The Gulliman Heresy

[Lucius6]

Wow! :verymad: This is a great read! I really like your take on how an alterante heresy could go down. Keep up the good work!

[randian]

The motivations of the traitors is wafer-thin, no mere invitation should be sufficient to foment rebellion on this scale. What is the Great Lie or Great Truth revealed in the invitation? Was a different, personalized Lie or Truth sent to each Primarch, or did they all receive the same words? What is each Primarch's individual response: rage, grief, sadness, etc?

 

The Salamanders worship no single Chaos god, but their actions and philosophy would do any follower of Khorne proud? I sense a disconnect here.

[Lord Insanity]

The motivations of the traitors is wafer-thin, no mere invitation should be sufficient to foment rebellion on this scale. What is the Great Lie or Great Truth revealed in the invitation? Was a different, personalized Lie or Truth sent to each Primarch, or did they all receive the same words? What is each Primarch's individual response: rage, grief, sadness, etc?

 

The Salamanders worship no single Chaos god, but their actions and philosophy would do any follower of Khorne proud? I sense a disconnect here.

 

A personalised version of the Great Truth was given to each Primarch. I should cover the other responses when I get the other IAs.

 

As for the Salamanders, they try to use Chaos and not be used by it, sort of like the Night Lords. But occasionally, some of them mutate and others become daemon princes.

[Lord Insanity]

OPENING INQUISITORIAL FILE

RETINA: MATCH

FINGERPRINT: MATCH

BIOLELECTRICS: MATCH

BLOOD: MATCH

DNA: MATCH

 

OPENING FILE: Blood Angels

 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Knowledge is Power, Guard it Well.

 

OPENING FILE...

 

 

A Blood Angel.

 

T

he Blood Angels are one of the most accursed Traitor Legion, matched only by the Salamanders and the other Cult Legions. Their depravities are many, and their evil is incredible in its blackness and depravity. Their history stretches back to the Great Crusade, the time when the manifest destiny of the Imperium was taken for granted, their Primarch Sanguinius a mighty Angel, resplendent in holy glory. He landed on Bhaal Secundus, a radioactive world accursed by hordes of cannibal-mutants. It was as no surprise that the uncursed natives thought that he was a mutant, oh, if they had euthanised him and done the galaxy a great favour! But that weakness of compassion won out, and Sanguinius was taken in by the tribe, and became their defender against the mutated hordes. He slew ten thousand mutants in one day; according to the Liber Traitoris:

 

And the Mutants fell upon Sanguinius, but he was as an Angel of Death, and threw them back, and smote them down and cast them out, and the remainder was a hundred of ten thousand...

 

Eventually, the Emperor found Bhaal, and Sanguinius became the leader of the Blood Angels Legion. They perfected the art of the sword, the fury of the boltgun, and the skills of war. They were true Angels of Death, loyal servants of the Emperor to the death and beyond. Every time they fought, they succeeded, Sanguinius leading the charge with the Blade Encarmine and the Spear of Tellesto. The enemy fled in terror at the mere sight of the glorious Angel, and he was a true and just defender of the Imperium, loyal to his Warmaster above all others, even the Emperor.

 

That all changed when he recieved a message from Gulliman:

 

 

Sanguinius, my most obedient servant, you have been lied to. The Imperial Truth is false. Beings do exist in the Warp, beings of divine power and might, greater even than the so-called Emperor of Man. Some may call them daemons planning to lead us astray, but in truth they are angels, come to give us the Truth of Chaos! Knowledge and power beyond what you can imagine, gifts of flesh and spirit, even apotheosis, all lie like fruits ripe for the picking. The Glory of Chaos shall soon rise over the shattered wreck of the Imperium, but the Emperor must fall first. Meet me upon Macragge and pledge yourself to me, and I shall tell more.

 

Warmaster Gulliman

 

After sending a message in the affirmative (driven by loyalty to his Warmaster), Sanguinius had disturbing dreams in his sleep, in which he was seduced by 'unwholesome creatures'. Eventually, he could do nothing to resist and, unwittingly, swore a pact with Slaanesh. The next thing he did, his mind influenced by a Keeper of Secrets, was order the massacre of all the Legion's Chaplains. When he realised what he had done, it was too late, for the pact he had unwittingly made had influenced his mind like a cancer, and all the other members of the Chapter. The entire Legion fell in days, and when they arrived on Macragge, were far different from what they had been.

 

They were despicable hedonists and sadists, laughing as they were wounded, pain becoming joyous pleasure to them, fighting on even when they had suffered injuries that should be crippling. Every wound was nothing but a burst of orgasmic joy, and they were perfect with the blade, using it to skillfully and slowly take apart the captured enemy on their torture-ships. Even worse, they were vampires, drinkers of blood that devoured the vital fluids of their victims. Their pact with Slaanesh had taken them into the darkest parts of depravity, willing to do anything to experience the smallest ounce of pleasure.

 

On Terra, entire Hives were captured up and taken into their ships, taken to a fate worse than death. It is said that the depradations of Chaos were so terrible there that the entire planet had to be repopulated, a few thousand remaining where once there had been trillions.

 

Today, the daemon-primarch Sanguinius rules from the daemon world of Eidolos, and is widely known as the Fallen Angel. It is said that he is an angel with black wings and black hair, long fangs and an unwholesome light glowing from his eyes. He is the most terrible of the daemon-primarchs, for he has actually attacked the Imperium, assaulting Armageddon during the First Armageddon War for inexplicable reasons.

 

Bhaal has been given the ultimate sanction of Exterminatus, but the Blood Angels still live on, raiding from the Black Imperium and their many secret holds in Imperial space. They are a terrible foe to face on the battlefield, using sonic weapons to cause terrible damage and marching through the thickest fire and still continuing to advance. They feel no pain, only pleasure, and their depravities are sickening to behold.

 

Fear the Blood Angels.

[Lord Insanity]

OPENING INQUISITORIAL FILE

RETINA: MATCH

FINGERPRINT: MATCH

BIOLELECTRICS: MATCH

BLOOD: MATCH

DNA: MATCH

OPENING FILE: Alpha Legion

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Even the mightiest pass in time.

OPENING FILE...

Alpha Legion High Commander Gregorius Varr.

Lieutenant-Commander Bale

Lieutenant-Commander Bale is well known for liberating the world of Tartarus, working alongside Librarian Sindri to devise cunning stratagems to liberate the planet. Within days, the Alpha Legion had been victorious over the Orks and the Chaos Space Marines of the Raven Guard Legion. It is said that Bale discovered Chaotic artifacts on Tartarus, which might have been the reason he ordered the Exterminatus of that world, but not before evacuating the civilians, a move which prompted the Word Bearers Legion to make claims of 'weakness' and 'cowardice'.

The history of the Alpha Legion is shrouded in secrets and lies, and none know their true history for granted. What is known, from the scant records that they have revealed to my fellow Inquisitors, is that Alpharius eventually became a space pirate, and was found by Horus during an attempted attack on his ship. Alpharius was soon taken under Horus' wing, and rapidly came to distrust Gulliman. The feeling was mutual; Gulliman also disliked Alpharius, and the letter he sent to him was cursory, brief, and insulted Alpharius at one point. Alpharius responded with the head of Gulliman's messenger, and made haste to Macragge to defeat the Traitor Legions.

The Alpha Legion lost a quarter of its members in the Macragge Massacre, annihilated by the detonation of the Fortress of Hera, their Primarch's body never recovered. In memory of that fateful day they changed the colour of their banner to black, the symbol upon it changed to a hydra. For, they said, the Hydra would never die, for it would always regrow a head. Such was the case with the Alpha Legion. In vengeance, they razed the Fortress of Hera to the ground as they left, the cyclonic torpedoes turning it into a molten crater.

They are a fleet-based Legion, divided into a series of Lieutenant-Commanders (Captains), Commanders (Chapter Master) and the High Commander, who is an analogue of the Legion Master. Each Chapter has its own Fleet - there are 34 Fleets in total, each governed by a Commander. Serfs are treated quite well, and are often used as infiltrators or spies by the Alpha Legion. The doctrine of leadership is that a leader rises naturally. Thus, he often has high charisma, not to mention a good leadership record, good strategic skills and some degree of resistance to Chaos.

The Alpha Legion has few successor Legions, most noted well in the Inquisitorial records - the Hydra Sons, the Scions of Alpharius, and the Dragon Lords. The Alpha Legion typically uses infiltration tactics before attacking directly, slowly subverting the world's defenses before decapitating its leadership and then crushing all centres of organised resistance. The use of guerilla warfare and terrorism is quite common, and the Alpha Legion has devised ways to teleport its tactical squads into battle, giving its enemies no knowledge of where they will strike.

[Lord Insanity]

A Space Wolf during the Heresy. Note the jump pack, to get closer with the foe.



