Worlds Without Number and the Sine Nomine Shared Universe

In an era of franchises and 'cinematic universes', having a large shared universe is all the rage for companies. The wider and larger a universe is, the more one can produce additional movies, books, comics, videogames and more. While Worlds Without Number isn't out in its full form yet, there's plenty of material found in its pages which hint at an interesting prospect which may or may not be expanded by Kevin Crawford. Namely, that most (or perhaps all?) Sine Nomine games share a universe or at the very least a multiverse. Now perhaps this is just theories. Maybe its me digging too much into the pre established lore of his games, the myriad sandbox tables and, of course, all the repeating themes and ideas. Maybe Kevin Crawford never intended for these games to be connected and is merely recycling ideas that work as his personal tastes, likes and dislike create a tapestry of repeating and reused concepts.

Or perhaps it IS all connected after all.

The root of this connection lies in the beginning and the 'end'. They start with two games, one of which got an updated version: these are Stars Without Numbers, which is the 'central' and most popular Sine Nomine title and the setting for Labyrinth Lord called Red Tide. At a glance these two settings could not be more different, even if both are mostly mechanically compatible. One is mostly hard Scifi set in the future and the other is set in a fantasy world with Elves and Dwarves. However, given what we know of the latest Sine Nomine game, Worlds Without Number, we can see the two share an extremely suspicious amount of lore. We know the setting of Worlds Without Number to be the impossibly deep future of the Stars Without Numbers universe, which itself included that game and Other Dust. Combine the information we know from the Alpha of WWN with various Sine Nomine games and supplements and a clearer understanding of that multiverse emerge. These games are:

• Stars Without Numbers and Stars Without Numbers Revised
• Other Dust
• Red Tide
• Godbound
• Worlds Without Number

In addition there are two other Sine Nomine settings whose position within that universe is a bit harder to ascertain, which would be Spears of the Dawn and Silent Legion. It is likely they fit in, but the exact details are a bit more blurry due to having a bit less lore. One could very much treat Spears of the Dawn as a specific realm/continent/Iterum, but Silent Legion is a bit weirder. It could be that Silent Legion is a prequel to all this and that 'Meta Dimensional' concepts were never truly rooted in mostly modern soft science fiction but, rather, Lovecraftian madness. This can be up to interpretation.

Mankind's Expansion To The Stars

Art by Col Price

As established in Stars Without Numbers, humanity expand into the void of space. This may seem like an odd or even mundane place to start for a multiverse which will span alien realities and mechanical gods but big things often have small beginning. SWN gives us a date and general series of events, including The Scream. Around the 2100 humanity leave its homeworld to colonize the stars using the Spike Drive technology and humanity splinters into countless budding cultures and religious movements while Earth forms the Terran Mandate to oversee and control colonies, afraid of letting their resources and power slip through their grasp. Humanity make contact with aliens and Psychics first emerge from humans who were exposed to the Metadimensional Energies of the Spike drive and similar technology. This is the Golden Age of Man and it last until 2665. The Scream damages warp gates and humanity become one of isolated space sectors. This is the setting of Stars Without Numbers while the events which occur on the post apocalyptic Earth are covered in the game Other Dust. This era last for an unknown amount of time before leading into further, ill defined and ill explored eras. Both before and after this era, massive technological leaps are made, which sometimes depend on the 'Meta-Dimensional Climate'. Which I'll get into in a moment. In some forgotten corners of space, various branches of humanity began to diverge in form greatly from their cousins, including in some locations the ability to transfer or even duplicate minds. The details on this posthuman lifestyle can be found in the Deluxe version of SWN Revised.

Meanwhile, the SWN Revised supplement Codex of the Black Sun offers some optional material to add magic to a space science fiction game, as well as expanding on how such concept could work within the canon of Stars Without Number. There is a lot of technobabble involved but the long story short is that the Metadimensional Energies which created Psychics could be studied, harnessed, modified and used through a variety of interfaces and mental pathways to create what was functionally Magic. This is where the SWN universe radically diverges and cut ties with harder science fiction and goes fully into fantasy. One can surmise that, should humanity one day be reunited after the Scream and the following Silence that would include an incredibly varied array of subspecies, some of which have radically diverged through their use of Meta Dimensional energies and how they developed their arcane sciences. Ultimately the time scale of these successive eras is difficult to ascertain.

Art by Jeff Brown

The Outsiders of Worlds Without Numbers may have in part appeared in this era. While it is true some might be aliens, it is possible at least some of them are human-derived in some capacity, from posthuman who developed and re-engineered their bodies to adapt to impossible environments to alien crossbreed or even 'uplifted' alien animals. How and why such beings would one day attempt a takeover of Earth and enslave humanity is unclear but presumably it may involve some deep seated grudge against mankind, either completely justified or the result of xeno politics far beyond our understanding. It could simply be that two or more vastly different branches of mankind met and, not understanding their common root (and the Outsiders being too divergent to interface with the Legacy, having splintered off far before) they fought.

The Far Future and Latter Earth

Art by Jeff Brown

There's a lot that happen in between Stars Without Numbers/Other Dust and Worlds Without Numbers. Mankind advances to a level as to basically be Gods. Key to this is The Legacy which goes far beyond the primitive nanotech and psychic powers of the SWN era. The Legacy is all encompassing and is the term which is used describe the very reality-rewriting which mankind once integrated into both the world itself, humanity and all life. How far it goes and how long this perfect era last....is unclear. The central interface of the Legacy itself is housed in a meta-dimensional realm, which forms the underlying mechanism of creation itself. These are the Celestial Engines as described in Godbound, with the central processor of all reality being the Throne of Heaven.

Where exactly in the timeline of WWN that Godbound fit is difficult, if not impossible to ascertain. It does require one to somewhat 'retcon' that the Throne of Heaven tale is partially allegorical and that fighting for God's throne may have meant fighting for the control of the Legacy and its interfaces. The beings described in WWN lore as Imperators could have been the greatest Theurge as well as Made Gods of this era, each a God-King in its own right, fighting over an ever splintering reality. The Realm described in Godbound's core book, Arcem, makes no mention of beings which could be comparable to the Outsiders but it could simply be that the lands which Arcem was part of did not suffer their invasion and repelled them. It could also be that the era of Outsider rule of mankind predates what is called the Former Empires, which are post-Outsider rule. The splintered nature of time and realities make things extremely difficult to properly pinpoint.

