The Siege of Terra: The Lost and the Damned

[JH79]

Well folks it looks like Amazon has the Title & Synopsis up for Guy Haley's entry to the Siege of Terra! I had no idea where to drop this so figured let's keep things tidy and start a new thread specifically for this book...

 

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The Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra: The Lost and the Damned

 

On the thirteenth day of Secundus, the bombardment of Terra began... With the solar defences overcome through the devastating strength of the Traitor armada and the power of the warp, Horus launches his assault on the Throneworld in earnest. After withstanding a ferocious barrage of ordnance, an immense ground war commences outside the Palace with every inch gained paid for in the lives of billions. The front lines are beyond horrific and the very air is reduced to poison and blood. Bodies are thrown into the meatgrinder but the outer redoubts cannot possibly hold for long, even with the loyal primarchs to reinforce them. For Horus has his own generals to call upon... Between the plague weapons of Mortarion and the fury of Angron, the defenders face a losing battle.

 

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Can we tentatively assume that 2 books a year is the Siege schedule putting the end somewhere in the region of 2022?

[Mr. Lunde]

... with every inch gained paid for in the lives of billions.

 

So if we interpret that literally it means that when Khârn killed 1 million at the Siege; that contributed to moving the siege line 1/1000^th of an inch (or 0.025 millimetres) forward. Seems like a waste of energy to me…

[Marshal Loss]

I hope Haley does this justice. Following up Solar War is not going to be easy

[Marshal Rohr]

126,720,000,000,000 or one hundred twenty-six trillion, seven hundred twenty billion lives per mile. On one hand, I'm glad they've embraced larger numbers. On the other, they've embraced it in the way only GW can.

 

This is conservative, too, measuring the lives per inch at 2 billion since billion is plural.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Marshal Rohr

[Guest Drekkan]

Horus heresy metrics have never looked so lost and damned..

[aa.logan]

I enjoyed The Solar War immensely, but the title and synopsis for this have got me even more excited- here’s hoping the balance of content skews traitor the way the previous skewed loyalist

[Manchu warlord]

"Thirteenth day of Secundus".  Is Secundus February?

[Preliminary Bombardment]

Yes, so they must have taken a month to get through the orbital defences.

 

Sufficient to day I'll be getting the limited edition if I can. Guy Hayley is an absolute machine.

[Marshal Rohr]

Yes, so they must have taken a month to get through the orbital defences.

 

Sufficient to day I'll be getting the limited edition if I can. Guy Hayley is an absolute machine.

 

6 weeks, iirc. 

Edited April 11, 2019 by Marshal Rohr

[Knockagh]

It’s written from the perspective of a human conscript which is absolutely awesome! I’m delighted they have allowed some human perspective in the solar war series.

[bluntblade]

It maaaay be hyperbole...

[Roomsky]

Pleased to hear we're getting a closer to the ground perspective, if for no other reason than I live in fear of Haley writing Horus again. Hopefully it brings out the best in him, he's been very hit or miss for me lately.

[Moonreaper666]

I am interested in two things during the siege of terra:

 

Why didn't the Traitors focus on attacking the Himalayas instead of the Palace (The Astronomicon and dangerous prisoners are in there)

 

Expanding on Perturabo getting distracted and attacking the Fists instead of the Palace at some point

[Lord_Caerolion]

Because the Palace covers most of what was the European/Russian continent. The Himalayas are included in that.

[Marshal Rohr]

The palace only really covers the Tibetan Plateau and Himalayas, with the Himalayas forming the southern wall. You can see it here

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Imperial_Palace&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop

 

And compare it to a satellite shot of the same region

 

https://www.google.com/maps?oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari&um=1&ie=UTF-8&fb=1&gl=us&entry=s&sa=X&t=h&ll=30.1533605,88.7878678&z=6&ftid=0x3761317e9c4a2cc1:0x1fc12c628413da99&q=Tibet,+China&gmm=CgIgAQ%3D%3D&ved=2ahUKEwjOiJ_rrcnhAhVN7qwKHSXuCpwQ8gEwCnoECAgQAQ

[Lord_Caerolion]

I thought it covered most of England as well, as there was the joke that the Golden Throne was placed at what is now GW HQ?

