TIMELINE OF THE KRONOS EXPANSE AND BEYOND

[The Hive Mind]

History

"Without the scratching of a tedious scribe’s quill there is no history. Events both great and terrible may pass unmarked and unremembered and so leave us only with scraps of what was. These fragments of memory are what fools call history and the wise call lies."

—from The Lost Imperial Past by Sejanus Morn, 789.M41
What follows is the chronicle of significant events that mark the selected history of the Koronus Expanse, as it is generally known and agreed upon by scholars within the Imperium, with particular reference to the deeds of the Rogue Traders that have forged it. Within are accounts and records of the exploration of the Koronus Expanse, and the strange and wondrous worlds found beyond the Emperor’s Light. Few, however, who compile the chronicles of the Expanse have ever ventured there, and thus they rely on the accounts of others. The sources used by most scholars are the records kept by Rogue Traders and their associates. Such records are prone to inconsistency, embellishment, or outright falsification, and so claims as to the completeness or accuracy of any chronicle are best treated with suspicion.

Koronus Expanse Timeline

Great Crusade (Late 30th - Early 31st Millennium) - The Emperor of Mankind's Great Crusade seeks to reunite all of the human-settled colony worlds in the galaxy under the rule of the newborn Imperium of Man.

Horus Heresy (Early 31st Millennium) - The Warmaster Horus, Primarch of the Sons of Horus Space Marine Legion, is corrupted by Chaos and his own ambition and rebels against his father, the Emperor. He successfully recruits half of the Space Marine Legions, large parts of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Imperial Army into the service of Chaos and unleashes a 7-year-long galactic civil war that kills billions. Horus is slain by the Emperor at the conclusion of the Battle of Terra. Mortally wounded himself in the confrontation, the Emperor is interred within the Golden Throne. The present Age of the Imperium begins.

The Age of Apostasy (100-600.M36) - The Imperium is consumed by civil war and apostasy from true faith in the Emperor after the High Lord Goge Vandire seizes control of both the Administratum and the Ecclesiarchy in an attempt to impose his own will upon the Imperium rather than serving the will of the Emperor. He is ultimately brought down by an invasion of Terra known as the Terran Crusade and the Ecclesiarchical Palace led by the Space Marines, the Imperial Guard and his own bodyguards, the Daughters of the Emperor, the predecessors of the Adepta Sororitas. The invasion is spurred on and guided by a militant religious reformer, the priest Sebastian Thor, and his Covenant of Light.

Haarlock's Progress (Ca. 760.M36) - Solomon Haarlock, scion of an infamous and (according to some) damned Rogue Trader lineage, successfully charts the area of space known as the Calyx Expanse in the Segmentum Obscurus and some say stray beyond the Maw as well.

The Koronus Fragments (101.M38) - During the preparations for a proposed Imperial Crusade to bring the volume of space known as the Calyx Expanse into Imperial Compliance, a number of apocryphal documents come to light in the vast data-stacks that house the Segmentum Obscuras naval records on Wykthorne Prime. These documents, which become known as the Koronus Fragments, are the degraded and incomplete logs of an Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator fleet of unknown age and provenance that purports to have discovered a stable passage through a vast swathe of Warp Storms at the edge of the Calyx Expanse. The few complete sections mark dozens of mineral-rich worlds, life-supporting biospheres and other areas for later exploration, which presumably never occurred. Also missing from the fragments was any concrete data on how to reach this zone, rendering them effectively useless. Nevertheless, the Koronus Fragments were added as addendum to the Angevin Crusade data, and later served to breed the legend of a vast untouched spatial zone littered with (oft-overstated) riches just beyond the reach of the numerous Rogue Trader vessels attached to the Crusade efforts.

Angevin Crusade (322-384.M39) - The Angevin Crusade forges the Calixis Sector from the former border region of the Calyx Expanse, with great effusion of blood and the loss of many millions of lives. Several minor xeno-empires are crushed, dark powers cast down and lost human colonies either restored to the Light of the Golden Throne or purged from the stars, according to their measure.

The Cauldron of Savagery Enters the Calixis Sector (589-591.M39) - The Space Hulk designated Cauldron of Savagery appears on the fringes of the Drusus Marches Sub-sector of the Calixis Sector, purportedly exiting the Great Warp Storms on their edge unscathed and marauding through several border systems before seeming to disappear again from whence it came. Imperial Navy warships assigned to shadow and harry the Space Hulk are lost with all hands near the storm border. Later evidence and deduction seems to indicate that its point of origin was the Koronus Expanse.

