Horus Heresy

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In the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Horus Heresy was a galaxy-spanning civil war that marked the end of the Great Crusade. First described in the "Slaves to Darkness" Realm of Chaos (Warhammer) manual it was used as the background for the original "Epic-scale" Space Marine and Adeptus Titanicus games since, providing a justification for inter-imperial warfare, it spared the effort to include different armies in the basic games boxes. "Horus Heresy" is also the title of a novel series published by the Black Library, a collectible card game produced by Sabertooth Games and an out-of-print Games Workshop board game, with both games being based on the events which occurred in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

[edit] Overview

Recently, as of 2005 the background material has started to be expanded with a collection of art books and novels created by various authors from the Black Library, set in this time period as opposed to the circa 40,000 AD era of normal Warhammer 40,000 literature. An initial scene-setting trilogy featuring the Luna Wolves and portraying the fall of their Primarch, the Warmaster Horus and the beginning of the Heresy through the eyes of the 10th captain of the legion Garviel Loken was released and since the completion of said trilogy, the novel range has expanded to include the actions for other legions in the war and the role of various Imperial organisations; as of present day further novels are still being added to the series, and the novels have only covered up to the Istvaan V massacres in the timeline of the Heresy.

In some cases the new material introduced in the card game, art books and novels has led to continuity conflicts with the older material, although the information provided in the novel series is generally assumed to be canonical and superseding the older material.

[edit] The Great Crusade

When the Warp storms that had cut off Terra subsided, and the Age of Strife came to an end, the Emperor deemed it time to begin his Great Crusade, a massive galactic campaign by which he and his armies would free human worlds from oppression and unite the human race across the galaxy under a single banner. To execute this plan, the Emperor created the Primarchs, his god-like, genetically engineered superhuman offspring. The Primarchs were still in their infancy, however, when they were snatched away from the special laboratory where they had been developed. The cause of this remains debatable; some argue that the Emperor sent the Primarchs away so that they could learn in their own way, others argue that the Chaos Gods broke into the laboratory and, unable to destroy the Primarchs, instead chose to scatter them across the galaxy, where they eventually came to rest on diverse, human-inhabited worlds. The later theory would seem to be confirmed by Games Workshop fiction, and is generaly regarded as canon or semi-canon by most fans.

During the Great Crusade, the Emperor encountered each of the Primarchs in turn. A Space Marine Legion had been created from each of the Primarchs' genetic material, and so the Emperor, unable to be everywhere at once, deemed it fitting that each Primarch should lead their offspring. However, this would prove a critical mistake, as geneseed creation process made the Emperor, the Primarchs and the Space Marines analogous to Grandfather, Father and Son. In time, many of the Legions would come to venerate their Primarch more than the Emperor.

After 200 years of hard conflict in the thirty-first millennium, over two million worlds had been reclaimed by the Emperor in the name of humanity. Beside him stood Horus, who had fought beside the Emperor for the early part of the Great Crusade as his only rediscovered son. The long wars had forged a strong bond between them, and they were truly like father and son. But now the Emperor had to consolidate his new empire, and more importantly undertake the next phase of his Grand Plan. This required his own presence on Terra, and so after Horus's magnificent victory in the Ullanor Crusade, against the largest horde of Orks ever encountered at that time, the Emperor departed and left Horus in charge of the great Crusade with the title, "Warmaster". Horus was now the Commander in Chief of all the Imperium's armies, charged with leading the other Primarchs and their Legions through the remainder of the Great Crusade.

At this announcement there was much shock and outrage. Many of the other Primarchs didn't understand why the Emperor was leaving them and, worse still, why Horus should have command over them. Sanguinius and Fulgrim were pleased for their new Warmaster, while others - such as Angron, Roboute Guilliman, Lion El'Jonson and Perturabo - all reacted with varying degrees of disapproval. Adding fuel to Perturabo's rage was the redeployment of his rival Rogal Dorn and the Imperial Fists Legion to Terra to serve as the Emperor's Praetorian Guard.

[edit] The Corruption of the Legions

During the Great Crusade, it became apparent that the Primarchs were far from the perfect beings they were designed to be. Although each Primarch was physically and mentally godlike, their personalities were each as flawed as those of any mortal. During their upbringing on their respective homeworlds, the Primarchs had to learn humanity from mere humans; for almost all of the Primarchs, this resulted in their harbouring all-too-human flaws (for specific examples, see each Legion's history).