Space Wolf armour recovered during the Defense of Colchis. The armour is so soaked with gore that finding its original paint scheme is an exercise in futility.

The Space Wolves were the sixth Legion of the Astartes, their Primarch being Leman Russ, a notorious brawler. He crashed on Fenris, and was raised by two wolves, Freki, and Geri, who were later to become Flesh Hounds of Khorne. Eventually, he was taken in by the people of Fenris, and became a mighty warrior, a protector of the people, not the blood-hungry slaughterer he was later to become. Eventually, the Emperor of Mankind came to Fenris, and the two engaged in a drinking contest. At its end, Russ actually knocked the Emperor out, and was accepted by the God-Emperor as the Sixth Primarch and leader of his Legion, which he named the Space Wolves and set out to conquer the galaxy.

The breaking point between the Emperor and Russ was when Russ accused Magnus the Red of the Thousand Sons of heresy, daemonology, and sorcery. Instead of condemning Magnus, the Emperor instead chastised Russ for daring to speak out against his brother, which angered Russ. The Emperor had just alienated a Primarch, something that he should not have done. Instead of trying to heal the breach between them, Russ physically threatened the Emperor and declared that he would burn Prospero himself. In the corner, Gulliman sat, smiling softly, knowing that events were going just as he had planned.

The next month, in the Fang, Russ recieved a letter from Gulliman. It spoke of the truth of Chaos, and a god called Khorne, patron of warriors and hater of sorcery, traits which Russ admired. Within days, Russ had the entire Legion sworn to Khorne, the Chaplains and Librarians executed by beheading and their skulls used to make Russ' throne. Soon, the Legion was corrupted, and Khorne had his worshippers on the material plane.

The Space Wolves slaughtered their way towards Terra, leaving worlds bereft of life. Where they struck, entire worlds were extuinguished, the Space Wolves wiping out all life there. Then they reached Terra, and the slaughter truly began. A week-long orgy of slaughter began, the Space Wolves wading through rivers of blood as they took skulls for Khorne. There was no thought of strategy or tactics, just the urge to kill and maim and burn. Where the Salamanders used artillery and tanks, the Space Wolves merely charged forward with no thought for their lives.

Entire Hives were wiped out in hours, and at the climax of the massacres, Leman Russ ascended to daemon princehood. Indeed, the Space Wolves were so busy slaughtering during the Siege of Terra that Gulliman had to order them to attack the Palace! There, in the Imperial Palace's golden hallways, sheer bloodthirst and frenzy met iron discipline and well-honed courage. The Space Wolves broke the line during the defense of the Final Gate, but were stopped by Magnus erecting an eldritch shield of force that prevented their assault, which was defeated by Gulliman.

Approximately 200 years after the Heresy, the Space Wolves have their next reported incident. They assaulted Colchis, home of the Word Bearers Legion, but were driven back by the stubbornness of the Word Bearers and scattered throughout the galaxy, mostly in the Black Imperium. This was also the last reported sighting of Leman Russ. It is said in the Records of Colchis that Leman Russ was 'a monstrous hybrid of wolf and man, its fur soaked with blood, wielding a blade of ice and a flaming axe'. The long time between the Siege of Terra and the Defense of Colchis has an unknown cause, but it is believed by some that all other incidents left no survivors, and that the Wolves were raiders during that time.

Regardless of the veracity of these beliefs, the Wolves are close-combat warriors beyond peer, closing with the foe and ripping them to bloody shreds, claiming the skulls for Khorne. They are feared throughout the Imperium, and are a terrible foe to face.

[Lord Insanity]

Any comments?

[atin]

nice done.

the wolves of fenris and the alpha legion are well written.

the explanation why they turned or stayed loyal is well written, nice and logical.

The only critic I have is the reason why the BA turned so quickly.

 

keep it up..

 

atin

[Lord Insanity]

A World Eater. Note the crimson fist, in memory of Khârn the Undefeatable.



Angron would have died that day if not for the aid of Horus and his Luna Wolves. Against the Emperor's orders they had arrived to aid him, and together and with the Space Marines at their side they crushed the enemy, scattering them to the winds, Angron killing their leader personally. Horus took Angron under his wing, educating him in every aspect of the fledgling Imperium of Man. Angron took control of the War Dogs Legion, renaming them the World Eaters, and the first thing he did was order the removal of the agression chips from every member that had been a gladiator, including himself. Angron had initial misgivings about the implants and psycho-indoctrination, but quickly saw that it was merely to make the Marines greater warriors than any human could be, even with the weapons and armour of the Great Crusade.


When the Macragge Massacre occured, Angron was at the forefront, always fighting the enemy on a mound of slain. It was the World Eaters who fought in the final defense of the drop-sites, where the bloodiest fighting occured. Angron ordered his men to retreat just before Alpharius' sacrifice, and a tenth of the Legion was caught in the devastation. Thankfully, Angron, and his equerry, Khârn, were not killed.

At the Siege of Terra, the World Eaters fought with iron discipline and self-control, a stark counterpoint to the frothing maniacs that the Space Wolves had become. Tens of thousands are said to have fallen before Khârn, who was known as the Undefeatable after that battle, and it is said that his iron will allowed him to endure even the most seemingly fatal injuries. After seeing Horus fall beneath four greater daemons, Angron is said to have charged a horde of Khornate daemons and go on to slay the Bloodthirster Skarbrand, breaking his back and slaying him with a single blow.

During the Scouring, Angron vanished, saying that the Imperium did not need Primarchs anymore, and promising to return when the Imperium truly needed him. He gave Khârn his weapons, appointed him Legion Master, then left. He was the first of the Primarchs to disappear. His fate, as of yet, is unknown.


Given their Primarch’s origins as a gladiator, and his devotion to martial honour, it is not surprising that the Legion and its Successors place such a great emphasis upon close combat. This is reflected by the high number of Assault squads found in their orders of battle, but far from being insane, bloodthirsty maniacs like the Space Wolves, its roots come from their own code of martial honour. Where many legions, such as the Iron Warriors and Death Guard routinely use orbital bombardment and artillery assault against a rebellious world, the World Eaters take great pains to decrease civilian losses, for they feel that there is no honour to be gained in butchering the weak and infirm, particularly women and children. This humanitarian attitude has seen them decried as weak many times, particularly when Legion Master Arguth decried the treatment of civilians after the First Armageddon War, when the daemon-primarch Sanguinius invaded the Imperium.

On many occasions, most notably the famous Defense of Skalathrax and the boarding of the Space Hulk Horripilar of Subete, entire Chapters of World Eaters have taken to the field armed solely with bolt pistol and chainsword. However, that is not to say that the World Eaters eschew ranged weaponry - particularly when facing xenos scum and the accursed Traitor Legions. Indeed, their Devastator squads are famed throughout the galaxy, and are said to never miss their aim.



The World Eaters have a code of martial honour that extends to everything they do. Honour is the greatest thing imaginable to them, and a World Eater would be shamed if he disrespected his word. Sparring and gladiatorial combat is common, and the post of Legion Master is decided by battle. Tendencies towards Khorne have not been discovered, however - the World Eaters keep their rage firmly in control, fighting in a calm, tranquil fury. They do not raise their voice, they do not shout warcries, but they direct their emotions at the enemy and stay calm inside, fighting with unerving silence.

They are a terrible foe.

The World Eaters are one of the smallest Legions, divided into 22 Chapters, each assigned to a garrison world, which they occasionally recruit from. The greatest honour is reserved for the 1st Chapter, which guards Drakaasi and their Fedhan Mor fortress-monastery itself. Fedhan Mor is a wondrous fortress, designed and built solely for defense, but also looking incredibly beautiful. Soaring gothic spires, grand colomnades and great stained-glass windows beautify the fortress, but it is an impregnable stronghold that even the Traitor Legions would be hard-pressed to overcome.

The World Eaters run gladiatorial competitions on their garrison worlds, taking their Scouts from the victors. The requirements to enter them are incredibly stringent, taking the best, strongest and brightest of humanity and turning them into Space Marines. The stringent requirements are one of the reasons the World Eaters are so small - the other is the constant raids into the Black Imperium that they perform.

[Lord Insanity]

Finished the World Eaters.

[Lord Insanity]

Can somebody please tell me what's gone wrong with the World Eaters IA?

[Lord Insanity]

A Night Lord.

T

he Night Lords are one of the most secretive of the Astartes Legions. They always assault under cover of darkness, and hide the knowledge of their past greatly, leaving one with doubt as to their origins. Nevertheless, Finurbi's Liber Astartes, a history of the First Founding Legions, gives a satisfying version of events, though it must always be taken with a grain of salt, being written five millennia after the Heresy.