Abenicus’ Theorem and the Mistaken Age (878.M39) - Studying ancient pre-Angevin Crusade reports, prophetic murmurings culled from dubious texts and the visions granted him by his own fickle gifts, the Mad Navigator Abenicus of House Benetek spreads his theory that there exists a safe passage through the veil of Warp Storms that crowd the edges of the Drusus Marches and form a "natural" border to the Calixis Sector. Despite the Navigator’s evident insanity, his proofs and arguments are convincing and spark something of a "gold rush" of Rogue Traders and other ne’er-do-wells attempting to discover the route to his "safe passage", drawn on by the lure of untold riches and manifest power in the years to come. Many die, few return, and others meet only bloodshed and poverty in exchange for their efforts in what becomes known in local parlance as "The Mistaken Age," but in doing so lay the groundwork for the various Stations of Passage dotting the extreme border of the Drusus Marches extending into the storm zone.

Return of the Cauldron of Savagery (673.M40) - The Cauldron of Savagery returns to blight the Drusus Marches, breaking forth from the Great Warp Storms during a period of unprecedented Ætheric turbulence which disrupts communication and passage within the sub-sector. A loose alliance of Rogue Trader vessels under the leadership of the infamous privateer Esme Chorda and a threadbare contingent of the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Calixis defenders confront the dread wanderer. The Space Hulk is bombarded and successfully driven into the primary star of the Pellucidan System before its nightmarish inhabitants can ravage Pellucida’s worlds. The Pellucian sun is said to be scarred for nearly three decades afterwards, vivid greenish stains burning upon its harsh white surface. The Rogue Trader line of Chorda is gifted freedom of the sub-sector in addition to its usual Warrant of Trade. Although repealed a century later for malfeasance, this benefice cements them as one of the most powerful Rogue Trader Houses operating out of the Calixis Sector.

Founding of Port Wander (917-924.M40) - Port Wander is founded by the Imperial Navy in the Rubycon II System: A large and heavily-armed space station designated Port Wander is built and equipped as a staging ground to investigate the loss of many vessels and other incidents on the fringes of the Drusus Marches over the course of the preceding centuries. Using Port Wander as a base, Battle Group Trajan is assigned to carry out deep patrols beyond the bounds of the sub-sector. Nothing concrete is found and Navy starships are quickly removed to other duties owing to unrest in the sector core, leaving the station for the moment as little more than an oversized watchpost, heavily dependent on Rogue Trader traffic for its survival and protection.

The Discovery of the Maw (997.M40) - Rogue Trader Purity Lathimon succeeds where dozens of other Rogue Traders have failed and perished, discovering and plotting safe passage through what she dubs "the Maw" to the Koronus Expanse beyond. Fated and cursed in equal measure in some quarters, Purity Lathimon’s crew returns largely too insane or troubled in mind to travel the void again, and she barters her knowledge for vast wealth with the other Rogue Traders posed to exploit her discovery. Purity herself is said to have disappeared back within the Imperium after imparting her secrets to those who would follow her. According to some apocryphal stories she is said to have purchased her own paradise world outright and in others to have met a far darker fate.

Disappearance of the Sceptre'd Rose (999.M40) - The Sceptre’d Rose, a Rogue Trader barque under the command of the Lady Juno Dach’man and one of the first vessels to traverse the new route through the Maw, disappears in transit. The voidship enters Koronus lore as perhaps the Expanse’s first ghost ship but is far from its last. The vessel is sighted on scores of occasions in the centuries to follow, both visually and as an "auspex phantom," and is generally regarded as an ill-omened sight at the start of a voyage, and a good omen if sighted upon returning to port.

Calixian Warrants of Trade Granted for Koronus Expanse (055.M41) - The Lord Sector Calixis and his heirs and successors are granted the right, within set guidelines, to issue Warrants of Trade pertaining to the exploration, exploitation and domination of the Koronus Expanse by the writ of the High Lords of Terra. This leads inevitably to a steady rise in the number of Rogue Traders operating within the Expanse in the years to come, kept largely in check by natural attrition, and also serves to further bind the frontier of the Koronus Expanse to the Calixis Sector politically.

