Editing Komra (section)

===The Age of Trade===
[[File:40K Orcs painted sketch by Rhodri.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The blood-thirsty Orks]]
The Baj-Ha Protectorate endured thousands of years, but when it was truly tested it would be found hollowed out by the decay of the Eldar Empire.  In 9711LF (935.M15), explorers from Terra re-established contact with the Komra, though the differences between the subspecies had become so profound that the humans of Earth initially believed that they were dealing with aliens.  A proposal to reunite the Komra with their Terran cousins was met with disdain by the Eldar Lord Hyllkon and little enthusiasm among the Baj-Ha.  A brief war (9713-4LF/937-8.M15) with the men of Sol and their robotic warriors, the Men of Iron, saw the Protectorate defended by a combined force of Eldar and Komra until the arrival of the Empire's fleet discouraged Terra's ambitions.

It was not the strength of the humans that spelled the end of the Protectorate.  Terra settled for peace and trade instead of conquest.  Rather, Hyllkon's reliance on the Baj-Ha to defend his fief showed that the Eldar Empire lacked the will to keep the sons of Trantor in their dominion.  Rather than rebel and shed the blood of a people who had done them little harm, the Brysojt opened a series of talks with Lord Hyllkon in which they argued that the Protectorate was already a dead letter and appealed to him to exchange his unsustainable rule over the Baj-Ha for the enduring friendship of the Komra people.  Judging by the patience shown by both sides over talks spanning five years, there was substantial common ground, but the Eldar Empire was not accustomed to giving up its possessions.  Hyllkon eventually granted the Brysojt liberty to resume colonisation in 9719LF (943.M15) and this concession was seen among the Komra as a sign that their Lord Protector would give them all the liberties he could without offending his own overlords.  His continued use of the name "Baj-Ha" was only an insult.

Hyllkon's opening of the Komra frontier did not lead to a great rush of colonisation.  During the Age of Tribute, other races had moved into the space around the Baj-Ha Protectorate and new worlds were hard to come by.  Terran humans could perhaps negotiate and trade, but the savage [[Orks of the Hektor Heresy|Orks]] mocked even the concepts of peace and reason.  Orkish Waaagh!s swept away several Komra colonies during the centuries leading up to 10000LF (224.M16), when the greenskin menace was debated in a special celebratory session of the Brysojt.  Experts from throughout Komra space were invited to propose new techniques and projects for combating the Orks.  This work was prescient, as the intensity of Ork attacks only increased with passing centuries.  The invasion of the Stem World Shifbar by Waaagh!Gutz! in 10841LF (168.M17) brought the problems of the frontiers right into the heart of Komra space.  A disinterested Eldar Empire waved the problem aside and it was left to the Brysojt to rally their own people.  Although the council lacked any formal authority, it was able to popularize the plight of Shifbar and new Gelkzaft began to be formed purely for the purpose of fighting the Orkish invaders.  For decades these military associations held the line against successive Waaagh!s, before the Brysojt managed to persuade newly-arrived Lord Protector Maiken and nearby Terran worlds to lend assistance.  A combined force of Eldar, Terrans, and Komra forced the Orks from the soil of Shifbar in the Year of Triumph, 10933LF (157.M17).  Although inspiring, the victory proved short-lived and Savage Orks were menacing the world only months later.  Waaagh!'Ardkace brought Shifbar back to crisis in 10935LF (159.M17).  Only after decades of war and destruction was the threat finally suppressed in 10976LF (273.M17), when the biological genius of Karazak developed the Phage Tower, a device capable of interfering with the Orkoid reproductive cycle.

If it was not a complete protection from Orks, the Phage Tower at least allowed Komra to secure their homeworlds and key colonies and begin a slow expansion through following centuries.  Long-distance expeditions were dispatched to the far corners of the Galaxy, seeking out new worlds suitable for Komra settlement.  Although these colony ships took hundreds of years to reach their destinations, the subjective time aboard was much shorter and there was no need for a repeat of the Terran "generation ship" technique.  At the same time as their holdings expanded, the Komra were engaged in more vigorous trade with nearby Terran worlds, fostering increased industrial development on the Stem Worlds of the decaying Protectorate.  The Eldar themselves became ever more distant, until in 15145LF (367.M21) Lord Protector Jhaella departed Valaya Station without explanation or replacement.

