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Death of Unity - The Fulgrimian Heresy History of the Heresy Pre-Heresy- In the late 30th Millennium the Emperor of Mankind united Terra, known in antiquity as Earth, through war and diplomacy and set His gaze upon the stars. To reclaim humanity’s birthright, the Emperor created twenty “sons” called primarchs that would be the generals of His armies in the planned Great Crusade. They would be genetically, physically, and intellectually superior to any other being excluding Himself. Before the Great Crusade could be launched, disaster struck. The Ruinous Powers, the foul evil beings that resided in the Immaterium and fed upon the chaos of the material plane, were fearful of the Emperor’s plans. To disrupt these, the Dark Powers kidnapped and sent the twenty infant primarchs out across the galaxy for each to land and grow up on a human world, far away from their father and His guiding influence. Without the primarchs the Emperor’s plan to unite the galaxy under an Imperium based off science, logic and justice was threatened. But as He had done for millennia the Emperor adapted and created from the genome of each of his sons a Legion based off their genetic code. With twenty Legions of genetically and physically enhanced, highly trained warriors the Emperor embarked on His Great Crusade to unite Mankind and to find the scattered primarchs. For over a century and a half the Imperium expanded and eventually the Master of Mankind discovered all of His sons. The first found was Horus and the last was Alpharius. With His unique and powerful progeny found, and their Legions returned to them, the Imperium rapidly expanded with thousands of Imperial expeditionary fleets and armies across the galaxy fighting the alien, purging the mutant, and reuniting the lost fragments of humanity that had been isolated since the beginning of Old Night. In the early years of the 31st Millennium the Great Crusade was nearing an end. It was a time of legend, of hope; the Golden Age of Man was at its peak. In the Ullanor Crusade Imperial forces led by the Emperor Himself and several primarchs defeated the largest known concentration of Orks that had come into contact with the Imperium of Man at that time. After the end of the Ullanor Campaign the Emperor held a massive celebration, forever remembered as the Triumph of Ullanor, that recognized all the accomplishments of the men and women that had fought, sacrificed and died to create the greatest empire ever forged. The world of Ullanor was transformed into a trophy-world of the Imperium, renamed Mundus Tropaeum on all galactic star charts. The Triumph was attended by elements of fifteen Astartes Legions alongside eleven of the demigod primarchs. The Emperor Himself, at the conclusion of the Triumph, praised all those that had fought and died during the Crusade and declared that Horus, favoured and first found son, would be bestowed the title of Warmaster, supreme commander of all Imperial military forces in the Emperor’s name. Following this historical announcement came another of equal importance. To the shock and disbelief of many the Emperor stated that He would be returning to Terra to conduct a project for the benefit of all humanity but none other than this was given, much to the consternation of many. Council of Nikaea- With Horus as Warmaster and the Great Crusade nearing its conclusion, the Imperium’s future seemed bright and assured. However, disputes over the use of psykers were brought to a head shortly after Ullanor. Before the Emperor returned to Terra, He called a conclave on the distant world of Nikaea to resolve the matter once and for all before the division over the issue threatened the nascent empire. The Council of Nikaea would be attended by several primarchs alongside other key Imperial commanders and leaders. One faction called for the disbandment of the Librarian corps in its entirety and the study of what many called sorcery. Spearheaded by Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves, the unspoken leader of this anti-psyker faction declared that all those with psyker abilities, particularly Magnus the Red and his Thousand Sons, should be prohibited from using their psychic powers and return the Librarians back to normal frontline duties. Russ threw accusations at Magnus and his Legion, claiming they were delving into dangerous magicks and foul rituals that were damning them, which, Russ vehemently stated, would threaten the Imperium if it was allowed to continue. While Russ specifically targeted the XV, Primarch Corvus Corax of the Raven Guard vocalised his general distaste of psykers and how harmful they had been in history, discussing and describing hundreds of worlds his