Kobras Aquairre enters the Koronus Expanse (101.M41) - Kobras Aquairre passes through the Maw. Aquairre, a terrifying and merciless figure with a well-deserved reputation as a butcher of worlds, holds the nearly-unique position of possessing both a Greater Warrant of Trade as a Rogue Trader and full Inquisitorial rank -- a position of extraordinary power within the Imperium of Man. He will never again return to the Imperium and passes far into the depths of the Expanse at the head of a mighty fleet, tasked with rooting out those who have fled the God-Emperor’s judgment and making war upon the xenos. His reports couriered back to Port Wander go to form the basis of much of what is known by the Imperium about the Koronus Expanse to this day, but it is believed that Aquairre reported far less than what he found to his masters. Even to this day, dead and ravaged worlds marked by his banner are still being rediscovered.

The Gothic War (143-160.M41) - The Gothic War, also called the 12th Black Crusade, was a vast military campaign against the Imperium of Man launched by the Warmaster of Chaos Undivided Abaddon the Despoiler of the Black Legion in 139.M41 which lasted until 160.M41. Abaddon managed the rare feat of uniting the disparate forces of the Ruinous Powers under the banner of Chaos Undivided and led his Chaos Space Marines and the rest of the Forces of Chaos from the Eye of Terror into realspace where they engulfed the strategically important Gothic Sector of the Imperium of Man in war. The conflict consisted of hundreds of planetary invasions and naval battles and only ended when Abaddon was forced to retreat to the Immaterium with the arrival of Imperial reinforcements. It saw the destruction of several planets and four of the six known Blackstone Fortresses, as well as the deaths of billions of Imperial citizens.

First Eldar Raid in the Koronus Expanse (152.M41) - The Rogue Trader fleet of Synbar Lockhart is ambushed by the treacherous Eldar in orbit of the Dead World of Foulstone. The first confirmed contact with the ancient and malign xenos within the Koronus Expanse, the Eldar assailants are later identified as belonging to the Eldar Corsairs faction known as "The Crow Spirits." A dozen human voidships of varying sizes are destroyed in the ambush, and only the Menes Rhea, Synbar’s own Cruiser, escapes intact. The Lockhart fortunes never fully recovered from this blow, and that Rogue Trader line maintains a bitter hatred of the Eldar to this day.

Death of Kobras Aquairre (151.M41) - The death of Kobras Aquairre is proclaimed in Port Wander after more than a decade without a report from his armada, to the rejoicing of some and the lamentation of others. Some claim his ships lost with all hands to a fleet of pale-hulled xenos craft, while others say he was the victim of assassination from within his own ranks. Yet others claim that his fleet was laid to waste by an unexpected Warp Storm, but no facts or proof are presented. In the wake of this news, many other Rogue Traders are drawn through the Maw to seek their fortune.

Disappearance of Lo Pan (161.M41) - The final garbled transmission from Rogue Trader Abner Lo Pan’s Cruiser is picked up faintly by astropathic relay at Port Wander. The transmission, although badly degraded and incoherent speaks of the vessel ensnared within the tightening coils of a great serpent of blood and glass. No sign of Lo Pan or his starship are ever found.

Veronique Renuka Declared Outlaw (179.M41) - Veronique Renuka is declared an outlaw for her involvement in an attempted coup on the Calixian Hive World of Cyclopia. She flees into the region of the Koronus Expanse now referred to as the Unbeholden Reaches with a substantial fortune and a cadre of household troops.

Formation of Winterscale's Realm (188-274.M41) - Sebastian Winterscale, a cunning and able Rogue Trader rumoured to be the unwanted son of the ruling families of the distant Ophidian Sector, is granted a fresh Warrant of Trade and begins to systematically establish and dominate an interstellar realm that bears his name to this day in the Koronus Expanse. Although still only partially explored, by any measure Winterscale’s Realm remains one of the most well-traversed and well-established within the area of the Expanse, and a prize to be envied and perhaps desired as a target for conquest by many.

Elementis Vulpa Returns to Port Wander (201.M41) - Kobras Aquairre vanishes into the Rifts of Hecaton, a fact attested to by the last ship of his fleet, the Frigate Elementis Vulpa, which returns to Port Wander later in this year. This small and already damaged vessel turned back on his order when the remainder of the fleet plunged into the depths of the rifts, with the expectation that they would meet their deaths within. Rumours in Port Wander begin to circulate of dead suns and lifeless darkness in the rifts, and that Aquairre sacrificed himself and his fleet willingly to prevent some terrifying threat they discovered to all human life. The Elementis Vulpa and her crew subsequently disappear, some say into the grip of the Ordo Xenos.

