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Welcome to Dreams Fall Apart, also known over on B&C as 40k Alternate Timeline

I'm a bit hesitant to post this here as I plan to do a soft reboot of the story in the near-ish future. Don't worry about that though if you end up liking the story because many things will be staying the same.

Here's some bullet points of the basic premise

The Emperor and all 17 Primarchs are still alive
The Emperor killed Lorgar and erased his legion at Monarchia
The Emperor talked with Horus before naming him Warmaster, easing his doubts and worries
The Emperor brought Magnus the Red and his legion back to Terra to assist with the Webway project

Centuries after Ullanor the Emperor reveals the Webway Project to the greater Imperium and announces the Webway Crusade
After millennia of endless defeats the Eldar get desperate and some start falling to Chaos, leading to their powers being supercharged
Seeing that their fallen brethren are capable of resisting Imperial aggression, the Aeldari are left with a choice, fall to Chaos or extinction at the hands of the Mon’keigh
A great council is held between the Craftworlders, Commorites, and the Harlequins to decide the fate of their species
Craftworlders and commorites decide to fall to chaos while the Harlequins disappear

In a role reversal unseen by any of Emperor’s visions the Aeldari begin pushing mankind out of the Webway
Even with all its teeming quadrillions, the full might of the Mechanicum, the Primarchs, and the Emperor, humanity is unable to hold the line and are pushed back to the Terran Gate
In an event shrouded in mystery, the Emperor learns of a way to seal the Terran Gate
As a result Chaos Eldar begin attacking the Imperium through other Webway gates and a battle of seers begins, each side trying to out scry the other
While denied access to the Webway, Humanity is capable to hold off the Chaos Eldar assaults on its territory

During all of this the Orks make a resurgence, the Imperiums armies locked in combat elsewhere
Led by savage Beasts, the Orks are a greater threat than ever before
With the Legiones Astartes stuck fighting the Chaos Eldar, combating the Orks is left to the regular men and women of the Imperium

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war
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Those are the basics that should help you understand what the AU is about. If you're interested I'd love to hear why.
Just to let you know, I have some editing to do before I post the first piece here as I've recently thought up a way to fix a bit of backstory that was bothering me.
Have a good day friends!

Seems like an interesting idea. I have nothing to suggest for the moment, but I will follow this project.

The Astra Militarum, also known as the Solar Army, finds its roots in the venerable Solar Auxilia of the Imperial Army. As the Great Crusade progressed, the effectiveness of the Solar Auxilia as a distinct military concept and coherent fighting force was proved time and again, and cohorts were raised in increasing numbers as the Crusade progressed. 

In the third century of the Great Crusade the Interex Coalition War erupted. Led by a rogue human state known as the Interex, this alliance of humans and xenos violently rejected the Imperium’s genocidal and xenocidal ways. This war would come to define Imperial military doctrine for millennia to come. 

Outnumbered and outgunned for the first time since it’s founding, the Imperium’s armed forces faced slaughter. As Horus tried to coordinate the Imperium’s military to counter Coalition attacks, it became apparent that the Solar Auxilia was one of the few effective fighting forces the Imperium had against the Interex. 

It was at this time Horus demanded a complete reorganization and rearmament of the entirety of the Imperium’s armies in what would come to be known as the Horus Reformations. Split into two, the Imperial Army would become the Lunar Auxilia and the Astra Militarum and would be equipped, armed, and organized similarly to how the Solar Auxilia was previously. 

For most of its early history, the Astra Militarum acted as first responders and pathfinders for the besieged planets of the Imperium throughout the Coalition War. Hundreds of worlds were burned at its hands and through determination and hatred, the Interex Coalition was eventually destroyed through the combined efforts of the Legiones Astartes, Lunar Auxilia, and the Astra Militarum.