According to the Liber Astartes, Konrad Curze landed on Nostramo, a forsaken mining world under permanent night and haunted by serial killers. Konrad soon learned to survive on his own merits; as no family took him in and no parents raised him. He rapidly grew and was disgusted at the serial killers that infested Nostramo, vowing never to go down that path. Instead, he became a vigilante, hunting the serial killers and leaving them on the streets, occasionally giving the police clues as to where they would be found. The superstitious criminals soon believed in a 'Night Haunter', a creature of the night that hunted them down, and as the word spread, quickly began to cease their activities or bring them underground, preying on the poor, the weak, the destitute, but Konrad still found them, even the ones who had stopped their activities. In a few years, Nostramo had become free of crime. Night Haunter had given the police breathing room to set up their own activities, and was no longer needed. Indeed, he became a member of the nobility, though he would always keep the looks of his upbringing, and was always mercurial, beset with visions of dark futures and swinging rapidly from one mood to the next.

Zso Sahaal

Zso Sahaal, first Legion Master of the Night Lords, was terrribly wounded after the Macragge Massacres and thought dead when he was brought into an impromptu med-bay. But he was stronger than that, rising from almost certain death and returning all the stronger, becoming Legion Master.

Thus, he is an example for the Night Lords, and the Imperium as a whole.

Konrad Curze

I have always seen these visions - my world atomised by a lance of shining light, death claiming me upon Macragge, my Legion falling before me upon a field soaked with blood, and so many other things. I do what I do because it is written, because I must do it. Because I have seen it.

And then the Emperor came, shining with white light, the clouds parting as his ship descended. Many of Nostramo were blinded by the brightness of the sun they had never seen before, but not Curze. Indeed, Curze stepped onto the shining ship, and for the first time met his father. Gulliman and Horus were standing beside the Emperor, but as he saw Gulliman Konrad was beset by a vision of his death, and knew from that instant that it would be upon Macragge.

Indeed, during the Macragge Massacre the Night Lords took the heaviest casualties, surrounded by the Raven Guard (who had switched sides in the middle of the battle) and desperately attempting to break through the ring of traitors. It was only through the bravery of Konrad Curze, who sacrificed himself knowing he would die, duelling the Traitor Corax in single combat, that the Night Lords could escape to the drop-ships. Dragging their dead and wounded behind them, surrounded by explosions and detonations, they broke through the blockade over Macragge and retreated to Terra, slowed down by turbulent warp-currents and damaged ships, with the urgent need to replenish their numbers and having just heard news of Nostramo's obliteration, it was no wonder that they were in low spirits, yet still they came to safeguard the fleet. Konrad Curze and his Legion have come to represent the ultimate in selfless self-sacrifice, and he was made a Saint by the Eclessiarchy just after the Heresy.

The Night Lords fought heavily in the Siege of Terra, reclaiming the Eternity Gate Spaceport and thus blocking the Traitors' supply lines, an action that, along with Gulliman's death, forced them into a frantic retreat.

They are now fleet-based after Nostramo's fall, their symbol being a bat-winged skull, in memory of the Night Haunter. They consist of about 50 Chapters, each with its own Battle-Barge and group of Strike Cruisers, their assault-locations guided by their Librarians' visions. They are predominantly an assault-orientated Legion, though not as much as the World Eaters, and their weapons of speciality are the Lightning Claws.

[Lord Insanity]

Any comments?

[Lucius6]

Well, about the World Eaters IA, I kind of doubt that even a primarch could break a bloodthirsters back and kill it in the process. Just my thoughts :P Oh and the Night Lords, i cant really find anything bad in it, nice job!

 

P.S: The blue on the World Eaters looks too bright, just tone it down a bit.

 

Keep it up!

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

Well, about the World Eaters IA, I kind of doubt that even a primarch could break a bloodthirsters back and kill it in the process. Just my thoughts :P Oh and the Night Lords, i cant really find anything bad in it, nice job!

 

P.S: The blue on the World Eaters looks too bright, just tone it down a bit.

 

Keep it up!

 

sanguinius broke a BT's back, and then hurled its carcass at the traitors ranks at the siege of terra.

 

WLK

[Lord Insanity]

[center; background-image:url(http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/hq2.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 8px 2px; padding: 12px 8px 12px 8px; border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-left: 0 auto; text-align: left; color: #fff; text-indent:50px; font-size:130%; width:50%;">THE RAVEN GUARD[/center]

A Chaos Space Marine of the Raven Guard.


A Raven Guard Marine during the Horus Heresy.

C

orax was the only one of the Primarchs to land inside the Imperial sphere, on the airless moon of Lycaeus, a prison colony where dissidents and rebels ended up,m even after having committed no crime. Life on Lycaeus was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short, but the prisoners, who were treated as little more than slaves, found the young Primarch, and named him 'Corax' or 'deliverer'. Such a title was completely at odds with the role he would later take, but the prisoners believed in his ability, and Corax quickly became a soldier of superhuman strength and proportion, strategy and tactics coming naturally to him. Corax was a cold and cautious warrior, studying their prey at length before striking at the perfect time. At first, a series of 'accidents' at the shuttles hindered the ability of the enemy forces to react, then the warders were taken out one by one, their mutilated remains found in the corridors, and the superstitious guards became terrified of a 'night daemon' hunting them, refusing to venture into certain areas for fear of death.

This worked to Corax's advantage, as he was unmolested as he continued in his campaign of sabotage and infiltration, the prisoners building crude weapons, and when the time came, revolting. The remaining wardens were ripped apart by the baying mobs, and when the rulers tried to deactivate the force-domes, they ended up spacing themselves, trapped in the void and dying pain-filled deaths, Corax grinning as he watched them die. When the military of Kiavahr marched up to Lycaeus, they were massacred by the prisoners, who had stolen weapons from the armouries, remorselessly gunning down the soldiers and slaughtering them easily. When Corax presented himself to the tech-guilds, he came as a conqueror, not a prisoner. Strangely, his presentation to his Legion was presided over by Gulliman, and the Warmaster soon took Corax under his wing.

It has been suggested that the great raven in Corax’s dreams, which he often saw saying that he had a great destiny, was a manifestation of Tzeentch reaching out to the young Primarch and subtly corrupting him. After all, Tzeentch is known by some as the Raven God, and when he asked the Emperor the question on Ullanor, the Emperor looked worried and confused before refusing to answer.

The breaking point happened during the Council of Nikea, when Russ accused Magnus of sorcery and daemonology, the Emperor chastising Russ. Corax declared that he would support Russ in the 'elimination of the Thousand Sons from the galaxy', a point with which El'Johnson agreed, citing deviancy and mutation in the Legion. The Emperor declared that they leave his presence, which Corax did, after declaring these words:

Nevermore! Nevermore will I let the Thousand Sons exist, nevermore will I fight alongside the Astartes save El'Johnson and Russ himself, the shame would be too much to bear.

The next day, Corax recieved an invitation from Gulliman to join his rebellion and eagerly agreed. But then a core of of veterans, led by Captain Arendi of the Primarch's own guard, fled Kiavahr just as Corax ordered its destruction, and escaped to warn the Emperor of the Heresy that was ready to come into motion. Corax was greatly angered by this and ceaselessly searched for ways to make them more compliant, until a strange, haggard group of visitors came, a group of sorcerers and Astartes both, but bearing armour they had not seen before.

The newcomers looked around the entrance of the Ravenspire, Corax not knowing what they intended. They were nine in number, eight and the leader, who wore a helm with many horns. He wielded a black staff, and a thin, crystalline sword that shimmered with eerie balefires. The others had icons displaying a strange symbol that hurt Corax's eyes, and seemed focussed on him.

Then, the obvious leader spoke, highly and coldly.

'I am Ahriman,' he said. 'And I have a solution for your problem.

The mysterious newcomer wrought a great and mighty spell, Corax on the Ravenspire's balcony, beholding the great storm that struck the Marines. Where it struck, Marines turned to dust, crumbling inside their armour, reduced to little more than pawns, their personalities turned to hollow shells of what they had once been and possessing an unquenchable loyalty to Corax. Corax himself was struck by the lightning, never-used before psychic senses emerging and telling him the horror of what he had done. He screamed, his genetic legacy murdered by Ahriman, the unstruck Marines tainted by Chaos. And he realised that he had been tainted himself.

But then he realised that this was all a ploy by Tzeentch, one of the gods Gulliman had mentioned in his invitation, accepting the taint and inviting it in. And thus, Corax became the first of the daemon primarchs.

As he landed on Macragge, Corax devised a cunning stratagem. The Raven Guard would appear to be loyalist at first, then would betray the loyalists at the opportune time, Corax himself teleporting in at that moment. Within minutes after their betrayal, the death toll increased heavily, the slaughter occuring at the oppoprtune time for Corax to attack. Konrad Curze attempted to retreat, but Corax overwhelmed him and Curze was ripped into bloody chunks by the traitor, Corax ascending to daemonhood while holding his broken, shattered body. However, the Night Lords broke through the Raven Guard envelopment and Corax was banished on Terra by Magnus the Red, the cyclops emitting a shining light from his hands that disintegrated the daemon's corporeal form.