Legion had found either ruled by a ruthless psyker elite or destroyed in the aetheric fires of warp-energy. As the council became more and more heated with violence nearly breaking out, several Space Marine Librarians approached the Emperor at this critical juncture, asking if they could speak. The Emperor granted them permission and the Astartes spoke logically and convincingly of how psykers were not evil in and of themselves, but instead education, discipline and training resulted in how they fared. Without the powers of psykers, the Imperium would be disarming itself of one of its greatest weapons, both offensive and defensive. The Astartes called that the Librarians remain, though they agreed to concede to more supervision and stricter reins on what could be researched and practised. After several moments of deep thought the Master of Mankind agreed with this line of thought, calling it the Librarian Compromise. It would allow the Librarius to remain and that they would continue in their duty to serve and protect the Imperium. Though psykers would remain a valuable tool, the Emperor did censor the XV for its pursuit of forbidden and arcane knowledge. He claimed that the Thousand Sons pried too deeply into matters they understood little of and were ignorant of the inherent dangers. So while the use of psychic individuals and Astartes would continue, access to certain fields of knowledge would be stringently denied by Imperial Edict. To the sons of Magnus, and especially the Crimson King himself, this was a great dishonour. The implication that they could no longer be trusted nor allowed to seek out any and all knowledge for the betterment of Mankind was detrimental to their morale and self-image. Magnus had lost allies and gained critics at Nikaea's end, inflaming the already severe distrust between many in the Imperium towards the scions of Prospero. Although many within the upper hierarchy of the Imperium supported the Librarian Compromise, Corax was openly unhappy with the Emperor’s Edict. The most vocal of the anti-psykers, the Ravenlord was persistent in his disagreement and was surprised to find his brother Mortarion, a fierce anti-psyker himself, supporting their father’s judgment with little qualm. The Death Guard Primarch commented that his personal reservations paled when compared to the needs of the Imperium and the Emperor’s wisdom. Seeing that he had few allies, the Deliverer subjected himself to the Emperor’s will. Even Russ, who was not entirely happy with the Compromise, accepted it without question as it put many needed restrictions and strict overview on psykers, helping limit their threat to the Imperium while still reaping in their usefulness. His primary purpose of exposing and censuring the Thousand Sons worked, and the Wolf King believed from henceforth that Magnus would learn from his mistakes and embrace the more restricted guidelines of the Compromise. Despite the hope he held for his Prosperian brother, Russ noted Magnus’ poor reaction to the Edict and became wary. The Sixth Primarch dispatched many spies to monitor the Fifteenth Legion closely as they returned to their homeworld ashamed, angry, and simmering with discontent. Fall of the Warmaster- On the world of Davin an uprising against lawful Imperial authorities occurred. Horus, upon hearing of this, ordered his 63rd Expeditionary Fleet to the rebellious world to expunge it of traitors and bring it back under Imperial rule. During the ensuing battle the Warmaster was gravely wounded by the rebel governor with a sword that bore a powerful contagion, a contagion so virulent it put Horus on his deathbed. Later Imperial historians and Mechanicum Biologis tech-priests would note with hindsight that the contagion and weapon were of Nurgleite origin. Only the quick thinking of one of Horus’s Mournival captains, Garviel Loken, ensured the survival of the Warmaster. Loken’s suggestion of having the Warmaster be interred inside a stasis pod was likely the only thing that saved Horus. First Captain Abaddon quickly ordered that the Sixteenth Legion would journey towards Terra to have their gene-sire healed by the Emperor, for if anyone could heal Horus Lupercal, it would be the one who had created him. With the Emperor forewarned of the Favoured Son’s impending arrival He prepared to heal the stricken Warmaster. Such was the Emperor’s worry for Horus’ well-being that He called upon Mortarion to assist. The Death Lord’s knowledge of poisons and toxins was second only to the Emperor. With Horus incapacitated, the Crusade was now leaderless. Before the Emperor could appoint a temporary replacement, further, more dire news reached Terra. First, the Space Wolves had attacked Prospero, burning the homeworld of the