Both WWN and Godbound's humanity are rather similar: they live in a broken world where the natural laws have degraded and become unstable, making advanced technology difficult to maintain. They both feature advanced magical-technological modifications of the human form, which have degraded and become lost, leaving behind often dangerous splinter groups of beings which are difficult to envision as truly human. It is likely these worlds are part of a shared multiverse/realm system (which WWN call 'Iterum') and are merely the same worlds from the point of view of mortal versus the point of view of Imperator-level beings. Any slight difference in setting material is quite easy to explain, as in-universe information is quite shattered, incomplete and has been subject to thousand and thousand of years of  information drift and the changes in language.This is also true of other Sine Nomine games or, at the very least, of Red Tide (and Scarlet Heroes which use the same setting):

• Dwarves claim that, in their history, their ancestors were humans enslaved by an evil goddess called the Mother Below. In truth, she was probably one of many Outsider overseers and would-be gods. The Dwarves described in Red Tide are clearly a major cultural group within the created race of living Legacy Interfaces which are known as Dwarves.
• Elves in both Red Tide and Worlds Without Numbers share many traits, including the fact they reincarnate. It is possible the Elves described in Red Tide are a splinter group which attempted to ascend to godhood through the Legacy and 'merely'  managed to install their souls in the decayed system of reincarnation or it could be that the Elven origin myth is only partially true. Either way both types of elves are clearly beings of a near identical nature.
• The Shou of Red Tide and the Anakim of WWN, however, are NOT the same type of being. While on the surface both are aggressive, engineered 'savage humanoids' they share completely different origins, with the former also being a form of living Legacy Interfaces similar to Dwarves while the latter are bio-engineered living weapons. If Spears of the Dawn is connected to all this, then the Night Men are a form of Anakim.
• The Red Tide and the Uncreated Night are similar and related expressions of either massive decay to the Legacy/Celestial Engines. Both 'unmake' worlds and both produce abominations which disrupt reality.
• If all Sine Nomine games are connected, then a recurring theme of Hell appear. Red Tide/Scarlet Heroes has one, as does Godbound and Wolves of God should it somehow be connected. It is likely Hell was once some sort of mechanism for souls and identities to be recycled by the Legacy but it has since become perverted and exploited.

The Missing Games?

Art by Igor Kirdeika

As mentioned, there are other Sine Nomine games whose place within the timeline is unclear. Spears of the Dawn is most probably a specific realm within Latter Earth. However, this still leave a few others without a clear location within the shared 'verse'. It is possible, as mentioned, that Silent Legions is a prequel and that the SWN universe was always one of Lovecraftian madness lurking below the surface. A strange universe which, in utter defiance to its themes, mankind would conquer and then prosper in. The Kelipot and other weird arcane secrets would all likely be harnessed and form the basis of SWN-era magic which would one day form the complex workings of the Legacy.

Alternatively, Silent Legions could take place inside an Iterum where one or more Imperator has reset history and is studying humanity in its pre-FTL days. Unfortunately, the simulation has broken down and allowed many different Outsiders and other strange beings to 'leak' into it. Under this theory, Wolves of God could also be in a similar situation. If that's the case, then it is going to be immensely depressing to its people to find out that God doesn't really exist as they understand it. Spears of the Dawn could also have been such a simulation, albeit one which had enough time to decay and diverge into more fantastical things or it could simply be its own Realm and not have been engineered as a simulation.

Urban Fantasy: The Astral Border

There is more to the world than our universe as we know it. Some believe Earth and its universe could be the center of the universe, part of (or even a minor fragment) of some great Axis Mundi. Indeed countless beliefs and myths speak of such places and the worlds which exist beyond our own, from the terra incognita to the abodes of the gods. Such places are indeed real. Getting there, however, well that's going to be much harder and one need a starting place to reach the greater Supernatural Realms. As one can guess, the term 'Supernatural Realm' is the generic term for what Silent Legions calls a 'Kelipah'.

The Astral Border

Liminal space(?)

The Astral Border, as the name implies, is (in part) what exist between the material and immaterial world. The reason why the description says 'in part' is because there's a bit more going on there. There are two ways to access it: projection or physical travel, with each version having its own downside. Projection is the classic 'astral projection' where one's consciousness leave the body. It carries the obvious downside of one not bringing their full body to another world and instead walking into another realm with a thought form body, turning oneself into a temporary form of Spirit. The alternative is to enter physically, where one has their full body and capabilities but this carries the downside of making escape infinitely harder since one is fully within another realm.

Defining reality within the Astral Border is a complicated matter, as it is a series of locations (or perhaps just one location?) which exist between solid reality and the higher realms and conceptual locations. It also greatly overlap and connect to thought-realms such as Dreams and even possibly the cancerous pit from which all Demons emerge, a dark reflection of every evil thought of mankind. As a result, the Border is an ever-changing dreamscape-like location which makes mapping it completely and utterly pointless. How fluid the realm is and one's direct surroundings are can vary immensely of course, based on a variety of rather arbitrary factors. Generally speaking, the initial phase of the Border's appearance will be influenced by one's material surrounding and become an extension of it. A wall my suddenly split open, sprouting a new corridor with a door at the end which can either take one to a new location or simply lead to more bizarre reflections of the location, depending on a variety of factors such as: one's mastery of accessing the Border, one's mental state, one's time of day and/or any other number of completely arbitrary points. The Border is not a three dimensional space, it is a thought space and it contain both one's own thoughts and perception but also that of nearby individuals, the general mindset of an entire region and/or even the will of often eldritch Border Entities.

Certain locations which are steeped in history, both real and supernatural, have a habit of having their own 'style' of Border, recurring thoughts, ideas and landscapes which may stretch for miles on end and beyond. For example, London has a habit of its Border stretching into increasingly old fashioned landscaped haunted by fog and lit by lanterns, with abandoned carriages giving off a strange impression of an empty and almost post-apocalyptic London at the age of Jack the Ripper while Cairo will stretch into a mish mash of building, drawing inspiration from a fusion of Pharaonic Egypt, Ptolemic Egypt and of course modern architecture where ancient antediluvian cursed tombs fuse near seamlessly with the Cairo Metro system. Urban center have a habit of forming dense, multi-dimensional expanses of empty buildings inside more empty buildings, a reflection of how these cities are perceived and what they embody.

Travelling The Border

The main use for this strange extra-dimensional space is to use it as a temporary stop from our world to another reality. Because distances have no true meaning within the Border, it can connect to any and all realities and domains, given enough time and effort to travel down its ever-changing paths. The Border can be an interesting GM tools (and is very much how I use it), as it enable travel to far-flung locations without needing too much of securing a specific path or spell. The obvious downside of the Border, however, is time. While time within it can be a tad relative (what with not having any real sun or moon to keep track of), it nonetheless flows 1:1 with one's own reality. As a result, a trip through the Border to a different Realm can take days or weeks, assuming one doesn't get into serious trouble. Even with a stable landscape, it can take days of travel on foot or even on boat across imaginary oceans. As a result, it can be as close as one can get to wilderness travel and exploration in an urban fantasy game, which can be a nice (or annoying, it depend) change of pace.

Travelling the Border is very much rife with 'random encounters' too, some of which indeed are very random even in-universe. The Border is positively crawling with Spirits, or rather Astral Lifeforms. These simplistic entities are given form and shape by their environment, but their function is fairly similar all around. As Astral Predators gather around fresh human mind and souls to consume, they create a temporary shell of existence based around whatever form the Border has taken there. Some may animate from concrete and wires as shambling urban golem while others may take the form of fantastical beasts when inside the Border's wilderness yet they remain the same simplistic life forms.

Urban Fantasy: The Demon Lords (and do they even exist?)

Ahriman by Pouya Zarif.

Spirits exist and the greatest among them are considered to be 'Gods', be they cosmic entities tied into greater concepts of the universe and/or archetypal beings drawn from human myths both real and remembered or imaginary and forgotten. But then Demons also exist so, logically, there must exist out there demonic beings of immense power: these would be the big name demons people hear pop up in popular culture, right? Belzebuub, Satan, Moloch and other things. The scary names people use in Heavy Metal music to frighten moral guardians in the '70 and '80.

