alright, before we get into the story, I must set up the little bit of intro before the indexes start. for alternate heresy's, I have found they start one of two ways. the first is rarer, and it is to have a canon character experience visions of the alternate heresy. the second way is to just get into the heresy. I have only two examples of the first way, but they are truly great examples. The first example is the Dornian Heresy, which to the best of my knowledge is the first alternate heresy in existence. I might be wrong, but it is still a defining example of an alternate heresy. On the official Dornian heresy thread, it starts with an eldar Farseer watching a maiden world be destroyed by the death guard, and he changes the past, so the death guard don't fall, only for something (undoubtedly the dark gods) to ram into him and change the timeline. The second example is the Robutian heresy, which got me into Warhammer as a whole. Zahariel, the author of this absolutely fantastic heresy, found it annoying that Guilliman doesn't often fall to chaos. So he wrote the epic universe where Roboute was the arch traitor (seriously, his stuff is great, go check it out).
This is important because I am going to have a vintige where a character sees this alternate heresy, but it's not from canon. This whole fiction was inspired by one line from the Horusian heresy, just like the volcanic heresy was inspired by one concept. In the Horusian heresy, a brilliant work where Horus is still the arch traitor but loyalties are shifted, Jagathai Khan falls to Tzeentch while being exposed to a mirror that shows all alternate timelines (and it mentioned the fate of Jagathai in the volcanic heresy, so cool, go check it out) and he wrote a heretical tome about the multiverse. The one line is that Khan saw timelines where he is the arch traitor, and I realized that no fiction where this happens exists, or at least I haven't seen one. So I decided to write one, I mean there is a fic with Perturabo being the arch traitor (don't remember what its name was), so any Primarch can be the arch traitor. Also, the vintige has some lines I wanted to put in there. namely at the end is a reference to the eleventh doctors last words, "I will always remember when the doctor was me." Obviously I changed it. Also, Khan finds it strange that Lion frequently leads the heresy because I find it strange. There are a lot of fics where Lion is the arch traitor, and I just find it strange. And if anything in the vintige contradicts anyone's canon, attribute it to the fact that Khan is corrupted by Tzeentch, and Tzeentch corrupted beings lie to themselves just as much as others. also I have Khan reference various alternate heresy's I have read.
alright, enough explanation, let's get to it.
the Khanite heresy
There are many timelines I have seen, and my glorious patron Tzeentch reveals in the change. The revolt is one with endless potentials, so many timelines springing from this one event. There are many possibility's, and each of my brothers has led this grand revolt at least once, even dour Perturabo. Many are led by Angel winged Sanguinius, or by the pencil pushing Guilliman. Fulgrim also frequently leads, as does Lion, for some reason. When Lorgar leads he brings the might of a Zealot, when Magnus leads his psyker powers are truly godlike, and when Manus leads his strategy is to strike fast and strike hard. I even saw a few timelines where the Anathema gave into the power of Chaos and lead the revolt himself. In those timelines he either seeks to become a god or to be there mightiest champion, there herald. There are timelines where my brothers and I do not exist, and other legions take our place. I have watched the Warmaster Hektor duel the Anathema and seen the Anathema die as the unnamed Warmaster stabs him in the back, disguised as a custodies. And then there are even stranger timelines, ones that truly defy categorization. Some timelines have two Anathema's or Primarchs both male and female, one timeline has none of my brothers being the demigods that Primarchs are, instead being the Anathema's greatest general. One timeline I cannot get out of my head is one where the Anathema doesn't exist, and in his place is a powerful psyker named Sigmar Heldenhammer, and with his eighteen legions (none of them existing in any other timeline) conquers the galaxy, and then the revolt happens. But one timeline I will always remember is where the leader of the revolt was me.
from Traveling the Multiverse, a heretical tome by Jagathai Khan (current status Daemon Primarch of Tzeentch)
Pre-heresy: the gathering of the storm
In the 31st millennium the Emperor of Mankind began the Great Crusade to reclaim the galaxy for mankind, in the name of the Imperium. The greatest of his forces were undoubtedly the 18 Space Marine legions, each led by one of his Primarch sons. But no matter the strength of the Space Marines they were too few to truly reconquer the galaxy, and they could not hold the space they retook. So they were the spear tip, and they led the numberless hordes of the Imperial Army. With them marched the mechanical might of Mars, while in the shadows lurked the Imperial Assassins who did the dirty jobs that needed doing. With the Astronomicon that guided the ships of the Imperium, it seemed the Age of Strife was over, and the Age of Illumination had begun.
Two hundred years after the start of the Great Crusade came the highest point of mankind's glory, the Ullanor compliance. The Emperor led the might of the Imperium and broke the greatest Ork empire, fighting and killing Urlakk Urg, the warboss of Ullanor and only surpassed by the Beast himself in raw Orkish power. With no power able to threaten the Imperium Ullanor was remade into a trophy world and Horus was made the Warmaster. It is believed that here is where the cracks in the Imperium formed, but in reality they were there long before Horus was made the Warmaster.
The first and most damaging of these cracks was undoubtedly the corruption of the Arch-Heretic Roboute Guilliman. On the planet Khur, he was having peaceful talks with the ruling religion appearing to be converted to the Imperial Truth and with Lorgar and his legion it seemed to be a perfect bloodless conquest. Then Lorgar wandered away from the prepared sections of the city, and he found that the people followed near identical tenets to the Covenant of his youth. There were enough differences to support Lorgar's theory of intelligent warp beings creating cults, but regardless of their origin he could not let these debased practices continue, or worse become a part of the Imperium. What came next was called the Killing of Khur, as all sixteen cities on the planet were rid of life, every man, woman and child being slaughtered by the Word Bearers and the planet subject to a virus bombing and then torn apart by cyclonic torpedoes. The fact the Lorgar, the only Primarch who hated fighting, could be so brutal and unrepentant shocked Roboute to his core. This would lead him to discovering the Codex Astartes, and thus him taking the Ultramarines on the Pilgrimage. And so did the Ultramarines become the first legion to embrace the lie that is the Primordial Truth.
The second crack was the joint campaign of the Salamanders and the Night Lords on the world of Khaaratan. This world was ruled by the twisted Dark Eldar, the one thing Vulkan hated. However, the recent campaigns had worn on Vulkan and he started to apply his hatred to all those he fought. The slave humans were burnt alongside there xenos masters, despite their begging for salvation. Konrad Curze and the Night Lords were in no way adverse to killing beings who were guilty enough to necessitate death, the humans were not guilty of anything but suffering under these horrible xenos. When Konrad attempted to get Vulkan to stop this massacre he saw his brother reduce a xenos child to naught but ash and enjoying it did the Night Lords withdraw. The fact that the kindest of his brothers could do this disgusted Konrad, who had believed that Vulkan didn't have a mean bone in his body. It is believed by some inquisitors that it was the look of disgust on Konrad's face that drove Vulkan into Khorne's service.
