In the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop wargame, the Eye of Terror has two meanings. In the fictional universe of the 41st millennium, it is a massive rift where Warp space and realspace combine. Eye of Terror also refers to the massive worldwide campaign run by Games Workshop in 2003. This article is about the tabletop miniature wargame and the fictional universe in which it is set. ... A fictional universe is an imaginary world that serves as the setting or backdrop for one or (more commonly) multiple works of fiction or translatable non-fiction. ... Games Workshop Group PLC (often abbreviated to GW) is a British game production and retailing company. ...

Fictional perspective

Ten thousand years before the rise of the Imperium of Man, the ancient race known as the Eldar fell into decline, caused partially by an increase in the exercising of primal urges and carnal desires. The emotion generated by these excesses was channelled into the psychically charged medium that is the Immaterium (better known as The Warp), slowly forming into a new power. Gaining strength from the debased actions of the Eldar, the power eventually gave birth to the entity known as the Chaos god Slaanesh, whose birth cries drew the souls of billions of Eldar into the Warp, devastating the once proud race and bringing into being the warpspace/realspace interface that came to be known as the Eye of Terror. The Imperium of Man is a fictional galactic empire that contains the vast majority of humanity in the forty-first millennium, set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe created by Games Workshop. ... Eldar 4th edition codex In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Eldar are a race of elf-like humanoids. ... The Immaterium (also referred to as the Empyrean or Warp) is an alternate dimension in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. ... In Games Workshops Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy fictional universes, Chaos refers to the often malevolent entities which live in some sort of parallel universe, known as the Warp in Warhammer 40,000 and as the Realm of Chaos in Warhammer Fantasy. ... In the fictional universes of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy, Slaanesh is one of the four major Chaos gods. ...

The region of space contained within the Eye of Terror is literally a living hell, home to the darkest evils of the galaxy. The Eye stains the night skies of many worlds with a smear the colour of infected blood; able to be seen from every world within ten thousand light years. Deadly warp storms surround the Eye, making interstellar travel practically impossible. A light-year or lightyear (symbol: ly) is a unit of measurement of length, specifically the distance light travels in vacuum in one year. ...

Within the Eye, the laws of reality no longer apply; time flows at erratic rates, and matter and energy are indistinct. Horrible daemons fly through space along Warp currents, terrorizing any creature unfortunate enough to end up inside.

Most of the Traitor Legions fled into the Eye of Terror at the conclusion of the Horus Heresy, and use the Eye as a base of operations, striking out at opportune, seemingly random moments. The close proximity to Chaos causes horrific, painful mutations in the manner befitting whichever Chaos god the Traitor Marines consider their patron. However, this proximity also makes the Traitor Legionnaires astonishingly long-lived compared even to Imperial Space Marines, with lifespans lasting into the tens of thousands of years. Each legion has a homeworld somewhere within the Eye; hellish mockeries of their original worlds. Miniature of a Chaos Chosen in Terminator Armour In the table-top wargame Warhammer 40,000, the Chaos Space Marines are Space Marines who serve the Chaos Gods. ... In the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Horus Heresy was a galaxy-spanning civil war that marked the end of the Great Crusade. It is also the title of a novel series published by the Black Library, a collectible card game produced by Sabertooth Games and an out of...

The Imperial world of Cadia lies nearest to the best-known stable gateway between realspace and the Eye. This world, and the surrounding systems, are all dedicated to the military, for these worlds are the first line of defence against the attacks of Chaos. Many believe that the stable route leading to Cadia is caused by an immense network of pylons on the surface of the planet. A widely-held belief is that these pylons are a Necron construction: The Necrons have constructed similar networks on the Sentinel Worlds and on Medusa V, and fought vicious battles to protect them and their ultimate purpose. Cadia is a planet within the Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe. ... It has been suggested that Necron Monolith be merged into this article or section. ... Medusa V is a fictional world in the Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe. ...

