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The Sanguinian Heresy

42K views 43 replies 15 participants last post by  Alex Troublefield 
#1 ·
So, introductions. I've posted this in the 'Alien Space Bats' section of alternatehistory.com, where it was met with positive response, so I thought, why not post it here, with a wider audience of 40K fluff fans? My primary inspiration is, of course, the Dornian Heresy, but there are other inspirations of course...


Chapter One: Ullanor

BLOOD SAMPLE: Match.
PASSCODE: *******
WELCOME TO THE CUSTODIAL ARCHIVE, CAPTAIN-GENERAL

Taken From The Great Crusade: A History (Remembrancer Stefana Castellucio)

"Ullanor. That was where Father made his greatest mistake." - Horus Lupercal

The Ullanor Campaign was the greatest of the Emperor's campaigns in the Great Crusade, His finest hour. What a pity that it came so soon before the Heresy began, for it was an hour of unparalleled courage and skill of arms from all 18 Space Marine Legions, save for the Sons of Horus, whose fleet was becalmed in the Warp for the duration of the Ullanor Campaign[1]. The Ork Empire of Ullanor was the terror of the Segmentum, led by an exceptionally strong and cunning Warlord who was possessed of impossible might. The Emperor delegated Sanguinius to the position of leading the assault on the main planet, together with his Blood Angels Legion. Leman Russ was to aid in the main attack, while Constantin Valdor, Magnus the Red, and Alpharius commanded the reserve groups. Ten million troops of the Imperial Army - Byzant Janizars, Merican Stormtroopers and many other regiments - were also allotted to Ullanor proper, along with elements of the Mechanicum.

The Battle of Ullanor swiftly became a meatgrinder. Hills, mountains of Ork dead rose swiftly, but yet more and more greenskins rose from foul warrens underneath the planet's surface. The strategies of Magnus and Alpharius proved to be a capable multiplier of force, but the Blood Angels' tactic of throwing themselves forward even in the face of impossible odds, led by their 'Angel' (as he was known then) Sanguinius brought them severe losses. Then, the Emperor descended. How to describe His descent? The grey skies opened up and rained fire upon the Ork hordes like a God's wrath, turning mountains crawling with the vermin into glass plains. Then He unleashed his power, aided by Primarch Magnus. Millions of Orks died in moments, as white fire consumed them from within. The Ork Warlord then rose, a vast specimen, his skin so dark green it was almost black. The monstrosity was the size of a Dreadnought, and massacred the Custodes squads sent forth.

The Emperor Himself arose and did battle with the abomination. The Ork, in a moment of power, tried to crush the Emperor's neck with his power-claw, but then Sanguinius descended. Against Sanguinius and the Emperor both, the Ork could not stand, and was rended limb from limb. That marked the end of the Ork Empire upon Ullanor. The green vermin were scattered, laid low and ultimately wiped out from the planet. The Mechanicum's geoformers then descended, turning the planet's main continent into a glassed plain, fitting for the Triumph that followed. Mysteriously, the Emperor announced during the height of the ceremony that He was leaving for Terra to continue his researches. However, to continue the Great Crusade He delegated command over the Imperial armies involved in the Great Crusade to Primarch, now Warmaster, Sanguinius[2].

Why he did so is unknown, considering Sanguinius' betrayal and the long shadow it has left on the Imperium. Perhaps He saw a mirror of Himself in the angelic being. As Horus thrice-Praised himself said, Sanguinius had all the measure of the Emperor. Yet even now, as we struggle to both drive the Fallen Legions from the ordered areas of our galaxy[3] and fend off the traitorous Supremacy of Ultramar[4], it can only be seen as a disastrous mistake. Perhaps Horus would have fared better[5], yet it is not the time to discuss what-ifs, could-have-beens and never-weres. What we are left with is the world we made, and we must all dwell within.

~*~

Taken from the Chronica Prospero, Timestamp 013.M31
...Great slaughter. Russ' and Jaghatai's sons have made the Silver Lake red and black with blood and ink. Magnus is on Terra, with the Emperor, but I can sense his presence with me. The Warp-spawn assault us daily, but we are holding. Our fortress stands yet. But what concerns me is the howling outside, and a terrifying presence at the corners of my psychic perception, like the Warp-spawn but far worse. The Space Wolves are degrading into beasts like the savages they are. They cannot breach our defences as of yet. But what will happen, once Russ himself joins the fray?...
- Ahzek Ahriman, 1st Fellowship Captain[6]

~*~

[1] Initial point of divergence.
[2] Major point of divergence.
[3] The text was written during the Reclamation Wars in-universe.
[4] Will be explained later.
[5] A bit of irony on my part.
[6] Later updates will explain this bit.
 
