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I was just reading the Horus Rising novel and was quite intrigued by the fact that the Imperium of Man has made a 180° turn in philosophy and conviction after the Heresy. What makes it more interesting still is the fact that nobody seems to remember anymore what the Emperor actually wanted his Imperium to be like. So, I was wondering - is there nobody left to call out the ecclesiarchy and the High Lords for their quite blatant contradictions of the Imperial Truth? I combed through some fluff and tried to find out who of the contemporary witnesses to the Great Crusade are still alive today.

Guilliman and El'Jonson are alive and would probably be the most direct source to the happenings of the 31st Millenium - yet they are dying and in stasis. The other Primarchs are either confirmed dead or missing.

The Traitor Primarchs are mostly turned into daemons and what remains of their conciousness and memory is probably closed to mankind.

And lastly, Abaddon the Despoiler was a direct lieutenant and advisor to Horus himself, he is still master of his own mind (to a certain degree) and should have witnessed everything as close as can be - yet he will neither talk to the Imperial people nor be believed if he did.

Does anyone here know of other survivors into the 41st millenium? Are there any living contemporaries of the Emperor left inside the Imperium?

There's also Bjorn of the Space Wolves but he's only semi-lucid most of the time


And IIRC the Lion is slowly healing in the base of the Rock, not dying

Firstly Lion 'El Johnson was smashed by his best friend Luther. As for the OP probably not as this was over 10,000 years ago, but then again, with the warp-storms happening maybe. I know that the Ultramarines Primarch is still alive but he's in a state of dormantry, suffering from a wound.
Apart from that, IICRC there are some DA files on Lion 'Els experience in the Crusade and something might lie in the Codex and Matt Ward probably wrote something about it in the SM codex.

I suppose that any marines who were around at the time of the heresy would have to be Dreadnoughts by now.

it was 10,000 years ago afterall.

There aren't many, if any. Heck, even Bjorn wasn't originally that old.

The Horus Heresy is described in 40K as being an event that nobody remembers. Its details lost to history. That doesn't make a ton of sense, but hey. It kept the guy at GW from having to write any details about it for like 10-15 years.

If DoW counts, Eliphas the Inheritor's backstory states he was alive during the HH.

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:
There aren't many, if any. Heck, even Bjorn wasn't originally that old.

The Horus Heresy is described in 40K as being an event that nobody remembers. Its details lost to history. That doesn't make a ton of sense, but hey. It kept the guy at GW from having to write any details about it for like 10-15 years.

Fact -he was - fought with emperor and Russ in the great crusade,him Abby, Garro, and hordes of chaos space marines who are fighting still + Deamon Primarchs

Most the the survivors from the 30k universe turned to Chaos or are renegades.

Abbadon, Lucius, Ahriman, Fabius Bile, Kharn, and some of the original legion members (a good number of the night lords, for example). Obviously, their version of the Emperor's "Truth" will be skewed.

There aren't any loyalists still alive and walking around. As mentioned in other posts, they are either in some sort of suspended animation, a sleeping dreadnought, or missing.

The truth is, many people do know what the original vision was. Most Marine chapters for one. The Inquisition's higher ups too.

However, everyone also knows that the only thing thats kept the Imperium together is the worship of the Emperor as a god. And in reality he practically is a god, worship of the Emperor also doesn't feed Chaos so its a harmless practice.


So its pretty much what they do to keep the Imperium together. And the Emperor most assuredly agrees that its for the best given the situation.

Bjorn is the only one left in the Imperium with any knowledge of the Heresy/Great Crusade era. His lucidity varies greatly depending on the author (though I suppose this could be explained away that like real senility, it comes and goes).

As for the Imperium's knowledge of the event, its more or less been lost to time and myth. Most Imperials don't even know it ever happened (or indeed, that most CSM even exist) though may be aware that at one point, the Emperor fought a great Heretic that saw heroes such as Sanguinius, Rogal Dorn, and Leman Russ fight at his side.

Only the Inner circles of the Inquisition, Space Marines (and even this varies), and Adeptus Custodes/High Lords probably have any real idea of what happened, and even that is limited to "The Primarchs betrayed the Emperor, led by Horus. The Emperor won and was interred in the Golden Throne".

 Iur_tae_mont wrote:
If DoW counts, Eliphas the Inheritor's backstory states he was alive during the HH.

