The Guilliman Heresy

[Conn Eremon]

It looks good, Olisredan. Looking over it again, I especially like a lot of the rewordings you've done on my expositions. They sound a lot better than how I originally said them in places.

 

I'm thinking, while I'm off on Holiday/Furlough/Comp. Time next week, that I'll rewrite it. I'm not saying I can do it better (I don't think I can), but I think it can benefit from a combination of our efforts. I'll make my version, we'll compare the two and make a jigsaw puzzle timeline that outshines both.

[Olis]

Sounds fine to me. ;)

 

I think, once our gaze has turned away from the Scars and the Khanate, I think we should take a look at the Salamanders. I don't think we've done a lot with them besides flesh out Vulkan and put the kibosh on Nocturne.

[Conn Eremon]

They do need some fleshing out. At the moment, the Space Wolves have my fancy. I'm doing some notes at home to expand on the changes we've made on Fenris that leads to our alternate Wolf Vikings.

[Olis]

Wolves are good, too. I'll be interested in hearing what notes you may have made. Quick question; the destruction of Nocturne was after the Siege of Terra, right?

[Conn Eremon]

Technically during and after, with the Salamanders fleeing their loss at the Siege arriving just in time to see its last moments.

 

At the moment, just waxing poetic about how Fenris is a testament to the destiny of humanity to dominate the wilderness by the sheer weight of their overbearing force of will.

 

I'm thinking of having the Hive thing that Fenris has going on something planned from the start of Fenris' first settlement. With arcane methods lost to the Dark Ages of Technology, humanity shackles the burning ice to their will, etc etc. Islands rise and fall as normal, the summers rage and winters howl as normal and the beasts prowl the frozen wastes and icy depths as normal. But humanity isn't there. The unruly and volcanic continental shelfs are bolted together by massive foundries that would form the foundations of great hives deep in the Fenrisian worldsea, whose tips crest the skies. Greatest of all will be those set upon Asaheim, Fenris' sole stable continent. Originally dozens of hives were spread across its mountainous surface, but over the millennia they have grown and merged, creating a massive, multi-peaked Hive that completely encompasses the landmass. This will become the Fortress-Monastery of the later Space Wolves, who recruit from the hardy gang-miners of Fenris. In culture, however, the Space Wolves will be much like the glorified myths of those ancient tribesman of the distant past, who foreswore the safety of the Hives in favor of the harsh outside world.

 

I believe the Emperor's Children need some love, too. We have their fates sealed in the Heresy, but their pre- and post- events are rather blank beyond their possible ties to certain Eldar.

 

I just got done with an expansion of the Mars-Terra Conflict, though. Unfortunately, don't got the notes with me so I won't delve too far into it. I made a few changes, such as the Scientifica. Instead, I had the Auretian Technocracy be wholly reinstated as a seperate entity much as the Mechanicum once was. The Scientifica is instead the term applied to the same entity when it becomes a more unified Mars-Auretia syndicate. I also put the events of Medusa at its very end, making it the last stand of the Mechanicum of Mars. When Mars is taken, the Mechanicum splits four ways. Into the Eye of Terror, where it becomes the 5th Chaos God group, the Chaos Mechanicum aligned to the Omega Legion. Into the Maelstrom, where it joins with the Scars and remains much the same. To the other independent forgeworlds keeping the Imperium at bay, where they are killed off one by one. And finally, to Medusa, where the Iron Hands make their last stand and ultimately cave in to Tzeentch, taking the Mechanicum there with them. I think it'd be best, so that there's not two Chaos Mechanicums out there, that those that stick with the Iron Hands become synonymous with them totally. They are the Iron Hands as much as the Marines themselves are. I put Russ' death at Medusa. He loses his eye in the opening battles on Mars, where he opts not to replace it with a mechanical piece. Then, as Auretian-allied mechanical forces face off on the plains of Medusa against the crawler-titans of the Iron Hands, the Space Wolves drop pod directly down onto these clan-fortresses. Russ and his honour guard, however, teleport in. It takes a full week for the other Space Wolves to battle their way to where Russ teleports in, only to find a lone survivor howling his grief and clutching Russ' fallen form. Of Santar, Russ' target, there is no sign, and with the threat of warpstorms rising the Imperials are forced to evacuate the planet. Once they have cleared, all traces of the traitors are gone, long gone. They will reappear later as followers of Tzeentch.

