The Leonine Insurrection: The Hegemony of Man +First Draft+

[Outlander90]

+ Taking inspiration from Aurelian Rex's splendid Dornian Heresy I'd like to make a pitch of my own Alternate Horus Heresy, one where the taciturn yet tactically brilliant primarch Lion El'Johnson is the Arch-Traitor. I'd like to put forth ideas that are radically different from all the other Alternate Horus Heresies and give them a different spin. So without much further ado I'd like to present to you the Leonine Insurrection: The Hegemony of Man. +

 

The Leonine Insurrection: The Hegemony of Man:

 

Plot line:

 

The War in Heaven: The War in Heaven has a different outcome and the Eldar are the underdogs and their gods are all made impotent by the null fields of the Necrontyr. The Eldar are thus not the prime race in the galaxy and thus do not give into their deepest darkest desires. Therefore Slaanesh isn't born and the Eye of Terror as we know it doesn't exist. The Necrontry however had invested all their power in their disdainful C'tan entities. The Necrontyr fought against the Eldar and were masters of the galaxy only now they had no enemies to oppose them. The younger races like the Eldar, Krork and Humans were still in differing phases of their civilizations. In the end the nobles among the Necrontyr fought one another and caused a mass extinction. Kind of like the Age of Strife for the Necrontyr. The C'tan went on a rampage of their own and they went from disdainful to outright tyrannical. To prevent being exterminated by the civil war and to prevent from being food for the C'tan some Necrontyr families used their bio-transference machines to make their bodies immortal and made of living metal. They seeded worlds where Human, Krork or Eldar worshipped them as gods and made them Tomb guardians.

 

The Fate of the Necrontyr: Basically, the Necrontyr emerge victorious over the Eldar and the Old Ones but fall to intercine conflict. The more farsighted of the Necrontyr forge bodies of living metal to so that their enemies cannot kill them. The Fall inevitably draws a potent reaction from the warp. The Necrontyr had also turned into their desires. This leads to the creation of the Slaanesh but it is not a potent birth-cry as the living metal clad Necrontyr are immune to the touch of Chaos. Slaanesh's birth is thus diminished and She Who Thirsts is always on the lookout for fresh disciples.

 

The Birth of Slaanesh: Slaanesh may be fully manifested yet but he can influence the mortal plain with his new good friends, the Dark Eldar. The Eldar who retreat to Commoragh are all those who indulge their deepest darkest desires and would have thus caused the birth of Slaanesh to unfold in the first place. But since the Eldar aren’t the prime race in the galaxy and are unable to cause the Eye of Terror from being formed in the first place these Dark Eldar are keeping their allegiance to Slaanesh under wraps. The Dark Eldar want to use mankind to fuel the birth of Slaanesh.

 

The Age of Strife: The Human Hegemon is shattered when the fall of the Necrontyr occurs. The Warp goes into flux and the rise of human psykers causes mankind's sister worlds to tear each other apart. Only a feudal system can restore order and mankind turns to their lords and their lord's knightly orders for protection. The stillborn but still potent birth-cry of Slaanesh stills the tumult in the warp.

 

The Unification War: After unifying Terra, Luna and the Macro-Orbital Plates under his rule he prepares his Thunder Warriors to fight a protracted war on Mars. He also begins arming and readying his Legiones Astartes. They are deployed to Mars where a group of bio-mechanical mutant Techpriests calling themselves the Cy Carnivora are dominating the other Martian forges. The Imperials and Carnivora wage an apocalyptic war where the future Iron Hands and Salamanders form the vanguard and form an unbreakable brotherhood. In the end the Martian Forges are freed from the Carnivora and they swear fealty to the Emperor and build the warpships which will form the first of the Expeditionary Fleets. They also tender the Emperor and his legion with all the arms and armour they would require for the coming Crusade. The Emperor completes the forging his Legiones Astartes and as part of his grand scheme sends the depleted Thunder Warriors out into the heavens to attack and defeat potential enemies and break the backs of xenos races alike. The xenos races retaliate and the Emperor uses the threat of the Xenos to unite the entire Solar System under his rule. Breaking the hold of the Cy Carnivora over Mars and freeing the colonies of Jupiter. He then forges a fleet to unite all of mankind's lost sister worlds and bring them under the rule of Terra.

