781.M31 : The Proclamation
Under the leadership of Horus, the Black Crusade attacks Cadia. Chaos sorcery throws open the Cadian Gate, allowing Horusian forces to pour out of the Eye of Terror unhindered, and Cadia is besieged. Though the offensive is repelled by Rogal Dorn's defenses and suffers heavy casualties, Horus succeeds in broadcasting the heretical Proclamation throughout the entire galaxy, and hundreds of Eye-born ships scatter at the system's Mandeville point before the Traitor Legion forces withdraw through the Gate.
781-785.M31 : The Wrath of the Ordos
Across the million worlds of the Imperium, the Inquisition seeks to eliminate all traces of the Proclamation. Without coordination, the scattered Inquisitors hear the words of the Arch-Traitor, and immediately fall back upon the familiar methods of suppressing all heretical knowledge. They execute whole astropathic choirs, plunging entire star systems into communication black-outs, before going after those who have already heard the Proclamation's contents.
But the word cannot be stopped. Though billions are executed in the purges, most of the time, all this accomplishes is driving the surviving rebels in hiding, nursing a renewed hatred for the cruel, tyrannical ways of the Imperium. Eventually, the Lord Inquisitors manage to re-establish contact with the isolated systems and calm down their furious brethren, bitterly informing them that knowledge of the Proclamation cannot be suppressed, not unless they are willing to wipe out all but the entirety of the Imperium's population. In secret, some of the most radical Inquisitors consider that very option, but abandon it when they realize the surviving Primarchs would never stand for it.
785.M31 : The Seed of Evil
In the Lethe Sector, Imperial Navy patrols locate a ship heavily damaged by Warp transit and bearing no Imperial identifiers. After their hails are met with silence and an attempt to flee, the Captain in charge of the patrol orders the ship's engines disabled and the vessel boarded by the troops under his command. The boarders report heavy resistance from the human crew of the ship, as well as distressing iconography. When the Inquisition learns of this discovery, they order the entire patrol quarantined while they send their own forces to investigate.
It is discovered that the ship was one of those scattered during the Black Crusade. Exploring it reveals much of the purpose behind this dispersal of vessels, and the Inquisition begins a galaxy-wide hunt for the other cult-ships. As for the Imperial Navy patrol that found the ship, it is never heard of again, and records are altered to show that all vessels perished during an earlier engagement with pirates in the Sector.
796.M31 : The New Rebels
On the Imperial world of Akrov's Gift, members of the nobility make a coup against the Governor, supported by revolutionary cells from among the workers of the planet's great Manufactoriums. Denouncing the burden of the Adeptus Administratum's heavy Tithe, they reject the rule of Terra, refusing to be part of the Imperium any longer. Imperial Guard forces sent to reclaim the planet are met with fierce resistance, and the moment the rebels seem to have lost momentum, a single squad of Sons of Horus launch a strike on the Astra Militarum's headquarters, slaughtering the commanders and leaving the rest of the Imperial forces leaderless. As Sector command ponder its options and Space Marine forces are dispatched to the area, an Inquisitor orders the Exterminatus of Akrov's Gift. The planet is destroyed, but many Akrovians manage to escape on ships of their own, vowing revenge against the Imperium. For centuries to come, the Sector is plagued by piracy as the descendants of those survivors continue their bloody crusade, led by the same handful of Traitor Astartes.
804.M31 : The Proxy War
A series of brutal murders among the priesthood of the shrine-world Nemetar draws the attention of the Inquisition. Acolytes uncover two rival cults among the local Ministorum. One, heavily represented among the record-keepers and the highest-ranking priests, is affiliated with the Fifteenth Legion. The second has spread like a disease among the lower orders and the hordes of pilgrims that come to Nemetar to pray, and bears marks of the Plague God's own Traitor Legion. Conflict between the cults escalate as the investigation continues, the Chaos Marines behind each heretical faction seeking to destroy the other even at the risk of exposure. In the end, though several temples have to be abandoned and destroyed due to contamination, the cults are destroyed and Nemetar declared sanctified once more.
824.M31 : The Arena's Uprising
In the high spires of hive-world Mammon, the Imperial nobility entertains itself by watching gladiatorial fights between slaves and alien beasts. One gladiator is a prisoner from a feral world, officially claimed as a recruiting ground for the Space Marine Legions – which only increases the excitement of the nobles as they watch him carve other combatants to pieces. Unbeknownst to them, that feral-worlder was a shaman of his tribe, and the journey through the Warp to Mammon has exposed him to infernal forces. As he is made to participate in a particularly large battle, the shaman rouses the other gladiators in revolt against their captors. They slaughter the guards before spilling into the rest of the spires, where the violence and the symbolism of their deeds tear the Warp open and summon warriors of the World Eaters Legion, who fight alongside the gladiators to set the spires of Mammon ablaze. By the time Imperial forces arrive, the spires are ash, and both gladiators and World Eaters are gone – but the story spreads like wildfire, growing more wild and improbable with every telling, and soon the whole of Mammon is in rebellion against the nobility.