The Raven Guard were fought utterly destroyed after the Siege of Terra, but ten centuries after the Heresy had passed they returned with the first Black Crusade, bringing eldritch fires and daemonic hordes in their wake. Only the intervention of half the Grey Knights Legion and the Legion Master of the Thousand Sons was able to defeat the return of Corax, and even then at a tragic loss - Legion Master Set'arrath of the Thousand Sons and a thousand Grey Knights that never returned from Retarrah's sandy plains.

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/hq2.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 8px 2px; padding: 12px 8px 12px 8px; border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-left: 0 auto; text-align: left; color: #fff; text-indent:50px; font-size:130%; width:50%;">Battlecry

The Raen Guard's battlecry appears through a cold whisper in the enemy's mind. It is simply "Nevermore!"

[Lord Insanity]

[center; background-image:url(http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/hq2.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 8px 2px; padding: 12px 8px 12px 8px; border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-left: 0 auto; text-align: left; color: #fff; text-indent:50px; font-size:130%; width:50%;">THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN[/center]

With a perfectionist ideology, a haughty attitude and a combat record to match, the Emperor’s Children are one of the most effective tools of the Emperor's vengeance, but are marred by a dark shame in their history.

S

o concerned were the Ruinous Powers by the Emperor’s plan to create the Primarchs that they stole the infants away and scattered them throughout the galaxy. But not even this could deflect the fate of Fulgrim. He landed on Chemos, a barren world ruined by forgotten wars, its people scavengers who lived only for survival, each day a battle for existence. That all changed when Fulgrim landed. Within five decades, the people of Chemos were self-sufficient, and Fulgrim was their leader, ruling from the capital hive. Due to a devastating catastrophe with the geneseed, when Fulgrim met with his Legion, they were only 200 in number, but Fulgrim planned to change that soon.

In front of the massed Terran dignitaries and even the Emperor, Fulgrim addressed his newfound warriors, saying: “We are His children. Let all who look upon us know this. Only by imperfection can we fail him. We are the Emperor’s Children, and we will not fail him.”

The meeting between Gulliman and Fulgrim was barely cordial, each side glaring at each other with barely-hidden contempt. The Ultramarines were incredibly arrogant, feeling that they had already acheived perfection in the arts of war, and that Fulgrim was a feeble pretender to Gulliman's position as Warmaster. Fulgrim for his part disliked the Ultramarines intensely, feeling that they had no true loyalty to the Imperium, and both sides developed a fierce rivalry that extended to every action they performed.

Such were the seeds of tragedy sown.


A Tactical Marine of the Emperor's Children.

Upon Macragge, the Emperor's Children suffered heavy losses, Fulgrim among them, slain by Ferrus Manus as he tried to slow down the assault. The tattered remnants of the Legion retreated to Terra, a few Companies returning to Chemos to safeguard it. The result was devastating. The Traitor Legions poured in massive hordes, and the Emperor's Children were forced to try and evacuate Chemos as it was virus-bombed by the Salamanders, reducing it to a desert wasteland where little could survive, its remaining population reduced once more to scavengers, living on the edge of survival outside the sealed-off hives.

Billions died that day, and the Emperor's Children know it as the Great Shame, a terrible black mark on their honour that they must constantly repent from by killing the Emperor's enemies, while endlessly praying for atonement. It is for this reason that the Emperor's Children and their successors call themselves the 'Unforgiven', and why their striving for perfection is ceaseless - it is to expunge the shame on their honour, and perhaps, claim vengeance.

COMBAT DOCTRINE

The Emperor's Children focus primary on lightning attacks and surgical strikes, each battle-brother incredibly skilled with the bolter and chainsword, preferring not to spend valuable personnel on attrition warfare and thus being skilled with lightning raids and surgical strikes. Jetbikes are commonly used, the STC being recovered by the Legion itself, and most squads of non-jump pack-equipped infantry are mounted in Rhinos. Fellblades are rarely used, the Emperor's Children seeing them as not necessary in war. Jump packs are even sometimes used on Tactical Marines, such is their preference for speed and mobility,

Perhaps their greatest peculiarity is their use of sonic weaponry, which are commonly mounted on tanks and dreadnoughts, despite being most associated with the Slaaneshi Blood Angels. This technology is seen as a dead end in most parts of the Imperium, being hard to repair instead of robust and reliable like most Imperial weaponry, and more than one fool from the Frateris Templars or Imperial Army has muttered about heresy when encountering Emperor's Children weaponry.

RECRUITMENT AND ORGANISATION

The Emperor's Children recruit from a half-dozen worlds, from ice-wastes to city-planets, but most often the techno-scavengers of Chemos, who not only survive in the endless desert but actually thrive, surrounded by mutant beasts, boiling temperatures, and incredibly dangerous terrains that can give even Astartes pause. The Legion takes its Initiates from the youngest, most promising fighters, abducting them in the dead of the coldest nights, and taking them to the Fortress of Eagles, an orbiting space-station that is their Fortress-Monastery, replacing their original's burnt-out ruins.

There they are tested for absolute purity in body and mind. If they fail, they are either turned into servitors, a lowly fate, or made into Serfs, which is treated as a great honour by the Emperor's Children, almost as high as becoming a Marine itself. Those who go through the testing process and survive then are assigned to one of the Pheonix Squads, which are the Legion's equivalent of Scout squads. They are led through the training and implantation process, and are expected to perform deeds of valour and courage, led by a Chaplain from the Legion. If they survive this phase, they then join the Aquila Squads, which are the equivalent of Tactical Squads, and may go on to join Devastator, Assault, or Veteran Squads as their talents or battle honours dictate.

The Legion is divided into 107 Chapters, second only to the Sons of Horus' 256, each led by a Chapter Master, who are commanded by the Legion Master, and are scattered throughout the Imperium, fighting its enemies wherever they are to be found and constantly raiding into the Black Imperium's defenses. Indeed, Chemos sits on the frontier with the Black Imperium, and its defense is their highest priority after the Great Shame.

A bizarre flaw in their geneseeed gives the Marines of the Emperor's Children incredibly long life, and their current Legion Master, Lictorius, has lived for 1500 years!

BATTLECRY

The Emperor's Children battlecry is simple - "Remember Chemos! Let the shame be expunged!

[Damegastompa]

Aloha,

I have just one thing to say to you. VERY good job man. It is very creative, and believable. Personally, I liked the World Eaters bit. Keep adding more to it. Good job once again.

[Lord Insanity]

[center; background-image:url(http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/hq2.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 8px 2px; padding: 12px 8px 12px 8px; border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-left: 0 auto; text-align: left; color: #fff; text-indent:50px; font-size:130%; width:50%;">THE IRON WARRIORS[/center]

An Iron Warrior

An Iron Warriors Terminator

P

erturabo, Primarch of the Iron Warriors, landed on the world of Olympia, ruled over by the iron-fisted Tyrant of Lochos, a terrible warlord who dominated the planet. From his beginning the people saw him as their saviour; thus, they named him 'Perturabo', or in their language, 'new hope'. Perturabo grew to have an adept, instinctive understanding of the arts of war and seigecraft, and soon led the resistance movement against the Tyrant. Before long, the rebels had unified into a proper army, and were seen as unstoppable by the Tyrant, who threw his men piecemeal against precisely-erected fortifications and executed the few of his advisors that gave him sane advice. Now, before the gates of Lochos, the final battle was fought. The Tyrant sent the last of his remaining army in a suicidal charge against the rebel positions. Then, something amazing happened.

Drop-pods of the Luna Wolves rained down, led by Ezekyle Abaddon and his Mournival. The Tyrant's forces were utterly extuinguished, and the Tyrant himself was slain by Perturabo in a single blow, a hammer-blow that obliterated his chest in a single swing, killing him in an instant. Perturabo was himself introduced to the 4th Legion, the Iron Warriors. With back-breaking determination, the Iron Warriors quickly became the Emperor’s siege-breakers, laying waste to every mighty citadel and fortress that lay in their path, walls shattering with precisely timed artillery bombardments and orbital strikes. Horus ensured that they recieved due honour for their accomplishments, thousands of worlds conquered and xenos races crushed under the unrelenting hammer of the Iron Warriors.

Gulliman looked down on Perturabo, believing that he was above such things as siegecraft, and disliking him due to his clear affiliation with Horus, whom he saw as his most threatening rival, above even Fulgrim and Alpharius. Gulliman's arrogance, his neat assumption that he was superior to all others, saw Perturabo's contempt in turn, and during the Heresy no battles between the Legions were as hard fought as between these two.