 

Early Great Crusade - The Extinction Wars: The first Expeditionary Fleets fight vicious battle for survival in a galaxy rent by the internecine war unleashed by the civil war of the Necrontry and voracious hunger of the C'tan. Many xenos armada are broken as they invade the Solar System. The Jovian League and the Saturnine Protectorate are liberated from Xenos invaders. Mankind's oldest and grandest daughter worlds are brought back into the fold and these form the first threads of the fabric that would be the millions strong Imperium.

 

Mid Great Crusade - The Hive Wars: Not all of Mankind's daughter worlds are prepared to return to the fold. Many have become overcrowded, tyrannical hive worlds. These Hive Worlds are really tough to crack and it is in these campaigns that the Legions start specializing in the battle doctrine that they are then later on identified with. IIIrd Legion swordsmen challenge each Hive World's rule to a duel while the Xth and XVIIIth utilize brute force and sheer tenacity in breaking these Hive Worlds. Other like the IVth and XIVth use siege doctrines and attrion to wear the defenders down. Some even use sorcery, who might they be?  While other use stealth (XIXth and XXth legions). Some use plain old fear (VIIIth). All in all the Hive worlds are brought back into the fold one way or another and at the end of the campaign all the legions have formed into an identity of their own.

 

 

Later Great Crusade - The Ork Wars: With most of the Primarchs found and their own domains incorporated into the Imperium the pre-eminence of the Imperium is assured. Yet it is not to be as the storms occluding the Tempestus Segmentum are suddenly cleared and the Orkoid race rampage through the weakly defended colonies in that Segmentum. The storms were thought to be impenetrable and the whole segmentum was named after the tempestuous storm that constantly wracked the region. Having battle Orks before the Space Marines Legions and their primarchs geared up for the conflict. These orks soon proved to be far more tenacious that the one that had plagued the Imperium during the early half of the Great Crusade. Only through the sacrifices of Legions assigned to the 'hold the line' were the orks thrown back. These Line Legions weren't awarded accolades and glories as the cost of repulsing the orks was much too high. The seed of bitterness was laid at the conclusion of the Ork wars and the return of the warp storm preventing neither ork nor Imperial vessels from traversing the Tempestus Segmentum.

 

 

The Glory of the Great Crusade: The Emperor sends his infant primarchs to worlds of his choosing. There they become exceptional leader over worlds wracked by centuries of conflict. The Primarchs bring about an age of wonder that makes their adopted homeworlds grow into the centre of a vast and powerful domain. The Lion is first found and is thus the first primarch united with the Emperor. In time other Primarchs and their exceptionally well ruled domains are brought under the aegis of the Imperium. The Great Crusade expands to the edges of the galaxy unifying the diaspora of mankind's lost worlds.

 

The Second Ork Wars: The Greenskins emerge from Tempestus in unbelievably large numbers and invade several core worlds of the newborn Imperium. They are stopped by a coalition of legions led by the Lion who vows to not let this slight to the Emperor go unpunished and pursues the broken Ork fleets back to their lair.

 

The Battle in the Core: The Lion and brother primarchs' fleets are swallowed up by the warp and the tempestus storms once again make passage into the Tempestus Segmentum impossible. The Imperium mourns for the loss of nearly a third of their Legiones Astartes warriors as well five primarchs including the Lion. Unbeknownst to the Imperium the Lion and his legion along with his brother Primarchs and their legions are battling horrific enemies in the Galactic core. Monstrous megarchnid swarms, hosts of red skinned horned beasts and countless other threats. Each swarm, host and race is broken by the sheer determination and tenacity of the Legionnaires but the combined battles take their toll on the space marines. Each legion is thus enticed or lied to by the proxies chosen by the chaos gods. The fall of the Lion is most calamitous as he is promised absolute power over the human race with him and his legion as its masters.

 

The Lost Sons of the Imperium: The Lost legions return to Imperium's worlds to much fanfare and celebration. The Emperor himself dons on the Lion the mantle of Protector of the Imperium, one of the highest honors. The Lion however plots to overthrow the Emperor and sacrifice him to the Chaos gods. His bargain with them is all he thinks about, is all he cares about.

