Centuries ago humanity took its first steps to interstellar travel. With the creation of the warp drive, man was able to cross galaxies hundreds of years faster. But the ships were crude and the hidden horror of the warp was unknown. Many ships simple vanished, only to reemerge from the warp sometimes thousands of years later. It's crew long since died.

Hulks are sometimes made up of the compacted remains of hundreds of other vessels, meteors, comets and deep space debris. Drifting between warp space and real space, space hulks pose a great threat to humanity. How and why Space Hulks appear from the warp and are then drawn back to it is unknown, although there is plentiful evidence for some being controlled or navigated by their inhabitants or some external force.

Some Space Hulks are infested with alien life forms, Chaos renegades or even worse horrors, but most are simply empty ghost ships, plying the void for eternity. Tales of greedy scavengers meeting horrible fates aboard Space Hulks are told throughout the Imperium, but there are just as many tales of vast fortunes made from the ancient technology they carry.

For some alien life forms, Space Hulks are their primary method of traveling between the stars. When a Space Hulk appears it is soon seized and converted into a huge invasion craft. Once completed, the Space Hulk is sent back out beyond the outer reaches. The Space Hulk will eventually be drawn back into the warp and, if all goes well arrive at some point at a world ripe for conquest.

The Blood Angels were the first to fall victim to such infestations, with the first encounter of the genestealers. The space marines were ripped to shreds in minutes. A dishonor that still stains their great name. They were the ones that pathed the way for Hulk boarding actions. Learning that only small squads of the emperors 1 st company could advance were the many would have failed.

 

As the Hulks themselves crumble and decay because of the high pressure warp fields generated by the slow rupture of the reactor's casing and decompression from the many hull breaches, only squads protected by tactical dreadnought armor (known as Terminator Squads) can venture into such inhospitable environments.

Space Marine Chapters closely monitor the edge of warp space. Keeping an ever vigilant eye on what emerges from it. Boarding actions occurs on a regular basis and ships are salvaged or destroyed.

It is the dawn of the 41st Millennium. Battles rage, billions die…

…and the Galaxy is bathed in blood.