[Olis]

Both trains of thought sound really quite good. The fact that many of the Fenrisian Hives (potentially) have a touch of Bioshock in them is icing on the cake - I doubt I would have considered underwater hives. And having Russ die on Medusa really jigs up the event from a footnote into something important. Yes, the Iron Hands were driven from the planet but it is also the place where Russ breathed his last. All manner of hell went down on Medusa and it claimed a primarch. Say, do you think our Space Wolves would cremate him? It makes for a good mental image...

[ChromeZephyr]

The visual of a funerary drakkar for Russ just sings to me. Hosts of Space Wolves standing at the waterside as the craft floats away from them, and at a certain distance a single bolt round fired by the Legion's finest marksman ignites it. The entire legion howls as one. I...I...wow, that'd just be epic.

[Olis]

The visual of a funerary drakkar for Russ just sings to me. Hosts of Space Wolves standing at the waterside as the craft floats away from them, and at a certain distance a single bolt round fired by the Legion's finest marksman ignites it. The entire legion howls as one. I...I...wow, that'd just be epic.

 

It's a good mental image. Maybe some flavour text on it could be done to bring the vignette to life. I believe I could whip something up, say, by tomorrow night? <_<

[ChromeZephyr]

I await it with bated breath.

[Olis]

How's this so far? Be honest.

 

Farewell to the King

Hrafn Mjornir stepped to the cliff edge amongst his pack brothers. Bar none wore their helms this day of all days. The sky was overcast and there was a whip to the air, pulling at pelts and hair and beards. All along the troubled waterline and the adjoining cliffs stood the Vlka Fenrika and their vassals. Interspersed at irregular intervals stood those not of the Wolf-kind. Sons of the Red Cyclops had come to pay their respects with their heads down in silence, despite their dire duties abroad, as had Lorgar’s children - Imperial Heralds knelt where they could be found.

Ocean spray framed the shores with spume, carried there on tides that no man could tame. The sound of waves on the rocks all but ignored by the grieving sons of the Sixth Legion, events unfolding on the shingle beach proving far more important.

Clad in full battle plate, the Wolf King lay on a ceremonial drakkar along with his personal arms and the body of Freki, dead since the Medusa Cull. Mountains of dead Iron Hands had accompanied the Great Wolf into death’s cold embrace, the floor slick with vital fluids and the mobile fortress he breathed his last upon wrecked.

[ChromeZephyr]

It feels...stuttery is the best word I can come up with. Like you're stuck between poetry and prose, almost. I like where you've started from, truly, but it doesn't have the right flow yet.

 

I don't want to say much more, as I fear I'll come across as an ass while you're writing something that I very much want to read the entirety of.

[Olis]

It feels...stuttery is the best word I can come up with. Like you're stuck between poetry and prose, almost. I like where you've started from, truly, but it doesn't have the right flow yet.

 

Actually, that's great. I'm going for the kind of piece that would be told by skalds. At the moment it's obviously an unfinished piece but what you've just said has pointed out to me where I'm tripping up. So, don't worry about how your criticism might make you look - anything short of insults is good - I just need to know what I do wrong. :nuke:

[ChromeZephyr]

If you're aiming for something akin to skaldic verse, perhaps some kennings would be appropriate? A few scattered here and there to add to the Nordic flavor of the Legion, though I'd keep them fairly blatant for ease of comprehension.