 

The Trap at Molech: The Serpent Cults take over the Primarch Heart World of Molech and turn it into a hedonist’s playground. Hundreds of worlds are plunged into anarchy and outright secede from Imperial rule. The Imperium retaliates with a huge Retribution Fleet that has the principle elements of four legions, The Emperors Children, the XIth Legion, the Salamanders and the Raven Guard. The Retribution Fleet assaults the stronghold of Molech and defeat the Secessionists in force but their victory isn’t complete until the Dawn Citadel falls. When five full legions led by the Lion break from the warp the Fleet Masters and Admirals aboard the Retribution Fleet send out vox hails and lithocast communications. None of their hails are answered. Only one reply comes from the flagship of the First Legion. 'You did not care', with that the full force of five legion fleets opens fire on the Retribution fleet and decimates them. The traitors form the Dark Angels, World Eaters, Space Wolves, Iron Warriors and White Scars launch an all-out planetary invasion of Molech. Without orbital retrieval the space marines of the four legions make their last stand before the Dawn Citadel.

 

Treachery of the Drakes and Ravens: The Raven Guard are the first to feel the thundering hammerblow of the planetary assault. Their dropsite is carpeted with bombs and their dropships shot out of the sky. Without any means to extract their forces and without any shadows to hide behind the Raven Guard Primarch Corax is approached by the Lion himself. He asks Corax to surrender and true to his nature as a mercenary the ravenlord surrenders. His legion does not promptly turn upon the loyalists but with one full legion out of the fighting line a huge hole is made in the loyalists’ defense grid. A hole that allows Perturabo and his siege tanks to fire unrestricted into the heart of the Salamanders legion. The heart of the Salamanders legions is torn out by the unrelenting bombardment but it is what comes later that makes them traitors. The Iron Warriors launch genetically engineered mutagens in their shells into the shell shocked legionnaires. The deadly mutagen works to unravel the Salamanders genetic blueprint turning marines into mutant monstrosities. The lord of the Drakes ever the most kind of all the Primarchs cannot allow the destruction and degeneration of his genesons and even as he is beaten into the brunt earth by Mortarion he pledges his allegiance to the Lion and his new order. The Emperors Children and the XIth legion are now complete surrounded and two of their brother legions are taken out of the fighting. The two remaining loyalist legions fight to their last breath. The Emperor is surrounded by his loyal custodians but even they cannot stand against the might of seven legions. The duel between the Emperor and five of his traitors sons shakes the planets foundations but it is a duel that the Emperor loses. He is captured and offered up to the pantheon. The loyalists Emperors Children manage to escape the massacre with their Primarch Fulgrim. He makes for Terra, to the Astronomican, to warn his loyal brothers of the impending treachery.

 

The Fall of Terra: Terra is besieged by the IInd legion and its capricious primarch. When the Emperor's Children’s broken fleet break through the warp it is best by the IInd legion fleets. Fulgrim stares at certain defeat but he finds a way in which he can make the traitors pay. He utilizes a gift from his dear brother Ferrus to teleport directly into the command centre of the Terran Orbital Defense Grid. Slaying the traitor Mechanicum units stationed there he utilizes his Primarch override genelock to unleash all of the Homeworlds ancient and forbidden weapons upon the IInd legion. Spitting curses at his brother the IInd legion is destroyed in unrelenting waves of vortex, graviton and atomic warheads. The Legions who participated in the Massacre at Molech return to find the Emperors Children and the IInd Legion destroyed. They quickly defeat the remaining loyalists and invade the Imperial Palace. Through long days of unrelenting warfare the Palace is breached. Fulgrim is brought down by Angron who promptly beheads the Phoenician.

 

The Astronomican Goes Dark: The Astronomican, the light that guides the numberless ships of the Imperium, the tether than binds the fabric of the Imperium is silenced. With that the worlds of the Imperium are cut off from the Throneworld and from each other. The Lion has already seeded the vast majority of the Imperium's worlds with agents, infiltrators and assassins. These agents bring down the established order of a world and supplant it with one hand picked for their loyalty to the new order. Hundreds of thousands of planets face turmoil and internal strife as monarchs and councils ruling each world and system are bought, coerced, slain or replaced.

 

The Rise of the Hegemony of Man: The Lion established the Hegemony of Man centered on Terra. The Astronomical is tainted with the touch of rouge psyker who send out messages to Imperium Sectors that are no longer under Imperial rule. Slowly planet by planet, the Imperium is torn down and the Hegemony rises to rule over the stars. Resistance is fierce, especially from worlds devoted to the Emperor as a living god. This resistance is centered around Dimmnar and a growing number of worlds joins in the Confederation of Light to stop the forces of the Hegemony.

