The Leonine Heresy +Second Draft+

[Outlander90]

Greetings one and all my fellow B&C brothers and sisters. Sadly the first draft of the Leonine Heresy did not receive any feedback so I put the whole idea on the back burner to focus on other things. But I wanted to get at least one of my own Alternate Heresy ideas out there, even if it doesnt get any traction its okay. All I want you to do is pitch in with your own crazy ideas and try to make something solid out of it. I'm talking possible IA's, Short Stories and Concept artwork like Aurelian Rex's Dornian Heresy.

 

But I'm getting ahead of myself there. The idea of an alternate heresy isn't novel anymore so here's what I propose we work on. We take the original ideas in the Horus Heresy (all the novels, short stories, audiobooks, graphic novel and Forgeworld books) and turn it on its head. Doing that on its own would not be challenging enough so here's what I propose we take each significant plot line from the HH series, invert it and make three different stories from them. The best of the three will be revised and incorporated into the final draft. Who gets to decide which one is the best? Well you guys of course. 

 

Okay here are the following primary plot lines:

 

1. The War in Heaven: Everyone knows the famous War in Heaven where the Old Ones are preeminent, they defeat the Necrontyr who then turn to the C'tan, who transform the Necrontyr into living metal constructs and enslave them to their will. These Necrons then go on to defeat the Old Ones, who turn to creating the younger races, who fight the Necrons which directly causes the turmoil in the warp that leads to the birth of the Chaos gods.

 

2. The Ages of Mankind: M1 to M15 is generally understood as the Age of Terra wherein the Human race progressed much but could not breach our own solar system. Many colonies within the solar system were founded and the technologies that were then used to make the next age possible were invented. M15 to M25 is commonly called the Dark Age of Technology, during this period mankind discovered warp travel and spread out throughout the galaxy (commonly called the Stellar Exodus), Navigator mutation was discovered, STC (Standard Template Construct) databases established and the Men of Iron forged. This age came to a close with the rise in psyker mutation which led to the warp storm that cut off the disparate parts of the human empire. M25 to M30 called the Age of Strife or the Long Night/ Old Night is when things began to fall apart for the human race as worlds were cut off from another and devolved without external assistance. Others were preyed on by beings from the warp due to high number of psychic mutation among the population while the rest had to fend for themselves against cruel xenos depredations.

 

3. The Unification Wars: The Emperor of Mankind emerges from his secret base under the Himalayas and conquers the nations of Terra with his proto-astartes Thunder Warriors. These Thunder Warriors eventually make way for the Legiones Astartes and these Legionaries finish off most of the remaining enemy held cities states/nations. They also take over Luna. 

 

4. Treaty of Mars: Emepror forges a peace with the Martian Mechanicum in return fro handing over all available information on the STC databases and any other significant technologies to the tech priests. 

 

5. The First Primarch: Horus of Cthonia, who is found first and fights for the longest time alongside his father. 

 

6. The Sequence in which the Primarchs were found: It is assumed that this the order of the finding of the Primarchs; Horus, Leman Russ, UNKNOWN SECOND LEGION PRIMARCH, Ferrus Manus, Fulgrim, Vulkan, Rogal Dorn, Roboute Guilliman, Magnus the Red, Sanguinius, Lion El'Johnson, Perturabo, Mortarion, Lorgar, Jaghatai Khan, Konrad Curze, Angron, Corax, UNKNOWN ELEVENTH LEGION PRIMARCH, Alpharius Omegon. 

 

7. The Lost Primarchs: DELETED FROM IMPERIAL RECORDS

 

8. The Duration of the Great Crusade: Some 200 years plus according to most sources. 

 

9. Major enemies of the Great Crusade: From endless Ork empires to all the different types of the Eldar race, Craftworlders, Maidenworlders and Commoraghites. The Diasporex, the Laer, the Megarachnids, the Kinebrach, the Gykon, the Hrud, the Demiurg and lots more. Also lets not forget the human, quasi-human and abhuman enemies of the Imperium, the Interex, the Olamic Quitetude, the Nurthene, the Saroshi, the Gordian League. 

 

10. The First Heretic: The Word Bearers after being chastesied by the Emperor at Khur. Go on a pilgrimage into the Eye of Terror and come out devotees of the Chaos Gods. Turn Horus at Davin who starts out the chain reaction of events that leads to the Horus Heresy.

 

11. The Heresy: From the atrocity at Isstvan III to the Dropsite Massacre at Isstvan V, from Phall to Calth, Tallarn to....Mars I suppose (after reading Cybernetica) all the way to the eventful battle of Terra. 

 

12. The Final Batte/ Endgame: The Siege of Terra's climactic ending in a boarding action on board the Vengeful Spirit. Horus and Emperor battle it out for control of mankind. Horus is defeated only after someone (or a lot of someone's) interrupts him from finishing off the Emperor. That respite (or the realization of the depth of Horus' damnation) makes the Emperor reach out and destroy Horus mind and soul. 

 

13. Post Endgame/ Scouring: Traitors are pushed back into the Eye of Terror and thought dead. 

 

14. Reorganization of the Imperium following the Heresy: The Legions are broken down into Chapters, the Imperial Guard is born, the Imperial Army no longer have control over the Imperial Navy, the Commissariat is born, the Inquisition is born, the Deathwatch and Grey Knights are born(established) and later the Ministorum is born.  

 

I will present my plot lines and give you an explanation as to why I find that the most logical way in which that particular chains of events will take place. There are quite a few plot lines which are completely independent of the Canon HH so I would expect a lot of criticism but that's okay. I want you folks to dig into these 14 plot ideas and see where that leads you. 

Edited September 13, 2015 by Outlander90

[Outlander90]

Ok folks time for my plot lines. I will try and give suitable and relevant explanation for my case but if there isnt a proper explanation please understand that most of the canonical information has a whole lot of loopholes of its own.

 

1. The War in Heaven: The Necrontyr reach out to the C'tan who offer the Necrontyr the means to fights the Old Ones, i.e., the biotransference engines that transform the Necrontyr bodies into living metal Necron bodies. The Necron legions, formed only of the warrior caste of the Necrontyr civilization, led by the C'tan start winning the War in Heaven. In response the Old Ones turn to the creation of the younger races. Eldar and Ork being one of the most prominent to feature in the younger races. The Eldar and Orks do not stand a chance against the C'tan and Necron legions. The Old Ones retreat to the galactic core where it is hard for the Necron's to reach them as they travel through the stars using a faster than light technology without resorting to the entering warp. The Old Ones turn to the creation of immaterium entities that can battle the Necron and their C'tan overlords. These entities are the precursors of the Chaos Gods. These early chaos gods battle it out with the C'tan and buy the Old Ones enough time to destroy the Necrontyr civilization. The Old Ones have sent agents into the Necrontyr civilization that have not been transformed into soulless living metal husks. With the defeat of the Old Ones in the wider conflict the Necrontyr civilization was at the height of their power. The agents sent by the Old Ones sought out the powerful Necrontyr dynasties and turned them to the exploration of their most deepest darkest sensual urges and giving in to those urges through hedonistic rituals. With the War in Heaven over and the immaterium entities unleashed by the Old Ones banished back into the immaterium, the Necron Legions and their C'tan overlords returned back to the Necrontyr homeworlds. When they saw what had become of their civilization they decided to save the Necrontyr race from itself. While the Necron Legions advocated turning their Necrontyr kin into Necron to save theor souls from damnation, the C'tan sought to feed off the soul deaths of trillions of Necrontyr. The Necron Legions fought to overthrow their C'tan Overlords, breaking their bodies into C'tan Shards that were then placed within separate Tesseract Vaults to prevent the C'tan's resurgence. By the time the Necron legion tried to turn their Necrontyr citizens into Necrons to prevent the birth of Slaanesh it was already too late. Granted the transformation of even a fraction of the Necrontyr population prevented the creation of a warp storm that would have engulfed the heart of Necron space but the birth scream of Slaanesh was enough to render that entire part of the galaxy rife with brutal warp storms. Also all living Necrontyr were consumed in the birth of the newest Chaos god. Bereft of a civilization to protect the Necrons rebuilt their homeworld into tomeworlds and went willing into suspended animation for millennia.  

