M34

• M32 to M35 Golden Age of the Jericho Sector - With the wider Imperium swelling to a peak of power and influence in the centuries after the Horus Heresy and the War of the Beast, the Jericho Sector is but one of many that bloom into a renaissance of power and achievement as scores of Imperial worlds of every type are raised up from the rubble of past failures and the un-trodden soil of alien worlds in Mankind's name. The Jericho Sector becomes both a bastion and exemplar of Imperial civilisation and majesty carved from the cold wilderness of space with a burgeoning population that quickly soars into the hundred of billions. The Jericho Sector is a hub of Imperial commerce and industry with its bloody past all but forgotten, a realm of piety and devotion whose renown is such that it is spoken of on Terra in this period as a gem of Humanity's domains. Its goods are sought after as far afield as blessed Ultramar and distant Espandor. With the passage of standard millennia the power and fortunes of the Imperium wax and wane, but the Jericho Sector manages to remain strong and prosperous despite the vicissitudes of war, invasion, and petty disaster. However, the dawning of the 35th Millennium heralds both a darkening of the sector's fate and the coming of the Deathwatch into the known histories of the Jericho Reach.

• ca. Early M34 Administratum Strengthened - The Administratum continues to regain much of the political influence it lost to the Ecclesiarchy on Terra in recent centuries, but only at the expense of the governance of the Imperium at large.

• ca. M34 Doom of the Kai System - The Warp Storm Gae-sann envelops the Kai System and it is absorbed into the Eye of Terror.

• ca. M34 Blackstar Crusade - The forces of Chaos emerge from the Eye of Terror to mount the Blackstar Crusade into the Ganglax Sector. Khornate Champion Ekrak conquers M'laan XIII and turns it into a Daemon World. His success culminates in his ascension to Daemonhood.

• ca. M34 Imperial Cult Declared State Church of the Imperium - The High Lords of Terra join with the Ecclesiarchy and declare the Imperial Cult the official state religion of the Imperium of Man. From this point on, the worship of the Emperor as the one, true god of Humanity is mandatory for all Imperial citizens and the Imperial faith becomes widely admired as a potent form of social control.

• ca. 001.M34 4th Black Crusade - The 4th Black Crusade, also known as the "El'Phanor War," was launched into Imperial space from the Eye of Terror by Abaddon the Despoiler in 001.M34, his Black Legion besieging the great Citadel of the Kromarch. Abaddon led the charge against the adamantium gates of this famously unbreachable citadel upon the world of El'Phanor. Only one in ten of Abaddon's spearhead reached the gates before they were trapped by Heavy Bolter fire. Utilising his Daemon Sword Drach'nyen, the gates of the citadel proved harder than diamond, but they split apart like cordwood before Abaddon's dolorous blow. In an orgy of violence, the Traitor Legions and their daemonic allies fall upon the Kromarch, the Imperial Commander of El'Phanor and his kin, extinguishing their ancient line forever.

• 085.M34 Terraforming of Atasca IV - The terraforming of Atasca IV is carried out by the Imperium.

• 101.M34 Noble Passing - While leading his Chapter to victory in the Bloodpox Campaign against the Death Guard Traitor Legion and the Brotherhood of the Plague, the twelfth Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels Chapter, the esteemed Armaros, contracts the loathsome disease known as Nurgle's Rot. His rapid deformation convinces the Supreme Grand Master to immediately pass the Lion Helm to his successor. To ensure the infection does not spread, Armaros voluntarily enters The Rock's plasma reactor chamber and is wholly consumed.

• 216.M34 Quarantine of the Ghoul Stars - While enforcing the quarantine zone around the Ghoul Stars during the mysterious event known as the Pale Wasting, Clan Raukaan of the Iron Hands Space Marine Chapter ruthlessly exterminates fleeing xenos, as well as the entire Yormethi 26^th Imperial Guard regiment.

• 230.M34 The Trachesai Massacre - During the event known as the Trachesai Massacre, it is observed by other Imperial forces that Blood Angels Devastator Squads display an unusual propensity for rushing into close combat to engage the enemy.

• 303.M34 The Grand Hunt - During the event known as The Grand Hunt, Imperial Knight House Raven and Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii forces fight against large xenos force comprised of both Eldar Exodites and Eldar of Craftworld Biel-Tan on the world of Geminex, while attempting to secure lost STC technology. After securing every bit of hard data possible, the Skitarii withdraw, leaving the House Raven Knights to their doom.