Except there's a few problems.

For one thing, there is a lot which remain unknown about Demons because Demons constantly lie. Should someone gather the personal journal of a thousand people who have extensively delved into fighting monsters and sorcerers they would find multiple references to names drawn from Judeo Christian apocrypha as well as 'Pagan' religions. Demons who have used names like Zagan, Valefor, Mephisto and Azrael. Demons who have claimed to have been there at the dawn of time, when Lucifer turned nearly half of God's host of Angels against Heaven. Except none of that shit lines up at all. Most demons encountered in the past few centuries were dangerous creatures but not so dangerous and powerful as to be some god-like entity from the dawn of time. There are also massive inconsistencies in their powers, appearance, personalities and more. Basically, Demons appear to be passing around identities and mantles all the time to the point whatever name and face they show is always at least a partial lie. None of these bastards are who they claim to be.

The 'Demon Lords' of 'Hell'

So, do the Demon Lords exist? Are there 'evil Gods' out there, beings which have the pure malevolence and embodiment of suffering and imperfections of the world of common Demons, but possess the archetypal scope of a God? Probably. One issue here is that many Demons of pseudo canonical sources are Pagan Gods redressed and re-contextualized into 'Demons'. If someone out there use ancient Greek magic to draw power and favors from Pan the Greek God, is Pan a Demon because of his later associations? Obviously not. So what the hell is going on here, anyway?

Demon Lords are powerful, archetypal mantle. They are beings which are too vast to fully manifest into our world. Very few individuals ever truly meet them: at best they encounter some aspect or proxy of them, itself a lesser Demon lacking a true will of its own. Each of them is less of an individual and more of an archetypal embodiment of a certain vice or corruption which is reflected across the multiverse in the form of lesser Demons. None of them truly birth those demons or 'sins' but instead they exist as a manifestation of our own evils and can be drawn to the service of these arch-demons. Demon Lords exist in alternate dimension of pure suffering and horror. That place can be called Hell but it is not the Judeo-Christian Hell. Indeed, it is not a specific Hell or even an afterlife but rather a three (or more) dimensional place in which the spiritual essence of these Demon Lords exist in the form of vast domains where the soul(?) of those which have sold themselves to their power are tormented and extracted of whatever it is which sustain Demons.

The ranks of the Demon Lords are speculated to include, but aren't limited to:

• Mammon, Lord of Greed: In many ways Mammon is the least directly dangerous of the Demon Lords. As Lord of Greed and corruption he has very little to gain in destroying worlds across the multiverse and is merely interested in collecting the soul of those who are driven by greed and the power of money. From his point of view he already own the world so why break it? On the flipside this makes him a possible ally as Mammon is lazy. It is worth noting that contrary to popular belief, Mammon is not simply a byproduct of the modern world. Greed is universal.
• Moloch, Lord of Sacrifice: Second to Mammon when it come being the Demon Lord to which powerful individuals answer to, yet Moloch has a twist to him. As those with all the power, wealth and fame get more they paradoxically have less to offer to Moloch. As a creature of evil and suffering he only care for the act of sacrifice and unlike Mammon has little to gain in keeping on the top those he helped placed there. As such Moloch plays all sides at the same time and is just as likely to help the boot as he is to help the face. All that matters to him is what people suffer when sacrifice things to him. When the 'resistance' wins the day and declare the tyrant dead and ignore the mountain of corpses they create and will create, Moloch laughs and prepare to offer his help to the counter side which now has nothing to lose...
• Baphomet, The Occult Lie: Legends say Baphomet was born of misunderstanding as the Muslims cried the name of their prophet which was misheard as 'Baphomet'. It might be that the archetype which would become Baphomet took its name from the story and given how much Demons lie, such a misunderstanding seems perfect breeding ground for a demonic name. Baphomet is a Demon Lord of taboo, the occult and the perverse and a powerful patron of sorcerers who give deliberately perverted/altered knowledge of spells and rituals. He is utterly unrelated to any actual religious figures but rather represent deliberate perversion of them.
• Beelzebub, Lord of Lies: If there is any connection with Beelzebub and the Philistine God, then it is likely the demonic archetype stole the name and, obviously, lied about it. He and his minions rarely go by that name, meaning they lie even more than other Demons which is no easy feat by itself. Their goals, if any, are unknown and it is likely that as demons they simply scheme, lie and manipulate for the sake of it.
• Leviathan, the Beast of the Depths: Leviathan is an odd one and difficult to define, sometimes going by the name of Rahab. He is less of a Demon Lord and more akin to some primordial, almost Lovecraftian being and may not have begun its existence as a Demon. Leviathan draws power from the depth, madness, antediluvian powers and the like and spread suffering through its eldritch influence. As he is associated with Envy, some believe Leviathan spread its unholy influence to try to make the mortal world more like his antediluvian depths so he may emerge in this world.

Much of what is understood (which isn't much) of Demon Lords is heavily tinged with Western folklore and occult and it might be what could cause the misunderstanding, as these beings are more accurate to be compared with the the Dev of Zoroastrianism than the Fallen Angel demons of Judeo Christian or Islamic folklore. Demon Lords are more akin to an embodiment of a concept which makes the world a place where suffering, lies and imperfections exist.

Urban Fantasy: Astral Life forms

We generally assume that 'life' is of the material: cells formed of proteins forming a larger organism. Yet life exist beyond the material, composed of the paradoxical 'immaterial matter': stray thoughts, concepts and ideas. As always, these discussions return to the concept of Spirits yet they are not the only form of immaterial life. There exist a parallel 'order' of immaterial beings which are Spirits but not quite Spirits with a capital S. Thoughts, ideas and mental energy form their ephemeral bodies but they are not driven by their embodiment of concepts. These creatures are of a lower, more primal order. They are crude, often almost mindless creatures. They are often animal, predators or parasites.

Astral Entities

Art by Jurasbatas.

Astral Entities are a form of Spirit in so much that they are made of spiritual matter and can be repelled or controlled by the same means a more defined, or 'proper' Spirit can. The difference is that Astral Entities are the 'animals' of the Spirit World. This term can be a bit confusing, as there exist spirits of animals which embody animalistic  traits but Astral Entities exist aside from them. Their 'spiritual bodies' and composition is crude, with little more than a limited intellect, sensory abilities and some mean to attack and kill living beings (or, in some cases, parasite them). They are of a lower order of complexity, much in the way we'd consider bacteria or virus to be 'less' than a human given how complex we are. Yet these things can and do kill us and the same is true for an Astral Entity. Phantovores are an example of creatures which straddle this line.

By themselves these creatures drift across countless astral spaces, immaterial and mostly unthinking, feeding off stray mental energies mostly harmlessly. In our daily lives we encounter an uncountable number of these entities as they brush off our reality for a split second, to the even spiritually aware people don't even notice them. The danger emerges when one enters another dimension, another world or plane of existence where the spiritual and material are one and the same. By themselves most Astral Entities are too weak and stupid to ever enter our world but when someone impede upon their domain and hunting ground they will pounce. Since Astral Entities have no true form, they will shape themselves to become part whatever psychic environment one is visiting, assuming fake forms which are thematically appropriate.