 

2. The Ages of Mankind: The only difference in the Ages of Mankind is that mankind is faced with fewer threats from the Eldar. But as the threat from the Ork race is multiplied the greater the threat it faces, the Orks are mankind's prime nemesis during the Dark Age of Technology. To combat the monstrous ork hordes Mankind turns to the Iron Men, sentient machines. The sentient machine overrun their creators protocols and turn on humanity thus bringing on the Age of Strife. Twin threats that the Great Crusade will face constatnly are the wars against the Ork and the war against the Iron Men. However the real reason for the Age of Strife is that around M25 the Necron race overthrew their C'tan overlords and although most the C'tan shards were captured and locked away in the Tesseract Vaults the few that werent captured spread through time and space and landed on Human worlds. These led to creation of the Iron Men while one of the surviving whole C'tan arrive on Mars, annihilated most of the life on the Red Planet and eventually led to the creation of the Martian Mechanicum. Thereafter the Iron Men rebelled against their human creators and led to the galactic Age of Strife. Since the Iron Men were superior to the human race in everything their only weakness was the immaterium and those worlds which possessed enough psykers won against the machines. Those worlds that did not win became domains of the Iron Men who could not travel to other star systems except in the slower generation ships. The warp became even more tumultuous due to these wars against the Iron Men which also meant that worlds once cut off could not sustain themselves and regressed into a technologically backward age. The Age of Strife came to an end with the rise of the Emperor on Terra and the launching of the Great Crusade. But that was only possible by blowing away of the warp storms with the birth-cry of the Chaos god Slaanesh. 

 

3. The Unification War & 4. Treaty of Mars: The Emperor unites Terra not with outright violence but as a man of peace and reason and shared human endeavor. Having said that those nations that reject the Emperor's ideals and offers of peace suddenly find their populations in outright rebellion or the their leaders assassinated. Having united the nations of Terra under one flag the Emperor tasks the Selenar Gene-Cults to build him twenty legions of superhuman warriors. He then proceeds to launch a Liberation Fleet to free Martian Mechanicum from the shackles of the Iron Men in the guise of one of the fallen C'tan, the Void Dragon, and his proto-Necron warriors known as the Cy Carnivora. Defeating the Cy Carnivora and the Void Dragon the Emperor receives the unconditional servitude of all the Martian Mechanicum. With the aid of the tech-priests of Mars he forges the necessary tools to embark on the Great Crusade.

 

5. First Primarch: Isn't Horus (for my plot line would not make sense if it were Horus) but the Lion from Caliban. Horus is found second. He and the Lion are staucn rivals determined to prove their worth to the Emperor.

 

6. Sequence of the other Primarchs finding is a bit different; Lion El' Johnson, Horus, Leman Russ, Ferrus Manus, Fulgrim, Vulkan, Rogal Dorn, Roboute Guilliman, Magnus the Red, Sanguinius, Perturabo, Mortarion, Lorgar, Jaghatai Khan, Konrad Curze, Angron, Corax, Ashoka (XIth Legion Primarch), Masumane (IInd Legion Primarch), Alpharius Omegon. Not much different than the canonical version. 

 

7. The Lost Primarchs: The Second Legion is named the Mantis Legion and led by Primarch Masumane from the world of Quai Jinn while the Eleventh Legion is named the Dawn Bringers Legion (called the Suryasena in their common tongue) led by the Ashoka (called the Suryaputra, lit. Son of the Sungod) from the world of Isstvan. 

 

8. The Duration of the Great Crusade: Close to 500 years. 

 

9. Major enemies during the Great Crusade: All the enemies during of the canonical Great Crusade but the Orks are present in greater numbers and strength. Many remnant Necrontyr who fled their species extinction in their Tombships. A significant presence of the Iron Men. Other religious beliefs are tolerated as long as they aren't deviant. Any belief in the C'tan is brutally punished. World belonging to the C'tan shards and Iron Men are quarantined and purged, usually via exterminatus. The Megarachnids of Murder are a vanguard force of Tyranids and more Megarachnids enclaves and hives are found and purged throughout the galaxy. The Diasporex consider themselves the true followers of the Chaos Gods and the inheritors of the Old One's mantle. 

 

10. The First Heretic: It's still Lorgar due to all the evidence of worshiping of the Chaos Gods on his homeworld Colchis. Emperor tries to re-educate Lorgar but isn't successful. He sends Lorgar on an expedition to the galactic core to show him first hand what happens when you pursue the power offer by the Chaos Gods, for the Old Ones are corrupted by the powers offered to them by the Chaos gods they created. However Lorgar belief is the Chaos Gods is reaffirmed during this expedition (pilgrimage) and the Emperor orders Lorgar and his Legion purged. 

 

11. The Heresy: Lorgar survives his execution and turns the Lion against the Emepror. Lorgar sends a psychic attack that trap the Emperor in a warp rift while he was working on the webway. The Lion and many of his brothers turned to the 'truth' of Lorgar invade Terra while still maintaining their allegiance to the Emperor. Three Loyalist legions are wiped by betrayal at Terra, the Ultramarines, the Emperors Children and the Dawn Bringers. Dawn Bringers maligned by inaction that costs them the trust of the remaining Loyalists legions. The Mantis Legion break the oaths sworn to Lion and follow their old grudge against the Dawn Bringers. They are all wiped out. Both legions are lost and forgotten. Horus rallies the loyalists and defeats the Lion on the world of Euphorus, built to act as a secondary Throneworld in case the actual Throneworld fell.

 

12. The Endgame: Horus and the remaining loyalists invade the Imperial Palace. Horus breaks into the palace and is seperated from him men. He fights the Lion in his throneroom. Horus is defeated but the act drains the Lions powers. The Emperor uses that opening to break out of his warp rift prison and fights against the Lion. The Lion is ready to sacrifice billions of humans on Terra and the core worlds to become the newt chaos god. The Emperor prevent the Lion's ascension by pushing him into the same warp rift that was used to trap the Emperor. Emperor wins the Heresy but he has to continuously maintain the wards on the warp rift prison lest the Lion escapes and ascend into godhood thereby creating a warp storm within the heart of the Imperium.

 

13. The Scouring: Traitors are pushed back into the galactic core.

 

14. Reorganization of the Imperium: A very George Orwellian type of system of governane is created in the aftermath of the Heresy. Different Ministries perform different functions, for example; The Ministry of Blood is responsible for the oversight of the creation of Loyalist Space Marine Legions. the Ministry of Light is responsible for maintain the secret police which cracks down on C'tan cults, warp cults, Iron men cults and plain old rebels.

 

There you have it folks. A different take on an Alternative Heresy. I hope you like the reasoning behind the plot lines. There is of course a whole lot of story that is yet to be told and I will begin with that in the coming days. That will include a finished Timeline. Index Astartes for all the legions, including the lost legions even though they eventually become lost again. And a bunch of short stories. 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2015 by Outlander90

[Outlander90]

Let me begin by adding a little bit of fluff to this Alternate Universe, starting with the Timeline;

 

The Leonine Heresy Timeline

 

 

The War of Unification: After uniting earth through peaceful overtures and some violence the self-styled Emperor declares his plan to unite the scattered diaspora of Mankind and bring peace to the war torn Red Planet, Mars heartworld of the Mechanicum Dominion. The Mechanicum belief in the machine god has led to some extremists in releasing the captured Necron C’tan known as the Void Dragon. Under the control the Void Dragon the Mechanicum has been dragged into a long and bloody civil war known as the Death of Innocence. The Emperor pacifies the Selenar gene-cults of Luna and forces them to gene-forged an army of superhuman warriors. The Emperor of Terra launches his armies and fleets to rid the red planet of the forces of the Void Dragon called the Cy Carnivora. With the civil war ended on Mars the Fabricator General Kelbor-Hal pledges allegiance to the Emperor and his endeavors. Many of the Mechanicum believe that the Emperor is the true physical manifestation of the Machine God and start venerating him as such. With the forges of Mars now aligned with Terra the emperor unveils his perfected gene-enhanced warriors, the Legiones Astartes. Unfortunately the Primarchs, from whose genetic material the Emperor gene-forged the Astartes were abducted by agents of the Carnivora. The primarchs gestation capsules were pulled into a warp vortex and thought lost forever, a significant blow to the newfound Imperium. However with the help of the gene-forged Astartes on Luna now ready he begins the monumental task of reuniting the lost worlds of humanity. He begins the great crusade.

 

The Shadow War: After using his proto-Astartes warriors to conquer those nations that rejected his peaceful overtures and ridding the red planet of the Cy Carnivora, the Emperor assigns his Thunder Warriors with the task of reaving into the heart of all Xenos infested demesnes surrounding the Solar System. The Xenos worlds are crippled by conventional atomics and life eater viruses. Many xenos races are wiped out thus smoothing the way for the Emperor and his crusade fleets in joining up with the human worlds that were being preyed upon by the xenos. Any human worlds that refused to bend the knee to the Imperium was illuminated by the Astartes with the support from the Mechanicum however many such world were crippled from within by the action of the Thunder Warrior before the Astartes and Titans marched upon their surface thereby saving the Emperor valuable time in the pacifying these human worlds. As word from these conquests spread many recalcitrant and hostile human worlds offered their submission without violence knowing that fighting the invincible Astartes was doomed from the beginning as they stuck down their enemies without ever having to step on the surface. 

