The Great Rift (Cicatrix Maledictum)

The Great Rift, known in High Gothic as the Cicatrix Maledictum, is a colossal wound in reality that stretches across the entire breadth of the galaxy. When the daemon primarch's assault on Cadia broke the ancient bastion, the resulting cataclysm split the heavens from the Eye of Terror to the galactic east, a scar of raw Chaos energy dividing the Imperium of Man in two.

On the far side of the Rift lies the Imperium Nihilus, the Dark Imperium, a vast swathe of humanity cut off from the guiding light of the Astronomican and left to fend for itself amid endless night. Warp storms boil along the Rift's length, disgorging the endless armies of Chaos Daemons and the warbands of the Chaos Space Marines onto worlds that had known relative peace for centuries.

Yet the same tremors that tore the galaxy open also stirred hope. In the Rift's shadow the Ultima Founding marched to war, and long-lost heroes returned from beyond death itself. The Great Rift is the defining wound of the age, the mark of a dying galaxy, and the line across which the final wars for humanity's survival are now being fought.