Horus took over command of the Great Crusade, and took up his new duties with earnest dedication. However, there was much dissension in the ranks of the Primarchs and other parties. Only a handful of the Primarchs, among them a scheming Lorgar, remained steadfast beside him during this period of dissension. Horus also disagreed with many of the new decrees passed by the newly established Council of Terra, intended to shift the burden of taxation and administration onto the newly-conquered ('compliant') worlds. Even worse, Horus came to believe that he was failing his father, and was deeply wounded that the Emperor had revealed to none of the Primarchs, not even his favored son, why he had secluded himself upon Terra. These seeds of bitterness, resentment and frustration grew, and would soon bear deadly fruit...

Meanwhile, the Emperor was on Terra organizing the infrastructure for his Imperium to function. He had created the Council of Terra, a body of bureaucrats and nobles that would implement and administer the new galaxy-wide tax called the Imperial Tithe and other matters of day-to-day law in the Imperium of Man.

The news of the creation of the Council of Terra and these latest bureaucratic edicts angered some of the Primarchs still further. They did not understand why they, the Emperor's greatest champions, who had spilled their blood on a thousand worlds to re-unify all the races of Man, did not have seats on this new Imperial ruling body. The brotherhood of the Primarchs was being shattered bit by bit by this growing resentment and jealousy. Old arguments and differences came to the fore. Horus became ever more distant from the Emperor, seeking only glory for himself and his Legion.

It was on the moon of the world of Davin that Horus's fate was sealed. This was the second time his Legion had been posted to this world; after the previous visit sixty years earlier the Luna Wolves had adopted the native Davinite institution of warrior lodges. Though these lodges had begun as simple fraternities of warriors, their secretive nature handed Lorgar, the Primarch of the Word Bearers Legion, and his First Chaplain Erebus, the tool they needed to manipulate Horus. Lorgar and his Word Bearers came from a world of religious fanaticism and had long worshiped the Emperor as a god. The Word Bearers had sought to spread their Cult of the Emperor to every world they added to the Imperium. But the Emperor disliked organized religion, blaming it for much of the darkness that had plagued humanity's history. The Emperor openly refuted his alleged divinity and banned religious worship in his empire, and demanded that his subjects accept 'Imperial Truth'-- that science and logic alone presented the tools to create a better human future.

Lorgar did not suffer the Emperor's reprimand well. Angered and wounded that the Emperor would not accept his devotion, Lorgar turned instead to the Ruinous Powers of the Warp - who were all too willing to accept the devotion of one of humanity's Primarchs. Before long the Word Bearers Legion had been almost entirely corrupted by the Chaos Gods, and Lorgar and his First Chaplain were tasked by the Chaos Gods with corrupting all of their fellow Space Marines--starting with the greatest of them all, the Warmaster Horus.

On Davin's moon, which had been corrupted by the forces of the Chaos God Nurgle, Horus was poisoned by an anathame stolen from the Interex by Erebus and gifted to the Chaos-corrupted form of the Imperial Army commander (Eugen Temba) the Warmaster had left behind to govern Davin sixty years before. The potent living metal of the blade left Horus with a bleeding wound in his shoulder that his legion's apothecaries could not heal. Seeing his chance to further the designs of Chaos, Erebus persuaded the Sons of Horus's warrior lodge to allow a group of Davinite shamans, known as the "Serpent Lodge" located on the surface of Davin at their temple called Delphos - Chaos cultists all - to heal him.

During the rituals, Horus's spirit was transferred into the Warp. There, he bore witness to a nightmare vision of the future. He saw the Imperium as a repressive, violent theocracy, where the Emperor and his Primarchs (but not Horus) were worshiped as gods by the masses (ironically, this is exactly what happened after his death). The Chaos Gods portrayed themselves as victims of the Emperor's psychic might, and claimed that they had no interest in the material world. Magnus The Red, Primarch of the Thousand Sons legion, had also traveled to the warp via sorcery to try and stop Horus from turning to Chaos. Magnus explained that his vision was only a possible future, but one that Horus alone could prevent. Horus, already jealous and resentful of the Emperor, proved all too receptive to the Ruinous Powers' false vision. The Chaos Gods' pact with Horus was simple: "Give us the Emperor and we will give you the galaxy". Horus accepted the Chaos gods' offer. They healed his grievous wound and charged him with the powers of the Warp. Renouncing his oath to the Emperor, Horus led his Legion into worship of the myriad Chaos Gods. He then sought to turn many of his fellow Primarchs to Chaos, and succeeded with Angron of the World Eaters, Fulgrim of the Emperor's Children and Mortarion of the Death Guard, who were first of many to follow, along with many regiments of the Imperial Army and several Titan Legions.

