Editing Forging

The '''Forging''' is one of the major time periods of the [[Imperium of Man]]. It was preceded by the [[Time of Rebirth]] and followed by [[Nova Terra Interregnum]], stretching from mid-M32 to mid-M34.

Basically, the Imperium consolidated its strength, having finally rebuilt from the [[Horus Heresy]]. 

==The War of the Beast==
{{Main|The War of The Beast}}

The Imperium, after the heresy, enjoyed an odd period of relative peace - so long as we ignore silly and minor events like the [[Iron Cage]] world, the first [[Black Crusade]] and battle of Cadia, the [[Battle of the Fang]], multiple traitor Primarchs fucking over many worlds, and of the Daemon cults that were popping up everywhere. The Adeptus Astartes were starting to die out as there were less and less campaigns to wage (despite the traitors still being around in huge numbers) and the forces of man consolidated their domain. Although, "dying out" is probably relative. The Chapters probably had full membership and thus no more recruitment while the population of humanity continued to rapidly increase thereby making Astartes less and less relative to it. Unless you're the Dark Angels and their successors, who made a point during the Great Crusaded to maintain their own technological knowledge and ability to produce everything their legion could need. Including new Chapters. Then appeared the '''[[The Beast]]'', the mightiest Warboss ever conceived, to ravage the galaxy. The Imperium was thrown to its last ropes and it took a lot of effort to survive. It bears special mention because it's the turning point for the Imperium's organization: the former position of Lord Commander (basically a prime minister mixed in with general of the armies/admiral of the navy/marshal of the air force) was abolished and the spirit of the Imperium went from being relatively good and peaceful to decay into what would become the hellhole we know and love.

==The Beheading==
{{Main|The Beheading}}

The '''Beheading''' occurred when a Grand Master of the [[Officio Assassinorum]] decided to annihilate the rest of the [[High Lords of Terra]]. Nearly one hundred years of governance ensued under said Grand Master before the Space Marines stepped up and murdered him (albeit at great loss). '''Then''' nearly a century of anarchy consumed [[Terra]] before the Ultramarines gathered a group of successors and reappointed a set of High Lords. This also led to the creation of the Ordo Sicar(i)us, one of the minor Ordos of the [[Inquisition]], which watches the Officio Assassinorum.

==The Astropath Wars==
The BRB gives precious little detail (none at all, in fact) about the '''Astropath Wars,''' but whatever they are they sound [[Awesome]].

[[Imperial Armour]] Volume 11 mentions that a [[Chapter]] called the Carcharodon Astra (likely everybody's favorite Chapter of [[Charcharodons|Space Sharks]]) took part in them. Sadly, it then mentions that the Astropath Wars have been so thoroughly scrubbed from Imperial records that it would be easier for a denizen of the 41st millennium to research the [[Great Crusade]] or [[Horus Heresy]], which is saying something given the denizens of the 41st millenium don't even know the [[Emperor]] was a super-atheist.

Some fan speculation is that it involved some kind of power play by the Adeptus Astra Telepathica to take advantage of the power vacuum left by The Beheading and the hundred-year period of anarchy it caused; others suggest this may have involved some kind of disinformation-based warfare or internal struggle between Astropaths, with rival Astropaths hijacking each others' messages in all of the chaos of the post-Beheading Imperium to settle old scores and weaken rival factions, perhaps even escalating into outright assassination and Astropath-to-Astropath psychic attacks.

==The Blade of Infinity==
A pre-Heresy (hell, pre-Age of Strife) ship named the ''Blade of Infinity'' appears out of the Warp, broadcasting what appears to be a desperate warning. Oh, and it claims to have entered Warp space sometime around M10, long before the invention of the Warp drive, which to be fair is far from impossible. It disappears into the Warp moments before massive battlefleet of Chaos Space Marines appears. Creepy...

==The Year of the Ghosts==
A.K.A. "The Ghosting".  Another topic the BRB doesn't bother describing in great detail, it implies that a bunch of undead fought against [[Chaos]]. Again this sounds [[Awesome]] but will probably never be expanded on.

==The Howling==
The Black Templars end the so-called "Catelexis Heresy" by executing the '''Cacodominus''', an alien cyborg so psychically powerful it telepathically controlled ''thirteen hundred'' star systems (how?). Unfortunately its death scream echoes throughout the [[Warp]], blowing up the minds of billions of [[psyker]]s and obscuring the Astronomican, sending millions of ships to their death in the Warp. All the while entire sub-sectors slid into barbarism without the Adeptus Terra to guide them. The BRB claims it is a ''steep cost for victory;'' NO REALLY?

Also, the 6th edition Codex: Space Marines puts forward a theory that the Black Templars don't have [[Librarian]]s because they all got blown up by the Howling.

==[[The War of the False Primarch]]==
The War of the False Primarch was a dark and bloody episode of the Imperium's history, now largely lost to myth and purged from all records, that plunged the Segmentum Pacificus into anarchy from 780.M33 to 860.M33. The conflict was finally ended when the High Lords of Terra convened the '''[[Rip and tear|Pentarchy of Blood]]''' and tasked [[Flesh Eaters|five]] [[Space Sharks|uniquely]] [[Charnel Guard|talented]] [[Death Eagles|loyal]] [[Red Talons|Chapters]] to destroy eleven others that had been declared Traitoris Perdita for their actions during (or after) the war.

{{40k-Timeline}}