long heresy

7/29/2019 Long Heresy

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The Long Heresy

Great Traitor: Perturabo

Loyalist Legions

Thousand Sons

Emperor's ChildrenWorld Eaters

Word Bearers

Sons of Horus

Dark Angels

Raven Guard

Salamanders

Space Wolves

Traitor Legions

Iron Warriors Malal

Iron Hands Chaos UndividedUltramarines Chaos Undivided

Imperial Fists Nurgle

Night Lords Chaos Undivided

Alpha Legion Chaos Undivided

Blood Angels Tzeentch

Death Guard Khorne

White Scars Slannesh

It all went so damned wrong!

Eleven brothers met in a secret room after Horus' narrow escape from Chaos, aided by a shaken

Lorgar who had recently completed a purge of nearly half of the ranks of his Legion on a minor

planet named Istvaan. Eleven brothers warned of a secret held only by the Emperor himself, the

existence of Chaos as a threat. Magnus had warned of dangers in the warp, but the Emperor had

refused to listen...but they could not suspect that two traitors, Perturabo and Rogal Dorn, were in

their midst, until it was too late. They had lured the nine Primarchs, and their elite warriors, into a

trap, as the combined space fleets of the rebel legions loomed overhead.

Each had their reasons. Some had been tempted by the quick lure of Chaos to save their very

Legion Sanguinus had with great reluctance embraced Tzeentch to cure the blood hunger that was

destroying his comrades, while others, such as the Night Lords and the Death Guard, seemed toembrace the violence and tyranny. Others such as the White Scars simply sought plunder. The

Primarchs were caught unprepared...but they would not die easily, nor quickly. It was Lorgar who

proposed to cover the escape of three of their number, the three that the nine loyal brothers judged

were best fit to save the Empire. Horus was the choice of all of them to leave, but he refused. He

was Warmaster; he should have seen this coming. Leading the rear guard was his honour, and his

penance but he named the three to leave. Magnus for his mastery of the warp, Lorgar for his

knowledge of chaos and dedication, and Leman Russ for his might in battle. They left on the last

ship, the Eisenstein, crewed by a hand-picked group of loyalists, while the others remained to die

for their Emperor.

Chaos played a trick; the three brothers would be lost in the warp for twenty years, and emerged toan embattled galaxy. Earth had fallen, the Emperor caught by surprise, and the Loyalist Legions

were scattered and divided, the successors of the Primarchs trying desperately to mount a fightback.


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What saved them was the nature of Chaos itself; now the Traitor Legions were fighting for the

greatest prize. Perturabo had named himself Emperor, but Ferrus Manus had refused to recognize

him, building a dark technological empire of his own on Mars. The White Scars swept across the

galaxy on raiding parties, sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by the Death Guard. The

Ultramarines had their own empire at Macragge, and it was there the Triumvirate, gathering what

forces they could, launched their first attack. The Siege of Macragge lasted for a full year, but at its

end, the planet had been sterilized. Guillman himself died at the hands of Leman Russ.

Not all of the Traitor Legions had turned renegade. Some had remained, fighting for their lives on

on skirmish after another; these formed their own bands, maintaining their traditions as best they

could. The collapse of Ultramar bought tactical advantage; thence came another in the form of the

Squats. They had been untouched by the war, uncertain whether to fight, but an impassioned speech

by Lorgar and Leman Russ brought their vast armies into the fights, led by space marines from the

renegade chapters who became known as the Mentor Legion, each battle-brother a general in his

own right, leading human, squat or occasionally Eldar troops.

None thought the war could be won, and the chaotic warpspace surrounding Ancient Terra

continued to grow. So it continued for five centuries, the battle raging back and forth. The Loyalist'snumbers shrank, constantly whittled down, though finally the White Scars were captured and

destroyed near Cadia. Ultimately, it was once again a nonhuman who provided the means of

salvation; the Eldar Seers. They perceived that without aid, humanity would fall and take what was

left of the Eldar with them even the industrial might of the Squats to counter the dark techno-

sorcery of Mars would not be enough. So they completed the final project of the Emperor they

opened the Webway to Earth.

All the surviving Space Marines, and ten million volunteers from the veterans of the Long Heresy,

entered the Webway that night, led by the triumvirate. Only seven, led by a cripped Leman Russ

limping on a cane, returned. But they had won a victory all of the Traitor Primarchs were slain,

their elite forces crippled, Mars destroyed by a Squat Army that had given everything to detonate a

fusion bomb at its core. His final instructions saw Leman Russ placed in a golden sarcophagus, for

the day when he could fight his last battle for the reconquest of Ancient Terra.

The war, of course, was not over. It never would be over. The leaders of the Astartes, Squats and

Eldar formed the Bond of Blood; a government spanning a quarter of the galaxy, with all three races

pledged to one single end the destruction of Chaos. Not all believed that this could be

accomplished...but all knew that it had to be contained, though even now it pushes out parsec by

parsec, year after year, slowly expanding into loyal space. Some say that the Fallen Emperor

himself now leads Chaos as the god Malal; others say that one of the Primarchs survived, and is

fighting a guerilla war on Luna, or Proxima, across the millenia. All that is known is that onColchis, the Memorial World of the war, there is a golden statue of the Emperor, and that his face

his stained with tears for he weaps whenever one of his children dies in battle.

Current Status, 40k:

Thousand Sons: Protectors of the Webway; their fortress is the Black Library.

Emperor's Children: Loyal, the largest Legion remaining.

World Eaters: Devastating close combat specialists, guards of the Eye of Terra.

Word Bearers: Remembrances of the War; they chronicle the battles, and purge the chaotic.

Sons of Horus: Proud of their name, guardians of the outskirts of Bondspace from xenos.

Dark Angels: Shattered in the Tyranid War, attempting to rebuild.

Raven Guard: A mobile fleet-based chapter, the Firefighters of the Bond.Salamanders: Shattered in the Tyranid War, attempting to rebuild.

Space Wolves: Continuing the Great Crusade; readying for the return to Ancient Terra.


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Mentor Legion: Still the Generals of the Pact's Armies.

Iron Warriors: Malal/Emperor worshippers, roaming the galaxy to seek converts.

Iron Hands: Wiped out by the destruction of Mars.

Ultramarines: Wiped out by the destruction of Ultramar.

Imperial Fists: Guardians of Terra; their fortress is old Earth, and they protect it from all,

though being slowly corrupted by the ancient toxins.Night Lords: Seeking to convert other xenos to their cause.

Alpha Legion: Inflitrators, masters of deceit.

Blood Angels: Each rules their own planet, harvested for blood, slowly changing.

Death Guard: Roam the galaxy, gathering kills for the Great Reckoning.

White Scars: Mostly destroyed; some gangs roam the galaxy for plunder.

Red Corsairs: Former loyalists, turned to Chaos.

Squats: The Fist of the Pact; their armies protect Pactspace from Chaos.

Eldar: Their Craftworlds seek to find ancient technology to destroy the dark taint.

Orks: WAAARRRGGHHHH!!!

Tau: Recently joined the Pact, seeking to prove their worth.Necrons: All disappeared when Mars destroyed. Some say they will return.

Tyranids: Shattered when two Legions threw themselves at them, lurking in the outer

darkness.

Kroot: Turned to Chaos, a great and increasing threat.

Dark Eldar: Wiped out by the Thousand Sons and the Harlequins in 34K.

Leman Russ: In cryogenic suspension.

Magnus the Red: Secret Master of the Black Library.

Lorgar: Fighting a guerilla war in the Eye of Terra.

long heresy

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