40K小說標準序

Yet even in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. Vast armies give battle in His name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless Planetary Defense Forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants - and worse.

To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.

時間到了第41千年。帝皇已經僵坐在地球的黃金王座上超過一百個世紀。他是人類之主，有著神祇的意志，依憑他無盡的強大軍隊主宰一百萬個世界。他依靠黑暗科技年代維持的腐朽殘軀僅能做出微不可查的移動。他是帝國的腐屍之主，千條靈魂被日日獻祭，好讓他的不死狀態能夠延續。

然而即使在他那非生非死的狀態下，帝皇依然無所懈怠。強大的艦隊穿梭在惡魔孳生的亞空間中，這是唯一能跨越遙遠群星間距離的方式，他們的航路被星炬所照亮，那是帝皇意志的靈能具現。龐大的軍隊以祂的名義爭戰四方。在他麾下士兵中最強大的便是阿斯塔特修會，也就是星際戰士，他們是生化強化的超級戰士。他們的盟友數以軍計：帝國衛隊和無數的行星防衛軍，還有永遠警惕的審判官和來自機械廷的科技牧師。但儘管他們如此眾多，他們卻僅僅能夠抵擋住那些來自異族、異端和變種人──甚至更糟──的永恆威脅。

生活在這個時代，意味著成為茫茫眾生中的一份子。意味著生活在想像得到的最殘酷且最血腥的政權之下。這些故事就發生在這個時代之中。忘了科技和科學的力量吧，因為太多已經被遺忘，而且永不會再被習得。忘了對進步和相互理解的承諾吧，因為在遙遠晦暗的未來中只有戰爭。群星之間永無和平，只剩永恆的衝突與屠殺，還有飢渴邪神的肆意狂笑。