[Kelborn]

Thanks for that comparison, Rohr.

 

Now I just realized the sheer size of the palace. I was aware of the WH map but never compared it with the real world.

[Karhedron]

I thought it covered most of England as well, as there was the joke that the Golden Throne was placed at what is now GW HQ?

Yes, that was the fluff quite some time ago. A rather nice little in-joke. The Imperial Palace has definitely been sited in the Himalayas for the duration of the HH novels (at least the last 10 years, maybe longer).

[Moonreaper666]

What I don't get is why the Traitors did not prioritize the destruction of the Astronomicon above all else. Destroying it would DRASTICALLY slow down the Ultramarines, Dark Angels and Space Wolves (Many Prisoners and Dangerous Artifacts are right next to the Astronomican)

 

Futhermore, the Great Scouring can't happen as the various systems of the Imperium are separated from each other due to Violent Warp Currents. Traitors can regroup while Loyalists are stranded far from their logistical centers!

 

Hive Worlds like Terra starve to death while Forge Worlds can't get the supplies needed to mass produce weapons. Countless worlds would be forced to pledge themselves to the Traitors to save their own skin (Orks and Eldar would be a much larger threat to these newly isolated worlds)

 

The Emperor probably does not know how to recreate the Astronomican. Even if he does it would be a nightmare to built another one and it might be on another planet. If Horus still cripples Emps then the Imperium can't rebuild the Astronomican

[Manchu warlord]

So, the heart of mankind is in Asia, yet, the facilities and places bare Latin names...  I am half flattered, and I guess it's kinda cool to have a mix of both worlds.

[bluntblade]

Likely because Horus has no guarantee that he'll be able to replace the Astranomicon for his own purposes. The Traitors are still using Navigators, most of them despise the powers that are drawing them further in and thus they have little enough desire to just ditch that whole construct.

[Moonreaper666]

Likely because Horus has no guarantee that he'll be able to replace the Astranomicon for his own purposes. The Traitors are still using Navigators, most of them despise the powers that are drawing them further in and thus they have little enough desire to just ditch that whole construct.

Why would Horus need the Astronomicon? Chaos can navigate the Warp okay without the Astronomicon or Navigators. Daemons/Possessed can do the same role

 

The Traitors would have won the war had they destroyed the Astronomicon. Without it, they can destroy the isolated Loyalists piece by piece. The Tyranids might not come if it was destroyed

[Marshal Loss]

Well...the Astronomican is on Terra. So I'm not sure how you don't get why Horus did what he did; it has been well established in current lore that a lightning strike on Terra was not possible. In any scenario where the Traitors destroy the Astronomican, they've already won. It was presumably also incredibly well guarded and fortified. And even if you're just talking about focusing it during the Siege itself, we don't have any information on how easily accessible it is. It may not have been a practical consideration, or the key systems might be hidden deep in the palace for all we know.

 

The Traitors also intended to rule the new Imperium, not raze it entirely to the ground; why would they destroy the Astronomican when they were under the impression that they were going to win? The Astronomican goes out, humanity falls. Horus' future empire needed it.

 

And, as Bluntblade notes, the Traitors are still using navigators throughout the Heresy. The Astronomican was just as necessary for many of them as it was for the Loyalists. They didn't bomb the good guys on Isstvan III and go "right, well we're only using sorcery now because we're the baddies". It was a gradual descent into madness for most, not an abrupt fall off a cliff edge. There wasn't a sorcerer guiding every ship in Horus' armada.

[Marshal Rohr]

The Emperor is the Astronomican. Horus did exactly what you said he didn’t.

[Marshal Loss]

Hmm. FW mentioned that the Astronomican was at least partly self-sustaining. I do wonder if Horus had any plans for it beyond his father's death.