Mothers Of Angels - An Alternate Horus Heresy

by The Big P

Following the advice of Malcador the Sigilite, the Emperor of Mankind, beloved by all, would not bring sons into the world, but daughters. This is an alternate Great Crusade and Horus Heresy timeline following fully original, female Primarch characters and fully original Legions as they serve, or eventually seek to tear down, the Imperium of Man and their father's ambitions.

Preface

This is, as the title notes, an alternate Horus Heresy project, as if the world needed another one. Inspired mainly by the Roboutian Heresy (itself inspired by the legendary Dornian Heresy) but also by various Primarch OC projects, I've wanted to do something like this for a while, but didn't feel as though I could offer anything that had not been offered before. But then it struck me. I make the Primarchs women, inspired by this quote from Scars:

"Malcador smiled. 'You brothers - such a nest of rivalries. I warned him to make you sisters, that it would make things more civilised. He thought I was joking. I wasn't."

So there it is. This project will be split between narrative, short-story pieces for the purposes of character-building and immersion, and articles more similar to what you'd maybe find in a fandom Wiki, describing Legions and more sweeping events. I may end up writing chapters that have both elements, but I'm not sure yet.

I will start with the Legions in order of when their Primarch was found, with maybe two or three short stories to accompany each. These first chapters will have the biography of their Primarch, the Legion's history up until the Triumph of Ullanor, and other general information about that Legion. After we get that all out of the way, we can progress the plot into the Hekate Heresy.

This first chapter will be short. I hope you enjoy and come back for more after however long it takes me to write the next one.

Introduction: The Primarch Project

Long before the Emperor of Mankind, beloved by all, pointed His golden sword up toward the infinite stars, commanding His legions forward, He was but another warlord on a planet in anarchy. Though all-powerful, He could not win His wars alone, and so it was that he led the Thunder-Warriors across the surface of the hearth world. Though these warriors burned with ferocious heat, they did not burn for long. A more permanent army would need to be raised; an army that could burn the Galaxy.

So it was that, in a location lost to time and no doubt to the complete transformation of Terra, the Emperor, accompanied by the Perpetual Erda and the biochemical genius Amar Astarte, began to grow monsters. Combining the genetic material of the two Perpetuals with, it is rumored, energy from the churning Warp, 20 embryos were grown in twenty chambers, overseen by only the most trusted and competent of scientific minds. Originally, the Emperor, beloved by all, sought to raise sons - only the counsel of Malcador the Sigilite would convince him otherwise. Daughters, the Sigilite argued, would lack the destructive, fatal pride known to masculine heroes of ancient texts, and could provide the warriors under them with some sort of maternal guidance. Though the Emperor, beloved by all, would at first offer only a chuckle, the Sigilite doubled down. The Primarchs must be women if the Imperium was not to fracture, divided amongst its Chosen Sons as so many Empires that had come before had been. The Emperor, beloved by all, would come to agree.

Sequestered beneath the surface of the world, the Primarchs, growing within their pods, were thought safe. This safety was a lie. Perhaps it was through the whims of the Gods of Chaos, powers far beyond the comprehension of the Sisters or even the Emperor, that the Primarchs were cast into the Warp; a simplistic masterstroke in their millennia-spanning plan to bring this universe into full communion with the Immaterial. Perhaps it was Erda, who refused to allow her daughters to be used as weapons in the Emperor's wars, who opened up the vortex. Perhaps it was the Emperor himself, beloved by all, who through some plan or machination was ultimately responsible for the scattering of His daughters. No matter the cause, the 20 Primarchs were plunged into the currents of the Warp, tossed about to the screeching laughter of Daemons.

Through some sense, the Emperor of Mankind, beloved by all, knew that His daughters were safe. Using their DNA, He would create Legions of warriors, far their predecessor's superiors in terms of organizational ability and longevity (traits sorely needed if one is conducting an inter-stellar crusade), for His daughters to captain. These were His Space Marines, His Legiones Astartes, and, but for a short time, they would know no fear.