/tg/ Heresy Timeline

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

Pre-Heresy

mid-M30: The Unification Wars

After the Fall of the Eldar and the Birth of Slaanesh, the long warp storms that had blighted humanity receded. The Emperor began to unfurl his plans to unify the human race and extend its dominion to the stars, beginning by conquering Terra itself. Although much of the fighting would be undertaken by the Thunder Warriors, they would be supplanted by the Adeptus Astartes as the Emperor's armed reached out into space.

798.M30 to 005.M31: The Great Crusade

803.M30 to 914.M30: Discovery of the Lost Primarchs

Although Malcador's heroism had saved the infant Hektor Cincinnatus from the dangers of the Warp, the other Primarchs had been scattered across the galaxy. Twenty-five were rediscovered in the course of the Great Crusade:

• Arelex Orannis (803.M30, Whitestone)
• Thomas Gaudin (809.M30, Sturmundrang)
• Kranios the Destroyer (811.M30, Satares)
• Uriel Starikov (817.M30, Perfidiae)
• Darius Cyaxares (822.M30, Simurgh)
• Urehikau Kauaeroa (826.M30, Tikikanga)
• Bohemond (828.M30, Hydegate)
• Roman Albrecht (831.M30, Centauri Primus)
• Kleisthenes (833.M30, Europa)
• The Voidwatcher (836.M30, Ostium)
• Tollund Ötztal (842.M30, Tisenjoch)
• Gaspard Lumey (850.M30, Ciban IV)
• Johannes Vrach (850.M30, Rai)
• Alexandri (855.M30, Rosskar)
• Tiran Osoros (859.M30, Solnhofen)
• Inferox the Burned King (863.M30, Crematoria)
• Rogerius Merrill (870.M30, Profi Tiroedd)
• Nathanog (872.M30, Thorund-Ul)
• Sebastion Rex (877.M30, Arelon)
• Octullus Tyran (890.M30, Illobian)
• Brennus (892.M30, Alessia)
• Golgothos (898.M30, Sepulchra)
• Aubrey The Grey (901.M30, Lazarus)
• Onyx the Indestructible (908.M30, Neolithus)
• Cromwald Walgrun (914.M30, Sommesgard)

956.M30: The Gifting of Exirus

This article or section has been selected for Exterminatus by the Ordo Editant. The Emperor Corrects.

Coming after the mixed reception to the Core Worlds campaign, Uriel would find his crowning achievement as a Primarch in the annexation of the independent Exirus sector. A small Imperium unto itself, Starikov came across a scattering of planets with a core of still-operational Forge Worlds divided amongst a million feuding Prince-Foremen that would band together in the face of Xeno invasion. Despite their division, Uriel recognized that attempts to forcibly join the Exiran worlds with the Imperium would result in the same unacceptable loss of archeo-tech and industrial capital that tainted the Core-Worlds Campaign. Uriel begged with his brothers to give him time, three years to be precise to handle the Exirus sector on his own. The deadline was agreed upon, with Gaspard Lumey being his most staunch supporter. When he re-establishing contact towards the ending of his self-appointed deadline, he revealed his successful attempt at gaining control of these worlds. He had been elected Kaiser with near full support of the Exiran Princes. His first short dispatch after the silence was thus;

"To my father, The Emperor; I beg to present to you the gift of the Exirus Sector, with 150 worlds, plenty of fresh soldiers and 20,000 factorums. With love from your humble son and servant, Uriel."

The Emperor simply replied, "Many, many thanks for your gift." The true reward for Uriel Starikov was greater autonomy in his actions, and a greater degree of faith in him not only by the Emperor but all his brothers and citizens of the Imperium. The efforts of the Great Crusade were redoubled by the addition of countless new combat tank templates, including the legendary Gaudin Main Battle Tank, which pre-Heresy was affectionally known as the Starikov Pattern M-B-T.

964.M30: First encounter with the Harakien Empire

Imperial Army forces are soundly beaten by the armed might of the Harakien Eldar Empire and only the arrival of a force of Winged Victory Space Marines stems the rout. A series of raids and counter-raids ensues.

966.M30 to 968.M30: The Lenard Depths Campaign

The Primarch Tollund Ötztal leads a force of his Legion to assist the bulk of the Silver Cataphracts on their first major campaign in the Great Crusade. The intention was to foster good relations with the recently discovered Primarch Alexandri, bringing him closer to the Imperium and his fellow brother. Initially supported by the Sons of Fire, and quite successful, the Lenard Depths Campaign ends with both Legions being at odds for the entirety of the Great Crusade. The Cataphracts inherent apathy for life combined with the double crossing nature of the humans inhabiting the sector caused a great deal of friction between them and the Mastodontii.

973.M30 to 976.M30: Pacification of the Harakien Sector

The Fifth Legion launches a massive offensive against the Harakien Eldar Empire. Although the Eldar inflict significant casulaties on Gaspard Lumey's crusade forces, they are driven back into the Webway.

988.M30: The Censure of the Eternal Zealots

Once the truth was revealed, it was only a matter of time before the Emperor would be moved to censure the Eternal Zealots. The links of cause and effect are poorly recorded, but it seems that the Emperor waited for some time after the initial reports of Xenos Traffiking and support reached his court. That He sent missions to assay many more worlds conquered by the Zealots is known. We can only speculate as to why: perhaps He did not want to believe it of His son, perhaps He wanted to be sure, perhaps He was simply gathering information before acting.

994.M30 to 000.M31: The Ullanor War

Background: Khork, da MegaBoss of Ullanor

Khork. The name echoed through the halls of every ork across the galaxy and had since the appearance of his mighty empire. The stories told of him defied belief, from those roared by his followers in the murky light of dawn before battle to those whispered by mothers to frighten their young into timid obedience, but almost all tales have a basis in fact. He arose on Ullanor like every ork warboss does; with his fists. He killed every leader who stood in his way until the planet was under his control and ordering his meks to construct a vast fleet. All the boyz on the planet could feel the build up of the Waaagh! all around them and they gleefully anticipated the coming battles...

Khork’s Waaagh! exploded out of Ullanor and took the neighbouring sector by storm, hurtling across the surfaces of the planet with horrendous speed. The petty kingdoms and robber empires of the local pirate lords and ork bosses fell like grots before a hungry face eater squig. And so his Waaagh gained strength and momentum with every victory, stripping every piece of useable material from the planet’s surfaces to create more and more crafts. Khork slew the leaders of every force to face him personally, some after struggles worthy of legend and some with contemptuous ease.

As Waaagh! Khork spread through system after system, Khrok swelled with the accumulated Orkish energy. At first, he had been of the average size for a warboss (around two metres tall and almost as broad) but after a few victories his size began to make him stand head and shoulders above those warbosses who obeyed his orders and before long he towered over even the deff dreads that accompanied him to battle. His size won him many battles on its own, as few orks will willingly fight a boss so clearly blessed by Gork and Mork. One warboss that knew Waaagh! Khork was coming his way had his meks construct a suit of mega armour the size of a stompa to allow him to fight on equal terms. Khork ripped the arms off the suit and tore out the ork inside, calling him a coward before devouring him whole.