The third notable crack was the rivalry between Rogal Dorn and Perturabo, which was born of their similarities. Both Primarchs were experts in the art of fortress building and siege craft, with the focus of Rogal being on building enduring fortresses and Perturabo focusing on the dirty and thankless but necessary jobs such as trench digging and breaking sieges. During a victory celebration in the aftermath of a campaign that involved the Sons of Horus, the Emperors Children, the Iron Warriors and the Imperial Fists the feud between Rogal and Perturabo began. Fulgrim had innocently asked if Rogal believed he could build a fortress that Perturabo could not break into, and Rogal answered in the affirmative. Perturabo heard this and asked if Rogal meant he could improve. If said impenetrable fortress was merely imputable to him now, and that he could get better at what he did until no fortress would not fall to his power. Rogal was reported to have laughed at this and boasted he could build a fortress that would never be broken by anyone. In response Perturabo merely rolled his eyes and said nothing, being content with doing the duty the Emperor had made him for and considering the whole argument pointless. His sons were not so willing to ignore this insult, and had it not been for the intervention of Fulgrim and Horus the two legions would have come to blows. At the Triumph of Ullanor the Emperor made Perturabo the Praetorian of Terra, to the shock of everyone. Even Perturabo himself didn't think he would gain this honored position, but he rose to the challenge. He turned the genius that allowed him to topple fortresses that had endured the Age of Strife to building a palace that would endure for at least 10,000 years. Perturabo was not so arrogant to believe that any structure could last forever, but he would do his best. He hoped to make a fortress that would last longer than any fortress that had come before it. Rogal Dorn meanwhile vowed to make fortresses so beautiful and strong that the Emperor would realize his mistake in not giving Rogal this honor. This drive would lead to the destruction of the Leptoa and the corruption of Slannesh infecting the Imperial Fists.
It was soon after the Ullanor compliance that the second obviously visible crack formed, as disagreements over psykers threatened to tear his Imperium apart. Thus began the council of Nikea, where the matter would be settled once and for all. A beautiful amphitheater was built by the Iron Warriors, Perturabo considering it a dry run before he truly began fortifying the solar system. The first one to argue against psykers was Mortarion, who presented evidence against psykers, not letting his own experiences with the witch lords taint his viewpoint. He only presented cold hard facts against psykers, of which there are plenty given each and every psyker has the potential to be a gateway directly to hell. Even then only the absolute worst excesses of the psykers Mortarion had fought were given as evidence. His argument was that ultimately the vast majority of psykers were too weak to handle their powers and must be destroyed to ensure the Imperium survives. Sadly this has proven true as every day one thousand psykers are sacrificed to power the Astronomicon, a grim sacrifice necessary to ensure the survival of the Imperium.
However the argument against Psykers went downhill from there. Of those against Psykers only Mortarion's dislike was formed from actual experience, the others originating from backwards cultures. There hatred of Psykers was rooted in their upbringings, and only Corax had brought actual evidence besides ravings of hatred. Corax stayed silent for reasons unknown at the time, but now are realized to be because he had already become corrupted by his Patron, for Corax was the first Primarch to be corrupted. Dorn's original position and argument are unknown but seeing the beauty and craftmanship of the amphitheater built by Perturabo his jealousy was stirred and he thus argued against psykers, if only because Perturabo was arguing for them. He cited many opponents fought during the Great Crusade that had their origins in unchecked psykers, and as noted by Perturabo, he was providing facts for an argument no one was having. He was essentially arguing that psykers were dangerous, a fact that none could refute. Perturabo then made a masterful speech about how psychic power was a tool, a dangerous one yes but ultimately like any other such tool could be regulated. He asked if they would ban all lasguns because of a single misfire, or all spaceships because one crashed. He acknowledged that the regulations necessary for Psykers to function were much more complex than the regulations on all other weapons, but ultimately Psykers were a tool that humanity could not do without.
The final nail in the coffin for the anti-psyker argument was undoubtedly Leman Russ. Even Dorn had a point in his off topic and overly dense argument against psykers, even if said point had been proven without a doubt true at least a thousand times over. Russ on the other hand just hurled accusations at the Thousand Sons and psykers in general, with the only evidence being scant records of the few times the Space wolfs, and Thousand Sons had worked together. The real kicker was pointed out by Angron, in his usual easygoing and homespun manner, that the very few pieces of evidence given by Russ was gathered by his Rune Priests, who were psykers themselves. Russ howled that the Rune Priests gained their power from his home of Fenris. Lorgar asked if he meant they used Fenris as a medium to channel warp energy in a safer way, Russ was reported to have laughed and vehemently denied that his Rune Priests were in any way connected to the Warp. Then Lorgar launched into a fiery speech about how that very attitude was the very thing the Great Crusade was meant to eliminate. It was this hypocritical and backwards attitude that made so many worlds and civilizations the living hells they were. Until mankind truly discarded the foolish bad parts of religion and superstition while keeping the good, the dream of Mankind Dominant and a secular Imperium could not exist. He argued that Russ was thinking like every other foolish warlord who stayed in the dark and refused to actually ask why thing were the way they were. Those who remained mired in the old ways, refusing to believe their ways might be wrong. And if humanity followed the example of Russ, letting their fear of the unknown turn to hatred of innovation, of the possibility of betterment, then ultimately humanity would become something just as bad as the xenos the great crusade eliminated.
The last to speak was Magnus, who had stayed silent throughout the entire council. He had never risen to the bait Russ had given, for he knew any vehement denials and attacks on his hypocrisy would only hurt Magnus's cause. He then explained that he knew full well how those who hated psykers could be right and told a tale from his childhood. He told of how his adoptive mother and father were killed by his uncle set, who was a practitioner of sorcery. He then proposed his own theory on why these witches existed, for he at the time knew nothing about Daemons or the Chaos Gods. He posited that it was humanity's natural inability to truly contemplate the infinite and the tendency to anthropomorphize powers so as to understand things that made the ideas of deals with Daemons. Essentially humanity's tendency to make gods that caused them to believe these mindless warp predators were intelligent enough to make deals or were willing to be worshiped. Witches were just psykers who gave into their lust for power and the misunderstanding of what the warp was that caused them to access the latent psyker powers all of humanity had and then become evil by the misfiring's of their brain and the rush of power that this "Magic" gave them. The Libarious program would allow the psykers necessary to the Imperium's survival to not fall into this trap, and instead to advance humanity's cause. It was here that the friendship, or at least respect, was forged between Magnus and Mortarion. Magnus respected that Mortarion did not let his biases influence his argument and that he practiced what he preached, while Mortarion knew Magnus had suffered under a witch yet refused to give into hate. The Emperor ruled in favor of the Libarious, and the only one who disagreed was Russ. The wolf lord howled obscenities, claiming that Magnus had poisoned the mind of the Emperor and all but him. He swore that he would find proof that he was right, and he left in a huff. The Emperor sent a shield company of Custodes after him to ensure Russ didn't do anything drastic.
The last event before the horrors of the heresy was the encounter with the Interex. Horus was making peaceful talks with this long night surviving society and was stabbed by a chaos corrupted athame. Horus was sent into a coma that not even the best apothecaries of his legion could cure, and the Interex would have been destroyed had it not been for the intervention of Calas Typhus. The first captain of the Death Guard legion was in many ways a unique case, for he was the only Astarte to be born of a union between human and xenos and was the only member of the Death Guard to have psychic powers. In addition, his encounters with the Destroyer Hive had him realize that there were Daemons and Gods in the warp, none of them friendly to humanity or anything resembling goodness. The only reason he did not alert the Emperor to this threat was the realization that the Emperor almost certainly knew of these things and had a plan in motion. The Imperial truth was just part of this plan, and Typhus feared that he might bring the true attention of these things to the destruction of the Imperium should he contact the Emperor.