Magnus the Red, Primarch of the Thousand Sons Legion, foresaw Horus's actions through his Legion's own use of forbidden psychic sorcery. Magnus then attempted to forewarn the Emperor of the impending betrayal. However, knowing that he would have to find a means of quickly warning the Emperor, and as an act of both desperation and vindication, Magnus used sorcery to send his message to the Emperor. The message penetrated the psychic defences of the Imperial Palace on Terra, shattering all the psychic wards the Emperor had placed on the Palace - including those within his secret project in the Imperial Dungeons, the creation of a warp-gate to invade the Eldar's Webway. Refusing to believe that Horus, his most beloved and trusted son would betray him, the Emperor instead perceived the traitor to the Imperium to be Magnus and his Thousand Sons Legion. The Emperor ordered the Primarch Leman Russ to mobilize his Space Wolves Legion and take Magnus into custody; however Horus convinced Russ that Magnus was a traitor and needed to be destroyed.

[edit] The Istvaan Incidents

Published materials are inconsistent on their spelling of "Isstvan": the more recently published material uses "Isstvan",^[1] while other (generally older) materials use "Istvaan".^[2][3] No explanation for this difference has been provided. For the sake of expediency, this article will use the spelling Istvaan, with no claims made to the accuracy of the spelling.

[edit] Preparations and Allegiances

Much of Horus's success arose from the thorough groundwork he had laid before the opening shots were fired at Istvaan. He had already swayed Angron and Mortarion. Lorgar, who had been responsible for the budding rebellion, was also with Horus. Three of the most loyal Legions, the Dark Angels, Blood Angels and Ultramarines and their Primarchs, were sent on missions far from Terra and Istvaan. The Imperial Fists and White Scars were too close to Terra to be contacted without raising suspicion, though Horus believed - mistakenly - that Jaghatai Khan would ultimately take his side. Shortly before the Dropsite Massacre, Fulgrim also attempted to sway his friend Ferrus Manus to Horus's cause, failed, and barely escaped with his life. Fulgrim promised he would deliver Manus's severed head to Horus in recompense. The Blood Angels were sent to the daemon-infested Signis Cluster and the Ultramarines to Calth, where a large Word Bearer force, under Kor Phaeron, had massed.

Of the other eventual traitors, Konrad Curze was due to face disciplinary action from the Emperor; Alpharius had always been closer to Horus; and Perturabo's bitterness towards Rogal Dorn made him an easy target for corruption. The Thousand Sons had never planned to join Horus, but the path Tzeentch had mapped for the Thousand Sons led them to Chaos regardless.

The remaining Legions - the Raven Guard, Salamanders, Iron Hands and Space Wolves - remained staunchly loyal to the Emperor, though all but the Wolves would pay dearly for it in the battles to come. Beyond the Legions, Horus had already swayed Adept Regulus with promises of the STCs recovered during the war with the Auretian Technocracy, delivering Mechanicus support to the Warmaster's forces.

Meanwhile, Horus and Word Bearer First Chaplain Erebus conducted a ritual designed to communicate with the beings of the Warp. They established contact with a daemon called Sarr'kell, who acted as an emissary of the chaos gods. Horus was then deceived by the daemon into believing that the Chaos Gods had no interest in dominating the Physical world, and were only lending their support so that Horus could overthrow the Emperor, who they believed was creating devices that could destroy the beings of the immaterium. Horus agreed, and promised to swear loyalty to them after his fateful operations on Istvaan III.

[edit] Istvaan III

The first sign that Horus and his Legion had turned to Chaos was made evident when Horus virus bombed the rebel world of Istvaan III. Unknown to the Emperor, the Word Bearers had been practicing Chaos for some time before this event. The Planetary Governor of Istvaan III, Vardus Praal, had declared his independence from the Imperium, and practiced forbidden sorcery, so the Council of Terra charged Horus with the retaking of that world, primarily its capital, the Choral City. This order merely furthered Horus's plans. Although the four Legions under his direct command had turned Traitor, there were still some Loyalist elements within the Sons of Horus, World Eaters, Emperor's Children and Death Guard; many of these were Terran Space Marines who had been recruited before being reunited with their Primarchs. Horus, under the guise of his orders, amassed his troops in the Istvaan System.