A score of sectors fell before Khork and his waagh showed no sign of slowing. In fact, it seemed that no force could slow the implacable advance. Different races and civilisations tried different tactics; orbital mines to obliterate fleets, planets stripped of minerals to deny the orks the chance to repair their ships and replenish their supplies, pre-emptive strikes against Khork’s high command to create chaos. Nothing worked, however, and soon over a hundred sectors had fallen and his Waaagh! could truly be called an empire. It was then that Khork showed himself to be a different kind of beast all together to his fellow warbosses. Instead of continuing in one direction and having every ork follow him, Khork turned his flagship around and headed back to Ullanor. When he arrived, he began to make plans. Most orks, upon seeing his size, assumed that Khork must be a member of the Goff clan. Few orks knew that he was in fact a Bloodaxe, one cunning (or kunnin’) enough to know that orks would not willingly follow his orders if they thought him a cowardly, ‘uman loving git.

Soon, his orders were relayed to the very fringes of his empire. The bosses on the edge were commanded to ground their roks and start to construct mighty bastions, fortresses that would allow them to hold these planets and sectors against invasion. Khork did not intend his Waaagh! to burn like a wildfire before being extinguished under its own weight. Instead, he planned to forge an empire that would last until the star grew cold. Once the edges of the current empire was secured, Khork co-ordinated a push of expansion. His empire, to be referred to henceforth as the Ullanor Empire, doubled in size over the next few years. There was another period of fortress building and implementing infrastructure. Huge ships trawled the many ork inhabited planets of the empire, picking up the yoofs that had spawned there and absorbing the petty tribes into Khork’s greater vision. Boot camps and training planets arose to force every ork that wanted to go to the front to train until they at least understood the principle of using a slugga as more than a tool to make noise, if not the practise.

The Imperium encountered Khork’s forces during one of their cycles of expansion and were most struck by the efficiency and speed with which the orks operated. Khork himself was on the other side of the Empire at that time, leading a crusade against some particularly resilient Eldar pirates but was soon made aware of the cessation of progress in the Imperium’s direction. Even as he travelled the warp to meet this problem head on, the champions of mankind were readying themselves to face him.

Imperial Planning

When the Eyes of the Emperor first reported that they had encountered unusually strong Ork resistance in the Ullates Sector, little was said of it in the busy planning rooms of the Great Crusade. However, follow-up reports explaining that the Eyes had been held up by the Orks for several months and that they had found Orks under the same banner in the neighbouring Endia and Bhusan sectors drew the attention of the Emperor himself. Reports from Rogue Traders and Explorators in neighbouring sectors were carefully scrutinised. As the Imperium became aware of the full scale of Khork's dominion, Octullus Tyrannis was summoned to the world of Komencante, to meet with the Emperor and the Primarchs Hektor and Kleisthenes. No reprimand of the Eyes of the Emperor was made. Instead the four settled down to plan a great campaign to destroy Ullanor.

998.M30: Core Worlds campaign

The largest human realm outside of the growing Imperium was based in mineral rich, high-gravity worlds close to the Galactic core. The Core Worlds Confederation was a great chain of highly-developed worlds, with large populations, advanced technology and powerful armies. To secure this prize, the Emperor dispatched Gaspard Lumey at the head of his Winged Victory Legion. The Primarch approached the Core Lords as a friend, offering them a place in the Emperor's universal kingdom. However, he was quickly bogged down in demands for special privileges, each Core Lord attempting to secure a better place for himself and all asking for far too much. As negotiations broke down Gaspard Lumey recounted the arrogance of these petty lordlings and promised a fitting punishment.

Despite their grandeur and wealth, the Core Worlds fell to Fifth Legion in a shockingly brief campaign, capitalising on the Imperium's naval superiority and marked by a disregard for collateral damage. Although the campaign was a military success, the other Primarchs were reluctant to celebrate. Lumey was unpopular already, and many believed that his methods had cost the Imperium valuable archeotech and industrial capacity. Some even suggested that another Primarch would have been able to talk the Core Lords into peaceful annexation had they been given the responsibility. Still, the Emperor sought no sanction and the matter would rest, however uneasily, for the next five years.

003.M31: Council of Nikaea

After Darius Cyaxares brought news to the Emperor of the Black Augurs apparently using of horrific sorcery, the legitimacy of the Librarium was called into question. Notables of the Imperium were gathered on the world of Nikaea to determine whether sorcery could be used at all without presenting a dire threat to mankind. The Council also served as a de facto trial of Darius and The Voidwatcher.

Many of the Primarchs spoke on the matter, but the final decision was the Emperor's. The Librariums were disbanded and their members sent into ordinary squads, under strict instructions not to make use of their powers. Malcador the Sigilite ordered that each Legion follow the example of Fifth Legion and establish an order of Iterators within their ranks, to police the Emperor's decision.

004.M31: Exile of the Fifth Legion

In the bitter atmosphere following the Council of Nikaea, Gaspard Lumey and his Fifth Legion are censured by the Military Council for "use of regrettable methods" and exiled to the Galactic Fringe. It in this period that the Fifth abandon their old moniker "Winged Victory" and begin to refer to themselves as the Void Angels.

005.M31 to 014.M31: The Hektor Heresy

001.M31: Cadia: The Fall of Hektor

The Heralds of Hektor were called to Cadia in the 203rd year of the Great Crusade by the Eternal Zealots. The planet had been made complaint by them, but the Imperial Commander that had left behind as the Planetary Governor had turned traitor. Enraged at what he saw as an affront to himself as Warmaster, Hektor Conathos attacked Cadia himself with a spearhead of 4,000 Heralds of Hektor Astartes.

Hektor led an assault into the fortified governor’s lair, but when he and 200 of his Astartes were inside, the superstructure was deliberately collapsed, cutting Hektor off from the rest of his warriors.

Alone now, Hektor made his way through the bowels of the ruined fortress in search of the Governor. He found him in the throne room, defacing a statue of Hektor, with a defiled statue of the Emperor Himself beside it. Hektor killed the governor in single combat, but not before he was struck in the eye by a dark blade. The Anathame poisoned Hektor until he was unable to walk and close to death., and in desperation his men called upon Aubrey of the Eternal Zealots who was well known as a healer in his past, who promised he would heal the Warmaster of his wound and restore him.

The Standard of Rebellion

News of a rebellion against the Emperor on Isstvan II were swiftly followed by the news that it was Aubrey the Grey, censured Primarch of the Eternal Zealots who had orchestrated it and who had declared war against the Imperium for the crime of the destruction of Lazarus.

At the same time, an immense force of Psychic energy smashes the Human Webway project of the Emperor. Along with the destruction came a message from the Voidwatcher. The Webway was shattered, the Palace's considerable psychic defenses breached and millions of people across Terra killed, their minds melted by the storm of psychic energy unleashed by the Voidwatcher.

The Northern Massacres

Isstvan V

Drop Site Massacre
Date	ca. 566006.M31
Scale	Planetary Assault
Theatre	Istvaan V, Istvaan System, Segmentum Ultima
Status	Decisive Traitor Victory
Belligerents
The Traitor legions of Warmaster Hektor	The Loyal Legion Retribution Force
Commanders and Leaders
Warmaster Hektor	Bohemond of the Knights of Justice
Strength
Sons of Fire, Lions Rampant, Heralds of Hektor, Life Bringers, Black Augurs, Eternal Zealots, Gorgers, Eyes of the Emperor (Defected), Mastodontii, Horns of Ruin, Imperial Army, Dark Mechanicum elements, Legio Mortis, Legio Aperferrum	Knights of Justice, War Scribes, the Entombed, Stone Men, Imperial Army, Mechanicum elements, Legio Tonat, Knights of Accolon, Knights of Krast
Losses
In the tens of thousands, extensive losses amongst all Traitor assets	Hundreds of thousands of Loyalist dead
Outcome
four entire Loyalist Space Marine Legions nearly eliminated

The Dropsite Massacre

"War is the crucible in which we burn. In the fires of battle is the past consumed and the future born on tongues of flame. No greater fire has there been in our times than the three bloody hours of the Dropsite Massacre."

