Prologue: A New Imperium
The Maidens: brightest and most benevolent of the Emperor's Champions. The light that they brought to the Galaxy has persisted long after they faded into myth. And though the unity they brought to the stars was shattered by the ambitions of the Arch-Betrayer, the hope for a brighter future that they instilled in the hearts of humanity and it's allies continues to burn bright in the darkness of the 41st millennium...
So little is known of the Emperor of Mankind, but far less is known of his greatest allies: The Maidens.
For ten thousand years, humanity has forever pondered when, where, and how these benevolent beings came to shine their light upon infant Terra.
The truth of their meeting has been revealed. It is now known that some time during the Dark Age of Technology, the man who would become the Emperor had travelled with several of His fellow Perpetuals, including Alivia Sureka, to the world of Molech, a Knight World only a few light years distant from Terra, in a one-way spacecraft.
Sureka watched as the Emperor entered a secret Warp Gate present on Molech, where He bargained with the powers of the Immaterium to gain new abilities and knowledge, including most likely the techniques needed to create the Primarchs.
He fell to his knees as a vision came upon Him. A vision of his sons: the Primarchs, turning against Him.
In one timeline, nine would turn. In another, only 6. But in every timeline, He would be laid low by the instigator of the rebellion: Horus, Dorn, Fulgrim, Sanguinius, all of them. There wasn't a single timeline where all of his sons remained loyal.
...If you would show me this, am I to assume you know how to stop it? The Emperor of Mankind asked of the apparition that gave him the vision, and then manifested itself in the form of a winged and horned equine.
To Sureka's shock, the Emperor would not return alone.
So little is known of them, these apparently equine creatures that reshaped themselves, to a genetic level, as human females and helped the Emperor conquer holy Terra.
These nine women are who we know today as the Maidens, or the 'Brides of The Emperor' if one believes the more fantastic stories about them.
What is known is that the Maidens returned to Terra with the Emperor. And when Terra was consumed by the Age of Strife, the Emperor and his Brides lit humanity's path through the darkness.
The Emperor himself is known to have said that through their aid, the Unification Wars were won 'twice as fast with half the blood' than what he would've been capable of on his own.
Yet, the true aid of the Maidens would not come through their own efforts, but through those of their sons.
Remembrancers have speculated for millennia the reasons for which the Emperor did not use the Maidens' genetics for every Primarch, perhaps he foresaw that the nine chosen would need it the most, but whatever the reason, each Maiden is known to be the 'Mother' of a single Primarch.
They shall be my sons, and in them will live the hopes of a unified humanity. Theirs will be the strength to prevail, not only when victory lies within easy reach, but even when it seems unattainable, when doom settles like a shroud all about. In those times of darkness, my noble sons will shine the brightest of all.
However, even with every precaution the Emperor took to prevent the worst from happening, The Ruinous Powers of Chaos somehow spirited the superhuman children away through the Warp, leaving them scattered across the galaxy.
The gestation capsules containing the Emperor's unborn sons were scattered through the Warp to human colony planets long since lost to Mankind during the Age of Strife.
It may have been at this time, when first touched by the hand of Chaos, that the first seeds of corruption were laid in the breasts of those Primarchs who would eventually turn Traitor to the Emperor and His Imperium.
This was a massive setback to the Emperor's plans. He had counted on His superhuman generals to lead his army of conquest out from Terra. Without them, His plans, so many millennia in the making, rested on a knife's edge. He needed an edge, something to give Mankind an advantage as they struck out against a very hostile galaxy once more.
Despite this terrible setback, the Emperor was nothing if not adaptive, and He quickly developed another solution. Using the remaining samples of genetic material from each of His lost Primarchs, the Emperor crafted the first Astartes gene-seed, stem cell zygotes from which could be cultured genetically-engineered organs that, when implanted within a normal, adolescent human male host, would allow that man to take on many of the physical and mental properties possessed by each Primarch.