Astral Entities, by themselves, are at best an environmental hazard or a one off random encounter to explain to players that sticking too long in some spiritually active areas might be a bad idea, as it might attract hungry metaphysical predators. They aren't particularly interesting monsters by themselves. However, these creatures can be used as part of a greater adventure:

• Any antagonist to the PC with access to spirit-related abilities or spells could use such a knowledge to harass the PC, summoning predators to hunt them down and keep them away from astral planes. These creatures would take the form of hunting beasts and attack them whenever they are either isolated or close to a spiritually potent area. Thus, they can be used as 'mooks' by an antagonist. Weak but eternally replenishing minions.
• Most Astral Entities are fairly weak but a singular, high HD one could have become stable enough and established a lair in an area of some other plane, where it thereafter functions much in the same way as any monster with a lair, making the area difficult to approach. Given their form reflect the themes of an area, this can potentially be used to change the pace and use some monster from another genre or game.
• Astral Parasites can be the focus of an adventure. They are similar in function but they don't eat those they attack, instead implanting a spiritual 'egg', much like how some wasps (or the Xenomorph) do. Once it is done sucking on the mental energies of the host it pops out, temporarily with Manifestation at Rank A and attack, implanting its own eggs in the process. Left unchecked this can create an epidemic.
• Astral Entities can also be used by players as temporary minions or even messengers, should they need to acquire and send information but suspect their phones or other methods to be spyed upon.

Urban Fantasy: The Unnamed and Unknown Gods

Consider this post a bit of an expansion on my previous thoughts on H.P. Lovecraft and his mythos and how it related to my Urban Fantasy setting. However, the long story short is this: Lovecraft's work is amazing and full of great ideas for me to rip off get inspired by but directly using his Mythos undermines many of its key points. In this particular case, its the cliché of evil cults worshiping some weird forgotten God. This draw inspiration from Lovecraft as much as it does from more recent subject matters, such as the bizarre cases of Pepe the Frog becoming equated with an ancient Egyptian God of Primordial Darkness, of all damn things.

Unnamed and Forgotten, Yet Alive

Art by Jon Torres

One could argue humanity fundamentally craves a higher power. After all, in this day and age so many ideas about society and politics are basically elevated to religion, which is about all I will say on the matter before people give me crap. However, this concept is important to understand the rest: the very human desire for a higher purpose, a higher power and possibly even using said higher calling for the purpose of gaining power. These are very human concepts which many individuals crave for a variety of reasons. Our thoughts, ideas and myths shape the world or are shaped by it, as it is a chicken and egg scenario. The point being, this craving and need is a very real, tangible psychic force when it come to the supernatural. This is the first part of the equation.

The second part is a forgotten god. There are countless deities, monsters and demons scattered across all of humanity's history all across the multiverse and different timelines. After all, who remembers whatever proto-deities where worshiped at the tail end of the stone age? Who remember the Gods and Heroes of forgotten tribes destroyed in ancient wars or plagues centuries before the history-defining civilization of an area came to be? Who really remembers or even knows of the pre-Pharaonic gods of Egypt? These Gods are gone, with only small traces of their existence left: a random symbol, an odd reference in a retold myth, mention in historical documents, an archaeological site of some long lost temple. The Unnamed and Unknown Gods are a psychic and spiritual phenomena which occurs when the human mind connect and latches on to some symbol or idea of something mostly lost to the sands of time. Wild theories, occult connections and improper reconstructions of the myths fuel this phenomena. Should it reach critical mass, it will create a Formed Spirit. This entity is an amalgamation of the identity of the past God(s), a twisted chimera multi-headed abomination made of scattered ideas and concepts slowly fusing together to birth a new God.

Sutekh the Destroyer, from the classic Doctor Who
serials 'The Pyramids of Mars'.

But this is not the God of the ancient civilization, even if it retain the trappings. It is a new entity, one fueled by demented human desires. Reality and causality can warp around it. This entity, this malformed God is now retroactively existing, absorbing and reshaping memories and artifacts across time and space. Most importantly, however, the entity now craves worship as it is these misplaced human desires which birth it and fuels it. While the entity itself may be quite alien in mindset or appearance, it draws it energy from the very human desires and needs. Some are drawn from the distant descendants of the people who inhabited the original God's land, their history slightly twisted retroactively to encourage decadent and degenerate cults which seem more at home in lurid pulps of a bygone age and mentality. In truth these people are victims of the time-displacing psychic lure of this newborn God. Other fragments of the proto cult may form around academia, as mentally unstable scholars begin to obsess over symbols and their strange pet theories about the tentacle-faced God of some forgotten Polynesian culture. In more modern times, the social malcontent or those seeking to be deliberately transgressive might 'ironically' begin to worship the entity through some memetic means.

However, all have in common that they are now caught in the retroactive web of the God: for all intents and purposes, the God now exist and has always existed, a monstrous being lurking inside myths and legends, the lurid and demented journals of globe trotting explorers gone mad and the jest of those joking around to mock society.

Urban Fantasy: Baleful Magic

Magic is difficult and require commitment. Magic is also quite a bitch and the shortcuts can more often than not lead to damnation and a monstrous transformation. There is a near infinite choice when it come to 'flavor' of magic. Unfortunately for humanity, many of these flavors are blood, life and souls among other things. There are dark secrets out there in the world, wicked and foul tricks which people can fall prey to. There are also new ways, new techniques which humans can stumble upon, sometimes by accident, whose consequences can be unforeseen. These are the Baleful Magics, the spells, techniques, methods and traditions which are not spoken of even in the company of other dabblers of the arcane.

Human Consumption

Art by Sean Donaldson.

One near-universal taboo across cultures can be boiled down to cannibalism is bad, man. Partaking into the consumption of human flesh is considered one of the most disgusting and depraved things someone can do, about on par with the level of a child rapist. It's considered quite foul and also carries a medical risk. Even the most primitive of cultures, going back far into our history, figured out that eating another man or woman is not only disgusting but unsafe. Of course, when one look at it divorced from morality and culture, with knowledge of the arcane arts in mind, a different picture emerge: why not consume another human?

Human Consumption Magic refer to any spell, ritual or even entire traditions which make use of the practice of consuming something from a still-living or freshly deceased human. It can be flesh, blood, memories, youth or something else. The metaphysical energies and life force is violently ripped from its body and incorporated into the spellcaster to empower them in some shape or form. It is a form of artificial vampirism and maybe True Vampires have recruited a future minion or even 'child' from particularly depraved individuals who regularly consumed the life force of other humans. The problems with such magic are readily apparent for all to see: for one thing, it's disgusting and very much criminal, obviously. The other problem is that such 'power source', once cut from its original body, has a bad habit of decaying quite fast. Think the classic of a Vampire bathing in the blood of virgins to retain her youth. It ain't sticking for long. The other problem is that it's also quite addictive. As a result, such magic fueled by the consumption of human lives requires a constant supply which is difficult to easily acquire in the modern age.