(attributed to Malcador the Sigillite, Regent of Terra.)

Once news of Hektor’s gross treachery reached Terra, by the express command of both the Emperor (who was busy with problems beneath the Imperial Palace) and Malcador as Regent vested command in Thomas Gaudin, Primarch of The Crusaders and now Emperor’s Praetorian. He wasted no time and immediately transmitted the order for 12 Legions, just over a full third of the Legiones Astartes - the Knights of Justice, the Entombed, the War Scribes, the Stone Men, the Eternal Zealots, the Horns of Ruin, the Gorgers, the Mastodontii, the Scale Bearers, The Iron Rangers, Eyes of the Emperor and the Black Augurs - to travel to the Isstvan system and destroy the traitor forces. They would attack in two waves and fall under the supreme command of the Knights of Justice Primarch Bohemond, who had already proven his loyalty when under his father’s command he had censured his wayward brother Aubrey the Grey a decade earlier.

After the conclusion of the Istvaan III campaign, Hektor moved his forces to Istvaan V, taking up position in the defensive work made by the Life Bringers and Heralds of Hektor. The Warmaster’s forces at this time included the majority of his own Heralds of Hektor legion sans a few detachments sent to seize vital objectives, as well as those of the Life Bringers, Sons of Fire and Lions Rampant legions. Alongside these Astartes units he also commanded millions of traitor Imperial Army forces and a large detachment of Titans of Legios Aperferrum and Mortis.

Through a masterful application of Astropathic co-ordination and favourable transit, the avenging forces of the Emperor made swift speed to their target, with the forerunners being the fleets of the Knights of Justice, the Entombed, the War Scribes and the Stone Men along with their attendant auxiliary forces, with the other Legions following close behind, though Warp vagaries meant the Scale Bearers would be delayed by several hours. In retrospect, these seemingly co-incidental facts -- the thwarting of the Scale Bearers fleet, the ease of passage for the others, which Legions should approach the Istvaan System first and in what order -- all took on a malign and sinister predestination in light of what is now known of the dark powers that were even then guiding Hektor’s hand.

As the Loyalists closed on the Istvaan System, information relayed by Astropathic transmissions from the Warp Runners secretly dispatched by the Children of Armok to reconnoitre the system in advance of the loyalist assault. The information was duly analysed by the convening four loyal Primarchs. Given the scale of the activity on Istvaan V which could not be concealed from the hidden eyes of the Children of Armok, it was clear that the enemy was rearing up a mighty fortress there, no doubt intended to be the headquarters of the Warmaster's rebellion and its principal mustering ground. The absence of the Traitors' fleet was of more concern, but one explained by a need for the traitors to secure resources and supply from distant systems in preparation for the conflict to come.

At the conclave, the decision was made to strike now, before the enemy fleets returned, and crush the rebellion outright with a single concerted attack. Hektor’s dispositions were only half-done, his defences incomplete. The enemy was vulnerable and the battle would be bloody but short and ultimately victorious, or so the Loyalists thought.

The battle opened with a thunderous bombardment as for a quarter of an hour, the forces of the Emperor that had just moved into orbit over Istvaan V pounded the Urgall Plateau, a firestorm of unimaginable ferocity hammering the surface of Istvaan V with everything short of an exterminatus strike. Lance Strikes and Cluster Warheads vented their fury against the Void Shields that shielded the Warmaster’s fortress. The Fortress survived the bombardment largely intact, though many sub-fortresses marked for death by the watching eyes of the Children of Armok were overwhelmed and reduced to rubble and mobile anti-starship defence launchers were destroyed with swift fury. Eventually, the horrific bombardment ceased and the drifting echoes of its power faded, along with the acrid smoke of explosions, but the Heralds and Life Bearers had worked a miracle in creating a network of defences from which to face their former brothers, and the forces of the Warmaster had been well-protected. Minutes later the skies darkened again, but this time the darkness was thousands upon thousands of Drop Pods, Stormbirds, Thunderhawks and other drop craft streaking through the atmosphere towards the planet’s surface as the initial Loyalist assault came down like a rain of steel. Hundreds of loyalist drop craft were destroyed by the surviving anti-air weapons of the traitors, but thousands more landed successfully and disgorged their cargo into the heart of the foe.

The traitors were ready for them, even as the loyalist forces began to land the traitors were upon them, and hundreds died in the opening minutes of the battle, smashed apart by point blank bolter fire, or hacked by combat knives and chainswords in a battle as savage and pitiless as any of the Great Crusade. The shock of the initial assault counted for little, and the battle swiftly descended into chaos as the loyalist forces carved out a foothold.

The Vanguard Assault held the traitors back, and allowed the loyalists to begin unloading more heavy equipment, including the bulk of their Legions, their armour and heavy artillery. Soon loyalist guns began to pound the great fortress, being answered by the fire of the traitor’s own heavy artillery as the loyalist lines pushed forward to relieve the battered vanguard and carry the fight to the traitors.

Within an hour, the plateau was running red with blood. Treacherous warriors twisted by hatred fought their former brothers-in-arms in a conflict unparalleled in its bitterness. The mighty Titan war engines of the Machine God walked the planet’s surface and death followed in their wake. All across the Urgall Depression, thousands were dying every minute, the slaughter terrible to behold as enough martial power to conquer an entire sector was unleashed in a line less than twenty kilometres wide.

As the slaughter at the fortress-line continued unabated, at the rearmost part of the Urgall Depression a vast crimson bulk slowly descended upon columns of fire as anti-aircraft fire stitched blackened scorches across its armoured flanks. It was a mighty Titanicus Ark, carrying a full battle-maniple of the Legio Tonat, the Roaring Thunder Titan Legion along with Knights of the houses Accolon and Krast, and their arrival had been warranted by the heart bloom-signatures of others of their kind advancing through the billowing dust storm from the desert plains. The Legios Mortis and Aperferrum was on the march also, at their feet scores of Predator tanks and Outrider and Jetbike squadrons drawn from the Heralds of Hektor and Lions Rampant Legions followed.

The auguries showed the Legio Tonat Engines was outnumbered and outclassed in every respect, but for the Legio Tonat, the chance to attack their erstwhile brethren of the was not merely the desire of those who had stayed loyal to punish the Traitor, but a sign of their utmost dedication to the Emperor whom they saw as the Omnissiah they worshipped. So the Titans of the Legio Tonat sounded their great thunderous warhorns and charged into battle against their foe, and in doing so became the first Loyalist Titan Legion to fire their guns in the Hektor Heresy. The battle that followed was brief but brutal. At the cost of their own complete destruction, Roaring Thunder effectively neutralised the secondary Legio Mortis contingent. The delayed and badly mauled Traitor Legion flanking force was then systematically destroyed by the Stone Men second wave forces and the Knights of Krast, while the Knights of Accolon sped forth to support the main drive on the Warmaster’s great fortress.