Yeah, I found the source on Lexicanum that says that Eliphas fought some Ultramarines on Kronus during the HH as a Word Bearer.

IIRC there's one story about Bjorn laughing at an Inquisitor calling the Big E "God-Emperor", with the comment that "this was how all this started, calling him a God". Can't remember where it's from though.

 AlmightyWalrus wrote:
IIRC there's one story about Bjorn laughing at an Inquisitor calling the Big E "God-Emperor", with the comment that "this was how all this started, calling him a God". Can't remember where it's from though.

Emperor's gift

Of the Space Marines, who theoretically have a longer lifespan than normal humans, Commander Dante is the oldest, at roughly 1,100 years old. Given that the Horus heresy started roughly 10,000 years from the apparent "present" in the 40k universe, it seems unlikely unless the highest members of the inquisition and the Lords of Terra have found some way to prolong their life even further than that (for the Inquisition it may be possible, but for the high lords of terra, it seems unlikely considering that Goge Vandire is suggested to not have been an original High Lord, and that as a result of his actions all other High Lords at the time of his appointment were executed or replaced in one manner or another). So apart from Bjorn and perhaps a few other Dreadnoughts, as well as the possibility of lost some of the lost Primarches surviving or a loyalist ship trapped in the warp, there would appear to be no human loyalists who still remember the age of the emperor.

That being said, some organizations may well have significant records of ages past, although they are likely kept in secret from the rest of the empire.

Dante is NOT 1,100 years old. He's been Chapter Master for 1,100 years. Nobody knows exactly how old he is(although he is surely the oldest)

Any living marines from the HH who are not encased in a dreadnought shell or missing are either renegade, heretics, or dead.

There are countless CSM who are from the HH, i know that in the Night Lords series everyone who is still a part of the Exalted's warband is from the HH, although it does not feel like 10,000 years for them because of warp distortion etc.

The only living Loyalist that i know of is Bjorn the Fell Handed, while he was there for the Burning of Prospero, he is now entombed in a dreadnaught shell is only awakened once every thousand years or when they chapter has a great need for his skills.

There was that Salamanders veteran, in Book I of their trilogy. He was old as sin and couldn't even move anymore, his armor was fused to where he sat down last.

There are The Fallen, some are CSM, some are renegades, and others are trying to live up to what the big E wanted. (Source: Angels of Darkness, so take it with a grain of salt)

Aren't some of the SW13th company from the original legion? Sure they're lost to the warp, but they are "active".

Read the Night Lords series by ADB.

The Fallen Angels
The 13th Company has a large amount of still active members who still actually have memories that reach that far back.

There might be a few remaining Astartes that were frozen in stasis.

Grey Knights might have a dreadnought from that age. (I.E. Garro)

Bjorn of course.

There is mention that some other Dreadnoughts might have survived and are still active in the first founding chapters or the second founding or hell even the third.

Potentially The Sanguinor.

In a way potentially all Astartes with the Blood Angels gene seed then. Not actual witnesses in a real sense, but through the hallucinations they apparently have.

Eldrad was around during the time of the Great Crusade, but the view of the Eldar on the matter would unavoidably be skewed.

 Iur_tae_mont wrote:
If DoW counts, Eliphas the Inheritor's backstory states he was alive during the HH.

From what I can recall most Chaos marines were alive during the heresy since you know that's when they turned against the emperor

Cypher, and the Fallen Angels would also be survivors of the heresy.

 Asherian Command wrote:

Grey Knights might have a dreadnought from that age. (I.E. Garro)

Garro would be cool but Loken would be cooler. Also who can see that UM librarian bloke from Garro: Oath of Moment being the signature release for a Librarian dreadnought addition to the game.

I know the Custodes is not always talked about but don't you think some of them might be 10,000 years old?

I think that is a big possiability

I would most definitely have to say legion custodes astartes because they dont fight and die like regular astartes. They simply guard the emperors corpse. But what do they know? They dont even leave the palace.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also vulkan, garro, loken, and.... was gonna say torgaddon but i just remember he got face smashed

 Brother Thomas wrote:
I would most definitely have to say legion custodes astartes because they dont fight and die like regular astartes. They simply guard the emperors corpse. But what do they know? They dont even leave the palace.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also vulkan, garro, loken, and.... was gonna say torgaddon but i just remember he got face smashed

10 000 in the future they are toast