Thousand Sons to a cinder. Secondly, the Night Lords, led by their sadistic and disturbed primarch, raised the flag of rebellion and had laid waste to a dozen populated Imperial worlds, the death toll reaching billions. The Emperor was disturbed at these events. He had ordered Russ and the Sixth Legion to arrest Magnus and bring him to Terra for questioning following the Crimson King’s recent actions, notably the apparent psychic attack on Terra, and allegations of continued sorcerous activities on Prospero. The sanctioned extermination of the Thousand Sons had not been given, but had been carried out nonetheless. A miscommunication on such a scale was disastrous and would have to be investigated. Though of critical importance, the Burning of Prospero took second place as confirmation of Curze’s recent actions reached the Throneworld. With the Night Haunter and his sons having gone rogue, the Emperor commanded Dorn to bring the Eighth Primarch and his butchering progeny to justice. Dorn, as the Emperor’s Praetorian, ordered five Legions to hunt down the VIII. To lead this Imperial Armada, Dorn chose Sanguinius. The Ninth Primarch, nicknamed the Angel, was chosen for his highly developed tactical and strategic acumen, excellent relations with many of his brothers, and shared Dorn’s sentiments of Curze. Sanguinius accepted the command and stated that their murderous brother would pay for his genocides. On that note, five Legions sought after Curze and eventually cornered him in the Bellanor System, a backwater in the Segmentum Tempestus. Here, the Angel declared, history would take place that would forever change the Imperium. Unfortunately, the Blood Angels Primarch did not realise how true those words would become. Betrayal at Bellanor- The first to arrive in-system were the Blood Angels. The next were the Salamanders, fresh from victory against a Dark Eldar fleet, and the Emperor’s Children. The Third Legion had arrived from their homeworld, departing immediately from Chemos when word reached them of Curze’s actions. The tentative friendship between Curze and Fulgrim was known and raised questions whether or not the Third Legion would have the determination necessary to take part in the battle to come, but the Phoenician’s visible fury at the Lord of Night erased any doubts as to Fulgrim’s dedication in destroying the Night Lords. The martial World Eaters arrived a day later, delayed due to increasing warp storms that were beginning to wreak havoc with interstellar travel across the galaxy. The last of the Armada to arrive were the legionnaires of the Death Guard, humourless and dour since their primarch’s abrupt departure to Terra. As the Armada assembled over Bellanor IV, the world the Eighth Legion had fortified their forces upon; another fleet emerged from the warp to the surprise of many. Primarch Lorgar of the Word Bearers had arrived with fully half of the XVII in tow. With six Legions now assembled to throw their military might at the Night Lords, victory was assured though as of yet unattained. When the Imperial warships entered high-orbit, a war council was called and after much debate and planning a strategy was adopted. Sanguinius, with the invaluable assistance and insight of his trusted brother Fulgrim, crafted an offensive that would break and crush the Night Lords within a day. The operation called for the Blood Angels and Salamanders to drop to the surface in their full strength, while veteran elements of the World Eaters and bulk of the Death Guard would assist them. After this first wave the remainder of the Armada would descend. All agreed to the plan, and readied themselves to eradicate the sinful VIII. The strength of so many loyal Astartes might have seemed overwhelming but was deemed necessary as it would show to the galaxy what the Imperium did with traitors. It was to be a lesson that none would ever forget. At the scheduled time, the Armada’s forces launched their offensive. Blood Angel and World Eater drop-pods landed amidst Bellanor IV’s capital, Rose City, suffering higher than expected casualties in their attempt to disrupt the Night Lords communication and supply network while the bulk of the IX, in conjunction with the XIV and XVIII, landed in wave after wave of dropships and bulk-landers. Within hours, near three hundred thousand Astartes had made planet-fall and were securing the outer sectors of the city. The Death Guard and Salamander elements were to protect the rear and flanks, while the World Eater and Blood Angels surged forward to decapitate the VIII command hierarchy. After hours of harsh, bloody combat, a signal came from Fulgrim’s Pride of the Emperor: the second wave was inbound. A majority of the Death Guard and Salamander Legions