 

The First Primarch: After searching countless human worlds for any sign of the lost primarchs the emperor finds his first primarch at the head of a small fleet of ships in the Seraphina sector. The Lion as his followers call him is lord of Caliban and her sister colonies. Having landed in the most inhospitable death jungles of Caliban the Lion is found by a hunting party of knights led by Luther. He is taken in by Luther and inducted into their Order of Knights. As a primarch his prodigious abilities make his equal to no man and he soon outstrips Luther’s rank and becomes leader of the Order. Utilizing the arsenal of weapons and spacecraft at the disposal to the knights he defeats the xenos-corsairs that reave Caliban and her sister colonies, uniting them under the banner of the Order of Caliban. The Emperor tests his new found son by challenging him to a duel in the guise of a normal mortal. As the order’s best knights look on the Emperor and Lion duel. After several furious hours of dueling the Lion is on his knees, defeated. As he looks up the Emperor takes his true form and declares himself. He embraces the Lion as his son. The Lion quickly learns about the Imperium and his father’s endeavor and the Legion that is has been made in his image and with him as the gene-father. The First Legion as named the Dark Angels in honor of name bestowed upon them by the people of Caliban when the rid them of the Xenos-Corsairs.

 

The Second Primarch: A chance Imperial Expedition to the planet of Cthonia, a planet originally archived as worthless to the new Imperium, finds a unique man in command of the degenerate cannibalistic tribes left over from the planets prime as a mining world. Upon closer examination this unique individual turn out to be one of the lost Primarchs. The Emperor arrives at Cthonia and after pausing to see how the new primarch fares against his armies is impressed upon seeing that his son manages to out maneuver and outsmart an advanced military with nothing but his ingenuity and tactical genius. Just as the Imperial army is about to be massacred the Emperor reveals himself to his son, known as Lupercal to his men, and embraces him. He is given his true name Horus and he goes on to lead the Legion made in his image. An incident occurred when the Emperor was reunited with Horus, the Selenar cults has rebelled against the rule of the Emperor and taken over the gene-labs and flesh factories of Luna. Without those the Emperor had no way to replicate the genetic material of the Astartes. As his first campaign Horus undertakes a lightening campaign to retake the flesh factories of Luna and bring the Selenar gene-cults to heel. In honour of this great victory the Emperor names the Sixteenth Legion the ‘Wolves of Lupercal, conquerors of Luna. This name is broken down by the common masses and they are called by many names including Sons of Lupercal, Breakers of Luna, Cthonia’s wolves to name a few. The name that eventually stuck was a shorter form of their originally awarded name, the Lunar Wolves.

 

The Knight and the Wolf: With the Lion as his most tactically brilliant general and Horus and his most tactically unorthodox general the Emperor brings world after world into the fold of the Imperium. The impossibly armoured hives of Shedim were breached in a month by Horus while the ork hordes descending on noble Seraphina were ground down to a bloody halt and wiped out with the brilliant tactical insight of the Lion. If a planet fell to the Lion’s legion then Horus would redouble his efforts in the conquest of the next world. Both primarchs and their legions sought to outdo the other and gain the favor of the Emperor. Many more worlds fell to the crusading fleets of the Emperor before a third primarch was found. Leman of the Russ was found of harsh ice world of Fenris, on the edge of later codified Segementum Solar. Many more worlds were brought into the light of Terran unity and more worlds were liberated from the clutches of the foul xenos or the degenerate tyrant. World which sides openly with the newfound Imperium were given the opportunity to have a voice by the establishment of the Hegemon Council, a parallel yet civilian branch to the more powerful Terran and Mechanicum Councils that eventually formed the War Council. As more primarchs were found with their homeworlds and their own demesnes the Imperium’s demand for creating additional Astartes became paramount. With a solution provided by the Selenar gene-wrights known as the Grabiya’s Theorem the Primarchs own genetic code was used to stabilize and synthesize new gene-seed allowing for the rapid expansion of the ranks of the Legiones Astartes.

 

The Lost Legions: When the Emperor established the Legiones Astartes there were two legions whose fate was kept a secret from the Imperium at large. These two were the Eighteenth and Twentieth Legions. Even the Primarchs, highest in the Emperor’s inner circle, were unaware of the true nature of these two legions and knew only that both legions’ genetic code was highly unstable and as such were best left forgotten. The truth was that the Emperor needed these two legions, and their secretly found primarchs, for a unique purpose. The Eighteenth Legion had been declared lost in a particularly fierce warp storm but instead had been reunited with their primarch at fiery Nocturne. Here the Emperor had enacted that the Eighteenth would be the silent shield that guarded the back of the Imperium and tasked with maintaining a secret garrison at Geryon Deep. Primarch Vulkan of the Eighteenth was tasked with forging each of the complex yet miraculous devices that sustain the Imperium namely void shield, Gellar fields, warp drives, vortex technology, cyclonic weaponry, conversion beamers and much more. Each of these devices were installed and maintained by a coven of tech-priests and shrouded in great secrecy. Even Perturabo, known to be one of the most technologically gifted Primarchs could not unlock the mystery behind these technologies or successfully replicate their function. The task of the twentieth was to infiltrate into the darkest corners of the Imperium and root out the enemy within in order to prevent another instance of the First Selenar Rebellion, the Terentius insurrection or the Iron Men tech-heresy of the forgeworld of Dahinta, each instance having cost the Imperium dearly. The Twentieth was spread across the length and breadth of the Imperium striking at the traitor within from multiple directions like the heads of the Greaco-mythical Hydra.

 

Faith, Iron and the Ultima: Of all the eighteen Astartes legions there were three that benefited most from being reunited with their Primarch Primogenitors. The Imperial Heralds, the Death Bringers (Corpse Makers to the Imperial Army) and the Warborn, upon reuniting with their Primarchs Lorgar, Perturabo and Guilliman were presented with the advantages of a stable Primarch genetic code, hosts of suitable Astartes aspirants and a complex industrial apparatus necessary for the building of legion ships, wargear and war-material. These legions were renamed upon reuniting with their gene sires and henceforth called the Bearers of the Word, the Warriors of Iron and the Battle-kings of Ultima. In a matter of decades of crusading these three legions grew at an alarming rate and became the three largest imperial Legions with the Ultramarines generally considered the largest legion due to the immense resources drawn from the Five Hundred worlds of Ultramar. While most legions kept their warriors spread across a handful of primary Expeditionary fleets these legions had their warriors deployed over scores of fleets and took part in almost every major campaign for the remainder of the Great Crusade.

 

The Council of Nikea: The Emperor’s dream of unity was brought to a bloody halt with the bloody prosecution of the recalcitrant human world of Gehenna. Primarch Angron of the Warhounds Legion was tasked with taking those planets swiftly and without much bloodshed but in an act of wanton savagery and ruthless butchery the entire planetary population was massacred in just one night. The Hegemon Council demanded that sanctions be brought up against Angron and he be removed from command of his legion. To hear their demands the Emperor assembled a council at Nikea. Previously Nikea had been a place of reconciliation where the Legion Librarius order had been ratified, a ban placed on human cloning and bringing sanctions against forgeworlds building artificial intelligences. The Hegemon Council spoke out against Angron and his many atrocities and called on the Emperor to account for his actions. Such an unprecedented act was met with outrage from the War Council of Primarchs, Lord Commanders and Mechanicum Magi. The Emperor in a bid to prevent civil war with the worlds of the Hegemon decided to sanction Angron and remove him from command of his legion. When a battlegroup consisting of several legions arrived at Gehenna to enact these sanctions they found the Legion had quit the system and left Imperial space altogether. From here on out the Twelfth Legion was a law unto itself out in the uncharted reaches of the Eastern Fringe.

 

The Red Dream: Upon receiving vision of the apocalyptic doom of his Imperium and war amongst the Legions from his closest advisor and seer Moirae the Emperor peers into the many futures to try and prevent the death of the Imperium and the human race. With Moirae’s help he sees that Lorgar carries within him the seeds of the Heresy to come and will turn half of the Emperor’s sons against him. In order to prevent this future from coming to pass the Emperor orders Lorgar and Guilliman to prepare their legions for an expedition into the tumultuous regions of space known as the galactic core. For it is here in this fell region of space that the Old Ones gave themselves over to the whispers of the warp and gave birth to the primordial annihilator. Lorgar’s orders were to destroy the xenos race dwelling within the ‘Eye’ of the Galactic core whilst Guilliman was orders to shadow Lorgar’s legion, fight alongside them and if there were any signs of treachery, eliminate Lorgar and his legion. Lorgar purges every world till the eye and when he stands on the heartworld of Old Ones he recognizes the symbols used on their tomb-temples as the same hieroglyphics in ancient Colchisian texts. Instead of burning the tomb-temples Lorgar explores them to find answers. He finds the last of the Old Ones and learns from him the true nature of the warp and the beings that dwell amidst them, a completely different story to that of the Emperor his father. When challenged by Guilliman upon the completion of his order Lorgar rejects the Emperors orders in order to study more of the tomb temples and the knowledge buried within them. Guilliman regrettably orders the destruction of Lorgar’s legion and executes Lorgar. He sanctions the heartworld of the Old One to the fires of Exterminatus.