Typhus calmed the Mournival and revealed what he suspected that some being serving the Chaos Gods had stolen the athame from its place of resting to poison Horus, either to kill him or worse, to corrupt him. With the aid of Interex psykers Typhus initiated a ritual meant to save Horus or, if worst came to worst, kill the thing that had taken his place. Meanwhile, the Mournival defended the ritual from hordes of Daemons who sought to ensure Horus's fall. The chaotic horde was led by the Masque of Slannesh, cursed to eternally dance after its sins against the Dark Prince. Horus recovered, having become Illuminated, and banished the Masque alongside its unholy minions.
Horus made haste to Terra, seeking to either warn the Emperor of this great threat or chew him out for not warning his sons about the threat of Chaos. When he arrived at Terra he confronted his father and learned that the Emperor sought to starve the Chaos Gods of worship through his Imperial Truth and the Webway project. Then horrible news arrived, Jagatai Khan had rebelled against the Emperor and taken three legions with him. Horus ordered as many legions as possible to the Istvaan system to destroy the rebels. Then Perturabo returned, shamefaced, reporting that he had been forced to purge his homeworld and put his beloved sister Calliphone to death, all victims of a strange xenos plague/weapon. And then the survivors of Prospero came, telling of how Leman Russ and his legion had gone mad and burnt their world, screaming accusations of black magic even as they unleashed sorcery's so vile that the most depraved of witch kings would blanch at their usage. Horus and the Emperor realized the corruption ran deeper than previously imagined and that the loyal legions were surely heading for a trap in the Istvaan system, but by then it was too late.
The Heresy: the Storm rages
Horus was the original target for the power of the Arch-Traitor, and it makes sense. After all Horus was the Warmaster and had friendships with all of the Primarchs. No other figure was better poised to break the Imperium than the first found. Were it not for the intervention of Typhus then Horus would have become the Arch-Traitor, but instead the role fell to Jagathai Khan, who in the system of Chondax fell to the worship of the four hunters, as his people knew the chaos gods. Unlike Clothis however, a chaos cult didn't come into power. No, Chogoris was more like Prospero in that it accepted psychic power and understood the Warp was the source of all things that could be called magic, even as they filtered it through their own traditions. Unlike Prospero it recognized that the Yaksha, as they called Daemons, were intelligent and malevolent. The Stormseers, as they called psykers, warned never to listen to the voices of the Warp. Jagathai normally wouldn't, but in the Chondax system he was exposed to the full might of all four gods, which no being can resist. While it might be confusing that Jagathai was chosen after Horus was saved, given that the Chondax system occurred before the encounter with the Interex, one must remember that the Dark Gods are not bound by the rules of time and space. The main reason the Emperor didn't realize his son's corruption was that Khan and his legion usually stayed far away from the Imperium due to the many disagreements Khan had with the Emperor. Those disagreements might have made it easier for the Ruinous Powers to corrupted Khan, where it took the completely loyal Horus hours to be at risk of falling to there lies.
Following the commands of the Dark Gods he joined three other legions who were already corrupted at the Istvaan system, destroying the loyalists in their legions on Istvaan 3 and then making base at Istvaan 5, preparing for the inevitable retribution. Soon enough the fleets began to arrive, first was the Emperor's Children as Fulgrim burned with righteous anger at the betrayal of his closest brother Ferrus Manus. Then came the Dark Angels, Lion El'Jonson bearing the regality of the knights of old. Soon he was followed by Marius Gage leading many Ultramarines, though nowhere near the full strength of the Legion. Marius noted that Guilliman had sent him and all the forces he could spare. Then came angelic Sanguinius and the Blood Angels, and it seemed as if the angelic legions of old myths had arisen to punish the rebels. Then followed death itself in the form of the Death Guard and there Primarch Mortarion, the grim reaper made manifest, and soon after came Rogal Dorn and the Imperial Fists arrived. Last was the Alpha Legion led by Alpharius, who proved that for all their preference for sneaking and spy craft were still Astartes and were just as capable of combat as their cousins.
A battle plan was formed, with a two-wave assault, the first wave led by Fulgrim Mortarion and Alpharius, who would ensure the four other legions could land and then crush the rebels. As the first wave landed they took heavy fire but eventually engaged the corrupted Astartes, who all had different reasons for following the Khan. For unlike Horus, who had friendships with all his brothers, the Khan was more isolationist. And while the legions were monsters that baffled the minds of the Loyalists, each had a compelling reason to rebel.
Only the White Scars needed no convincing, for the Khan was there Primarch. They were corrupted, riding Daemon bikes and unleashing horrible storms made of sorcery upon those they once called brothers.
The Salamanders were no longer kind defenders of the people, in their place blood thirsty savages screaming "Kill. Maim. BURN!" Vulkan had fallen down the path of hate, hardening his heart to all save his love of his sons and his like for treasure. Vulkan was contacted by the Khan and was asked if he remembered anything about the second and eleventh Primarchs. When Vulkan found he didn't the Khan explained that after the Space Wolves had purged the legions the Emperor and Malcador used there psyker powers to purge the memory of them from the entire galaxy except for the fact that they had existed and were purged for horrible crimes. This enraged Vulkan and he swore himself and his legion to the cause of the rebellion, for he sought to punish the being he called father for messing with his mind. Thus did Khorne gain his legion.
The Iron Hands were masters of Daemon Engines and sorcery, there augments covered in ever shifting sigils. They were exemplars of Tzeentch, and their unholy machines wreaked havoc on the loyalists. Ferrus Manus had first come into contact with Tzeentch in the aftermath of the disastrous campaign on Pyros he explored the Telstarax in hopes of rebuilding his legion. In the space station he activated a dark age of technology relic and summoned a powerful Daemon of Tzeentch by accident. From this unknown lord of change the Primarch learned of the Necron presence that inhabited Medusa and of the War in Heaven. He fell under the sway of the Great Conspirator and spread these teachings to his legion. The Khan had convinced him that the Emperor would do nothing to stop the Adeptus Mechanicus from allowing technology to stagnate. Where he saw progress they saw heresy, and so long as the Emperor stayed in power humanity would never truly innovate, seeing only the dangers of new technology and other such banned technology. So the inevitable conclusion was that the Emperor must be removed from power, and only his death would do that.
The Raven Guard was undoubtedly the worst, for they ultimately didn't serve Chaos. There patron was much, much worse, and even now almost nothing is known about what they serve. They showed no signs of mutation, no sigils of Chaos adorned their armor, but their powers were even more eldritch than that of Chaos. There legion serfs chanted unnatural math's that unleashed powers no psyker could and the raven guard used technology that violated all laws, be they natural or unnatural. It was obvious to all that the only reason the Raven Guard sided with Chaos was because their patron willed it. The moment their goals came into conflict the Raven Guard would destroy the servants of the Dark Gods for there even darker god. The most chilling part was there war cry, a sing song message over the vox, "Waiting. Waiting for the rising." This had a strange psychic effect that made all who heard this phrase momentarily give into despair, seeing how all things were naught but cosmic dust. Essentially, they force a feeling of existential dread upon all who hear it.
Hours of horrible fighting ensured, and it was reported that Alpharius was killed by Corvis Corax but given the later appearances of said Primarch this is undoubtedly a deception by the Alpha Legion. Soon a mighty fortress arose by the efforts of the Imperial Fists, and when the loyalist legions retreated to what they be safe territory they were instead betrayed and slaughtered.
