We don't have a Fiction post here at RAFO, so this couldn't go there. Perhaps we'll get one at some point.

It's not very long, but perhaps some will enjoy. As it's FanFic, some knowledge of the Warhammer 40,000 universe will be helpful. Here are some of the basics to fill you in...

"For ten-thousand years the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is master of mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls die every day. For whom blood is drunk and flesh eaten, human blood and human flesh, the stuff of which the Imperium is made.

Forget the power of science and technology, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned.

Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for myth and superstition have replaced knowledge and reason.

And forget the promise of peace, for there is none to be found amongst the cold stars. Only an eternity of carnage and slaughter and the laughter of thirsting Gods..."

Humanity is at war, and has been for thousands of years. Many of the wars are against aliens, others are civil wars - putting down rebellions and heresy and the like.

The Imperium, the human government, was once ruled by a man known only as the Emperor. He was an incredibly powerful psychic and when he was finally 'slain' they preserved his life, if it can be called that, in a gigantic device called 'The Golden Throne' in his palace on Terra. Psychics (see below) who cannot be trained to be safe are drained of life to preserve the Emperor's life force at a rate of a thousand a day. It is not a good way to die. The Emperor has not spoken in millennia and a council rules for him, but he is, in many ways, still the heart of the Imperium and most worship him as a god.

Humanity is evolving, rather quickly, into a race of psychics. Being a psychic is very dangerous. They are powerful, but many are mad and many more are ripe for possession by otherworldly entities, recruitment by those who follow evil powers or worse. Most are killed. A few, those considered strong enough to survive, are 'soul bound' to the Emperor himself (or what's left of him). A very very few are found to be worth to serve without soul binding. These can rise very high in the halls of power, if they are strong enough and if they survive.

So, with that as background for those not in the know, here you go...

Comments welcome of course.