Horus had a plan by which he would destroy all Loyalist elements of the Legions at his command. After a lengthy bombardment, Horus despatched all Loyalist Marines down to the planet, with the pretense of bringing it back into the Imperium. At the moment of victory and the capture of the Choral city (once a very elaborate and beautiful city), capital of Istvaan III, these Marines were betrayed when the virus bombs began to fall. Saul Tarvitz of the Emperor's Children, however, was abord one of the orbiting ships and discovered the plot to wipe out the loyalist marines. He was able, with help from Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro of the Death Guard, to reach the surface of Istvaan III and warn the marines he could find of their impending doom. Those that heard took shelter before the virus bombs struck. The population of Istvaan III received no such protection: Sixteen billion people died almost at once. The psychic shock of so many deaths shrieked through the Warp, briefly obscuring the Astronomican. Angron, realising that the virus bombs had not been fully effective, flew into a rage and hurled himself at the planet with 50 companies of Marines. Discarding tactics and strategy, the legion worked themselves into a frenzy of mindless butchery. Horus was furious with Angron for delaying his plans, and was obliged to reinforce him with troops from the Sons of Horus, the Death Guard, and the Emperor's Children. Fortunately, a contingent of Loyalists led by Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro of the Death Guard escaped Istvaan III aboard the damaged vessel Eisenstein and fled to Terra to warn the Emperor.

On Istvaan III, the remaining Loyalists, under the command of Tarvitz, Loken and Torgaddon, fought bravely against their own traitorous brethren. Despite some early successes, their cause was doomed. During the battle Ezekyle Abaddon and Horus Aximand were sent to confront their former Mournival brothers, Loken and Torgaddon. Horus Aximand beheaded Tarik Torgaddon, but Abaddon failed to kill Loken when the building they were in exploded. Loken was able to escape and witnessed the final bombing of Istvaan III. To prove his worth and loyalty to Lord Commander Eidolon - and thusly to his primarch, Fulgrim - Lucius of the Emperor's Children turned against the loyalists within the legion, slaying them personally. In the end, the Loyalists retreated to their last bastion of defense, only a few hundred of their number remaining. Finally, Horus ordered his men to withdraw, and then had the planet bombarded for a final time from orbit.

[edit] Flight of the Eisenstein

The seventy Loyalists led by Captain Garro commandeered the Imperial frigate Eisenstein and, evading the forces of Horus, were able to escape from the Istvaan System into the Immaterium, after being told what was happening. The Eisenstein was badly damaged during its escape from Istvaan III; all its astropaths were dead, and its lone Navigator was mortally wounded. However, Garro managed to attract the attention of passing Loyalist ships by setting the vessel's Warp engines to self-destruct and ejecting them from the ship. Rogal Dorn's Imperial Fists Legion had been becalmed in the Warp with its fleet for some time, and his Navigators sensed the detonation of the Eisenstein's Warp drives. Making an immediate course for the location of the ship's beacon Dorn met with Garro, and explained to him all that had happened with the Traitor Legions. Dorn was reluctant to believe Garro's tale, but overwhelming proof from a remembrancer who escaped from Horus' flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, and Garro's dogged insistence convinced the Primarch, and the Phalanx fortress set a course for Terra.

The fate of the Eisenstein survivors is unknown. Sequestered on Luna in a tower belonging to the Silent Sisterhood after arrival in system, Garro, the rest of his Death Guard, Iacton Qruze of the Luna Wolves, and the warriors of the Silent Sisterhood faced one of the Death Guard who had succumbed to Nurgle. Afterwards, Garro and Captain Qruze were met by Malcador the Sigillite, First of the Council of Terra and the Emperor's Regent, who informed them that the Emperor had need of people of strong of will and as "inquisitive" as they. These marines are thought to be the founding members of the Inquisition and the militant arm of their Ordo Malleus - the Grey Knights.

