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|<small>[[Age of Terra]] - [[Dark Age of Technology]] - [[Age of Strife]] - '''Great Crusade''' - [[Age of the Imperium]]</small>
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[[Image:EmperorAstartes.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The Emperor with his [[Space Marine]]s{{Fn|32}}]]'''The Great Crusade''' (beginning c. [[M30]] and continuing for around two hundred years{{Fn|21}}) was a brief age of rebuilding and reunification following the complete regression of mankind during the [[Age of Strife]]. It was a time when the [[Emperor]] still lived in the conventional sense and led his race in person.
==The Early Crusade==
The subsiding of the warp storms plaguing much of the galaxy coincided with the end of the Age of Strife. With warp travel feasible again, the Emperor was able to begin the Great Crusade which would create the Imperium.
Even before the warp storms and the Age of Strife had ended, the Emperor had begun to make plans for the Great Crusade. These plans included the creation of a far more advanced form of power armour required for the conditions of deep space and alien worlds{{Fn|21}}.
After securing [[Luna]] and then [[Mars]], he began a great building project, reconstructing the industries and production facilities he would need to construct and maintain a great space fleet, sufficient to carry his legions all the way to the edges of the galaxy. Mars, due to its advanced technology and manufacturing infrastructure, became the center of this development, producing, along with ships, the arms and armor his warriors would be equipped with{{Fn|21}}. [[Saturn]], [[Neptune]], and [[Jupiter]] fell to the Emperor next, its inhabitants liberated from cruel alien overlords. Finally, the Imperial War Fleet broke out of the [[Sol System]] system after completely annihilating the "false world" of [[Sedna]].{{Fn|8a7a}}
==The Crusade begins==
[[Image:EmperorwLegions.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Emperor and his Space Marines]]
His fleet constructed, he forged out into the depths of space, seeking out his Primarchs and spreading the name of the Emperor. Throughout the following millennium, he gradually reclaimed his Primarchs, and slowly united humanity under the [[Pax Imperialis]]. World after world fell to the Emperor's forces, at first the [[Legio Astartes]] but also later the [[Imperial Army]], [[Collegia Titanica]], and others. Tyrants and false-rulers of thousands of worlds were overthrown by Imperial forces, who quickly outlawed religion and dogma by decree of the Emperor himself. [[Ork]]s, [[Eldar]], [[Hrud]], [[Slaugth]], hideous [[Warp]] entities, and many other lesser alien races were all defeated and driven back in a seemingly unstoppable tide of conquest. Worlds whose human population had become too corrupted or mutated were simply exterminated from orbit.{{Fn|8a7a}}
As each Primarch was discovered, he was given control of his own Legion of Space Marines. As more of the Empire was carved, the Emperor's forces were spread more and more thinly. Eventually the need for Space Marines was greater than the supply. As such, Accelerated Gene Culturing was necessary to provide sufficient legions. Unfortunately, this process was unstable and led to flaws in the gene seed of the legions. This would lead to such afflictions as the [[Black Rage]] and various mutations in the [[Space Wolf]] gene seed.
===Noteworthy Battles & Campaigns of the Great Crusade===
*{{Main|Battles of the Great Crusade (List)}}
*[[First Pacification of Luna]] - The first major battle of the Great Crusade{{Fn|8b7b}}*[[Keylek|The Battle of Keylek]] - The [[Keylek]] alien race are extermination by the [[Luna Wolves]] under [[Horus]].{{Fn|65}}*[[Battle of Sixty-Three Nineteen]] - [[Horus]] brings the world of [[Sixty-Three-Nineteen]] into the Imperial fold and defeats the False Emperor.{{Fn|65}}*[[Battle of Gyros-Thravian]] - The [[Emperor]], [[Rogal Dorn]], [[Mortarion]], and [[Horus]] defeat one of the most powerful [[Ork]] [[Warboss|Warbosses]] in recorded history, [[Gharkul Blackfang]].{{Fn|43}}
*[[Conquest of Galaspar]] - The [[Death Guard]] conquers the world of [[Galaspar]].
*[[Cleansing of Laeran]] - The [[Emperor's Children]] annihilate the [[Laer]].{{Fn|76}}
*[[Golgothan Slaughter]] - The [[World Eaters]] battle the [[Brotherhood of Ruin]] and [[Orks]] on [[Sarum]]
*[[Ullanor Crusade]] - [[Horus]] defeats the empire of [[Ork]] [[Warboss]] [[Urrlak Urruk]].{{Fn|65}}*[[Battle of 47-16]] - The [[Word Bearers]] sack the world of [[47-16]].{{Fn|54}}*[[Interex|Interex Conflict]] - [[Horus]] invades the advanced [[human]] civilization [[Interex]].{{Fn|65}}
==The End of the Crusade==
==Sources==
*{{Endn|1}}: [[Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition Rulebook]], pg. 102*{{Endn|2}}: [[Warhammer 40,000: Compilation]], pg. 20*{{Endn|32}}: [[Warhammer 40,000 6th Edition Rulebook]], pg. 166*{{Endn|43}}: [[Collected Visions|Horus Heresy Collected Visions]], pg. 143*{{Endn|54}}: [[The First Heretic (Novel)]] by [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]], Chapters Seven & Eight*{{Endn|65}}: [[Horus Rising (Novel)]] by [[Dan Abnett]], Part One, Chapter Nine, pgs. 172-73*{{Endn|76}}: [[Fulgrim (Novel)]] by [[Graham McNeill]], {{Cite This}}*{{Endn|87}}: [[The Horus Heresy Book One - Betrayal]]**{{Endn|8a7a}}: pgs. 18-22**{{Endn|8b7b}}: pg. 80===Uncited==={{Uncited}}*[[Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition Rulebook]], pg. 102
[[Category:Events]]