The first thing Fulgrim noticed was the color of the fortress. It was garish in color, so garish it actually hurt to look at it. He then noticed the symbols adorning it. He recognized it instantly. One didn't forget something like that. It was a mixture of a male and female gender symbols, and it was the sigil of the false divinity that the Laer worshiped. But how could Rogal know of this "Slannesh" or even think of worshiping it. Then the guns opened fire, and the illusion was shattered.
The four legions had already been corrupted, but technology given to them by Corax allowed them to hide it. It was this technology that allowed the Khan to hide his true allegiance from even the Emperor himself. But now as the Heresy began the technology stopped working, because it was no longer needed.
The Dark Angels were bloated knights, champions of Nurgle's love who gurgled war cries. Lion El'Jonson was the imagine of an old fat king of the first dark ages, wielding a rusted sword. He had learned of the Warp Gods, the tumors on reality itself, and had given into despair. He thus led his legion into the service of Nurgle, spreading disease and rot wherever they went.
The Ultramarines were adorned with all the sigils of chaos, shouting phrases from the Codex Astartes. This unholy book was written by the Guilliman family when they first discovered the Chaos Gods and gained their power. But all mentions of the family were removed, and all actions pointed to these traitorous Ultramarines being a rouge faction. This deception was part of Roboute's plan, for his masters had not only ordered him to follow the Khan but also to enact the Shadow Crusade.
The Imperial fists were truly decadant beings and were it not for their battle crys they would have been unrecognizable as the sons of Dorn. They were no longer dour, but instead passionate beings consumed with the gifts of Slannesh. There armor was bedecked in truly garish colors, and with every blow they received and inflicted was answered by them with moans of pleasure. It didn't take much for the Khan to gain their loyalty, only promises of revenge against the Iron Warriors and to rebuild the Imperial Palace in the aftermath of the Heresy.
It was the Blood Angels who were the most changed, as mutation ran rampant in their forms. No longer were they angels, but instead they were vampires. The skies of Istvaan 5 were blacked as the Vampyr marines took flight. Sanguinius had fallen to the Chaos Gods as he saw his legion succumb to the Red Thirst and other mutations, embracing the unholy in the last church. The Khan had revealed to Sanguinius that the Emperor had known about his legions flaws and had done nothing. If they had the knowledge of the Emperor's laboratory's they could save his legion.
After hard fighting, the loyalist legions escaped with heavy casualties. Fittingly it was the Death Guard who suffered the least in this massacre. Fulgrim and his legion and the Alpha Legion, both having taken extremely heavy losses, split up and began guerrilla campaigns against the traitors. Meanwhile the Death Guard headed for Terra to give their strength to the defenders. While the Khan wanted to hunt Mortarion and his legion for reasons he didn't fully understand, he knew he had to spearhead the traitor assault. So he ordered the one legion he could afford to lose to hunt the Death Guard, the Space Wolves.
The Space Wolves were and are the most hated of all the traitor legions, not for any specific depravities but because of their personalities. The traitor's legions all know they went against the Emperor's wishes. Some, such as the Ultramarines and the White Scars, do not care that they have betrayed the Emperor. Others, like the Blood Angels and the Imperial Fists, think they were fixing a mistake that needed rectifying. And then there are those like the Salamanders who just don't think about their prior loyalty at all. But the Space Wolves believe they really are still loyal, and that the Emperor and the Imperium has been corrupted. This constant hypocrisy and refusal to accept reality makes the Space Wolves intolerable. So the Khan used flattery and stroked Russ's ego, so that he went after the Death Guard.
"The Death Guard have proven they are resistant to Nurgle's gifts, so the Dark Angels are useless for the job. They have no fortresses and are entirely pragmatic, so the Imperial Fists are no help. Vulkan and his sons are so consumed with hate that they will burn every world, forgetting the Death Guard entirely. The Iron Hands will build grand devices, only to realize their prey is long gone. The Ultramarines will be tied up very soon, and I need my legion and the Blood Angels for the Red Road to Terra. And Corvis, well, I can't trust him. But I can trust you.
Jagathai Khan to Leman Russ
For the entire heresy the Space Wolves hunted the Death Guard, the thirteen company's trying futilely to destroy the reapers. This event, known as the hunt of death, came to an end on Yarnat, where Mortarion fought Russ and broke the Space Wolves, sending them yipping back to Fenris. Many were the battles of the Hunt with the space wolf offensives being borderline pathetic due to internal schisms and outright incompetence. The Space Wolves believed in there own abilities and power over all, and the best and brightest of the legion spent themselves on futile attempts to kill Mortarion.
"How annoying,"
Mortarion after Ohthere Wyrdmake's failed attempt to kill the Primarch using the life eater virus.
Roboute Guilliman sent messages of concern, claiming to not know what madness had overtaken his sons. The Primarch of the Ultramarines asked that his brothers meet him on Calth to discuss the possibilities. Horus wanted to believe his brother was uncorrupted but recognized the possibility of a trap. He thus sent the full strength of two legions, which was more than enough to crush the Ultramarines, who were still just one legion despite being the largest of the legions. The first was the Word Bearers, led by Lorgar. The starred hosts, as the word bearers were sometimes called, knew more about Chaos than most legions due to Lorgar's upbringing on Clothis. He understood how the average person could be duped into serving the Dark Gods, for his adoptive parents were low level members of the Chaos cult that ruled the world. He also knew the true horror of Chaos, having seen his parents mercilessly slaughtered by a Daemon. But Lorgar was impulsive in his fight against Chaos, as shown by his actions on Khur. So the second legion was a calming influence, in the form of Angron and the World Eaters.
While Angron was once a bloodthirsty savage, the surgery by the Mad Magos Belisaurious Cawl that saved him from the Butcher Nails also gave him a much calmer personality. While this had a side effect of ridding of the Primarch intelligence (Angron was still a genius, the other Primarchs operated on another intellectual level) he enjoyed the biological immortality of the Primarchs and seemingly rid him of rage. In addition, he was much closer to the normal humans, able to explain the super complex solutions of other Primarchs in terms the average human could understand. While unaware of Chaos, he was able to keep Lorgar from charging in recklessly.
On the world of Calth the three Primarchs met, and Roboute distracted his brothers while all across Ultramar a dark ritual was enacted. All 500 worlds had been corrupted, and on all of them Chaos Cults committed mass suicide while others sacrificed innocent civilians or those Ultramarines more loyal to the Emperor than to their Primarch. Soon Roboute revealed his treachery with the twisted butcher gangs, innocent civilians forced into the service of Khorne by the implantation of Butcher Nails, attacking the legions. Forcing his brothers into chains with unholy chaos magic, he started to monologue. He spoke of how the Guilliman family had been chaos cultists for the entirety of their line, following the Codex Astartes in all things. His family was responsible for many horrible atrocities, a prime example being the creation of the Butcher Nails. By following the Codex, they also managed to hide the truth of their actions from all. Not even the children of the family knew the truth, until they came of age. When they became adults there would be a grand ceremony where the parents revealed to the child of their true allegiance. Each branch of the family, across the entirety of the human settled worlds, would teach the worship of their patron gods. He spoke of how Nuceria was an example of a Khornite branch getting sloppy and seemed disappointed when Angron showed no anger.
