Reign of Blood

The Reign of Blood was the name of the brutal period of history that occurred in the early centuries of the 36th Millennium, when the power-hungry tyrant, High Lord Goge Vandire, gained direct control over the Ecclesiarchy as well as the Administratum by usurping the position of Ecclesiarch. This made him the single most powerful individual in the Imperium since the Great Crusade, which allowed him to place his own rule above that of the Emperor. While Vandire ruled, his reign consisted of massive purges of the Ecclesiarchy, and the killings and assassinations of countless perceived Traitors, Heretics and conspirators. Fortunately, his brutal reign came to an end with the coming of Sebastian Thor and his reborn Confederation of Light, a sect of the Imperial Cult based on the previous Confederation of Light's banned teachings, that sought to end Goge Vandire's corruption of Imperial theology. The end of the Reign of Blood resulted in a major reformation of the Ecclesiarchy, the creation of the Imperial Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus to police those enemies of the Imperium who lay within its own structures and the creation of the Adepta Sororitas to serve as both the Eccelsiarchy's new military forces and the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus.

History
At the dawn of the 36th Millennium, a new age of dissent and power struggles continued to follow. The Ministorum held nigh total power, which it used to ensure that every single subject of the Emperor in the Imperium paid his dues, both spiritually and financially, to the duly appointed officers of the faith. Zeal eclipsed reason, and misrule reigned supreme. The word of the Emperor was subverted wholesale by corrupt ideologues, each struggling to usurp total control for themselves. This dark period of history came to be known as the Age of Apostasy. [[Category:R]]