Seeing their weakness as enemy reinforcements joined the advance, the traitor primarchs counter-attacked. On the left flank the Sons of Fire, who had been steadily shielding their retreat with a curtain of fire now advanced though it and began to bombard the loyalists with the dreaded Phosphex, described as ‘without a doubt singularly the most deplorable man-manufactured weapon that humanity has ever, to its shame, unleashed upon a living world’. Hundreds of the Stone Men and Knights of Justice were consumed by the weapon nicknamed the 'living fire', 'crawling death' and 'ice-fire', and the advance was halted. In the centre the Warmaster’s own bodyguard, the Heliotaroi spearheaded a series of shock counter-assaults, though Hektor Himself was nowhere to be seen, while on the right the Life Bringers unleashed their own weapons, clouds of toxic fog that would dissolve flesh through the slightest breach in power armour, condemning many of the Entombed to a horrific death.

The Loyalist forces launched desperate counter-attacks. Gunships, no longer required to carry shipments of marines and war machines to the surface, now launched suicidal attacks to provide the loyalists with air support, though many paid the price for this and were shot out of the sky. Imperial Army Heavy Tanks and Artillery now joined the fray, adding their weight of fire to the scene. The Traitor Titans were driven off by the storm of shot and shell, and the battle lines shifted constantly, with neither side quite sure who was winning or losing. Supplies began to run low, and both sides fought over the armaments of the dead and dying in order to sustain the fight, or fought each other with broken chainblades, bolters cracked from the strain of firing and now fit only as mere clubs and sometimes even bare gauntlets.

By the third hour of the battle, weariness and attrition had all but forced both sides apart. By best estimate the casualties on both sides were at 40% or more, and the loyalist artillery train was now subjecting the Warmaster’s fortress to a grim and steady bombardment. The weakened loyalist forces needed to rest, re-arm and recover under the shield of their heavy guns or all their gains would be for naught. The enemy Fortress-line still held, the fortress guns still fired and the enemy was still far from defeated.

And then came the second wave…

For the third time the sky was darkened as hundreds of orbital landers and drop pods crashed to earth. The armada bore the sigils of the Eternal Zealots, the Horns of Ruin, the Gorgers, the Mastodontii, the Eyes of the Emperor and the Black Augurs. The power of these six legions, who had already enscribed their mighty deeds into the stars themselves, would prove the doom of one faction and the salvation of the other, and the bitter cruelty of that truth would in mere minutes be proven. With exceptional speed, the newly landed Legions set up their own drop zones south of the initial dropsite. Hundreds of fur and ivory adorned tanks of the Mastodontii formed up into great armoured echelons ready to advance, while the Eternal Zealots deployed just behind the landing zone of the Knights of Justice. A small detachment of Black Augurs led by their first captain, the Primarch being busy elsewhere took up position in the dead centre of the newly arrived forces lines, while the Gorgers formed up, eager to be on the hunt.

Since that dark day, there have been claim and counter-claim about which traitor struck first, which Legion first showed their true colours. Some claim it was the Gorgers, others the Eternal Zealots, but all concur about the end result. One and all, the newly arrived legions swore their allegiance to the Warmaster and cast down their oaths to the Emperor and Terra, declaring their treachery with the voice of the barrels of a thousand guns. as the second wave of Astartes revealed where their true loyalties now lay. The carnage was total, as hundreds of the surviving War Scribes, Stone Men and Iron Knights were cut down in the fury of the first few moments, hundreds more in the seconds following, and then thousands more in the minutes afterwards as volley after volley of Bolter fire and missiles scythed through their unsuspecting ranks. Even as terrifying carnage was being wreaked upon the Loyalists below, the retreating forces of the Warmaster turned and brought their weapons to bear on the enemy warriors within their midst.

It was now that the Life Bringers unleashed their secret weapon upon the Entombed. A modified strain of the Cullgene Gas, custom wrought to the Entombed’s gene-seed. It seeped through the rebreather systems of the surprised Entombed, swiftly killing eight entire companies, without offering a single target to return fire upon as the Entombed fled from the carnage unleashed upon them by their supposed allies.

A hail of fire from advancing armoured squadrons of the Eternal Zealots decimated the drop ships of the Knights of Justice, as the Zealots took their revenge for the humiliating censure they had suffered at the Knight’s hands years previously. With their Primarch, Aubrey the Grey, the chosen of the Gods at their head, they crashed through the burning dropships and overran the Knights of Justice Dropzone like a tidal wave.

Amidst the carnage and the slaughter, the anger of a demigod was released -- beyond anger, beyond rage. It went beyond both, for it was wrath, in physical form, as Bohemond carved his way through the Zealots, desperate to confront and slay his brother, Aubrey. The two met, but it was Aubrey who was successful, decapitating Bohemond with a single blow.

Lesser troops would have given up and accepted their fate in the face of such overwhelming opposition, but the warriors of the War Scribes, Stone Men, Entombed and Knights of Justice were Astartes. So they fought like never before, knowing their doom was at hand, and desiring to make the Traitors pay in blood for every one of their number that fell. It was the Stone Men who took the brunt, as Onyx the Indestructible ordered his brothers to flee, while he and his sons would stand, fight and die to hold the enemy off for as long as possible.

Caught between two armies, the first wave of the Loyalist forces was systematically massacred. The Traitor tanks of the Mastodontii roared from the Urgall Hills, weapons blazing and crushing the wounded beneath their tracks, while warp-craft from the Black Augurs tore thousands more apart as blasphemous majiks were unleashed for the first, but not the last time. The Gorgers tore their foes apart and devoured their flesh, while the Sons of Fire burned everything, friend or foe that crossed their path.

It was now that the traitors suffered their own set-back, as the Eyes of the Emperor abruptly began to withdraw, fleeing the battle. At first little attention was given, but as the move became apparent, Hektor’s rage was stoked, and he ordered his forces to fire upon the craven, fleeing Eyes. Hundreds of their drop ships were shot down, but the Legion managed to withdraw in good order, fleeing the wrath of the allies they never wanted.

It is known that were it not for the self-sacrifice of the Stone Men and the retreat of the Eyes of the Emperor, none of the Loyal Forces would have escaped. Thousands managed to flee in gunships, running back to their ships and escaping the system, and this would greatly aid the Loyalists in the years to come. However the cost was high. Over 400,000 Astartes were lost, a Primarch was dead, a second so badly wounded he had to be interred into a Dreadnought to sustain him and two more missing. With them died the Emperor’s dream, of human dominance of the stars.

As crushing as the Traitor victory at the Drop Site Massacre had been, it soon became apparent that it was not as total as the Warmaster had wanted. Numbers of Loyalist survivors had managed to break out of the encircling trap as soon as it became clear that all was lost, either managing to escape via gunship in the chaos or slip away into the crags and shifting volcanic sands and dust storms of the desert plains; an escape aided in part by the bloodlust of some of the Traitors, and the eagerness to pick over the spoils of battle by others, and the sheer contempt some of the Warmaster’s Legions seemed to hold for each other, even then. None of the four initial Legions had been completely destroyed, indeed none had lost greater then three quarters of their total strength, leaving them still strong enough to be a thorn in the Warmaster’s side.