Fenton Kail Claims Discovery of STC Database in the Koronus Expanse (388.M41) - Fenton Kail declares that he has discovered an intact Standard Template Construct database on a dead moon circling twin red stars when he puts into dock at Port Wander, seeking backers and stating his intent to re-equip and hire mercenaries to exploit his find. A few days later, he is assassinated before he can mount his expedition and his "secret" dies with him. His starship, the Malcontent, passes to the hands of his first mate by right of succession and is destroyed a few months later through the seemingly-accidental overloading of its plasma reactors. There are no known survivors of the ship, and Kail’s death ends his direct bloodline. The dead moon supposedly harbouring the STC described by Kail has never been discovered by other hands, although faked copies of "Kail’s Map" regularly appear on sale to the gullible in several ports.

The Macharian Crusade (392-399.M41) - The Macharian Crusade was a monumental, seven-year-long Imperial Crusade fought between 392.M41 and 399.M41, led by Lord Commander Solar Macharius, the Imperium's greatest Imperial Guard commander of all time and a recognised tactical and strategic genius on a par with the Primarchs themselves. This Crusade took place on the far western edge of the galaxy within the Segmentum Pacificus, reaching as far as the border of the galaxy with intergalactic space and even reaching into the unknown regions of the Halo Zone. The furthest extent of this Crusade reached just beyond the edge of the Segementum Pacificus, where not even the blessed light of the Astronomican could penetrate the dark void. Most Imperial savants agree that Macharius was the most successful and brilliant Imperial Warmaster since the Arch-Traitor Horus. Nearly a thousand worlds were brought back into the Imperial fold in only seven standard years of fighting, yet upon his death the newly-won territories erupted into the civil war known as the Macharian Heresy as Macharius' various generals vied for control, fighting over the spoils as degenerate warlords.

The Year of the Dreaming Depths (397.M41) - Quickly entering into whispered myth and legend among the voidfarers of the Koronus Expanse, in this year Warp predations dramatically spike. A disproportionate number of vessels suffer incursions by Warp entities during transit, and many ships -- such as the ancient and justly famous Battleship Duchess Iolanthe, long a cornerstone of the Winterscale fleet -- are lost to the malice of the Warp. Rogue psyker activity on several worlds where there are those with the wit to know it for what it is increases and the entire fledging colony of Comenina on the edge of the Foundling Worlds dies in a single night.

Rogue Trader Parsimus Dewain founds Footfall (410.M41) - Possibly in search of a world on which to build a palace city, former Imperial Guard Colonel turned Rogue Trader Parsimus Dewain passes through the Maw with a small fleet of starships laden with stone, plasteel and iron. Becalmed on the far side of the Maw he orders the construction of "my grand palace in the stars." It is believed that some of his followers who question the sanity of such an order are put to death, sealed alive within the walls of the rapidly expanding void settlement of Footfall.

WAAAGH! Gulgrog Assaults Port Wander (422.M41) - The Ork WAAAGH! Gulgrog erupts from the depths of the Koronus Expanse and smashes through the Maw, laying siege to Port Wander with a fleet composed of hundreds of Kill Kroozers and crude Roks. Many Rogue Traders simply stay out of the massive fleet’s way rather than be crushed by its vast numbers, while others demand exorbitant fees for coming to Port Wander’s aid. The siege is finally lifted with a massive counterattack by Battlefleet Calixis and the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Balastus Irem Assassinated (443.M41) - Balastus Irem and all his family are put to death by a cell of Inquisitors of the Ordos Xenos Calixis. The use of shapechanging murder teams by the Ordo and the horde of xenos artefacts possessed by the Rogue Trader become the stuff of whispered tales between explorers and voidfarers, and former allies and servants of House Irem quickly find sanctuary and new identities in the services of certain other unscrupulous Rogue Traders.

First War for Armageddon (444.M41) - The First War for Armageddon is the least well known of the three wars fought by the Imperium in defence of the Hive World of Armageddon in the Segmentum Solar, and was a titanic clash between the Forces of Chaos and the defenders of the Imperium of Man. It represented the culmination of years of preparation by the former Primarch and Daemon Prince Angron, the favoured Champion of Khorne, to unify his World Eaters after the Battle of Skalathrax had led the XII Legion to break up into scattered warbands. Angron sought to recreate a coherent force of Chaos Space Marines capable of invading deep into the Imperium once more just as they had done during the Horus Heresy. In the end, it was Angron's own foolish belief in his victory before completing a total conquest of the world that led to the failure of the campaign and his banishment to the Warp for one hundred Terran years. The First War for Armageddon represents a textbook example of how the Forces of Chaos can slowly infiltrate an Imperial population to eventually bring about a full-scale invasion from the Warp.