[Olis]

If you're aiming for something akin to skaldic verse, perhaps some kennings would be appropriate? A few scattered here and there to add to the Nordic flavor of the Legion, though I'd keep them fairly blatant for ease of comprehension.

 

Wow, you learn something new every day. A kenning or three is not a bad idea at all. -_-

[ChromeZephyr]

Awesome, glad I could help. -_-

[Conn Eremon]

Post got eaten twice already, so I'll just cut to the quick: Replace narrator with an outsider, such as Abnett's iterator from Prospero Burns, and your pseudo prose writing could be fitting, as well as speaking of stories yet to be told. Otherwise, I'd also recommend the Edda for reading and as a reference on how to write this sort of thing out. Either way, we'll need to keep aware of this 'kennings' thing. It's something Abnett used a lot of and really ups the proper feeling the IA should have. When you read my notes, you'll see that it's something that has already been on my mind, though I don't feel like I'm up to the task at making it sound right.

 

Both trains of thought sound really quite good. The fact that many of the Fenrisian Hives (potentially) have a touch of Bioshock in them is icing on the cake - I doubt I would have considered underwater hives. And having Russ die on Medusa really jigs up the event from a footnote into something important. Yes, the Iron Hands were driven from the planet but it is also the place where Russ breathed his last. All manner of hell went down on Medusa and it claimed a primarch. Say, do you think our Space Wolves would cremate him? It makes for a good mental image...

 

Well, I was thinking, why put them on the islands? They're unstable as all hell, rising and falling at times within decades. Better to plant the foundations within the more stable seafloor and have the great spires rise as their own islands. Really transitions the territorial tribesmen warring over islands to territorial hive gangers warring over hive-peaks. Prime territory when all the rest is submerged and in danger of flooding.

 

Anyway, here's the notes:

 

Saga of the Gorgonsons

Also known as the Time of the Russfell

To be modified by those better at making things sound Space Wolf-y.

 