Warhammer Fantasy

In earlier editions of both Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy, it was believed that the planet on which the Warhammer Fantasy world existed lay within the Imperium's borders, but surrounded by impenetrable Warp storms. In later editions of both games this was dropped and revised out of all editions of the background material. Aspects of it are still considered staple Warhammer lore by some in the fan community. Warhammer or Warhammer Fantasy is a fantasy setting created by Games Workshop, in which many games of that company are set, the best known ones being the Warhammer Fantasy Battles wargame, and the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay role-playing game. ...

In the background book The Liber Chaotica (Von Staufer and Williams, 2005) the author's fictive narrator travels "between worlds". Among his visions is a "place of sorcerers" and a champion of Tzeentch that is a red-skinned cyclops and has given birth to a thousand sons. This refers to Magnus the Red, daemon Primarch of the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marines. Other references are made to the Traitor Marines, the Black Crusades, the Daemon Primarch Mortarion, Lucius the Eternal, the Birth of Slaanesh, and the Fall of the Eldar. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Thousand Sons. ... It is proposed that this article be deleted, because of the following concern: There are no third party sources. ... The Thousand Sons is one of the legions of Chaos Space Marines in the game Warhammer 40,000. ... Mortarion is a fictional character from the Warhammer 40,000 universe. ... Lucius the Eternal In the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe, Lucius the Eternal is the champion of the Chaos god Slaanesh. ... In the fictional universes of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy, Slaanesh is one of the four major Chaos gods. ... Eldar 4th edition codex In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Eldar are a race of elf-like humanoids. ...

The Worldwide Campaign

The fictional Eye of Terror was used by Games Workshop as the setting for their 2003 worldwide Warhammer 40,000 campaign. The campaign itself represented Abaddon the Despoiler's Thirteenth Black Crusade against the Imperium, primarily the attempt by the united forces of Chaos to break through the Cadian Gate. Abaddon the Despoiler In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000 and Battlefleet Gothic, Abaddon the Despoiler is Warmaster of Chaos, captain of the Black Legion and is rumoured to be the clone-progeny of Warmaster Horus and at one time, his most favoured son. ...

The playable armies were divided into two factions, Order and Disorder:

Order - Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Eldar, Tau and their Kroot Mercenaries, Daemonhunters and Witch Hunters.

Disorder - Chaos Space Marines, Necrons, The Orks, Dark Eldar and Tyranids.

A Campaign Codex was released by Games Workshop, containing background information on the Eye of Terror and the events leading up to the Thirteenth Black Crusade. Four new supplemental army lists were presented; the Space Wolves Thirteenth Company, the Cadian Shock Troops, The Lost and the Damned, and the Ulthwé Strike Force. The Codex also marked the first appearance of Ursarkar E. Creed as a playable special character. The current Space Marine sourcebook (codex) cover The Space Marines are one of the major forces available in the table-top wargame Warhammer 40,000. ... The current Imperial Guard sourcebook. ... Eldar 4th edition codex In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Eldar are a race of elf-like humanoids. ... The Cover of the current Tau sourcebook, Codex: Tau Empire In the universe of Games Workshops table-top wargame Warhammer 40,000, the Tau are an alien race, inhabiting a small but dense region of space on the eastern edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, roughly 300 light years... In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Kroot are a species of humanoids that evolved from avian creatures. ... The Cover of the current Daemonhunters sourcebook, Codex: Daemonhunters In the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Daemonhunters (who make up the Ordo Malleus, a sub-section of the Inquisition) are one of the three Ordos of the Holy Emperors Inquisition. ... When the people forget their duty they are no longer human and become something less than beasts. ... Miniature of a Chaos Chosen in Terminator Armour In the table-top wargame Warhammer 40,000, the Chaos Space Marines are Space Marines who serve the Chaos Gods. ... The Cover of the Current Necron sourcebook, Codex Necrons. ... A mob of Ork Boyz The Orks are a race from the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. ... A squad of Dark Eldar Warriors In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Dark Eldar are a Kindred of the Eldar, an ancient and advanced race of elf-like humanoids. ... A small swarm of Tyranids, including a Warrior and several Termagaunts and Genestealers. ... A codex (plural codexes, although the correct English is codices), in the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop wargame, is a rules supplement containing information concerning a particular army, environment, or worldwide campaign. ... The Space Wolves are one of the twenty First Founding Legions of Space Marines serving the Imperium of Man in the fictional future of the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000. ... Cadia is a planet within the Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe. ... This article is about the playable army in the game, Warhammer 40,000. ... In the fictional universe of the table-top wargame Warhammer 40,000, Ulthwé is one of the largest Craftworld homes of the Eldar, the elf-like humanoid race that wanders the stars. ... Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed is a fictional character and the leader of the Imperial Guard Cadian Shock Troopers in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. ...

