Editing Parthorum Xenocide (section)

==Background==

The Parthorum Sector is defined by a long, stable current in the Warp beginning about 30 light years north of Terra and tracing a path north-west.  This phenomenon, known as the '''Parthorum Stream''' covers a region roughly 250 light years long and 50 light years wide at its median point.  Warp travel within the Parthorum Stream is relatively predictable and safe, and in the hundred centuries since its reconquest in the Great Scouring, only a handful of ships have been lost while in transit.

===Osroene Empire===

The Parthorum Xenocide destroyed Osroene centers of learning and killed the great majority of that race's scholars.  Human savants only became interested in the history of the lost Empire long after its annihilation and have struggled to piece together its chronology.  It is clear, however, that the realm was long-lived and stable, and judging by the anti-Imperial revolts after the war the Osroene must have been accomplished in the art of ruling over a multi-species Empire.  Although the Xenos were not as advanced as the young Imperium, they possessed the Warp Drive and had used it successfully in the tranquil conditions of the Parthorum Stream.

Osroene physiology received more attention.  Space Marine Apothecaries carried out autopsies on battle casualties and studied prisoners of war before their termination.  [[Wilmut Sachs]], on secondment from the Brothers of Death, began a substantial work on the Xenos species before the completion of [[Heralds of Hektor|First Legion]]'s operations rendered the point somewhat moot.  His notes, while somewhat redacted by Imperial censors, remain available to high-ranking Imperial citizens due to the similarities and parallels between Osroene and human physiology.  Although a definitive link was not established, there is some evidence suggesting that the species resulted from deliberate and extensive tampering with human genetics late in the Dark Age of Technology, with the weak warp presence of the Osroene held up as a telling marker.  It is one of history's ironies that these Xenos were to benefit from a lack of psykers during the warp storms of the Age of Strife only to be undone, in part, by Astrotelepathy.

===The Imperium===

Due to the limitations of calculated jumps through the Warp, the first decade of Imperial campaigns following the [[Unification Wars (Hektor Heresy)|Unification Wars]] created a fairly small interstellar state centered on Sol.  The Emperor's construction of the ''Astronomican'' on Terra increased the practical Warp jump distance one hundred fold and allowed the Imperium's [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]] to reach vast territories, among them the Parthorum Stream.  [[Rogue Traders (Hektor Heresy)|Rogue Traders Militant]] were quick to move into the area and investigate.  Their reports on a stable Xenos-ruled empire in the sector caused considerable disagreement in the War Council, with [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] constantly lobbying for the permission, men, and ships to attack as soon as possible.  After months of acrimony, the Emperor issued a decree permitting the heads of individual Expedition Fleets the right to select and pursue their own objectives.

Ever confident, Hektor had begun preparing for the conquest of the Parthorum Stream while the matter was still in dispute.  His planning drew on the reports of Rogue Traders, especially Adela Exard's navigational and cultural records.  Hektor was so impressed by these records that Exard and her Cruiser ''Black Joke'' were among the Rogue Trader forces hired on to augment [[Heralds of Hektor|First Legion]] during the campaign. The Primarch also began requisitioning [[Imperial Army (Hektor Heresy)|Imperial Army]] forces to garrison his future conquests, and pressed the tech priests of [[Mars (Hektor Heresy)|Mars]] to deliver new warships.  When the Mechanicum reached the limit of their patience (or capabilities), Hektor went to Fabricator General [[Kalkas Tygian]] himself for assistance.  Tygian responded that his forges had already assigned their production, but that if the First Legion required additional warships during their forthcoming campaign that Mars would be happy to loan out their own vessels and crews.  The fulfillment of this pledge would play an important role in the Imperial victory.