Death of Parsimus Dewain (498.M41) - Parsimus Dewain dies in his bed of natural causes, truly a remarkable feat given the quantity and quality of his enemies. Footfall immediately becomes submerged in a struggle for political and economic control of what has become a wealthy waystation and island of relative stability for Imperial explorers passing into the Koronus Expanse.

The Reign of Blades (499-500.M41) - Footfall comes under the brutal tyranny of Tarn Marvolus; a recidivist who had fled the Calixis Sector. Marvolus rose to be the Liege of Footfall through a campaign of assassination and the use of dark sorcery. Any who questioned the word of the soft-spoken Marvolus was later found sliced into quarters -- one in each of the four most distant points of Footfall. This Reign of Blades lasts for over a standard year, owing mostly to the indifference of passing Rogue Traders, who little care who rules Footfall as long as it serves their needs, and the brutal alliance of criminals, witches and narco-tribesmen that Marvolus commanded. The Reign of Blades is finally ended when Marvolous, grown too bold and arrogant, demands that Rogue Trader Cassilus pay him personal tribute for docking. Cassilus replied that she would “pay a tribute of the kind she only paid to the greatest kings of untamed worlds”: The four quarters of Marvolous’ body were later found in the four farthest points of Footfall.

Increase in Void Kraken Attacks (499-503.M41) - Vessels exploring the fringes of the Hecaton Rifts report sightings and indeed attacks by Void Kraken in alarming numbers.

Space Marines in the Koronus Expanse (517.M41) - Two Adeptus Astartes Strike Cruisers and several Escort ships of unknown Chapter and origin and sporting no heraldry appear over Footfall demanding tribute in supplies and information on pain of planetary assault if their demands are not met. The Liege promptly and wisely acquiesces to their requests and the Space Marines depart again to an unknown destination.

Battle of Embers (520.M41) - The Rogue Traders Aton Marner and Cassius Sult clash over the exploitation of a mineral-rich asteroid belt near Falcon’s Fall Gamma, in what becomes widely known as the Battle of Embers, sparking a blood feud between them that carries on to this day.

Disciples of Thule Enter the Kornus Expanse (528.M41) - An Explorator sub-fleet under Magos Solus Kanceme enters the Koronus Expanse and scatters far and wide, spurning xenos worlds in search of pre-Imperial artefacts sacred to the Omnissiah. Little is known of Kanceme’s final fate, but his fleet’s arrival marks the first major mission of the Mechanicus sub-cult called the Disciples of Thule into the area.

First Recorded Appearance of the Whisper of Anaris (540.M41) - Travelling from the far reaches of Winterscale’s Realm, Rogue Trader Elbor Winterscale reports being stalked by a "ghostly xenos ship with tattered sails." Though unknown to Elbor and his crew, it is believed this is the first recorded appearance of the Eldar phantom ship Whisper of Anaris.

Cara Marner Succeeds to the Marner Lineage (577.M41) - The feud between Rogue Traders Marner and Sult worsens when Aton Marner is killed on the deck of his voidship in battle, following a daring ambush by a warship under Hyperia Sult’s command. This sparks a crisis of succession in the Marner line, which is ultimately resolved when the Marner Warrant of Trade passes to his granddaughter Cara Marner on distant Fenksworld, who is acclaimed Rogue Trader never having set foot aboard a starship before.

Prophecy of Gartrafal (633.M41) - Master Gartrafal, an Astropath noted for his abilities as a prognostic, famously dies in Footfall in a fit of screaming madness, babbling of “dark worms beneath a green-eyed star,” the “sea of molten gold,” and other half-formed and paradoxical terrors. A heavily adulterated transcript of his last words makes the rounds as a penthrift dreadful foretelling doom for the entire Koronus Expanse, and is quickly suppressed by the Imperial authorities on Port Wander, although its distributors remain a mystery. Numerous sources have supposed the “green-eyed star” to be a reference to the blighted world of Concanid in the Unbeholden Reaches.

The Haarlock Purges (703.M41) - Erasmus Haarlock vanishes after systematically butchering all other scions of his line in a brutal purge following a succession war between the heirs of House Haarlock. Ranging from the Calixis Sector to dread Mandragora and beyond, Haarlock’s purge also touches the Koronus Expanse, where he hunts down three of his kinfolk and destroys two other Rogue Traders who dare stand in his way.

