Mankind before the Imperium accomplished a myriad of technological advancements. All that came crashing down with the Age of Strife.
With the fall of humanity’s technology, came many years of war starvation and suffering. Let’s see what caused these hard times for the Imperium of man.
Via: Lexicanum
There were multiple factors that led to the end of the Age of Technology and the beginning of the Age of Strife: the first was the sudden appearance of psykers on every human world. This was compounded by massive and persistent Warp storms erupting around the Sol System and other parts of the galaxy. In addition, records report that a great war with the machines began, with humanity battling vast robotic armies.
Psykers had first appeared within humanity towards the end of the Age of the Technology. While persecuted as witches on many planets, on the most enlightened and progressive worlds, they were at first accepted and allowed to explore and develop their powers. As it happened, uncontrolled psykers proved to be a dangerous threat to humanity, and many worlds fell under hellish dominance, as the minds of these psykers became the gateways through which Warp entities were able to enter the material universe. Only worlds which had rigorously suppressed psykers survived this fate.
The Age of Technology ended catastrophically, as widespread insanity, daemonic possession, and inter-human war suddenly took hold throughout the human worlds. With the emergence of Warp storms through most of the galaxy, travel through the Warp became more and more dangerous until all but impossible, isolating many planets. Several worlds, particularly Terra, dependent on the export of other worlds to feed their enormous populations, suffered massive famine. Several alien races such as Orks, sensing mankind’s weakness, raided and devastated many human-colonised worlds. Mankind battled itself, daemons, and aliens.
Over the long period of isolation new species of humans began to evolve, adapting to suit their new environment, becoming the Abhuman races: the Ratlings (adaptation on bountiful worlds), the Ogryns (harsh, cold, and barren worlds), and the Squats (the barren high-gravity worlds towards the galactic core). The Age of Strife was a time of anarchy, destruction, and regression, lasting thousands of years. Mankind’s successes in the Age of Technology were lost, and many human worlds regressed to the level of barbarity.
However some isolated pockets of human civilization managed to survive and even thrive; mainly those worlds and star systems which were, or became, completely self-sufficient in all vital aspects. Sub-light travel was still possible, and some star systems had several colonies to trade and to share resources. Warp jumps could be made on occasion, as the storms waxed and waned. Some few fortunate star systems were even quite close to each other and tiny “pocket empires” were formed. A known “pocket empire” is the domain of the Interex. Another is the Squat homeworlds.