The end of nominal rule by the Eldar Empire hardly changed the lives or destinies of the Komra people.  Many now dwelt well beyond the reach of the Brysojt, in enclaves such as the League of Dawi (in the south of Segmentum Ultima) or in systems shared with Terrans, as was common in the Juvian Reach.  In the old Protectorate, the Komra redubbed their realm the ''Core Worlds Confederation'', a name that would become synonymous with their culture until the time of the Great Crusade.  But in this earlier age of science and trade, Terran dominion over the Galaxy rested easily with the Komra while unseen threats developed.  The tragic Fall of the Eldar and the horrors unleashed by the Men of Iron are well-known, but corruption also took hold within the Komra people.

====The Cult of Krenz====
{{Main|Cult of Krenz}}

On ancient Rakizor, a miner named Edsten encountered a mysterious ''entity'' while prospecting the depths for mineral deposits.  The being presented through impression, not being, flooding Edsten's mind with his memories of powerful machines.  Though his vision and hearing were unaffected, the Komra was internally assailed by remembered sensation; the vibration of heavy engines, roaring motors, and the stench of burned fuel, and within this cacophony was a glimpse of the impossible brightness of the fusion reaction.  Edsten's stout heart quailed and he fell down trembling, begging the entity to release him.  Whether Edsten was released or he simply became more accustomed to the presence of the entity is unknown, but he began to become aware of its wishes.  The miner returned to his Gelkzaft, claiming to have found rich deposits and urging his brethren to help verify the find.  Those who followed Edsten into the depths were similarly brought into the thrall of the entity, which they dubbed "Krenz".

Edsten's Cult were able to assume control of Rakizor relatively swiftly.  None of the citizens expected a threat like Krenz and the cellular structure of Komra society made it easy to win over one Gelkzaft at a time.  Only Rakizor's most powerful psykers noticed anything amiss, and they were either slain or brought before Krenz.  As the Cult gained power, the pit in which Krenz had been discovered was refurbished into a dark temple and terrible rites were held to venerate the entity.  Gelkzaft working in biotechnology began to carry out experiments without any heed for ethics, while industrial Komra developed specialized weapons.  In 17843LF (067.M24), Edsten was appointed to Rakizor's planetary Sojt and began to meet with the Brysojt of the Core Worlds Confederation.

Unlike on Rakizor, the psykers on Valaya Station could not be picked off.  Roxum, a native of Karazak, was the first to sense something amiss and quickly confided her suspicions to her compatriot, the warrior-psyker Karnech.  The two began a careful investigation across the stars, undertaking long journeys to Rakizor's colonies and searching for others under the same shadow as Edsten and his partisans.  Although they found no widespread corruption beyond Rakizor, new migrant Gelkzaft from the dark world were all thralls of Krenz.  Horrified by the implications, Roxum and Karnech met with the oldest and most powerful psyker among the Komra, Kakau of Chelob Hold, in 17885LF (109.M24).  To their relief, Kakau supported Roxum and Karnech.  The old psyker used his prestige to speak before the Brysojt, calling for an investigation of Rakizor.  Edsten responded vigorously, denouncing the psykers for demanding that their senses be considered as absolute evidence.  He argued that no world, be it Rakizor or another member of the Confederation, should have to submit to such a humiliation without the presentation of physical evidence.  Unwilling to alienate one of the Stem Worlds, the Brysojt representatives - even those of Karazak and Chelob Hold - moved to defer Kakau's request until physical evidence could be submitted.  This "compromise" avoided the embarrassment of dismissing the old psyker entirely while completely defending Edsten's agenda.

Although rebuffed, Kakau, Roxum and Karnech did not abandon their cause.  As with all space-faring Komra, the trio ended up falling centuries forward in time relative to their planet-dwelling brethren.  Roxum and Kakau travelled through the other Stem Worlds - Ork-blighted Shifbar, gleaming Karazak, and unsmiling Chelob Hold - and the rising Circle Worlds searching for allies among their fellow psykers.  Fearless Karnech infiltrated the colonies of Rakizor and slowly made his way to the dark world in the hopes of finding the physical evidence the Brysojt demanded.  The warrior-psyker's harrowing journey would eventually become the stuff of legend, but it was a saga with a tragic end.  Karnech endured the gaze of Krenz by absorbing the entity's influence into a shell personality which he later subsumed into his iron-willed whole.  This act allowed him to gather a sampling of Rakizor's innumerable horrors and send that precious evidence to his allies before Krenz's awesome mental strength overwhelmed him.