The forty-first millennium is underway. For more than a hundred centuries, the Emperor has been sitting motionless on the Golden Throne of the Earth. By the will of the gods, he is the ruler of humanity and the ruler of a million worlds with the power of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting husk, held on the brink of death by the power of the Dark Age of Technology. He is the dead ruler of the Imperium, to whom a thousand souls are sacrificed daily so that he will never die completely. Even in his undead stupor, the Emperor maintains his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets traverse the daemonic miasma-filled Warp, the only route to the distant stars; their path is illuminated by the Astronomicon, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. In His name, vast armies fight on countless worlds. The greatest among his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, Space Marines, genetically enhanced super-warriors. The name of their brothers in arms is Legion: the Imperial Guard and the countless Planetary Defense Forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus are just one of many. But despite all their numbers, there are barely enough of them to contain the eternal threat of aliens, heretics, mutants - and even worse enemies. To be human in these times is to be one of countless billions. This means living under the most cruel and bloody regime imaginable. This is a story about those times. Forget about the power of technology and science, just as you forgot about many things that are gone forever. Forget about the promises of progress and prosperity, for in the fierce darkness of the future there is ONLY WAR. There is no peace between the stars, only an eternity of carnage and carnage, and the laughter of thirsty gods...