[Being a study on the methods and culture of the rebellious Demiurgs]
THE BEGINNING OF THE SQUAT RACE
The Squat strain of abhumans was created in the Age of Strife, when the Imperium was cut
apart by warp storms. The worlds known now to the Squats as the Home Worlds were cut
off for several millennia during this time. Due to the heavy gravity of the worlds,
which had been colonized mainly for mining, the human settlers became shorter and
stronger. These changed humans came to be known as the Squats.
The Squat Home Worlds are bleak and barren, barely able to sustain life of any kind.
The Squats live for the most part in fortresses built on the sides of mountains, or within
the complex tunnel systems that allow them to mine the planets' heavy minerals.
The Squats have had a long and hard history. Twenty millenia before the present day,
the mining colonies were set up on the Home Worlds and everything was normal. All of
mankind was in constant contact. The Home Worlds prospered, in a sense, made wealthy
by their abundant supply of raw materials for sale. But this did not last
long. Two millenia later, the Home Worlds were isolated by warp storms. Some
planets were lost to the storms, never to be seen again. Supplies of food and fuel
were almost entirely cut off, and the miner had to come up with substitutes. Through
a need greater than any known before, the miners became technical experts, able to work
wonders with the materials on-hand.
During this time, the colonies became independent, trading between themselves and sharing
knowledge and resources. The Engineers Guild was first created, as well as the
Leagues, which were coalitions between groups of strongholds. The forming of the
Leagues was of great importance, for it allowed portions of the Home Worlds to unite with
an even more efficient social and political structure.
THE WARP STORMS SUBSIDE
When the warp storms first began to fall away, the Squats began to have their first
encounters with alien races. These races were the Orks and the Eldar. At first
there was war between the Squats and these races, but with time the Orks and the Eldar
realized that it was far more efficient to trade with the Squats than to fight them.
The Squats traded minerals for weapons, foodstuffs, and high technology goods. They
worked with Eldar to create wonderous technology, including the hydroponic plants that
provide their food. The Squats managed to have a sort of peace with both races, even
while the Eldar and Orks fought each other viciously. They still had wars with the
other races, but nothing major. This lasted for three millenia, until an Ork
battlefleet led by Grunhag the Flayer invaded the Home Worlds. Both Orks and Squats
took heavy losses in the war to come. The Squats asked the Eldar for aid against the
Ork, but their pleas were ignored. The Squats felt betrayed, not just by the Orks
but also by the Eldar. They hated both with equal fervor. Many strongholds
were lost to the Orks, and still lie hidden away from the Squats.
As the Imperium recoved from the Age of Strife they began to bring back together the
worlds that had made up the original realms of man. The Squat Home Worlds were among
those worlds rediscovered. In the time that followed, the Squats began expanding
their realms outward, while the Imperium watched on with interest at the new race that had
developed. The Imperium and the Squats existed with a sense of peace between them,
with the Imperium believing the Squats to be a part of its members. The Squats, for
the most part, still viewed themselves as independent and continue to use their own
cultural beliefs and structure.
THE BREAKDOWN OF THE SQUAT-IMPERIUM RELATIONSHIP
For millennia, the Squats had a tentatively friendly relationship with the
Imperium. The two empires traded, learned from each other, and gave aid to each other when
needed. All of that has changed.
Early on in the relationship between the two, an event happened that would stress the
relationship. The Adeptus Mechanicus had been requesting that the Squats teach them the
secrets of their warp drives for centuries, but the Squats refused time after time.
The Tech Priests, sure that the could do as good a job as the Squats, tried to form their
own version of the technology. The first tests were to be performed at Ganymede. Instead
of sending the Machina Gloria into the warp as was planned, the drives imploded. A
hole was torn in the fabric of realspace, and Warp space spilled out into it. Ganymede was
abandoned by the Adeptus Mechanicus, and the Squats were later blamed for the incident.
The next stress in the relationship between the two began in the early 40th millennium. A
large Squat colony had been established on Thanes I, a lush world with beautiful jungles
and mountain chains rich in minerals. The Imperial Commander Lucas Flense had decided that
Thanes was meant for the Imperium, and immediately ordered his fleet to attack when he
found the colony. The planet was bombarded from space, leaving forty million Squats dead
in a matter of hours.
