31Author's Notes
Here it is, the first chapter of the renewed Imperium of Remnant. I did this instead of just replacing the chapters due to the fact this time it's going to be pretty different. Some things will be the same but this time I'm going to plan this shit out a lot better. Plus I'm a much better writer than I was.
First, for the Warhammer 40k fans. Not everything in this fic will be loyal to the lore of 40k. This is not the Grim Dark galaxy that we all know and love. This is inspired by it but put in the context of RWBY. So if you read something here that upsets you, I understand but please go find a fic that's actually set in 40k.
To the RWBY fans. I have not watched past part 4 and don't intend to. I don't know any characters from beyond that point so don't expect them to show up. If you really like someone from past part 4 and have cool idea of how to put them in, PM the idea to me and maybe I can work it in.
Pairings for the main cast have pretty much been set, there will also be lemons eventually.
This chapter is pretty much just a Prolog to get everyone comfortable with the world and how it will be set. Enjoy.
Long ago, when this world had a name other than Remnant, life began.
The first beings arose out of the waters of life and claimed their dominance over the world. These Old Ones quickly became masters of all things, evolving into near godlike beings until such a line was blurred entirely. They looked beyond this world and it's limited potential.
Only two remained, Brothers, one who grew fond of the life that was flourishing on their world and one that was weak in body and feared the beyond. These two brothers would remain on this world and find their own places in it. Both found peoples that spoke to them, and would go on to watch over them.
The Aeldari and the Necrotyr were these two races. And with the Brothers' help, they grew to span the globe… but not evenly. The Aeldari were physically gifted and capable of wonderous feats, with the Brother's help they were able to quickly expand and cover most of the world. The Necrotyr on the other hand, were master builders and great thinkers but weak in body. Something they would come to blame their patron deity on. Superiority and jealousy bred quickly among the two civilizations and war soon followed. The Aeldari thought themselves the true masters of the world, and the Necrotyr wanted the prosperity of their rivals.
The War of Heaven began. At first, the Brothers sought to end the fighting. At firs they attempted bring about peace through talk and speech. But that failed. And they saw that their children were no longer their to command. So instead, they devised a third option to war and peace, survival. If their children were faced with a mutual threat that could not utterly destroy them but still bring ruin then they would come together to face such a beast. And a beast was created. The Brothers created a race of warlike brutes that wanted nothing more than the next fight. Capable of total self-sufficiency even in the worst circumstances. These beings would be called the Orks and they would be brought into the War of Heaven.
But the Brothers had failed to understand just how far their children had strayed. The Aeldari saw this new threat and laughed. They didn't step back in fear but stood proud and tall… and alone. The Orks made initial devastating attacks but due to size disparity in empires, the Aeldari were the primary targets. By this point in the war, the Aeldari saw their former rivals as nothing more than a annoyance and refocused all their attention on the Orks. This reprieve gave the Necrotyr the chance to regroup and rethink.
It was then that their patron approached them one last time to call for peace. The Necrotyr however, despised their patron and banished him to the depths of blighted lands that no living being could touch. They had found new beings to grant them power. Deep in the oceans of the world they had found powerful creatures that feed directly off the planet's molten core. These C'tan as the Necrotyr dubbed them, bring coxed into allying with the Necrotyr and changed the fate of the war. The C'tan with their new bodies of Living Metal and hyper intelligence, promised the Necrotyr what had been denied to them by the Brother… strength of body. With the Aeldari still focused on the Orks, the Necrotyr all followed the words of their supposed allies and converted themselves to immortal metal husks. Their souls were consumed by their new gods and only the highest of Necrotyr society maintained any sense of self. The deal had been struck, and now with new power and bodies the Necrotyr reentered the war.
All while the Necrotyr, now renamed Necrons, were carrying out the C'tan's plots. The Aeldari did not sit idle. Their patron Brother too tried to get them to find peace, only for this only ended in betrayal. The Aeldari leaders, confident in their purity and divine right to rule trapped their patron and shattered him into pieces which were forged into Pretender Gods. This new pantheon soon came to replace the Brother in the minds of his children, to the point where very few of their kind even recall him today.
And so the War continued, but this time it was the Necrons that pushed back. With the C'tan and their new bodies, they were able to dominate the war with both the Aeldari and the Orks. But their sins would come back to haunt them. As the Brother banished to the blighted lands did not slumber in exile. His hate, fear, rage, and madness grew. Without his Brother his mind and emotions eroded away until finally it could no longer be contained. In his new home, he created a mockery of life. He created beings that would tear down the Order that his kind had imposed upon life and reality itself. He created the Grimm to act his final tribute to Chaos and the death of the world. With a maddened laugh he sacrificed himself to carve his creations upon the fabric of the world. A great explosion of unseen power shook the world and created the continent sized crater and psychic storm later called the Eye of Terror.
