/tg/ Heresy Timeline

This page details people, events, and organisations from The /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.

Pre-Heresy

mid-M30: The Unification Wars

Pacification of the Boetian Lowlands

An operation of the nascent Iron Rangers.

798.M30 to 007.M31: The Great Crusade

998.M30: Core Worlds campaign

Core Worlds campaign
Date	998.M30
Scale	Sector-wide
Theatre	Chelob Hold Sector
Status	Decisive Imperial Victory
Belligerents
Imperium of Mankind	Core Worlds Confederation
Commanders and Leaders
Gaspard Lumey and Uriel Starikov	various Core Lords
Strength
over 100,000 Space Marines, 1.5 million Imperial Army, significant Imperial Navy support	estimated between 4 million and 12 million ground forces, limited space presence
Losses
9,842 Space Marines (6,106 Winged Victory, 3,736 Children of Armok), roughly 140,000 Imperial Army	tens of billions
Outcome

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 two Legiones Astartes: the Children of Armok and Winged Victory.

The Primarchs approached the Core Lords as friends, offering them a place in the Emperor's universal kingdom. However, they were 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. Uriel Starikov sought to mollify and reason with them with little success. 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 the Children of Armok and Winged Victory in a shockingly brief campaign, capitalising on the Imperium's naval superiority. Lumey opened the campaign with a horrifying fleet bombardment of Kazara, the de facto capital world of the Confederation and then sent his men to the surface to annihilate the battered defenders. Several Core Worlds immediately offered unconditional surrender to the Children of Armok. With their enemies reeling, the Primarchs moved to assault and conquer the strongest remaining worlds. Each victory brought new offers of surrender as the remaining Core Lords began to see the inevitability of their fate. Yet their hopes of leniency were dashed. Lumey insisted on the execution of the surrendering aristocrats and a heavy tithe upon the newly conquered worlds. It is thought that Starikov actually talked down his imperious brother from even harsher terms, though it is hard to imagine what further punishment could have been levelled on the defeated.

For all that 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 Starikov would have been able to talk the Core Lords into peaceful annexation had he been given enough time. Still, the Emperor sought no sanction and the matter would rest, however uneasily, for the next five years.

003.M31: Council at Nikaea

Please note that the following index does not represent all those present at Nikaea. It is just a broad representation of the allegiances of the many Legions to put them in a comprehensible manner.

Psyker Standing

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Pro-Psyker Party:

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Alexandri, Primarch of the Silver Cataphracts.

Aubrey The Grey, Primarch of the Eternal Zealots.

Bohemond, Primarch of the Knights of Justice.

Darius Cyaxares, Primarch of the Sand Keepers.

Rook North, Primarch of the Nova Defenders

Tollund, Primarch of the Mastodontii.

Tiran, Primarch of the Scale Bearers.

Voidwatcher, Primarch of the Black Augurs.

On The Fence Party:

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Brennus, Primarch of the Thunder Kings.

Hektor Cincinnatus, Primarch of the Wolves of Dawn.

Merrill, Primarch of the Iron Rangers.

Inferox the Burned King, Primarch of The Sons of Fire.

Kleisthenes, Primarch of the Scions of Europa.

Kranios, Primarch of the Horns of Ruin.

Octullus Tyran, Primarch of The Eyes of the Emperor.

Uriel Starikov, Primarch of the Children of Armok.

Anti-Psyker Party:

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Arelex Orannis, Primarch of the War Scribes.

Golgothos, Primarch of The Entombed

Gaspard Lumey, Primarch of The Void Angels.

Nathanog, Primarch of the Gorgers.

Sebastian Rex, Primarch of The Bulwark.

Johannes Vrach, Primarch of the Life Bringers

004.M31: Exile of the Fifth Legion

In the bitter atmosphere following the Council of Nikaea, Gaspard Lumey and his Fifth Legion are censured 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.

The First Betrayal

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.

007.M31 to 014.M31: The Hektor Heresy

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 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 throneroom, 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.

Istvaan III:

Events are being told for those unfamiliar with the battle. Pic semi-related.

Hektor responded to a distress signal from the already captured world of Istvaan III. He returns, stating that the price of falling from the path of enlightenment must be a public display of humiliation, electing to wipe out the local government by way of deploying 5 legions to the planet. Those elected were the Lions Rampant, the Mastodontii, the Council of Iron, the Sons of Fire, the Eternal Zealots,The Eyes of the Emperor and the Wolves of Dawn. The fighting seemed unusually harsh, however the plan seemed solid, and was playing out very much as was thought. However, the handpicked ground troops got word that there was another plan in motion. Hektor had planned to have all loyalist troops on the ground, and condemn the planet to Exterminatus via Lifeeater Virus. They managed to seek cover, forcing Hektor to ground troops once the planet was clear, stretching the battle to over a month. The purpose of the plan was twofold: to cull the members still loyal to the Emperor, while simultaneously forcing those Legions to commit. Any objections/additions/alterations?

