Event · M41

Scouring of Gnosis

The Scouring of Gnosis was an Aeldari invasion of the Gnosis System in the Talhor Sector during the 41st millennium, directed chiefly against the industrial hive world of Gnosis Prime. One account dates it to 786.M41 and another to 838.M41, while a third places the Space Wolves’ intervention in 787.M41. Gnosis Prime, settled by the Imperium some twelve centuries earlier, was the industrial hub of the sector, with a population of about fifty billion, and its food was farmed on nearby Gnosis Secundus. The Autarch Eliac Zephyrblade of Saim-Hann gave the Imperial population a single day to leave. Planetary Governor Ulyx, trusting in the defensive network called the Ulyxis Line and in Planetary Defence Forces reinforced by Cadian and Valhallan regiments, refused. Aeldari of Saim-Hann and Biel-Tan made planetfall far out to sea, bypassed the line and fell on each industrial complex in turn, while Aspect Warriors emerged from webway portals among the hives. Millions were killed, the complexes were set alight, and Dark Eldar pirates followed to prey on the dying world. The Space Wolves under Logan Grimnar had answered the world’s distress call, but a warp anomaly delayed their fleet, and more than a year had passed in real space when they arrived. Unable to save Gnosis Prime, Grimnar resolved to avenge it. As his fleet moved toward the system’s inner worlds it picked up vox calls for help from Gnosis Secundus, where the Saim-Hann host had turned on the small garrison. Grimnar fought the Aeldari across the system and defeated them on Gnosis Secundus, forcing Zephyrblade to withdraw; few survivors remained on Gnosis Prime.

See where Scouring of Gnosis occurred on the galactic map in the 41st Millennium.

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