The origin of Heresy. A sort of educational ‘for funsies’ thread.

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**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

How do?

So this is a thread of historical information, which I thought might be fun. See, the other day I took delivery of Realm of Chaos, Slaves to Darkness, as provided through my Loot Group On Facebook.

It’s the re-print they sell at Warhammer World, and worth every penny.

But what got my grey matter on the boil was the two pages that described the Heresy. That book is 30 years old, and it’s genuinely quite interesting to see just how little has changed, despite the Heresy novel series becoming somewhat sprawling.

The beginning of it is identical. Horus lauded (though not named as a Primarch. I think that entire concept came later?), but ‘fell ill’ on Davin. Turns out, totally possessed by Daemons. Naughty, filthy, ‘orrible Daemons.

The Eisenstein, yep that’s there. And again, it’s yoinked after the first Istvaan atrocity, bringing word to The Emperor Of Horus’ treachery.

The Istvaan drop massacre? Well, it’s kind of there, just slightly different. The same ‘Chapters’ (as they were then) were deployed, but the traitorous bungholes were the second wave, and helped polish off the Loyalists. Back then, a mere five Loyalists survived, carrying with them the entire future of their Chapter.

Mars rebelling is also there, as is further treachery.

For a setting that’s been told and re-told, I’m actually quite impressed at just how much has remained fairly consistent.

Curiously though, at that point it was Imperial Fists and White Scars defending Terra. And there’s absolutely no mention of Sanguinius or The Blood Angels at all. And when one considers the climax of the Heresy, that stuck in my mind.

So there’s a potted version of V1.2 of the Heresy (the original original being mere page filler in the Rogue Trader book. True story!)

I’m hoping those better versed in the lord of yesteryear can help fill in the blanks. That includes stuff I’ve not directly mentioned here, and rough approximations as to when the other bits and bobs were added, up to the launch of ‘Visions of Heresy’, which was BL’s first foray into documenting this horrible period of Imperial History.

**Luciferian**

I by no means have exhaustive knowledge on the subject, but from what I do know the Horus Heresy originally came about as a cost-saving measure for the Epic-scale games Adeptus Titanicus and Space Marine, released in the late 80's. If they made all of the models the same they could save on design and production costs, so they made an in-universe justification for civil war. The Adeptus Titanicus rulebook briefly goes over the events of the Heresy, but doesn't go into very much detail. Everything is the same, including Horus becoming daemon-possessed on Davin, but as you say there is no mention of Sanguinius. Also, the Emperor teleports to Horus' command bunker on Terra instead of his ship in orbit.

The Horus Heresy board game came out in 1993. I can't find the rulebook for it but I think it also provided a brief overview of the Siege of Terra. As far as I know, the next expansion of the setting started happening when BL started releasing the Visions of Heresy books around 2003ish, then the Horus Heresy novel series, and finally FW made it a full-fledged game system with Alan Bligh's Horus Heresy in 2012.

So really there was never too much to retcon, because the earlier forays into the setting didn't contain much detail, and what details were contained in Adeptus Titanicus, Space Marines and Realms of Chaos remain mostly intact with minor changes.

**AndrewGPaul**

At the time Slaves to Darkness was published, "Primarchs" existed as a term (it, and mention of the Horus Heresy are in the caption to a picture of Leman Russ as a heavily-built individual with extensive facial bionics staring out of the page), and the background of the Space Marine's implants had also been published, so it's possible that the idea that the Marine Chapters had the DNA of their Primarchs already existed, but they weren't the superhuman (and super-Marine) creatures we see them as now. They were big, imposing, martial men, but not completely oversized; you might look at Leman Russ or Horus and think "crikey, he's a big lad!" but not "what a freak!" Also, Other than Sanguinius' wings and Magnus' single eye, they weren't as differentiated as they are now. The 1st edition Space Marine rulebook from 1989 has pictures of both Horus and Rogal Dorn. The latter just looks like a regular man, albeit an experienced veteran.

The story of the Emperor vs Horus was changed when published in 1990's The Lost and the Damned, as written by Bill King. That moved the site of th confrontation from the ground to space, replaced Ollanius Pius with an Imperial Fists terminator and added the fate of Sanguinius.

