Empyran Pantheon

"When I am finished, the entire galaxy shall bow before their true God!"

- The God-King of the Empyran Pantheon.

The Empyran Pantheon is a Human Empire located within the Veiled Region, which managed to survie the events of the Great Crusade and is now spreading outwards from the Epyran Sector. Having only recently emerged into the galaxy at large, and has proved itself to be a threat. Governed by a brutal religious dictatorship, and ruled by the self-styled "God-King" of Empyran and his Immortals, the Pantheon is dead set on becoming a galactic power, and will walk over mountains of corpses to become such.

Birth of a God
It was during the Dark Age of Technology when a group of scientist set out from Old Earth, entering the area of space now known as the Veiled Region. Why exactly they traveled their was unknown, but their purpose was one of grand intentions. Simply put, they aspired to create a perfect human being. Landing on the planet known now as Empyran, the scientists set up shop, building a laboratory. It was their that they conducted their experiments on the human genome. But, their experiments always ended up in the same way; failure. However, the scientists never gave up on their hipe, and for decades they continued their experiments. Eventually, the scientists created their own civilization of humans, forever awaiting they coming of "Deliverance Day", when their leaders, the ancestors of the scientists that first landed on Empyran, would finally create a God to lead them into a golden age.

Then, the warp storms hit, cutting off Empyran from the rest of the Galaxy, and yet still the scientists toiled. It was the nature of the warp storms that they found to be key to their success, for by studying the warp, and it's ability to create and destroy matter almost instantly, that seemingly solved their problem. A child, a single perfect child, was birthed from their research. The people of Empyran rejoiced, for Deliverance Day was upon them, and their God had been born. Little did they know, they had not created a God, they had created a monster.

Rise of the God-King
The child grew quickly, reaching full maturity in just a decade. But, what the Empyran people did not realize, is that their God planned to enslave them all. Their miracle child, birthed from the hubris of men and the corrupt nature of the Warp, may have been perfect of body but not of mind. Having been raised with the full knowledge of his superiority, the God-Child did not see loyal subjects in the people of Empyran, but bleating sheep that he would be all to happy to throw to the wolves. He saw himself as a God, he he would rule as such. One night, the God-Child sought out the leaders of Empyran, and slaughtered them. Addressing the Empyran People, the God-Child, now the self-proclaimed God-King, told them of his dream of conquest, how the Empyran People would become masters of the Galaxy, and he their God. The people eagerly conformed to his new regime, for they truely believed him to be divine, and so their conquest began.

Usesing the gene-crafting technology of the first scientists who created him, the God-King made armies of cloned soldiers, vat-bred monsters, and gene-crafted beast of war, creating the first Empyran Army. They attacked all other planets within their reach, slaughering all, both human and xenos, that would not convert to the worship of and pldge their obidiance to their beloved God-King. Soon, the God-King controlled his entire Sector, but he wanted more. He cast his gaze to the planets bordering the Veiled Region, and they fell as well. It seemed nothing could stand before him.

The Great Crusade
It was during all this time when the Emperor had launched his Great Crusade throughout the galaxy, and so it was that the God-King's expansion came to a halt. It was the Imperial Fists Space Marine Legion, led by their Primarch Rogal Dorn, that stemed the tide of Empyran. Their armies, as vast as they were, could not stand against the might of the Space Marines, and thus their expansion ground to a screeching halt. The God-King sent his inummerable armies against the Space Marines, but they simply rebounded off the impenitrable defense of the Imperial Fists. Likewise, the Imprail Fists had to wade through the sheer numbers of the God-King's vat-bred soldiers, slowing their advance considerably, and thus the war lasted decades. During this time Rogal Dorn actually fought the God-King, and while Dorn emerged victorious, the God-King didn't die, although he was severely wounded. In order to heal, he placed himself inside stasis pod, to be awoken when he had fully healed.

Without his guidence, the forces of Empyran crumbled before the Imperial Fists. They were saved only when Dorn was recalled to Terra, halting the Space Marines advance. Thinking the God-King to be dead, the Imperial Fists left the Veiled Regions, and so Empyran crumbled into diseray. With no guiding hand, they split inot warring factions, each one fighting for control of the planet. Meanwhile, the God-King slept, waiting for his wounds to heal fully.

Awakening
When the God-King finally emerged form stasis, it was chaos. His once perfect empire had been reduced to little more than thousands of warring factions. A once sector-spanning empire reduced to this? it was pathetic, and the God-King would not let it stand. Approaching the first warband, the God-King personally lew it's warlord and took control. From their the God-King used his knowlage of gene-craft to augment the warriors under his command, making them stronger, faster, and more powerful. Soon, he had amassed an army of followers, loyal to his every whim.

Soon, whispers echoed throughout the sector; the God-King of legend had returned! Armies bowed before him, warlords pledged their alligence to him, and very soon the Empyran Sector was under his control once again. In order to solidify his rule, the God-King chose six warlords, each of them chsoen for their strength, skill, and loyalty to him, and augmented them into beings akin to himself. The became his Immortals, tthe exarchs of the God-King, to serve and fight in his name. In honor of their acension, the God-king named his new empire the Empyran Pantheon, and since then the Pantheon has looked to the rest of the galaxy, hoping to one day conquer all that breathes in the name of the God-King.