00:00:07
[Music]
00:00:28
as humanity prepared to enter the 23rd
00:00:33
millennium
00:00:34
it took pride in the interstellar
00:00:35
civilization it had forged the first
00:00:38
steps taken into a wider universe at
00:00:40
Luna and Mars that become an exodus to
00:00:43
the Stars hostile worlds had been tamed
00:00:46
and made habitable through skill and
00:00:48
sheer persistence unimaginable distances
00:00:51
had been crossed by transcending the
00:00:52
very bounds of reality the invention of
00:00:55
the standard template construct allowed
00:00:57
even backwater settlements to enjoy the
00:00:59
full fruits of mankind's golden age
00:01:02
having harnessed the immaterial for
00:01:04
faster than light travel and
00:01:06
communication a vibrant human society
00:01:08
now stretched from one side of the
00:01:10
galaxy to the other
00:01:11
but while mankind's technology allowed
00:01:14
it to overcome almost any environmental
00:01:16
challenge it offered little help for the
00:01:18
trial to come for the very nature of
00:01:21
humanity itself was about to change it
00:01:24
was at this time that the first natural
00:01:26
human psychics were born an event that
00:01:29
would forever reshape mankind's destiny
00:01:31
these individuals known as psychos
00:01:33
appeared simultaneously at the start of
00:01:36
the twenty third millennium on worlds
00:01:37
all across human space while those who
00:01:40
possess the navigator gene had been
00:01:42
capable of perceiving the warp in a
00:01:44
limited way these new psychos were of a
00:01:46
very different breed they possessed no
00:01:48
outward signs of their difference like a
00:01:50
navigators warp sensing third eye nor
00:01:53
were they united by any detectable
00:01:54
common lineage or family ties the
00:01:57
difference was much more profound the
00:01:59
new psychos did not simply perceive the
00:02:01
warps currents like navigators they
00:02:03
channeled its raw power to produce
00:02:05
seemingly magical results by
00:02:07
manipulating the fabric of reality they
00:02:09
could read and control minds and move
00:02:11
objects as large as small buildings with
00:02:13
only a thought some could release blasts
00:02:16
of warp energy that could disintegrate
00:02:18
steel or cause the earth to shake at
00:02:22
first many saw this is an almost
00:02:24
miraculous event the first step in the
00:02:27
next stage of human evolution
00:02:28
they believed that humanity was on the
00:02:31
cusp of becoming like the Eldar II able
00:02:33
to blend the mystical powers of the warp
00:02:35
with the predictable logic of physical
00:02:37
law some hoped for an unprecedented
00:02:40
technological Renaissance
00:02:42
dwarf all the mankind had already
00:02:44
achieved they could not have been more
00:02:46
wrong while the new psychos could
00:02:49
channel the energy of the warp like the
00:02:51
Eldar II they had none of that species
00:02:53
inherent ability to control such power
00:02:55
the warp is a dimension of pure psychic
00:02:58
energy
00:02:59
whose true nature is unknowable
00:03:00
irrational and incomprehensible to a
00:03:03
being of real space most who sought to
00:03:05
perceive it directly were rendered
00:03:07
insane it was to counter this difficulty
00:03:10
that the navigator gene had been
00:03:12
carefully selected for in the human
00:03:14
population but unleashing the energies
00:03:16
of the warp into real space represented
00:03:18
similar dangers for the new psychos only
00:03:21
those gifted with great strength of mind
00:03:23
and willpower were able to use their
00:03:25
abilities without the risk of madness
00:03:27
yet even if a psycho avoided mental
00:03:30
instability the use of their powers
00:03:32
always attracted the attention of the
00:03:34
entities who called the immaterial
00:03:36
humanity had been aware of the existence
00:03:38
of these beings since the first days of
00:03:40
warp travel their assaults had been
00:03:43
responsible for the loss of many early
00:03:44
warp-capable starships
00:03:46
this danger led to the development of
00:03:49
the Goeller field which projected a
00:03:51
bubble of real space into the warp
00:03:53
around the vessel to keep such predators
00:03:55
at bay sigh kurz whose minds served as a
00:03:58
bridge between the warp and real space
00:03:59
had no such protection those who came
00:04:03
into contact with warp entities and
00:04:05
lacked the willpower to resist their
00:04:07
mental intrusions could be possessed by
00:04:09
them such psychos became conduits for
00:04:11
these creatures who hijacked their
00:04:13
abilities to reshape reality to their in
00:04:16
human desires the new psychosis
00:04:19
represented both an opportunity and a
00:04:21
terrible new danger to human
00:04:23
civilization this was reflected in the
00:04:25
different reports about their emergence
00:04:27
that soon spread across you in space
00:04:29
those psychos who possess strong wills
00:04:32
were capable of creating new wonders
00:04:34
that surpassed the hopes of those who
00:04:35
welcomed them but other worlds reported