This heralded the end of the first stage of the Great Crusade, and the beginning of the next step in the Emperor’s Great Work. While the Imperium had slain all the xenos species in the parts of the galaxy surrounding its worlds, there were still billions of stars left unexplored in the galaxy. Any of which could be home to vile xenos wanting nothing more than the destruction of Mankind. 

For the three centuries following the end of the Great Crusade, the Imperium rebuilt and recovered from the devastation wrought to it by the Interex Coalition and Old Night all the while building up its fleets and armed forces in preparation for what was to come. 

Then the fated day had arrived, with over ten thousand newly built and manned Expeditionary Fleets gathered in the Sol System, the next chapter in Imperial history was announced to the teeming masses of the Imperium. The Great Crusade would now continue as there was still much work that needed to be done. The rest of the galaxy, those parts away from mankind’s worlds, needed to be cleansed of the vile xeno species that inhabited it. This would be the Astra Militarum’s burden to bear as Horus claimed the Emperor had need of the Legiones Astartes elsewhere. 

And so the Great Crusade began anew, spearheaded not by transhuman warriors but by the everyday men and women that made up the Imperium. It was during this time that the Astra Militarum truly came into its own. A proud warrior culture had formed and it was no longer suffering the growing pains that it had endured during its infancy. 

For centuries the Astra Militarum scoured the galaxy, purging any xenos and absorbing the few remaining lost human worlds as they were encountered. Though each individual fleet’s rate of conquest was slower than it had been in the Great Crusade, largely due to lack of Astartes support, the tens of thousands of Expeditionary Fleets partaking in the Eternal Crusade more than made up for it. 

It was around this time that the Emperor finally emerged from the depths of the Imperial Palace and announced a new crusade, led by Him personally, to conquer the Webway and make it humanity’s method of FTL travel and communication. 

While the Astra Militarum was largely absent from the Webway Crusade, they would in extremely rare circumstances encounter fleeing Eldar Craftworlds. While the losses were always immense, the unfortunate Craftworlds were put to the torch by way of several Expeditionary Fleets. Many Imperial historians now believe that these Craftworlds were attempting to flee the galaxy, and the Imperium’s refusal to allow that is the reason the Eldar believed their only option was to make a pact with the denizens of the Warp to avoid extinction. 

Roughly four and a half millennia after the founding of the Imperium, nearly the entirety of the Eldar species fell to Chaos. This would shatter mankind’s dream of finishing the Emperor’s Great Work. 

Called into the Webway in ever increasing numbers, the Astra Militarum attempted to halt the Eldar counterattack. Even having given trillions of lives to stem the Eldar onslaught, the Astra Militarum was unable to hold the Imperium’s territory inside the Webway and were eventually pushed back to the Terran Gate. While the majority of the Astra Militarum’s last forces in the Webway managed to retreat before the Terran Gate was permanently sealed by the Emperor, billions more remained inside buying the Emperor the needed time to perform the necessary ritual. 

Following this costly defeat, the Astra Militarum was ordered to continue the Eternal Crusade while maintaining garrisons on key worlds around the Imperium.
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Soon after the Second Fall of the Eldar, dozens of warp storms appeared across the galaxy. Few noticed in the chaos that had taken over the Imperium, and those that did believed they were some form of esoteric attack by the Eldar. 

Centuries after having spawned into existence, the warp storms dissipated, and what was found inside inspired horror in all who looked. 

The Orks, a threat thought handled by the Emperor at Ullanor, had made a resurgence and were more terrible than ever. Imperial understanding of the situation is incomplete, but it is largely believed that the Orks were empowered by brother warp entities known as Gork and Mork. 

In their time isolated from the rest of the galaxy, the Orks had constructed dozens of Scrap Worlds on the husks of former Imperial worlds. These crude xenos Forge Worlds was the domain of the Mekboyz, all of whom had delved deep into their ancient genetic memory to recreate terrible technologies not seen in eons.