• The form which this magic can take is extremely varied, as it is only tied together by the fuel source more than anything else. Blood magic, for example, can heal and regenerate wounds. Stealing memories can enhance one's knowledge and skills while face-stealing can enable limited shapeshifting.
• The downsides are fairly obvious, beyond the risks posed by the clearly criminal acts being performed. Such magic has a habit of warping its user physically and mentally, making them less and less human. Even those who do not degenerate physically will start to become mentally warped. For one thing, the addictive nature of these acts and the violence they entail implies the one doing it was already a violent and deranged individual. Generally speaking, these tendencies will only grow through the supernatural addiction while also leaving a 'hole' in the individual when not partaking in it. Food taste like ash. Colors lose vibrancy. Emotions are dulled. The only spark of life they experience is during consumption.
• A human which become fully imbued with the magic it wield is no longer human. In the case of those who practice such cannibalistic magic, the end result is never pleasant as the concepts they have internalized and embodied are those of 'consumption', 'cannibalism' or 'parasitism'. Just what exactly turn into can vary in appearance and function. For some, transformation into one of the undead might be their eventual fate, as the leftovers of the stolen lives sparks back to function their bodies upon death. One cool example I would gladly steal are Ghasts as written by Arnold K at Goblin Punch.

Demonic Magic

Art by Sean Donaldson.

If Consumption Magic is foul by its actions, then Demonic Magic is foul by its nature and origin: Demons are creatures of suffering and imperfection. The world has the potential for evil and wrongness, from extremely petty and minor offenses to the most horrible of acts. The Demons are born of this, or maybe they birth it. No one is really, entirely sure. It's a chicken-and-egg thing. The point is, Demons are as close as one can get to evil. They are utterly without any kind of humanity, mercy, kindness, love or anything good. The best they can do is fake it as part of some long term goal. Demons cannot bring about good. They can only cause suffering, death, madness and worse. It is their nature. It's what they are.

It's not surprising that Demons can become patron of mortal spellcasters, then. Such an occurrence is quite rare, of course. Your average wannabe satanist punk isn't likely to attract the attention of such creatures and even then, only a small portion of demons possess the requisite knowledge to ensure the creation of a true mage. It does happen, however. There are generally two main scenarios:

• The Demon lie about its origin and/or purpose, pretending to be something else as it impart twisted knowledge on the human. The side effects and the cost of the magic wielded are always obfuscated.
• The Demon is fully willing to reveal itself as a demon and does not hide what it will cost.

The latter is much more rare. Very, very few people are truly evil enough to become a mustache-twirling villain who openly consort with demons. They do exist, but they are rare. Most who do often start in the first category and spend years under tutelage of a demon, their magic always backfiring enough to harm them and others but never enough to kill them. In turn the demon demand more and more sacrifices. Eventually, these people just snap. So suffused with the powers of demons they completely and utterly abandon morality and sanity, becoming so tainted as to be demons in spirit rather than in the flesh. After all, does anything truly matter? When you've seen the endless, timeless suffering humanity has inflicted upon itself, the very idea of 'good' become laughable. 'Good' is just evil in denial to them.

The spells born of demonic knowledge are always abominations which taint the world. Just how much of a taint it carries can vary, from absolutely minimal to abomination-spawning. Any offensive spell fueled by demonic powers has a habit of leaving behind ugly and disfiguring scars, be it on people or objects. Wounds caused by such magic have a tendency to leave discolored scars which still ache decades later, while objects blasted by its power become discolored and ashen or even warped. Of course, such cosmetic damage is the best case scenario, compared to being cursed and haunted by the demon's malice. For less destructive spells, the cost is generally paid by the spellcaster. Many of these warlocks become physically warped and tainted, growing frail and sickly as the demonic corruption ravage their bodies - only for their demonic master to be all too happy to provide some means of restoring it (see the section above).

Time Magic

Artist unknown.

One of the hardest and most dangerous force to tamper with is time itself. While lesser sorcery may be able to slightly bend the rules of the universe in some limited capacity (such as temporarily restoring youth or stopping the decay of an item or corpse), true temporal manipulation is generally held to be the sole province of beings of cosmic power. That obviously has never stopped people from trying. Of the other example presented so far, Time Magic is less seen as 'evil' and more as 'foolish': attempting to master its power is seen as the mark of a reckless fool who will doom himself.

Time Magic can take many forms and most of them are a terrible thing to meddle with. Casting on oneself a spell akin to the 'haste' spell of tabletop RPG and videogames has a fairly obvious downside: accelerated aging. Repeated and constant use of spells which alter one's passage of time in relation to the world is dangerous as the physical strain will accumulate over time. The human body is not meant to operate inside a 'bubble' of altered time and so repeated use will slowly add up and age the user (which may lead to the user attempting to use foul secrets to undo or temporarily reverse the damage). Of course the ultimate goal of any dabbler in the powers of time is to time travel. Of course, true time travel (at least backward) is considered to be impossible. If such a power was truly usable by mortal mages, it would be well known and actively sought and then promptly abused. The best one can hope to achieve is to leap forward in time, blinking away from existence and reappearing in the same place at a further point in time. It might be possible to extract power from temporal and/or dimensional anomalies but such attempts would always place a massive strain on the user. One theory on why there is so little recorded on the matter of time travel is that it can be done but will always backfire on the user, warping time and space to the point they might undo their very existence and never have been born. A terrifying thought.

Devourers

Art by Marc Delano.

Magic, spirit, gods and all that stuff: to some people it's kind of bullshit and a nightmare to keep track of. The world is awash in all manners of supernatural entities. If not for some unspoken 'rule' of reality (perhaps this is simply the Age of Humanity and that's how it is) we'd be at the mercy of malicious entities. At least, this is what some people believe. The 'Devourers' are a relatively new phenomena which has emerged from the normally-decently-heroic circles of monster hunters and supernatural investigator (aka people who would normally be good Player Character material): these individuals have realized they can do more than hunt supernatural beings, they can also consume them to fuel their own powers.

Perhaps these so-called Devourers had good intentions. All they wanted was to be rid of dangerous spirits and ensure they'd still have the power to fight against the forces of darkness, to keep supernatural dangers away from humanity. While the intentions are noble, it is the methods which are dangerous and corrupt. Those who wield supernatural powers tend to eventually embody the concepts and ideas their powers derive from. To destroy and to eat a supernatural being repeatedly is to trap inside one's metaphysical patterns and nature the idea of 'consumption', 'devouring' and 'hunger'. This power grows like a cancer and metastasize, changing the individual permanently. From them a new concept, a new idea and a new monster is born and once the concept exist, it will always exist.

• Devourers derive their powers from the slaying of supernatural beings. Their consumption is more metaphysical than corporeal and they don't eat flesh or anything like that. Like the Phantovores have an anti-spirit nature.
• The exact abilities of a Devourer can vary, as some were some other type of supernaturally-infused human before their powers 'mutated'. Some can weave enchantment and spells like a mage, others are expert at sensing spirits and trapping them while others are physical powerhouses. Their powers are increasingly changed and tainted, growing stronger but also over specialized. They also excel at cancelling and negating spells and enchantments placed on them.
• Wounds inflicted by a Devourer on a supernatural being have a hard time healing.

Physically, Devourers don't look any different than their previous human selves. Their corruption is mental and spiritual rather than physical. They act and talk normally. The difference is that, inside their minds, is a burning desire to trap and kill spirits and other beings to siphon their energy. The worst thing is that young Devourers don't really see it at that way. Most see themselves as and often still act as if they were the hero they likely used to be. The devil is in the details: Devourers are cruel and obsessive and filled with a nagging desire to consume. Many slowly turn on their allies and soon anything else with supernatural powers is deemed a threat only they can handle. It's all for the 'greater good'. The end state of their transformation is currently unknown but, should it exist, it would be a true monster.