00:04:38
tales of insane psychos run amok they
00:04:41
used their powers without rhyme or
00:04:42
reason to unleash destruction and
00:04:44
merciless bloodshed for the first time
00:04:48
mankind found no solution to a problem
00:04:50
no STC database contained a technology
00:04:54
that could predict who might be a psyche
00:04:56
no tests could detect which psychos had
00:04:59
the mental strength to control their
00:05:00
abilities and then just as the
00:05:03
interstellar community began to wrestle
00:05:05
with the crisis they were confronted by
00:05:07
a new threat the warp was becoming
00:05:09
impossible to navigate via material the
00:05:13
artery of travel and commerce upon which
00:05:15
the whole existence of interstellar
00:05:17
civilization depended was becoming
00:05:19
unstable
00:05:20
navigators reported that many of the
00:05:22
once placid currents of psychic energy
00:05:23
within the warp had become ferocious
00:05:25
tempest scald warp storms when a
00:05:28
starship was caught in one of these
00:05:30
squalls even its Goeller field was not
00:05:32
enough to prevent it from being thrown
00:05:34
wildly off course or destroyed outright
00:05:37
the result was devastating
00:05:39
just when human society most needed to
00:05:41
share knowledge and resources to deal
00:05:43
with the psychic crisis it found its
00:05:45
world's increasingly cut off from one
00:05:47
another as the population of psychos
00:05:50
continue to grow across human space the
00:05:52
numbers of the possessed and insane
00:05:54
increased beyond the ability of most
00:05:56
societies to contain them cut off from
00:05:58
each other by their inability to
00:06:00
navigate the warp many worlds were
00:06:02
forced to fend for themselves against
00:06:03
the psycho threat billions died in agony
00:06:06
as possessed psychos reshaped reality to
00:06:09
please the nightmare beings who wore
00:06:10
their flesh wear the noose I curse had
00:06:13
once been greeted with hope now they
00:06:14
were a plague since there was no way to
00:06:17
identify a psycho before their powers
00:06:19
manifested paranoia was rampant on many
00:06:21
worlds resulting in literal witch hunts
00:06:23
other planets sought to call their
00:06:25
psycho populations outright seeing mercy
00:06:28
as tantamount to suicide it was then
00:06:31
that the alien races who had long
00:06:32
coveted human space seized this chance
00:06:35
to raid unprotected planets and enslave
00:06:37
their populations hundreds of star
00:06:39
systems were ransacked their people
00:06:41
slaughtered or enslaved with no hope of
00:06:44
assistance from other worlds too often
00:06:46
these societies were simply sitting
00:06:48
ducks worse was to follow fragmented
00:06:52
reports began to circulate that the
00:06:53
thinking machines that had long labored
00:06:55
for and defended humanity had suddenly
00:06:57
turned on their masters sentient robots
00:07:00
began to act almost like possessed
00:07:02
psychos hunting down their creators
00:07:04
without reason or remorse overwhelmed by
00:07:07
aliens sigh kurz and
00:07:09
wot's gone mad even as interstellar
00:07:11
travel became impossible humanity's
00:07:13
galactic civilization collapsed the
00:07:17
interstellar web of trade and knowledge
00:07:19
mankind had created was ripped apart
00:07:21
famine disease and violence spread
00:07:24
across world after world as the warp
00:07:27
storms grew worse ending faster than
00:07:30
light travel
00:07:30
outright human civilization fell into
00:07:33
darkness at the dawn of the 25th
00:07:34
millennium
00:07:35
though historians call this period the
00:07:37
age of strife those who lived through it
00:07:40
gave it another name they called it old
00:07:42
night and no place was spared its
00:07:44
ravages this included Terra the
00:07:47
birthplace of humanity that was once
00:07:49
called Earth after psychos emerged on
00:07:53
terror who is not long before the human
00:07:55
homeworld suffered the same fate as most
00:07:57
of its colonies the attacks of possessed
00:08:00
psychos destroyed much of the planet's
00:08:01
infrastructure in population the loss of
00:08:04
access to the warp and its interstellar
00:08:06
commerce eliminated what remained of the
00:08:08
planets advanced economy panic and
00:08:11
scarce resources soon unleashed
00:08:13
generations of brutal warfare among
00:08:15
those who remain every weapon available
00:08:18
was used including the ones forbidden
00:08:20
nuclear chemical and biological weapons
00:08:22
of mass destruction in only a few
00:08:25
decades even Terra's environment was
00:08:27
destroyed by this treatment it's great
00:08:29
oceans began to dry up and its
00:08:31
landmasses became inhospitable deserts
00:08:34
what had been called earth was soon
00:08:37
little more than a blasted wasteland
00:08:39
made up of scattered outposts and small
00:08:41
nation-states each was ruled by an
00:08:43
endless supply of murderous tyrants
00:08:45
these included cybernetically enhanced
00:08:47
warriors and possessed psychos who
00:08:50
claimed their madness was divine it was