He spoke of how he was in the dark, for Gallan had killed Konor before the ceremony could be planned. He could have remained in the dark had Lorgar not destroyed the Covenant descended cult on Khur. He thanked Lorgar, for if his peace-loving brother had not committed the slaughter of that ancient rival cult on Khur then Roboute would never have found the Codex. Some would attribute this to Tzeentch, but the Ultramarine Primarch was of the main bloodline, and worshiped the Powers Undivided. He spoke of how the Emperor, referred to no longer as father but as the Anathema, sought to destroy the gods. He spoke of how the Gods were every thought, emotion and metaphor combined into one. He spoke madly of how the death of the gods would mean the end of everything. He proclaimed how the Khan would fall and take the Anathema with him but doom the galaxy to a slow fall to Chaos. The ritual sacrifice of two godlings and billions of humans would merge the galaxy and the Warp. Were it not for the actions of Aeonid Thiel this would have happened. Even with the sacrifice of the Lord of the Red Mark and the salvation of the two loyalist Primarchs and their legions the ritual still had an effect. Roboute Guilliman would ascend to become the first Daemon Primarch and take both the Word Bearers and World Eaters out of the equation until the very last hours of the Siege of Terra.
Ultramar died, and from its corpse arose the Ruinstorm
Had the Khan managed to take advantage of the chaos he surely would have destroyed Terra. But Chaos is its own worst enemy, and many of the legions went off to do their own thing. The Salamanders burned and looted, careless of who they targeted. The Iron Hands targeted Forge Worlds,, determined to free the Imperium from the stagnancy of the priesthood of mars. The Imperial Fists charged Iron Warrior fortress worlds, seeking to prove themselves better. The Dark Angels sought only to prove make the "serfs" of existence accept Nurgle's love. And as in all things, the actions of the Raven Guard served their Patron. A strike team of Raven Guard destroyed the Pharos device, alerting the Tyranids to this galaxy. They rescued the Silver Blade of Laer from its rightful destruction, resurrecting the Serpent cults of Molech and allowing Jagathai Khan to travel through the Warp Gate that elevated him from Primarch to Warmaster of Chaos, and then during the Scouring force Fulgrim into his coma. The biggest contribute was definitely the ritualistic slaughter of Kiavahr and all those living in the system, sending a massive psychic wave that shattered the Imperial Webway project. Only the Blood Angels stayed with the White Scars, determined to reach Terra and the gene-labs of the Emperor.
In the wake of the revelation that nine legions had turned traitor, three legions shattered at Istvaan 5 and the Thousand Sons nearly destroyed alongside there homeworld, and the trapping of two loyal legions in the Ruinstorm, many looked to the Night Lords in fear. It was unknown to the vast majority of the Imperium which side the Night Lords would join, as they were monsters. However, an Astropathic announcement by Konrad Curze caused the terror to descend on the traitors.
"I am a monster, there is no denying that. But I am the Imperium's monster, and no one else. And all those who can claim to be my sons must be the same. We have purged the treasonous elements from our ranks, and now we shall do the same for the Imperium. None are above judgement."
extract from the declaration of loyalty by Konrad Curze
Soon the Night Lords reaped a grand toll against the traitors, and they did something many would consider impossible. They made chaos fear them, and no Night Lord has turned traitor. This is because no member of the Night Lords has been tempted by Chaos for they feared, and those who did show signs of treachery were quickly and gruesomely murdered by their brothers. With the aid of the Alpha Legion they made the galaxy spanning war that was the Khanite heresy last for nine terran years, giving the defenders of the Solar system extra time.
The Solar system was not spared the war, as a two-pronged attack occurred. The first were the lines of the Guilliman family, who make up ten percent of humanity, having descended from the ancient murderer Cain. While many family lines broke the obedience to the Dark Gods, just as many stayed loyal to the Ruinous Powers. The second was the Martian Schism. The Fabricator General Kelbor Hal was a member of a faction that saw the Emperor as a false Omnissiah and detested the laws that bound the Mechanicum. Horus asked his father to explain to the Fabricator General why these laws were in place, valuing his friendship with the leader of Mars. Thus the Emperor showed Kelbor Hal the Dark Cells and the creature bound in the Noctis Labyrinth. While these horrors convinced Kelbor of the laws necessities the same could not be said of his Nine Disciples. Only Sorta-Nul stayed loyal to the Fabricator General, and soon the Eight who Betrayed were led by Lukas Chrom, and the Vaults of Moravec were opened. Many where the battles of the Martian Schism, such as the battle for Magma City where Melgator the envoy of Kelbor Hal met his end. The rivalry between the Kaban machine and Urtzi Malevolus was legendary. The Schism ended with a pyrrhic victory for the Imperium as the Nine Arch-Hereteks and the Kaban machine had escaped to aid the traitor legions, the fragile terraforming of mars had been shattered never to be repaired, and many of the loyal high ranking Mechanicum members had met their end.
The Siege of Terra: the tempest strikes
After the trials of Molech that transformed Jagathai Khan from a Primarch to the Warmaster of Chaos he led a charge directly to Terra, gathering all the traitor forces for the final battle of the Heresy. All nine legions came in force, with only the Ultramarines and Space Wolves not dedicating all their forces. The Ultramarines heading to the Solar system were led by Marius Gage, leading the tenth of the legion that was not in the Ruinstorm. Meanwhile there were thousands of Space Wolves, those whose own desire for glory override the orders of there Primarch. However, as they joined the fleet they realized they would not be able to kill the Emperor. For all their delusions, the Space Wolves could tell that only the Khan with his new godlike power would gain that glory.
The Dark Mechanicum forces power and the sacrifice of entire traitor knight houses and traitor titan legions, and the sacrifice of entire systems worth of the Lost and the Damned, the traitors managed to brute force their way through the defenses made by Perturabo and unleash many Daemonic legions. Following the whims of his patron, Corvus Corax led most of his legion to attack Titan, ordering some of his legion to aid the traitors in attacking Terra.
Soon the traitors landed on humanity's cradle, with the Imperial Fists, Ultramarines, White Scars, Dark Angels, Iron Hands and Blood Angels attacking the Imperial Palace. Vulkan meanwhile was so consumed by hatred that he unleashed his wraith upon the defenseless civilians of Terra, and at his heels were his sons and both the Space Wolves and Raven Guard. The Space Wolves had decided to slaughter those who the Emperor cared for, and the Raven Guard unleashed the maddening music of their patrons' father upon those whose sanity was not hardened by the horrors of the heresy. This, combined with the natural disunity of Chaos, ensured the siege lasted for almost two grueling months.
At the tail end of the second month Jagathai Khan received a message borne on the screams of the warp. It was Roboute Guilliman, reporting that the Alpha Legion had managed to free the World Eaters and Word Bearers, and they were making haste to Terra. The Khan knew that the strength of these returning legions would crush his forces, so he resorted to a tactic his legion was famous for, a hard and fast strike. He led a strike team comprised of himself, Rogal Dorn, Sanguinius and many of their sons into a breach into the palace, ordering Ferrus Manus to guard the doorway.