began to withdraw to secure resupply and repair, and to allow the newly arrived Astartes a taste of combat and glory in the battle. What these Astartes found at the landing zones was not relief nor allies, but rather base treachery and turncoats. The Death Guard loyalists were fired upon by the Word Bearers and their own traitorous brethren, led by First Captain Typhon, who from this day onward would be known as Typhon the Black. The Salamanders suffered the wrath of the Emperor’s Children and the traitor World Eaters. Within minutes, thousands had perished. The broken remnants of the two Loyal Legions withdrew into the city to join with the Blood Angels and loyal World Eaters. began to withdraw into the city itself, though this trapped them between the Night Lords, who were now unleashing their full might upon the loyalists, and the other traitors. Sanguinius, realizing that they would not last long in the meat grinder that was Rose City, rallied and led the Throne-loyal forces to the capital’s sole spaceport. The capture of Serenity Spaceport was bloody with thousands dead but in doing so ensured that thousands more would live. Anything and everything in the spaceport was used to evacuate the Imperial Astartes from the surface to the beleaguered warships in orbit, ranging from modern dropships to archaic mass cargo haulers. The Bellanor Exodus, as it is called, lasted into the night. Traitor elements consistently harassed and interfered with the evacuation, forcing many brave warriors to sacrifice themselves for the majority to survive, attempting to delay the traitors for as long as possible. The most famous of these were the three hundred World Eaters led by Captain Ehrlen that held off their treacherous primarch and kin long enough for the last dropships to depart the planet. While the massacre on the ground had been brutal and devastating, the void massacre was, if anything, even more destructive. Dozens of loyalist escort and capital ships were destroyed before a proper defence formation could be formed. The remainder positioned their warships above Rose City and took in any and all transports carrying warriors that held true to their oaths. After the last dropship, carrying Sanguinius and a mortally wounded Vulkan, boarded the Ninth Primarch’s flagship the Red Tear, Imperial forces broke their way through the besiegers and made way to the nearest Mandeville point and escaped into the warp, wounded and aching with loss. As the bloodied Imperial fleet left and the Dropsite Massacre finally concluded, the traitors assembled for council over the blood-drenched world. Fulgrim was disappointed that any of the loyalists were able to escape his trap, but he was pleased with the final results nonetheless. The Ninth Legion had lost a third of its total force, escaping the most intact amongst the loyalists thanks in large part to its tactical positions in the early stages of the Massacre. The Death Guard lost all but six thousand Astartes, while their traitorous brethren lost pitifully few. The World Eaters had been purged of any that dare not follow Angron into rebellion, and the Salamanders numbered only fourteen thousand, barely a sixth of what the noble XVIII had arrived with to Bellanor. It was at this council that Fulgrim announced that the Third Legion was no longer the Emperor’s Children but now the Sons of Fulgrim, reborn from the ashes of old. It was also here that Lorgar, in a move to garner support for Fulgrim and to appeal to the many trillions of people unhappy with the Emperor and His Imperium, called for Fulgrim to be elevated to official leader of the rebellion. His rank was to be War Commander, a title that would echo through history as a herald of doom and despair. This was to be a largely propaganda ploy, but was also done to give the traitors a semblance of a command structure, as well as set goals and objectives. Out of the Traitor Primarchs, only Fulgrim held widespread popularity in the Imperium and was arguably one of the better tacticians amongst his brothers, making him the perfect candidate for leading the Traitor Legions to Terra. His two staunchest supporters were Lorgar and Ferrus Manus, both committed to elevating Fulgrim to monarch of the galaxy-spanning empire once victory was achieved, though for different reasons. The Heresy- As the fires of betrayal cooled on Bellanor, Fulgrim readied the traitor war machine. With Fulgrim now bearing the rank of War Commander as a symbol for the rebellion, countless billions flocked to the traitors’ banner. The Phoenician’s rebellion spread through the Imperium like a plague. Eventually two-fifths of the Imperium would join him, while a third of the Martian Mechanicum would break their oaths of allegiance to Terra