Istvaan 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, 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

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 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 Mastadontii, 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 [Slaanesh] 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 exterminates 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 gubs 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 [Slaanesh] 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 counterattacked. 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 speearheaded a series of shock counterassaults, 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 counterattacks. 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 atrition 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 Fotress-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 Mastadontii, 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 Mastadontii formed up into great armoured ecthelons 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 alliegence to the Warmaster and cas 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.

The Third Battle of the Isstvan System

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 Ishvaan 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 of 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 fulfill 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 Augur 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.

Sol Campaign

The Zealots are the first openly traitor legion, playing the role the word bearers did, while the Children of Armok were the original traitors, and play the role Erebus does in the books and being the one to corrupt notLorgar.

The Zealots were acting unwittingly as agents for the Children of Armok, and through them Hektor And this shit starts from there.

Is there going to be a Calth/Shadow Crusade analogue? What Legion has its own stellar empire for the Sons of Fire to burn to the ground?

And our AU's alternative to the Iron Cage is the Crucible - a challenge by the more renegade than outright traitor Bulwark, vs the Steelmarshalls and the Silver Cataphracts

At the time of the Istvaan III Atrocity, a precise estimate of the Sons of Fire’s fighting strength and disposition was difficult to make. The Sons often fought as a small number of large scale deployments, with the bulk under the Burned King formed into the 13th Expeditionary fleet, and the Sigillite’s Agents were disliked and kept at arms length. Best estimates of their observed strength were around 150,000 Space Marines, placing the Sons of Fire in the middle to high levels of comparative strength amongst its contemporary fellow Space Marine Legions. They were also well-supplied and supported by the Legio Ignis (Fire Kings) Titan Legion and a fleet of at least sixty capital class vessels. It is commonly estimated that of all the Traitor Legions that had fought at Istvaan III in the purge of the Loyalist faction within their ranks, it had been the Sons who had suffered the greatest casualties, with well over 35,000 Legionaries believed to have met their deaths on both sides. Aside from the many wounded, it is recorded that a number had succumbed entirely during the protracted fighting to an insane pyromania and had to be forcibly restrained and removed back to the the fleet for containment, lest they burn even their allies to ash.

Okay, so we need to work out who’s going to be on Terra The Entombed took too many casualties to be present on Terra Scions were present on Terra, fighting their most hated rivals, the Silver Spear.

The eyes of the Emperor mainly attended to Mars during the siege of Terra, trying to protect the foundries and factories. It is during this time where they display their braveness, using ancient DaoT weaponry to literally snipe and assassinate the commanders of Traitor Titnas, and plunging in close to the front line with storm bolter armed assault marines . They kind of fill out the void of the Dark Angels role of being the indecisive chapter and the Iron Hands as being the chapter to loose their primarch totally.

Crusaders were also present on Terra, as were the Marshalls, Cataphracts, and parts of the War Scribes (I envision the Scribes as being spread out everywhere a lot, always recovering their information and recording knowledge) (Yeah, the Scribes are a Legion only in name, in practice they’d have been fairly spread out during the Crusade, with a central force of maybe 30-50k marines, and lots of squads all over the place.)

The Thunder Kings arrived both in support of and in opposition to Imperial forces, with Brennus arriving with several thousand less than his traitorous captain Selioax managed to muster. It’s possible he was aboard when the Emperor and co. confronted Hektor, though he need not necessarily take the place of Dorn or whatever Not!Dorn we choose for putting the Emperor into his throne. Selioax survived, but both Thunder Kings factions sustained enormous casualties throughout the Siege of Terra.

The final confrontation against Hektor aboard his flagship, the Sun Chariot, involved the Emperor and the Primarchs Kleisthenes and Gaudin. When Kleisthenes and hektor fought, Kelisthenes was mortally wounded by Hektor (and later placed in stasis), but not before placing the apocryphal flaw in Hektor's armor. The Emperor then fought Hektor personally. When Hektor's victory seemed apparent, a lone Guardsmen by the name of Ollanius Pius appeared to hold the line against Hektor. Pius was killed almost instantly by Hektor, but this galvanized the Emperor to rise up and slay Hektor completely, body and soul. Gaudin was the one to recover the bodies of the Emperor and Kleisthenes, spurring him on to help the War Scribes write the Codex Astartes to help prevent the travesties of the Hektor Heresy from ever happening again.

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.

Post-Heresy

The Great Scourging

The Void Angels, Steel Marshals, and Silver Cataphracts are the big players in the Imperium's counter-offensive. Two 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. 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 plays a very important role here.

The Black Crusade

We'd need to know more about the Black Legion before detailing this.