The Lost Paradise (711.M41) - In 711.M41, tales begin to circulate, in both Footfall and Port Wander, that deep within Winterscale’s Realm lies a clutch of beautiful worlds hidden for millennia. These worlds are said to all orbit a single bright star and each is said to be an untouched paradise of lush vegetation where the air is sweet and great grazing creatures roam in contented docility. Some tales insist that the water itself is blessed and can rinse away any disease and gems the size of a child’s fist wash down from the rocks of snow-capped mountains. All tales agree that no one has ever found these wondrous worlds and returned.

Midnight's lair Sighted (713.M41) - A previously unseen Space Hulk, designated Midnight’s Lair, is sighted by Explorator voidships surveying the Unbeholden Reaches.

Ember Nostromo begins Her Reign of Terror (717.M41) - Ember Nostromo, Navigator and refugee from the brutal Haarlock Purges, betrays her new master, the outlaw captain Buros Han, and takes command of his vessel, a pre-Angevin Crusade relic named the Monarch of Whispers. Turning pirate and gathering to herself a coterie of Warp-witches and killers from the hated Saynay Clan, the Monarch becomes one of the most hated and hunted ships in the Koronus Expanse, a prize bounty of enormous price placed on her head by the Navis Nobilite for her treacherous perfidy against the Emperor and damage to their good reputation.

Death of Roodmar Urussalin (718.M41) - The Rogue Trader Roodmar Urussalin is reported slain by Orks by the survivors of his fleet’s expedition beyond the Cauldron, but reports of his fleet’s passage stir up Rogue Traders, who flock to the area to do battle with the growing Greenskin menace.

Discovery of the Dolorium Vaults (741.M41) - The Disciples of Thule discover data-vaults from a Space Hulk drifting through the void above the Feral World of Dolorium. The Dolorium Vaults reveal details of the unexplored regions of the Koronus Expanse that begin a rush of voyages into its far reaches. Many Imperial explorers disappear and much of the data proves inaccurate, or to have been rendered so by the passage of time. Whispers circulate that the Disciples of Thule have deliberately corrupted the information. Some go so far as to assert that they have kept some fragments secret from those outside their order.

Damocles Gulf Crusade (742.M41) - The Damocles Gulf Crusade was the first military conflict fought between the Imperium of Man and the rapidly expanding Tau Empire in the Lithesh Sector of the Ultima Segmentum in the galaxy's Eastern Fringes during the late 41st Millennium. The conflict essentially ended in a stalemate, as the Imperium was forced to conclude its military offensive early to deal with the encroaching Tyranid threat while the Tau sought to begin diplomatic negotiations with the Imperium to show humanity the benefits to be had by accepting the Greater Good.

Battle of Agusia (742.M41) - In one of the largest naval battles of recent times in the Koronus Expanse, a combined fleet composed of starships from more than a dozen Rogue Trader houses including Winterscale, Sult, Helfire, Lo Pan, Lockhart and Marner give battle to the archeo-pirates and Renegades of the Amerat Union and their savage allies, the Cabal of the Bloody Libation. The vile pirates are betrayed by one of their own and ambushed in the star system of the Cemetery World of Agusia where the Union’s Heretek Jagerdamen hoped to uncover an artefact of unholy power. Losses are heavy on both sides after a fifteen hour space battle, and reports of a black-iron coloured vessel sporting the livery of House Aquairre assisting the Rogue Trader fleet during the worst fighting are later dismissed by all the surviving captains as “mere fantasy.” The Amerat are wiped out during the battle and their void station-sized mothership breaks up while attempting to flee into the Warp, while their Eldar Corsair allies are likewise badly mauled in the engagement and scatter into the void.

First Tyrannic War Begins (745.M41) - Hive Fleet Behemoth, the first Tyranid Hive Fleet ever encountered by the Imperium of Man, is defeated at the Battle of Macragge by the sacrifice of the Ultramarines Chapter and most of the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Ultima. This represents only the first of the many Tyranid incursions into Imperial space to come.

Discovery of the Processional of the Damned (746.M41) - Following a vision by one of his numerous flock of zealots and holy mystics, the Rogue Trader Wrath Umboldt discovers the Processional of the Damned. From this moment on the pious man believes himself to have passed beyond the grace of the Emperor.

Ravana's Bloody-Handed Cogs Enter the Koronus Expanse (747.M41) - A small but powerful force of Sollexian Adeptus Mechanicus Explorators from Haddrack in the Calixis Sector, having splintered from their fellows on doctrinal grounds, and led by Archmagos Ravana, enter the Koronus Expanse. They quickly prove their willingness to fire on and do battle with Rogue Traders and clash with other Explorators under the direction of Magos Kanceme and anybody else who would stand between them and their goals, but remain uncensored by Cult Mechanicus overlords. This earns them the mocking nickname “Ravana’s Bloody-Handed Cogs” for the crimson and gold Opus Machina graven on the hulls of their vessels, placing them in the popular imagination of the Koronus Voidborn as little more than sanctioned pirates, a reputation which has lasted to the present.