It's the Space Wolves account of the Mars-Terra Conflict. Despite the proximity of these two worlds, the third and fourth planets of the same system, the war extends far beyond the Sol System. The Conflict is felt across the Imperium by forces spent by the recent Heresy. Forgeworlds across the galaxy rose up in defense of their red homeworld and warred against the forces of the False Omnissiah. Nowhere was conflict most concentrated than on Mars itself, and upon Medusa. In a surprise assault, the Martian echelons unaware that their defiances would instigate such an immediate, lethal response, Mars ran red with their blood and fuel. Though the assault lasted months, and the Martian defenses were some of the most powerful in the galaxy, they could not stand against the forces of the Emperor. Foremost among them were the Thousand Sons and the Space Wolves, the two Legions to remain ever close to the seat of the Imperium, bolstered by the Custodes. Worse still were the traitor-brothers, mighty mechanical forces led by those whose loyalties should have remained with Mars but did not. First among these was the Auretian Technocracy, the only civilization discovered during the Great Crusade to truly be an equal to the Martian brotherhood. However, should the red star fall, the Auretians would be ascendant in the Imperium. And so Mars burned. Their fates sealed, the Martian Techpriests fled their holy foundries and forges, seeking solace in the remaining strongholds of their Machine-God. Chief among these was the homeworld of the Iron Hands Legion, Medusa. Since the close of the Heresy, the bulk of the Legion had spent the intervening years on Mars. Their sense of direction and purpose had taken a blow, the loss of Ferrus Manus too heavy a burden to bear. Mars had been their last refuge, their truest brothers in the Imperium. When the Mars-Terra Conflict sparked, the horrified Iron Hands felt betrayed once more. When their First Captain, Gabriel Santar, returned to the Legion on Mars, they regained some of their composure and sought to defend their brothers. When the mighty forces of the Imperium descended upon Mars, the fire of the Iron Hands joined those of the Martians. When the Mechanicum was forced to retreat, it shattered into many pieces. Tiny flames still burned across the war maps of the galaxy, and to these they flocked. Many fled with the Iron Hands of their homeworld of Medusa. Others still fled into the Eye of Terror, or into the Maelstrom, seeking to hide themselves in those great warp storms that their enemies could not hope to follow. The rest splintered across those forgeworlds that still retained their defiance and independence, who still fought for Mars. Of these, the latter were the worst off. One by one, their candles were put out, leaving few, if any, survivors. Those who fled into the Eye became corrupted by the influence of the Warp. Though their dedication to their Machine-God remains resolute ten thousand years later, they have since been taken over by the Cult of the Pentarch who sees the Machine-God as the 5th Chaos God. They have since dedicated their forges to the destruction of the Imperium by aiding the forces of the Traitor Legions, especially the Omega Legion which has most aided them since their coming to the Eye. Those of the Mechanicum who retreated into the Maelstrom were met by the White Scars and indentured into their service. Of all the Mechanicum forces, it is those who serve the Khanate who retain their original personalities and beliefs. The ones that changed the most were those that retreated with the Iron Hands to their homeworld of Medusa, where they made their last stand. Leading the assault was Leman Russ, enraged over the loss of his eye during the initial battles upon the surface of Mars. As the armour of the Imperial Army traded shells with the Titans and Clan-Fortresses, the Space Wolves assaulted the hulking, mechanized Clan-Fortresses directly through drop pod or teleportation. The war on Medusa was staged on two fronts, as the mechanical weapons of the Mechanicum and the Imperial Army fired upon each other in the desolate plains outside, the Legions of the Space Wolves and Iron Hands fought to the bitter end deep inside the enemy's strongholds. Though, as on Mars, the forces of the Imperium should have been too great to be stopped, the Sons of Medusa had a hidden weapon in the form of their returned hero, Santar. As the corrupted Vulkan had returned to his sons to tempt them into betrayal, so too had Gabriel Santar. With the loss of their father, and the loss of their home and brothers, the Iron Hands were never more susceptible to the temptations of Tzeentch, who had twisted Santar into his herald. And so the second renegade Legion becomes the sixth Chaos Legion. However, it took a mighty deed for Santar to finally convince his brothers to follow him on his dark path. A sign of the power that could be theirs, a symbol of regained might. This mighty deed was fulfilled, and through it Tzeentch gained his own Legion, and Santar his ascendancy. Before the bulk of his Legion broke the atmosphere in its plummet to the battlefield, one-eyed Russ teleported himself, along with his most veteran brotherhood, into the heart of the largest crawler-fortress of the Iron Hands. When the Space Wolves finally landed, they charged into the enemy to reconnect with their Primarch, fully expecting that to be their moment of victory. However, the defences of the Iron Hands was mighty, and it was a full week of constant battle before any contingent of Space Wolves succeeded in breaking through. There they found the headquarters of the Legion in disarray, a charnel house of slain Iron Hands and Space Wolves alike. Emanating from the room and echoing into the halls and in the souls of the Space Wolves was a howl of mourning. A lone survivor, his one remaining arm clutching the body of Russ, howled his anguish. With astonishing speed and ferocity, a warp storm erupts around Medusa. Fleeing its wrath, dragging the body of their Primarch behind them, the Space Wolves and surviving Imperial forces escape the short-lived storm. Once gone, they make planetfall once more. They find, however, that Medusa is desolate and empty. Not a single sign of life can be found on their auspexes. More mysterious still, all signs of the world's missing inhabitants were also absent. No villages, no civilizations. The great prints in the dirt left by the great crawler-fortresses of the Iron Hands can be followed by a blind man, but they have simply disappeared.

