Jericho Reach

The Jericho Reach is a region of space close to the Eastern Fringe of the known Galaxy. This region of space was once a part of the Imperium in ancient days, remaining so for millennia until it fell into an age of isolation, disintegration and evil. It has been lost to the Imperium of Man for over four thousand years. During these long millennia, many of its worlds has become tainted by Chaos, while others have been infested by Xenos. With the significant discovery of the Jericho Maw Warp Gate, the Imperium once again dreams of making this region of space their own, but face significant obstacles in bringing these goals into a fruition as the attempted re-conquest has become mired in blood.

At the present the Imperium of Man has launched the mighty Achilus Crusade a massive undertaking to reclaim this area of space. Fighting a war on three fronts the Imperium has brought every significant piece of technology and formidable military might at their disposal in order to achieve this goal, yet this Crusade may be doomed to failure. For other have turned covetous eyes over the worlds and abundant resources of the Reach. The likes of the xenos, such as the Tau Empire has pressed into the Reach for the Greater Good. On many of the forsaken worlds long ignored by the Imperium, the Ruinous Powers reign, establishing a dark domain at the Reach's heart which is ruled by Daemon Princes and vile Chaos Lords.

While these forces clash for control over the multitude of worlds, the Great Devourer, too has risen within this volatile region of space. A presumed splinter fleet of Hive Fleet Behemoth has made its way into the area and is now consuming newly reclaimed imperial worlds. Due to the quick adaption the hive fleet has made it has been officially classified as a hive fleet in its own right, designated as Hive Fleet Dagon. While the war rages between these various forces, others with agendas far older than that of the Crusade move amongst the tractless wastes between the stars of the Reach, watching over this area of the galaxy long before the shadow of evil befell it. These are the unique organisation of the Ordo Xenos known as the Deathwatch. Their vigilance has never wavered over the long millennia, as they have continued to stand sentinel from their Watch Fortresses and Watch Stations across the sector. Their intervention may forebode a final outcome for the Imperial Crusade, for good or for ill.

Great Crusade
The area of space now known as the Jericho Reach was claimed by the Emperor's Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade over ten millennia ago and was then-called the Jericho Sector. Though there exists only few details of its founding, it is know that it was an exceptionally bloody campaign. The events of the Horus Heresy and its aftermath of civil war further devastated the worlds of the Sector. Nonetheless, in the following millennia untamed worlds were claimed and xenos empires were destroyed. The Jericho Sector became a bastion of Imperial might, carved from the cold wilderness of space and colonized by Mankind.

Worlds were rebuilt from ashes and turned into power-houses of industrial might and the populations flourished. The dominion of the God-Emperor spread to the multitude of worlds within the region, the importance and splendour of the Jericho Sector increased, as this sector remained an important paragon of Imperial order and strength for many millennia.

Age of Shadow
Unfortunately, this age of prosperity wasn't meant to last, and inexplicably, an age of darkness descended upon the Jericho Sector and with it anarchy and bloodshed from which it had been raised. This age of despair was known as the Age of Shadow, which soon enveloped the entire region, shattering its ties with the Imperium and regressing back into a barbaric age of brutality. Its former glory undonoe, the Jericho Sector reverted back into the area known as the Jericho Reach; a place drowning in its own evil and untouched by the light of the beloved God-Emperor.

This decline fell inexorably across the Jericho Reach during a time of bloody tyranny known as the Age of Apostasy. Not since the dark days of the Horus Heresy had the Imperium nearly been undone by its own hand that during this era of insularity and civil war. For unknown reasons, communication within the sector quickly became untenable, and ships traveling in and out of the region were lost to warpstorms that seemed to gather as the sector became more isolated. With the entire Imperium in turmoil, the Jericho Sector soon became forgotten and slipped beyond the Imperium's reach while Holy Terra remained blissfully ignorant of its loss.

Cut off from the greater Imperium, one by one the various worlds within the region soon fell into darkness. Some, succumbed to rebellion from within whilst others fell to internecine war with one another through either paranoia or unrestrained ambition. When the final remnants of isolated pockets of Imperial order within the sector fell, the Age of Shadow lasted for over five millennia. Until such time that it could be brought into the Imperium's fold, in M37 the High Lords of Terra decreed that the Jericho Sector, along with a dozen other along the Eastern Fringes were nor more. Soon after, it was designated as the Jericho Reach, returning to its original name from when it had been first raised from the darkness. The warpstorms and temporal distortion that continues to isolate the Reach has never truly abated, making voyaging into the region a dangerous and arduous ordeal. This soon changed, however, with the discovery and opening of the Jericho Maw Warp Gate which linked the Jericho Reach to the Calixis Sector, making this region accessible to the Imperium once again.