Codex: Demiurg Warhost - The Age Of Founding

The Age of Founding - 20,000 AD
The history of the Demiurg begins with the Age of Founding. Although unrecognizable as such the Demiurg race were once human. During the period known in the Imperium as the Dark Age of Technology when humans spread throughout the galaxy from Terra, the first human colonists reached the worlds around the galactic core. Here they found vast mineral wealth including compounds smelted in the furnaces of dying suns. They discovered strange substances formed at the galaxy’s birth before the stabilisation of the laws of physics. The discovery of these almost limitless resources came at just the right time, for Terra’s own mineral wealth was by now long exhausted. The exploration and exploitation of the galactic core became imperative for mankind’s survival. Thousands of specially adapted spacecraft were dispatched to reap the harvest and with them went hundreds of thousands of miners, engineers and explorers. Soon the galactic core became the most densely populated part of the galaxy.

The original colonists were hardy miners and explorers, tough frontiers folk who dreamed of finding fabulous wealth and returning back to Terra. They dug homes for themselves in the rocky landscape, creating self-contained communities from the tunnels and load chambers of exhausted mines. Although huge cargo ships brought food with the colonists, the only way to feed the growing population was to grow nutrient rich algae in
artificially lit hydroponic tanks deep below ground. Dried and processed, this provided a basic material that could be ground into flour, retextured into coarse synthetic foods or even brewed into crude but highly potent ale.

The high gravity, harsh environment and monotonous diet gradually had their effect on the settlers. They became physically shorter and more resilient. They also became surprisingly tough for their short stature with thicker skin and dense muscles. This process must have taken many thousands of years, during which time the new race began to develop a distinctive cultural identity. They also acquired a new name - the Demiurg, often translated as half-human although the true meaning is only known to the Demiurg themselves.