Savage Beasts of frightening intelligence led Waaaghs across the galaxy, laying waste to hundreds of Imperial worlds. With the Legiones Astartes already stretched thin responding to Chaos Eldar incursions and the vast majority of the Astra Militarum out of contact persecuting the Eternal Crusade, the Imperium was unable to muster enough forces to halt the resurgent Ork threat for some time. 

It would take decades and trillions of lives, but the Imperium finally managed to stem the tide by destroying the rampaging Ork Waaaghs that had been sent out from the Scrap Worlds. Finally granted a temporary reprieve, the Imperium began the process of coordinating a Crusade with the purpose of destroying the single Scrap World that had spawned in Segmentum Solar. Not only was the Scrap World too close to Terra, but as if it were taunting the Imperium and all it had accomplished, the Scrap World resided in the storied Ullanor system. 

This Crusade was to be the testing grounds for future crusades against the Scrap Worlds dotted across the galaxy. The future fleet sizes, tactics, strategies, technologies, and more were all debated upon by the Council of Terra and the Council of Mars. 

From the many battles of the Great Crusade, it was known that Martian volkite weaponry was ideal for combatting Ork forces. The searing heat rays were capable of felling multiple Orks in a single shot and had the added benefit of destroying the replicating spores the Orks naturally gave off when wounded. 

Unfortunately, handheld Volkite weapons were still too difficult to craft in the numbers that would be required to equip even just the officers of the Astra Militarum, another solution was needed. It was eventually decided that the Solar Cohorts of the Astra Militarum needed a large number of volkite armed tanks to effectively deal with the Ork menace. What tank and where they would be built, was a matter of much debate throughout the Mechanicum at this time. 

In time however, the still mysterious Forge World of Xana put an abrupt end to the debate. It had been perfecting a new design of tank utilizing a fusion of several STC technologies that had been rediscovered in a hidden cogitator on a Dead World it had been surveying nearby. 

This new design fit the needs of the Astra Militarum perfectly, it had a modular turret capable of housing many variant weapon types, it was heavily armored but fast, and most importantly it had automantic shielding capable of protecting the precious volkite weapon it could be equipped with. 

The Council of Mars ordered the new design by distributed to all major Forge Worlds and within the decade hundreds of thousands of examples were produced, with many set aside for the upcoming Ullanor Crusade. 

Finally after nearly two decades of planning, the Ullanor Crusade had been organized and mustered. A massive fleet had been created pushing even the extensive command technologies of its Paragon-class Flagship to their limits. A billion troops had been mustered, many of whom were veterans that had fought on dozens of battlefields against the Orks in the decades prior, and were given re-juvant treatments to grant them youth once again. Perhaps most importantly, many exotic and terrifying weapons were taken out of vaults or an Archmagos’ personal collection and loaned out in order to try and gain favor and prestige. 

With preparations complete the Ullanor Crusade began anew. Knowing they’d need to systematically purge the Orks from the surrounding systems, the oversized Expeditionary Fleet split into several hunting packs and made way into the occupied systems. While it took weeks of heavy fleet combat, the Astra Militarum was successful in their endeavor of tightening the noose. The Ullanor system awaited and after reforming the fleet, a warp jump was made to Ullanor. 

As soon as the fleet arrived at the Mandeville Point, the bridge crews immediately noticed something wrong. Rather than be on the systems edge where they’d have time to strategize for the coming battle, they were instead dangerously close to several moons well inside the interior of the star system. It was here that the Grand Admiral leading the Imperial fleet made a grave error. Deciding that the strange entry point was due to the incomprehensible and fickle nature of the Warp, they issued no alternative commands and went ahead with standard Mandeville Breach procedure. 

Just as the Grand Admiral gave the order to begin surveillance of the system, the supposed moons began to orient themselves towards the fleet. Before the crews could even direct their auspex towards the bizarre behavior, a withering hail of fire slammed into the Imperials. Nearly two hundred ships were destroyed and the Paragon-class Flagship that had been leading the fleet just moments ago was crippled. The onslaught would continue moments later as gravitic whips lashed out through space towards the Imperial fleet and upon connecting with Imperial vessels, crushed or hurled ships after ship. 