The Emperor implanted these organs into His bravest, strongest, and best human warriors whom He intended to stand by His side as the vanguard of the Great Crusade. Thus were born the Legiones Astartes, the Space Marines, and they would reconquer the galaxy for humanity at the command of the Master of Mankind.
They shall be my finest warriors, these men who give of themselves to me. Like clay I shall mould them and in the furnace of war I shall forge them. They shall be of iron will and steely sinew. In great armour I shall clad them and with the mightiest weapons shall they be armed. They will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight them. They shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best them in battle. They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines...and they shall know no fear.
Although an Astartes warrior was but a pale copy of his Primarch sire, the technique of implanting human beings with extra organs allowed for a certain degree of "mass-production," and where the Emperor's 20 superhuman sons had been centuries in the making, thousands of Astartes could now be engineered and trained in the matter of a single Terran decade. These techniques provided the Emperor with the required numbers of warriors to successfully launch the Great Crusade in ca. 798.M30.
During the earliest years of the Great Crusade, the more psychically gifted Maidens claimed that they 'felt' something. Something that they described as a calling.
The strongest of these callings was the one felt by Celestia. So strong was it's pull that she could determine it's source to lie on a planet near the Sol System.
And so, the Emperor chose to permit the Maiden to investigate with the Astartes born from her son to protect her if needed.
Celestia walked in the direction dictated by the strange feeling, flanked only by two Legionnaires of the XVIth. It warmed her heart to know the entire legion had wished to follow her, but she had instructed them to bring the Imperial Truth to Cthonia.
She found herself in a catacomb, and not long after entering she could hear a fight in the distance.
Nearly outpacing her bodyguards in her sprint, she found the source of the noise to be a gang of Techno-Barbarians trying to slay a woman and child protected by-
Celestia let out a shocked gasp at the sight of the boy. Though a preteen in appearance he towered over all but the largest of his opponents.
Her gasp had alerted the Barbarians to her presence, and whether it was the raised bolters of her guardians, or her angelic presence, they chose to flee rather than fight.
The boy noticed her too. "Who...are you?" The boy asked. Looking upon the Maiden as someone he knew, yet didn't.
"You...you're my son, aren't you." Celestia said, nearly in tears.
"...Yes, I believe I am." The boy concluded.
The infant Imperium rejoiced at the news that the first Primarch: Horus Lupercal, had been reunited with his mother.
The Emperor gave Horus full control of his Legion, returning Celestia to her destined role as her son's advisor, and permitted the other Maidens capable of sensing their sons to seek them out at the head of their Legions: The Thousand Sons, Generosity's Gems, The Imperial Heralds, and the Night Guard.
Meanwhile, the other Maidens joined the Emperor, Horus and Celestia at his side, and began the conquest of the known galaxy.
One by one, planets were brought into compliance through negotiation, the trading of goods, and if it were deemed necessary, the strength of arms.
This not only included human worlds, but also the Xenos worlds. This has been the subject of great unrest and controversy among the Imperium, and to this day the argument persists on whether or not if simply discarding the Alien from the Imperium could've prevented what was to come.
Yet, the majority of these doubts would fall silent after the Triumph of Ullanor, the greatest Imperial victory of the Great Crusade.
It is at this great triumph that the Emperor, alongside the Imperium's greatest nonhuman ally: Eldrad Ulthran, revealed that they had begun construction of a Webway Gate upon Holy Terra.
The overseeing of the gate's construction was declared by the Emperor to be of such great importance as to require his undivided attention, and thus, he retired from the Great Crusade and named Horus as his Warmaster.
The Emperor allowed the applause to thunder for a moment longer before raising his hand in an order of silence. "Though the necessity of a Warmaster is needed for now, our triumph at Ullanor has proven beyond doubt that the Imperium's ultimate victory draws near."