 

The Murder of Legions: Part I: The Lion had planned for the destruction of the Space Marine legions that would undoubtedly remain loyal to the Emperor. The Ultramarines were ordered to muster at Endymion after their principle Chapters had waged a relentless war against the greenskins in Segmentum Tempestus. The Blood Angels were tasked with the destruction of Nihl, a planet belong to a vicious xenos race bound to Khorne. The Fists were ordered to return to Colossus to repel the Tyranid hive fleets. The Lunar Wolves with the attendant Word Bearers led their legion to Medea for resupply. The Iron hands were dispatched to end the threat posed by the Diasporex Fleets at Coriolis. The Night Lords had already been assigned garrison duties in the Tsagualsan start system where some of the Imperium's most dangerous enemies were kept captive. The Imperial Heralds were 'informed' of one their most devoted worlds fall to anarchy and treachery and they made haste to the fortress world of Fortrea Quintus. The Alpha Legion were given tasking orders to invade the recalcitrant world of Tesstra Prime, the seat of the Tesstra League a thorn in the Imperium's side. With the chess pieces all lined up the Lion played his killing stoke.

 

The Murder of Legion: Part II: The Ultramarines are ambushed at Endymion by the savage and murderous Wolves of Fenris, once one of their closest brothers. The Blood Angels are drawn into the bloodshed unleashed by the invasion of Nihl and their genecurse is brought to the fore by coven of Thousand Sons, hiding within the ancient tombs of Nihl, making the entirely of the legiongo beserk attacking the Nihilites in the maddening furor of the Black rage. The Imperial Fists fleets are ambushed and cut off from escape by an iron curtain of Iron Warriors warships at Colossus. The Night Lords are attacked by their rivals the raven guard. The Imperial Herald invade Fortrea to find that Kor Phaeron theor MAster of Faith is leading a full legion of twisted power armoured warriors calling themselves the Word Bearers. The Lunar Wolves are ambushed by the First Legion at Medea with the chaplains of the traitor word bearers trying to subvert the loyalties of the space marines. The Alpha legion find Tesstra's defense manned by legionnaire of the Iron Warriors and they are ambushed by elements of the First Legion led by Luther. The Iron Hands find that the Diasporex fleets were simply bait and they are ambushed by the fleets led by Mortarion and his Death Guard.

 

The Wrath of the Murdered Legions: The Ultramarines hold their own against the savage attacks by the Wolf King and his traitorous allies and mange to cause severe casualties by holding onto the underground temple complexes of Endymion. The Imperial fists led by a brilliant fleet master launch a successful flanking attack on the Iron Warriors and defeat them in force despite having almost all their principle warship crippled. The Lunar Wolves rally around the Warmaster and fight through the masses of cultists and traitor word bearers and Dark angels alike. The Iron Hands force the Death Guard to fight in the deadly corona of the Coriolis star where their iron clad bodies can withstand the solar radiation but the mortals of the Death Guard fleet cannot. Mortarion plunges his fleets into the corona heedlessly which results in immense casualties from his human pacted fleets. The Alpha Legion fight a game of hit and run with the Tesstran traitors as well as the Dark Angels dragging them into a war of attrition with no clear sign of victory. The Night Lord destroys the moon of Tsagualsa to prevent a complete destruction of their planetside garrison by the Raven Guard fleet. They then fight from within the tsagualsan asteroid belt where they have placed hidden bases strategically. The prescient primarch Konrad counters ever moves of the Ravenlord to bring hid legion to battle.

 

The War for Ultramar: Ultramar being one of the largest, most well defended, most organized domains of the Imperium is targeted by the Hegemony for destruction. Assigned to this task are the World Eaters and their Brotherhood of Ruin allies along with a strong element of Iron Warriors and the legions of Vulkan and Jagathai. The war for Ultramar is planned as an executed strike at Prandium, the gateway to Ultramar and the jewel of the Ultramarines Legion. With the destruction of Prandium the traitor legions were to wait for vengeful Ultramarine fleets to pick off one at a time. Angron however ignores the overall tactical plan and forges ahead with his World Eaters and his brotherhood of ruin allies towards Macragge the heart of Ultramar. The Battle for Macragge is one of the most brutal and cataclysmic battles in the Great War. The Ultramarines are outnumbered and outmatched but hold on for courage and honor. Salvation comes from the Night Lord of Tsagualsa, having finally bled the strength of the Raven Guard in the ruins of Tsagualsa. Konrad battles against Angron but neither primarch lands the killing blow as they are thrown aside by the blast from a Titan. Macragge is saved and hail Konrad as its savior. Konrad musters his legion along with any and all reinforcement fleets and ambushes the Salamanders and White Scars at Prandium. The Salamanders are bombarded and brought to their knees for the second time. They turn to the chaos gods for deliverance and the God of Death and Despair Nurgleth answer their call. The Salamanders walk out of the orbital bombardment alive but changed. The White Scars are brought towards extinction under the guns of the Night Lords. They turn to the warp and the Chaos god of Excess turns to them and grant them the speed and reflexes to outmaneuver the Night Lords and escape. Both the Salamanders and the White Scars escape amidst horrendous casualties and break out of the Prandium star system.