The story of the siege of the Emperor's palace also written by Bill King for the Horus Heresy boardgame is available online - it was in WD 161. That gives us the Marine Chapters and Titan Legions present, names the spaceports and gates of the palace and introduces the set pieces - Sanguinius defeating the Bloodthirster, the Deaths Heads breaking through the outer palace wall, the White Scars retaking the main spaceport and the destruction of the floating fortress.

The bottom of the Space Marine box (and a lot of the advertisements in WD) featured sizeable forces of the Thousand Sons and Ultramarines clashing in combat - This was before the removal of Prospero to the Eye of terror effectively removed most of the Thousand Sons from the Heresy.

Most of the artwork in Visions of Heresy came from the Horus Heresy CCG; I don't know if that game added much to the story.

The major changes are making the Word Bearers, Night Lords, Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion followers of Chaos undivided (originally the Word Bearers and Night Lords were followers of Khorne, and the other two Slaaneshi) and the Rubric of Ahriman making them all automata.

The original material had all the Imperial institutions existing in the Heresy as they do in 40k; Horus mentions the Inquisition at one point, for example, and the buildings of the Imperial cult are included in the scenery in the Space Marine game.

**Lord Fishface**

Along with the Eisenstein, Captains Garro, Tarvitz and Varren were all originally named in the same bit of short fiction in the 1st Ed Epic Space Marine rulebook. That’s a nice little continuity nod by Abnett and friends.

**AndrewGPaul**

According to that bit, the Thousand Sons were at Isstvan too.

"You realize that you are preaching mutiny?" Brother- Captain Tarvitz
nodded gravely. "Betray Horus or betray the Emperor what choice is
there?" The Space Marine officers looked a each other in silence for a
few seconds. Tarvitz leaned forward across the table, resting on his
fists.
"Fact: in the five Chapters under his command, Horus has installed
this system of feral-world warrior lodges that he picked up on Davin.
The standard Imperial organizations and command structures laid
down in the Codex have been completely disregarded.
"Fact: the bulk of the Marines in our five Chapters have repudiated
their Marine's oath and sworn loyalty to the feral world deities.
Further; they have sworn loyalty to Horus personally. Heresy and
blasphemy.
"Fact: the Isstvan campaign has been conducted without even the
pretense of orders from Terra. While l do not presume to speak for the
Emperor; l cannot believe that the use of a virus bomb on Isstvan III
was justifiable. A single Company from a single Chapter dropped on
the rebel headquarters would have answered the case.
"I say the Emperor must know what is happening here. who is with
me? Varren? What say the World Eaters?" A red- uniformed officer
stood.
"There are "'ten men I can trust. They are yours."
"Garro?" A Captain of the Death Guards looked up.
"A dozen. I wish it were more."
"Ten from the Luna Wolves..”
“Twenty from the Thousand Sons."
"Be sure they are all trustworthy. If you have the slightest doubt, do
not commit them. Of my own Emperor's Children, there are ten I am
sure of including myself" There was a pause as the paucity of their
force sunk in.
"Seventy Marines," said Brother-Captain Varren of the World Eaters,
'The sum of our five Chapter numbers - a good omen, perhaps?" A
couple of the others smiled, and the tension of the moment was broken.
"Seventy Marines." repeated Tarvitz. "Enough for any task, I think. So,
to work. Varren, your men will seize control of the frigate Eisenstein in
three hours from now. It is on the edge of the fleet, and should be clear
for the jump to Warp Space." Mirren nodded.
"The Eisenstein has been having maneuver-drive trouble." he said,
with exaggerated innocence. "She's been falling behind the fleet all
day." Tarvitz grinned.
"Good. The rest of us will arrange for our ships to lag behind with her
in case of… further trouble with the drives. Three hours from now, we
will all assemble full crew for an emergency briefing. Meanwhile, our
trusted men take control of the systems on all five ships. Clear all
remaining ships from around the Eisenstein and keep her covered until
she makes the jump to warp space. Then, cause as much damage as
you can to the rest of the fleet. History will vindicate us"
He turned to Varren. "Your World Eaters are our only hope," he said,
"Do not fail." Varren's eyes became serious. "We cannot fail.” he
said, "There is too much at stake. Your deaths will be avenged."