In the skies above Istvaan V, the war fleets of the Loyalist Legions was also betrayed and assaulted though although over-matched, the battle had not been such a one-sided affair as the Traitors would have liked. The Loyalist vessels had been fully Void Shielded and on battle alert as befitted them in a war zone, and were quick to respond in kind once the initial assault had been weathered, with many of their number damaged, but far from destroyed by the sudden attack of their supposed allies. The resulting void battle had lasted for many more hours than the carnage on the ground, and some Loyalist warships had fought on stubbornly, refusing to abandon their Legion forces planet-side to whatever dark fate had befallen them even as they paid the ultimate price for their loyalty. Others, badly damaged, were either driven off, or realizing the futility of the overwhelming odds they faced fled.

The Battle of Istvaan V was over, the treacherous Warmaster Hektor was its victor. The whirlwind of galactic civil war had been sown, and the Dark Gods would reap the years of terror and bloodshed that would follow.

Diamat

The Scale Bearers were one of the Loyal Legions assigned to the Isstvan Assault, but Warp Turbulence delayed their arrival until after the Massacre was done. When their fleet emerged from the Warp near the Gas Giant Isstvan VI, they fell straight into the trap. The Warmaster had left fleet elements of several of his newly turned Legions, along with the bulk of the Iron Rangers Legion waiting for their arrival, having been warned by the Voidwatcher and the powers of the Warp. The Iron Rangers ships approached close under the guise of friendship, only to suddenly open fire once they had compromised the Scale Bearers formations. Within seconds the enemy vessels brought their weapons to bear, firing as one upon the Scale Bearers Battlecruiser Thagomizer. The doomed vessel exploded spectacularly as the enemy salvo set off a chain reaction in the ship’s plasma engines. Within seconds of its destruction 12 more ships suffered the same fate, consumed by nova-shell explosions and torpedo spreads. Fortunately the Scale Bearer vessels had been fully armed and ready for anything, and were quick to respond in kind once the initial assault had been weathered despite nearly a sixth of their fleet damaged or destroyed in the opening moments. The resulting void battle had lasted for several hours as the Scale Bearers fought off their foes, at first trying to push their way towards Isstvan to find out what had happened to their allies, but finally realizing the futility of the overwhelming odds they faced as the fleets of the first Traitor Legions re-appeared, Tiran Osoros ordered the retreat and was successful in escaping the system, the hounds of the enemy snapping at their heels and bitter vengeance in their hearts. The Scale Bearers would get their revenge for Isstvan.

Ultima Segmentum

After the success of Isstvan V Hektor had now crippled a few of the loyalist legions, but not all. Thanks to the intervention of the Stonemen the loyalists were able to quit the field and make a hasty retreat back into Imperial space. Hektor would not be able to rely on the same tricks the next time. The majority of Hektor's traitor legions were now gathered around him and many had taken substantial losses while there were still many loyalist legions at full strength for him to contend with.

By now all would have heard of his treachery and would no doubt be racing to defend their false emperor. As great a general as he was, even Hektor doubted he would be able to defeat the Emperor if he was able to unite the remaining loyalists into a single fleet. No, if he wanted to fulfil his destiny as the savior of mankind he would have to learn some new tricks. He did not need to defeat every loyalist legion, merely delay them from helping their emperor.

At least 4 loyalists still remained in the Ultima Segmentum on the other side of the Maelstrom. With only two paths around the Maelstrom if the traitors were able to block off both ways then the loyalists would never be able to reach Holy Terra. Speaking with his brothers, Hektor dispatched Voidwatcher and his Black Augurs to the south of the Maelstrom, where they would conjure a second warp storm using their sorcery that would block any from trying to pass.

The Burning Crusade

The Eternal Zealots and Sons of Fire attacked the border of the Atalantos Worlds, drawing the remnants of the War Scribes into a terrible battle. Only the arrival of the Scions of Europa saved Arelex Orannis' Legion from total annihilation.

Segmentum Tempestus

The Storm of Steel: The Battle of Zhuko V

Zhuko V's massive manufactorium's and stockpiles of armoured vehicles made it a critical target during the Heresy. The Mastodontii were assigned to secure the world for Hektor.

Sol Campaign

The Jovian & Saturnian Theatre

Terra and Mars were not the only theatres of significance in the Sol system, with the Jovian and Saturnian moons also important strategic objectives for other sides. Europa, Titan, Enceladus, Ganymede, and a handful other moons were fairly well populated, and also host to plethora industries or mining ventures that would be extremely useful for the maintenance of the war effort in the system. The massive gas mining stations which orbited Saturn since the Dark Age of Technology were especially valued, and much of the fuel for the Emperor’s vessels originated from these massive archaeotech refineries.

It was thus unsurprising that the Voidwatcher moved to secure these facilities promptly after his arrival in the system. Riding a high from their victory in the Isstvan system, they swept aside the various local forces present, established a security cordon around Saturn and its moons, and secured the majority of the facilities. With full control of the spacelanes not yet entirely established, the Black Augurs were forced to pull away the majority of their space-based forces to deal with emergent threats on the outer end of the star system, where loyalist forces were still a nuisance.

It was during this critical moment when the Thunder Kings arrived, running the blockade around Charon and forcing a sizable contingent of Black Augurs into pursuit. Four tribes, totalling some seventy-thousand marines between them, preceded their Primarch in breaking into Sol; making for Terra on a very direct axis of approach. Unfortunately for the Loyalists, the disposition of Traitorous forces was such that it proved impossible to approach Terra so readily, and so the majority of Thunder King forces would be forced to remain in the outer star system for the majority of the Battle of Terra.

Commander Anibalos took the Bleeding Crowns and the Grinning Ghosts tribes, totalling some forty-thousand marines, and deposited them along the moons of Saturn while Commander Cnaios took the Mountain Breakers and the Star-Eaters, totalling another thirty-five thousand, to Jupiter’s moons. Despite the advantage in numbers traitorous forces enjoyed in space, their need to maintain ships at the system’s peripheries to intercept Loyalist reinforcements as well as to blockade the various worlds they were besieging, allowed the Thunder Kings fleet to remain relatively intact. It was never able to establish even local space superiority, on account of the sizable Black Augurs fleet presence, but the clever use of both Saturn’s and Jupiter’s depleted rings in hiding the Thunder Kings fleet would allow for its intermittent use in operational offensives throughout the duration of the conflict.

Of all the other moons, Titan and Ganymede would prove to be the most contested. As important transit points for much of the material the gas refining stations put out, as well as possessing many such refining facilities themselves, they were highly sought after by both sides. The initial Thunder Kings landings managed to overwhelm the standing Black Augurs garrisons in much the same manner as they themselves had overwhelmed the mortal defenders, and so resecured the planets mostly intact.

However, they soon faced a concerted counter-attack and invasion by the Black Augurs. It was to turn into a moon-hopping campaign, with both sides jumping from moon to moon in an attempt to take strategic points before their enemy--or to seize them when an opportunity presented itself from their enemy. No better example exists than Silacos’ gambit, when the Commander of the Star-Eaters tribe opportunistically left a skeleton garrison on Europa, gathered the majority of the Thunder Kings fleet, and scattered his forces across the outer Jovian moons while the Mountain Breakers were defending Ganymede. For a brief while, at least, the control of the defense batteries on those outer moons provided the Thunder Kings space superiority in that front of the theatre.