 

Palatine, Warmaster and Praetorian: After the successful conclusion of the Ullanor Crusade by the Lion, the devastating war on Murder by Ferrus Manus and the breaking the siege of the renegade forgeworld of Aureus by Perturabo the Emperor holds a triumph in their name and bestows upon them special honours. To the Lion, master tactician and brilliant statesman, he awards the rank of Palatine second in command of Imperium to the Emperor. To the Gorgon, indomitable son and master of war, he bestows the rank of Warmaster command of the War Council. To Perturabo, brilliant siegebreaker and master war mason, he bestows the rank of Praetorian commanded to fortify and garrison the Imperial Palace on Terra.  The Lion and Manus continue crusading through the stars fighting with higher authority over their brother primarchs whilst Perturabo begin the construction of greatest defense works in the history of human race. These elevations are all however guided by the hand of the seer Moirae who predicts that by elevating those three Primarchs above others many of the possible futures wherein they turned on the Emperor were removed. Many Primarchs however now chafe at taking orders from a once equal member of their Primarch brotherhood now elevated over others. Some believed they were more capable at those roles than the Primarchs chosen by the Emperor. The Emperor however assuages the concerns of many of his sons and ask them to trust in his judgement. He then quits the Imperium to seek out the elusive Eldar and make peace with them in the deep reaches of the Obscurus Segementum.

 

The Death of Storms: The storms that have wracked Tempestus Segmentum for millennia suddenly wane in intensity allowing Imperial expeditions to be launched into their heart and their lost worlds brought into the light of Unification. However upon the waning of the storm the fell threat of the Orks and other xenos monstrosities emerge once again to plague the Imperium. The Lion sends army after army to its doom fighting off the hordes on Algax of the elusive Ork Warlord known only as the Great Beast. Meanwhile on hundreds of world the emergent Necrontry, later called the Necrons, fight against the Iron Hands Legion and its primarch. The two sides eventually clash in the Mandragoran stars and amidst apocalyptic destruction fight to a brutal stalemate. The Vulpa Straits Hrud migration crashes through the Meratara cluster and besieges mighty Olympia itself. Perturabo leaves the Imperial Palace defenses incomplete to rush back to the defence of his homeworld. Many hundreds of planets falls to the genestealer infiltration whilst others turn to actively worshipping the Orks, the Necrons and the Hrud in order to save themselves.

 

The Heralds of Truth: The Emperor returns to the Imperium from the Obscurus Segementum to find the Imperium in peril from all sides with the enemy poised at launching an invasion on Throneworld Primary itself, whose defences are left incomplete. He henceforth decrees that the ranks given to the Lion, Ferrus Manus and Perturabo be rescinded and given to worthier brothers instead. Horus is made Warmaster, Fulgrim made the Palatine while Rogal Dorn becomes Praetorian.  The news of this decree reaches the Lion whilst fighting the Great Beast personally. The Great Beast is more powerful than him and he is almost going to slay the Lion when Lorgar emerges from a tear in the warp to save his life. The two primarchs then fight shoulder to shoulder and finally bring the ork down. The Lion takes the Great Beast’s head. When told by Lorgar of the Emperor’s decrees the Lion feels betrayed. Lorgar paints the Emperor’s advisor Moirae as the chief perpetrator of these actions, clouding the Emperors actions with warnings from her apocalyptic visions. The seed of heresy is planted in the Lion’s heart. Similarly Erebus carries the truth of the Emperor hidden actions to Ferrus Manus fighting in the Mandragoran stars while Kor Pheron takes his force of Word Bearers to relieve the Iron Warriors at Olympia. Similar arguments for turning the Primarchs against the Emperor are raised and seeds of heresy are planted in many more loyal hearts.

 

The Screaming Death: Lorgar, channeling the powers of his new patrons sends a psychic scream that rends the immaterium asunder. Thousands of astropaths die in a thousand horrible ways. The scream reaches its crescendo at Terra, most vital communications and astonavigational node of the Imperium. The Emperor is in his vaults working on the webway. The warp born scream rends the webway apart and traps the Emperor, his Custodes, Sisters of Silence and thousands of tech-adepts within a warp rift. The entire Imperial dungeon is swallowed up into the warp rift which causes unfathomable amount of damage to continent sized structure. The Emperor is lost to the Imperium. Fulgrim is now given the impossible task of patching up the Imperium and keeping it from collapsing into anarchy and strife.

 

The Betrayal at Terra: The Lion arrives at Terra with two of his closest brother, the Lord of Death Mortarion and the Lord of Shadow Corax alongside their legions. Arriving with them are the orphaned remnants of the Word Bearers legion. Fulgrim grants the former Palatine access to Terra and decides to greet him as an honoured brother. The Lion stabs Fulgrim and his legions open fire upon the shocked ranks of the Emperors Children. Thousands of loyal legionaries are cut down before the quick thinking of the Imperial Fists Castellan save the Primarch Fulgrim and the remaining Emperors Children from extinction. The Astropathic enclave sends out a plea for help from the remaining loyal sons and their legions. The Lion’s plans for a quick takeover of the Throneworld are quashed by the devotion and bravery of the loyalists. The traitors dig in for a siege. Thus begins the Siege of Terra.

 

The Warriors from the East: The Ultramarines legion which was encamped at the critical fortress world of Taras receive the astropathic signal from Fulgrim and the news of the betrayal. Fighting through his shock at the revelation that four legions had turned on the Imperium, Guilliman rallies a huge fleet and amasses a massive force to oppose the traitors. He takes command of his own XIIIth legion and assembles almost three full divisions worth of Ultramarines to take to Terra, a total of almost three hundred thousand legionaries. Alongside this potent force was the assembled strength of six other Imperial Legions, namely Perturabo’s Iron Warriors, Ferrus Manus’ Iron Hands, Leman Russ’ Space Wolves, Sanguinius’ Blood Angels, Ashoka’s Dawn Bringers and Masumane’s Mantis Legion. Guilliman and his Legion alongside Ashoka and his Legion breach the outer cordon of blockade ships upon breaching the solar system. He then pushes his forces and clashes with the traitor fleets. Seeing that the traitors have landed forces on Mars, Guilliman decides to break the Traitors hold on the red planet and deploys his legion onto the surface to link up with those forges still loyal to the Imperium. Guilliman intends to utilize the stockpiles of weapons and wargear on Mars for the loyalist counter attack and as a launch bed for raising the siege of Terra.

 

The Burning of the Void: The Ultramarines and Dawn Bringer Fleets, alongside element of the original Emperors Children and Imperial Fist fleets clash with traitor fleets in the stellar vastness between Terra and Mars. Hundreds of ships on both sides are lost in apocalyptic broadsides, volleys of torpedoes and ruthless boarding assaults with no end in sight. The second wave loyalists were composed of the Iron Warriors and the Space Wolves were tasked provide heavy fire support for the Loyalists first wave and behead the command structure of the traitors legions respectively. Instead of performing their pre-assigned roles the Iron Warrior Siege Monitors and Space Wolves Murderships attack the vulnerable flanks of the Loyalist first wave. Hundreds of Ultramarine ships are lost to this base treachery. Leman Russ leads a boarding action against the Macragge’s Honour but fails to cut the thread of Guilliman and is repulsed from the flagship. Guilliman responds to the treachery of his brother by retreating to his foothold on Mars where the third and final wave await his instruction. This third wave is made up of the entirety of the Iron Warriors and Blood Angles legions as well as his own Ultramarines ground forces. Treachery strikes the loyalists once more as those ships that break past the burning death of their comrades are sighted and fired upon the warships of the third wave. The entire void is alight with burning hulls and dying ships. Guilliman makes a final sacrifice and sends the remainder of his ships to intercept the ships hanging over his ground force like a sword ready to unleash an orbital bombardment of the mustering Ultramarines below. These few remaining Ultramarine ships sacrifice themselves by ramming into the traitor blockade ships preventing the annihilation of their comrades below. The Traitors resort to a full assault on the loyalist planestside but by then the element of surprise has been lost. The Traitors have to fight a long and painful battle to purge the remnant of the Loyalist Ultramarines legion from the Red Planet.

