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I know the Chaos was not around, and that humanity was incredibly limited in its travel (Having not discoved the Warp), but what was the state of the Galaxy at large? Where the Eldar still living peacefully on craftworlds? The Necrons still slumbering in there tombs? Was the imperium less extreme?

1: Chaos has been a force in the Galaxy for untold millennium. In fact t was the presence of Chaos which caused the Emperor's birth to become necessary about 5,000 BC give or take a few millennium.

2: As for space travel depends on when we're talking. There was a time when mankind controlled almost all of the Galaxy pre-Imperium or the Emperor having a vast majority of power. Then the Eldar done goofed and made a crazy hedonistic Chaos god bringing about the Age of Darkness for Humanity due to countless warp storms and daemon incursions. During the Crusade though the Imperium was spanning the entire galaxy and being a loyal human in this time was just hunky dory. NO Inquisition, NO Exterminatus, just awesome unity.

3: As I said previously. The Eldar sorta goofed up. The culture had become almost exclusively 'dark' eldar and made Slaanesh. There were galaxy wide side effects from this event but the Eldar certainly suffered the most. They haven't recovered from it in the 13,000+ years that've passed.

4: Hard to say, they sorta pop up whenever and 40,000 years isn't much considering the last time they were widely active was when T-Rex roamed the earth. I would say that tomb worlds occasionally activated but it was rare. Necron probably wasn'ta term thrown around often. Eve the Emperor may've mistaken them for old AI terminator-like robots humanity made in M15

5: Describe 'extreme'. They still abhored xenos. Mutants, pretty sure it wasn't too widespread back then. But Astropaths/ Navigators were still needed. Psykers. Well the Emperor forbade the use of psychic potential a few years before the Heresy but the Astartes still had Librarians up to that point. No Inquisition, NO Ecclesiarch. It was just the Emperor and his vision. As long as you weren't plotting to betray the Imperium (they still had terrorists in the 31st millennium) you were fine.

 Verstaka wrote:
1: Chaos has been a force in the Galaxy for untold millennium. In fact t was the presence of Chaos which caused the Emperor's birth to become necessary about 5,000 BC give or take a few millennium.

2: As for space travel depends on when we're talking. There was a time when mankind controlled almost all of the Galaxy pre-Imperium or the Emperor having a vast majority of power. Then the Eldar done goofed and made a crazy hedonistic Chaos god bringing about the Age of Darkness for Humanity due to countless warp storms and daemon incursions. During the Crusade though the Imperium was spanning the entire galaxy and being a loyal human in this time was just hunky dory. NO Inquisition, NO Exterminatus, just awesome unity.

3: As I said previously. The Eldar sorta goofed up. The culture had become almost exclusively 'dark' eldar and made Slaanesh. There were galaxy wide side effects from this event but the Eldar certainly suffered the most. They haven't recovered from it in the 13,000+ years that've passed.

4: Hard to say, they sorta pop up whenever and 40,000 years isn't much considering the last time they were widely active was when T-Rex roamed the earth. I would say that tomb worlds occasionally activated but it was rare. Necron probably wasn'ta term thrown around often. Eve the Emperor may've mistaken them for old AI terminator-like robots humanity made in M15

5: Describe 'extreme'. They still abhored xenos. Mutants, pretty sure it wasn't too widespread back then. But Astropaths/ Navigators were still needed. Psykers. Well the Emperor forbade the use of psychic potential a few years before the Heresy but the Astartes still had Librarians up to that point. No Inquisition, NO Ecclesiarch. It was just the Emperor and his vision. As long as you weren't plotting to betray the Imperium (they still had terrorists in the 31st millennium) you were fine.

I thought the Chaos wasn't a force at large in the universe intill the empire broke open the Warp, or the Horus Heresy,

 Verstaka wrote:
1: Chaos has been a force in the Galaxy for untold millennium. In fact t was the presence of Chaos which caused the Emperor's birth to become necessary about 5,000 BC give or take a few millennium.

2: As for space travel depends on when we're talking. There was a time when mankind controlled almost all of the Galaxy pre-Imperium or the Emperor having a vast majority of power. Then the Eldar done goofed and made a crazy hedonistic Chaos god bringing about the Age of Darkness for Humanity due to countless warp storms and daemon incursions. During the Crusade though the Imperium was spanning the entire galaxy and being a loyal human in this time was just hunky dory. NO Inquisition, NO Exterminatus, just awesome unity.