• 401.M34-975.M35 Nova Terra Interregnum in the Jericho Sector - During the Nova Terra Interregnum, the Imperium is dived into warring factions by civil war amongst the Imperial Commanders. During the standard centuries of battle and attrition that follow, the Jericho Sector (distant enough from the front lines to be spared direct contact with the conflict) is nevertheless a vocal and active supporter of the Terran Loyalists, channelling large volumes of manpower and resources to fuel the war. The drain of the sector's resources becomes increasingly hard to sustain, leading to widespread shortages and unrest on many of the worlds of the Jericho Sector for the first time in living memory.

• 401.M34 The Howling - The Black Templars Chapter end the Catelexis Heresy by executing the Cacodominus, an alien cyborg whose formidable psychic presence allowed it to control the populace of thirteen hundred planetary systems. Alas the Cacodominus' death scream echoes and amplifies through the Warp, burning out the minds of a billion Astropaths and distorting the signal of the Astronomican. Millions upon millions of voidships are lost in the resulting upheaval and entire sub-sectors slide into barbarism without the diktats of the Adeptus Terra to guide them.

• 438.M34 Return from the Void - A single strike cruiser bearing the Black Wings Chapter livery returns from the outer void. The handful of survivors refuse to speak of what they had endured to anyone save agents of the Ordo Malleus. As they rebuild from their stocks of gene-seed, the Black Wings declare an eternal oath of vendetta against the Chaos Space Marine warband known as the Tenebrae.

• 456.M34 In the Wrong Hands - Inquisitor Halleck, after many solar decades tracking degenerates in wilderness space, captures a mysterious Heretic known only as the Angel of Truth. The last Vox broadcast by Halleck's ship claims the prisoner has broken under questioning and revealed a deep-rooted heresy. While returning to Terra with his revelations, the Inquisitor is beset by an unknown enemy. The only Imperial force in the vicinity is the Dark Angels' strike cruiser Black Sword of Vengeance. They report no sign of the Inquisitor, his vessel or the prisoner.

• 490.M34 The Dabenlar III Campaign - The 6^th Company of the Rampagers Chapter advanced 3,000 kilometres in a bold, armour-borne operation, crossing the Burning Plains of Dabenlar III's equatorial deserts and toppling the outflanked and ill-prepared rebel theocracy in a single night of retribution and bloodshed. The Rampagers instigated a brutal purge of the population, after which the people of Dabenlar III were declared free of heresy. Before taking their leave of the war zone, the Chapter asserted recruitment rights over the population, from which it draws Aspirants to this day.

• 498-601.M34 The Sin of Pride - Over a dozen campaigns, the Shining Blades Chapter of Astartes wins a string of victories that ultimately become known as the Berillia Massacres. When the Chapter's methods are questioned, they attack their erstwhile allies and the Red Scorpions Chapter appear unheralded to bring them to justice. Much blood is shed in the ensuing war and the Shining Blades Chapter's true allegiance is revealed as they transform into the servants of the Chaos God Slaanesh. In an act of overweening pride, the Shining Blades declare themselves the "Flawless Host," a sin of hubris for which the Red Scorpions vow to exact punishment.

• 600-730.M34 The Dispute of Iron - Its cause hidden to the eyes of the Imperium, a vast civil war erupts on the Daemon World of Medrengard and rapidly spreads to the other domains of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion. Ancient pacts of fealty and alliance are called upon and scores of Chaos Space Marine warbands, Daemons and Traitor Titan Legions are drawn into the maelstrom of relentless battle. This bitter feud is accredited at creating several sub-factions of Iron Warriors still active to the present day, such as the Steel Brethren, while utterly destroying others such as the Shattered Tower. As abruptly as it was begun the war suddenly ended, leading some to believe that the official conflict had been carried out according to the Daemon Primarch Perturabo's design in order to weed out the weak and the unworthy from his scions.

• 647.M34 Loss of Hope - The Imperial Documentarian Lasko Pyre, the only known slave to have escaped the clutches of the vile Dark Eldar city of Commorragh within the Webway, commits suicide.

• 666.M34 Lure of the Warp Stars - After a titanic Warp storm roils out of the Eye of Terror, the first "Warp Stars" are sighted -- stellar anomalies whose unnaturally exact gravitational pull lures voidcraft and even small planets into their Daemon-haunted embrace.

• 764.M34 Shattering of Lugganath - Craftworld Lugganath is invaded in force by the Emperor's Children Traitor Legion. Thousands die as the devotees of Slaanesh defile much of the craftworld and drive the defenders back. The reeling Craftworld Aeldari rally at the Plaza of Reflection, where the Emperor's Children Noise Marines use their Sonic Weapons to collapse much of the craftworld's graceful architecture upon the defenders, crushing hundreds of Aeldari to death amidst splintered spars of wraithbone. Seeing the devastation wrought by the terrible weapons of the Chaos Space Marines, the Autarchs of Lugganath authorise the use of Hemlock Wraithfighters. The Emperor's Children eventually retreat before the resultant barrage of necromantic energy, abandoning their dead and pursued every step of the way by vengeful Harlequins and unflinching, tireless Ghost Warriors.