 

The Impossible Dawn: Amidst the confusion during the Burning of the Void the XIth Primarch Ashoka of the Dawn Bringers is approached by Masumane offering him a seat at the table once the loyalists are purged from the Imperium. Masumane explains all the wrongs done against them by their father the Emperor but Ashoka was adamant in his resolve and true to his oaths. His pause in the fighting cause the Loyalist to question their allegiance and being seen with the Traitor Mantis Legion fleet damns them in their comrade’s eyes. Seeing what his indecision had caused and unable to save the Loyalists fleet Ashoka attacks the Mantis Legion but Masumane has the upper hand and his fleet destroys the loyalist Dawn Bringer’s fleets in a pitched furious void battled that only add more burning wreck to the battlefield. Masumane’s anger at Ashoka’s rejection of his offer knows no bounds. He personally leads the majority of his legion to the mustering fields of the Dawn Bringers on the surface of Mars. He attacks the loyalists with a savage fury. The last remnant of the Dawn Bringer fall like leaves around him but they stand and fight, resolute and adamant in the their resistance even when faced with certain death. Upon finishing off the last Dawn Bringer Masumane realizes what his brother’s sons were defending with such dedication, a homing beacon. The wrecks of the Dawn Bringers fleet which were mistaken to be believed inoperable when in fact capable of one last feat, using their entire mass as a weapon. The ships of the Mantis legion were arrayed in close proximity, hubris had deluded them into thinking all of the enemy’s void assets were destroyed. Dozens of the Dawn Bringer’s largest ships stuck the closely packed Mantis legion ships and detonated their drive cores mutually annihilating them instantly. The shockwave of energy and debris ejected from the reactor deaths of so many ships killed the remaining ships of the Mantis legion. Only the flagship of the Dawn Bringers survives the shockwave and what’s left of it plummets down guided towards the homing beacon which was protected by the last of the Dawn Bringers on the surface. The flagship strikes the surface of the red planet with meteoric force washing away their sins of inactions in the nucleonic fires of redemption. An impossible dawn erupts on the night side of the red planet and two legions, one loyal one traitor, are wiped from memory.

 

A New Imperium: With the massacre of the loyalist counter attack Fulgrim and his sons alongside the Imperial Fists’ garrison fight on to the bitter end and make the traitors pay in lives for every inch they take. Eventually through the sheer weight in number and brutal attrition the Loyalists are overrun and Fulgrim is slain at the hands of his archrival Ferrus Manus. Immediately after taking the Imperial Palace and securing Mars the Lion is crowned the new Emperor of the Imperium by both the traitor Hegemon Council and by the accord given to him amongst the Traitor Primarchs. However there are still primarchs loyal to the memory of the Old Imperium and with their oaths to the Emperor unbroken. The first and foremost amongst these was Horus the new Warmaster and his Lunar Wolves. Lorgar sends Erebus to draw the Second Primarch into the traitor fold or failing that kill Horus and his legion. Rogal Dorn and his Fists were the second greatest impediment to the Lion’s dominion over the Imperium. His legion held the most powerful warship in the Imperium and this Golden Fleet was led by the powerful fortress battleship Phalanx. The Lion believed that both the Night Lords’ Primarch Konrad Curze and his outcast brother Angron of the World Eaters would join his Imperium and thus he sent emissaries to both. The White Scars were an oft unremembered legion but the Khan was busy consolidating his hold on the region of space surrounding Chogoris and calling it his own. To pacify the Khan or destroy him outright the Lion sent his brother Corax and his Raven Guard. The Traitors split their remaining legions into two main battlegroup, two vast armadas filled with half of the Imperium’s warriors. One was composed of the Dark Angels, Death Guard, Iron Warriors and Space Wolves led by the Emperor Lion and headed straight for the Imperial Fists at Inwit. The other was composed of the Iron Hands, Blood Angels and Word Bearers led by the Warmaster Ferrus Manus and headed towards Ultramar. Their missions were the complete eradication of the remaining loyalist realms.

 

The Praetorian: The Imperial Fists Primarch Rogal Dorn is contacted by Ultramarines survivors from Terra. They bear news of the betrayal at Terra. Upon hearing of the treachery of his brothers and the death of Fulgrim and all of his sons on Terra Dorn decides to make a stand on the Throneworld Secondary Araneus, one of two Throneworld Secondaries established by the Emperor in case Terra ever fell. Araneus is already heavily defended and now with an Imperial Fists garrison it is all but invincible. To break the Throneworld Secondary the Lion deploys his only Furious Abyss class kingship. Even after breaking Araneus’ orbital grid the war on the surface grinds down into a war of attrition where neither side gain the higher ground. Dorn and his Legion are greatly reduced by still remain a potent force to be dealt with. The world Araneus is held by the Loyalists but is so ravaged by the traitor assault that it inhabitant now call it Necromunda.

 

The Purge of Ultramar: The Purgation Fleet assigned to destroy the Loyalist stronghold of Ultramar is divided from the beginning. Ferrus Manus keeps slowing down to indulge himself and his legionaries in every debased sensual act previously unexplored. After rejecting the Iron Creed and reveling in their new identity as followers of Slaa-neth the Iron Hands keep abandoning the war plan to gorge themselves on the sensual pleasure of the flesh on each and every insignificant world that they encounter. Similar to the action the Iron Hands legion the Blood Angels ruthlessly invade every world in their path and butcher every last inhabitant in an orgy of bloodletting or enslave the population to be used later to quench their red thirst. This state of affairs continues until both traitor legions arrive at Vayber, on the borders of the Ultramar Coalition. Here the two legion face off, each wanting to commit further depravities or spill more innocent blood but unwilling to allow their allies to get in the way. The tense standoff in interrupted by Lorgar and his legion. Although Lorgar is content with allowing his brother to devolve into the madness of serving either Slaa-nath or Kharnath Lorgar does not tolerate any delay in the critical task of reducing the stronghold of the hated Guilliman. All three legions are attacked by a coalition of chaos corrupted xenos human coalition fleet called the Diasporex, claiming they are the true worshipper of the dark gods and the Legiones Astartes and their primarchs were only pretentious upstarts in the grand plan of Chaos. After defeating the Diasporex fleet the three legions get back to their original task and invade Ultramar. Due to the delay in invading Ultramar however the remaining Ultramarines have had enough time to fortify their worlds and every world that falls in fire and blood is purchased at a high cost in the lives of the traitor legions and their vassals. Finally the traitors arrive at storied Macragge and invade the most heavily defended star system in the Ultima Segmentum. Lorgar expecting an easy victory is stunned to find Guilliman there alive and resisting his grand plans. Lorgar’s anger eclipses his self-control and he throws everything he has into slaying Guilliman and when he uses all his psychic powers to finally defeat, humiliate and executes Guilliman Lorgar understand the trap that he has walked into. Guilliman’s death was symbolic. By exerting his psychic powers to such an extent the warp storm occluding Ultramar were weakened and it was possible for Loyalist reinforcements to arrive and aid the beleaguered the Ultramarines. The Night Lords and World Eaters arrive at Macragge, loyal despite their difference with the Imperium and the Emperor and massacre the traitors.  The loyalists counter attack is however too late to save Guilliman and his body in interned into stasis at the moment of his death.

 

Lupercal: Lured to the chaos corrupted moons of Davin Horus falls to the envenomed athame blade planted there by Erebus. He dies soon after despite Erebus’ attempts to take him to the serpent lodge to turn him over to Chaos. The Lunar Wolves mourn for their dead father and burn Davin and its moon in retaliation for Horus’ death. They then call themselves the Sons of Horus and return to their Cthonian roots. When faced with the choice of destruction and a part in the new Imperium the Sons of Horus choose to join Lion and his legion. When they are destroying the Isstvan III for declaring for the old Imperium Magnus the Red arrives and shows them the truth about the Lion and his hand in the plot that took Horus’ life. Once Magnus hints that there is a way to revive Horus on the isolated world of Molech the legion deviates from the Lion’s orders and proceeds to Molech. After subjugating Molech Magnus communicated with the Emperor who is still trapped in the warp rift and cannot escape due to the wards placed on them by Lorgar. Using his remaining powers the Emperor heals Horus’ wounds and brings him back to life. With Horus returned to them the Sons of Horus conquer Euphorus, the other Throneworld Secondary and makes his stand at the Great Selenic, one of the few man-made structures similar to the Imperial Palace on Terra.

 

The Unremembered Empire: By building a Novus Imperium around Euphorus, Horus makes a direct challenge to the Lion for control of the Imperium. When the Lion arrives with the full might of the Dark Angels, the Iron Warriors, the Death Guard, the Raven Guard and the Space Wolves legions with further reinforcements in the form of Nostramo’s Night Lords, Warhounds, Salamanders and the Alpha Legion to finish Horus and his New Imperium once and for all. With such an overwhelming force and only two loyal legions opposing him the Lion expects a short battle. When the loyalists keep the traitor legions at bay frustrating any of the Lion’s plans for a swift victory. As his reinforcement arrive the Lion expects them to join the battle instead they turn on their traitor allies and gun them down mercilessly. The Lion abandons his brother primarchs and their legions to their fate and uses sorcery to return to Terra. Thousands of the traitor legionaries are gunned down by the loyalists in just retribution but many thousand others are saved by the quick thinking of Perturabo when he lands his assault ships in the middle of the massacre and evacuates the remaining traitors from the surface of Euphorus.