By the end of this second assault the Imperium finally managed to throw off their surprise and reacted accordingly. Even though the Expeditionary Fleet had been decimated and the flagship crippled, the Imperials still had fight left in them. Rallying around the drifting hulk of the Paragon, the Imperial fleet returned fire with every weapon still in working order. At such close range, there was little the Ork Attack Moons could do to evade. Suffering major structural damage in exchange for their ambush, the Ork Attack Moons began closing in with the intent to launch boarding actions. 

By this point Imperial Auspex had finished scanning the system, and the horrifying nature of the Ullanor System became apparent. There were tens of thousands of Ork Roks being constructed in system, and a dozen more Attack Moons were rapidly closing in on the Imperial fleet. 

The Grand Admiral realizing the fleet and battle was ultimately lost ordered the fastest ships to break for the systems edge to try and translate back into the Warp. It was their hope that at least one could make it and would be able to warn Terra of their discovery and subsequent destruction. 

Many of the fleeing ships are unlucky and end up running into hunting packs of Ork Roks who happened to be between them and the edge of the Ullanor system. Thankfully, for the Imperium, a handful of ships manage to slip through by virtue of several Battleships sacrificing themselves to ensure their safety. 

Back at the Sol System the escaped vessels are granted an audience with the Senatorum Imperialis to report on what had happened at Ullanor. The quick loss of the fleet shocked all those in attendance, but the more martially inclined 

Worried about why the Mandeville Point had shifted to further inside the system and what that could mean for future Crusades against the Scrap Worlds. Malcador the Sigilite used his immense psychic might to try and determine why. After considerable effort and research into the matter, Malcador was able to determine that Orkish gravity technology was the cause of it. He was unable to determine a way to counter it however. 

Further troubled by the news, the Imperial Regent, decided that a Legion was needed to deal with the threat while Imperial and Mechanicum minds derive a way for the Astra Militarum to cleanse the Scrap Worlds on their own. 

Called away from the Inwit Cluster, the Imperial Fists are chosen due to their close proximity to Terra and their Legion’s fleet being the largest amongst the Legiones Astartes. 

An even larger fleet of heavily armored brawlers is rapidly drawn from across Segmentum Solar. This one several times the size of the fleet that was just destroyed at Ullanor. Combined with the Imperial Fists fleet and the Segmentum Fleet of Segmentum Solar, it was the largest gathering of warships for a single purpose the Imperium had seen up until that point. 

Once the muster was completed and orders had been given out, the Ullanor Crusade resumed once again with the fleet departing for the Ullanor system. 

This time the Imperials were prepared for the Greenskin ambush, and as the Imperial Fleet exited the Warp it did so at full battle readiness. 

Quickly establishing targeting solutions for the approaching Attack Moons, the majority of the fleet began to open fire at the still distant but approaching celestial bodies. 

While several ships were destroyed by the esoteric gravity whips that were the main weapon of the Attack moons, significant damage was dealt in return. The surface of the moons were leaking air and Greenskin bodies into the void. 

Finally as the gap between the two battling fleets had closed significantly, Rogal Dorn ordered the fleet to continue firing so that he could slip Exterminatus-grade Virus Bombs onto the Attack Moons via teleport strike in the confusion. 

With the bombs safely teleported onto the various Attack Moons and then carried by a squad of Astartes into one of the holes made by the Imperium’s alpha strike, the Astartes legionaries that had been teleported alongside the Virus Bombs proceeded to sacrifice themselves and detonated them. 

In short order the crew of the Attack Moons were consumed by the Life Eater Virus and the vessels started to drift aimlessly, no longer attacking the Imperial Fleet. 

With the main fleet based defenses of the Orks rendered inoperable, the Imperials headed inwards towards the Scrap World. The fleet swatted down the dozens of Ork Roks that tried to impede them whilst doing so. 

