EVENT - Halcyon Age

[TrajantheGreat]

The Halcyon Age

 

The Halcyon Age was a common nickname for the period between the Vanishing and the First Ruin, though sometimes it is applied to the entire period of the Alexandrian Regency. Starting in 001.M31, it does begin with the disappearance of the Emperor. The name comes from the legion of the High Regent, Alexandros Darshan VonSalim, Shield-Lord of the Halcyon Wardens. It was hoped, in spite of the galactic disaster that was the Vanishing, the Imperium would recover and continue towards the golden age of Humanity promised by the Emperor and the Great Crusade. 

 

The Halcyon Age can be divided into three phases if one limits the term to a pre-Ruin timeframe. The first phase covers the years 001 to 004. These years would be spent in repairing the worst damages of the Vanishing. Although some aspects of the physical destruction of the Vanishing inflicted would last well into the next century, the most critical consequences would be addressed and resolved in some way by the end of 004. 005 to 007 would see the Imperium come closest to the hoped for golden age. These three years would see a general sense of security and prosperity spread across the Imperium. The final phase is recorded as 008 to 011 when the First Ruin occurs. These final years before the incoming cataclysms were known for the simmering strife as political forces broiled both in support and against the High Regent.

 

As mentioned elsewhere, its other, less common, use was to simply refer to the Alexandrian Regency. As such, this other use begins with the same date, but it ends with the conclusion of the Fourth Ruin. 

 

Regardless of use, the Halcyon Age was used in less disrespectable fashion during the years in which it referred to. The age part of the term was often used in a demeaning manner by critics of the Alexandrian Regency. After the end of the Alexandrian Regency, the term shifted to a more glowing and nostalgic emphasis towards those precious few years before the Ruins.

[TrajantheGreat]

The first two important events of the Halcyon Age shaped both it and the Imperium for that point moving forward, and proved the events that would change everything. The first of which was the Vanishing of the Emperor, whose ship the Bucephalus entered the Warp at Terra to travel to Ullanor, but failed to appear. At the same time, the Astronomican itself went dark. The Imperium was plunged into chaos, as ships caught in the Warp were lost and astropathic messages went unanswered. Enemies of the Imperium saw the disaster as the time to strike, and the forces of the Imperium were sent spiralling. Though on Terra it took all of 15 minutes for the Astronomican to be restored through unknown means, the light of the relit Astronomican took time to reach the corners of the Imperium. It took a whole year of constant fighting by the entire forces of the Legiones Astartes, Imperial Army and Mechanicum to stabilise the situation to the point in 001.M31 where a more permanent solution could be created. This would be achieved at the Conclave of Terra.