Upon the bloody fields of Macragge, Ferrus Manus killed Fulgrim, but Fulgrim was soon avenged by Perturabo, who slew him and took the hammer Forgebreaker from the remains of his still-cooling corpse, before sounding the retreat when it looked like they might be annihilated. Later, the Iron Warriors fought in the defense of Terra, holding the line against the foul traitors, their Primarch Perturabo inspiring them to great deeds with rousing speeches, Seigemaster Forrix slaying a Warhound Titan when it looked like it might break through the walls, but perishing in the deed.

When the Emperor was victorious, the Iron Warriors put down a rebellion on Olympia that had grown in their absence, crushing it totally. In late M.33, Perturabo vanished during the boarding of the traitor Battle Barge Plague's Fist, leaving only Forgebreaker behind, and although there are many who think him dead, the Iron Warriors believe that he shall return someday.

COMBAT DOCTRINE

The Iron Warriors see little need for jetbikes and land speeders like other Legions. Given their penchant for slow, painstaking siege work, the Iron Warriors give little thought to exotic maneuver elements used by many other Legions, and thus they have few assault squads. But, as if to counterbalance this, they have a multitude of tanks, most often Vindicators, a design that they themselves pioneered, and have many siege tanks and artillery elements, including Basilisk Artillery and Fellblade super-heavies. They have a close relationship with the Imperial Army and Titan Legions, and when they deploy in force the enemy can be expected to see the tanks of the Imperial Army and the Titans of the Adeptus Mechanicus fighting alongside them, a sobering sight for any enemy.

RECRUITMENT AND ORGANISATION

The Iron Warriors recruit through the gladiatoral contests that they run on Olympia every five years. The survivors of these contests become aspirants, taken away by Thunderhawks to the Fortress-Monastery upon Olympia, where they become, if they pass the rigorous tests, Scouts. After they are ready for the Black Carapace to be inserted, they become full Marines and Battle-Brothers.

The Iron Warriors Legion consists of 6 Grand Companies, each containing 10,000 Marines, and are headquartered on Olympia.

BATTLECRY

The Iron Warriors use the battlecry "Iron Within, Iron Without!"

[Lord Insanity]

Finished the Iron Warriors.

[Marshal Rohr]

This is more accurately a reverse Heresy.

[Aurelius Rex]

I have to say that I am incredibly annoyed that you seem to have cut and pasted entire sections out of my Alt-Heresy articles and seemingly passed them off as your own work. As an author you should be ashamed of yourself. There are whole passages that are word-for-word identical in the Emperor's Children and Raven Guard IA's.

 

How can you possibly justify doing this?

 

Compare my original Alt-IA:Raven Guard:

 

When the infant Primarchs were scattered across the galaxy, most came to rest on worlds outside the bounds of the growing Imperium. The infant Corax, though, landed on a moon orbiting a planet that had recently been brought into compliance, yet there was no way for The Emperor to know that His lost son was already within His domain. The pale youth was found on Lycaeus, an airless mining moon orbiting the world of Kiavahr. Unfortunately, the Imperium’s presence on the planet extended little beyond a handful of officials sent to ensure that the ruling Tech-Guild kept up the flow of equipment and weapons to nearby expeditions. Lycaeus was a penal colony, with the mines worked by criminals and dissidents opposed to Kiavahr’s rulers. To be shipped up to Lycaeus was a life and death sentence combined, as the back-breaking labour, bad air and ever-present risk of cave-ins meant that life was ugly, brutish and short. Protests were quickly stamped upon by the guards, backed up with the ultimate sanction that if unrest ever became too vocal, the force-domes that enclosed the settlements would be deactivated and the unruly elements vented to open space.

 

The boy-Primarch was found by the convicts, who recognised something exceptional about him. They hid the child from the guards and named him Corax, or ‘the Deliverer’, so certain were they that he held the key to their salvation. This vision was shared by Corax, who from an early age had dreams of a vast, winged presence, a raven that guided him in times of trouble and spoke of a great destiny to protect mankind from its enemies. The first steps on this long road were to free the downtrodden population of Lycaeus from their brutal masters.

 

Despite the sickly surroundings, Corax matured rapidly to become a warrior of superhuman proportions. As he did so the convicts taught him all manner of techniques honed in Kiavahr’s criminal underworld. Tactics such as sabotage, misdirection, intimidation and assassination would be vital in freeing them from the iron grip of their jailers, and Corax put all these skills and more to use. It was clear that they could not hope to match their overlords in open combat as the only weaponry they possessed were mining tools and machinery.

 

Corax clinically analysed his enemies’ weaknesses and constructed an ingenious plan to bring about their demise. Through a subtle campaign of sabotage, Corax's followers steadily increased the pressure on the guards without ever drawing their wrath. The prisoner’s mining skills were invaluable in this, first in gaining access to restricted areas, and later to outflank and surround their enemies. A series of ‘accidents’ at the spaceport grounded much of Kiavahr’s small fleet of mining shuttles which saw the guards’ tours and shifts constantly extended as their replacements were trapped on the planet below. By the time Corax’s revolution finally ignited, the warders were exhausted, disgruntled and easy prey. The greatest threat came from the towering black mountain from which their overlords ruled the moon, but it too was neutralised when the defenders found their control of the force domes had been subverted. Their attempts to vent the rioting prisoners into space only resulted in their fortress’s blast doors grinding open and the force dome over the tower failing, flushing the guards themselves into space.

 

Incensed by the rebellion, the rulers of Kiavahr used their remaining shuttles to carry military forces up the gravity well. They fared no better than the guards before them, and were torn apart by Corax’s grim-faced rebels, made all the more deadly by the weaponry taken from their former warders. Finally recognising the seriousness of the threat they faced, the leaders of the Tech-Guilds called for aid from the Imperium to put down the revolt. Without access to their moon’s mineral resources the forges would rapidly fall cold, and the expeditions they supplied would soon falter.

 

The Imperial fleet arrived with creditable haste, heading directly for the turbulent moon, and after only a brief time the heads of the Tech-Guilds were curtly informed that the rebellion was at an end. When the Imperial flagship’s landing craft touched down at Kiavahr’s main spaceport, the rebel leader was brought out not in chains, but emerged proudly as a victor, alongside none other than The Emperor Himself. All assembled fell to their knees before the Master of Mankind, who proclaimed Corax as His son, and the man who would from that day onwards rule the Kiavahr system in His stead.

 

Cowed by this edict, and the legion of Astartes placed under Corax’s command, the now subservient Tech-Guilds were given the task of providing arms and armour for his new ‘Raven Guard’. Conditions for the miners were dramatically improved, and the moon of Lycaeus, now renamed ‘Deliverance’ for Corax’s achievements, became the legion’s home. The forbidding black tower that had been the symbol of the Tech-Guild’s power was reinforced and expanded to become the legion’s Fortress-Monastery, and named the ‘Ravenspire’.

 

It has been suggested that the great raven in Corax’s dreams was a manifestation of The Emperor reaching out to find him. Certainly, after father and son were reunited Corax was rarely visited again by this mysterious presence. At Ullanor, Corax famously asked his father about this phenomenon, but, ever enigmatic, The Emperor simply smiled knowingly.

 

And now 'your' version in this thread...

 

When the infant Primarchs were scattered across the galaxy, most came to rest on worlds outside the bounds of the growing Imperium. The infant Corax, though, landed on a moon orbiting a planet that had recently been brought into compliance, yet there was no way for the Emperor of Man to know that His lost son was already within His domain. The pale youth was found on Lycaeus, an airless mining moon orbiting the world of Kiavahr. Unfortunately, the Imperium’s presence on the planet extended little beyond a handful of officials sent to ensure that the ruling Tech-Guild kept up the flow of equipment and weapons to nearby expeditions. Lycaeus was a penal colony, with the mines worked by criminals and dissidents opposed to Kiavahr’s rulers. To be shipped up to Lycaeus was a life and death sentence combined, as the back-breaking labour, bad air and ever-present risk of cave-ins meant that life was ugly, brutish and short. Protests were quickly stamped upon by the guards, backed up with the ultimate sanction that if unrest ever became too vocal, the force-domes that enclosed the settlements would be deactivated and the unruly elements vented to open space.

 

The boy-Primarch was found by the convicts, who recognised something exceptional about him. They hid the child from the guards and named him 'Corax', or ‘the Deliverer’, so certain were they that he held the key to their salvation. This vision was shared by Corax, who from an early age had dreams of a vast, winged presence, a raven that guided him in times of trouble and spoke of a great destiny for him, if only he would take it. The first steps on this long road were to free the downtrodden population of Lycaeus from their brutal masters.