Once over the crude Xenos Forge World, the Fleet tried to initiate the Annihilatus protocol and destroy it through a combination of Magma Bombs and full powered bombardment. However, even the mighty guns of the Phalanx was unable to penetrate the shielding protecting the planet from certain destruction. 

After a full week of no success bombarding the planet from orbit, Rogal Dorn ordered a full-scale planet strike in an attempt to captured the Scrap World intact so the Mechanicum could study the structure and learn its weaknesses so as to better destroy them. 

Billions of Greenskins called the planet home and Rogal Dorn would accept no less than the slaughter of all of them. The Imperial Fists were to land first and establish a beachhead so that the bulk of the Imperial troops could then safely land on the planet. 

After hours of fighting Orks and fortifying a location near the presumed capital city, the Imperial Fists managed to successfully complete their task and the rest of the Imperium’s forces were cleared to land. In short order, thousands of landers ferried troops and war machines down to the surface. Deployed alongside the masses of the Astra Militarum, the entirety of the Titan Legion Nemia teleported onto the planet. 

With the Imperial forces now planetside, the Battle of Ullanor began. The fighting was brutal and lasted many months. Many never before seen and powerful Greenskins war-machines made life hell for the Imperials. Massive pitched battles waged across the rock and metal grounds that made up the surface of the planet and close quarters Zone Mortalis battles were waged underneath the surface in the vast tunnel networks created by the Greenskins during their construction of the Scrap World. 

By the time the fighting was winding down and victory for the Imperium was finally in sight, tens of millions of soldiers had been felled, over three hundred thousand Astartes had been slain, and well over half of the Legio Nemia had been destroyed without the chance for recovery and repair. 

It was in the last battle located in the beating heart of the Scrap World, that the Beast Boss of the Scrap World was finally slain by Rogal Dorn and his elite retinue. Previously the Greenskin monstrosity had managed to slip away just as the battle was lost. Unfortunately, the Beast Boss did not die alone, Alexis Pollux, an ancient veteran of the Great Crusade, died sacrificing himself to save Rogal Dorn from an otherwise killing blow. 

With the Beast Boss dead the planet began to collapse in on itself, the energy of the Orkian Psychosphere no longer able to keep the planet stable. The Psykana of the Imperial Fists managed to hold the planet together just long enough for the Imperial forces to return to the surface and call for the landers that would return them to the fleet. 

With the Ullanor Crusade completed once again, the fleet traveled back to Sol where Rogal Dorn would report the outcome and his findings to Imperial Command. 

As the High Lords argued was tradition when cleansing Ullanor of Greenskins, a Triumph was held in the attackers honor. The grand celebration was enjoyed by the trillions of citizens inside Sol as it was a reminder that for all the darkness the galaxy could throw at humanity, nothing could withstand its light. 

After the Second Ullanor Triumph, the Mechanicum was tasked with returning to the Ullanor system and researching the destroyed Scrap World so that future Crusades could occur without needing Legiones Astartes support. 

Eventually successful, the Mechanicum discovered several key weaknesses and formulated strategies and tactics suitable to exploit them. Another new class of wargear was crafted during this time, their potency against the Orks their defining feature.

Perhaps most importantly was the development of a new type of Exterminatus weapon, a bomb capable of reducing an entire planet to cosmic dust from orbit once set to go off. 

With these strategies, tactics, and machines, the Astra Militarum began to strike out at the Scrap Worlds across the galaxy, suffering great losses but ultimately destroying them in time. 

While this grants the Imperium a reprieve that lasts over a century, the brother Warp entities Gork and Mork continue creating scattered Warp Storms to protect the Orks as they built new Scrap Worlds across the galaxy.

During each passing millennium, the Astra Militarum worked ceaselessly, cleansing the galaxy of xenos in the grand undertaking that is the Eternal Crusade. Many tales are told about those times, tales of struggle and defiance, full of brotherhood and glory. 