857.M31 : The Fleshless Curse
On the forge-world of Ikxxi-Nine, where atmospheric conditions require even the lowliest tech-thrall to be fitted with heavy augmentations to be able to work, there is an outbreak of daemonic contagion within one of the augmetic facilities. Those afflicted see their cybernetics grow and mutate, and are driven to psychosis. Those who survive to reach the final stage of the affliction split apart in a shower of gore and metal, serving as a gateway through which an Iron Warrior can step through. Taking control of the infected, the sons of Perturabo launch an invasion of Ikxxi-Nine. Iron Hands forces are sent to deal with the situation, and after several months of brutal, gruelling fighting, the planet is secured, though each of the forge-cities afflicted with the technomantic curse is razed to the ground in the process.
862.M31 : Open Minds
In the Five Hundred Worlds, lodges among the middle and upper classes of Jigraltar's population become more and more popular, drawing hundreds and then thousands of members to their meetings. There, they discuss various philosophical subjects, as well as the arts and the history of both within the Imperium. A text discovered in the planet's millennia-old ruins spreads across the lodges, and within a few months the world is in the throes of a Slaaneshi uprising as all members are consumed by the heresy within the book, which was the journal of a Third Legion warrior during the Heresy. This memetic agent spreads fast, on vox-transmissions and whispered by sane-looking infectees. On Guilliman's orders, the entire Jigraltar system is quarantined, and the Avenging Son dispatches a full Chapter of his Legion to suppress the uprising before the Inquisition decides to burn the planet.
Amidst the madness and devastation, three Emperor's Children Legionaries are sighted. Interrogation of the cultists reveal that they call themselves the Marquis of Enlightenment. It is believed that one of the Marquis was the author of the blasphemous text that triggered the uprising. After five years of war, the Ultramarines declare Jigraltar free of the taint, though only two of the Marquis are confirmed dead, along with nearly half of the planet's population.
888.M31 : The Peril of Knowledge
More than a century after the Proclamation, the Ordo Malleus gather in great number on the moon of Jerya, collating their information about various uprisings that have occurred across the Imperium since the Black Crusade. Together, the Inquisitors come to the conclusion that each of the nine Traitor Legions has devised its own means to bypass the Cadian Gate and send small groups of warriors into the rest of the galaxy. As they debate the best course of action, kill-teams of the Alpha Legions launch a coordinated assault on the moon. Less than one Inquisitor in ten, and very little of the gathered intelligence, escapes the following slaughter.
021.M32 : The Twisted Crusade
The Imperial force labelled "Crusade Dominicus" by the Administratum is sent to exterminate the xenos species known as the Gthrathalex under the command of Warmaster Ethreius Vex. Mere days after the fleet translates into the xenos' territory, it is cut off from reinforcements and resupply as the currents of the Warp shift and the path through which it came is blocked by Warp Storms. The Crusade Dominicus is declared lost, and ceremonies of mourning take place on a hundred worlds.
Ten years later, the Warp Storms dissipate. To the surprise of the Imperium, the forces of the Crusade return, leaving behind them the dead worlds of the Gthrathalex. Ethreius even still leads them, having triumphed over the xenos despite the lack of support. However, before the Imperium can celebrate, the Crusade forces launch a surprise attack on the Imperial Port of Crimson Rock. The space station is captured and becomes the headquarters of the renegade Crusade troops as they launch a self-titled "campaign of liberation" upon half a dozen worlds. Ethreius claims that the Imperium does not deserve the loyalty of its subjects, and builds his own kingdom from the territory his forces capture. The rethoric employed by the renegade Warmaster is very similar to that of the Proclamation, though no Heretic Astartes are sighted among the traitors' forces.
A retribution fleet is dispatched, accompanied by elements of the Seventh and Ninenteenth Legions. As the war between the rebels and the Imperium escalates, the truth slowly emerges : the Crusade Dominicus was approached by renegade elements during their isolation and, desperate for support against the atrocities of the Gthrathalex, Ethreius warily accepted it. Yet, when the Raven Guard kill-teams make it aboard Ethreius' capital ship, the Axiom of Loyalty, they find that the Warmaster is dead already – and has been so for years, judging by the decomposition of his body.