[edit] The Drop Site Massacre

In response to Horus's betrayal, Rogal Dorn ordered seven Space Marine Legions to Horus's base on the world of Isstvan V to challenge the Warmaster. They would attack in two waves and fall under the supreme command of Iron Hands' Primarch Ferrus Manus. The legions comprising the first wave were the Iron Hands, Salamanders, and Raven Guard. The legions comprising the second wave were the Alpha Legion, Night Lords, Iron Warriors, and a large contingent of Word Bearers that Lorgar had stationed in the Solar System. Unknown to Dorn and Ferrus Manus the Night Lords, Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors and Word Bearers had all turned from the Emperor and pledged their loyalty to Horus, and been instructed to keep their new allegiance secret.

The Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard were deployed in the first wave of the assault. After they secured the dropsite, they were to have been followed by the other four legions. The first wave secured the dropsite at heavy cost. Horus ordered his front line troops to fall back, tempting Manus to overstretch his already thin lines. Against the advice of Corax and Vulkan, Manus led his veterans against the fleeing Chaos troops unsupported. Manus brought Fulgrim to combat. As the two Primarchs drew their weapons, the Raven Guard and Salamanders fell back to regroup and allow the second wave legions to advance and earn glory. However, as they returned they were mowed down by the four legions that landed to support them. Horus then pressed his attack and sandwiched the loyalists, killing most of them. Several determined groups managed to break out of the trap and escape to the few remaining drop ships.

Ferrus Manus was beheaded by Fulgrim. Fulgrim was beset by grief; in his moment of weakness the daemon within his weapon tricked him into lowering his mental shields, and possessed him, crushing Fulgrim's soul into the recesses of his mind, a mute witness to the daemon's actions. The daemon would present Ferrus's head to Horus. Barely a handful of loyal Space Marines escaped with their lives to bring word to the Emperor. A critically wounded Corax was brought to Terra in a Stasis tube; Vulkan was missing, presumed dead, although he would later return, as he was one of the Primarchs who protested the splitting of the Legions into Chapters.

[edit] The Route to Terra

After the Drop Site Massacre, it became clear that eight of the eighteen Legions had turned to Chaos. Horus openly declared that he would no longer follow the Emperor, believing him to be undeserving of the battles fought in his name, and took leadership of the Traitor Legions, supported by elements of the Imperial Army, a portion of the Adeptus Mechanicus, strong naval forces then still part of the Legions themselves, and the daemon-spawn of Chaos. Their aim soon became clear: Terra, the heart of the Imperium.

The Sons of Horus, the Death Guard, the Emperor's Children, the World Eaters, and elements of the Word Bearers prepared to rendezvous at Mars. The rest of the Word Bearers Legion was tasked with destroying Guilliman and the Ultramarines in Calth.

Rogal Dorn and Malcador the Sigilite, receiving the few survivors from the Dropsite Massacre became aware of the full implications of their position. Dorn immediately recalled all Imperial forces back to Terra in preparation for Horus's invasion.

Of the legions still loyal to the Emperor the Space Wolves had just completed the Burning of Prospero, near the Chondax System, where the White Scars were stationed. Without warning, the Alpha Legion's fleet broke from the Warp and engaged the forces of Leman Russ, hammering his smaller force and forcing Russ to resort to hit and run attacks. The Alpha Legion's Primarch Alpharius also attacked the nearby White Scars piecemeal in an attempt to draw the larger legion into conflict.

Jagahatai Khan wished desperately to aid Russ, yet as the Traitor Legions' ships attacked, he received the order from Rogal Dorn. Khan was to bring his legion back to Terra, immediately. Dorn also ordered him to relay the order to Russ and add that should he succeed in evading his attackers, only then should he attempt to head for Terra. Relaying the message and adding his apology, the White Scars made for Terra. Russ resolved to meet the Alpha Legion with renewed determination. With help from an unlikely quarter, the Space Wolves would eventually turn the tables on their attackers and make the warp jump to Terra, well after the siege had begun.

Similarly at the world of Calth, the Ultramarines expeditionary force, battered by the relentless attacks of the Word Bearers had dug in on the planet's surface, while Primarch Roboute Guilliman and the remnants of his Ultramarines' fleet launched a series of hit-and-run attacks on the Word Bearers. Guilliman swiftly assessed his ground troop's positions and began broadcasting clear, concise orders, tightly coordinating each line of defence. One battle group, led by Brother-Captain Ventanus, organised a breakout and retook Calth's defence cannons and laser silos. Ventanus's victory bought time for the vast remainder of the Ultramarines Legion to arrive at Calth and drive the Traitors off. Now reunited, the Ultramarines received Malcador's orders and set course for Terra.