 

Battle for Terra: Rallying the remaining loyalists from war ravaged Necromunda to defiant Macragge Horus launches an assault of the solar system. After months of besieging the Throneworld primary and countless soldiers having fallen in the bloodbath the walls of the Imperial Palace are breached. The Lion is waiting for Horus as he leads his spear-tip into the guts of the Imperial Palace. The entire palace has been corrupted by chaos and filled with traps and dangers that soon separates Horus from his sons. Horus arrives at the Lion’s throne room to find that the Lion is ready to sacrifice the entire population of Terra and all of the Imperium’s core worlds to ascend to godhood as Malal, the next Chaos God. The Lion tries to turn Horus over to his side, become a god right next to him. Horus refuses and fights the Lion. The Lion is at the apex of his powers but he is considerably weakened after escaping the trap at Euphorus, even so the Lion draws into the wellspring of power that the chaos gods have given him to defeat Horus. Even on his knees bleeding to death Horus is still defiant and with his last blow he shatters the wards that keep the warp rift closed. The warp rift opens and the Emperor emerges out of the wrecked remnant of his vault. Both father and son, rightful ruler and usurper, fight a battle that shakes the foundation of the Imperial palace. But both beings have god like powers and both are equally matched. Fearing that the ritual to turn the heart of Imperium into a massive warp storm is reaching its conclusion the Emperor forces the Lion back, raining blow against blow that pushes him closer and closer to the open warp rift. With a final lunge of effort the Emperor strikes the Lion and pushes him into the warp rift and seals it. Without the Lion the traitors think he has perished in his duel with the Emperor and abandon Terra. The loyalists hunt down as many traitors on the surface of Terra as they can but the duel causes massive damage to the remainder of the Imperial Palace and many thousands of traitors are unaccounted for. Thus ends one of the bloodiest and most destructive epoch in the history of the Imperium.

Edited September 13, 2015 by Outlander90

[Outlander90]

Post-Heresy Ideas

 

 

The Loyalists drive the traitors to the galactic core which is named Eye of Terror.

 

Olympia, Baal and Medusa hold out as traitor domains.

 

No breaking of legions as per Guilliman’s wishes as he is dead on Macragge.

 

A ruthless Imperium emerges from the ashes of the Heresy which crushes those human worlds which sided with the Lion. A system called Proscription is brought into use wherein a condemned world is annexed and it people enslaved and its resources looted. They become the precursors of the first true Hive Worlds. 

 

A new Imperium emerges from the ashes which doesn't have an Inquisition but the Astartes are feared and dreaded. Especially a division of the Ministry of Light which employs a force of Astartes Psychic Blanks called the Black Knights. Any Legions which possesses any Psychic blanks legionnaires are  immediately turned over to the Ministry of Light. 

Edited September 13, 2015 by Outlander90

[Outlander90]

Imperial Organizations Post-Heresy

 

 

Ministry of Peace: The Ministry of Peace conducts the wars of the Imperium, holds direct control over the military arms of the Imperium including the Legiones Astartes. 

 

Ministry of Justice: The Ministry of Justice condemns the people of entire worlds to slavery or worse for rebelling against the Imperium, a system known as Proscription. (I will expound on this system in a short story I've got brewing) They employ the local planetary law keepers, enforcers and judges which are known as the Arbites,

 

Ministry of Love: The Ministry of Love tortures traitors and rebels until they repent their sins.  (mainly a concept introduced by the Night Lords)

 

Ministry of Death: The Ministry of Death is responsible for overseeing the processes that go into the creation of space marines.

 

Ministry of Faith: The Ministry of Faith eradicates the religions of the Age of Strife to be replaced with a communist version of Imperium with fear and respect of Legions Astartes as main motive

 

Ministry of Light: The Ministry of Light is responsible for placing its agents in the shadows to watch the people in case they rebel. (mainly a concept introduced by the Alpha Legion)

 

Like I said very Orwellian. 

Edited September 13, 2015 by Outlander90

[Outlander90]

The Loyalties of the Forgeworlds 

 

 

Basically there are nine major forges apart from Mars; Phaeton, Voss, Ryza, Lucius, Graia, Gryphonne, Tigrus, Accatran, Sarum and Stygies. 

I think we can add forgeworlds like Estaban, Incaladion and Metalica to that list. So that's fourteen major forge worlds.

Many would have been of mixed feeling when their savior (the Emperor of Mankind) is lost with the Webway accident/attack.

So there would most likely be many neutral forgeworlds, with some actively helping some loyalist legions while in other cases or have been conquered by traitors.

Mars would have fallen with the Betrayal at Terra.

Phaeton and Voss are neutral but are absorbed into Lion's Imperium as they are found within the borders of Segmentum Solar.

In the Tempestus Segmentum; Graia, Gryphonne and Ryza are part of Dorn's Republic formed at Araneus before it is destroyed. So they are still actively resisting the Lion's forces even after 'Necromunda' is declared a traitor victory.

Closer towards Ultramar, Tigrus is traitor leaving Accatran loyal and in the fight during the War for Ultramar. Not to mention Ultramar's own independent semi-forgeworlds at Konor, Anvari, Gantz, Armatura, Veridia and many other Mechanicum cantons. 

Lucius, Estaban, Incaladion and Metalica are true Dark Mechanicum forgeworlds and provide the traitors with much of their initial war materiel. 

Edited September 13, 2015 by Outlander90

[Outlander90]

Lorgar’s Path Towards Damnation (The Reason why he is still the best First Heretic)

 

 

Lorgar worships the dark gods of chaos as believed by the people of Colchis. Emperor comes to Colchis and finds Lorgar and his people worshipping the dark gods. He 'reeducates' the people of Colchis and Lorgar and finds that it is better to turn them to the worship of another deity, namely himself, than continue worshipping the dark gods in secret and fermenting trouble.

 

Lorgar now believes in his father the Emperor and worships him like a god and as a result his legion slows down irrevocably. The Emperor of Mankind does not come down hard on the XVIIth legion but instead instructs Lorgar to train his mortal followers to spread the Lectitio Divinitatus throughout the worlds made compliant by the XVIIth's Legiones Astartes instead of using Legionaries. A sort of division of labour. Lorgar agrees and the Ministry of Faith's precursor is born. It churns out the religious beliefs of the conquered world and remakes it into the worship of the Emperor and the Imperium.

 

All is well until the event of the Leonine Heresy draw near. Emperor senses, through the Red Dreams, that the chaos gods are upto something and needs to send a force to investigate. Also due to the visions of the heresy and Lorgar somehow being linked to them he has to find a way to either save Lorgar or bring him to heel or destroy him and his legion. Remember no other legion has been sanctioned yet.

He tasks the XVIIth and the XIIIth with the task of investigating the anomaly at the Galactic core, where the remnants of the Old Ones remain. The Old Ones having lost the War in Heaven to the Necrontry turned to the warp and inadvertantly created the Chaos gods. They are now fully corrupt with corrupt mutant xenos monstrosities under the control and what not.

 

The Ultramarines and Word Bearers forge their way into the troubled region of space that is the galactic core and find world after world riddled with the corruption of the chaos gods. They dutifully eradicate each world but when they arrive at the centermost world, the hearthworld of the now corrupt Old Ones the Word Bearer and Lorgar start having doubt over whether they were right to renounce their worship of the Old Ones. Though the Old Ones maybe extremely ancient and now fully corrupt they are embodiment of all that Lorgar has wanted to seek out. Beings of infinite energy and wisdom.

 

Roboute however has been tasked to not only go with the XVIIth but to also maintain a watch on their activities and seek out any sign of deviation from their Emperor given mandate to cleanse the Galactic Core. When Lorgar chooses to question rather than destory the sacred and esoteric life support capsules of the Old Ones Roboute is forced to give the order to have Lorgar and his Legion destroyed. The battle over the heartworld of the Old Ones consumes the XVIIth legion and Roboute kills Lorgar by plunging his gladius into his hearts. But the Chaos gods save Lorgar and doing so damn him to the path that will eventually lead to the Leonine Heresy.

 

Lorgar then rebuilds his legion and forges ships from forgeworlds within the Galactic core. These forgeworlds are corrupted and ruled over by the Dark Mechanicum by being so close to the birthplace of the Chaos Gods. Although his legion is consumed in the battle with the Ultramarines, it is not completely destroyed. The Chaos Gods save some by turning them into the Gal Vorbak. While new legionnaries are created by harvesting the genestock of the worlds within the galactice core.

 

Lorgar is thus the architect of the Leonic Heresy but he also has a more lasting enmity with Roboute. He therefore assaults Guilliman's stronghold of Ultramar with everything in his arsenal and when he finally kills him on the battlefield of Macragge he finds out that that is exactly what he should have avoided. Coz the power he exerts in killing the XIIIth legion Primarch drains him and Konrad and Angron come down on him and his legion and those of his allies and they lose the war from that point onward.

 

(This is simply a prequel to the Heresy proper but is a very important tie-in for the whole setting the stage of the Heresy. Also found the idea of Roboute as executioner pretty badass. Not Russ coz of his judgement. Roboute had to judge whether to convince Lorgar or destroy him. Only he could differentiate between the two. Since he was the most logical of all the twenty primarchs.)