107.M32 : Forget the Past
Since the days of the Great Crusade, the world of Baryon Secundus has served as a place to keep records. Amidst the cool, dry crypts, untold billions of parchments are stored, containing everything from tales of the Long Night to the latest shipments of foodstuffs from nearby agri-worlds. That legacy ends when one of the record-keeping clans rise against the Imperium, proclaiming that the history they have managed for so long is naught but lies, created to serve the tyranny of Terra and the False Emperor. Taking the image of burning book as their emblem, these heretics begin to systematically destroy all records. Word Bearer warriors manifest amidst the pyres, and guide the rebels to new heights of depravity and fanaticism, until all of Baryon Secundus is ablaze, with the cultists embracing new, heretical knowledge. By the time the retribution forces of the Dark Angels arrive, there is nothing left to save of the priceless, age-old records of Baryon Secundus. The Inquisition is left to wonder what secrets the Seventeenth Legion sought to destroy.
150.M32 : A New Weapon
A STC Template is discovered containing tremendous advancements in laser technology. Despite the efforts of the Mechanicus to keep it a secret, knowledge of this discovery and its potential spread across the Imperium. Knowing that this could lead to a great improvement of the Imperium's common soldiers' might, cults beholden to several Traitor Legions make moves to either seize the template or destroy it. Manipulating factions within the Imperium, the cults cause a minor civil war to erupt above the forge-world Kantrael. In the confusion, strike teams of Chaos Marines make planetfall and attempt to reach the Template. Thanks to the efforts of the Skitarii guardians and several companies of Space Marines (comprised of elements of the Salamanders, Raven Guard and Blood Angels), these attempts fail, and the situation in orbit is soon resolved. Several hundreds cultists and their pawns are identified and executed by the Inquisition, and Kantrael soon becomes the first center of production of the new portable model of lasgun. Much more effective and cheaper to build, this weapon is decreed by the High Lords of Terra as the new standard issue for all Imperial Guard forces, replacing the Great Crusade-era autoguns, which used solid ammunition.
200.M32 : The Ascension of the Faithful
After centuries of politicking and growing influence, the Ecclesiarchy makes a bid to make its leader, the Ecclesiarch, into a permanent member of the High Lords of Terra. In the months leading to the gathering where the decision will be officialized, Veneris II, the current Ecclesiarch, manages to survive an estimated seventy-six assassination attempts. Some of these are made by political rivals within the Imperium, but the vast majority are later traced back to heretical cults with ties to the dreaded Seventeenth Legion.
The survival of the Ecclesiarch can be largely attributed to the cadre of Custodians who, for reasons of their own, leave the Imperial Palace to serve as Veneris' bodyguards in the days before the formal announcement. Though the Custodians don't share their motives, Veneris doesn't shy from using their presence as proof that the God-Emperor Himself approves of his plans.
Once Veneris II takes his permanent seat among the High Lords, the Custodians depart, returning to their other duties. Within the year, Veneris is assassinated, killed in his own chambers within the Imperial Palace itself, with a Dark Eldar dagger buried in his chest and an expression of untold agony on his face. His successor (heavily investigated and found innocent of any part in the murder) makes no mention of the manner of Veneris' demise in his own ascension speech. Investigation by the Ordo Xenos points toward the renowned, Commoragh-born Dark Eldar killer known as the Blade of Ptesh. Who hired the xenos, however, remains a mystery – and, despite the best efforts of the Ordo Xenos, the Blade of Ptesh remains beyond the reach of Imperial retribution.
243.M32 : Forbidden Lore
During his hunt of a sect of daemon worshipers, the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Damasko discovers one of the Proclamation's cult-ships. The ship landed on an asteroid in an abandoned system, and has been used as a base of operation for rebel and heretical activities throughout the Sub-Sector. After slaying its defenders, Damasko studies the forbidden texts contained within, learning much about the methods and philosophies of the Arch-Traitor's pawns. His treatise, Paths to Darkness, becomes a useful tool to members of the Inquisition, and Damasko is posthumeously recognized for his contribution to the great work of keeping the Imperium safe and free of heretical taint – a whole century after his summary execution by a Conclave of his peers, who thought him gone renegade. The Paths become mandatory reading for many Inquisitors' apprentices, though the Acolytes are watched carefully during the period of reading for the slightest sign of heretical sympathies.
327.M32 : The Apostasy War
The Wars of Faith, which were thought over after the unification of the Ecclesiarchy and the acknowledgement of the Imperial Creed by both the High Lords and the Primarchs, erupt again. After a century of growing tension following the rise of the Ecclesiarch to the High Council, factions within the Ecclesiarchy turn to violence, denouncing each others as heretics and blasphemers. Things come to a head when the current Ecclesiarch, Dominicus III, is murdered in the Ophelia system by the Blade of Ptesh, who manages to elude the Imperium's security and assassinate the Ecclesiarch for the second time. Once again, there is no direct evidence indicating the assassin's sponsor, though the following decades cast the Inquisition's suspicion in one particular direction.