Another cheer and applause came and went. "And thus, a possibility once inconceivable now confronts us. The day will soon come when the Astartes as they are will no longer be needed."
This was meant with slight cheering, mostly from the Emperor's Children and the Word Bearers, but all others did not know how to take the Emperor's words.
"And thus, the Space Marines must change, adapt to a life without war. This has been done for most of the Legion's already." The Emperor said before gesturing to the Legions and calling out their less bloody accomplishments.
"The Imperial Fists are the greatest builders. The World Eaters, for all their ferocity, are unmatched farmers. The Emperor's Children are artists beyond compare, and the Word Bearers have taught the Strength of Unity to all who are willing to listen." The named Legions voiced their gratitude for the Emperor's praise, some more than others, while those that had gone unnamed either accepted the Emperor's judgment or chanced a bitter glare of jealousy.
"And it is for this reason that while a Warmaster remains necessary...a Peacemaker is just as needed." Various reactions of agreement and concern echoed from this statement, and they only grew in intensity when the Emperor pointed out his chosen Peacemaker.
"You, Celestia, shall bear this title."
Celestia's and Horus' ascension made the third century of the Great Crusade it's brightest. Through the Peacemaker's guidance, the Blood Angels, Raven Guard, and White Scars found themselves feeling as though they belonged in an Imperium they served only to please their father.
Yet, even a golden age is not without it's tragedies.
Just a decade after the Triumph of Ullanor, members of the Night Lords Legion committed unforgivable crimes, resulting in Luna sentencing them to death.
The source of this madness was revealed to be a renegade named Gendor Skraivok, a descendent of Nostromo's criminal nobility.
Skraivok allowed his fellow descendents of the Sunless World's dethroned rulers to return to power, and drive the people to rebellion through fear of retribution.
Luna would attempt to end the matter as bloodlessly as possible...but this decision would cost her her life.
The death of a Maiden shook the Imperium to it's core, and there were none who argued the Night Haunter's decision to destroy Nostromo, but the damage had been done.
Skraivok would elude capture for nearly a century...until a far greater tragedy eclipsed Luna's death.
Terra was suddenly, spontaneously, besieged by the horrors of the Warp. Something had destroyed the psychic barrier surrounding the Segmentum Solar.
The cause was revealed to be Magnus and his mother, Starlight Glimmer, crying out for help in the only manner available to them. Leman Russ had gone mad...and Prospero was under siege.
The Emperor would have little time to process this information, for he received a communique from Robute Guilliman stating that the Ultramar System had been engulfed by rebellion and madness.
Having already moved to send aid to Prospero, he now sent near-equal forces to quell the rebellion of the 500 worlds.
Having sent 6 Legions to Ultramar, and 7 to Prospero, those who knew of these tragedies expected them to be ended swiftly...but it was not to be.
As the Legions sent to Ultramar approached their query, a great Warpstorm manifested around the 500 worlds, trapping the Word Bearers and World Eaters within...but the truest horror came to the Blood Angels, Alpha Legion, and the Raven Guard, who suffered the storm to be born right on top of them.
It was only for the timely intervention of the Sons of Horus that Sanguinius was spared the grim fate of being eaten alive by his maddened sons, consumed by the mutation known as the Red Thirst, but no salvation would come for Corvus Corax who, like his sons, was maddened and mutated beyond recognition.
As horrible a tragedy as the birth of the Ruinstorm was...it was nothing compared to Prospero.
One of our false brothers lies dead, two of the Alien Witches that have poisoned the Imperium with their lies have been purged, and the galaxy has bore witness to our great power.
Now, we will bring humanity's undisputed rule to the galaxy. We will vanquish the Alien, we will cleanse the Mutant, we will silence the Heretic, and we will tear the Maidens' puppet from it's throne. DEATH TO THE FALSE EMPEROR!!!