Thus began the final battle of the Heresy, with Rogal Dorn and Perturabo dueling, and Sanguinius facing Horus Lupercal and the Mournival. Meanwhile the return of those legions trapped in the Ruinstorm caused the loyalists to redouble their efforts. Lorgar dueled Ferrus Manus while Angron let loose the rage long thought excised from him and fought Vulkan. In this battle he managed to kill Vulkan, forcibly ascending him to the status of Daemon Primarch. Angron in turn became the first creature killed by the Bloody Dragon.
In the throne room Jagathai Khan was fought by Fulgrim, Mortarion and Magnus, as well as the 300 Adeptus Custodes companions while the Emperor sat on the Golden Throne. Sadly the Khan had power equal to the Emperor and the defenders were exhausted by the trials of the heresy. Soon Malcador took the Emperors place on the Throne, but the Emperor held back. He was exhausted by the twin burdens of sealing the warp rift and guiding the Astronomicon, but he also sought to redeem his son. He didn't see a monster of Chaos before him, just his misguided son. Soon the tide truly turned in the favor of the Imperium, but at a truly great cost.
Sanguinius and Horus dueled each other, the Mournival all unconscious by the power of the Vampire of Baal. Before the heresy the Primarchs had joked with each other, wondering who was stronger. It was decided that if Horus and Sanguinius stood together then nothing could stop them. But they did not stand together, for Horus withstood the lies of Chaos. As these brothers who were once so close dueled, they both reflected how different the other had become since the days of Ullanor, which seemed so long ago.
Horus seemed older, and he had indeed prematurely aged by the horrors of the Heresy. He was so tired, exhausted by the horrors of half of his brothers and half of the Imperium turning against his father's truth. As Worldbreaker and the Talon of Horus clashed with the Blade Encarmine and the Spear of Telesto, Horus was saddened by how different his brother had become. To the average observer nothing would seem off but looking closer one would see the horror. His angelic form seemed strained, and there was something writhing under it. It was the force of will that allowed Sanguinius to stay stable, but so close to his goal he was barely in control. As they fought the brothers conversed, Horus revealing that the Emperor had perfected the gene-forging of the legions.
Sanguinius refused to believe this, and he cried oy his refusals. But then the Emperor's power flashed, and the haze that had clouded Sanguinis's mind ever since Signus cleared momentarily. Sanguinius said, "No" twice and then screamed at the top of his lungs, "No!" and what control he had failed.
It was here that Sanguinius spontaneously ascended to Daemonhood and the Black Rage was born. This psychic echo of the revelation that all the evil Sanguinius had committed was for naught caused the Blood Angels to go feral. While the surge of the Astronomicon broke the Blood Angels out of there frenzy churches dedicated to the First Found dot Terra, keeping the psychic horrors at bay. The ever-shifting monster Sanguinius had become slew Horus and threw his lifeless body into the Throne Room. The sight of his favorite son dead distracted the Emperor, allowing the Khan to put the Emperor at his mercy.
Then the salvation of the Imperium came in the form of an Imperial Army soldier by the name of Ollanius Pius. He had trained under the Alpha Legion and had managed to sneak his way past the dueling demigods. However, as he saw Jagathai Khan easily beat three Primarchs and three hundred Custodes he waited until the right time to strike. Seeing the Emperor at the Khan's nonexistent mercy caused him to act, knowing full well it was futile. The Khan utterly annihilated the poor soldier with a single look, and this sacrifice caused the Emperor to realize his son was no more. Thus did the Emperor let loose his full power, utterly destroying the very soul of Jagathai Khan at the cost of his own life.
The Chaos forces were routed, fleeing without the will of the Khan to keep them in check while the Daemonic legions were banished as the Chaos Gods retreated from the full power of the Emperor. Malcador the Hero had turned to dust from the strain of maintaining the Golden Throne, and the Emperor bade his sons put him upon the ancient piece of archeotech. Thus did the age of illumination end, and peace became a dream.
Post-Heresy: Skies Eternally Overcast
With the Emperor unable to communicate, the Primarchs and the Mournival stepped up to the task of rebuilding the Imperium. Kharn the hero took control of World Eaters, just as the Mournival did for the Sons of Horus. Kelbor Hal, upon hearing of the death of Horus, finally succumbed to old age. Sorta-nul became the new fabricator general, as the two most likely to take the place of Kelbor were dead. Zagreus Kane died during the siege of terra whilst destroying a Dark Mechanicum mobile base. Belisarius Cawl meanwhile died of an Ultramarine death curse sent by Roboute Guilliman in the wake of the Rainstorm's creation. The vid logs of the Archmagos report that the Priest King of Ultramar was enraged by his friend's "betrayal" and continuing worship of a "False Omnissiah".
Soon the High Council of Terra was formed, and the newly formed organizations of the Inquisition and the Ecclesiarchy were given places upon it. The Primarchs knew full well of Malcador's heirs they disapproved of the cult of the Savior Emperor formed by Fatidicus. Lorgar railed the loudest against this betrayal of the Imperial Truth, spurred by his own memories of the Covenant. But they recognized that this was necessary. Fulgrim was the Primarch most instrumental in rebuilding the Imperium, splitting the Imperial Army into the Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy and allowing the Legions to shift from conquest to defense in the aftermath of the heresy and the Scouring.
The Scouring was launched to retake the worlds controlled by the Traitor Legions and force them into the Eye of Terror and the Ruinstorm. Over this period of time, the loyalist Primarchs were slowly removed, either dying, being lost or going into comas. Fulgrim was stabbed by Guilliman using the Silver Blade of Laer, which while free of Daemonic possession still had enough Slanneshi energy to force the Primarch into a coma. Magnus was lost to the Warp during the Burning of Fenris, eternally chased by Leman Russ and the 13th great company. And at the end of the Scouring Konrad Curze announced to the galaxy his own guilt, gutting himself with his own weapons.
"I am not a decent man. I have never been a good man. I am a monster, but a monster on the side of the angels. The Imperium will tolerate a useful monster, but I have outlived my usefulness. The betrayal of nine of my brothers has cast doubt upon me, for many of the nine who betrayed had no quarrel with my father. The only organization able to judge me would only see my father's son, and thus deem me innocent. But I am guilty, and none are above judgement. not even me."
Konrad Curze, before executing himself for war crimes.
After the Scouring those few Primarchs who remained were not fit to rule the Imperium, and over the years they too met either death or were lost. The first was Lorgar, who gave his life destroying the Beast and stopping the Ork hordes from shattering the Imperium. Meanwhile Perturabo stood guard over the Iron Cages, and eventually became interred in a dreadnought. And in M33, the Harrowing was unleashed and Corvus Corax himself led the Raven Guard in a massive Black Crusade. The traitor legion was repelled, and the Harrowing banished, but only at the cost of the lives of both Mortarion and Alpharius.
In the warp storms the traitor legions made their homes, controlling their own little slices of hell. The Iron Cages keep the fallen angels trapped within, and the preachers of the Imperial Creed warn of the nine scions of darkness and their Daemonic sons.
The Dark Angels rule the world of Bubonious, a horrible sickly mockery of Caliban. The bloated knights of Nurgle are the defenders and rulers of hordes of sickly serfs, while Lion El'Jonson rests upon a throne of oak. Across his chest is a mighty slash glowing with power, the wound given to him by his foster father Luther. Daemons of Nurgle and Hereteks alike work to aid the Primarch, but the wound is tied to the Fallen. With every member of the loyalist Dark Angels that accepts Nurgles love or dies the wound heals a little more.