Astral Beasts

More Marc Delano.

Finally, a concept which ties into/can overlap with much of the above is the concept of 'Astral Beast' or 'Astral Vampire', such as certain takes on the Berbalang. Combining astral projection, vampirism/parasitism, consumption of power and possibly demonic influence, these cases are a form of spellcaster whose magic enable them to project a monstrous form. Their consciousness is separate from their body and become incarnated as a Spirit: a horrible monster which could feed off human (and other beings), be it their mind, bodies or even total lifespan!

The core concept of this form of magic is that the sorcerer project their mind/spirit as an astral form which has been reshaped into some sort of predatory monster. They allow the foul and predatory side of humanity, the 'beast within' to become loose. While technically they are still in control of themselves (and such process is always willing), the transformation nonetheless changes the human nature. Much is 'excised' away when the mind is projected as such an astral entity: just as they are unshackled from their body, their minds/soul is unshackled from humanity and morality and free to fully indulge in its dark desires.

Urban Fantasy: The Black and Iron Woods

The material world which we humans inhabit is but a fraction of the true scope of reality. Beyond the confines of 'mere' matter exist realms beyond our own time and space, Supernatural Realms which are the places beyond our world where the wonderful and terrible still dwell. Some of them are places recorded in myths and folklore while others are entirely unknown or only explored by a few brave or foolhardy souls. Most exist somewhere in between, recorded but only barely, full of half truth and lies.

The Black and Iron Woods are somewhere halfway between a Stable and a Dream Kelipah. The more mundane areas of the wood, especially around its edges (if such a thing exist, as the whole shape is unknown, if not impossible to grasp) tend to be fairly normal beyond being an expanse of terrifying wilderness. Deeper into the woods, however, it become more and more of a thematic Dream Kelipah, obeying its twisted mythology-and-fairy-tale-logic.

History and Nature

Art by Magdalena Świderska

Recorded in the Prose Edda as Járnviðr, the 'Iron Woods', the Black-and-Iron Woods is a supernatural location of unknown size and scope which manifest primarily in Europe and takes the form of an impossibly vast and foreboding forest. It is the dark forest which children and travelers become lost in, where witches and trolls of grim and horrific fairy tales dwell. It's exact origin, nature or purpose are unknown, if not lost to history. No one knows what exactly it is and maybe there's just no real answer: it just is. And what it is can be summed up as a massive expanse of wilderness full of fantastical and fearsome sights. The creatures which dwell in it may not be native inhabitants but rather have moved there over time as they withdrew from the world of humans, choosing to hide in the ever-shifting landscape of the magical forest which appears and disappear, as being able to navigate a place whose landscape is mutable is a very useful advantage when one is a predator or kidnapper. Mere humans become easily lost in Jarnvid but hags, trolls and other monsters can learn to properly attune themselves and know when the forest will grow close to the material world. This become the perfect moment to lure and snatch some victims who will then never be heard from again.

In the modern age, despite the loss of many great forests, Jarnvid still thrives. In fact, over time the forest's pull has grown in terms of scope, possibly due to the immigration of Europeans to other lands. This is pure theory, of course and no one is certain if the passing down of folklore, myths and general fear of troll-haunted woods has allowed the Black and Iron Woods to extend its influence. Some speculate that its power first manifested on North American soil when the woodsmen spread across the area of the Great Lakes from the French and English colonies. The tales of the so-called Fearsome Critters could be nothing but tall tales, misunderstanding and mislabeling of local life forms...or it could very well be Jarnvid's power literally taking root on new soil and even growing and diversifying as it found itself infused with newfound life.

The pull of the Dark Forest is a useful tool to create a change of pace in 'urban fantasy'. Generally the term implies fantasy set in modern times in a big city, but most of the world even today remain covered in pockets of wilderness. The Black Forest in Germany remains an area where it has strong connection but over the years it has found itself creeping all over the wilderness of North America. When the right cosmic conditions align, the % chance of any spot of dark forest becoming linked to the Black and Iron Woods might increase dramatically, creating dream-like and hazy landscapes of tall trees where sunlight barely reach, filled with giant mushrooms and the bones of long-extinct animals. Travelers in those areas can often become pulled in by a mixture of their own curiosity and the psychic pull of the location. During those times, disappearances in any area with a few kilometres of forests can increase dramatically, with bodies found days later, 'regurgitated' by the forest, leaving behind the rotting carcass and bones of travelers. For others, the forest is a good place to gather rare and unique plants and animals which are not of this world, or to seek the counsel and service of ancient troll-witches.

Game Concept: Warhammer 25 000

It is the 26th Millennium. For more than two thousand years, Mankind's fate

in the galaxy seemed to have been in a state of decay and uncertainty.

Once it seemed as if mankind was poised to conquer the stars,

even in the shadow of the Eldar's galaxy-spanning Empire.

From their humble beginning on Earth, the human race has expanded

into the great void of space and mastered nearly all areas of science

that they could ever hope to discover with their mortal minds.

In their folly, the greatest minds of the past unleashed what could have been our doom.

The birth of Artificial Intelligence, now deemed Abominable, was both a blessing

and a curse. With their aid mankind expanded ever further. And, for a time, it was good.

This age of artificial evolution has come to an end in the devastating conflicts.

Mankind emerged victorious but diminished. For a brief moment it seemed as if

the horrors of the past would have been put behind us. We were wrong.

Earth has grown silent. The invisible, immaterial realm of the Warp is stirring.

Mankind is on the cusp of either a true rebirth as a Psychic species or, perhaps

at the very edge of a damnation we cannot even fathom the depths.

To be a Man in those times is to live in uncertain times. It is a life focused on rebuilding

what has been lost while fearfully looking to the future without a clue on what it may bring.

To stand in the sunset of Mankind's greatest era and to fight to keep Old Night at bay.

These are the tales of those times. Preserve the power of Technology and Science,

for so much more risk being lost every day. Cling to the promise of progress and

understanding, less savages we become. For in the dying light of the future, there is

only uncertainty and the stirring of thirsting Gods.

Art by Adrian Mihai

Call it a silly pipe dream if you will, but one idea which has long haunted the wildest dreams was to run a tabletop campaign set in the Warhammer 40 000 universe, albeit away from the two major eras of the timeline, namely the Great Crusade/Horus Heresy, set in M31, and the 'modern' 40k set in M41 to M42. Its been a long established fact that giant chunks of the lore remained (thankfully) unexplored. Being a big fan of Kevin Crawford's work, I've realized that a lot of the material present in Stars Without Numbers seems rather similar to what we could extrapolate to have existed near the end of the Golden/Dark Age of Technology and the beginning of the Age of Strife. While any mention of crunch here mention Stars Without Numbers, this could easily be ran with a very heavily modded Dark Heresy or even GURPS.

There's going to be quite a bit of 'headcanon' going on here. I don't claim to be an expert who know all the minutiae of 40k lore down to the very last bit. In addition, since this is an era which will likely forever remain shrouded in myth, it means a lot of assumptions have to be made. As a final note, the tone of such an era is different from 40k. Because that's the point. To showcase the galaxy-that-was.