During the Synod to decide Dominicus' successor, the Cardinals come to physical blows, and the fragile unity of the Imperial Creed is sundered. War erupts between the Cardinals' domains, as armies of Fratris Templars are pitched against one another. Billions die and worlds burn, and xenos kingdoms surge again as the Cardinals call upon the Imperial Guard Regiments of their homeworlds to wage war in their name. All the while, the Space Marine Legions remain firmly neutral, refusing to involve themselves lest the war escalate into a new Heresy and struggling to hold the line on the suddenly undermanned fronts. All of the Primarchs' efforts to broker peace fail in front of the Templars' fanaticism and the sheer hubris of the Cardinals (though both Guilliman and Sanguinius believe that there are other, more sinister hands at work).
In the end, the Grand Master of Assassins act, without the authorization of the equally divided High Lords. Nearly the entirety of the Synod is purged, along with thousands of lesser clerics, all of them condemned to death for their betrayal of the Emperor's laws and ideals. The power of the Ecclesiarchy is crippled, though when a new moderate Ecclesiarch is finally chosen once more (more than thirty years after the death of Dominicus III), his seat among the High Lords remain.
362.M32 : The Thousand Rebellions
In the aftermath of the Apostasy War, hundreds of world denounce the Imperial Creed, disgusted by the greed of the Ecclesiarchy's priests and the destruction wrought by their petty ambitions. Churches and cathedrals are burned and cast down in a wave of iconoclasm not seen since the Great Crusade itself. These worlds are easy prey to Horusian agitators, and within weeks the uprisings against the Ecclesiarchy become full-on rebellions against the Imperium. On many of these worlds, Sons of Horus are seen leading the rebellion, their armor free of the most perverse Chaos imagery to avoid disturbing the mortal dupes. Warriors from other Traitor Legions are also sighted, taking positions of influence within the revolutionary regimes – though most of the renegade Astartes refrain from overtly taking over, lest their deception be revealed.
The Imperium reacts quickly, and Astra Militarum and Legiones Astartes forces are sent to bring the rebellious worlds back into the fold. Slowly, over the course of several decades, most of the lost systems are reclaimed, though not a few are dragged into localized Warp storms when the rebels grow desperate enoug to turn to sorcery. Of particular note during that period is the Hekkarian Nexus, a coalition of no less than twenty-seven rebel systems bound by a common alliance. United under the leadership of the Hekkarian Council, a gathering of heretics and Traitor Astartes, the Nexus manage to resist the Imperium for over half a century. By the time the armies of the Emperor manage to breach its defenses, the Nexus has managed to build its own gene-craft facilities, transforming hundreds of young men from the twenty-seven worlds into Traitor Legionaries of the Sixteenth Legion's bloodline.
Ultimately, the Nexus is defeated, and each of its worlds subjected to Exterminatus, while the annals of the Imperium are expunged of any and all references to its existence. But, despite the best efforts of the Space Wolves and Raven Guard Legions, some of the Traitor Marines bred within these facilities survive and escape, joining piratical and mercenary forces.
544.M32 : The Beast Falls
The Primarch Sanguinius appears before the Imperial High Command of the Segmentum Tempestus and takes command of a vast fleet, which he leads to the long-abandoned Ullanor System. There, the forces of the Imperium find a new Ork Empire, built upon the grave of the one destroyed during the Great Crusade. After several months of brutal fighting, the greenskins are purged, with the Angel slaying their leader, the self-proclaimed Great Beast, in single combat. At his recommendation, the Inquisition performs Exterminatus upon Ullanor using cyclonic torpedoes, despite the protests of the Adeptus Mechanicus, who want to study the strange technology developed by the Orks on the planet. The shattered pieces of the world are scoured clean of all traces of life, and the accursed system's location is struck down from the data-banks of all warships involved in its destruction. When asked about the reasons for the destruction, the Angel only mentions that this is necessary to "advert Armageddon".
AN : Yes, after a month of silence (due to me focusing on the Roboutian Heresy and my submission to the Black Library), this story is back !
A different format this time. The reason being that I was doing research for the next chapter of the Roboutian Heresy by reading various codexes, and I wanted to do something like the timelines that are present in these books. Don't worry, we will return to the traditional format in the next chapter.
... Nothing more to say today. As always, please tell me what you thought of this chapter, and how you think/hope this story will continue. Unlike with the Fifteenth Ascendant, I do not have an ending already planned, so any suggestion could end up shaping the fate of that particular timeline.
Zahariel out.