The Space Wolves make their home in Helheim, the 12 great companies ruled by the Helbrute Bjorn the Felhanded. Still the most hated of the traitor legions, even more so than the White Scars for their failures at the siege of terra. This is still because of their hypocrisy and beliefs, for they still believe there runepriests aren't psykers and they aren't traitors. The fact that their home is the hell their own mythology says witches and the worst of all traitors are damned does nothing to make the Space Wolves face reality.
The Imperial Fists make their home on the world of Saray, a Daemon world of Slannesh dominated by a single unholy palace. This accursed building is a mockery of the Imperial Palace, and many priests of the Imperial Creed are haunted with visions of this mockery of the most sacred realm twisted and blasphemed by Slannesh. Here Rogal Dorn lives in an illusion, believing he is the Praetorian of Terra. Bronze statues replace the Custodes while a twisted skeleton forged from the brightest of golds replaces the Emperor.
The lightless world of Orlock is the home of the Blood Angels, and they are the vampiric nobles who rule vast hordes of mutants. The 5 clans of the bloodborne all slave for the whims of there Astartes masters, most of them reclusive in the extreme. They are all ashamed of their mutations, and once300 years have passed they become truly ugly creatures instead of the angelic creatures that once spearheaded humanity's advancement and now bring only fear. Sanguinius himself resides in a mighty manor, an ever-shifting creature. The only constant is his angelic wings, mocking him as a sign of his own fall from grace.
The forges never stop in the Iron Hand homeworld, fittingly called Forgehome. Here Daemon weapons are ever built, and the tzeentchian legion eternally progresses. A hive of tech-heresy and eternal building, the Iron Hands bind Daemons of all kinds into all kinds of weapons. Entire worlds have bankrupted themselves for a single blade from Forgehome, and in the greatest of these forges, built in an active volcano, labors Ferrus Manus. The iron handed Primarch eternally forges everything, his flesh covered in sigils that forever shift.
In the Ruinstorm can be found the true nature of chaos. In the 500 worlds the greatest of them, the being of godlike power does nothing but play the Great Game, only moving to further himself. Elsewhere the chapters fight each other eternally, even as a grand threat seeks to eliminate them. The Tyranids of Behemoth eternally fight the chaotic forces and the ork enclaves while Genestealer cults undermine all. And in Illyrium Old One Eye makes his home, the ruler of Behemoth and champion of the hive mind.
Unlike his brothers, Vulkan has abandoned even the pretense of a humanoid form. On the volcanic world of Fanir he resides in the deepest cave, a massive dragon with skin the color of old black blood. He rests upon a massive treasure horde, and every month he grows more hateful. As a month in the materium comes to an end he lets loose a massive roar heard in all warp storms. This roar signals the beginning of a Dragontide, and all beings save the salamanders know fear. All sons of the Bloody Dragon gather to Fafnir, taking two days to gather in orbit above the world. Then Vulkan bursts forth and leads his sons on a rampage, breaking the world into chunks which reform over five days. For five days the Salamanders rampage, and no place is safe. All worlds that have survived in a warp storm for more than a month have found a way to survive the Dragontide, almost always nearly destroyed but able to rebuild. Those who don't manage to evade the Dragontide by any means are burn to a crisp by Vulkan and his sons. Vulkan's hatred is so great that he can lead his sons into any Warpstorm, but never does attack the Iron Cages. He knows he cannot enter the materium and doesn't bother trying. At the end of the Dragontide the salamanders give 90% of their loot to their gene father and then leave as Vulkan retreats to his layer to brood once more. There is only one place in the warp that doesn't fear the Dragontide, for it is claimed by a creature so evil and powerful not even the Chaos Gods dare try to take what is it's.
The world of the Raven Guard is the one place that is save from all attack, and of it little is known. The usual methods of discovering Daemon worlds fail here, as the Patron is protective of its trophy. All sanctioned psykers who scry here are annihilated as the Emperor's power destroys them, and those Thousand Sons who do so are instantly annihilated by the power of the Rubric, leaving not even a Rubricae behind. But from the last screams of human psykers and the dusty last words of Astartes can be gleamed the name of this world, Aucturn. This world is protected by the same technology that allows the Raven Guard to bypass the normal ways of space travel, and like all things concerning the Raven Guard, it depends on the will of the Patron, who is cruel and capricious even by the standards of the Dark Gods. Much of what is known about this place comes from Abdul Alhazred, a rogue trader who had the misfortune of landing on Aucturn. He gave a detailed description before being given the Emperors Mercy by the Inquisition, and it is said his last words before the bolt collided with his head were "thank you." Aucturn is a planet covered in temples to the endless faces of the Patron, shrouded eternally in darkness and inhabited by mutants shaped not by biology or the Dark Gods but by the eldritch whims of the Patron. In a blasphemous mockery of the Imperial palace, where the true horrors of the Patron are revealed and the Fanes of the unholy pantheon it represents are located, does Corvus Corax make his home.
Of the White Scars there is much knowledge. A fleet-based legion, the closest thing they had to a homeworld was the Sandstorm, which was destroyed alongside all the Traitor Gloriana's save the Invincible Reason and The Shadow of the Patron (once the Shadow of the Emperor) by Vulkan during the first Dragontide. Led by Targutai Yesugei, the heir of the Khan, they have moved on from there Primarch. Indeed, the Khan's lifeless corpse was stolen by Trazyn the Infinite. The White Scars have launched thirteen Black Crusades against the Imperium, and now as the 41st millennium reaches its end are the true aims of the Archtraitors revealed.
Each of these crusades had an ultimate goal that has culminated in the Great Rift. Now the Iron Cages lie in ruins, and the End Times begin. The Great Rift bisects the galaxy and the enemies of mankind mass. The largest Tyranid hive fleet enters the galaxy and the orks launch the Great WAAGH!, but it is chaos that is the greatest threat. The Daemon Primarchs once more walk the galaxy, leading their legions. Roboute Guilliman leads the Ultramarines and the Tau on a crusade to spread the will of chaos to the galaxy while the Farsight Enclaves desperately fight their corrupted brethren, still holding to the ideals of the greater good. Vulkan, no longer bound by the Iron Cages and the laws of reality, leads his sons on the greatest Dragontide with the goal of taking Terra as his own. And the Raven Guard head to Chemos, following the whims of their Patron.
It is the 41st millennium, and there is only war.
The Emperor contemplated the galaxy at large. He rarely did this, considering how many things he had to do. He fought the Chaos Gods, ensured Gork and Mork fought so a new Beast could not arise, safeguarded the souls of Mankind, and watched all of the Imperium and many more things. But he was the Emperor, and he was a master of multitasking. He wondered so often why he hadn't gone insane a billion times over by the state of the Imperium but didn't really worry about it anymore than all the other things. He watched as the WeirdWAAGH! made its way to the Prosperine Domain and sent as many obstacles as he could in its path. But it was blessed by Mork, and he couldn't stop it unless he put his full power behind it. With the other tasks he had to do, he couldn't allow this. Then his musings were interrupted by the Great Rift's opening, and then by a single phrase that scared him.
"Waiting. Waiting for the rising."
He recognized the voice of the thing that had scattered his sons, had damned the second and eleventh Primarchs to the Patrons service. Unlike the first time, he was immune to the psychic undertone of this sing song warcry. He didn't know if this was because he was now a galaxy mind, a warp god in all but his morality, or if because there was no future worse than what he was currently experiencing. Then the roar of the Dragontide echoed and he intended to take Terra for himself.