 

Over the millennia, these great machines have been seen at the forefront of many of the Iron Hands' greatest battles. With the firepower of Titans at their command, they are formidable opponents during any war and have often proved the tipping point of a battle. In all the years since their fall to Tzeentch, many of these machines have been reported to have fallen. However, either the Iron Hands have the ability to recreate these lost relics of the Dark Ages of Technology or these reports are unfounded lies. The remnants of the Mechanicum who had followed the Iron Hands to Medusa also followed them into service of the Great Sorceror God. In time, the distinction between Marine and Techpriest became more and more blurred. Soon, there would be no difference, and those of the Mechanicum who follow the Iron Hands become indistinguishable. As far as anyone is concerned, themselves or others, they are all Iron Hands. As for their Machine-God Cult, it gets subsumed into the worship of Tzeentch. The Great Sorceror-Machine? Machine-Sorceror? Hm.

 

Back to the Imperium, when the Mars-Terra Conflict finally ends and the last vestiges of the Mechanicum are purged from the Imperium, the loyal technological factions move in. Most of them are simply those forgeworlds that operated more independently and chose to back the Imperium rather than the Mechanicum. As already stated, the chiefest of them all were the forgeworlds that were once part of the Auretian Technocracy. As part of their renewed alliance with the Imperium in wake of the Conflict, these worlds were allowed to reform into their pre-Imperial identities as the Auretian Technocracy and took over the governance of the Forgeworlds of the Imperium vacated by the Mechanicum. Mars itself became little more than an automated foundry and forgeworld. Its output was greater than any other in the Imperium, but it was allowed no freedoms or power. It would be millennia before the red star would rise once more, during the Martian Resurgance. Over time, Mars became home to those who disagreed with the Auretian rule. Originally, it was a form of prison sentence, chained to the red world's mighty forges. However, it was eventually granted a form of independence. Those within Mars could govern the world, though its influence could never reach offworld and only so long as its production could meet expectations. This allowed the Auretian Technocracy to keep Mars in its place without having to micro-manage it. However, the rule of Mars was more successful than anticipated. With its mighty forges and location at the center of the Imperium, Mars was often the site of many alpha and beta programs, along with many other forgeworlds across the Imperium. More than any other world however, Mars had a high success rate for these programs. It is for this reason that when the Elohim Project was to enter its first stages, only Mars was trusted with it. The Elohim Project's vaunted aims was going to be one of the greatest breakthroughs in military history. It would remake the Legio Astartes into something even greater than they already are, granting them an edge over the traitor Legions. Though it took centuries of failed implantations and gene-replications, Mars would eventually perfect the sciences involved so that the Project could move into its next stage. All Mars had to do was release its findings and within a millennia all of the living Space Marines would be greater than those who have gone before. But Mars refused to release it. In a proclamation that stunned the galaxy, the Auretian Technocracy most of all, Mars instead demanded full independence and a return to their former favor. Known as the Martian Resurgance, it sparked off hostilities among the technological factions of the Imperium, a private war that was fought behind closed doors. The Emperor, the original patron of the Elohim Project, was forced to step in and end it by declaring Mars freed from its former imprisonment following the Mars-Terra Conflict, fully three thousand years ago. So long as it should never warrant such actions again, it could reclaim its a fraction of its former status. With the state of the Imperium by then, and the dominance of the Auretian Technocracy over the past millennia, it could never fully reclaim its former status as the Mechanicum. Instead, this great and varied branch of the Imperium was restructured. The Auretian Technocracy became centralized to its core worlds, with Mars to be set up as its equal. From this point on, the two factions would be co-dominant heads of the restructured organization, newly named the Scientifica. Though Mars has regained its status as a dominate feature of the Imperium, it bears zero likeness with its former self. Though they are loyal to the red sands of Mars, they are sons of the Auretian Technocracy, not the Techpriesthood of Mars. The return of Mars did not mean the return of the Mechanicum or the return of the Machine-God to the Imperium.