Can 'Stars Without Numbers' support such an era?

Most worlds which have not
degenerated would be TL4, with
some TL5 (but not all)

In my humble opinion, yes absolutely. In fact, it was looking at the Tech levels as outlined in the game that I realized that TL4 and TL5 would be fairly close to the level of technological prowess of post-Men of Iron humans. Most, if not all of the things outlined in there do in fact already exist in Warhammer 40 000 and have existed for most of the game's history. They simply represent forms of technology which aren't mass produced for consumer and civilian use but exist in extremely limited forms across Imperial technology:

• Cybernetics: These are extremely commonplace in Warhammer 40k, just in a somewhat more clunky form than they would be in the past. The Imperium and the Mechanicus make use of robotic limbs and cybernetic implants all the time. However they are rather ugly, bulky and baroque things full of wires and tubes. If I was to theorize, I personally believe a lot of the Mechanicus tech isn't so much the most advanced as it is the most rugged and versatile, able to sustain itself with minimal maintenance for centuries. Late Golden Age technology in this area is likely somewhat sleeker. However the most advanced designs are now lost tech and the implants are changing, increasingly devolving toward the clunky, techno-gothic style we all know and love.
• Genetic Manipulation: We know for a fact that, by around M22 the Navigators were deliberately genetically engineered. With that in mind we can assume that, prior to the initial phase of technological decay, humanity was reaching well into TL5 (if not TL6 of 'techno magic'!) areas of biological engineering. If anything, with the increase in Psyker population, the stirring of the Warp likely increasing mutation chances and the need to further engineer populations to better thrive on alien worlds (now that Earth has been 'lost'), this is one area which is likely currently thriving. It is likely most Humans by M26 descend from genetically augmented stock, healthier and engineered to reduce the odds or to eliminate genetic defects and diseases. It is my theory that this engineering, still existing within the genome of the Imperial population, can and does go 'haywire' due to pollution and other degradation, explaining why so many mutations in older 40k books seem so random. Not every mutation is Chaos (although many are). Some could be long dormant, spliced genes going crazy and suddenly expressing themselves.
• Near Immortality: This one would be 'lost technology' right from the get go, but there is some lore evidence to suggest that aging could have been, at the peak of the Golden Age, a thing of the past for the elite. Considering that 'Juvenat' treatments exist in 40k and that the Space Marines and Custodes are near-immortal, the posthuman elites of the Golden Age could have been able to indefinitely suspend aging.
• Localized Temporal Manipulation: These exist in 40k too, going far back into the lore as the Stasis Grenades. This type of technology is called Stasis Fields and they are still in use in the modern Imperium.
• Artificial Intelligence: This one is a no-brainer, as we know that the creation of the Men of Iron is what led to the development of the STC and the true dawn of the Golden Age.

Art by Tim Razumovsky

As one can see, much of this technology has long existed in 40k lore. The key differences, however, are in two things: how common is it and how is it treated? A game set at the start of the Age of Strife would see everything listed under T4 as commonplace on any sufficiently large and industrialized world which isn't too damaged by past centuries of war. The overall standards of life would be massively improved over the basic Imperial menial and these worlds would be, in many aspects, closer to our time. Personal computers used for both work and entertainment, a decent access to medical care (which, even in a highly diminished state, would surpass our current medical technology) and more would be the norm whereas in the Imperium these things are at best used only by Nobles. Even on a planet which spent centuries rebuilding from the conflict with the Men of Iron, technology would still be beyond that of the average Imperial world.

Secondly and, most importantly, much of this technology would still be understood. Maybe not completely, as the massive databases and the complete STC have been lost but much would still remain. These people would not regard technology with superstition. Now obviously these people would know and understand that things used to be better, that in the days of their great grandparents there used to be inter planetary transit on a much larger scale before these warp routes were lost, that people used to live several centuries more and that machines automated even more to the point it was a near utopia. However there would be none of that superstition which is built into the 'cargo cult' of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

The Gene-Wars and Psychic Abominations

Art by Vlad Bolotov.

One of the greatest dangers of this dwindling age, beyond the isolation of entire systems or planets by the Warp, is the threat posed by rampant genetic engineering and the growth of the 'Psyker' phenomena. Psykers were recorded among humans as early as M22 but they would presumably only explode in numbers around the start of the Age of Strife. But why are these two factors so important to the downfall of mankind? Codex: Custodes states the following:

"Thinking machines and the development of ever more esoteric weapons and transportation technologies played their part, but the single greatest factor to drive this expansion was the ability – and the reckless will – to manipulate human genetics. Utterly certain of their own primacy, scientist-kings and techno-demagogues followed every strand of curiosity and exercised powers of creation that made them seem like gods. Ultimately, their hubris led them to catastrophe, and onwards to the very brink of extinction. Worlds were overrun by bloody uprisings within their own populations, much of which were mutated beyond sanity and recognition. Gene-wars consumed entire star systems, while a psychic apocalypse drowned the stars in fire. The vast empire of Humanity was shattered amidst horror and anarchy, and the oppressive shroud of Old Night settled over all."

My personal theory on the matter is that, since Mankind could not rely on thinking machines as much they sought alternate ways to expand their power. With true artificial sentience outlawed/destroyed on any surviving world, power hungry individuals had to find something else. The human body and mind provided the right 'canvas'. The increased rate of mutation attracted scientific curiosity and, as with all things, someone somewhere will see it as a mean to gain more power. At first there would not really be anything seen as truly malicious in this, as humanity would already be used to posthuman modifications. However, humanity in that era was also quite naive and the powers of the Warp were misunderstood and the full ramifications of tapping into the Immaterium would not be immediately clear.

Fear and loathing of the 'mutant' would not be universal, especially on still well developed worlds. There would be a certain naivety to it all, as players could be allowed to take Psychic or even Arcane Foci. It would be treated no differently than any other technology. At least, until someone somewhere had a particularly bad roll. Human variations would also be commonplace and no one would really blink an eye, unless they were particularly repulsive or hostile. However, in the slums and former war zones the first true mutants, as modern Imperials would recognize, are being born. Without the full knowledge of ancient sciences, many anomalies are growing inside the human genome. These, in time, could create divergent strains of humanity which would unfortunately be exterminated by the Legiones Astartes five thousand years later. Other, more stable breeds would become the Ogryn, Ratling or the infamous Squats.

Another area of divergence to take into account is that of pre-Warp travel human civilizations. In the Warhammer universe, humanity was already spreading across the stars far before they ever invented primitive Warp Travel (around M18) or the Navigators (estimated M22). Even before the true dawn of the Golden Age they had already been colonizing their own solar system and nearby (or even distant) worlds for a very long time, using generational ships filled with enough raw material to enable self sufficiency for the colony. These worlds, assuming the colony did not die, would develop radically different ways of life or even biology. According to the old lore of a 1991 issue of White Dwarf, Mars' terraforming began (and seemingly, somehow, ended) in M3! In other words, it began in our own millennium. This means that by the start of the Golden Age, where Warp travel began connecting all these worlds, that humanity already had existed in isolated pockets outside of Earth for about 15 000 years.

Posthuman Augmentations

Art by Josiah Duncan.