The creatures of Grimm invaded the world, spilling out of the Eye and manifesting wherever the emotions of their creator were felt. But it was in this sudden chaos that the Brother's intended targets seized their chance. The Silent King of the Necrons ordered for the C'tan to be shattered and chained during this unexpected new phase of the war. The C'tan, caught off guard by the powers of Chaos and the unforeseen betrayal fell the their own slaves. Due to the majority of Necron society now being unfeeling machines, no Grimm naturally manifested in their lands. But the Silent King and the other leaders of the Necrons knew that the time to fight had passed. They no longer had the full power of the C'tan and soon enough they would face a foe stronger than them. The Orks thrived in war and would become a greater threat with the Grimm as their sparing mates, and the Grimm would eventually either devour the Aeldari and turn their gaze to them or do so naturally. The Silent King order all his people to enter stasis in massive tombs and wait for their enemies to kill each other off.
With the retreat of the Necrons and the appearance of the Grimm, the War of Heaven was now over. The Aeldari too retreated. Many boarded massive floating cities called Craftworlds, while others fled to small island colonies. But the majority of Aeldari, sick in their pride and superiority, stubbornly stayed. Unaware of the festering danger that was growing in the Eye of Terror. The Aeldari Empire pushed back against the Grimm, and eventually with their Gods mitigated the stain the Brother of Chaos had made on the world. Grimm manifested less easily, and the numbers that came out of the Eye dropped. It was hard fought but the Aeldari finally had what they desired… dominion over the whole world. The Orks still raided and at times made war on the Aeldari but they were cowed into little more than an irritation. With their control over the world asserted, the Aeldari eventually became indulgent on their own power. They were the masters of gods after all, they felt entitled to all that the world owed them. As time went on, the Aeldari retreated into their spire cities and sea floor paradise domes. Allowing for a new race to grow and flourish.
Humanity arose in the ashes of the world that had been left behind by the Aeldari. Man went unnoticed by the masters of the world and those that did notice scoffed and thought little more of the primitive monkeys. But the centuries pasted by and turned to millennia. Humanity grew strong and wise and established their own federation of dozens of city states across the world in places left ignored or undesired by the Aeldari. A glorious age where mankind saw never before seen prosperity under the shadow of the growing indulgence of the Aeldari. But as with all things, there must be a end.
The Grimm, long since believed to be nothing more than a long handled wound upon the world, grew stronger. The Aeldari believed their toy gods kept Chaos at bay, but the seed that the Brother of Chaos planted with his death grew strong on the negative emotions that sank into the earth. All the war, the misery, madness, and excess fed their festering power. And then, in a single moment… it burst at the seams. Within seconds great swaths of the Aeldari population burned out from within. Their very souls unable to cope with the sudden influx of power clawing at them. Their gods were blasted apart or suffered worse fates. In the span of a day much of the Aeldari Empire was destroyed with only those that remained pure of soul or were in the safety of the sea depths that helped ride out the psychic backlash. But none were unscathed by the event, and to this day all Aeldari must contend with the sins of their race.
Humanity, being psychically less gifted than the Aeldari, were spared the worst of fates. But now their Golden Age was ending. The Grimm were returning in numbers and strength never before seen. In forms that were unknown to all and had powers that defied all previous knowledge. What was worse was some showed signs of dangerous levels of intelligence. During this Age of Strife, city after city fell the Grimm. Until finally only seven remained. Terra, Vacuo, Mars, Vale, Altus, Macragge, and Mistral. These seven bastions of humanity held strong against the onslaught. But the negative emotions of the Age of Strife only feed the Grimm more, the longer humanity and the other races of the world struggled and fought the stronger the Grimm became. Until finally it reached a breaking point.
A council of Aeldari Farseers predicted a final judgement on the world, a culmination of Chaos growing in the Eye. While the Farseers debated as what should they do, humanity was standing to face the Grimm. From the city of Terra came a man with unrivalled psychic power and intellect. With his leadership, new soldiers called Astartes, and psychic might he was able to push back the tide of Grimm besieging Terra. He would go forward on a Great Crusade to free the rest of humanity and would be go on to be called the Emperor of Mankind. Once he had unified all of humanity, the Aeldari approached and told him of their plan. To enact a ritual to summon the armies of man and Aeldari right on the front door of the Grimm. The Emperor agree to this plan on condition that Aeldari relinquish their claim on the world and remain in exile where they stay now. The Farseers of the Craftworlds and Exodite Colonies agreed begrudgingly but in acceptance of their sins. Only the ambassadors of the Deep Sea Kingdom of Commorragh required convincing on their kin's part but agree to the terms.