But then he noticed a spark of hope. The Ynnari headed to Chemos and with them they carried the last work of Kelbor Hal. He usually didn't cheer for the space elves, but this time was different.
Author notes
Time for my random story observations.
First I want to thank southern legion for inspiring this fiction. He was my first follower on the alternate history site and in the white scars chapter with the line that inspired this fiction he made a shout out to my volcanic heresy. Go check him out, his creation is called The Horusian Heresy, and it is great.
The line was about Jagatai khan leading the heresy, and I realized that there isn't a fanfiction where he does. Given that there are fics where Konrad Curze and Perturabo have led the heresy, I decided to rectify this injustice. I don't remember where the Konrad Curze and Perturabo heresy fics are, but they exist.
Second, this fiction is different from my volcanic heresy. The volcanic heresy is a nobledark universe, where there is hope beyond just surviving. There is a possibility for a better galaxy, for actually living and a hope for at least some peace. There is still horror and death in the volcanic heresy, still endless war but the imperium is only actively fighting those who cannot be reasoned with, with those beings and xenos with which there is no hope for peace. Essentially this fiction is an exercise in alternate heresys my volcanic heresy doesn't allow.
The Khanite heresy is a true grimdark universe. This is made clear by the fact that the Tau, the technical good guys of the Warhammer universe, are corrupted by Chaos. However, I think my Khanite heresy is actually worse than the canon universe for one reason. This is the Raven Guard and their patron, which is Nyarlathotep and the elder gods of the Cthulhu mythos. Whenever the raven guard refer to their patron they mean Nyarlathotep. While some might argue the Chaos Gods are just like the Cosmic Horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos, I take a different perspective. Ultimately the Chaos Gods are the inverse of the Elder Gods but are just as horrifying. The Chaos Gods are made of all of the thoughts and emotions of all sentient life, twisted by the War in Heaven and the conditions of a Galaxy eternally at war. Thus the Chaos Gods are ultimately a horror born of us, while the Elder Gods are fundamentally alien. Even Nyarlathotep is an eldritch horror that is Other in a way that is truly fundamental in nature.
For Horus being aged, I looked up Horus as the Warmaster of Chaos, and it said he was keeping himself young.
Konrad Curze and the night lords are going the nobledark route in this universe, IE they are disgusted by chaos. Those two quotes might have worked better in the night lords' chapter, but I wanted to get them out of the way.
For the dark mechanicum, I wanted to do things differently than my volcanic heresy. In the volcanic heresy I have Zagreus Kane and Belisarius Cawl be the arch-hereteks who start up the dark mechanicum. But here I have Lukas chrom and Kelbor Hals disciples. Originally it was just gonna be Lukas, but I decided to have the disciples betray so each traitor legion can get an arch heretek. Then I realized Lukas was not one of the disciples, so I had sorta-nul stay loyal.
The chaos tau are gonna be chapter 2 (not counting the intro) and the black templars are gonna be chapter 11. Originally I didn't plan this, but I want to cover the chaos tau in depth, and it's only fair to give the "Black legion" counterpart its own chapter, if only because I am ritualistic, and I have a hilarious quote for the Slanneshi black templar Helbrecht replaces.
If it isn't abundantly clear, I hate the space wolves. Or more accurately they are my least favorite legion and Primarch. I love their lore and mythology like I do all the legions, but on a personal level I despise them. This is because of their hypocrisy concerning the rune priests. They don't seem to get that the rune priests are psykers and for that I despise them. They condemn witches, but follow their rune priests, who themselves are psykers. I made sure this hypocrisy was there defining trait in this heresy, whereas in the volcanic heresy they are more in lines of ancient Greek tragedies. Their refusal to change in the volcanic heresy caused tragedy, and they could have been heroes. In the Khanite heresy they are hateful savage hypocrites who believe themselves right even when the universe itself is screaming they are wrong, cause that's how they seem to me concerning psykers. Helheim is actually the ancient Norse version of hell, where traitors and other such sinners go when they die. It will get covered more in the space wolf chapter.
For the Ultramarines, I wanted them as the Arch-Heretics, you know the ones who spread the worship of Chaos to the traitor legions (usually Lorgar) so I made Konnor a secret chaos worshiper. The branches of Cain (as the Guilliman family is known) are so secret even the other members of the family don't know it. The whole descended from Cain part comes from Supernatural, where Cain becomes corrupted and tries to kill his descents, which comprise 10% of mankind. Also unlike the inherited taint of Chaos, the Guilliman family taint is only tainted by the family revealing their worship. As for the Ruinstorm being an eternal war between the Ultramarines and Behemoth, it just fits. Also Old One Eye making his home in Illyrium comes from the fact that there is a Genestealer cult worshiping that very Tyranid monster in canon (at least according to Genestealers 8ed).
For the blood angels, I again wanted to do things differently than my volcanic heresy. In that work, I play up the angelic vibes I get from the legion and have them be the arch heretics. So for the Khanite heresy I play up the mutant and vampire characteristics.
Now to cover the god claimed legions. For Khorne I chose the Salamanders. This has a bit of a story behind it, when I first made the alternate heresy post that kickstarted the volcanic heresy there were those who used it and made the salamanders the Khorne legion. I was surprised, as I could only see the salamanders falling to undivided or Nurgle. I mean, how could the kindest of all Primarchs and the most humanitarian of legions fall to a god of hatred. The explanation is that Vulkan slowly went insane from killing innocents, and I can see that happening. But I was still on the fence until I realized that the all loving Vulkan did hate one thing, the eldar. I mean he burned an entire world because they happened to make peace with the Exodites. So he starts rationalizing, applying his hatred for the eldar to those he fights, and he goes down that slippery slope. Him being a dragon is inspired by the roboutian heresy, while the fate of the lost legions in this universe is based on the story The Chamber at the End of Memory. The idea of the dragontide comes from LordLucan's age of dusk, which had the void dragon rampage across the solar system every 5 days, mine is just adapted to suit chaos, and I made it a monthly thing. The first Dragontide replaces the legion wars.
For the Tzeentch legion I chose the Iron Hands. Honestly, this is the god chosen legion I am least proud of in the Khanite heresy. For the god chosen legions I try to choose a god that you wouldn't think would have that legion then have their corruption be something that you could see happen in canon. The Iron Hands are the plotters and smiths of Tzeentch, and I honestly don't have anything further than this. In the volcanic heresy I am least proud of the Slanneshi raven guard because I shoehorned them into that role, and I make that abundantly clear.
For Nurgle I am doing the Dark Angels. The meta reason is because I haven't seen it done before. They will get more in-depth coverage in their chapter.
For Slannesh it is the Imperial Fists and Rogal Dorn. The meta reason is that I haven't seen it done before, while in universe it is his jealousy towards Perturabo for getting the Praetorian job and his encounter with the Slannesh corrupted human culture known as the Lepota. Lepota is actually the Serbian word for beauty. Also the pain glove is gonna play a part, based on a line in the Horusian Heresy Imperial Fists chapter.
Ok, I am gonna stop here, more explanations will be in respective chapters. I am almost done with the volcanic heresy iron warriors' chapter.
edit: I decided to try and fix some mistakes I made. Hopefully this will be easier to read.