Horus Heresy Timeline

[Sviox]

I've had this little project of trying to piece together a graphical presentation of the timeline of all published material from Horus Heresy. I've already posted a link to some previous version on this forum, but I thought I would open up a thread about this since I think quite many could be interested. I'll try to keep this up-to-date as more books are released.

 

All the main books are marked as long rectangles with the book number and name included, while smaller novellas and audio books are marked as ellipses. Both are color coded with legion colors based on the perspective given in the story. Major battles and events are included as separate blue-and-white boxes with the participated legions marked (+ is for primarch presence, - for the lack of it).

 

Please let me know if you think something is wrong in the picture and I'll try to correct it.

 

http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y483/Svioxi/HH_Timeline-2016-JAN_zpsbgi9gxjv.png

 

Updated 28.7.2014. Added some battles from the FW books, reordered Nikaea to happen before the opening trilogy, added Bloodline and The Purge and other smaller changes.

 

Updated 5.12.2014. Lots of new things, including FW books and all the latest short stories.

 

Updated 27.6.2015. Continued the timeline with events and sources within the Scouring and Slave Wars. Also, added all the latest releases and the known primarch discoveries (FW has shed a lot of light to these lately plus the discovery order by Laurie Golding) and disappearances.

 

Updated 7.1.2015. Added latest releases along with Primarch discoveries and deaths/disappearances.

[Vesper]

No mention of Molech ?

EDIT : Found it ! Seems like you've forgotten the Death Guard, on Molech !

[Sviox]

No mention of Molech ?

EDIT : Found it ! Seems like you've forgotten the Death Guard, on Molech !

 

That's only because I'm reading Vengeful Spirit at the moment and still linger at chapter 3 :)

[Sviox]

One concern about the timeline I have is the Thramas crusade. It's supposed to start soon after Isstvan V and take 3 year, ending roughly mid 009.M31, right around where "Unremembered Empire" starts. On the other hand, the "Scars" takes place after Chondax campaign, which ends at the beginning of 007.M31. This places the Space Wolves vs. Alpha Legion space battle at Alexxes Nebula firmly in 007.M31 as well. And if I understand correctly what was said in "Vengeful Spirit", the Dark Angels arrived to help the Space Wolves at Alexxes. "By the Lion's Command" short story states that the Lion was looking for Russ after the end of the Thramas Crusade. Either the space battle took two years or there is something I've missed... Anyone?

[Emperor's Furor]

Who saved the Space Wolves..

 

 

It was the Dark Angels of Corswain that apparently saved the Space Wolves afaik. I don't know what novel this is in though, perhaps not released yet.

 

[Sviox]

Who saved the Space Wolves..

 

 

It was the Dark Angels of Corswain that apparently saved the Space Wolves afaik. I don't know what novel this is in though, perhaps not released yet.

 

 

Thanks. Double checked this. I remembered incorrectly that it would have been the Lion to take a fleet to find Russ, but apparently he tasked this to Corswain, who then split his fleet in two and personally tried to track down Typhon while the rest of that fleet went to find Russ. Still, does not explain the 2 years gap between Alexxes at Scars and end of Thramas crusade.

[Inquisitor Kravin]

That's a big task you've set yourself. Well done so far and best wishes for the future.

 

At the recent Weekender Tony Cottrell, Laurie Goulding and Alan Bligh talked about some of the challenges of maps and timelines. The default answer is, "The Warp did it", preferably delivered in an ominous voice whilst Alan Bligh does strange starey things with his eyes.

Signus Prime is a perfect example - to the Blood Angels it is a matter of days or weeks but they go in before news of Istvann breaks and come out years later just before Unremembered Empire. The nearest thing you can get to a definitive timeline is Terra's calendar which is presumably the Imperial benchmark but the amount of time experienced by everyone else as they battle their way around the galaxy varies greatly.

[DarkChaplain]

Vengeful Spirit places The Last Remembrancer after Luna Mendax, Burden of Duty, Grey Angel and Lost Sons.

About halfway through Vengeful Spirit, Qruze meets up with the other Knights Errant on Titan, along with Dorn. They just came from their involvement in TLR.

[Sviox]

Vengeful Spirit places The Last Remembrancer after Luna Mendax, Burden of Duty, Grey Angel and Lost Sons.

About halfway through Vengeful Spirit, Qruze meets up with the other Knights Errant on Titan, along with Dorn. They just came from their involvement in TLR.

Thanks. I'll update the timeline as soon as I'm back from my holidays.