 

Despite the sickly surroundings, Corax matured rapidly to become a warrior and strategist of superhuman skill and proportion. Sabotage, cunning, complex tactics and strategies, all were second nature to him, and Corax quickly became the de facto leader of the slaves, well-known and rumoured to be a superhuman being.

 

Corax coldly analysed his enemies’ weaknesses and constructed an ingenious plan to bring about their demise. Through a subtle campaign of sabotage, Corax's followers steadily increased the pressure on the guards without ever drawing their wrath. The prisoner’s mining skills were invaluable in this, first in gaining access to restricted areas, and later to outflank and surround their enemies. A series of ‘accidents’ at the spaceport grounded much of Kiavahr’s small fleet of mining shuttles which saw the guards’ tours and shifts constantly extended as their replacements were trapped on the planet below. By the time Corax’s revolution finally ignited, the warders were exhausted, disgruntled and easy prey. The greatest threat came from the towering black mountain from which their overlords ruled the moon, but it too was neutralised when the defenders found their control of the force domes had been subverted. Their attempts to vent the rioting prisoners into space only resulted in their fortress’s blast doors grinding open and the force dome over the tower failing, flushing the guards themselves into space.

 

Incensed by the rebellion, the rulers of Kiavahr used their remaining shuttles to carry military forces up the gravity well. They fared no better than the guards before them, and were torn apart by Corax’s grim-faced rebels, made all the more deadly by the weaponry taken from their former warders. Finally recognising the seriousness of the threat they faced, the leaders of the Tech-Guilds called for aid from the Imperium to put down the revolt. Without access to their moon’s mineral resources the forges would rapidly fall cold, and the expeditions they supplied would soon falter.

 

The Imperial fleet arrived with creditable haste, heading directly for the turbulent moon, and after only a brief time the heads of the Tech-Guilds were curtly informed that the rebellion was at an end. When the Imperial flagship’s landing craft touched down at Kiavahr’s main spaceport, the rebel leader was brought out not in chains, but emerged proudly as a victor, alongside none other than The Emperor Himself. All assembled fell to their knees before the Emperor, who proclaimed Corax as His son, and the man who would from that day onwards rule the Kiavahr system in His stead.

 

Cowed by this edict, and the legion of Astartes placed under Corax’s command, the now subservient Tech-Guilds were given the task of providing arms and armour for his new ‘Raven Guard’. Conditions for the miners were dramatically improved, and the moon of Lycaeus, now renamed ‘Deliverance’ for Corax’s achievements, became the legion’s home. The forbidding black tower that had been the symbol of the Tech-Guild’s power was reinforced and expanded to become the legion’s Fortress-Monastery, and named the ‘Ravenspire’.

 

It has been suggested that the great raven in Corax’s dreams was a manifestation of Tzeentch reaching out to the young Primarch and subtly corrupting him. After all, Tzeentch is known by some as the Raven God, and when he asked the Emperor the question on Ullanor, the Emperor looked worried and confused before refusing to answer.

The biggest change from a straight cut'n'paste seems to be to be putting a slight change in the last paragraph.

 

 

Next, from my Alt-IA: Emperor's Children:

 

So concerned were the Ruinous Powers by The Emperor’s plan to create the Primarchs that they stole the infants away and scattered them throughout the galaxy. Not even this, though, could deflect Fulgrim from his fate. The planet of Chemos, like many before The Emperor’s reunification, had been settled during mankind’s first expansion into the cosmos, but having lost the gift of spaceflight, had become isolated over the ages. By the time Fulgrim fell to earth, the inhabitants of Chemos had slipped perilously close to extinction, clinging to survival by scavenging from deserted settlements and endlessly recycling their increasingly sparse stocks of food and water.

 

It was five decades later that The Emperor finally set foot on Chemos, and it is a testament to Fulgrim’s exceptional abilities that in that time he had risen from a foundling to become the ruler of the entire planet. What is more, he had transformed it from a faltering society in terminal decline to a powerful, resurgent world reclaiming the lost settlements and rediscovering long-forgotten knowledge. No longer were they living day to day: Fulgrim had given the population of Chemos hope for the future.

 

On meeting his father and hearing The Emperor’s story, Fulgrim was struck by the parallels between their lives. Both had risen to power purely through merit, and The Emperor’s Great Crusade to reunite the lost human worlds into a galaxy-spanning Imperium echoed his own achievements, and reassured Fulgrim of the truth of his father’s words. Back on Holy Terra, Fulgrim was introduced to his legion. Due to a catastrophe with their gene-seed the legion was only 200 strong, but the return of their Primarch would change this. In front of the massed Terran dignitaries and even The Emperor Himself, Fulgrim addressed his warriors, saying: “We are His children. Let all who look upon us know this. Only by imperfection can we fail him. We are the Emperor’s Children, and we will not fail him.”

 

 

And from 'your' take on the Emperor's Children here:

So concerned were the Ruinous Powers by the Emperor’s plan to create the Primarchs that they stole the infants away and scattered them throughout the galaxy. Not even this, though, could deflect Fulgrim from his fate. The planet of Chemos, like many before The Emperor’s reunification, had been settled during mankind’s first expansion into the cosmos, but having lost the gift of spaceflight, had become isolated over the ages. By the time Fulgrim fell to earth, the inhabitants of Chemos had slipped perilously close to extinction, clinging to survival by scavenging from deserted settlements and endlessly recycling their increasingly sparse stocks of food and water.

 

It was five decades later that the Emperor finally set foot on Chemos, and it is a testament to Fulgrim’s exceptional abilities that in that time he had risen from a foundling to become the ruler of the entire planet. What is more, he had transformed it from a faltering society in terminal decline to a powerful, resurgent world reclaiming the lost settlements and rediscovering long-forgotten knowledge. No longer were they living day to day: Fulgrim had given the population of Chemos hope for the future.

 

On meeting his father and hearing the Emperor’s story, Fulgrim was struck by the parallels between their lives. Both had risen to power purely through merit, and The Emperor’s Great Crusade to reunite the lost human worlds into a galaxy-spanning Imperium echoed his own achievements, and reassured Fulgrim of the truth of his father’s words. Back on Holy Terra, Fulgrim was introduced to his legion. Due to a catastrophe with their geneseed the legion was only 200 strong, but the return of their Primarch would change this. In front of the massed Terran dignitaries and even the Emperor Himself, Fulgrim addressed his warriors, saying: “We are His children. Let all who look upon us know this. Only by imperfection can we fail him. We are the Emperor’s Children, and we will not fail him.”

 

A straight cut and paste again - unbelievable plagiarism. If this kind of stunt was pulled in the real world - passing off another's work as your own - you would be drummed out of your chosen profession.

[Lord Insanity]

I have to say that I am incredibly annoyed that you seem to have cut and pasted entire sections out of my Alt-Heresy articles and seemingly passed them off as your own work. As an author you should be ashamed of yourself. There are whole passages that are word-for-word identical in the Emperor's Children and Raven Guard IA's.

 

How can you possibly justify doing this?

 

Compare my original Alt-IA:Raven Guard:

 

When the infant Primarchs were scattered across the galaxy, most came to rest on worlds outside the bounds of the growing Imperium. The infant Corax, though, landed on a moon orbiting a planet that had recently been brought into compliance, yet there was no way for The Emperor to know that His lost son was already within His domain. The pale youth was found on Lycaeus, an airless mining moon orbiting the world of Kiavahr. Unfortunately, the Imperium’s presence on the planet extended little beyond a handful of officials sent to ensure that the ruling Tech-Guild kept up the flow of equipment and weapons to nearby expeditions. Lycaeus was a penal colony, with the mines worked by criminals and dissidents opposed to Kiavahr’s rulers. To be shipped up to Lycaeus was a life and death sentence combined, as the back-breaking labour, bad air and ever-present risk of cave-ins meant that life was ugly, brutish and short. Protests were quickly stamped upon by the guards, backed up with the ultimate sanction that if unrest ever became too vocal, the force-domes that enclosed the settlements would be deactivated and the unruly elements vented to open space.

 

The boy-Primarch was found by the convicts, who recognised something exceptional about him. They hid the child from the guards and named him Corax, or ‘the Deliverer’, so certain were they that he held the key to their salvation. This vision was shared by Corax, who from an early age had dreams of a vast, winged presence, a raven that guided him in times of trouble and spoke of a great destiny to protect mankind from its enemies. The first steps on this long road were to free the downtrodden population of Lycaeus from their brutal masters.

 

Despite the sickly surroundings, Corax matured rapidly to become a warrior of superhuman proportions. As he did so the convicts taught him all manner of techniques honed in Kiavahr’s criminal underworld. Tactics such as sabotage, misdirection, intimidation and assassination would be vital in freeing them from the iron grip of their jailers, and Corax put all these skills and more to use. It was clear that they could not hope to match their overlords in open combat as the only weaponry they possessed were mining tools and machinery.