The Ragwitch Mystery (751.M41) - The merchantman Malfian Princess arrives at the void settlement of Footfall in the Koronus Expanse three months overdue and with every soul aboard, some ten thousand crew and passengers, dead -- nothing left of them but dust and brittle bones aged as if millennia had passed and her plasma reactors nearly cold. The word "ragwitch" scraped in the thick dust of the arm of the captain’s chair remains the only clue as to what fate befell the vessel.

The Harvest of Reavers (754-761.M41) - The Rogue Trader Aspyce Chorda begins her campaign against the Chaos pirates of Iniquity in the Koronus Expanse. At first all those captured by her are crudely lobotomized and sent as slave-serfs to Chorda’s various domains. After a series of massacres and the corruption of a number of her holdings the practice is discontinued in favour of immolation of the captured Heretics. Chorda’s campaign ends when debts and oaths to the Calixian banking House Krin draw her back to the void settlement of Footfall to protect their interests.

Start of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade (755.M41) - The Sabbat Worlds Crusade was an Imperial Crusade fought over the course of more than 23 standard years between 755.M41 and 778.M41 to retake the Sabbat Worlds Sector located at the rimward edge of the Segmentum Pacificus from the heretical Forces of Chaos. This Crusade was one of the largest and most significant Imperial military operations undertaken in recent history and ultimately ended in the reconquest of the sector by the armed forces of the Imperium of Man.

The Claimant Wars (785.M41) - A short, destructive conflict erupts between the forces of the Rogue Traders Calligos Winterscale and Aspyce Chorda on Lucin’s Breath. The matter is unexpectedly settled with the signing of the Nephium Compact that divides Lucin’s Breath between Winterscale and Chorda interests.

Stryxis Establish Presence in the God-Emperor's Scourge (789.M41) - The Stryxis, covetous and untrustworthy xenos traders, already known as rarely-encountered wanderers in the Koronus Expanse, establish a permanent (if shifting) presence in the asteroid belts and lifeless systemson the trailing edge of the Warp Storm anomaly called the God-Emperor’s Scourge. Known among Renegades as the "rust palace" the Stryxis that trade there will strike any kind of deal and deal in anything, and only Eldar are unwelcome on pain of death.

Midnight's Lair Assaults the 'Undred-'Undred Teef (789.M41) - The Space Hulk Midnight’s Lair is sighted in battle with Ork raiders near the Greenskin-controlled star systems in the Koronus Expanse known as the ‘Undred, ‘Undred Teef by the blockade runner White Sabre. The Orks appear to be faring worse in the engagement.

Karrad Vall Enters the Koronus Expanse (794.M41) - The barbed vessels of the Chaos Renegade Karrad Vall emerge from the Maw and bombard the void settlement of Footfall. The Renegades are finally driven off by the fleet of the Rogue Trader Calligos Winterscale, but not before their boarding parties and surface raiders capture hundreds of souls. Their fate is to said to provide a libation of blood to the Dark Gods in thanks for safe passage through the Great Warp Storms for the infamous Vall, said to have last plagued the Imperium a millennium before.

The Astral Knives Enter the Koronus Expanse (795.M41) - A congregation of the Astral Knives comes to the void settlement of Footfall in the wake of their persecution by the Inquisition in the Calixis Sector. As well as serving at times as killers for hire, the Astral Knives’ see themselves as true servants of the God-Emperor whose creed is to ritually assassinate those whom omens and the Emperor's Tarot indicate to be corrupt, so as to preserve the God-Emperor’s protection on those who must brave the Warp. Since its coming to Footfall, the cult has quietly flourished, and has gained a shadowy reputation as a faction both dangerous and powerful.

The Loss of the Gaunt triumph (796.M41) - The Grand Cruiser Gaunt Triumph is found drifting around a nameless world in the Unbeholden Reaches of the Koronus Expanse. The few survivors onboard the wreck speak of a vast and pale structure drifting through the void like the carcass of a creature picked clean by eyeless things in the depths of lightless water. They whimper of the glow of the thing’s deathly light and the voices of the dead wailing in your mind like the scratching of talons on the inside of a coffin lid. Some claim to have set foot within the thing, and tell of “echoes that sing” and “silver trees that weep blood.”

