Editing Nobledark Imperium Drafts (section)

=== Minor Historical Events ===

====982.M31, An Awkward Reminder====
Imperial military assets are put on guard by the sudden appearance of an ancient Webway gate in the Sol system out of the interstellar blackness. Both humans and eldar are confused as to the significance of this event, until the Harlequins find mention of an Old Empire project to launch an invasion of the Sol system via a Trojan horse webway gate. The gate appears to have been constructed on a planet over a hundred lightyears away at some point in late M24 and fired at the Sol system at a fraction of the speed of light, with the Old Empire military leadership expecting it to reach Sol some eight thousand years later, apparently not realizing [[Fall of the Eldar|how much the galaxy would change in the interim]]. This awkward realization suddenly turns to horror when the Imperium realizes that while the Old Eldar Empire may no longer be around to implement their plan, [[Anal_Circumference|there is nothing stopping the Crone Eldar from doing the same]], and the Ilios gate, as it is come to be known, is quickly shut down and moved elsewhere.

====432.M32, A Lover’s Quarrel====
''“I sometimes try to reassure myself that we live in a [[lulz|sane, just, reasonable universe]]. Then I remember that we once lost a planet because [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notes#Lady_Malys|some Crone bitch]] [[grimdark|was going through relationship issues]].”''<br>
-- Imperial Colonel Ismerelda Guerregia, circa 400.M33

The galaxy’s longest on-again, off-again relationship, that of [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Asdrubael_Vect|Asdrubael Vect of Commorragh]] and [[Nobledark_Imperium_Forces_of_Chaos#Lady_Malys|Lady Aurelia Malys of the Crone Eldar]] of Shaa-Dome, ends unexpectedly when Malys receives a message from Vect telling her that their relationship is over. The relationship between the two had been deteriorating for some years prior to that, rumor has it due to Vect and Malys’ relationship becoming strained over Malys’ attempts to convert Vect to Chaos, but for Vect to abruptly declare their relationship over without warning stuns Malys and sends her into a rage. Only Vect would have the audacity to tell the Daemon Queen to her face “it’s not you, it’s him”.

In response to Vect’s message, Lady Malys rampages across Commorragh, determined to drag Vect out of his hole and confront him fact to face. She easily tracks down his refuge, a fortified bunker beneath one of his dwellings in Upper Commorragh. There was no way for Vect to hide, for as Vect’s former lover Malys knew exactly where Vect was likely to run (or, at least, so she thought) and few Dark Eldar were willing to stand between the Daemon Queen and the target of her wrath. In her emotionally compromised state, Malys’ normally razor-sharp mind is dulled with rage, failing to notice the ease at which she had managed to break into Vect’s hidden sanctum or the fact that resistance within Vect’s fortress was surprisingly lax. Malys finds Vect on his throne, surrounded by his harem of eldar and xenos slaves. When confronted, Vect is surprisingly remorseful of his actions, presenting Malys with a wrapped gift merely labeled “For my sweetheart”.

When Vect moves to open the gift, the containment field keeping its contents in stasis breaks down, unleashing the portable black hole held within. Malys only survives by slamming the door to Vect’s throne room behind her and allowing the black hole to consume the entire throne room before dissipating into Hawking radiation. In the moments before the box was opened, her rage had lifted enough for her to realize Vect would have never allowed her to get so close given recent events, as well as the fact that the being calling itself “Vect” had let slip numerous tells indicating that it was not her beloved Asdrubael. “Vect” was later found to be a slave surgically altered to resemble Vect and given access to the harem, having no idea it was meant to be a sacrificial lamb for Vect’s ex-lover or the nature of the “gift” Vect intended for her. Vect’s throne and entire harem are destroyed, a price Vect considers worth paying to keep Malys off his back. The actual Vect would not reappear until months later. Rumor has it he was on the other side of Commorragh enjoying a drink and watching the show unfold. No one in Commoragh was naive or foolish enough to actually believe him dead. Nevertheless, in the moment, Malys’ sheer rage at the situation, now compounded by the fact that Vect had the audacity to try and assassinate her, had yet to be sated.

[[Exterminatus|An entire Imperial system burns]] [[Rape|at the hands of Crone Eldar in service to Lady Malys]] before Malys manages to calm down. It would be years before Malys and Vect were on speaking terms again. Although the ways in which their relationship has periodically ended have varied, sometimes with Vect dumping Malys, sometimes with Malys dumping Vect, sometimes the two mutually agreeing they need to see other people, the fallout from this breakup was particularly notable.

====M33 (subjectively), the Melee of the Impossible Mountain====
As the tides of the deep Warp continually shift, they lead to the rediscovery of Excalpurnia, the Impossible Mountain, in the Chaos Wastes, a location thought to be lost for a thousand years said to have a font of unimaginable power at its center. As word of this discovery spreads, the Impossible Mountain becomes a free-for-all, as daemons from all four gods battle each other for control of the source of power at its heart. Perhaps the most surprising participant in this contest is [[Nobledark_Imperium_Forces_of_Chaos#Be'lakor|Be’lakor]], intensely motivated by a desire to obtain any source of power not already claimed by one of the Big Four, tearing through Khornate, Slaaneshi, Nurglite, and Tzeentchian daemons alike to get his claws on the prize.

Eventually, only two real contenders are left for the prize, Be’lakor and Skalaban’thrax, a Bloodthirster of Khorne. In terms of raw power, Be’lakor and Skalaban’thrax are evenly matched, but Be’lakor knows the Bloodthirster outclasses him in stamina and martial prowess and, if allowed to, will simply outlast Be’lakor before landing the killing blow. Be’lakor wins the fight by tricking the Skalaban’thrax into charging him before shoving the Bloodthirster into a warp portal to [[Nobledark_Imperium_Xenos#Blanks_and_the_Pariah_Gene|Pluto]], catching the Bloodthirster in a banishment loop until his will breaks and he forfeits the contest.