00:08:52
not long before atrocity became the norm
00:08:55
committed by legendary beings with names
00:08:58
like the unspeakable king and the seven
00:09:00
never born what remained of humanity in
00:09:03
the wake of this apocalypse was barely
00:09:05
worthy of that name the survivors of
00:09:08
terror were ravaged by genetic mutations
00:09:11
and often crippled by rampant disease
00:09:13
they eat out a miserable existence by
00:09:16
preying upon one another to ensure their
00:09:18
daily bread
00:09:19
mural nomads roamed the wastelands and
00:09:22
the ruins of better days in search of
00:09:24
advanced technology they had no
00:09:26
understanding of how such devices worked
00:09:28
but almost always found something that
00:09:30
could be used to kill in new ways it was
00:09:33
for this reason that they are now often
00:09:35
called techno barbarians but if the
00:09:39
bodies of the people of Terra had been
00:09:40
ravaged by all night their souls had
00:09:42
fared no better reason insanity had been
00:09:45
among the first casualties of the fall
00:09:47
knowledge truth and decency held little
00:09:50
hold over a world defined by the
00:09:52
constant hunt for survival
00:09:53
ignorant sin paranoia had become the
00:09:56
real rulers of terror in the age of
00:09:57
strife the population superstitions were
00:10:01
regularly exploited by insane psycho
00:10:03
messiahs and self-proclaimed prophets
00:10:06
such leaders used religion for their own
00:10:08
gain or to motivate their flocks to make
00:10:10
war upon the unbelievers for over 5,000
00:10:15
years this was the only existence the
00:10:17
people of Terra knew once the Masters of
00:10:19
the galaxy life was now only a slow
00:10:22
spiral down towards extinction yet the
00:10:26
children of old Earth had once had the
00:10:27
courage and determination to claim an
00:10:29
empire among the stars such qualities
00:10:32
were still found among a small group of
00:10:34
men and women known as the sigil i'ts
00:10:36
the organization has been formed by
00:10:39
those who recognized early on the
00:10:40
potential dangers represented by
00:10:42
humanity's first true psychos they had
00:10:45
taken up residence in a great complex
00:10:47
built beneath the towering Himalayan
00:10:49
mountains there they sought to collect
00:10:51
humanity's most dangerous weapons and
00:10:53
knowledge they intended to keep it out
00:10:55
of the hands of those they feared would
00:10:57
destroy the world they also sought to
00:11:00
preserve the greatest treasures of
00:11:01
mankind this was the art sculpture and
00:11:05
literature that had once given human
00:11:07
life meaning and purpose beyond simple
00:11:09
survival early in old night the city
00:11:13
lights have thought that the isolation
00:11:15
caused by the instability of the warp
00:11:16
and the terrible violence consuming
00:11:18
terror couldn't last but they were wrong
00:11:22
and as the centuries passed the Earth's
00:11:25
miseries only deepened for 5,000 years
00:11:29
the sigil lights waited but their people
00:11:31
could not help themselves and
00:11:33
no rescue from the stars ever came
00:11:35
despite their knowledge no sigil light
00:11:38
could truly comprehend the nature of the
00:11:40
immaterial and what lived within it or
00:11:42
how this would shape the future of
00:11:44
mankind without this understanding no
00:11:47
solution to the psycho problem no true
00:11:49
salvation was possible so it was that
00:11:53
the sigil i'ts numbers slowly dwindled
00:11:55
until by the start of the 30th
00:11:57
millennium only one remained
00:11:59
his name was Malka door and he was one
00:12:02
of the most powerful psychos ever born a
00:12:04
man of great learning with the bearing
00:12:06
of a priest yet for all his knowledge
00:12:09
all his skill all the treasures at his
00:12:12
command
00:12:12
Malka door couldn't clear the turbulence
00:12:14
in the warp he couldn't slay every
00:12:17
bloodthirsty tyrant and lunatic seikar
00:12:19
who afflict a terror he couldn't unravel
00:12:22
the true mysteries of the warp or
00:12:24
determine what path his people should
00:12:25
take to master it he could only hope
00:12:28
that humanity would face its demons and
00:12:30
pull itself once more out of the
00:12:32
darkness as it had so many times before
00:12:34
so Malka door did the only thing he
00:12:37
could and one day he set out to wander
00:12:39
the wastelands in search of salvation to
00:12:42
his eternal surprise he found it not in
00:12:46
the form of an army of rescuers from the
00:12:47
heavens or even a group of survivors who
00:12:50
had pulled themselves up out of the
00:12:51
ruins salvation came instead in the
00:12:53
person of a lone man one whose eyes
00:12:56
shone with determination and
00:12:57
unparalleled knowledge he possessed a
00:13:00
strength of will that the last city
00:13:02
light had never seen and the wisdom to
00:13:05
finally answer all his many questions
00:13:07
this man had no name only a title from
00:13:11
alkyd or found the Emperor the savior of
00:13:13
mankind