3: As I said previously. The Eldar sorta goofed up. The culture had become almost exclusively 'dark' eldar and made Slaanesh. There were galaxy wide side effects from this event but the Eldar certainly suffered the most. They haven't recovered from it in the 13,000+ years that've passed.

4: Hard to say, they sorta pop up whenever and 40,000 years isn't much considering the last time they were widely active was when T-Rex roamed the earth. I would say that tomb worlds occasionally activated but it was rare. Necron probably wasn'ta term thrown around often. Eve the Emperor may've mistaken them for old AI terminator-like robots humanity made in M15

5: Describe 'extreme'. They still abhored xenos. Mutants, pretty sure it wasn't too widespread back then. But Astropaths/ Navigators were still needed. Psykers. Well the Emperor forbade the use of psychic potential a few years before the Heresy but the Astartes still had Librarians up to that point. No Inquisition, NO Ecclesiarch. It was just the Emperor and his vision. As long as you weren't plotting to betray the Imperium (they still had terrorists in the 31st millennium) you were fine.

Isn't the Eldar thing the opposite of that now? Personally I think that time line makes far more sense as the Eldar are supposed to be millenia ahead of humanity. But I thought the most recent fluff was that the birth of Slaanesh actually caused the Warp Storms to cease, allowing the Great Crusade to begin.
As I said I think that timeline is stupid because it makes "The Fall" Only 200 years older than the Heresy, but I thought that was the line. Unless the new Eldar codex has fixed the timeline back to what it used to be? I don't know, I haven't bought a codex since they became ridiculously expensive hardbacks

The Fall predates the Heresy by ~2000 years, not 200, and it was the relative calm in the after-birth of Slaanesh that allowed the Great Crusade to begin. Prior to this time, the Warp was so tumultuous that traveling from one system to another was next to impossible.

The Necrons, Ork and Eldar are each 60 million years old, as races go, making them the oldest races of the galaxy.

The masses of warp storms were essentially labour pains. It's the simplest way to describe it. They mostly went away after the "birth" of Slaanesh.

You know, apart from the whole EoT thing that ripped open. But I guess stitches are sometimes necessary after a prolonged labour! (Just a shame no one has stitched up the EoT though)

Well the last Eldar fluff I read was back in the 4th ed codex. I'm not sure what the current one says but the way they wrote the history made it sound as though it coincided with the Dark Age. I will admit I have never seen any lexicanum article or piece of fluff to support my idea that The Fall brought about the Warp Storms bringing about the Dark Age but the timelines seemed to coincide imho and I have yet to find a piece of fluff that says the Fall did something other than kill Eldar through psychic backlash, unleash warp storms, and a lot of daemon incursions. If I'm wrong please link an article so I can correct the OP.

Here, let me Lexicanum that for you (LMLTFY):

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Fall_of_the_Eldar#.Uw-XpM7EGEo
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Slaanesh#.Uw-X187EGEo
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Eye_of_Terror#.Uw-X787EGEo
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Great_Crusade#.Uw-YKM7EGEo

Alright. The Eye of Terror being the epicenter of the 'explosion' of Warp Energy from Slaanesh's birth is news to me that wasn't mentioned in the last codex. otherwise i didn't see anything supporting the 'Slaaneh's birth/ the Eldar's fall paved the way for the Great Crusdae' claim. On that same note it doesn't support mine either. I just think it's a plausible conclusion to draw because Eldar or not a Chaos God being born would have psychic backlash for psykers across the galaxy i would think, Navigators and Astropath's included.

Mellow wrote:
The masses of warp storms were essentially labour pains. It's the simplest way to describe it. They mostly went away after the "birth" of Slaanesh.

You know, apart from the whole EoT thing that ripped open. But I guess stitches are sometimes necessary after a prolonged labour! (Just a shame no one has stitched up the EoT though)

Necrons are working on it, but someone parked a bloody Fortress World on their testing site, so they're laying low until the humans move on.