Peace is a distant dream growing ever fainter as new threats continue to appear, and there is Only War as mankind holds the line for the promise given by the Emperor at the founding of the great Imperium of Man, that there is good left in the galaxy, and that it is worth fighting for. 

Okay. I do have a question: Why is the Interex so strong and violent? That's pretty off from their portrayal in 40k (before they were crushed) and I don't see why it'd've changed. (Unless this is just propaganda, not a narrator? That could explain it.)

I also am realizing that Dakka Dakka's font choices are NOT good for long readings. White text on black backgrounds and the small size is just... Not the best. I might copy-paste the text into a Google Doc to make reading easier.

 JNAProductions wrote:
Okay. I do have a question: Why is the Interex so strong and violent? That's pretty off from their portrayal in 40k (before they were crushed) and I don't see why it'd've changed. (Unless this is just propaganda, not a narrator? That could explain it.)

I also am realizing that Dakka Dakka's font choices are NOT good for long readings. White text on black backgrounds and the small size is just... Not the best. I might copy-paste the text into a Google Doc to make reading easier.

I actually already have an older "chapter" that focuses heavily on the Imperium's initial interaction with the Interex and how it devolved into war, I've been wanting to expand said chapter for a while now and I guess I finally have an excuse.

To hold you over I'll give you two tidbits to think on while I work on updating my old work.

The first is a couple sentence detailing the war.

The last great rogue human civilization to fall at the hands of the Imperium was the Interex. They rejected the Imperium’s genocidal and xenocidal ways, eventually leading a grand coalition of other unaffiliated empires, human and otherwise, to resist Imperial aggression. The campaign lasted over a century and the Imperium received massive losses, but in the end the alliance fell to the brilliant mind of the Warmaster.
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The second is something I hope you'll recognize as I've put my own twist on it for this story.

I never wanted this, I never wanted to unleash my legions. Together we could have become something greater, but you betrayed me, you betrayed us all. You put on a facade, and strung me along for all to see. I know now that your civilization is nothing but a blight on this galaxy. Mankind has only one chance to prosper, since you will not seize it, I will.

So let it be war. From the skies of Terra to the galactic rim. Let the seas boil, let the stars fall. Though it takes the last drop of my blood. I will see the galaxy freed once more, and if I cannot save it from your failures kinsman, then let the galaxy burn.

I'm happy to have already gotten over 200 views on this story, thanks to everyone who has read it.

Now I have a question, I'm currently working on updating my write-up on the war between the Imperium and the Interex-Coalition and have a question. I can immediately post a version of it that covers why the war started and how a paragraph or two on how it began or I could take my time (likely a week or two) and do a pretty detailed edit on the beginning of the war. Which would you all prefer?

Great Crusade: Part 1

From humanity’s homeworld emerged the Emperor of Mankind, He who swept aside the terrible tyrants and psyker monstrosities that had come to rule Terra during Old Night. After the conquest of Terra and Luna in the Unification Wars, and the tentative peace with Mars through the Treaty of Olympus, He turned His gaze to the stars, and set out to unite the scattered masses of mankind with His legions of Space Marines.

The Great Crusade marked the end of the Age of Strife. The end to darkness, anarchy, and pain. It would be the beginning of a new golden age for mankind.

Unknown to most, the crusade which was to reshape the face of the galaxy had a secondary purpose, to find the lost Primarchs, transhumans of immense power and the progenitors of the Space Marines. One by one they were to be found and inducted into the Emperor’s great endeavor, willingly or otherwise. 

And so the march of the newly founded Imperium of Man began, only hampered by the teeming Ork hordes and the horrific Rangdans, both would be defeated despite the great cost. 

With the destruction of the last great Ork empire based around Ullanor, the Emperor talked with His favored son Horus Lupercal, and then made him the new Warmaster. Afterwards the Emperor returned to Terra, His son Magnus the Red and his legion, the Thousand Sons, in tow. He would not be seen again for a long time.

