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So I just finished this book (having only read this book of the Horus Heresy) and I do have some generic knowledge of the HH but I have a few questions about it. I don’t mind spoilers for anything in the HH books.

1) why did the Triumvirate think the Emperor was dead, Terra fallen and create Imperium Secandus?

2) is Roboute G always an insufferable wet blanket

3) what were the other non traitor primarchs doing during imperium secundus and what did they think about it? About not being included?

4) how many different Lord Cyphers have there been?

Thanks.

Crazy Jay wrote:
So I just finished this book (having only read this book of the Horus Heresy) and I do have some generic knowledge of the HH but I have a few questions about it. I don’t mind spoilers for anything in the HH books.

1) why did the Triumvirate think the Emperor was dead, Terra fallen and create Imperium Secandus?

2) is Roboute G always an insufferable wet blanket

3) what were the other non traitor primarchs doing during imperium secundus and what did they think about it? About not being included?

4) how many different Lord Cyphers have there been?

Thanks.

You picked a challenging place to enter the HH series! Where to start. The "Ruinstorm" cut off portions of the galaxy from Terra - the Primarchs in the dark made some assumptions... The other non-Traitor Primarchs didn't even know about Secundus (well, one makes a weird cameo as a perpetual but he's not really tracking current events at that time). After they realize that the war is indeed still on and the Emperor yet still rules the three Primarchs set out together for Terra as best pals (let us never speak of Secundus again - we were drunk and it was all Gulliman's idea if dad asks) in Ruinstorm.

So I ended up with the book because a year or so ago I was at a GW and they were running a promotion where if you hit certain spending points, you get certain SWAG. Well I was around $5 under the highest spend point so I grabbed the book thinking “cool, I play Dark Angels and this will be their background story”. Skip ahead a year and I finally start reading the book. It doesn’t take long to realize that it would make more sense had I read the 35 books prior. I love to read but I’m not interested in starting that kind of journey so I figured I’d read it and then just fill in the blanks as best I can.

Crazy Jay wrote:
So I ended up with the book because a year or so ago I was at a GW and they were running a promotion where if you hit certain spending points, you get certain SWAG. Well I was around $5 under the highest spend point so I grabbed the book thinking “cool, I play Dark Angels and this will be their background story”. Skip ahead a year and I finally start reading the book. It doesn’t take long to realize that it would make more sense had I read the 35 books prior. I love to read but I’m not interested in starting that kind of journey so I figured I’d read it and then just fill in the blanks as best I can.

I did something similar - I read the first four books of the HH and then picked up Angels of Caliban on a business trip (I am a Dark Angels fan). Was thoroughly confused but just went with it! The Dark Angels books in the HH are a mixed bag. The parts where you see the Legion fighting as a Legion are cool - which Angels of Caliban has! The Caliban-focused stuff doesn't work as well for me. They took a simple story of betrayal and make it a little too convoluted for my tastes. I still enjoy the DA books for the Heresy though.

I definitely enjoyed the half of the book that followed the Lion more than the Caliban arc. Reading this book has convinced me even more that the Lion needs to wake up and offer an imperial foil to Roboute Giliman essentially running Imperium Thirdus.

Crazy Jay wrote:
So I ended up with the book because a year or so ago I was at a GW and they were running a promotion where if you hit certain spending points, you get certain SWAG. Well I was around $5 under the highest spend point so I grabbed the book thinking “cool, I play Dark Angels and this will be their background story”. Skip ahead a year and I finally start reading the book. It doesn’t take long to realize that it would make more sense had I read the 35 books prior. I love to read but I’m not interested in starting that kind of journey so I figured I’d read it and then just fill in the blanks as best I can.

In this case I would 100% recommend that you go back and just read the other two Dark Angels books of the horus heresy series (Descent of Angels and Fallen Angels). They provide some of that background history you want, and are mostly separate from the rest of the horus heresy series (you dont need to read any of the other books before or between them). Unfortunately, you just ended up with the one dark angels book that involves other chapters and requires context. If you wanted to, you could google the horus heresy reading chart which will show you which books focus on which chapter, and the sequence to read those books in (including any prerequisite books to read first). Thats how I did it anyways... read the dark angels books and short stories, and the linked books, then decided to go back and read Everything. The Dark Angels books arent anything special, but if youre like me, and you even really enjoyed the gav thorpe 40k books (because dark angels), then you'll like them.

The vast majority of the Dark Angels HH narrative isn't in either of those two novels. They're in a long series of short stories scattered across various novellas. I'd be easier to follow this reading chart along the Dark Angels path is you want all the details: www.kylebb.com/HH/HHSeriesOrder.jpeg

Crazy Jay wrote:1) why did the Triumvirate think the Emperor was dead, Terra fallen and create Imperium Secandus?

Lack of communication throughout the galaxy. Guilliman basically reasoned that he couldn't be sure if the Emperor was alive, because of the breakdown in communications, and the scale of the Istvaan Massacre that Lorgar had told him about. And realistically, he had no way of knowing either way. Your question could easily be reframed as "why would the Triumvirate think the Emperor would still be alive?"

Guilliman's options were "run blindly into the dark to try and reach Terra, which may or may not still be around, while my forces are still reeling from Calth, with absolutely no intelligence or logistical support" or "rally forces to me, because I know I'm still alive, and we can marshal strength together, and either come save Terra if/when we find out it's still there, or avenge the Imperium in it's absence".

Of the two, I think rallying and waiting for information was the smarter option.

2) is Roboute G always an insufferable wet blanket

In the majority of his HH books, he's a pretty chill character. He gets good showings in Know No Fear, Betrayer, and Unremembered Empire.

3) what were the other non traitor primarchs doing during imperium secundus and what did they think about it? About not being included?

They didn't know it existed.
Dorn was already defending Terra, literally being based there.
Khan had been left to his own devices largely, Horus had hoped he would side with him, but Khan rejected that. He investigated Prospero, and then went back to Terra to regroup.
Russ was held up at Prospero and later in space, and then pretty much went straight for Horus, got his ass handed to him, then had to recover with Corax.
Corax and his legion were bloodied from Istvaan, and resigned themselves to guerrilla warfare, alongside what remained of the Iron Hands and Salamanders, whose Primarchs were absent and either MIA or KIA.

Basically, the loyalists rallied in three groups - those closest to Terra, the immediate survivors of Istvaan, or those who were too far from Terra, but found the light of the Pharos guiding them to Ultramar. None of the groups were really able to stay in contact, so largely operated independently.