 Verstaka wrote:
Alright. The Eye of Terror being the epicenter of the 'explosion' of Warp Energy from Slaanesh's birth is news to me that wasn't mentioned in the last codex. otherwise i didn't see anything supporting the 'Slaaneh's birth/ the Eldar's fall paved the way for the Great Crusdae' claim. On that same note it doesn't support mine either. I just think it's a plausible conclusion to draw because Eldar or not a Chaos God being born would have psychic backlash for psykers across the galaxy i would think, Navigators and Astropath's included.

That's quoted in the bit about the start of the Great Crusade, which is quoted from the Warhammer Compendium, page 20.

Navigators pre-date the Great Crusade by many thousands of years, dating at least as far back as M22.

 Psienesis wrote:
The Fall predates the Heresy by ~2000 years, not 200, and it was the relative calm in the after-birth of Slaanesh that allowed the Great Crusade to begin. Prior to this time, the Warp was so tumultuous that traveling from one system to another was next to impossible.

The Necrons, Ork and Eldar are each 60 million years old, as races go, making them the oldest races of the galaxy.

Everything I've seen suggests the Fall was far closer to the start of the Great Crusade then 2000 years. The Dark Eldar codex mentions "Ten thousand years later, in the 41st Millenium, Slaanesh's thirst pulls at them still."

What I never understood about Slaanesh:
He was 'born' but has somehow always and never been present due to funky palunky time in the warp...

Linear time does not exist in the Warp. Every moment that ever has been, is, and will ever be, exists as part of the contiguous whole of the Immaterium.

 BrotherOfBone wrote:
What I never understood about Slaanesh:
He was 'born' but has somehow always and never been present due to funky palunky time in the warp...[/quote

As Psi says, as far as Slaanesh (and other warp entities) are concerned, 'time' is a cute concept.

That's why the warp allows for faster than light travel. IT doesn't, really, but since time doesn't pass there, time spend there doesn't pass.

If you think Slaanesh existing before it was born is confusing, take into account the fact that the cult leader who organised the revel that created Slaanesh... was a greater deamon of Slaanesh.

 Furyou Miko wrote:

 BrotherOfBone wrote:
What I never understood about Slaanesh:
He was 'born' but has somehow always and never been present due to funky palunky time in the warp...[/quote

As Psi says, as far as Slaanesh (and other warp entities) are concerned, 'time' is a cute concept.

That's why the warp allows for faster than light travel. IT doesn't, really, but since time doesn't pass there, time spend there doesn't pass.

If you think Slaanesh existing before it was born is confusing, take into account the fact that the cult leader who organised the revel that created Slaanesh... was a greater deamon of Slaanesh.

People seem to not realize that Schrodinger/Quantum Slaanesh isn't a joke. It's real and bloody canon.
(Which might also make him the most powerful Chaos Gods, in that, while lacking raw power, he's as slick as a mollusk and can never be contained or destroyed, he annoys causality and will always return or ignore it entirely.)

Quantum Khorne is a thing, too. As is Quantum Tzeentch, Nurgle, Necoho (the Chaos God of Atheism), Malal/Malice, Zuvassin, and whatever other Chaos Gods you want to come up with...

... oh, and let us not forget the Horned Rat, the Chaos God of Skaven who gives not one ratty feth about humans or anything that isn't a Skaven.

 Psienesis wrote:
Quantum Khorne is a thing, too. As is Quantum Tzeentch, Nurgle, Necoho (the Chaos God of Atheism), Malal/Malice, Zuvassin, and whatever other Chaos Gods you want to come up with...

... oh, and let us not forget the Horned Rat, the Chaos God of Skaven who gives not one ratty feth about humans or anything that isn't a Skaven.

Well, Malal got hit by the retcon hammer, and he's been wiped from history with Malice put in his place.... who has zero feats. Belakor (or whatever his name is) might be very well stronger than Malice.

That's because 40K has been all about the Great Four for thirty-some years now. Malal/Malice really is a Fantasy thing, never a big 40K thing.

But there's nothing stopping you from building a CSM army that takes some units that are otherwise keyed to other gods and renaming them to something Malaly. Name the Bloodletters "Brass Myrmidons" or something and, bang, you have Malal armies. Shoot, paint your CSM in black and white checkers and call them Malal's Marauders.

Where's that from, that a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh took part in the ritual that created the Dark Prince? I have never come across that before.

I can't remember exactly. I think it was in Gav Thorpe's Farseer, though.