The Great Crusade continued undaunted, crushing all those who dared stand in its way, including thousands of myriad xeno species, and even rogue human civilisations, who had the temerity to oppose the Imperium’s righteous cause.

Several years after Ullanor, Horus encountered an advanced Human civilization known at the Interex, and although they were abhumans, Horus was taken with them. Another human civilization that has endured the horrors of Old Night, and with such different policies than the Imperium. For months Horus courted the Interex, telling them about the Emperor’s Great Work and all He had accomplished in humanity’s name. This peace and supposed brotherhood would not last. 

In secret the Interex had been horrified by the atrocities committed by the Imperium and had sent out a chosen few to warn the surrounding human and xenos civilizations of the coming Imperium. Under the guise of human trade ships, foreign leaders came and held council with the Interex government behind closed doors in parallel with the Warmasters visits, and in time a coalition was formed to resist Imperial aggression. 

At the grand event known as the Signing of Unity that was to join Interex and Imperium as one, the Interex struck. Using what the Imperials thought were ceremonial weapons, thousands of Astartes were slain in moments and the Imperial Army nearly left headless.

Horus was left reeling, never having suffered a betrayal so great. Even so, he managed to order a retreat back to the Expeditionary Fleet in orbit. Although there was much opposition, the Warmaster successfully escaped the planet in a Stormbird, it’s void shields only barely holding off the immense amount of anti-air fire being unleashed by the Interex.

Back aboard the his flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, Horus was prepared to turn the planet to ash when a bridge member informed him that several thousand ships, of xenos and human make, had just arrived at the edge of the system.

Realizing that this was the second stage of the Interex’s attack and that the Expeditionary Fleet couldn’t defeat such a large enemy fleet, Horus ordered all ships to make for the Mandeville Point.

From there, the beginning of the war was swift and planet after planet fell, the Imperium’s forces too slow to react and too under-equipped to defend against the Coalition. The Astartes were too few to truly defend a galaxy spanning empire and the Imperial Army who relied on numerical superiority, were now outnumbered and outgunned.

As Horus tried to coordinate the Imperium’s military to counter Coalition attacks, he noticed Imperial forces other than the esteemed Solar Auxilia and the Legiones Astartes died in droves. Refusing to let this heretical Coalition bleed the Imperium dry, the Warmaster demanded the total reorganization and rearmament of Imperium’s military.

The Imperial Army would be split into the Lunar Auxilia and the Astra Militarum, each equipped, armed, and organized similarly to the venerable Solar Auxilia cohorts already fielded by the Imperium. The Lunar Auxilia would be a permanently attached force of mortal soldiers to the Legions, while the Astra Militarum would be the successor of the Imperial Army and take over its duties. These revisions would later be known as Horus’ Reformations and many now believe they are what saved the Imperium from destruction.

Regardless of the orders of the Warmaster, the Mechanicum’s Forge Worlds at the time were not capable of producing such advanced equipment in such large numbers. Few Forge Worlds complied with the initial demands made of them, the rest claiming it was not ideal to rework their forges at the present time and that they would increase their output instead.

This did little to help the Imperium as it meant its soldiers simply had more equipment that had already proven inadequate against its current foe. After the loss of several more planets to the Interex-Coalition, Horus knew that something had to be done.

Furious at being disobeyed by the Mechanicum, Horus departed the frontlines to Terra, leaving the Mournival in command of the mustered forces. It was there he would demand an audience with the Fabricator-General and the Council of Terra to seek retribution and explain the dire circumstances the Imperium found itself in.

Upon arrival Horus’ audience was granted and the High Lords gathered to hear what could possibly cause the Warmaster to leave the Great Crusade unattended. Throughout the explanation many of the High Lords were dismissive of the idea that an alliance of xenos and rogue humans could possibly threaten the Imperium. However, when Horus got to the end of his speech and plainly stated the losses the Imperium had incurred while all but accusing the Mechanicum of treason they were shocked.