Although smug from his victory over the Bloodthirster, Be’lakor’s hopes are dashed when he realizes what the prize of the Impossible Mountain is: [[Nobledark_Imperium_Forces_of_Chaos#Drach'nyen|the daemon sword Drach’nyen]], finally coming to light after being cast into the Warp by the last act of the kinebrach warsmith Ra-Ham-Be. Furthermore, Be'lakor in his rage recognizes the hand of the Architect of Fates in this turn of events, clouding his sight just enough to let him see an unclaimed well of power but not letting him see enough detail to realize it's a source of power he doesn't want. Recognizing Drach’nyen for the white elephant that it is, Be’lakor concedes defeat, allowing Drach’nyen to be taken by Ka’junhada, a minor Bloodletter of Khorne. Ka’junhada is found dead a (subjective) month later, his bloodlust not sufficient enough to quench the thirst of the daemon sword. And so Drach'nyen is set loose on the galaxy once more, albeit in a different form.

====169.M35, The Malalian Heresy====
A group of Crone Eldar discover the true nature of Malal as a fifth (technically second), independent Chaos god. Such a fact was not exactly uncommon knowledge among the Crone Eldar, however, the fact that the Crones in this case responded to this information by renouncing their allegiance to all other gods and worshipping Malal exclusively was quite unusual. It is thought that the eldar in this case were nihilistic “true” Nurglite Crone Eldar, which meant this discovery resonated with their worldview and they were already in the right mindset to act on this information rather than just dismiss it as most other Crones would. These Crone Eldar painted their faces white and black, preaching that Malal was the one true god (or at least, the god to be placed before all other gods) and that he was their savior through their destruction. The movement gained popularity, with billions flocking to their banner.

This notion was quite franky regarded as the highest levels of blasphemy to most levels of Crone society, albeit for different reasons behind the different sects. Khornates considered it blasphemy to place Khorne’s vizier above Khorne, Tzeentchians inherited their patron’s animus for the anti-god that had existed since the dawn of recorded history, and Chaos Undivided eldar considered it heretical to claim that any gods worthy of worship existed beyond the main four. Even Slaaneshi and Nurglite eldar joined in, Slaaneshis likely because [[That Guy|they relished in the opportunity to bring anyone spite]] and Nurglites possibly because Nurgle feared retribution from a reformed Malal for what happened at the end of the War in Heaven (as well as the fact that Nimina and the Conservators were very vocal about how heretical the notion of worshipping someone other than Nurgle was compared to what would be expected of a Nurglite) As a result, persecution of this heresy garnered an abnormal amount of cooperation from followers of the big four.

The full force of the Crone Worlds and Shaa-Dome was brought down on the movement, but the fighting was not as easy as would be anticipated. Although greatly outnumbered, the individual Malal cultists seemed to have the strength of ten eldar, not to mention the assistance of the Malalic daemon prince Apep. At one point even Skarbrand was summoned and depopulated a continent-sized region of a layer of Shaa-Dome before being banished. In the end, it was the orthodoxy’s sheer numbers along with the summoning of daemons that turned the tide, Malal had not regained enough strength to form daemons yet whereas that daemons of the big four were so angered by the rebellion of the outcast god the Crones could summon them for a song. Hundreds of billions are killed in the resulting conflict before the surviving heretics are defeated and put to the sword.

====???.M38, the Raid of Bor’kan====
In an early encounter between the Tau Empire and the Dark Eldar, a raid by Archon Klax on the Sept world of Bor’kan takes thousands of Tau and Poctroon slaves. Sending a communication receivable by Tau technology, Klax offers to release the slaves in exchange for a significant amount of ransom. Still naïve to the ways of the Dark Eldar, the Tau Empire pays the sum, only for Klax to send another communication openly laughing at the Ethereal council’s actions and broadcasting the torture of dozens of prisoners. In response, Tau and Poctroon engineers spend several months building a 0.8 km unmanned projectile out of modified unused Poctroon designs for an interstellar sleeper ship and launch it at the apparent location of the transmission at one-third of the speed of light. Several years later the ship strikes the moon of a seemingly uninhabited gas giant several lightyears beyond Tau space with enough force to leave a crater in the planet’s surface kilometers deep still visible when the Tau colonize the system centuries later. Although the attack fails to kill Klax, it damages his operation enough that Klax is not heard from for several decades.

====970.M41, Reactivation of Ouakronos====
The Imperial world of Neo-Alexandria is invaded by Necrons of the Sarnekh Dynasty led by Thaszar the Invincible at the orders of the Silent King. Unbeknownst to its inhabitants, Neo-Alexandria is really the Necron World Engine Ouakronos, millions of years of asteroids and debris being drawn into its gravity well leaving it deceptively caked in kilometers of soil. Covered in rich regolith, the planet was terraformed by humans during the Dark Age of Technology, with none the wiser as to its true nature. While the Imperial military above engage the Necron forces, oblivious to their true goal, Thaszar descends below the planet’s surface and reactivates the World Engine. Great fissures open up across the planet, cyclopean engines jutting forth from the layers of earth, before Thaszar points Neo-Alexandria at Mandragora and engages its inertialess drive. Not being protected by external shielding or artificial gravity, the planet’s soil, atmosphere, and inhabitants are stripped away by the acceleration by the time Ouakronos arrives at its destination.