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#30 ·
Chapter Nineteen: In Nomine Imperator!

From Chronicles of the Reclamation Wars

The Reclamation Wars, in which the Imperium reclaimed vast swathes of territory, were the brainchild of the Sons of Horus' first Captain, Ezekyle Abaddon. As Horus was heavily focussed on performing his duties as Regent in the Emperor's absence, he delegated Abaddon to the role of leading the Astartes Legions in the wake of the Heresy. From Terra and Prospero and Barbarus and Olympia, the warfleets set sail. The might of the Imperial Army advanced with them, often all that was needed to bring a world back into the Imperium was a reminder of the ancient oaths of fealty it had sworn backed by the orbital presence of the Navy, but sometimes outright sedition and Chaos-worship had taken root and had to be expunged. The Ring of Iron around Mars was continually restless, producing countless battleships and Battle-Barges to see to the needs of the war-fleets. The Word Bearers were among the most zealous Astartes during the Reclamation Wars, focussing heavily on the worlds they themselves had made compliant during the Great Crusade, purging Chaotic corruption wherever it might be found.

Void-clans, scavengers and pirates also infested Imperial space, and were systematically destroyed by the might of the Astartes. The destruction of these scavengers, vultures following the wake of devastation left by Sanguinius, was judged to be high priority by Abaddon. It was in Segmentum Obscurus that the crusade to reclaim the Emperor's galaxy bogged down, for the Astartes faced the forces of Chaos. At Caliban the Iron Warriors and Death Guard crushed the Dark Angels' fortresses and levelled the world itself with cyclonic torpedoes. At Monarchia Lorgar hardened his heart and levelled the cities of the Chaos-worshippers that had taken over, killing every last soul on the planet and leaving it open to recolonisation. On Fenris the Thousand Sons levelled the Fang and used cyclonic torpedoes to disrupt the planet's unstable orbit and send it spiralling into its sun. At Medusa the Emperor's Children broke the Iron Hands as a Legion, fragmenting them forever more into war-bands and avenging Fulgrim's death. Great and numerous were the victories won by the loyalists as they drove the traitors into the Eye, but the fighting in the Segmentum and surrounding areas took fifty bloody years to be finished.

~*~


Sons of Horus reconquering a formerly Imperial world

~*~


Imperial Army soldiers fighting Chaos forces during the Reclamation Wars

~*~


Mortarion standing triumphant on Caliban

~*~

From the Liber Hereticus

...Sigismund of the Death Knights is one of the most terrible foes of the Imperium. Having rotted greatly during Nurgle's corruption of the Imperial Fists, all that remains of his body is dust, yet his soul remains bound to his Terminator Armour. His undead existence is an abomination against all that lives, and his very presence saps the will to live, until the soul drowns in apathetic despair. He leads the Death Knight warband known as the Soul Drinkers, who wear armour of purple instead of the void-black the main force of the Death Knights bear. Her bears a relic of Dorn, the Soulspear, that creates a Warp-vortex wherever it strikes. It is said that Sigismund will not rest until all life is reduced to the undead state he and his fellow Death Knights are trapped in...​
 
#34 ·
This. Is. Amazing. Truly great stuff you've done here mate. Probably one of the best, most comprehensive alternate heresies I've seen. As for the time skip, I would only ask that you clear up what is/was done about Ultrmar rebelling? Because at the moment it feels a bit like no one has noticed that Gilliman is absent/has rebelled. Other than that, great stuff! Keep it up :clapping:

Oh, and +rep
 
#35 ·
Interlude Three: Summaries

The Belisarian Crusade

Oh, how glorious was the Belisarian Crusade. Conducted in M40 on the very orders of the Master of Mankind, under the command of Legion Master Kaesoron, he who fought on the same ground as the Emperor and Primarch Fulgrim all those millennia ago, and Lord Militant Alyxius Belisaria. Known as Kaesoron the Deathless for still being in his prime when lesser Marines would long have fallen or withered into senescence, Kaesoron deployed the full force of Legio III, about 500,000 battle-ready Astartes and the greatest of the Legions, to the Crusade, which was to strike a great blow against traitorous Ultramar, now long devolved into a collection of Astartes fiefdoms under the loose command of Macragge. The Ultramar Wars might have petered out in M34, but great was the vengeance-lust against the hosts of Ultramar, the Astartes' recruitments having given them a million Marines in number. And great was the slaughter!