The last straw came when the Squats tried to expand their empire outwards in the mid-41st
millenium. As they moved to inhabit a series of systems to the east of the Homeworlds,
they encountered strong resistance from Imperial forces. Many colony ships were destroyed,
and millions of Squats died at the hands of the Imperial navy commanders.
In 997.M41, their patience with the Imperium gone, the Squats declared an open war on the
Imperium, striking at them across a dozen systems. The initial strikes were successful,
but ultimately the Squats' move was a futile one. The Imperium's response was
overwhelming. Within the space of two years, over two dozen Squats strongholds had been
destroyed, and the Squat military had been all but wiped out. Faced with extinction, the
Squats pulled all their forces back to the Homeworlds. The Imperium stationed fleets
along the borders of Squat space, sealing off the Squats and declaring them to be
dangerous abhumans that had to be destroyed.
Many of the Squat Brotherhoods did not accept this turn of events. They secretly gathered
on Fordin, putting their minds together to come up with a plan that would save their
people. They decided that an open battle was futile and would result in the loss of
their race. A guerrilla war was the only course left to them. And so they armed themselves
for a style of war they had never fought in, and began attacking Imperial worlds.
Even with this decision, many of the Squats turned to fighting an open war.
All across the Imperium, stories of Squat terrorists began popping up. From Invus came the
tale of an armoured company destroyed by Squats emerging from the sands of the
Khemlis Desert, armed with explosive charges and energized mining picks. From Huln
came the story of a group of Squats emerging from the mines to assault and destroy the
Imperial colonies on that planet. Brand new Squat ships were seen travelling through the
galaxy, taking in asteroids and processing them for their raw materials. Rumours abounded
of factories within these ships, giving the Squats mobile fortresses and arms
manufacturing.
Once again, the Imperium found itself the attention of the Squat warriors. And found
itself unable to stop them.
THE SHADOW WAR
When the Imperium decided to break off its relationship with the Squats, it did so with
extreme prejudice. Those Squats who were within Imperial borders or serving in the
Imperial military were immediately enslaved and placed in regiments by themselves. These
regiments became known to others as the Suicide Regiments, sent into battle before human
regiments, usually taking a horrible number of casualties with every battle they fought
in.
Around the Squat Homeworlds, outposts were set up and armies were stationed. Deathwatch
Marines observed the movements of the Squats within this ring of planets, making sure
there was no way they could escape without being noticed and then being attacked by an
Imperial army. It seemed as if the Squats were trapped, doomed to be destroyed at the
Imperium's leisure.
The vast majority of the Squat warriors did not accept these actions, and they planned
vengeance on the Imperium. Many of them became enraged to the point that they broke off
all ties with their stronghold, forming bands of merciless fighters seeking their own
brand of vengeance on the Imperium. They became far more dangerous and ferocious than the
Berserkers. They took whatever ships they could find, loaded them up with weapons
and provisions, and began their crusade against the Imperium. To the Squats, they became
known as the Lost, for they would never again return to their homes and their people.
Even so, most of the warriors who decided on revenge had a different idea. They decided to
fight a shadow war against the Imperium, using guerilla tactics and their own knowledge of
mining techniques and mechanical weaponry to help them defeat their foes. They built large
factory ships that could sustain them and strip the raw materials from an asteroid, using
them to create new weapons of war to be used against the Imperium. Splitting up into
hundreds of separate bands, they decided to unify themselves by naming themselves after
one of the behemoths that had stalked the Homeworlds and terrorized many colonists in
early Squat history. These Squats became known as the Demiurgs.
The Demiurgs have spent many of the past several years fighting their war against the
Imperium. They appear almost from nowhere, destroying buildings and tanks and cutting down
Imperial soldiers. When they have encountered their own kind being pressed into Imperial
service, they have rescued them and turned them into fellow Demiurgs. Their warpaint gives
them a frightening appearance, and many an old wife has used tales of the Under-Daemons,
the Demiurgs, to frighten their children into being good. The Demiurgs became a thorn in
the side of the Imperium, one that had dug in so deep that no method tried would remove
it. The Demiurgs were too many and too scattered to stop, and so the Imperium has settled
back to fight one of the hardest foes it has had to face. The Demiurgs have only
just started, and they plan on making sure the Imperium knows their feelings on the
enslavement and persecution of their kin.