[Phoebus]

That's a big task you've set yourself. Well done so far and best wishes for the future.

 

At the recent Weekender Tony Cottrell, Laurie Goulding and Alan Bligh talked about some of the challenges of maps and timelines. The default answer is, "The Warp did it", preferably delivered in an ominous voice whilst Alan Bligh does strange starey things with his eyes.

 

Signus Prime is a perfect example - to the Blood Angels it is a matter of days or weeks but they go in before news of Istvann breaks and come out years later just before Unremembered Empire. The nearest thing you can get to a definitive timeline is Terra's calendar which is presumably the Imperial benchmark but the amount of time experienced by everyone else as they battle their way around the galaxy varies greatly.

 

Right, and I have no issues with that.  I genuinely believe this could be done better, though.  It would be nice if, e.g., the authors were kind enough to insert dates more often, or to even offer tidbits that alluded to time shifts.

 

"Hi, Roboute," Sanguinius said.  "I'm so glad we found your Astronomican-like beacon, 'cause we were having a really hard time after we got out of Signus.  Imagine our surprise when we synched our ships' chronometers to Macragge Control's and discovered 5 Terran years had passed since we got into Signus - we thought we had only been a few weeks!"

[Sviox]

Vengeful Spirit places The Last Remembrancer after Luna Mendax, Burden of Duty, Grey Angel and Lost Sons.

About halfway through Vengeful Spirit, Qruze meets up with the other Knights Errant on Titan, along with Dorn. They just came from their involvement in TLR.

 

How would you place Lost Sons exactly? It seems to happen before The Unremembered Empire and if I remember correctly, it said that there had been no contact with BA fleet for many years (need to check on exact time).  I haven't found any direct reference in Vengeful Spirit (so far) to either of these books, so it looks like the BA stationed in Molech are a separate honorary detachement, taking place before Lost Sons, not after.

[Balthamal]

Actually the Lion was heading to Ultramar after breaking the Night Lords at Thramas as evidenced at the end of Savage Weapons with the conversation he has with Corswain. He just happened to get involved with the Death Guard before hand in The Lion, and used his prize to finish the VIII Legion in Prince of Crows

[Kol Saresk]

Balthamal, don't take this the wrong way but I think your post makes it a little confusing as to how the Night Lord and Dark Angels fit in the timeline.

 

I know what you're saying, but to clarify, the Lion was already planning to head to Ultramar at the end of Savage Weapons when he and Curze fought at Tsalgualsa. While taking his merry tike, he take that experimental warp engine from Typhon in the Lion. And then in Prince of Crows he uses said warp engine to break the Legion fleet at Sheol and again at the first rendezvous point. From there, he heads to Ultramar while Corswain heads to Caliban. Well actually, I guess Vengeful Spirit shows Corswain popping up to save the Wolves.

 

Lost Sons would be in the third year, concurrent with Unremembered Empire as that is when the Blood Angels pop back up. Remember, Signus Prime began before the Heresy, so they'd have been missing for four years or so.

 

The Bloodsworn on Molech were stationed there just prior to the Signus campaign. Vengeful Spirit itself occurs five years later, in the fourth year of the Heresy.

 

The easiest way, to me personally, to set things up would be to set things up as an outsider would view it. For example, the Blood Angels at Signus would have only experienced a few weeks. But to the rest of the galaxy and any other observer(say, us for example) it would have been four years(one before the Heresy, ends third year of). Another thing would be Calth. Know No Fear takes place in the first year of the Heresy, specifically a year after it begins. But Calth itself, and the Undergroud War, is an event that doesn't end until the Scouring.

 

And that's where timelines become troubling. It'd be easy to just go "This novel begins here and ends here" and just have them overlapping where necessary. But if you try to collate by events, it becomes a major hassle as there not only is overlap, but sometimes the only overlap is mention of "in the ____ year of the Heresy".

[Sviox]

Balthamal, don't take this the wrong way but I think your post makes it a little confusing as to how the Night Lord and Dark Angels fit in the timeline.

 

I know what you're saying, but to clarify, the Lion was already planning to head to Ultramar at the end of Savage Weapons when he and Curze fought at Tsalgualsa. While taking his merry tike, he take that experimental warp engine from Typhon in the Lion. And then in Prince of Crows he uses said warp engine to break the Legion fleet at Sheol and again at the first rendezvous point. From there, he heads to Ultramar while Corswain heads to Caliban. Well actually, I guess Vengeful Spirit shows Corswain popping up to save the Wolves.

