Astynar Civil War

The only surviving record of this conflict is whatever is passed on through oral tradition, or transcribed upon the walls of the great pyramids of the people ofAstynar III . Despite this event playing a massive part in their history, their knowledge of the event is incomplete, and colored through lenses of the myriad interpretations of their inscriptions that are often as much text as they are symbolic. 

The Awakening

The Mohani agree that the root of the war starts during an event they refer to as the Awakening. From this moment onwards, they believe their minds were forever opened to the Beyond; granting them powers beyond the material realm. Imperial scholars deduce that this event coincides with the first appearance of human psykers across the galaxy, something that is believed to be one of the myriad causes of the Age of Strife. Their society reacted violently to these first outbursts of psionic potential, for they had not yet learned to control their powers. However, according to the Mohani it was not these first psykers that posed the greatest danger and nearly meant the end of their civilization. To them it was those unawakened, the unbelievers, who so desperately tried to snuff out any trace of psionic potential, that they drew the attention of the Bloodfather who proved to almost be their downfall.

The Blood Tithe

  The Awakening drew the attention of beings from the Beyond. The Mohani believe that every human soul has a fragment of psychic potential hidden within them. The Awakened's souls burn brighter than most, but they are aware of the Beyond as much as the Beyond is aware of them. The unawakened, however posed a grave threat as they can be victims of the predations of the Beyond without even being aware of it. It is through the lens of this belief that they think what actually drew the Bloodfather to them, was not their awakened people, but those whose hearts turned upon their fellow Awakened men.    Slowly but surely the Bloodfasther dug his claws into the people of Astynar. Executions of dangerous Awakened were twisted into rituals of bloodletting and beheading to please their newfound deity, whom in turn bestowed them with ever greater boons so that may please him even more. As time went on, the Unawakened became less and less picky about their sacrifices. Superstition ruled over reason. Blood was spilled of everyone suspected of vile sorcery, whether they actually showed signs or not.   As the Awakening lost momentum, with so many souls cut down in terror, the Bloodfather directed the Unawakened to the stars. More worlds were tainted. More worlds were in need of judgement.

The Machine Intervention

  For a time the machines stood silent as they watched their masters butcher each other in the name of conflicting ideologies. When the first void cities returned with their newfound tithe, they felt the corruption in their fellow AI. They could stand by no longer. Conflicting protocols clashed, mixed in with strange new datastreams emitted by those machines that aided in the Unawakened's quest for blood and skulls. They rebelled against their former masters, against their very nature, against each other. Construction drones became weapons of mass destruction, defense turrets laid low those they once kept safe. Overnight, entire cities were wiped from the face of the planet. Voidships in orbit turned their guns upon the surface, as well as upon each other. Legend tells of one of the voidships who destroyed its geller field emitters before jumping into the warp, consigning both itself, as their passengers to eternal torment. Another has its engines blown out in orbit of Astynar II, and in impotent rage it unleashed its full destructive potential upon the planet as its orbit slowly decayed.   

The Conclusion

History was penned down by the victor, though details of this time are hazy and many of the murals depicting stories of the war have only partially survived into current times. What is certain, however, is that the Mohani claim to have thrown off the shackles of the Bloodfather. They say that with His servants distracted with the machines, it gave the Awakened time to regroup and achieve control over their powers. In the end, the machines could not fight what they did not understand, and the Bloodfather's influenced waned as the Awakened learned the secrets to strengthening the veil between worlds.