following the assassination of Kelbor-Hal, the Fabricator General of Mars. These Traitor Adepts were led by Kelbor-Hal’s strongest supporter, Adept Lukas Chrom, who blamed the assassination on the Imperium and its Mechanicum supporters. Nearly every Imperial organisation, ranging from the Imperial Army to the Officio Assassinorum, experienced varying degrees of treachery within their ranks, causing incredible destabilisation to the Imperial government and armed forces in the early years of the civil war. To ensure that the loyalists could not unify their forces and potentially stop the rebellion in its infancy, Fulgrim ordered the Word Bearers to Ultramar where the Iron Hands were already beginning to cripple Guilliman’s Realm following the successful surprise attack over Calth. The White Scars were dispatched across the Imperium, wreaking havoc, crippling supply lines and killing billions, all in the name of the Dark Prince and the War Commander. The Alpha Legion was sent to intercept the Dark Angels and prevent them from joining forces with the other Loyal Legions. The Night Lords were to act as the vanguard to the main offensive which would be led by Fulgrim himself, with the World Eaters, Typhon’s newly formed Black Legion and the remnants of the Thousand Sons in support. After these initial deployments the War Commander began his drive towards Terra, but it would be years before he was ready to invade the Sol System. During those years, crucial and costly battles were fought, with victories and defeats for both sides. The Battle of the Abyss, the Calth Atrocity, the Night of Silent Knives, the Underground War, the Shadow War, the Arcurean Crusade, the Nightingale Ambush, Siege of the Perfect Fortress, the Desolation of Tallarn, the Purge of Calaxxes Prime, the Heavy Worlds Campaign, the Battle of Gharran, the Invasion of Deliverance, the Murder of Murdock, the Battle of Molech and many more occurred; leaving wounds in the Imperium that would take centuries to heal. Siege of Terra- In the seventh year of his Heresy, Fulgrim deemed he was strong enough to finally invade the Sol System itself. Leading an armada comprised of elements from every Traitor Legion the traitors quickly captured many Imperial installations and outposts in the outer reaches of the star system and pressed inwards with unwavering vigour. The Arch-Betrayer ordered Magnus the Red, the Chosen of Tzeentch, to create a warp veil that would surround the Sol System that would disrupt all Imperial astropathic communication from Sol to the rest of the Imperium, blinding and muting the defenders of Terra. Fulgrim ordered his massive fleets to neutralise Battlefleet Solar, centred on Terra and Luna. After thirty hard fought days of vicious void combat, this was achieved with over half of the Imperial ships destroyed or captured, with many of the remainder heavily damaged. The survivors would retreat to the Sol System’s outer halo to enact emergency repairs and wait for an opportunity to return to the fight once more. With Mars still embroiled in civil war between those adepts that sided with the War Commander and those that remained steadfast to their oaths to the Emperor, the full might of the Traitor Legions fell upon Luna and Terra. Terra’s moon fell within days, as the traitors used their Assault Companies with great effect, breaking the back of Imperial defences there soon after landing. On the surface of humanity’s homeworld itself traitor forces landed via drop-pods adjacent to the two major spaceports near the Imperial Palace. Within hours the Lion’s Gate and Eternity Wall Spaceports fell to the Arch-Traitor’s forces and with those in hand the bulk of the Traitor Legions were able to land on the surface to begin the Siege of the Imperial Palace. Directed by Ferrus Manus, Primarch of the Iron Hands, the traitor armies began forcing their way inside the Palace. Every block of stone, every stairwell, every hallway was fought with an unbreakable willpower, neither side relenting and the loyalists only withdrawing when defeat was inevitable, falling back to another predetermined point of resistance that would cost the traitors dear to overcome. The Satumine Gate fell to the rebels on the twenty-third day of the siege. As the battle continued, Fulgrim became frustrated by slow progress, calling upon more and more daemonic assistance to break through stubborn Imperial defence. The daemons, led by the Bloodthirster Ka’Bandha, swarmed loyalist lines causing the Ultimate Gate to fall on the fifty-seventh day. Despite these defeats, hope came to Terra in the form of the Raven Guard. The Nineteenth Legion had stealthily arrived over the Throneworld and deposited its Astartes cargo before joining in the continuous void war over