 

Lost Sons would be in the third year, concurrent with Unremembered Empire as that is when the Blood Angels pop back up. Remember, Signus Prime began before the Heresy, so they'd have been missing for four years or so.

 

The Bloodsworn on Molech were stationed there just prior to the Signus campaign. Vengeful Spirit itself occurs five years later, in the fourth year of the Heresy.

 

The easiest way, to me personally, to set things up would be to set things up as an outsider would view it. For example, the Blood Angels at Signus would have only experienced a few weeks. But to the rest of the galaxy and any other observer(say, us for example) it would have been four years(one before the Heresy, ends third year of). Another thing would be Calth. Know No Fear takes place in the first year of the Heresy, specifically a year after it begins. But Calth itself, and the Undergroud War, is an event that doesn't end until the Scouring.

 

And that's where timelines become troubling. It'd be easy to just go "This novel begins here and ends here" and just have them overlapping where necessary. But if you try to collate by events, it becomes a major hassle as there not only is overlap, but sometimes the only overlap is mention of "in the ____ year of the Heresy".

 

Well said. Though I'm not sure about what you say about the years between VS and UE. The year events of VS takes place can be calculated. In the Imperial Truth's short "Devine Adotrice" it is clearly said that it takes place 966.M30. And in VS, it references to those events taking place 43 years ago, making the assault of Molech happen within 009.M31. 

 

UE is a bit more difficult, since it does not give exact dates. But luckily, Laurie Goulding gives some insight here: http://z13.invisionfree.com/The_First_Expedition/index.php?showtopic=884, placing UE also to 009.M31.

[Kol Saresk]

Hmm, see the thing is that Prince of Crows specifically says it is occurring in the third year of the Heresy. Which I think is like 010.M31? Or something like that? Unremembered Empire happens after Prince of Crows. And it is said that while the Lion was heading to Ultramar, Corswain was heading to Caliban. Along the way, Corswain ran into Russ and the Wolves. According to VS, they went to Terra and then spent a year there. So, logically, VS should be taking place in the fourth year of te Heresy, one year after Corswain would have split off from the main 1st Legion and helped Russ fight off the Alpha Legion.

 

EDIT: One thought that occurs is that UE and VS could still be concurrent, but it'd pretty much need to be that UE is one year after Prince of Crows in order to match up with how certain fact have been presented in material other than UE and VS. Primarily material like Savage Weapons and Prince of Crows which explicitly state a point in the timeline.

[Sviox]

Hmm, see the thing is that Prince of Crows specifically says it is occurring in the third year of the Heresy. Which I think is like 010.M31? Or something like that? Unremembered Empire happens after Prince of Crows. And it is said that while the Lion was heading to Ultramar, Corswain was heading to Caliban. Along the way, Corswain ran into Russ and the Wolves. According to VS, they went to Terra and then spent a year there. So, logically, VS should be taking place in the fourth year of te Heresy, one year after Corswain would have split off from the main 1st Legion and helped Russ fight off the Alpha Legion.

 

EDIT: One thought that occurs is that UE and VS could still be concurrent, but it'd pretty much need to be that UE is one year after Prince of Crows in order to match up with how certain fact have been presented in material other than UE and VS. Primarily material like Savage Weapons and Prince of Crows which explicitly state a point in the timeline.

 

Not sure what the problem is. Prince of Crows takes place at about start end of 008.M31 to start of 009.M31. This makes sense since the Thramas crusade is stated to take about 3 years and it starts immediately after Isstvan V (556.006.M31). After that, Corswain takes some of the forces to search for Russ, who ends up in Terra (where he is at the start of VS, 009.M31). Meanwhile, Lion takes rest of the fleet to Ultramar (UE 009.M31).

 

Also, saying that something happened in the "third year of heresy" is a bit imprecise since Isstvan III took place at the very end of 005.M31. So it could be 008 or anywhere during 009.

 

Only thing that does not fit is that Scars seems to take place at 007.M31 so it seems like the space puppies waited for over 2 years for Corswain to come and rescue them.

[Kol Saresk]

 

 

Balthamal, don't take this the wrong way but I think your post makes it a little confusing as to how the Night Lord and Dark Angels fit in the timeline.

 

I know what you're saying, but to clarify, the Lion was already planning to head to Ultramar at the end of Savage Weapons when he and Curze fought at Tsalgualsa. While taking his merry tike, he take that experimental warp engine from Typhon in the Lion. And then in Prince of Crows he uses said warp engine to break the Legion fleet at Sheol and again at the first rendezvous point. From there, he heads to Ultramar while Corswain heads to Caliban. Well actually, I guess Vengeful Spirit shows Corswain popping up to save the Wolves.