Da Wurldbreaka Strikes (800.M41) - A flotilla of Mechanicus Explorator vessels charting the Accursed Demesne are set upon by the dreaded Ork Kaptin Morgaash Kulgraz and his vessel, Da Wurldbreaka. Though much of the ships are destroyed, an unlucky few are scattered amongst the Demense to be hunted by Ork Freebooterz.

Death of Amphian Deed (803.M41) - Covert forces of the Ordo Xenos operating in the Koronus Expanse reveal themselves in force and burn the Rogue Trader Amphian Deed and his coterie for his role in the Halo of Darkness cult. Afterward rumours persist that scions of Deed yet remain unfound, and many who previously believed themselves to have been beyond the Imperium’s reach sleep less soundly than before. Much of Deed’s vast fortune in precious crystals and xenos-tech is thought to have been hidden somewhere in a secret cache near the Unbeholden Reaches, sparking a perilous scavenger hunt in the dangerous stars of the area by many lesser Rogue Traders willing to venture their luck.

Karrad Vall Finds a New Home in the Koronus Expanse (805.M41) - Rumours begin to circulate that the Warp-worshiper Karrad Vall has founded a world somewhere Spinward of the Cauldron devoted to the dark powers he serves, and that he is willing to pay in savage arms and occult lore for any that will bring him a bounty in human lives to build his new kingdom of slaughter. Many pious Rogue Traders swear to discover this nameless world and burn it to cinders, while Vall becomes the chosen target of sermons by Ecclesiarchy Preachers throughout the Koronus Expanse.

Tanthus Moross Becomes Liege of Footfall (808.M41) - Tanthus Moross succeeds to the throne of the Liege of the void settlement of Footfall in the Koronus Expanse by right of murder, and quickly proves a highly effective and diligently ruthless leader to wide public acclaim.

Murder of Justinian Krin (808.M41) - Justinian Krin, leader of a powerful merchant’s factor of the Calixian banking House Krin operating out of Port Wander in the Koronus Expanse and a man with many enemies, is brutally and publicly slain by what onlookers describe as a “shining phantom” while attending a grand feast, his body swiftly dissolving to toxic slime after the attack. House Krin offers a standing reward of a great sum in Thrones or a fully outfitted Warp-capable Frigate to the party who can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt who is responsible for the attack.

Reef Stars Crusade Begins (811.M41)

Rak'Gol Marauders Appear in the Koronus Expanse (811.M41) - The merchant brig Daughter of Regals and her Escorts are lost with all hands to the xenos known as the Rak’Gol Marauders running between Port Wander and Lucien’s Breath. The alien race, known only in scattered reports over the previous decade, are seen by some as a growing threat to human domination of the Koronus Expanse. This attack, the latest in a string of escalating incidents, prompts large bounties to be posted on their vessels and knowledge of their origin by the rulers of Lucin’s Breath, fronting a cabal of other "interested parties" who would see the hostile species exterminated from the stars.

The Strangling (813.M41) - The Great Warp Storms on the edge of the Calixis Sector swell and the Maw snaps shut for the first time in centuries. No starships can pass into the Koronus Expanse from the Calixis Sector and the void settlement of Footfall in particular finds itself starved of the wealth and vital supplies that come with the voidships of passing explorers. Hardship and starvation grip Footfall more strongly with every passing day. Those that are able flee the slowly dying settlement and those that remain turn on one another in bloody civil war, and many old alliances are shattered and new vendettas birthed. Footfall is saved by a sudden easing of the Warp Storms near the turning of the year that allow spacecraft to pass through the Maw once more, but the world’s population has been reduced by a full quarter in the intervening time.

Sighting of the Rift Hydra (815.M41) - The Rogue Trader Relza Calzus claims to have sighted the Rift Hydra in the void of the Rune System. Few believe his claims, and instead remark that the Beggar Captain has never so much as ventured beyond the void around Footfall.

Midnight's Lair Sighted Near the Heathen Stars (816.M41) - The Space Hulk Midnight’s Lair is sighted in the vicinity of the Heathen Stars. Several vessels also soon disappear in the area, and astropathic communication near the Heathen Stars becomes almost impossible.

An Age of Opportunity (816.M41) - A new generation of Rogue Traders and their retinues of explorers begins to move into the Koronus Expanse. They enter the little-known region in search of new opportunities for wealth, commerce and Imperial colonisation. Little do they know of the hidden dangers that lie within the Expanse, and the threat they present to the Calixis Sector and the broader Imperium of Man...