[Outlander90]

A small teaser from a short story from the battle for the Old One's heartworld;

 

The two legions formed up on the glittering crystal gardens outside of the tomb complex of the Old Ones. Individual squads, companies, grand companies and chapters drawn up in an endless sea of granite grey and cobalt blue. At the head of each legion, standing apart from the rest of their brothers, stood the senior commanders and their liege lords. Around each genesire stood a wall of Cataphractii Terminators that on their own could have broken the power of a full chapter of the legions. The lords of the two legion began to walk towards a glittering tree whole leaves appeared to have been made from pure starlight. When the two primarchs and their closest retinues were under the unnatural shadow of the tree of starlight they halted and the two demigods exchanged the briefest of greetings. 

 

Roboute, the breaker and creator of empires, lord of the Five Hundred Worlds spoke, "Why have you stopped the extermination of the xenos psyker kin? Our orders have been passed down by the hand of father himself. Do you not realize the threat the represent to our Imperium? They must be stopped. They must be purged."

 

"I need to know the truth. Do you never think of the reason father forbade us from delving too deep into the old texts? I need to know who exists in the Great Ocean as Magnus is so fond of calling it. I need this." says Lorgar looking back at his brother with imploring eyes.

 

"You never did get it did you." said Guilliman with a sad smile, grief and regret warring over his statesman feature. "We were never made to believe in their existence. We were never made to seek out the greater truth. We were never made to question. We were made to serve. And serve we will" With one last look towards Lorgar and his attendant warriors he shook his head and spoke into the command vox, his voice resonating through the helms of all one hundred thousand Ultramarines on the surface and in the void.

 

"Lorgar, Lord of the XVIIth Legion. I do hereby sentence you to Excommunicate Traitoris for violating your Emperor given mandate and committing treason against the Imperium of Mankind. Die in service to his will. The word is given. Destroy the XVIIth legion. Begin the Mark. Ave Imperator."

Edited September 13, 2015 by Outlander90

[Outlander90]

I've been thinking of adding a new class of warship, a two new classes of Titan as well as a new class of vehicle which will then be part of the Leonine Heresy. Here goes;

 

The Siege Barque: An archeotech discovery found soon after the compliance of the moons of Lethe, this warship hull is based on a variant of the macro dropship hulls with heavy repulsor plates and a gargantuan engine section whole individual engine bells can orient vertically in atmosphere or horizontally in the void. 

 

When the Great Crusade forged out of the confines of the Segmentum Solar and out into the depths of Obscurus, Pacificus and Tempestus, it was faced with numerous xenos predator races that utilized a high number of foot soldiers to overwhelm the armies of the Imperium sent to conquers those worlds. In response the size and dispostion of the Legiones Astartes was greatly increased, while the god-machines of the Collegia Titanicus were built at an accelerated rate and the world breaking engines of the Centurio Ordinatus and Ordo Reductor commited to the war effort. Even the ban on semi-sentient intelligences and cloning was lifted to ease the pressure faced by the Militant Orders of the Imperium leading to the raising of several Cyberneticae Legions as well as whole Divisions of ruthlessly indoctrinated clone troops. When the xenophobic Rangda launched their counter-invasion from their domain in the far reaches of the Obscurus arm the Imperial War Council had precious reserves to send to that front. However the Emperor in his immense wisdom had built a weapon of stopping just such a threat to the newborn Imperium.

 

Vulkan, Eighteenth Primarch, and genesire of the Eighteenth 'Salamanders' Legiones Astartes, had been kept a secret from the wider Imperium and even from the Primarchs themselves. Upon being sent to the grim Rangda front Vulkan knew that no amount of Legionaries, Titans nor Army troopers could keep the monstrous hordes of the Rangda at bay. A weapon of prodigious power and reach was needed. The power of a hundred stormbirds with the armour of warlord titan. Vulkan and his greatest forgefather retrofitted nine fast cruisers with massive archeotech repulsor fields and reconstructed their hulls to withstand the pressures of atmospheric flight. Each of these was further upgraded with turrets usually found on emplaced fortification or Titan god engines.

 

With the deployment of these assault barques the Rangda Xenocide was halted in its tracks. The Crusade War Council was given the much needed time to raise the armies to break the Rangda front and besiege their hellish homeworld. The vessels forged by Vulkan were revealed to the Imperium but their origin and the role played by the brave Salamanders was kept a secret.

 

When Perturabo saw the design of these assault barques he gave the shipwrights of the Imperium a design that could be used in a Siegebreaking role. However without the archeotech repulsor fields these seige barques could not perform their task as well as the assault barques. A few of the original nine were converted into siege barques but these were retained by the Armada Imperialis. Only a handful of those survived the Heresy and fight on to the present.

 

 

 

The Legion Ironstrider Squad: Seeing their effectiveness in the ranks of the Skitarii Legions the Primarchs of the Legiones Astartes led by Jaghatai Khan fought for the incorporation of a similar fighting unit within the ranks of the Legiones Astartes. These Ironstrider mechanized cavalry came into effect in the waning days of the Great Crusade but made a necessary addition to a Legion's scout and harassment tactics. Used in concert with the Legion Outrider Squads on Jetbikes and Warbikes, an Ironstrider squad can quickly and effectively attack and enemy from the flanks and keep hitting those flanks again and again while the rest of Legion storms their positions from the front.

 

 

 

The Warknight Class Assault Titan: Few Titan Legions during the hallowed days of the Great Crusade could boast of field anymore than a dozen Assault Titan while today most of them have been forgotten and considered no more than a fancy myth. 'A titan that can fly' they say and laugh incredulously. But seeing a Warknight in action will bring their amusement to an end. Based off of the much more commonplace Goliath warframe that is used in more Main Battle Titans including the uparmoured and upgunned Warlords, the Warknight has one main difference. Instead of four main Titan grade weapons it has two arm mounted Titan weapons and one Shoulder mounted scout Titan weapon. The warframe also has a massive jump pack that allows the titan to deploy from a modified coffin ship which enables the Warknigh to land in the middle of its foes weapons primed. Many in the crew of a Warknight are right considered mad and only the bravest or the most foolhardy choose a posting on a venerable Warknight.

 

 

 

The Overlord Class Command Titan: While almost all god-engines in the Collegia Titanicus are made to wage war at close quarters or at range there is one class of Titan which has been built not to unleash devastation upon the enemy but to safeguard the commanders of an invasion and oversee the operation of the myriad arms of an Imperial Expeditionary Force on the surface of a non-compliant world. Constructed from those Imperator chassis that are considered imperfect in some fashion or the other by the hidebound tech adepts in the Titan foundries these gargantuan god-machines now serve the Imperium by acting as the command and control hub for entire army groups. Instead of the standard six titan weapons mounted upon a standard Imperator class Titan an Overlord is mounted with two carapace mounted landing pads, a carapace mounted Titan Fire Control Centre, a carapace mounted Imperial Command Centre and two arm mounted Corvus Assault Pods. 

 

 

 

The Banshee Class Fire Support Titan: A rarely fielded conversion of the common Warlord Class Battle Titan, a Banshee mounts a Centre Line Weapons Mount, usually a macro canon or a nova canon, which is installed where in the centre of the body of the warlord chassis. This requires the whole head to be removed and placed on one of the shoulder mounts while the other shoulder mount in converted into a modified Fire Control Centre which is responsible for the aiming and firing of the Centre Line Weapon. The Banshee possesses two regular arm mounted titan weapons for close to medium range engagements. The main strength of fielding a banshee is the immense range and firepower of its Centre Line Weapon mount. Capable of reducing the most heavily defended installation and fortification to rubble in but a few shots. To aid the titan in bracing for the massive recoil of the firing of it centre line weapon the titan is equipped with rubble claws capable of punching into and holding the titan steady as it fires. Enemy combatants and Army troopers who fought in this god-engine's shadow were terrified of the terrible screaming made by the passage of the shell as it was flew to the target, due to the wailing sound generated by the fired shell the army nicknamed the titan the Banshee. 

Edited September 14, 2015 by Outlander90

[Outlander90]

I had the idea that the classes of the Titan Legion are like the pieces on a chessboard.

 

 

The Pawns are the Warhound Class Scout Titans.

The Rook is the powerful Warlord Class Heavy Battle Titans.

The Knight is the lithe Warknight Class Assault Titan.

The Bishop is the Reaver Class Support Titan or the Banshee Class Fire Support Titan.

The Queen is the overwhelming Emperor Class Super Heavy Titan.

The King is the Overlord Class Command Titan.

 

(With the purpose and ability of the Warknight class, Banshee Class and Overlord Class Titans explained I'd like to imagine playing a Chessboard style game like the one recently out one day)

Edited September 15, 2015 by Outlander90

[Outlander90]

I had fleshed this out but failed to post it, thought I'd post it here regardless.