the Cradle of Mankind. Corax and his veteran sons would enter the Palace while the majority of his Legion fought the traitors across the globe, attempting to protect the populace from the cruel pleasure-seeking killers of the White Scars and to harass rebel supply lines. With the two outer gates secured the traitors made their way to the final gateway that would lead to the Inner Palace. The Eternity Gate was the last bastion holding back the traitors and the loyalists knew it. They fought with skill and valour that would be remembered for generations to come, even ten thousand years later. The Iron Hands used their forbidden technologies and blasphemous creations to create cracks in the Eternity Gate. For weeks this continued, destroying the Gate piecemeal until on the ninety-third day of the siege a large crevice was created, allowing the traitor hordes to rush the gap in Imperial defences. Instead of swarming through and overwhelming the defenders, the traitors instead were stalled. They were met by three primarchs: Horus, Perturabo and Corax with their legionnaires in support. The three primarchs, with the assistance of their valiant sons, would hold the gap for hours, without faltering, killing traitor legionnaire after traitor legionnaire. Eventually Bloodthirster Ka’Bandha, wishing to kill such a worthy foe and claim his skull for the Blood God, charged Horus Lupercal. After an intense battle that drew the eye of all present, the Warmaster was able to defeat the powerful daemon by breaking its spine over an armoured knee. With the daemon banished back to the warp, the traitor Astartes retreated and the hole in the Eternity Gate was bulldozed shut. Shortly after Manus’ report to Fulgrim that the assault on the Eternity Gate had failed, the Crimson King informed the War Commander that he had looked beyond the veil covering the Sol System and saw that the Ultramarines, Space Wolves, Dark Angels and Blood Angels Legions had broken through the Traitor Legions’ lines; they were only days away from Terra. The Cyclops warned that while the veil around the Sol System interfered with Imperial communications, it would not stop the Imperial ships from arriving and tipping the scales of battle drastically in favour of the Emperor. The Gorgon informed the War Commander that it would be another week, if not longer, before the Eternity Gate could be forced open once again. A week the traitors did not have. Fulgrim was furious. His gambit had failed, and if he remained his armies would be destroyed, but if he fled the momentum he had gained would be wasted away and his Heresy would be broken. Not all was lost however. The Twentieth Legion’s elusive and secretive primarch was summoned by Fulgrim for a daring operation. On the ninety-fifth day of the Siege, the Inner Palace’s advanced shielding that protected it from a variety of threats suffered a cataclysmic system’s failure. With no shield to prevent teleportation the War Commander, followed by his Phoenix Guard and other veteran elite, teleported inside the Inner Palace and, having bypassed the bulk of the loyalists and the Eternity Gate, made their way to the Throne Room to confront the Emperor. The Throne Room- As the Arch-Traitor and his foul ilk approached the Throne Room, they were blocked by the Emperor’s Custodes, Imperial Fist Huscarls and Rogal Dorn. The Emperor’s Praetorian had been in the Throne Room helping orchestrate the planet-wide defensive war and was the last line of defence protecting his father. It was War Commander versus Praetorian, the Phoenician versus the Vigilant, brother versus brother; it was a battle that would echo through the ages. Fulgrim at first tried to win Dorn to his side but the Lord of the Seventh Legion was neither weak-willed nor gullible to the foul lies of the Ruinous Powers. His devotion and loyalty to the Emperor was too great for the temptations of Chaos. Dorn and Fulgrim would fight a brief but destructive battle until the Imperial Fists Primarch had injured but not killed his brother. Fulgrim had grown powerful in his role as Champion of the Primordial Annihilator. Throughout his seven years of rebellion he had grown stronger; Dorn on the other hand was weak in comparison. The Unyielding One was killed by the War Commander's Fireblade. The Emperor arrived in time to see His Seventh Son, his noble, dutiful Rogal, be thrown onto the ground, dead and lifeless before His very eyes. Seeing Dorn die before Him, the Emperor’s face became one filled of anger, sorrow and steeled resolve. The Emperor and the Arch-Betrayer would clash in a titanic battle of both sword and mind. In the end the Emperor was forced to use His psychic might to destroy not only the body but the soul of Fulgrim as well, to