One of the more decisive battles of the Saturnian campaign was the Battle of Huygen’s Gap, which took place in the forementioned zone of Saturn’s rings. The Eternal Zealots, alongside remaining Black Augurs space forces in the area, made comprehensive sweeps of Saturn’s ice rings once they arrived. In a series of small skirmishes, the Thunder Kings fleet was forced out into the Gap, where the traitor’s forces were able to finally meet them in an actual battle. Brennus and Aubrey briefly dueled, and would continue to directly oppose one another via a series of battles waged across the fleets via teleportation and boarding actions. Ultimately, with both sides sustaining heavy casualties, Aubrey teleported away and the Eternal Zealots withdrew from Huygen’s Gap.Their failure to mention their retreat to their Black Augur allies resulted in the destruction of much of the Black Augur fleet in orbit, eventually culminating in the spiteful destruction by the Black Augur commander of the ancient Vinyaya refining station.

The Siege of Terra

On the thirteenth of Secundus, the bombardment began. From orbit, the Warmaster's ships laid down an unrelenting barrage of missiles and deadly energy beams. The aim was to cripple the defences around the Emperor's Palace and make possible a massive invasion of Terra. Striking from Mars, their bastion in the system, the traitors had destroyed or silenced the lunar bases and crippled or scattered the defending Fleets.

Hektor's attack was the final act in the bloody civil war which had consumed the stellar realm of man. On countless worlds, blood-mad warriors clashed. Those who had pledged loyalty to the Emperor fought those who had sworn fealty to Warmaster Hektor the fallen light and, through him, to the dark powers of Chaos. The Emperor's realm was in turmoil and some of the greatest battles in human history were being fought. On the hive-world of Thranx over a billion warriors died in a single day on the killing fields of Perdagor. On the vast plains of Zhuko V, at the Ka'an Salient, a hundred thousand tanks clashed in the greatest armoured action of all time. On Rosskar, countless millions died in the bloody snows as a Legion Homeworld burned. The Atalantos Worlds felt the kiss of Phosphex as two Legions bled them dry. During the space drop on Vanaheim, three hive-cities were depopulated by the Warmaster’s forces as a warning against resistance, yet still the defenders fought to the last man.

Like a cancer, the Heresy infected the entire structure of the Imperium. Everywhere brave men gave up their lives to try to excise that cancer.

It was on Terra, at the very heart of the Emperor's realm and the cradle of Humanity, that the fate of the galaxy was to be decided. In those last days, the sky was black with dust clouds and the earth split by gigantic fissures. Tectonic plates shifted under the stress of the bombardment. Mountain chains shivered and the last few seas evaporated and became barren deserts. Rains of blood and ash dripped from the dark sky. Astropathic choirs sang of evil portents and men went mad with fear. Hideously twisted ships full of the lost and the damned hung in orbit over the ravaged world. Shielded from the devastation by the cunningly wrought defences of the Mechanicum, a pitiful few stood ready to repel the invaders.

The embattled remnants of the Emperor's army were desperately trying to hold out until reinforcements arrived. Though the Emperor was consumed with the war beneath, within the Imperial palace itself the Emperor's personal bodyguard, the Custodians, stood ready to fight. At their side was the Emperor’s Praetorian, Thomas Gaudin and his Crusaders Legion. In the palace grounds stood the stalwart Adeptus Arbites and the honourable Knights of Accolon, along with their King, the honoured Arturia Eld.

The palace was not the only bastion of resistance; there were others, each an awesome fortified city filled with dauntless soldiers. Beneath the ruins of the Imperial Basilica, grim visaged Kleisthenes led the Scions of Europa in their preparations. Within the armoured factory complexes of the loyal Mechanicum, tech-priests put aside their tools and girded themselves with the fearsome weapons of their order. In the dense fortifications built by him personally, Roman Albrecht and the Steel Marshalls prepared to hold back the tide. Three full Titan legions and billions of Imperial Army troopers stood ready to defend their Emperor.

As the earth shuddered under the bombardment, tank divisions roared across the tortured landscape to take up their position against the coming invasion. Brave men checked their weapons and some offered up last prayers. Defence lasers swivelled to face the turbulent threatening sky. Suddenly, the night was streaked by the plasma contrails of drop-pods.

The pods touched the ground and from them erupted a mass of traitor Space Marines who charged at the Imperial defenders, guns ablaze with fire, roaring the name of Hektor and the Dark Gods. These were no longer the fine human warriors of legend who had forged the Imperium, but twisted creatures, bodies warped by the energies of Chaos, minds twisted by their devotion to the dark powers. If what had happened to the Space Marines was bad then what had happened to their Primarchs was worse. They had been created higher in the Emperor's esteem and had fallen further. None of their former comrades would have recognised them - they had been transformed into creatures both daemonic and exultant.

Inferox the Burned King strode forwards, a trail of flames left in his wake. Around him his Sons of Fire burned all before them, roaring the name of the god of Blood and Fire, Khorne. The wave of red slowly advanced towards the defenders of Eternity Wall Spaceport, ready to spill blood and spread fire for the Blood God.

At the rasping command of Johannes Vrach, the Life Bringers emerged silently from the festering cocoons of their drop-pods and advanced on their terror-stricken foes. Once the bringers of life, now they spread death, disease and despair as they advanced on the loyalists.

Aubrey the Grey, first among traitors spearheaded the advance of his Eternal Zealots, cutting down all before him, looking for the perfect challenge, the perfect foe to show his skills against and to send their soul to the Gods he had sworn himself to.

A hail of deadly bolter shells cut down dozens of the Lions Rampant. Undeterred, the wounded howled with pleasure at the experience and chanted the praises of their Primarch, Cromwald Walgrun. The Sons of the Pleasure God surged forward to carve a path through their foes.

Perhaps some defenders went mad with fear. Perhaps the corruption of Chaos ran deeper than anyone suspected. Perhaps some were even foolish enough to think that they could negotiate with the ultimate enemy. Whatever the reason, one last vile treachery was to take place. Many units of the Imperial army that had pledged loyalty to the Emperor turned blasphemer even as the Traitor Legions made their drop. It was almost as if it were a pre-arranged signal. In one of the basest acts of betrayal in Humanity's history, they turned their weapons on their brother warriors and cut them down like dogs. Thus did the Lions Gate Spaceport fall to the rebels. As the heretics chanted and howled their mad prayers and the skies were torn with drop pods, the air shimmered and slavering daemons emerged from the warp to spread terror and dismay.

If there was ever doubt as to which masters Hektor served then the appearance of the daemonic horde dispelled them. Then indeed did it seem to the defenders that they were living in the last days of Mankind, the end of the Emperor’s dream.

Huge bat-winged Bloodthirsters swept triumphantly across the weeping skies. Clawed Keepers of Secrets danced lasciviously on piles of corpses. Great Unclean Ones chuckled as they lumbered through the ruined streets spreading trails of filth and slime and disease. Enigmatic Lords of Change perched atop the towers and statues and supervised the coming of Chaos to the heart of the world.

Now with all the pieces in place The Warmaster ordered the rest of his army to the battle and at his signal troop transports of his fleet began to make planetfall. A veritable host of Ships drifted down through the atmosphere of Earth escorted by thousands of fighters, hoping to over the defenders by sheer weight of numbers. Unlike the drop-pods, these presented fine targets for the weapons of the defenders. And thus did the battle for Terra begin in earnest.