As this happened, the Night Lords arrived in the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy to engage the Dark Angels, and Iron Warriors's armada broke Warp to engage the Imperial Fists' fleet marooned near the Chaos Space Marines' headquarters world of Istvaan V. Surviving the initial thrust of the Iron Warrior attacks, the Fists' armada held fast and scattered Perturabo's fleet, then made their own Warp jump to Terra.

Meanwhile, in the Signis Cluster, the Blood Angels, granted new and terrible power by a mysterious mass rage (that would resurface again during the Siege of Terra) had triumphed, smashed the Chaos daemons asunder and were able to make the Warp jump to Terra.

As the Warmaster was moving for Terra he received an unexpected communication from the recently betrayed Thousand Sons Primarch Magnus the Red. The Space Wolves had driven the Thousand Sons from Prospero. Magnus pledged his allegiance and the allegiance of the Thousand Sons Legion to Horus and the Chaos Gods in retaliation against the Emperor for this betrayal. The Thousand Sons were en route to Terra where they would link up with Horus's forces.

Of the nine remaining Loyalist Space Marines Legions, only the White Scars and Blood Angels were able to join Rogal Dorn and his Imperial Fists in the defense of Terra. Three entire Titan Legions and close to two million soldiers of the Imperial Army stood alongside them.

[edit] The Siege of the Imperial Palace

[edit] The Landing on Terra

The siege began with an orbital bombardment by the Warmaster, the prelude to invasion. Although the Loyalist fleets and defences fought back and the defences on Luna reaped more than a quarter of Horus's fleet they, like the Loyalists soldiers on the surface were too few, and were mown down without mercy.

After days of bombardment, the Traitor Space Marines landed on the surface in drop pods and advanced on the two spaceports nearest the Imperial Palace. Five Traitor Legions participated, combining with Traitor forces on the surface. Despite the brave efforts of the Loyalists, The Eternity Wall and the Lion's Gate Spaceports fell within hours. Dark Chaos cultists made their invocations, calling down the Greater Daemons of Chaos onto Terran soil.

With the spaceports secured, Horus's troops landed en masse, and the hulking transports carried thousands of troops each. The transports' immense size made them prime targets for Terra's defence lasers. Although many landing ships were destroyed, many more landed on the surface, disgorging yet more soldiers, tanks and Titans to add to the besiegers' strength. They met stiff resistance, the Imperial defenders knowing that the survival of their homeworld, their Emperor, and the entirety of the human race rested on their shoulders.

[edit] The Siege

The besiegers forced the defenders back to the walls of the Imperial Palace, where thousands died slowing the assault. Angron, now a Daemon prince of Khorne, strode forth and demanded the Loyalists' surrender: they were cut off, outnumbered, and defending a ruler unworthy of their loyalty. Many would have surrendered there had it not been for the Primarch Sanguinius, winged leader of the Blood Angels. The two Primarchs gazed at each other, possibly communicating telepathically. Eventually Angron withdrew, telling his forces there would be no surrender.

The siege began in earnest. Three times the forces of Chaos scaled the walls, and three times were hurled back by Sanguinius and his Blood Angels. Outside the palace walls, forces led by Jaghatai Khan unsuccessfully tried to draw the bulk of the traitor army away from the Palace. Soon the outnumbered defenders were pushed back into the maze of corridors and bulwarks within the Palace walls. Frustrated with his army's slow progress, Horus ordered the Legio Mortis (Death's Head) titan legion to demolish entire sections of the wall. Despite grievous losses, the Titans gouged open vast breaches in the Imperial Palace's defenses. The Traitors surged through.

Jaghatai Khan then decided on a change of plan. Rather than assaulting the near-invincible flanks of the besiegers' army, Khan redirected his White Scars and the surviving Loyalist Tank Divisions to Lion's Gate Spaceport. At dawn their lightning raid surprised the Traitor garrison completely, and reclaimed the spaceport. Khan ordered his troops to reactivate the defense lasers and form a defensive perimeter to hold their hard-won territory. They repelled several frenzied counter-attacks from the Traitors, and began firing on Horus's unprotected dropships. Khan's plan worked: the flow of men and machines to the Palace had been halved at a single stroke. Inspired by this success, a Loyalist force tried to retake the Eternity Wall spaceport, but were beaten back without difficulty.