 

The Battle of Diamat (a tie-in to the War for Ultramar): Elements from the Iron Hands mustering at the Forgeworld of Diamat are attacked by the traitor Mechanicum now in control of the forgeworld and lock down the Iron Hands fleet. A single battle barge escapes from this fate but it faces a combined force of World Eaters and Raven Guard coming to Diamat to claim its war engines. The Iron Hands ships victorious over impossible odds and they mange to free their brothers from the Mechanicum. The Iron Hands claims the titan war engines of Diamat and as they light their engines burn the traitor forgeworld with the exhaust gases of hundreds of Iron Hands ships.

 

 

The Line Breaks: The Hegemony has failed to deliver to killing blow to those legions loyal to the Imperium. The Ultramarines break out of Endymion and try to link up with the Blood Angels at Nihl. The battle the Thousand Sons responsible for accelerating the black rage genecurse of the Blood Angels. The Imperial Fists being the shattered and broken fleets of the Iron warriors to battle on the world of Necromunda. There both side grind in for total war and will not stop until their brother legionnaires are ground to dust. The Lunar Wolves prevail over the chaos cultists of Medea and try to reach out to link up the Iron Hands at Coriolis. The Iron Hands force an impasse on the death guard at Coriolis blunting every attack made by Mortarion. The Alpha Legion masters the hit and run war on Tesstra and routs Luther's Dark Angels. The Night Lords rally the battered remnants of Imperial fleets at Ultramar in preparation of the long war to retake the Imperium. The Imperial Herald defeat Kor Pheron's word bearers and set a course to the Core worlds of the Imperium.

 

 

The Emperor Returned: The Night Lords led by their prescient primarch Konrad leads a huge fleet to Molech. The traitors defend the dungeon of the Emperor with all their might but the fervor of the loyalists finally wins through the traitors. To release the Emperor a sacrifice is required. Konrad gladly gives up his life for the Emperor's and the Emperor is freed from the clutches of the Chaos gods.

 

 

The Traitors Divided: After the losses sustained at Colossus and Necromunda the Iron Warriors Legion are a spent force. Perturabo questions the Lion's decision and right to rule over his brother primarchs. Rad-burnt Mortarion, wounded Corax and rage maddened Angron all share the same thought and rally under the banner of Perturabo and his Iron Dominion. Centered at inviolable Olympia the Iron Warriors, Death Guard, World eaters and Rave Guard retire from campaigns waged in the name of the Hegemony and the Lion.

 

 

The Siege of Terra: Terra was rebuilt as a fortress by Perturabo and even bereft of four of his legion the Lion still has the might of the his own Dark angels alongside Kharnath worshiping Space Wolves, Tzeetch worshiping Thousand Son, Nurgleth worshiping Salamanders and Slaaneth worshipping White Scars. The lion plans to sacrifice Terra's billions to ascend to godhood. The loyalists Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Imperial Fists, Lunar Wolves and Night Lords fight through the traitors fleet to land and besiege the Imperial Palace now a fortress. After a brutal relentless siege the loyalists mange to bring down the walls of the Imperial palace. The inner working of the Imperial Palace have been altered by Perturabo's designs. Thus the loyalist forces are separated by the ever changing architecture of the inner palace. The Emperor fights through to the throne room, his throne room, to find the Lion standing over Dorn's broken body. The two face one another and wage a duel that shakes the palace foundation. The Lion lands a blow that puts the Emperor down. He then unsheathes the anathema a weapon forged by the gods to kill the Emperor. Before he can plunge the anathema into the Emperor Horus falls before the weapon and the anathema slays the Lunar Wolves primarch. The Emperor uses his potent psychic powers to kill the Lion. With the Lion dead the traitors are leaderless and scattered. After much bloodshed they are repulsed from the core worlds of the Imperium and driven into the Galactic Core, that depthless hell in which they first lost sight of who they were and turned on all they once stood for.