Great mountains of the outcast dead of Ultramar swiftly formed on a thousand worlds. At Eskrador the Alpha Legion destroyed an Ultramarines forces five times their number, at Talassar the Ultramarines forces were utterly wiped out. On the dead fortress-world of Prandium a hundred thousand Ultramarines were slain. At the last battle was begun on Macragge. Great was the fighting, Magnus and Perturabo and Mortarion fought like living gods, but the Fortress of Hera had been designed to hold off all attackers. But at the last the siege was so bloody that Guilliman himself, the wretched traitor, came forth. That was when all Perturabo's siege-engines, including several Titans gifted by the Mechanicum, fired all at once at the great fortress and its defenders, at the critical moment that Alpha Legion saboteurs disrupted the void shields. Explosions and plasma-blasts ripped through the Fortress of Hera, tearing it apart, razing it and killing the majority of the Ultramarines, seven hundred thousand, all in one glorious and purifying explosion.

The Ultramarines, their great stocks of gene-seed destroyed as well, were greatly weakened. But the prospect of their fleet arriving, with enough firepower to drive off even the Imperial Navy, forced a retreat. The defeat of Ultramar was not completed, but Macragge's grip on its subject worlds was greatly weakened. The retreating fleets tore a swathe of devastation through the Ultramarines' worlds on their way back to Imperial territory, Guilliman for his part swore undying vengeance upon the great Imperium of Man.

The Purge of Biel-Tan

In M37, the Eldar made a desperate assassination attempt upon the Emperor of Man. It failed disastrously, and it was swiftly discovered that these Eldar were of the Biel-Tan Craftworld, seeking to create a new Eldar Empire in blood and fire. It was judged that no less than a complete purge of the Craftworld was necessary, to deter future attempts. The ten thousand blades of the Adeptus Custodes moved swiftly through the webway, making way to the Craftworld, while in realspace Magnus disrupted the Farseers' efforts to see the coming doom while leading the fleet sent there. An execution force of five Culexus Assassins was also deployed. The slaughter fought upon Biel-Tan was great. In bio-domes and city-scapes they fought, the Custodes slaughtering all before them. The Avatar of Biel-Tan was destroyed by Constantin Valdor, while the Culexus massacred the Farseers and Warlocks en masse. What was left was the slaughter of the remaining Eldar, en masse to avenge the attack on Terra. After a long while, it was done.
~*~

The late 41st Millennium would introduce new horrors and enemies to the Imperium, starting with a full-fledged Xenos assault on Terra itself...​
 
#37 ·
You're doing an excellent job so many kudos to you! A few inferences from what's written:
-The Emperor still comes out to talk/play once in a while
-Humanity owns, or at least shares, the Webway
-Horus Lupercal is somehow trapped on Terra or too busy being a bureaucrat

A few concepts you absolutely kick ass on:
-Remaining Primarchs form a Council and rule without the bloody political infighting of the Council of Terra
-Remaining Primarchs don't go completely mental and run off doing stupid things that get all of them killed
-Mars doesn't become a blithering idiot simply because the Emperor isn't around to hold their hand
-While Legions may be a 'threat', they aren't broken up and the threat continues to be turned on everyone else.

I think on the first page you have a quote about 'when Eldar speak it is the beginning of Wisdom'. That suggests perhaps all the Eldar aren't pricks and perhaps a few of the smarter Primarchs, like Alpharius and Magnus, might have started a productive dialogue.

Great Fanfluff! I think your biggest flaw is why humanity has to concern itself with any real threat by the 41st Millennium? Everything seems to be well in hand.
 
#39 ·
Quite awesome!

I don't have anything against a time-skip, but it would be interesting to see more in M31 as well. So I hope that if there is a time skip, you'll return to the Heresy at some point.

Either way, I really like this.
 
#40 ·
This is REALLY cool, and well-written. :D And plausable, which is the most important thing. Kudos!
 
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