It was here that Malcador the Sigilite, First Lord of Terra, simply turned at the Fabricator-General and asked if he would let the Imperium be picked apart by its lessers or if his Mechanicum would comply with the Warmaster’s orders.

Looking backed into a corner, the Fabricator-General confirmed that the Mechanicum would stand by the Imperium once more, as it always had, and that he would personally ensure that all the Forge Worlds who had denied Horus’ request were punished.

Many Imperial historians look back on this moment and wonder what would have happened if the Fabracator-General had denied the Warmaster his due, if the two great powers that were the Imperium and the Mechanicum would have gone to war or if that period would have been the end of civilization as they knew it.

With the Fabricator-Generals assistance, Horus was able to make the Forge Worlds of the Mechanicum rapidly comply with retooling their manufactorums to produce the advanced wargear of the soon to be defunct Solar Auxilia. Even working at a feverish pace, it would still be years before the retooled forges produced their first batch of equipment.

Among Horus’ victories during this time is the legendary Gambit of Formund, a trap which saw a large portion of the Interex-Coalition fleet destroyed in their march down the Eastern Fringe, and the Routing of Coralax, where the Warmaster was able to fend off a full scale invasion with only five thousand Astartes and a half strength cohort of the Solar Auxilia.

Had these battles not been won it is believed the war would have made it to the Forge World Triplex-Phall and the nearby world of Signus Prime, both major sources of industry and soldiers for not just the Eastern Fringe but the Imperium as a whole. The loss of several hundred God-Engines and tens of millions of loyal soldiers would have let the Interex-Coalition crush the remaining bastions of Imperial might in the Eastern Fringe and would have had them at the gates of Ultramar in just a few years.

While some believe the Realm of Ultramar would have been enough to defeat the heretical alliance, others find them naive. By this point in the war, over a hundred xenos species had been recorded fighting in the Eastern Fringe as combatants for the Coalition and there was a large increase in xenos incursions all across the Imperium, drawing large parts of the Imperial Army and even some Legions away from the main front.

Thankfully, Horus was able to blunt the Interex-Coalition’s advance long enough for the Forge Worlds to complete their task and start producing the wargear necessary for the Lunar Auxilia and Astra Militarum to be born.

Finally, after decades of losing ground the Imperium deployed its newly reorganized forces, not just in the Eastern Fringe but all across the Imperium. Quickly taking ground and surprising the Interex-Coalition with their determination and hatred, the Imperium burned hundreds of worlds.

While many of these worlds were formerly of the Imperium, the inhabitants had been assimilated into the Coalition and somehow indoctrinated against Imperial culture. For millennia the Imperium’s hostorians have called into question the accuracy these reports. Many ask how worlds that had been Compliant for generations have been indoctrinated to the ideals of the Interex-Coalition so quickly. Primarchs themselves have given their word of the accuracy of the reports but admit that they themselves had never found an answer.

For over a century Imperial and Coalition forces fought across the galaxy. Over five million Astartes were slain and countless Astra Militarum formations were killed to the last, but in the end the alliance fell to the brilliant mind of the Warmaster.

This would be the final military campaign of what would later be considered the first stage of the Great Crusade. After the final battle on the planet where the Coalition’s leaders had hidden, Horus spoke to his brothers and the Lord Marshals of the Astra Militarum, declaring the worlds of mankind safe and that he would hold a Triumph in his fathers honor, for it was He who had made it all possible.

The Aquila flag flew from the Halo Stars to the Eastern Fringe, uniting all of mankind under one banner. The myriad xenos species that had plagued mankind during Old Night had all but been destroyed and the rate of incursions into human space had dropped close to zero.

It was a time of legend and the masses celebrated mankind’s ascension across a million worlds. On Terra the Solar Triumph was held. Every Astartes Legion marched the streets and millions of Astra Militarum cohorts held parades for the adoring citizens of the Imperium. Picts and videos from this event would be spread throughout the Galaxy and become some of the most famous images in human cultural memory.