Defence lasers and marauding packs of loyal fighter craft blasted many renegade ships from the sky, sending thousands of tons of fused metal death raining down onto the ground below. One giant raft span out of control and crashed into a hab-unit, killing a billion people in seconds. Another was welded to the ground, disgorging its passengers into a lake of bubbling tar and plas-crete. The Titan Ark of the Legio Damnatus, the Warped Dogs was vaporised and that Titan Legion's name passed into history. As quickly as they disembarked, the traitors surged forth from the spaceports to besiege the bastions of the defenders. Their first objective was to silence the defence lasers inflicting such casualties on their comrades and destroy the airfields to the fighters could no longer fly. The rebels were met by a wave of Imperial defenders, desperate men and women who knew that they were giving their lives for their home world and their Emperor.

In the tightly packed streets around the spaceports, the fighting was close and deadly. Bolters chattered, lasrifles hissed and missile launchers delivered cargoes of death from building to nearby building. Traitor tanks rumbled through the avenues, turrets swivelling to bring weapons to bear on the hastily improvised barricades of their former comrades.

Soon the defenders of Eternity Wall Spaceport had been swept aside by the merciless assault and the hordes of the Warmaster were in total possession of the space field. More and more intricately wrought drop-ships descended from orbit. They towered over the landing ground like nightmare skyscrapers, the dark runes on their sides glowing evilly in the gloom.

Hundred-metre high doors opened in their kilometre-long sides. From their red depths, Titans emerged. They were warped giants; the armour of their carapace fused and moulded into new shapes by the power of Chaos. Within them were men melded to their machines. Some of the hideous Titans had strange and potent weapons, others were a bizarre hybrid of the organic and the machine. Metal tentacles lashed, spiked tails whipped back and forth. Engines roared like the voices of angry beasts. Banners fluttering, the Titans of the Storm Lords, the Fire Masters, the Flaming Skulls and the Deaths Heads legions marched forth. At Lions Gate Spaceport, the traitors welcomed the towering black war engines of the Khornate host. Monsters, mutants and cultists seethed like angry ants around their bases.

Reinforced by this fresh wave of troops, the hordes swept on, driving through the exhausted and demoralised Imperial troops to the very walls of the Emperor's palace. Khornate warriors howling their bestial war cries raced towards the marble and steel outer ring, burning all before them. Hordes of unstoppable Eternal Zealots marched relentlessly forward, bolter fire raking the defenders. Slaanesh’s Lions swept aside the Imperial infantry and reached the Saturnine Gate. Round the walls bitter fighting ensued as the Imperial soldiers and Space Marines sallied forth, trying to drive the attackers back before the main body of the assaulting troops arrived. Men died in their Millions. From pillbox emplacements in the palace walls Imperial gun crews rained death down on the relentless attackers. Again and again the streets outside the palace were swept clear of heretics. Again and again new foes stepped forward to take their place.

Now indeed it seemed that the tide of battle had turned against the Emperor. The spaceports were firmly in the grasp of the minions of the Warmaster. Billions of troops poured down from orbit. Gibbering mutants and hideous amorphous Chaos Spawn surged out of the dread ships. Under the banner of the dread star, the sign of Hektor, the lackeys of the four great powers of Chaos marched united. Mounted in Rhinos, Chimeras and Testudos, lurking within mighty behemoths and clinging to the sides of gigantic war-engines, they made their way en masse to the Emperor's palace for the final confrontation. Thunderhawks, Stormbirds and Fire Raptors flew overhead and the massed tank brigades that drove on towards the Palace threw up great clouds of dust.

Looking down on the seething sea of foulness, the defenders' hearts went cold. Mingling with the daemons and the mad-eyed cultists and the mutants, they could see heretical Space Marines and traitor Guardsmen. These were people they might have once fought alongside, who had once been as loyal to the Emperor as themselves. They looked upon a dark mirror of their souls. Down there they could see martial honour become berserk madness, human cleverness become sly treachery, hope become foulness and love become abominable lust. The brave men on the walls knew that there was no way out. Here they must stand and fight and die. There would be no mercy from those below.

With a roar the horde advanced towards the walls. Great Lords of Battle lurched forward on iron wheels, crushing anything in their way, unloading racks of missiles and turning the area on the top of the walls into blazing storms of death. Doom Burners sent tongues of superheated metal licking out at the emplacements. Molten brass filtered through the windows and scalded those inside. Multi-tracked Cauldrons of Blood squirted jets of obscene daemonic ichor onto the defenders. Enormous Flesh Hounds of Khorne loped forward in their wake. Titans armed with specially constructed siege weapons lumbered into position. Battle cruisers dropped megatons of explosive death onto the defenders.

Every loyal warrior knew that he was already dead, that there was no way he could survive the coming of the daemonic army. The soldiers fought with the desperate ferocity of hopeless men, firing until their weapons were empty, snatching up the bolters of the fallen, and facing monsters with the butts of their guns when all ammunition was exhausted. Three times the horde managed to scale the walls, and three times it was driven off by the valiant efforts of Gaudin and his Crusaders, supported by the Knights of Accolon, who time and again sallied forth into the horde to destroy the siege engines, ramps and towers that were used to scale the walls. Wearily the Primarch marshalled the defenders, rallying the broken, speaking words of comfort to the mortally wounded, fighting with cold, implacable fury when he was called upon to do so. Slowly though, despite his efforts, the Chaos forces managed to erode the defence. They seemed numberless as the grains of sand on a sea shore and Hektor spent their lives carelessly.

Meanwhile in the depths of the Imperial Palace, the Emperor sat on the Golden Throne, now his prison and brooded on the events occurring far above him. His psychic might was needed to keep the warp-portal tightly shut against the eternal hordes of Chaos that pounded at the doorway from within the webway beyond. If He relented and let slip His focus then the daemonic forces of Chaos would be able to pile through the gateway and into His Palace and that would be the end. But the Emperork new he must soon relinquish his hold on the Throne and confront his traitor son in person. The Warmaster could only win the victory he sought by vanquishing the Emperor - everything he had done and was doing was intended to bring about that goal. The battle above was merely a deliberate act of provocation whereby Hektor was attempting to goad the Emperor into dropping his guard and facing him. The Emperor was patient. He would meet Hektor soon enough. For now He waited and bided His time. Hektor would become impatient and act rashly and then, and only then, would the Emperor face him.

Outside the walls, scattered Imperial forces frantically raced from their bastions to try to relieve the palace. Titan legions boldly cut their way towards the centre of the rebel army. Space Marine forces harried their flanks. No attempt to break the rebel line succeeded. Breaking through that blood-mad horde was a near impossible task. All of the Traitor Primarchs inspired their followers to feats of fiendish bravery. For every Chaos warrior who died it seemed that ten more stood ready to take their places.

In orbit, the Warmaster watched approvingly. If the palace fell and the Emperor died, loyalist legions across the galaxy would lose heart and the war would be over. Without the psychic shield of the Emperor's power, Humanity would swiftly fall prey to Chaos. Hektor would stand triumphant amid the rubble of Humanity's greatest empire. He would become a new and angry god, the true master of Chaos. If he did not win soon, reinforcements would filter in from the corners of the Imperium, and his attack would falter. For the Warmaster this was the desperate, ultimate gamble. Everything was staked on this attack. It had to succeed, and at that moment it looked as if it might.

Day by day the siege wore on, casualties rose from the millions to billions and even trillions. Bodies had to be bulldozed from the access ways to the Saturnine Gate by war machines. Chaos Titans blazed at the walls, specially constructed missiles ripping great chunks from the masonry. The Titans of the Fire Wasps answered their fire with volcano cannons. The smell of burning flesh filled the air as the corpses of the dead were incinerated in funeral pyres a hundred foot high. Obscene ash parched the throats of the defenders. The Sons of Fire built a pyramid of scorched skulls thousands of feet high in Temple Square that grew day by day. By night the chants of degenerate cultists echoed through the streets and daemons flitted among the ruins of Terra.