Inside the Palace, the defenders had been forced back to the Eternity Gate, the sole point of entry into the Imperial Palace. The Blood Angels and Imperial Fists tried to stall the attackers while the remaining Imperials retreated through the Gate. Then the mighty Bloodthirster Ka'bandah came forth. The daemon bellowed out a challenge to Sanguinius. It hurled itself at the Angel of Baal, barely allowing him time to parry its frenzied strikes. The two took to the air, trading blows and battle cries high over the heads of their forces. Already weary from the siege, the daemon cast down Sanguinius, sending him crashing to the ground. The Angel's impact pulverised the concrete below upon impact. All was silent.

Yet Sanguinius was not beaten. Sanguinius cleared his head, forced himself back to his feet, and once more took to the sky. The Angel seized the gloating daemon, grabbing it by the right ankle and arm. The Primarch hefted the creature high and broke its back over his knee before hurling the daemon's carcass back at the besiegers, who howled in despair as the last Imperials fell back. The Eternity Gate was closed.

[edit] The Endgame

The Emperor and Horus in the endgame of the Heresy, with the Primarch Sanguinius lying dead at Horus's feet. For a more updated picture, another depiction of the stand-off can be found here

The siege lasted 55 days. Both sides knew the defeat of the Imperium was near. Sensing this, Horus prepared to teleport to the surface to lead his forces in person. Before this could happen, the Word Bearers' First Chaplain Erebus broke the news to Horus: their daemonic allies in the warp had informed them that the Ultramarines and Space Wolves Legions were nearing Terra; and the Dark Angels were only a short distance behind.

At that moment, Horus despaired; his gamble had failed, weeks of further conflict would be needed to break the defenders and the Emperor's reinforcements would arrive in mere hours. What happened next is disputed, some believe Horus disabled his shields as he experienced one last moment of regret, and some believe it was a personal challenge to the Emperor. Nevertheless, Horus lowered the shields of his flagship The Vengeful Spirit.

The Emperor rose to the challenge, leading his Adeptus Custodes, the Primarch Sanguinius, Rogal Dorn, and several companies of Imperial Fists and Blood Angels Veterans in the assault. Horus used his powers to scatter the Emperor's force throughout the massive warship. Each fought a series of battles aboard the corrupted ship, attempting to link up with their comrades and confront Horus.

It was Sanguinius who reached Horus first. The Warmaster attempted to turn the Blood Angel Primarch to Chaos. When Sanguinius refused, Horus attacked. Wounded from his many battles on Terra, Sanguinius was no match for Horus, now at the peak of his daemonic power. Horus strangled the Angel of Baal with ease.

When the Emperor entered, he saw the corpse of Sanguinius lying at Horus's feet. Horus called the Emperor foolish for refusing the power that the gods of Chaos offered, and timid for not taming them to his will. If the Emperor would kneel before him, then he would spare his life. The Emperor knew well the trap that had snared Horus. He told him that he was the deluded servant of Chaos, not the master. Snarling, Horus hurled bolts of Daemonic lightning at the Emperor, but the Emperor nullified them. The die was cast. Each god-like being knew that the fate of humanity hung in the balance.

The Emperor and Horus engaged one another, battling physically and psychically. Though the Emperor's psychic gifts and martial skills were unequalled, he found himself unwilling to summon his full strength against his son. The Emperor suffered grievous wounds at Horus's hands, and after score of thrusts, parries and counter-thrusts between runesword and lightning claw, Horus sliced open the Emperor's chest armour, then opened his jugular and severed the tendons in his right wrist, disarming the Emperor. A psychic blast seared the flesh from the Emperor's face, bursting an eye. After tearing the Emperor's right arm from its socket, Horus raised his father high over his head, and broke his back over his knee.

At that moment, a lone Adeptus Custode entered the bridge. Horus showed him the Emperor's broken form and laughed at the Custode. He roared and charged the Warmaster. He was flayed alive by a glancing psychic blast from Horus. [In previous editions of the tale, an Imperial Fist Terminator attacks Horus; in older versions, the doomed man is an Imperial Guardsman named Ollanious Pious.]

The casual brutality of the act galvanised the Emperor. Realising at last that his favoured son was truly lost to the corruption of Chaos, the Emperor finally mustered his full power, and unleashed a lance of pure Warp energy that pierced the gloating Horus's defenses. Just before Horus died, he looked his father in the eye, shedding a single tear, begging his father to finish him for his betrayal. The Emperor saw regret in his fallen son's eyes. The Emperor also knew that Chaos could attempt to possess Horus again, and that he would not be there to halt him if they did. Driving all compassion from his mind, the Emperor destroyed Horus utterly, his essence burned from existence.

