Horus Heresy

In the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Horus Heresy was a galaxy-spanning civil war that marked the end of the Great Crusade which took place in the 31st millennium. First described in the 1988 Games Workshop book Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness, it was used as the background for the original "Epic-scale" Space Marine and Adeptus Titanicus games since. By providing a justification for intra-imperial warfare, it spared the effort to include different armies in the basic games boxes.

Contents

Cause

More than two centuries into a campaign during the 31st millennium to reunite the planets inhabited by humans and create via genocide a human-only galactic empire, the Emperor of the new Imperium made Horus, the first and most trustworthy of the Primarchs, Warmaster (commander-in-chief) of his armed forces and overall leader of the Great Crusade. The Emperor leaves the crusade and returns to Terra (Earth) to continue his work to gain access to the Eldar webway. These actions exacerbated existing tensions among some of the other Primarchs, especially those who felt slighted by other decisions of the Emperor or had grievances against their brothers. However Horus became the target of a conspiracy planned by the Chaos gods and executed by their allies and minions. It involved his near-fatal injury and supposed healing; both events were designed to make Horus susceptible to the influence of Chaos and lead to his eventual corruption. He turned traitor against the Emperor and the Imperium, ultimately leading eight other Primarchs, as well as their Legions, in battle against the Emperor. Most of those who turned against the Emperor became, or already were, corrupted by Chaos. Horus was finally killed in single combat with his creator and his forces fled to the Eye of Terror, where they created their own empires and have continued to harry the Imperium ever since. The Emperor himself was near fatally wounded and is kept in a moribund state by a technological marvel known as the Golden Throne, only able to express himself psychically.

Literature

Around 2005 the background material had started to be expanded with a collection of art books and novels created by various authors from the Black Library, set in this time period (30,000 AD) as opposed to the circa 40,000 AD era of most Warhammer 40,000 literature. An initial scene-setting trilogy featured the Luna Wolves and portrayed the fall of their Primarch (the Warmaster Horus) and the beginning of the Heresy. The story was then expanded to include the actions of other Legions in the war and the role of various Imperial organisations. More material is being added to the overall Heresy story, and as of May 2011 it has only covered up to the period where the Traitor forces are ready to start the journey to Terra in the timeline of the Heresy. However additions to the material are not done in linear fashion and the novels are not strictly sequential; later novels may concern earlier events in the Heresy story than their position in the series would suggest, or may include time periods already covered in other material.

The Horus Heresy literature includes print novels, ebooks, audio books, special editions, short stories, posters, and art books.[1]

Novelization

Main article: Horus Heresy (novels)
  1. Horus Rising - Dan Abnett - April 2006
  2. False Gods - Graham McNeill - June 2006
  3. Galaxy in Flames - Ben Counter - October 2006
  4. The Flight of the Eisenstein - James Swallow - March 2007
  5. Fulgrim - Graham McNeill - July 2007
  6. Descent of Angels - Mitchel Scanlon - October 2007
  7. Legion - Dan Abnett - March 2008
  8. Battle for the Abyss - Ben Counter - August 2008
  9. Mechanicum - Graham McNeill - December 2008
  10. Tales of Heresy - Compilation. Nick Kyme & Lindsey Priestley (editors) - April 2009
  11. Fallen Angels - Mike Lee - July 2009
  12. A Thousand Sons - Graham McNeill - March 2010
  13. Nemesis - James Swallow - August 2010
  14. The First Heretic - Aaron Dembski-Bowden - October 2010
  15. Prospero Burns - Dan Abnett - December 2010
  16. The Age of Darkness - Compilation. Christian Dunn (editor) - April 2011
  17. The Outcast Dead - Graham McNeill - October 2011
  18. Deliverance Lost - Gav Thorpe - December 2011
  19. Know No Fear - Dan Abnett - March 2012
  20. The Primarchs - Compilation. Christian Dunn (editor) - June 2012
  21. Fear to Tread - James Swallow - September 2012

"A Thousand Sons" and "Prospero Burns" are part of the same story arc, from the viewpoints of two opposing Legions of Space Marines. "Descent of Angels" and "Fallen Angels" are two parts of a trilogy that includes a third book not in the above list.

Audio books

Special editions

Short stories

Art Books

Posters

Gaming

The war is also the focus of Horus Heresy, a collectible card game produced by Sabertooth Games, and a wargame released by Games Workshop in 1993 with the same name.[2] In 2010, Fantasy Flight Games released a board game, also entitled Horus Heresy, which focuses on the battle of Terra.[3]

Continuity

In some cases the new material introduced in the card game, art books and novels has led to continuity conflicts with the older material. The information provided in the novel series is generally assumed to be canonical and superseding the older material.

Horus Heresy characters

Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus/Black Legion

Emperor's Children

Death Guard

Word Bearers

Imperial Fists

Ultramarines

Dark Angels

Thousand Sons

Space Wolves

World Eaters

Blood Angels

Iron Warriors

Night Lords

White Scars

Imperial Army

Martian Mechanicum

Remembrancers (Historians and war artists of the Crusade)

Saturnine Navy

Other

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Horus Heresy". blacklibrary.com. Games Workshop. http://www.blacklibrary.com/Horus-Heresy. Retrieved 2011-05-23. 
  2. ^ Horus Heresy at BoardGameGeek
  3. ^ Horus Heresy (2010) at BoardGameGeek

References

  • Games Workshop Design Staff (2002). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Chaos Space Marines (1st ed.). Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-322-5. 
  • King, William (April 2002). "Assault on Holy Terra". White Dwarf: Australian Edition (268). 
  • "Index Astartes - The Death Guard". White Dwarf: Australian Edition (265). January 2002. 
  • 2nd Edition Warhammer 40,000 Codex Imperialis
  • Abnett, Dan (2006). Horus Rising. Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-294-X. 
  • McNeill, Graham (2006). False Gods. Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-370-9. 
  • Counter, Ben (2006). Galaxy In Flames. Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-393-8. 
  • McNeill, Graham (2007). Fulgrim. Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-476-4. 
  • Merrett, Alan (2007). The Horus Heresy: Collected Visions. Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-425-X. 
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