Human history, year 7574 CE.
In their war against the Eldrazi, which had raged on for millennia, the Tyranids had discovered the existence of psionic energy and the Warp.
Yet, lacking true emotion, they struggled to apply these forces effectively.
Thus, the Hive Mind adopted a compromise:
If it could not wield psionics well, then no one else should either.
It dispersed fragments of its colossal will throughout the swarm, embedding special organs into its creatures.
When gathered together, Tyranids functioned like amplifiers of varying strength, magnifying the Hive Mind's scattered will.
This not only enhanced its control over the swarm but also generated a peculiar barrier — one that blocked the Warp itself, as well as most psionic activity, within a given range.
To avoid interfering with their own psykers, Tyranid bioforms were adjusted to remain unaffected.
Because this phenomenon manifested as a vast dark region within the Warp, it came to be known as the Shadow in the Warp.
Its emergence caused immense difficulties for the Eldrazi.
As entities fundamentally tied to the Warp, they found the Shadow suffocating — like fish denied water.
To counter it, the Eldrazi evolved specialized organs, shielding themselves from Tyranid disruption while projecting reverse interference to weaken the Hive Mind's control.
Put simply, both sides waged an endless information war:
one day the Tyranids jammed the Eldrazi, the next day the Eldrazi jammed the Tyranids.
Each cycle forced new adaptations in disruption and countermeasures.
Beyond this, their evolutions followed the familiar pattern: faster, stronger, more numerous.
Under constant pressure, both sides had grown so advanced that they could utterly annihilate their counterparts from millennia past — a single combatant now capable of overwhelming several of its predecessors with ease.
Slaughter, plunder, evolution.
This was the relentless rhythm of their existence.
Their war expanded like a widening vortex, no longer confined to single star systems but raging across many at once.
Every passing second, billions of lives were extinguished.
Countless civilizations and worlds were consumed and erased.
Orsaga was thoroughly pleased.
To him, the endless clash between Tyranids and Eldrazi was nothing more than mutual tempering.
For those caught in the crossfire, it was unmitigated catastrophe.
But whether tragedy or evolution, it all flowed into Orsaga as power.
The suffering, the adaptation, the progress born of hardship — all were concepts under his dominion, providing him with a ceaseless tide of strength.
Thus, even setting aside the Abyssal Demon's inherent lust for slaughter, he found their eternal conflict a source of joy.
He had no intention of tipping the scales in the Eldrazi's favor.
At most, he might occasionally resurrect a few fallen Eldrazi.
But beyond that, he preferred not to interfere.
---
Year 7985 CE.
The Solar System.
Human civilization had long since reached a technological plateau.
By then, humanity had colonized forty-seven habitable worlds, and the population exceeded a trillion.
Yet because distances between colonies varied greatly, travel to certain planets still required weeks aboard starships. As a result, cultural differences grew more pronounced, and even the once-unified language threatened to fragment again.
Some ancient customs showed signs of revival.
On certain worlds, governors began styling themselves as kings or supreme rulers.
After thousands of years, the Human Federation began to fracture.
The situation resembled the old age of sovereign nations.
The Federal Assembly gradually devolved into something akin to the United Nations of Earth's past: dominated by powerful planetary governors who manipulated decisions at will.
Among the elite, politics turned into a vicious struggle for power and resources.
Among the common folk, life dulled into stagnation.
Two major factors underpinned this decline:
1. Technological stagnation — humanity had failed to break free of the Solar System.
2. Extended lifespans — the ruling classes entrenched themselves, and ordinary people lost both ambition and opportunity.
The results were toxic.
Ambition? Pointless. No matter how hard one worked, upward mobility was blocked.
Work? Obligatory, assigned by the system, and rarely demanding.
Food and shelter? Guaranteed by mechanized supply chains.
With twenty of every twenty-four hours left idle, what remained to occupy people's lives?
Many sank into virtual worlds and pleasure-seeking, while society as a whole began to rot — both at the top and the bottom.
On a vast orbital station beyond the sun, Golariel gazed through a transparent viewport at the burning star. She shut off her wrist-console, which had been streaming the news, and sighed:
"It seems war isn't far away. And it's only been a few thousand years of peace…"
Hands clasped behind his back, Orsaga watched the endless streams of shuttles and starships passing like traffic in a 21st-century city. He chuckled lightly:
"This is the natural course of things. Greed and profit never teach restraint. Even if this war ends and peace returns, that peace will only be preparation for the next war. When society is tranquil, some grow restless. When chaos reigns, others yearn for peace."
"Too much comfort breeds a hunger for danger; too many beatings breed a longing for calm. What is rare is not what is abundant, but what is lacking. The cycle repeats endlessly. The details may change, but the roots of the mistake remain the same."
Hearing these truths, Golariel sighed softly and murmured to herself:
"I wonder how long it will take them to recover after this one…"
Orsaga dismissed it casually:
"Perhaps decades, perhaps centuries… The future is endless — who can say?"
Three months later, humanity's Fourth Great Civil War erupted in full.
The hedonistic masses only then realized how dire things had become.
The long-suppressed tensions across all levels of society exploded in the flames of war.
With weapons now more advanced — and designed primarily to kill one's own kind — this civil war proved far bloodier than the three that came before.
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T/N:
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