Horus HEresy introduction

[husi2100]

anyone of you B&Cers got some kind of introduction to the horus heresy, that you can understand without prior knowledge of the 40K/30K universe?

or would care to write one

[Guillermus of Eisenheim]

Basically, the Emperor of Mankind created twenty genetically engineered super-soldiers, called Primarchs, to lead his Great Crusade to unite humanity. Horus was his favourite son, so when the Emperor retired from the Crusade, he made Horus the Warmaster. Horus was then mortally injured on the moon of Davin, and the only thing that could save him was a local temple, which was tainted by Chaos. Horus became convinced that the Emperor had abandoned humanity in his quest to become a god (which wasn't true), and decided that he would overthrow the Emperor and become the Lord of Mankind instead. Half of the other Primarchs joined him.

 

So yeah, that's the HH. Hope this helps.

[Artein]

In the end Horus killed Sanguinius, Emperor killed Horus but was mortally wounded, so he was installed on the Golden Throne, the only machine that was able to keep him alive (sort of).

[Legatus]

A more basic overview over the events:

 

"Today" we are at the end of the 41st Millennium. Ten thousand years ago, when mankind had been scattered all over the galaxy but had been divided by centuries of warp storms and conflict, a mighty being only known as "The Emperor" set out from Terra to conquer and re-unite all of the human worlds into one big Imperium. To be able to do that, he created twenty "Primarchs", genetically engineered super beings with parts of his own genetic material, essentially making them his sons. For each of the Primarchs he created a Legion of genetically engineered super soldiers, based on the genetic material of the Primarch. These soldiers were stronger than any man, but not quite as powerful as a Primarch himself, and were henceforth known as the "Space Marines". The Emperor took his twenty Legions, each led by a Primarch, and started the "Great Crusade", a campaign that would go on for two hundred years and whose goal it was to unite all human worlds. The Space Marines were supported by the Imperial army, consisting of normal human soldiers, and the Imperial Fleet and the Titan Legions. (It should be noted that though twenty Primarchs and Legions were created, two had somehow been lost and their records deleted forever, so there are actually eighteen Legions described in the historical documents.)

 

At the end of the Great Crusade, the Emperor's most beloved son, the Primarch Horus, turned against his father, motivated by the Dark Gods of Chaos, and started his "Horus Heresy". The Emperor sent seven Legions to capture him on the world Istvaan V, but when three of the loyal Legions were fighting against Horus' Legion, the other four Legions turned against them and joined Horus, together wiping out the three loyal Legions but for a hand full of survivors. Horus managed to rally half of the Legions against the Emperor, and made his way to Terra to claim the Throne for himself. The Imperial Palace on Terra was defended by three loyal Legions, while Horus had seven Legions at his side (with two of his allied Legions fighting elsewhere in the galaxy). When the remaining three loyal Legions were approaching Terra (three other loyal Legions had been wiped out at Istvaan V) to help defeat Horus' forces, he arranged to fight the Emperor personally to end the stalemate before the loyal reinforcements could arrive. The Emperor defeated Horus, but was himself mortally wounded in the process.

 

After Horus had been defeated, the other traitor Legions fled. The Emperor was embedded into the Golden Throne, where he is being kept alive ever since, powering and directing the "Astronomican", the navigator beacon that allows human ships to travel through the warp. Over the next few years following the Battle for Terra, a period that was known as "The Scouring", the remaining forces of the Traitor Legions were chased into an unstable region of Space where the Warp spills into realspace, known as "The Eye of Terror". In that region, the laws of physics cease to apply, and creatures and daemons from the warp can interact with the real world. It is not possible to send forces into that region, so it has become a somewhat "safe haven" for the Chaos Marines.

As a result of the Horus Heresy, the remaining nine loyalist Legions (the three that had been wiped out at Istvaan were being rebuilt) were split up into smaller "Chapters", because never again should one individual be able to turn an entire Legion of Space Marines against mankind. Whereas before a Legion could number ten thousand or more warriors (some sources instead claim a hundred thousand), the new Chapters were set at approximately one thousand fighting warriors.

 

To this day the Traitor Marines of the Chaos Legions are the most hated enemy of the Imperial Space Marines.