 

Corax clinically analysed his enemies’ weaknesses and constructed an ingenious plan to bring about their demise. Through a subtle campaign of sabotage, Corax's followers steadily increased the pressure on the guards without ever drawing their wrath. The prisoner’s mining skills were invaluable in this, first in gaining access to restricted areas, and later to outflank and surround their enemies. A series of ‘accidents’ at the spaceport grounded much of Kiavahr’s small fleet of mining shuttles which saw the guards’ tours and shifts constantly extended as their replacements were trapped on the planet below. By the time Corax’s revolution finally ignited, the warders were exhausted, disgruntled and easy prey. The greatest threat came from the towering black mountain from which their overlords ruled the moon, but it too was neutralised when the defenders found their control of the force domes had been subverted. Their attempts to vent the rioting prisoners into space only resulted in their fortress’s blast doors grinding open and the force dome over the tower failing, flushing the guards themselves into space.

 

Incensed by the rebellion, the rulers of Kiavahr used their remaining shuttles to carry military forces up the gravity well. They fared no better than the guards before them, and were torn apart by Corax’s grim-faced rebels, made all the more deadly by the weaponry taken from their former warders. Finally recognising the seriousness of the threat they faced, the leaders of the Tech-Guilds called for aid from the Imperium to put down the revolt. Without access to their moon’s mineral resources the forges would rapidly fall cold, and the expeditions they supplied would soon falter.

 

The Imperial fleet arrived with creditable haste, heading directly for the turbulent moon, and after only a brief time the heads of the Tech-Guilds were curtly informed that the rebellion was at an end. When the Imperial flagship’s landing craft touched down at Kiavahr’s main spaceport, the rebel leader was brought out not in chains, but emerged proudly as a victor, alongside none other than The Emperor Himself. All assembled fell to their knees before the Master of Mankind, who proclaimed Corax as His son, and the man who would from that day onwards rule the Kiavahr system in His stead.

 

Cowed by this edict, and the legion of Astartes placed under Corax’s command, the now subservient Tech-Guilds were given the task of providing arms and armour for his new ‘Raven Guard’. Conditions for the miners were dramatically improved, and the moon of Lycaeus, now renamed ‘Deliverance’ for Corax’s achievements, became the legion’s home. The forbidding black tower that had been the symbol of the Tech-Guild’s power was reinforced and expanded to become the legion’s Fortress-Monastery, and named the ‘Ravenspire’.

 

It has been suggested that the great raven in Corax’s dreams was a manifestation of The Emperor reaching out to find him. Certainly, after father and son were reunited Corax was rarely visited again by this mysterious presence. At Ullanor, Corax famously asked his father about this phenomenon, but, ever enigmatic, The Emperor simply smiled knowingly.

 

And now 'your' version in this thread...

 

When the infant Primarchs were scattered across the galaxy, most came to rest on worlds outside the bounds of the growing Imperium. The infant Corax, though, landed on a moon orbiting a planet that had recently been brought into compliance, yet there was no way for the Emperor of Man to know that His lost son was already within His domain. The pale youth was found on Lycaeus, an airless mining moon orbiting the world of Kiavahr. Unfortunately, the Imperium’s presence on the planet extended little beyond a handful of officials sent to ensure that the ruling Tech-Guild kept up the flow of equipment and weapons to nearby expeditions. Lycaeus was a penal colony, with the mines worked by criminals and dissidents opposed to Kiavahr’s rulers. To be shipped up to Lycaeus was a life and death sentence combined, as the back-breaking labour, bad air and ever-present risk of cave-ins meant that life was ugly, brutish and short. Protests were quickly stamped upon by the guards, backed up with the ultimate sanction that if unrest ever became too vocal, the force-domes that enclosed the settlements would be deactivated and the unruly elements vented to open space.

 

The boy-Primarch was found by the convicts, who recognised something exceptional about him. They hid the child from the guards and named him 'Corax', or ‘the Deliverer’, so certain were they that he held the key to their salvation. This vision was shared by Corax, who from an early age had dreams of a vast, winged presence, a raven that guided him in times of trouble and spoke of a great destiny for him, if only he would take it. The first steps on this long road were to free the downtrodden population of Lycaeus from their brutal masters.

 

Despite the sickly surroundings, Corax matured rapidly to become a warrior and strategist of superhuman skill and proportion. Sabotage, cunning, complex tactics and strategies, all were second nature to him, and Corax quickly became the de facto leader of the slaves, well-known and rumoured to be a superhuman being.

 

Corax coldly analysed his enemies’ weaknesses and constructed an ingenious plan to bring about their demise. Through a subtle campaign of sabotage, Corax's followers steadily increased the pressure on the guards without ever drawing their wrath. The prisoner’s mining skills were invaluable in this, first in gaining access to restricted areas, and later to outflank and surround their enemies. A series of ‘accidents’ at the spaceport grounded much of Kiavahr’s small fleet of mining shuttles which saw the guards’ tours and shifts constantly extended as their replacements were trapped on the planet below. By the time Corax’s revolution finally ignited, the warders were exhausted, disgruntled and easy prey. The greatest threat came from the towering black mountain from which their overlords ruled the moon, but it too was neutralised when the defenders found their control of the force domes had been subverted. Their attempts to vent the rioting prisoners into space only resulted in their fortress’s blast doors grinding open and the force dome over the tower failing, flushing the guards themselves into space.

 

Incensed by the rebellion, the rulers of Kiavahr used their remaining shuttles to carry military forces up the gravity well. They fared no better than the guards before them, and were torn apart by Corax’s grim-faced rebels, made all the more deadly by the weaponry taken from their former warders. Finally recognising the seriousness of the threat they faced, the leaders of the Tech-Guilds called for aid from the Imperium to put down the revolt. Without access to their moon’s mineral resources the forges would rapidly fall cold, and the expeditions they supplied would soon falter.

 

The Imperial fleet arrived with creditable haste, heading directly for the turbulent moon, and after only a brief time the heads of the Tech-Guilds were curtly informed that the rebellion was at an end. When the Imperial flagship’s landing craft touched down at Kiavahr’s main spaceport, the rebel leader was brought out not in chains, but emerged proudly as a victor, alongside none other than The Emperor Himself. All assembled fell to their knees before the Emperor, who proclaimed Corax as His son, and the man who would from that day onwards rule the Kiavahr system in His stead.

 

Cowed by this edict, and the legion of Astartes placed under Corax’s command, the now subservient Tech-Guilds were given the task of providing arms and armour for his new ‘Raven Guard’. Conditions for the miners were dramatically improved, and the moon of Lycaeus, now renamed ‘Deliverance’ for Corax’s achievements, became the legion’s home. The forbidding black tower that had been the symbol of the Tech-Guild’s power was reinforced and expanded to become the legion’s Fortress-Monastery, and named the ‘Ravenspire’.

 

It has been suggested that the great raven in Corax’s dreams was a manifestation of Tzeentch reaching out to the young Primarch and subtly corrupting him. After all, Tzeentch is known by some as the Raven God, and when he asked the Emperor the question on Ullanor, the Emperor looked worried and confused before refusing to answer.

The biggest change from a straight cut'n'paste seems to be to be putting a slight change in the last paragraph.

 

 

Next, from my Alt-IA: Emperor's Children:

 

So concerned were the Ruinous Powers by The Emperor’s plan to create the Primarchs that they stole the infants away and scattered them throughout the galaxy. Not even this, though, could deflect Fulgrim from his fate. The planet of Chemos, like many before The Emperor’s reunification, had been settled during mankind’s first expansion into the cosmos, but having lost the gift of spaceflight, had become isolated over the ages. By the time Fulgrim fell to earth, the inhabitants of Chemos had slipped perilously close to extinction, clinging to survival by scavenging from deserted settlements and endlessly recycling their increasingly sparse stocks of food and water.

 

It was five decades later that The Emperor finally set foot on Chemos, and it is a testament to Fulgrim’s exceptional abilities that in that time he had risen from a foundling to become the ruler of the entire planet. What is more, he had transformed it from a faltering society in terminal decline to a powerful, resurgent world reclaiming the lost settlements and rediscovering long-forgotten knowledge. No longer were they living day to day: Fulgrim had given the population of Chemos hope for the future.

 

On meeting his father and hearing The Emperor’s story, Fulgrim was struck by the parallels between their lives. Both had risen to power purely through merit, and The Emperor’s Great Crusade to reunite the lost human worlds into a galaxy-spanning Imperium echoed his own achievements, and reassured Fulgrim of the truth of his father’s words. Back on Holy Terra, Fulgrim was introduced to his legion. Due to a catastrophe with their gene-seed the legion was only 200 strong, but the return of their Primarch would change this. In front of the massed Terran dignitaries and even The Emperor Himself, Fulgrim addressed his warriors, saying: “We are His children. Let all who look upon us know this. Only by imperfection can we fail him. We are the Emperor’s Children, and we will not fail him.”