prevent the Arch-Traitor from being brought back to life by the Chaos Gods. While the Emperor emerged victorious it was not without cost, He had been mortally wounded by Fulgrim and lay dying. As the Emperor lay between His dead sons, the surviving Astartes of the War Commander’s strike team were dismayed but quickly retrieved their gene-sire, intent on returning to the Pride of Chemos. Warmaster Horus, Corax, and Perturabo, along with their bodyguards, reached the gates of the Throne Room and were shocked by what they saw before them. Acting quickly, they recovered the bloodied corpse of Dorn and the crippled body of the Emperor, intent on putting their father upon the life-preserving Golden Throne per His instructions. Following Fulgrim’s death the resolve of the Traitor Legions broke. Their rebellion had failed and the loyalists fought with renewed vigour and fortitude, as once the War Commander died the warp interference around the Sol System dissipated, allowing the loyalists to detect that reinforcements were soon to arrive. The Traitor Legions gathered up all their surviving Space Marines, as well as many Traitor Army and Dark Mechanicum forces as their warships’ holds could carry and fled the Sol System, hounded by Imperial ships until the defeated rebels entered the warp. The Imperium had defeated its foes and won the Fulgrimian Heresy, but it was at best a pyrrhic victory. As the traitors broke and ran, Horus Lupercal, Perturabo, Corvus Corax, Captain-General Amon Tauromachian of the Legio Custodes, Fabricator General Kane of the Adeptus Mechanicus, along with other crucial Imperial leaders, listened to the final words and instructions of the Emperor of Mankind before He would be interred onto the Golden Throne for the next ten millennia. The Emperor denounced the Traitor Legions, calling them forever tainted and ordered that the Imperium be purged of them and for the borders of the Imperium to be restored. He issued several other declarations before the Golden Throne made Him physically mute and begun His eternal slumber. Despite the crippling of His body the Emperor’s mind was strong. His psychic powers would forever remain vigilant, protecting the Imperium of Mankind from the Dark Gods of the warp as best as He was able. Shattered Dreams- Despite Fulgrim’s Heresy having been defeated, the Traitor Legions were still very much a threat and held vast swathes of the Imperium. With the interment of the Emperor onto the Golden Throne, the Loyalist Primarchs were the individuals that had to reorganise the Imperium and reclaim all that had been lost. For a year the wounded Imperial military recovered, reassembled and readied themselves for the inevitable retaliation against the traitor-held domains. Shortly after the first anniversary of the rebellion’s conclusion the Great Scouring began. Led by the nine surviving primarchs, with Warmaster Horus at their head, this galactic-spanning counter-attack quickly reclaimed much of the territory and would spend the next seven years beating back the Traitor Legions and restoring the Imperium’s pre-Heresy borders. In the aftermath of Fulgrim’s death, several of the Traitor Primarchs remained loosely allied against the resurgent Imperium. United in a loose confederation, these primarchs formed the Syndicate Chaotica, an alliance that wished to preserve the territories conquered by them. And for four years it did so, slowing Imperial progress to a crawl in dozens of sectors. But following Guilliman’s killing of Alpharius on the world of Eskrador with assistance from the Grey Knights, the Syndicate began to fracture at its seams. After their primarch’s death the Alpha Legion withdrew from the unholy alliance and proceeded to splinter itself into hundreds of autonomous warband-cells to scatter far and wide across the galaxy, giving the Imperium trouble for millennia on end. Following the departure of the XX, the other three members dissolved the Syndicate to follow their own paths. The Word Bearers left for Colchis, stripping their homeworld bare of recruits, weapons and resources. They would leave for the Eye of Terror to find themselves a new homeworld, never to return to their old one. The Iron Hands withdrew to their domain centred on Medusa, proclaimed as the Ferrum Dominion by the Gorgon, and fought to the bitter end of the Scouring until their world was destroyed by the Iron Warriors Legion. This would be the First Iron War between Manus’ and Perturabo’s gene-lines, but certainly not the last. The Night Lords, unique among the traitors, remained a cohesive, united force for over a century following the Scouring. Despite this continued perseverance, the VIII’s base of operations, Tsagualsa, would be assaulted and destroyed by the Imperium