resistance to the new order.

Hammer of the Emperor
When the great Warp Storms that had cut off Terra since the end of the Dark Age of Technology subsided, and the Age of Strife came to an end at the dawn of the 31st Millennium, the Emperor of Mankind deemed it time to begin his Great Crusade, a massive campaign to conquer the galaxy by which he and his armies would free all human-settled colony worlds from alien oppression or primitive ignorance and reunite the human race across the galaxy under the single banner of the new Imperium of Man. The Great Crusade marked a brief era in human history of rebuilding, reunification and rapid technological advancement following the complete regression of Mankind into techno-barbarism during the 5,000 years of the Age of Strife. The Emperor sought to unite all of humanity under one banner following the Long Night of the Age of Strife, and end inter-human conflict. Once united, the Emperor intended to begin the next stage of his great plan to ensure human domination of the Milky Way Galaxy.

At the forefront of this time of expansion and reclamation were the mighty Space Marine Legions - the Legiones Astartes - the finest warriors humanity had ever created, each the equal of a dozen normal men. Despite their formidable battle prowess, the forces of the Space Marines were not limitless, and the relentless demands of building a galactic empire pushed the Legions further apart. Separated by countless thousands of light years, their presence became ever more scattered and diluted. The Emperor required more manpower to ensure the momentum of the Great Crusade did not falter. Each newly conquered or liberated world brought into Imperial Compliance was assessed and a census taken of its population. From this, the Emperor's administrators of the Corps Logisticae calculated the tithe that each world was to pay in the form of regiments of soldiers and war materials. The numbers of regiments raised from each world varied enormously in accordance with the size of each individual planet's population. Sparsely populated worlds would be tithed to supply only a handful of regiments annually, whilst the overcrowded Hive Worlds near to the Galactic Core would have to supply hundreds of regiments annually. This huge body of soldiers became known as the Imperial Army.

Imperial Army Organisation
The indentured troops of the Imperial Army were assimilated into the command structure of the Space Marine Legions, and fell under the direct authority of the Primarchs of each Imperial Expeditionary Fleet and his subordinate Space Marine officers. Space Marine transports would arrive at each world and carry the regiments of the Imperial Army away to fight on distant battlefields throughout the galaxy. [[Category:I]]