The daemon that was Cromward was bored by the static nature of the Siege. He was the chosen of Slaanesh. He craved action, he yearned for something to happen so he could indulge himself and his master. Yet still the defenders of the Palace repulsed their attacks again and again. The daemon decided he could bear it no longer and that there must be easier prey on the planet so satisfy his hunger. With this, Cromwald gathered his legion about him and set off on an orgy of destruction across the planet. With so much of the loyal efforts towards defending the Emperor from the traitor Legions, the rest of Terra was left largely unprotected and weak. Billions of Terrans were used as human guinea pigs or raw materials for depraved rites, as daemonic hosts to bring Slaaneshi Daemonic Legions to the fight from the Warp, as tools of pleasure or were simply slain outright to allow a Traitor Marine the fleeting enjoyment brought on by the sensation of brutal murder. This act would leave a permanent scar, and conclude the damnation of the Legion.

Slowly, foot by torturous foot, the defenders were forced back. The great walls of the palace were riddled with hundreds of kilometres of bulkheads and corridor. Within this maze, bitter hand-to-hand fighting ensued until entire sections of passage were filled with bloated corpses. Feeling that progress was too slow, Hektor ordered the Titans of the Death's Head Legion to demolish entire sections of the wall. Despite taking tremendous casualties, with dozens of titans destroyed in as many minutes, the great Warlord Titans finally broke through, and the forces of the Warmaster flooded into the palace grounds.

The battle raged across the grounds of the Inner Gardens. What had once been a vast parkland was swiftly turned into a killing ground. Men used statues for cover and monuments for bunkers. Blood swirled in the waters of the ornamental lakes. Groves of ancient redwoods transplanted by the Emperor burned. The smell of the burning mingled with the acrid odours of weapons and engines and death. Red-eyed, snatching sleep when they could, both sides fought a total war. Trenches were hurriedly excavated in the meadows. Snipers killed men as they tried to sip brackish water from the ruined fountains.

Gaudin led the defence personally, leading charge after charge from the cupola of his command tank. But finally as the tide turned he was confronted by the mightiest of Slaanesh’s servants, Zarakynel the Souleater. Though he fought bravely, the Daemon of Slaanesh laid him low, Burt before the killing blow was delivered, the King of Cattegirn interposed her steed between the Primarch and the Daemon, and the two clashed. Both sides halted for a moment to watch the titanic struggle. It was a conflict such as has been rarely seen; two beings of awesome power wrestling before them. Eventually the Knight struck Zarakynel’s head off and escorted the Primarch to safety as the Battle raged anew around them.

Both sides fought with unimaginable naked ferocity. Both sides sensed that the end was near.

Eventually Gaudin was forced to retreat to within the palace itself, personally holding the Ultimate Gate against the oncoming horde while the last of his wounded men was carried through. Just as the giant ceramite gate was about to close, Arturia Eld, her knight scored with wounds, elected to remain behind and hold off the traitors for as long as possible to allow the defenders more time. Alone she stood before the entire Traitor force as the Ultimate Gate shut. None know her final fate, but at that moment she entered the halls of legend.

Now the final siege began. Through great breaches in the outer walls more and more armaments and reinforcements were brought to bear. The Warmaster himself prepared to teleport down to the surface and supervise the destruction of his former lord. Then a daemon from the Warp whispered to him the words that he had dreaded. The Void Angels had entered the System and were even now clashing with the Black Augurs in the outer Solar System. What was worse was that a loyalist fleet under Arelex bearing a fresh army of War Scribes was only hours away. It would take days to break Humanity's last citadel, even with Hektor leading his troops. It seemed that time had run out for the Warmaster, that his gamble had failed.

Hektor, upon hearing this news resolved to try one final desperate gambit. He could still kill the Emperor. He ordered all comm-net communications blocked so that the defenders would get no word from their rescuers and then he used his psychic powers to the full to prevent the Emperor becoming aware of this. Finally he dropped the shields of his command ship. It was an invitation and a personal challenge that he knew the Emperor could not resist. He was being offered a chance finally to smite the foe who had harried him for so long.

The Emperor rose to the challenge, and he and his surviving Primarchs teleported aboard the Warmaster's battle barge. However the malign influence of the Gods separated the Emperor from his loyal followers. The loyalists were transported to different spots within the hideously altered Bucephalus. It was Kleisthenes who first came upon the Warmaster’s throneroom and encountered his fallen brother. In his evil cunning the Warmaster offered the Scion a chance to switch sides, using old bonds of brotherhood and loyalty.

But Kleisthenes refused, and Hektor grew wrathful and attacked him. At the peak of his powers the Blood Angel would have been no match for the now possessed Warmaster and now, sorely wounded and weary, he had no chance at all. Hektor gutted him, mutilated him, tore off all his limbs and left his mangled body to slowly die on the deck, but not before Kleisthenes made a tiny chink in the Warmaster’s armour.

The Emperor found his fallen son shortly after this and what happened next is the subject of legend. The two mightiest beings in the history of Mankind clashed. They met blade to blade, power to power, mind to mind and tested sinew and psychic ability to the ultimate. Behind Hektor was the massed power of the Chaos gods. The Emperor stood alone and still he triumphed, though he was terribly wounded in the process.

The psychic shock wave of the Warmaster's passing rippled outward through the warp. On Earth, daemons screamed and vanished, and the rebel Primarchs stood dumbfounded. It was their leader, not their enemy's, who was dead and they knew it. With the one who had raised the banner of rebellion dead, there was nothing to hold the rebels together. They were demoralised and dismayed. When word of the oncoming Imperial fleets reached them they knew that they must flee.

The Traitor Primarchs led their men to their ships and departed, leaving the deluded, traitorous followers of Chaos to their fate. As he stepped aboard his ship, Inferox turned and shook his fist at the glittering dome of the Imperial palace that had proved just out of his taloned reach.

Then he shrugged; he and his fellow rebels had all eternity to seek revenge. The Battle for Terra was now over. The Hektor Heresy was ended. Gaudin found the Emperor's broken body in the ruins of the Warmaster's throne room. Through mangled lips, the Emperor whispered instructions for the creation of his golden throne. And with that the Heresy came to an end, and the age of the Emperor passed.

Post-Heresy

The Great Scourging

The Void Angels, Crusaders, Silver Cataphracts, and Steel Marshals are the big players in the Imperium's counter-offensive. Three of the Traitor Legions go down hard in big battles. The Gorgers are left behind as a rear-guard and face the full fury of the counter-attacking Loyalists, while the Lifebringers fight the Entombed, bolstered by Void Angels, at The Battle of Rai. The Bulwark face the Steel Marshals and Silver Cataphracts in a brutal battle known as The Crucible. Others flee and leave their homeworlds to get razed. The Mastodontii abandon Tisenjoch to the mercy of the Silver Cataphracts and Void Angels.

Imperial Reformation

Arelex Orannis reorganises the administration of the Imperium. Meanwhile, Darius Cyaxares persuades the Primarchs to break up the Legions Astartes into the Space Marine Chapters. The rules governing the Chapters are known at the Institutorum Astartes and are written by Thomas Gaudin (ethics), Gaspard Lumey (military organisation), and Darius Cyaxares (the Librarium).