The campaign ran for eight weeks, in which more than forty thousand players registered, and submitted over a quarter of a million games results to the campaign website. The conclusion of the campaign resulted in a minor victory for the forces of Disorder. The line was held in many places, but on the strategic level, the Disorder players were considered to have consistently out-fought and out-maneuvered their opponents. The Chaos forces made slow but somewhat steady progress on many fronts, yet made no decisive victory, especially when a "backstage" plan to gain a foothold in the Eldar Webway system turned into a complete and total failure. The Webway in the Warhammer 40,000 universe is an extra-dimensional space utilized by the Eldar for faster-than-light travel. ...

The campaign was hard fought, and senior Games Workshop executives have commented that the events of the campaign will set a cornerstone to the rich background of the Warhammer 40,000 universe for years to come.

The Third Sphere Expansion

As the Tau reside on the opposite side of the galaxy to the Eye of Terror, and have minimal faster-than-light capability, a separate mini-campaign was established to run at the same time as the Eye of Terror campaign. All results involving Tau troops as one of the playing races were counted towards the expansion of the Tau Empire, which in the background was caused by the movement of much of the Imperium's forces to protect Cadia and the surrounding sectors, leaving many worlds on the frontier of Tau space with inadequate defences. The Tau mini-campaign was also presented as an alternate to Ork, Tyranid, Dark Eldar and Necron players who did not wish to 'assist' Chaos. The Cover of the current Tau sourcebook, Codex: Tau Empire In the universe of Games Workshops table-top wargame Warhammer 40,000, the Tau are an alien race, inhabiting a small but dense region of space on the eastern edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, roughly 300 light years... Faster-than-light (also superluminal or FTL) communications and travel are staples of the science fiction genre. ...

During the campaign, the Tau Empire expanded to 133% of its original size. This result has been reflected in the background material and rules published in Codex: Tau Empire (Hoare, 2006), which makes reference to these results as the Third Sphere Expansion.

Appearances in Fiction

In the graphic novel, Bloodquest (Rennie and MacNeil, 2005), the main characters of the story, Leonatos and his squad of Blood Angels, venture into the Eye of Terror, onto the Daemon World, Eidolon. The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Blood Angels are one of the twenty First Founding Legions of the Space Marines. ...

The novel Dead Sky, Black Sun (McNeill, 2004) is set upon Medrengard, deep within the Eye of Terror and home to the Iron Warriors traitor legion. In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Iron Warriors are one of the traitorous Chaos Space Marine Legions. ...

There is also Eye of Terror (Games Workshop, 2000) novel written by Barrington J. Bayley. Barrington John Bayley was born in 1937 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. ...

References

• Abnett, Dan (2001). Malleus. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84154-204-0. 
• Chambers, Andy; Hoare, Andy, and Kelly, Phil (2003). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Eye of Terror. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-398-5. 
• McNeill, Graham (2004). Dead Sky, Black Sun. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-148-X. 
• Rennie, Gordon; and MacNeil, Colin (2005). Bloodquest: The Eye of Terror Trilogy. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-146-3. 

Graham McNeill is a Games Developer in Games Workshop. ... Gordon Rennie is a former music journalist turned comics writer, responsible for White Trash: Moronic Inferno, as well as several comic strips for 2000 AD and novels for Warhammer Fantasy. ...

External links

• The official Eye of Terror website