 

Lost Sons would be in the third year, concurrent with Unremembered Empire as that is when the Blood Angels pop back up. Remember, Signus Prime began before the Heresy, so they'd have been missing for four years or so.

 

The Bloodsworn on Molech were stationed there just prior to the Signus campaign. Vengeful Spirit itself occurs five years later, in the fourth year of the Heresy.

 

The easiest way, to me personally, to set things up would be to set things up as an outsider would view it. For example, the Blood Angels at Signus would have only experienced a few weeks. But to the rest of the galaxy and any other observer(say, us for example) it would have been four years(one before the Heresy, ends third year of). Another thing would be Calth. Know No Fear takes place in the first year of the Heresy, specifically a year after it begins. But Calth itself, and the Undergroud War, is an event that doesn't end until the Scouring.

 

And that's where timelines become troubling. It'd be easy to just go "This novel begins here and ends here" and just have them overlapping where necessary. But if you try to collate by events, it becomes a major hassle as there not only is overlap, but sometimes the only overlap is mention of "in the ____ year of the Heresy".

Well said. Though I'm not sure about what you say about the years between VS and UE. The year events of VS takes place can be calculated. In the Imperial Truth's short "Devine Adotrice" it is clearly said that it takes place 966.M30. And in VS, it references to those events taking place 43 years ago, making the assault of Molech happen within 009.M31.

 

UE is a bit more difficult, since it does not give exact dates. But luckily, Laurie Goulding gives some insight here: http://z13.invisionfree.com/The_First_Expedition/index.php?showtopic=884, placing UE also to 009.M31.

I was going by this post. The way it was presented suggested there was a problem with how things were tallying up. I am more familiar with which year of the Heresy events happen, with the Heresy "starting" at Istvaan V, which seems to be the collective point from which everyone else(in-universe) seems to start from. Betrayer is one year from Istvaan V. Prince of Crows is three years from Istvaan V. Etc.

 

And there really isn't a problem with the Alpha Legion holding the Wolves at Alaxxes for two years. The Night Lords held the Dark Angels at Thramas for three years.

[Hrolleif]

As convoluted as the series can be with events being running into one another and the books starting at different points, I think you've done a good job. The graphic itself is well done as it is not overly complex as might be warranted by such a project like this. I look forward to watching it grow!

[Sviox]

One major question. Do you think Nikaea happened before or after the start of the first book? I re-visited some of the first books and it got me thinking that my timeline is wrong, i.e. It must have already happened.

[Kol Saresk]

According to how events line up in A Thousand Sonds, Nikea happens roughly one year before Horus is wounded on Davin. Davin is at the beginning of False Gods and Horus Rising doesn't even take a year, so definitely before the first books, if only just.

[Sviox]

According to how events line up in A Thousand Sonds, Nikea happens roughly one year before Horus is wounded on Davin. Davin is at the beginning of False Gods and Horus Rising doesn't even take a year, so definitely before the first books, if only just.

In FW books Nikaea takes place 001 and Davin 004. Is there specific mention on that one year? What page/chapter? Laurie has stated that older books have wrong years in them and BL will work to fix such things in upcoming reprints.

 

(Ps. Damn iPad autocorrect)

[hopkins]

Kharaatan is post-Nostramo

 

Yeah that threw me too, but there's a mention of it in the short story Artefacts by Nick Kyme, in Sedition's Gate

I checked with the man himself, as I always thought it strange the Night Lords were ordered by Malcador/Dorn to fight Horus & co at Isstvan V if they were persona non grata and awol

 

https://twitter.com/NickKyme/status/491208496827072514

[Kol Saresk]

Hopkins; Massacre has it that the Night Lords volunteered, and that Dorn simply didn't refuse their help.

 

Sviox: Well if its "wrong" I'm not sure how much use it is, but Chapter Twenty-One is the reference. And the more specific length of time is five months.

[Sviox]

Kharaatan is post-Nostramo

 

Yeah that threw me too, but there's a mention of it in the short story Artefacts by Nick Kyme, in Sedition's Gate

I checked with the man himself, as I always thought it strange the Night Lords were ordered by Malcador/Dorn to fight Horus & co at Isstvan V if they were persona non grata and awol

 

https://twitter.com/NickKyme/status/491208496827072514

 

Good catch. Updated the timeline accordingly.

[Sviox]

Lot's of stuff updated. Would really appreciate comments.