 

 

And from 'your' take on the Emperor's Children here:

So concerned were the Ruinous Powers by the Emperor’s plan to create the Primarchs that they stole the infants away and scattered them throughout the galaxy. Not even this, though, could deflect Fulgrim from his fate. The planet of Chemos, like many before The Emperor’s reunification, had been settled during mankind’s first expansion into the cosmos, but having lost the gift of spaceflight, had become isolated over the ages. By the time Fulgrim fell to earth, the inhabitants of Chemos had slipped perilously close to extinction, clinging to survival by scavenging from deserted settlements and endlessly recycling their increasingly sparse stocks of food and water.

 

It was five decades later that the Emperor finally set foot on Chemos, and it is a testament to Fulgrim’s exceptional abilities that in that time he had risen from a foundling to become the ruler of the entire planet. What is more, he had transformed it from a faltering society in terminal decline to a powerful, resurgent world reclaiming the lost settlements and rediscovering long-forgotten knowledge. No longer were they living day to day: Fulgrim had given the population of Chemos hope for the future.

 

On meeting his father and hearing the Emperor’s story, Fulgrim was struck by the parallels between their lives. Both had risen to power purely through merit, and The Emperor’s Great Crusade to reunite the lost human worlds into a galaxy-spanning Imperium echoed his own achievements, and reassured Fulgrim of the truth of his father’s words. Back on Holy Terra, Fulgrim was introduced to his legion. Due to a catastrophe with their geneseed the legion was only 200 strong, but the return of their Primarch would change this. In front of the massed Terran dignitaries and even the Emperor Himself, Fulgrim addressed his warriors, saying: “We are His children. Let all who look upon us know this. Only by imperfection can we fail him. We are the Emperor’s Children, and we will not fail him.”

 

A straight cut and paste again - unbelievable plagiarism. If this kind of stunt was pulled in the real world - passing off another's work as your own - you would be drummed out of your chosen profession.

 

I will try and make it more original, but it will take a while.

 

EDIT: Writer's block struck while re-originalising the Raven Guard IA.

[Lord Insanity]

Edited Raven Guard and Emperor's Children, made them original. Sorry, Aurelius Rex.

[Lord Insanity]

A Word Bearer.

Athraxes looked at the Dark Angel before him. Was this, the twisted spawn of El'Johnson, what he could have been, what the Word Bearers, his proud Legion, could have become? The Marine was half-delirious, chanting unholy phrases as the chainsword wound did its work, and for a fleeting moment Athraxes felt a kinship with the Dark Angel, before the words of Lorgar rose to the fore and he fired his bolt-pistol into the traitor's head. Then, for a fleeting moment, he heard the mad laughter of dark gods.[/i]

][i

T

he Word Bearers are renowned throughout the Imperium as the bravest defenders of the Imperial Creed, noble defenders whose stubbornness and religious fervour has won many battles.

Eliphas the Inheritor

Eliphas the Inheritor, Liberator of Kronus from the Black Imperium, is one of the most famed Apostles of the Word Bearers. He single-handedly, without the use of Imperial allies, conquered Kronus for the Imperium, crushing the upstarts of the Tau and thwarting the ancient designs of the Necrons as well as beating the Orks and defeating a sizable force of Chaos Space Marines and the Lost and the Damned.

Indeed, Kronus is now a world wholely dedicated to the worship of the God-Emperor, a beacon of light in the darkness of the Black Imperium.

W

hen the Primarch Lorgar landed on the world of Colchis, he was found by a shepherd, and soon ordained as a priest. A great demagogue, he united the world of Colchis and became its ruler, a height he could have never imagined. That night, he recieved a prophetic dream, of giants in armour, led by a cyclops and a great lord in gold armour, descending from the skies. The day after, the Thousand Sons arrived to reclaim Colchis for the Imperium of Man. Lorgar the priest was given command of the Word Bearers Legion, and vowed to serve the Imperium to the last.

For many years Lorgar served the Imperium, converting the populace totally to the Emperor's worship and leaving them far more loyal to their new master than they had been before. A grand cathedral, the headquarters of the Word Bearers, was built upon Colchis, but the Emperor was not pleased by Lorgar's devotion. He had wished for an Imperial Truth, and Lorgar was bearing the word of an Imperial Cult! He was talked down by Horus, who convinced him that alienating one of the Primarchs was not something he wished to do. Instead, he sent Gulliman, his Warmaster, to talk Lorgar down and convince him of the worthlessness of his faith.

However, on the way, Gulliman was ambushed by the servants of the Grand Dominator and fell into a coma, during which he betrayed the Imperium to serve the dark gods of Chaos. He sent a message to Lorgar, asking him to serve his dark crusade.

Lorgar's response was this, sent with the head of Gulliman's messenger:

To serve any power other than that of the God-Emperor of Man is heresy and blasphemy of the highest order. I will never serve this 'Chaos', Gulliman, no matter how pleasing your flattery is. This is naught but heresy, consorting with the dread powers of the Warp. I do not know what you mean to say; therefore, I demonstrate my displeasure with the head of your herald, pathetic fool. You are lower than the dirt beneath my boots, heretical scum. Depart from the Imperium and trouble us no more.

Later, Lorgar sent the entirety of his Legion to Macragge, where he fought in the thick of the fighting, hacking and slaying as the enemy threatened to overwhelm them. They managed to reach the thunderhawks just before the Alpha Legion fought their famed rearguard action, slowing the enemy down greatly at the cost of their Primarch and a quarter of their Legion. Lorgar sent a Chapter to Ultramar, where they performed Exterminatus on the world of Calth before retreating to Colchis to safeguard it, as the rest fled to Terra to protect the Emperor.

After the grim Seige of Terra and the death of Gulliman, Lorgar became Eclessiarch, but disappeared in early M.34, the last of the Primarchs to leave, promising to return when his Legion, and the Imperium, needed him. After his disappearance the Eclessiarchy became bloated with corruption, quickly falling into apostasy and hoarding wealth rather than giving to the poor. It used its Frateris Templars to police the Imperium rather than sending them into Crusades, and at the last, when the Eclessiarchy had dominated the Imperium for over two millennia, the Word Bearers and their Successor Legions were the ones to cut off the serpent's head, the Legion Master claiming direct control over the Eclessiarchy, which he has had (at least as a matter of ceremony) ever since.

Unlike other Legions, the Word Bearers recruit en masse, mostly from the children of Colchis. These children are often gangers, as over the millennia, Colchis has become a hive-world. These children are sent on Crusades, supervised by the Word Bearers themselves, to test their skill in battle. The most that survive the high attrition rate often become Serfs, whom the Word Bearers treat with disdain and barely allow to pilot their vehicles and crew their ships. They are given only lasguns and flak armour and are even sometimes used as cannon fodder by the Word Bearers.

Those that become actual Word Bearers become Zealots, who are roughly equivalent to Scouts, and eventually Crusaders, equal to Tactical Marines. They may, if they have the skill with chainswords or heavy weapons, become Seraphim or Ophanim, the Word Bearers' name for Assault and Devastator squads. Veterans are known as Initiates, and Brother-Captains as Apostles, who are an odd mix of Librarian, Apothecary, Chaplain, and Captain. Those that show even greater ability in leadership and religious fervour become Grand Apostles, essentially Chapter Masters, who are ruled over by the Legion Master, known as the Master of Apostles. Tech-Marines are treated as a necessary evil at best. The Legion is organised into 70 Chapters, each with 10 Companies with 10 Squads, not counting support and the Serfs.

The Word Bearers fight with insane stubbornness, and when defending are impossible to shift. When attacking they advance slowly but surely, aided by heavy armour, the Ophanim and the Seraphim, with Serfs as cannon fodder in some Companies. The Apostles vary their force composition according to visions they recieve, and in some cases this has proved to be oddly prescient. They are like a rock - impossible to shift, and hard when it strikes the enemy.

Over the millennia, Colchis has become a full Hive World, although this has not hindered the Word Bearers' recruitment, and the population is still incredibly religious. The original Temple of the Holy Word still stands, an immense structure rising into orbit from the constant additions over the millennia. It is defended by thousands of orbital defense batteries, missile silos and other defnces, as befits a Space Marine Legion's homeworld.

The Word Bearers are incredibly arrogant, treating all others with disdain. They believe that the Emperor is a god, unlike the other Legions, and do not ally with others. They and their Successors prefer to fight alone, and when they are forced to unite with other forces, treat their allies with disdain and disrespect. They have a long-standing rivalry with the Thousand Sons, each side disliking the other for unknown reasons.