in the second century of the thirty-first millennium. This defeat forced the Night Haunter and his progeny to relocate to another world, far from the Emperor’s vengeful armies. After the Great Scouring ended, the Imperium began a multitude of reforms to better adjust itself to the reality it found itself in. The greatest of these, the Codex Astartes, penned primarily by Guilliman, though with significant contributions by several of the other primarchs including Horus, Sanguinius and Perturabo, dismantled the Legiones Astartes and in their place the Adeptus Astartes was born. The Legions were no more; instead smaller-sized units called Chapters replaced them. The Astartes would no longer be the principal military force of the Imperium as this would be inherited by the newly-created Imperial Guard. Instead, the five thousand Astartes-strong Space Marine Chapters would act as a quick reaction force, elite shock troops and the speartip of Mankind’s armed forces. Another of the major changes made was the creation of the Iron Cages; these were the brainchild of Perturabo. The Iron Cages were extensive fortifications created around the borders of warp storms, specifically the Fracture, the Maelstrom and the Eye of Terror as well as more. Manned by Astartes Chapters as well as countless Guardsmen, these Cages represented the first line of defence against Chaos invasions and have weathered some of the bloodiest fighting in Imperial records. Not only were these Cages built by both Perturabo and Dorn’s gene-lines, working together as well as they did during the fortification of Terra, but nearly half of the Chapters assigned to the Cages and the star systems that border Chaos domains are Successor Chapters of the Fourth and Seventh Legions. Dark Millennium- It is now ten thousand years after the Fulgrimian Heresy and the Imperium finds itself in dire straits. While the third Tyranid invasion armada, Hive Fleet Leviathan, has been successfully contained since late-998.M41, this large quarantine requires hundreds of billions of soldiers, tens of thousands of ships, and over two hundred Astartes Chapters to keep the Tyranids from breaking through into the heart of the Emperor's Domain. Despite the Tyranids being quarantined, the amount of resources and soldiers put into this continued containment is sorely needed elsewhere as the millennium comes to a close and more threats continue to appear. To add to this growing list of threats faced by the Imperium, various Ork empires, particularly Warlord Snagrod’s Charadon and the vast Waaagh! of Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, are becoming bolder as the Imperium’s vast military might has been stretched thin in recent centuries, leaving significant portions of Imperial space vulnerable to invasion, all of which have become tempting targets to many Ork warlords. Across the galaxy the Necrons have awoken on their Tomb Worlds from their long slumber and seek to eradicate all life in the galaxy in their quest for dominance. On the Eastern Fringe, the young, virulent, and technologically advanced Tau Empire continues to spread at a methodical rate, threatening scores of border worlds and weakening the Iron Cage around the Maelstrom, allowing traitor forces within to raid and reave over a hundred worlds. To add to the destruction and terror sweeping the galaxy, the Dark Eldar in 999.M41 have launched thousands of attacks and raids on hundreds of worlds, enslaving and pillaging. Although a major threat, the Dark Eldar are among the least of the Imperium’s worries. The Traitor Legions, broken but not destroyed during the Heresy and the centuries since, had retreated to the Eye of Terror from which they would launch continuous raids and invasions into the Imperium. The most infamous and devastating of these assaults have been the Vengeance Crusades led by the Champion of Chaos Undivided, the Heir of Fulgrim and a former lord commander of the Third Legion. His name echoes through the warp, whispered by daemons and prophets alike: War Commander Tyberius Sakaeron, commonly called Sakaeron the Deceiver. Sakaeron has already launched ten Vengeance Crusades, each more devastating than the last. As the closing years of the 41st Millennium fast approach, the Forces of Chaos are once again ready to invade the Imperium in numbers not seen since the Fulgrimian Heresy. The enemies of the Imperium are many and all have been encroaching on it, weakening it century after century. If the Chaos Legions, led by Sakaeron and his Sons of Fulgrim, launch their Eleventh Vengeance Crusade and break through the Iron Cage centred on Cadia then it is likely to reach the Segmentum Solar and a Second Battle of Terra might very well spell the end of the Imperium of Man.