The destruction of Horus's soul sent a psychic shockwave surging across the Solar System, casting the Chaos daemons back into the Warp, spreading mass panic in seconds. It became clear to the forces of Chaos that their leader had been defeated. A berserk fury had encompassed the Blood Angels at the moment of their Primarch's death, and they were surging forth to scatter the attackers. Retreat turned to rout, and rout turned to bloodbath; thousands upon thousands of Traitor Marines and Titans fell attempting to flee. The ground before the Sanctum Imperialis ran red with the blood of traitors and heretics.

Meanwhile, Rogal Dorn finally found his way to the ship's bridge, only to discover his fallen brother, Sanguinus, and the Emperor, now at the verge of death. It was then that the Emperor whispered instructions to Dorn, urging the Imperial Fists Primarch to take him to the Golden Throne. The surviving Loyalists teleported back to the Imperial Dungeons. Here Malcador the Sigilite, who had briefly taken the Emperor's place on the Throne, thus keeping the warp-gate beyond it closed, collapsed to dust as he was removed and the Emperor put in his place.

The Emperor spoke his final words to his followers. He urged them to continue the fight to free humanity from the forces of Chaos and ignorance that continued to assail it. And then the master of mankind spoke no more, his body entombed within the life-support mechanisms of the Golden Throne, his spirit caught between the warp and in a crippled body for millennia. The Imperium of Man survived, but would become the bastion of repression and brutality the Emperor had fought against. It would also offer humanity its best hope for survival in an uncaring universe.

For more information on the Endgame see Horus (Warhammer 40,000) and Emperor of Mankind (Warhammer 40,000).

[edit] The Aftermath

As the flames of the civil war subsided, Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman rallied the surviving Loyalists, stretching his Legion thin across the galaxy to buy time for the other Legions to rebuild and rearm. Although some Chaos Legions had fled to the safety of the Eye of Terror, the Iron Warriors legion held fast on the worlds they had conquered, and were dislodged only after decades of gruelling warfare. Similarly, the Night Lords Legion continued their spree of genocide and terror along the Eastern Fringe. This campaign endured until the Night Lords' Primarch Night Haunter was assassinated on Tsagualsa. Shortly after Roboute Guilliman slew the Alpha Legion Primarch Alpharius on the planet of Eskrador.

As the last of the Traitor Legions fled to Eye of Terror, Roboute Guilliman turned his attention to rebuilding the Imperium. Never again would it succumb to Heresy so vast or destructive. Guilliman divided the Imperial Army into the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Guard, diluting their ability to mutiny en masse. The Inquisition was founded around this time (some sources suggest it was formed before the Horus Heresy), and the Grey Knights Space Marines Chapter was founded to combat daemonic incursions. The Council of Terra was succeeded by the High Lords of Terra: the 12 most powerful individuals in the Imperium, who were to act as regents of the Imperium.

Of all the changes brought upon the Imperium of Man by Roboute Guilliman after the Horus Heresy, the most pivotal was the Second Founding. This saw the remaining Loyalist Space Marine Legions broken up into smaller, more flexible 1000-man units known as Chapters. Although Rogal Dorn, Vulkan, and Leman Russ opposed it, Guilliman had the backing of Corax, Jaghatai Khan and the High Lords of Terra, and the measure passed. Never again would one man wield the power of an entire Space Marine Legion.

[edit] References

• Games Workshop Design Staff (2002). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Chaos Space Marines, 1st Edition, Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-322-5. 
• King, William (April 2002). "Assault on Holy Terra". White Dwarf: Australian Edition (268). ISSN 0265-8712. 
• "Index Astartes - The Death Guard" (January 2002). White Dwarf: Australian Edition (265). ISSN 0265-8712. 
• 2nd Edition Warhammer 40,000 Codex Imperialis
• Abnett, Dan (2006). Horus Rising. Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-294-X. 
• McNeill, Graham (2006). False Gods. Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-370-9. 
• Counter, Ben (2006). Galaxy In Flames. Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-393-8. 
• McNeill, Graham (2007). Fulgrim. Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-476-4. 
• Merrett, Alan (2007). The Horus Heresy: Collected Visions. Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-425-X.