• 843.M34 Culling of Grendel's World - The Night Lords conduct a systematic extermination of the entire planetary populace of Grendel's World, a small isolated planet in the Ysobael Cloud near the Eastern Fringe. The Imperial frigate Hand of Mercy responds to a faint astropathic distress signal originating from the beleaguered Imperial world. When they arrive, they find the planet is a Dead World. Observations of the genocide by Imperial observers lead to a better understanding of how the Night Lords' warbands operate.

• 979.M34 The North-South Mars Conflict - The long-time rivalry between those Tech-priests who dwell in the north and south regions of Mars flares up into open war. As the conflict grinds on, both sides are assailed by the feral packs of malfunctioning Servitors and burnt-out war machines that haunt the desert wastes. The war reaches a gory conclusion when the self-proclaimed Prophet of Cogs broadcasts a control-chorus that binds millions of long-abandoned machines to his cause. Appalled by the half-living cyberghouls he sets on his foes, both north and south unite to drive him from the face of the Red Planet. Rumours persist that he haunts the Alpha Centauri System well into the 41st Millennium.

• ca. Late M34 Preparations - Ecclesiarchy tithes are raised again and again in order to fund the Adeptus Ministorum's return to Terra. Several Planetary Governors openly refuse to pay any more, and Ecclesiarch Alexis XXI employs the Officio Assassinorum to eliminate several recalcitrant governors.

• ca. Late M34 Obscuran Uprisings - The Sons of Vengeance were sent by the Imperium of Man to quell anarchist separatist rebellions which had plagued much of the Segmentum Obscurus for nearly four Terran centuries. The Sons of Vengeance, along with a fellow Loyalist Space Marine Chapter, the Silver Guards, initially fought on the side of the Imperium but became Renegades after their actions led to the fall of the rebel Free Council of Hannedra II. Brutally crushing the rebellion that had overthrown that world's Imperial Planetary Governor, the two Chapters ran wild, slaughtering and looting in the name of the Emperor of Mankind. Soon the Renegades dropped even the pretense of punitive action against the rebels when the Sons of Vengeance took the campaign to the neighboring system of Laskaria, which at the time was still loyal to the Emperor. By the time news of their treachery reached the Adeptus Terra, the two Chapters had split into dozens of fractious warbands of Chaos Space Marines and turned 14 star systems into their battleground as they spilled each others' blood in a savage war for dominance.

• ca. Late M34 The Pale Wasting - A great threat arises from the Ghoul Stars. Much of the extant evidence relating to this threat has been censored or purposely destroyed, but there are contradictory indications which describe the nature of the threat as both a "star-spawned plague" that swept away scores of worlds and as "nightmare engines" slaughtering the populations of whole sectors. Those partial records which have been uncovered suggest that the threat was xenos in nature. Eleven Space Marine Chapters were lost in the final battles of what must have been a truly apocalyptic struggle. The chronicles of many Chapters who took part in this campaign are curiously empty of any reference to this conflict, and it is quite possible that this ancient threat may also account for the unusually large number of formerly Human-inhabited Dead Worlds in the region.

Sources

• Clan Raukaan - A Codex: Space Marines Supplement (6th Edition)
• Codex: Chaos Daemons (6th Edition), pg. 21
• Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 2nd Release)
• Codex: Dark Angels (6th Edition), pp. 23, 35-37
• Codex: Dark Eldar (6th Edition0
• Codex: Skitarii (7th Edition), The March of Time
• Codex: Sisters of Battle (2nd Edition)
• Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 26
• Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition), pp. 17-18, 24
• Dark Heresy: Blood of Martyrs, pg. 36
• Deathwatch: Know No Fear (RPG), "History of the Jericho Reach"
• Imperial Armour Volue Two - Second Edition: War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pg. 17
• Imperial Armour Volume Nine - The Badab War, Part One - pp. 76, 118
• Imperial Armour Volume Ten - The Badab War - Part Two, pg. 64
• Imperial Armour Volume Twelve - The Fall of Orpheus, pp. 32-33
• Imperial Armour Volume Thirteen - War Machines of the Lost & The Damned, pg. 21
• Index Astartes II, "Angels of Death - The Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter"
• Liber Chaotica: Khorne (2003) by Richard Williams
• Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (6th Edition)
• Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (5th Edition)
• White Dwarf 246 (UK), pg. 64

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