All was set. The armies of man and Aeldari would arrive at the Eye of Terror and finish off the infant Grimm God the Aeldari named Malal. The humans had a more straight forward name, Malice. The Farseers believed that if Malal could be killed then a ripple effect would happen across the Grimm, putting a end to the Age of Strife. The day of reckoning came, and the birth roars of Malal could be felt across the world. The order was given and the great psychic ritual was enacted and the armies of the Imperium of Man, the Craftworld Aspect Warriors, and Exodite soldiers all arrived before the Eye of Terror. But their swift and decisive blow never came as the armies of Commorragh were nowhere to be found. With this betrayal creating a opening for the Grimm to disrupt the mortal forces, Malal was allowed to manifest. The Eye raged and stormed until the Grimm God itself burst out of the mountains that surrounded the Eye.
The Emperor of Mankind and the Phoenix Lord Asurmen battled the Grimm God side by side as the two armies clashed around them. The sheer numbers of the Grimm and the presence of their deity gave them a undeniable advantage. It was only by the unparalleled skill of the Aeldari warriors and tenacious ferocity of humanity's iron will did the forces of Order stand a chance. Then… the unexpected happened. It was small at first, easily muted by the roars of battle among the Grimm and mortals. But soon… the sounds of brutish screams of war echoed across the blighted lands of the Grimm. Drawn in by the energies of war, the Orks had come. And to the surprise of human and Aeldari alike… the fought for Order. Led by a singular Warboss remembered as Grimgor Ironhide, the Orks slammed into the Grimm's horde and began butchering the Fel monsters. The savage greenskins turned the tide of the battle and Grimgor joined the fight along side the Emperor and the Phoenix Lord. Ancient accounts recall the plated black ork bellowing his desire to be the one to kill the Grimm God and to fight alongside… ahem… propa fightas.
But the Black Ork would not have the honor of giving the killing blow. That would go to the Emperor of Mankind. With his flaming sword and golden aura, the Master of Mankind plunged his blade deep into the heart of Malal. The Grimm God thundered as it died, the Grimm around it frenzied and tore into each other as they did Human, Aeldari, and Ork alike. All around the world Grimm killed each other as fierce as they did anything else. The forces of Order cheered as the believed themselves victorious, but then Chaos refused to allow such a perfect end. Malal's body cracked, a bright light of unimaginable colors erupted out from the crack. The red eyes of the Grimm God faded to blackness and more cracks formed. The Phoenix Lord Asurmen ordered his people and his human allies to retreat. The Orks were too busy in their fight with the crazed Grimm to notice the danger. The Emperor stayed behind, and use all of his psychic might to contain the spewing malevolence. And once the forces of Order were safely retreated, the Grimm God Malal and the Emperor of Mankind vanished both from the world in a massive explosion of power.
The Age of Strife ended that day, and began the Age of the Imperium. While the Emperor was gone, his Imperium would live on. The Craftworld and Exodite Aeldari kept their world and remained on the seas and in their remote colonies. The traitors of the newly named Drukhai were hunted down where they were on land but for the most part they remained safe in their underwater homes. They would come to devolve into slavers and pirates, living as they did in their hedonistic golden days. The Orks on the other hand were a mix, many of the survivors of what the Orks would come to call, Da Big Scrap, would form a new tribe that worked alongside humanity… for the most part. Acting a mercenaries in the eternal fight against their kin and the Grimm.
The seven cities of humanity would go on, operating under the leadership of the High Lords of Terra who acted in the Emperor's name. Many still believe that he will return one day and finish what he started so long ago. The Cult of the Emperor grew and grew until it was finally official state doctrine. The Imperium grew, attempting to reclaim lost cities or resettle lost Aeldari lands. A attempt to colonize the moon was even attempt and was successful for a time. Until the lunar city of Krieg blew itself and the moon to pieces. For a thousand years humanity attempted to claw back what the Age of Strife had taken, to mixed results. Some cities and settlements survived, most did not. Only the original seven truly prospered. The Emperor left behind his angels, his empire, and his people to continue his work. But in the modern day Imperium, the possibility of that has come into question.
The Grimm have new Gods. The Ruinous Powers were born in the death of Malal and while not as powerful as their creator, these four Gods of Grimm were insidious powers in their own right. With these new power leading them, the Grimm proceeded to fight humanity at every turn. And there were not the only foes to face. The Orks still rampaged across the lands and the Durkhai raided the coasts and seas. And in this new dawn, whispers of a new race on long forgotten shores made their way to the Imperium, the cold unfeeling dynasties of the Necrons slumber but have begun to stir, and not all of humanity is united under the Imperium's banner.
A brand new age is beginning… and one could only imagine what it will bring.