Attributed to the Arch-Betrayer: Lion El Jonson
Following the horrendous slaughter that would be remembered forevermore as The Dropsite Massacre, the Imperium was torn asunder. The betrayal of the First Primarch and his cohorts: The Salamanders, The Iron Hands, and to the greatest despair of the Imperium: the Maiden-born Iron Warriors, ensured that a large portion of humanity would follow them into Damnation for fear of being on the losing side.
The war that followed, The Lion's Heresy, would see more blood spilt in 7 small years than in the 3 centuries the Imperium had fought for it's freedom and right to exist in a galaxy that despised it.
Heroes and villains would be revealed on both sides of the conflict, every Legion would have it's story to tell, and every story would reach it's climax on Holy Terra.
Whether it was Magnus avenging his mother's death at the claws of Leman Russ, Rarity avenging her son's death at the hands of the Gorgon, the fated rematches between Jaghatai Khan and Perturabo, and Mortarion and Vulkan, more would be settled than not before the XIIth and XVIIth returned from Ultramar.
Yet, the return of these Legions would do little to soften the final blow struck. As the returning Legions descended to Terra, the Lion would launch one final assault upon the Imperial Palace.
The Lion slowed his advance to the Palace's throne room as a formidable obstacle arrived to stand in his way.
"Hmph, I remember you being a bit prettier the last time we met brother." Horus spoke as he glared in disgust at the inhuman thing his brother had become.
"You are no more my brother than that witch that spawned you, xeno-blood." The Lion spoke with unfiltered hatred for the Warmaster.
"Funny you should mention her." Horus smiled as he spoke before Jonson was enveloped in flames.
Luther moved to attack Celestia as Horus moved to attack the Lion, and the prelude to the final battle began.
The duel between the Warmaster and the Arch-Betrayer was the greatest battle of the Heresy. It is said that the combatants sparred for days on end before it concluded.
Yet, the conclusion is spoken of with far less zeal than the fight itself. The Lion found an opportunity to break away from the Lupercal and mortally wound Celestia at the sacrifice of Luther. And in his desperation to save his mother, Horus left himself open to a fatal blow, and was swiftly slain.
Before the Lupercal's body even fell, The Emperor, drawn by the death of his favored son, rose from the Golden Throne and drew his blade against the Black Knight of Caliban.
Weakened by his time upon the Throne, and desperate to turn his son from this path, the Emperor found himself hard pressed to stand against the champion of Chaos that the Lion had become.
In the end, it took Celestia's sacrifice to spur the Emperor's hand to obliterate the Lion that he may never return from the Warp as Luther inevitably will.
The battle was won. The traitor Legions began their retreat, and the loyalists began to reclaim all that was lost in the Heresy.
The events that followed, known as the Great Scouring, saw every planet in the Imperium mercilessly cleansed of Chaotic Taint. And though the World Eaters tried their hardest, none were more relentless in this task than the Sons of Horus led by the grieving Mournivial.
Yet, the Imperium's losses did not end with Horus and his mother, for the Emperor's wounds saw him entombed upon the Golden Throne, where he has remained for ten thousand years.
In the millennia that passed, the Primarchs and the Maidens have all but vanished. Only one remains to the knowledge of the Imperium: Lorgar, Primarch of the Word Bearers and son of Twilight Sparkle.
Yet, as the enemies of the Imperium close in around it in the form of traitors, Orks, Necrons, rogue Aeldari, the foul Drukhari, and the newly discovered Tyranids, the Aurelian can only wonder if the stability he has maintained and the recent compliance of the Tau Empire will be enough to endure the trials yet to come.
It is the 42nd Millennium, and there is only war, fought in cadence to the echoing laughter of thirsting Gods...
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So how become Chaos and who didn’t.
I know Horus didn’t but I wanted to know.
10043713
The Emperor's Children, White Scars, Imperial Fists, Night Lords, World Eaters, Death Guard, Thousand Sons, Sons of Horus, Word Bearers, and Alpha Legion are loyal. (The mothers of the Maiden-Born will be revealed in each index as they come)
And the Dark Angels, Iron Warriors, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Iron Hands, Salamanders, and Raven Guard are traitors. And the Ultramarines are split in half.