 

Many of the other factions of the Imperium forward personnel to the Scientifica for specialized trainings. This includes the Engineers and Psykers of the Imperial Army, and the auxiliaries of the Space Marines such as Techmarines, Apothecaries and Librarians. Though each Legion is fully capable of having the old teach the young, it is customary for newly recruited Marines expected to enter such roles to spend a few years with the Scientifica nonetheless. Because of the centralized locations of such trainings, it is not uncommon for there to be Marines that branch out into multiple roles before rejoining the Legion, such as Librarians who have come to learn to control their gifts and have found that they have a predilection to the handling and care of the machine and/or body. Though their diversity is favored, their lack of specialization tends to mean that they don't rise too far in rank. Noted exceptions to this do exist, such as the Librarian-Apothecary Barbrex of the War Hounds, who is the commanding officer of both the Apothecarion and Librarius of his Legion.

 

+++ --- +++

 

Fenris, testament to human will to dominate the wilderness.

Frozen Hive World, Dark Ages of Tech. fused the continental plates together and implanted Hive foundations into the bedrock deep in the oceans, circumventing the ever-changing island networks. Asaheim is host to dozens of Hives that merge into one majestic, multi-peaked Hive that becomes Fortress-Monastery following the placement of a Imperial Webway in its depths.

[Olis]

I'll be putting off posting that story 'til tomorrow. I've had way too much to do today to honour all of my duties I'm afraid.

[Conn Eremon]

A little something I worked up:

EDIT: . . . The Sons of Horus. G'dang. I blame only myself

 

New post on page 5 has updated Legion List.

Edited April 4, 2013 by Cormac Airt

[Olis]

Original post has now been expanded and updated. Props to Cormac for the entry rewrites. :D

[Olis]

Okay, turns out I'm unhappy with what I've written so I going to either backburner it or leave it. Sorry about that Chrome. However, I've been thinking about the White Scars and their fiefs and wrote out a small splurge on them, just to see where the thought process went. Feel free to shoot it full of holes, :D

 

Imperial intelligence has been able to locate and identify, over the course of the preceding millennia four hundred and fifty-three fiefs in the Khanate Empire. The largest of which are comparable to multiple sectors, by Imperial reckoning, although these are few, numbering less than ten of the total fiefs. Usually a fief is comparable to a sub-sector but they have been known to encompass just one system as the ruling Khan's power, by whatever measure, wanes.

[ChromeZephyr]

Far be it for me to tell someone what they must write in their own stories. I know all too well what happens when my muse gives me the middle finger and tells me she's not in the mood. Edited January 15, 2013 by ChromeZephyr

[Quixus]

@Cormac Airt: I like that table for the legions, especially the imminent execution by the =][=. Maybe put the names of the destroyed homeworlds (Caliban, Chogoris) and possibly the purged ones in as well.

[Conn Eremon]

It does need to be updated. I've added in the missing Sons of Horus Legion, and adding in the name of the loyalist planets that were destroyed, including Caliban, could be a good idea. But I want to keep in flavor of the original canon table, where Traitor Planets that were purged are listed only as PURGED. We may know the names of these worlds, but the table reflects in-universe knowledge.

 

But thanks for the positive feedback!

Edited January 15, 2013 by Cormac Airt

[Wade Garrett]

^{I may be jumping WAY ahead of things, since you fellows are still fleshing the Heresy out, but any ideas for Huron Blackheart or Gorge Vandire in this new timeline?}

[Olis]

Well, considering the Ecclesiarchy does not exist in this universe, Goge Vandire would more than likely cease to exist too. That's not to say we won't have our secessionists and troublemakers (there's bound to be some) but the Age of Apostasy era has been replaced with an early Necron awakening and the Wars of Secession.

 

As for Huron Blackheart, I can imagine an analogous figure coming from the White Scars but the Tyrant himself would also likely cease to exist (I'm only phrasing it as such because it's not something that has been explicitly discussed, tbh). If you have any ideas for alternatives, maybe we could use them, depending on how they fit in.

Edited January 15, 2013 by Olisredan