For players, genetic engineering and biomechanical augmentation are a viable option when it come to increasing the capabilities of their characters. While the most advanced of genetic augmentations are now considered lost following the destruction of the Men of Iron and the most technologically advanced STC patterns (which logically would include medical data) and while the Emperor hasn't yet obtained the greatest troves of knowledge left on Terra to combine with His genetic material (to make Custodes, Primarchs and Astartes) this hardly prevent now stranded human colonies from creating super soldiers. True, they will never rival the future Astartes but we know from established 40k lore that genetic enhancement to make bigger, stronger, faster soldiers do exist. These type of people still existed early into the Great Crusade, before either falling in battle or being assimilated into the greater Imperial populace. In addition, with Psykers on the rise and the abilities of Biomancy, warp-fueled genetic modification is an area where the maddest of genius would dare to go.

• The Diehard and Iron Hide Foci from the Core Book, as well as Arcane Mind and Arcane Physique can all represent different expression of the Transhumanism used at the start of the Age of Strife. This can range from being born from a genetically engineered sub-species/ethnic group within the sector the game is set (whose descendants would one day be classified as Abhumans by the Imperium) to simply being an elite soldier or special agent whose rich and powerful masters have allowed access to permanent augmentations. Others might be Warp-tained and not even aware of why their bodies and minds are enhanced and the full extent of their degeneration has not manifested yet.
• Alternatively, these augmentations could be mechanical in nature. While the Mechanicum currently doesn't really exist in anything resembling its future form, it isn't as implausible as it sound for select individuals on these far off worlds to be implanted with mechanical augmentations which are similar in function or even directly based off the design templates which form the full range of Mechanicus implants, if not for them to carry augmentations which are lost in the modern Adeptus Mechanicus. Possibly, the Hacker Foci could be restricted to those whose bodies are implanted with these augmentations as they are able to more easily plug into the Noosphere, which would presumably also exist on these worlds through all the wireless technology which still exist.
• Playing a member of the Navigators is also an option. Presumably they are not quite as inbred and monstrously deformed in those days. With the Warp storms growing in potency, the Navigators cut off from Terra have settled on worlds which remain relatively stable and have become a local nobility of sort, sometimes attempting to mount reckless travels to reach nearby worlds and obtain rare resources. Navigators would use the Starfarer or some similar Focis to represent their Warp eye. However they would only ever be able to reach the nearest of star systems and only under considerable strain.

In the 26th Millennium, overall the nature of 'humanity' would be a lot more open ended. Being set in an era where genetic engineering is still commonplace means that the fear of mutants is not quite ingrained into humanity yet. While there are monsters and abominations lurking, the full scope of the isolation of Old Night hasn't fully taken hold yet and Abhumans don't exist so far. The worst is also yet to come on the subject of Psykers and Warp taint.

Familiar Foes

Were you expecting something else?

One of the reasons to set something within the Warhammer 40 000 universe is to, after all, make use of pre-existing material. While many of the game's factions would not exist in M26, there's still a pretty good amount of critters and aliens which are indeed recognizable from the lore, especially Rogue Trader-era lore.

• The Orks: An ever-present menace, the Orks have been a blight on the galaxy since times immemorial. At the height of the Golden Age, the superior technology of mankind kept the monsters at bay, destroying entire Waaaaagh!!! and leaving behind, at worst, scattered pockets of Feral Orks growing from the spores. However, in this period of isolation, instability and technological decay the Orks are growing bolder again. Space Hulks emerge from beyond the veiled Warp routes. Rumours are spreading that the green tides seen in past centuries were but minor incursions. The Orks encountered in the sector where my game would be set would be, as a nod to 1st edition lore, mostly of the Blood Axes clan and an overall more intelligent, sneakier lot. There is also a nod to the Beast Arise series, which depicted Orks as more intelligent and organized when under the influence of so-called Prime Orks, who will still be alive in those days. Overall these would be full of nods to 1st and 2nd edition Ork lore.
• The Eldars: As of M26, the empire of the Eldars has not fallen yet. The race has not yet splintered into Craftworld Eldars, Dark Eldars, Exodites or other groups. Their race is very powerful but also incredibly corrupt, as they are on the downward spiral that will eventually lead to the Fall of the Eldar. The best one can hope of the Eldar is that they simply leave humanity alone.  It seems most likely that Eldar machines were more often seen and interacted with than an in-the-flesh Eldar so overall the race remain mysterious.
• The Necrons: Initially it may seem silly. However, there indeed was Necron activity before M41 as there are mentions of Tomb Worlds slowly waking up during the era of the Great Crusade. There is so much we don't know about Necrons that they can still fit within such a 'prequel'.
• The Slanni: The reptilian Slann date back to Warhammer 40 000: Rogue Trader and were essentially the Lizardmen analogues before 40k reduced the amount of races it had that were copy pasted from Fantasy. The Slann encountered in M26 would be greatly diminished tribes of reptilian/amphibian creatures with ties to the Old Ones.
• The Hrud: The nomadic buggers have been around far before the time the Imperium ever found out they existed. Indeed, they most likely predate the rise of humanity as an interstellar species. It is likely they existed beneath mankind's notice, much like how mankind was beneath the notice of the Eldars.
• Warp Predators: There are creatures from the Rogue Trader book which still exist within the lore and would be around in this era, such as Enslavers, Vampires and Psychneuein. With the unregulated and misunderstood psychic powers going wild, these creatures could pop in anywhere.

Overall, not a bad list despite the lack of any Imperial factions, Chaos (beyond daemons) and Tyranids. Obviously Tau also be completely out the picture as they are still busy banging rocks together trying to figure out fire. Same with, presumably, the Kroots.

Madness & Damnation

Art by Johan Grenier.

One addition built into such a campaign would be the Sanity found in Silent Legions. Now, unless the characters are civilians generally speaking there shouldn't be too much that put a strain on their sanity. As the past centuries have had plenty of wars and societal decay at some point or another, soldier, assassins and mercenaries know what to expect. After an encounter or two with some Xenos, things get pretty easy to process, as these people aren't as brainwashed as modern Imperial citizen.

However there is one aspect of the universe the mind is not ready for yet and that is the Warp and Psychic powers. At this point, humanity knows that the Warp exist (having used it to travel since M22) and Psykers are becoming more common. The problem which is arising is that of Daemons and Warp Predators increasingly being attracted to the growing psychic potential in humanity. When the fabric of reality gets torn asunder and some Daemon of Tzeentch or some other ruinous entity emerge and start murdering people and eating their souls, this is where madness come in.

And yet, Hope?

Art by Sergi Sokolov.

However in the end things are not Grimdark. Not yet. Within the life span of the player characters, things may not look so bad. The best analogue for this era would be a game set during the fall of the Roman Empire. No one could predict how long the fall would last and how much time it would take to climb back to the heights of such an era. Five thousand years is a long time. Ultimately, this is an era which, while connected to 40k lore, in many way still draws more upon classic space opera and pulp scifi. Humanity isn't yet this degraded, crazy, superstitious and hateful thing whose sense of idealism has been utterly crushed. Yes, things will one day be truly terrible. The Grim Darkness of the Far Future will come but not today. Not tomorrow. It isn't here yet.

Time to hold back the darkness. One day at a time.