There are also traitor Elements from loyalist Legions, and the Fallen take the place of the Grey Knights and accept loyalist Elements from traitor Legions into their ranks.
10043794
What about the imperial guard and other elements of the imperial military? Will we be seeing codexs on each regiment or are you focusing on the space marines?
10044361
There will be notes of important events regarding the Imperial Army, as well the Inquisition, Officio Assassinorium, and Xenos, but like the other Alt. Heresies, Yes, the Legions will be the focus.
10044549
Daaaahhh was really hoping to hear what became of kreig their my favourite regiment
10044807
I'll see what I can do.
Well to the truth its not a bad beginning. I am curious to see how the story develops, but also the origin of the so-called maidens. I do wish you the best in writing this story.
10066057
I'm about halfway done with the Dark Angels index, so hopefully it'll be out around two weeks or so. Glad you enjoy it.
10066300
When I look at it. It may sound like a history lesson, but compare to other similar summaries that sounds more like a copy and past. Yours sounds and reads better. It feels like the intro storyline like from the beginning of each Star Wars film. Often others do not understand this, and often are copying what is offered online anyone can read, and thus not every entertaining to read. From what I have seen in the single chapter, you have the touch to move in a way it does not sound like you went online and copy and past from the Warhammer 40k wiki site. When you cover this part, and get into the actual story, you have to shift it onto a personal level, something you would expect when people interact. You have to insert yourself into your story, play the roles of your characters to see is this how you want them to act and sound not robotic or awkward.
Also a suggestion to get a better understand of the battles in Warhammer 40k, look up the various video games on YouTube and watch a walkthrough it would give the feeling how bad it is actually going through these battles when you have hardly a chance to survive compare to battles in the real world.
10067309
Oh, don't worry. The battles are definitely going to have that feel to it. Especially when I get to the Emperor's Children POV during the Dropsite Massacre.
I'm of two feelings on this. The Lion I find hard to believe to be a traitor. The other that there were not twenty mothers to twenty Primarchs.
10096421
Well, no one would think that Horus could turn traitor until he was stabbed with the Anathame Blade, it's something similar to that.
Yeah, I considered that, but I couldn't figure out how to make a Heresy work like that, no point in writing a story with no conflict, ya know? Plus the only pony to Primarch pairing I can see for the loyalists is Maud for Rogal Dorn.
10067309
Alternatively he could look at Arch-Warhammer’s videos on 40K and 30K lore like the Horus heresy.
10188581
Eh, I prefer 40k theories or Commissar Gamza myself.
10043794
Which side is our boi Rowboat on?
10771333
Spoilers here because at this rate, it'll take me years to this far.
The reason for this civil war is because Equis is located within Ultramar and is purged by Roboute. When the Emperor collects him and reveals the existence of the Maidens, Guillimen puts two and two together and swears his people to secrecy, becoming as paranoid as the Dark Angels.
Fast forward to the end of the Great Crusade, the traitorous Night Lord Skraivok reveals this secret to the most Pro-Maiden Ultramarines and convinces them that they are damned,
driving them to madness and then to Chaos.
When the World Eaters and Word Bearers get trapped in the Ruinstorm, they eventually discover the secret.
Angron, Lorgar, and Applejack are ready to kill Gulliman where he stands, but Twilight reasons that doing so would turn the entire 13th Legion against them, so they instead condemn him to a Penitence Crusade.
As the two Maidenborn Legions escape the Ruinstorm, Roboute and the Ultramarines stay behind to purge the 500 Worlds.
In the 42nd Millennium, Guillimen has vanished into the Warp, several Ultramarines have earned forgiveness and are allowed to join or form new Chapters, but the Ultramarines themselves remain repentant and unforgiving of their past.