 

History of the Imperium following the Heresy War

 

M31 Age of Retribution: The Starving: After the incredible siege of Terra that ended the Heresy war, Horus remained as the only loyal Warmaster. Against him were ranged the massed ranks of the traitor legions still strong even after the brutal losses of the Heresy. However, while Horus ranged and engaged his traitor brother alongside his loyal brothers and their legions the world of the Hegemon were actively resisting him. At its height of power during the Great Crusade the Hegemon number a million worlds are formed the one of the three pillars of the creation of the Imperium. The Hegemon had sided with the Lion during the Heresy and committed troops and ships aplenty. Now they blockaded their worlds and resisted the Imperium. To deal with the Hegemon, Horus dispatches his brother Alpharius who comes up with his carefully prepared plan to Harrow the worlds of the Hegemon. Alpharius is given castigation fleets made up of sub-chapters of the Night Lords and World Eaters legions. The Alpha Legion do not attack those worlds which actively resist the Imperium and instead go after the world which produce the food. On a hundred thousand farm world gene phages and bio toxins wipe out the farming populations and corrupt the crops that were meant to feed the billions on the fortresses worlds and hive worlds of the Hegemon. The Hegemon calls to their allies in the traitor legions and Mechanicum who are loathed to send relief fleets to aid them but must in order to keep them in the fight. These relief fleets are ambushed by the Night Lords and Worlds Eaters left in Alpharius’ command. In Fifty Two years the worlds of the Hegemon are shattered and the last hive world is consumed by recidivist uprising that overthrows the ruling Hegemon council. Not a single Imperial warship is lost in the entire campaign.

 

M32 Age of Despair: The Beast Arises: Lorgar prepares to launch his legions into a renewed war of faith to overthrown the Imperium once and for all. In preparation for this war, many fleets are prepared and he unties almost all the disparate traitor legion under his banner. After the fall of Horus, the title of Warmaster is awarded to Rogal Dorn who builds mighty citadels to better defend the Imperium’s worlds. Both prepare for the coming onslaught but the attack comes from a different quarter. Long neglected as a viable threat the Orks emerge from their corner of the galaxy and sweep into the worlds occupied by both sides. Both Lorgar and Dorn are declared lost and the Imperium is plunged into domination from the superior ork race. In this time of need, Vulkan emerges and battles the Orks on a hundred worlds. Perturabo comes out of hiding at Olympia and the two primarchs strike a deal that will save the Imperium from defeat. The Orks are pushed back at a crippling cost to both sides. The two sides go back to fighting one another as soon as the dust settles.

 

M33 Age of Faith: The Divinitarchy: Following the great conflicts that came close to sundering the Imperium a number of cults to the Emperor who believed that the Emperor was guiding the Imperium through visions to his followers and complete devotion to the Space Marines and Primarchs, His chosen blood, rose and overcame the Church to the Emperor in a brutal war of faith. Warmaster Vulkan allows the Divinitarchy to gain a foothold and spread to become the Imperium official creed. Under the auspices of the Divinitarchy, all soul bound psykers were worshipped and instrument of His voice. Similarly, Spaces Marines were seen as avatars of His will and as such the ranks of the space marines were filled with fresh recruits and managed to return to their pre-Heresy strengths of old. The Legions replaced their crippling losses and managed to push back the tide of xenos and chaos that was threatening to overcome the worlds of the Imperium. An age of peace beckoned for the people of the Imperium.

 

M34 Age of Purgation: The Assassination: Warmaster Vulkan is assassinated by an assassin cadre of the mysterious Eldar. In response, the Imperium declares war on the entire Eldar race. Eldar worlds long left unmolested by the Imperium are invaded and purged of the Xenos. Though the Imperium loses millions of men and ships to the war the Eldar are brought to the brink of extinction. Only by the intervention of Magnus is the purge withdrawn. Many Eldar hate the Imperium for the purge of their homeworlds and remain highly hostile towards humanity. Nobody knows who sent the assassination cadre as they are never seen again.

 

M35 Age of Impurity: The Genethives: In the aftermath of the Eldar purge the arrival of the genestealer infestations goes unrecorded and forgotten. The genestealer slowly make their way through humanity and at its height more than half the lords on the Council of Terra are genestealer hybrids. The Council of Terra launches great campaigns that see millions of troops lost. Furthermore, relations with the Mechanicum are strained by the excessive demand for more war material. The genestealer are revealed at the heat of the Imperium and the space marine legion strike at the Imperial Palace. Thousands of humanity’s finest battle millions of genestealer. In the climactic battle, the space marines face a broodlord who is as large as warhound titan and with the psychic strength of several daemon princes. Magnus the Red battles this monstrosity and finally slay it. The psychic backlash destroys much of the Imperial Palace and Magnus the red is presumed lost. The title of Warmaster goes to hot blooded Primarch Angron.

 

M36 Age of Iron: The Martian Schism: Nigh on for five thousand years the loyal Mechanicum have served the Imperium’s need but after the disastrous Purge of the Eldar and the Wars of Impurity they secede from the Imperium. Had a more rational and logical primarch remained Warmaster then the rifts between the Imperium and the Mechanicum would have been reknit without any bloodshed. However, Angron was Warmaster now and faced with what would seem treachery he orders a full-scale assault on all forgeworld. The scars of the Heresy war and Angron’s distrust of half-man half-machine creatures comes from his encounter with Ferrus Manus on Octarius. The Imperial assaults suffered immense causalities with million dying to archeo-tech weapons employed the Mechanicum. The Space Marine led by Angron carry the day and lead the Imperium into bloody victory. Angron is lost while fighting on the Forgeworld of Kopesh and a new Warmaster is crowned. Konrad Curze repaired the damage done to the fabric of the Imperium and unifies the Imperium once again. However, the Mechanicum remain highly suspicious of the Council of Terra forever more.

 

M37 Age of Unbelief: The Aethiarchy: After the great trials faced by the worlds of the Imperium a new cult rose that preached the Imperial truth that was first propagated and then later forgotten during the Great Crusade. This cult quickly grew in following as the church of the Divinitarchy had spectacularly failed to prevent the crisis of the previous eras. The Divinitarchy launched a brutal campaign to exterminate this rival creed and the civil war consumes many hundreds of worlds. Having had enough of this petty conflict Konrad Curze leads a formation of both Churches and brutally slaughters anybody inside. The death of their high cardinals makes the two churches sue for peace and the fighting stops. The two sides coexist tenuously but both fighting goes on through proxy wars and small-scale campaigns that do not attract the attention of the Space Marines.

 

M38 Age of Spite: Vengeance from the Dark: The Imperium faces a series of horrific conflicts from races whose homeworlds were originally exterminated during the Great Crusade. These races included the grim Tarellian War Dogs, the monstrous Slaught, the rapacious Kharve, the loathsome Loxtal, the insidious Hrud and a hundred more. The worlds of the Imperium are ravaged by these horrors in the deeps. The Legiones Astartes are powerless to stop all of these attacks and are forced to choose which world to fight for and which worlds to abandon. The scale of the losses rivals the time of the Heresy War and more than a few worlds choose to secede and look to their own defences. Warmaster Curze orders the storm of Magnus to be deactivated. The Storm was the only barrier keeping the Orks of Octarius from being let loose upon the rich core worlds of the Imperium. The Orks stare out into a galaxy fallen prey to savage alpha predators and hurl themselves into them like all oks do. The Imperium is saved but at a night intolerable cost. The decisions of Konrad Curze are challenged as another figure emerges almost from the grave. In this time of greatest need, the Primarch Vulkan return to life and leads the battered Imperial fleets to victory over the Orks and xenos races.

 

M39 Age of Vindication: Second Heresy: With the return of Vulkan many in the Imperium claim him to the true Warmaster and leader of the Imperium’s armies. However, Curze has remained Warmaster for nigh on three thousand years and he does not want to relinquish his control on the Imperium. Fully half the Legions back Vulkan and a second civil war erupts as both sides fight on believing that they and only they were right. Many were the atrocities and false pretenses of this vindictive war but the title Warmaster is made hollow when neither Primarch survives the final battle of this tragic war. The Imperium rebuilds itself and the Legiones Astartes return to their other prewar duties.  Both the Night Lords and the Salamanders vow to avenge their respective genefathers and never fight alongside one another. The other legions patch up the bad blood spilled during the war and fight on in the name of the Emperor.
 

M40 Age of Lamentation: The Fading of the Light: The greatest heroes of the Astartes are lost to the Imperium. Many thousands of worlds bear not monuments of splendor but scars of incessant conflict and strife. Even Terra and Mars look no better than during the tumultuous days of the Heresy war. The Tyranids finally arrive to find a galaxy ripe for the taking. The Necrons arise after too many of their worlds have been disturbed and raided by the younger races. The Tau rise to claim great swathes of the Eastern Fringe for their Greater Good and the Orks relish this chance to fight till the stars themselves blow out. All is not lost as the Legions still fight on, true to their purpose. But the vast majority of Humanity see the signs of Lamentation as visions of the Emperor are seen by many and the great lamentation begins.