Horus

Horus, also known as the Lupercal during his lifetime by the Astartes of his Luna Wolves Legion, was one of the twenty genetically-engineered Space Marine Primarchs created by the Emperor of Mankind from the foundation of his own DNA before the start of the Great Crusade to lead the armies of the newborn Imperium of Man. Horus was the Primarch of the Luna Wolves Legion of Space Marines (later renamed the Sons of Horus), the most favoured son of the Emperor of Mankind, and ultimately, the greatest Traitor in the history of Mankind. Horus' homeworld was the hive world of Cthonia which lay only a few light years from Terra. Horus was the first Primarch to be rediscovered by the Emperor after the Great Crusade began in the early 31st Millennium.

Early Life

Created by the Emperor in the gene-laboratories under the Himalayas mountain range on Terra in the late 30th Millennium, Horus, along with his brothers the other Primarchs, were scattered across the Milky Way Galaxy through the Warp by the machinations of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. This is said to be when the Dark Gods first planted the seeds of heresy into the infant Primarch, whispering darkly into his soul and tempting him to their cause. The capsule carrying the infant Horus came to rest on the hive world of Cthonia, the primary planet of a star system within a reasonable slower-than-light distance of Terra.

As such, he was the first of the Primarchs to be rediscovered by the Emperor, and for many years was the only son of the ruler of Mankind. There was said to be a great affinity between them; the Emperor spent much of his time with Horus, instructing the latter in all aspects of culture and warfare. The Emperor quickly granted command of the Luna Wolves Legion to Horus, and with these warriors at their backs, began to forge the Imperium of Man.

The Great Crusade

For thirty years, Horus and the Emperor fought together, saving each other's life on several occasions. However, the discovery of a second Primarch was inevitable, and while the Emperor left to meet another of his sons, Horus was left in command of the Great Crusade. While happy that he would soon meet one of his brothers, Horus swore to himself that he would always remain the Emperor's favoured child.

As the Great Crusade pushed outward, and more Primarchs were discovered, the Emperor's time became divided, pulled in more and more directions. Horus was often placed in overall strategic command of the Crusade, a position in which he proved his skill time and time again. He quickly won the approval and support of the other Space Marine Legions, along with their leaders.

One of the skills that made Horus such a great general and leader, above his warrior skills and ability to strategise, was that he possessed an innate understanding of psychology; able to read men so as to promote their strengths or exploit their weaknesses. This allowed him to find a non-military solution to several campaigns, using his skills of negotiation and the threat of unstoppable force to bring world leaders into the Imperium without bloodshed. Horus always ensured that he followed any local customs, believing that he would lessen the hostile reaction of opponents who wished to parley.

His understanding of the human mind allowed Horus to find the best within his fellow Primarchs, allowing him to deploy the various Legions into battlefield roles that they were best suited to. He quickly learned of the skills belonging to the White Scars and Night Lords for rapid strikes, while the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors would be at the forefront of sieges. Horus was said to wield the Space Marine Legions, and later the human soldiers of the Imperial Army, as a lesser general would position individual squads to perform to their advantages. He was also responsible for promoting competitive rivalries between certain Legions, rivalries that would overflow into outright hatred when the Great Crusade took a turn for the worse.

Corruption by Chaos

Shortly after Horus' Legion declared victory in the great Ullanor Crusade against the Orks, the Emperor declared that this was the greatest victory yet for his Imperium. The Emperor offered Horus the honour of renaming his legion the Sons of Horus in honour of himself and to show his power. Horus refused this, but was promoted to the rank of Warmaster, Supreme Commander of the Imperium's millions-strong armies.

Despite the rank bestowed on him, it was said that Horus was not content. The wording of the Emperor's declaration, claiming the glory of Horus' victories as entirely his own, chafed. Although this was the usual rhetoric for such announcements, Horus saw that while the Emperor will remain comfortable in his palace on Terra, Horus would be out in the field of battle, winning the Emperor's Imperium for him. It seemed that a deep-rooted resentment had finally been brought to the surface.

First Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers, a legion secretly in league with the forces of chaos, became a very close friend and adviser of the Warmaster. The Words Bearers, who originally worshiped the Emperor as a god, were chided for their constant need to erect temples and shrines dedicated to the emperor on newly conquered worlds. They believed that the forces of chaos were more worthy of their loyalty and worship, and began their secret plans to convert humanity to chaos, starting with Horus.

Placing their agent near Horus, Erebus slowly managed to twist the thinking of the Warmaster and turn half of the Mournival, the War masters trusted advisers, against him. This culminated on Davin, where Horus was wounded by an alien weapon stolen by Erebus and given the corrupted general on the planet. The general was under the power of Nurgle, the Chaos God of disease and decay, and managed to seriously wound the Warmaster with the sword.

Erebus convinced the warrior lodge to allow him to take the Warmaster to a secret sect on Davin and use sorcery to treat the Warmaster. The warrior lodge was another of Erebus's ploys to infiltrate and corrupt the space marines into turning against the Emperor. However, not all Marines would join the lodge, which lead to their punishment later on Istvan III.

The secret sect on Davin was really a chaos shrine, and using sorcery, which was outlawed by the emperor, managed to warp the mind of the war master against the emperor by playing on his dejected feelings about his father. Magnus, another Primarch, tried to unmask Erebus but Horus's fall to the power of Chaos was now complete. When Horus recovered, he and the warrior lodge forged their plans to overthrow the emperor

The Horus Heresy

The first sign the Emperor accepted of Horus' turning was when he used virus-bombs to 'pacify' a planet, killing sixteen billion to defeat one man and his tiny heretical faction. When the Emperor demanded an explanation, Horus retorted by denouncing the Emperor, claiming him unworthy of the battles fought in his name. Horus then went on to declare that he would replace the Emperor as the head of Mankind. The Emperor, worried by the outburst of his son, ordered seven Legions of Space Marines to find Horus, determine his loyalty, and destroy him and his Legion if necessary.

Of the seven Legions sent to Istvaan V, four turned to the side of Horus. Between them and the three Legions already on planet, they almost completely annihilated the loyal Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard Legions. Horus had just declared civil war on the galaxy, beginning a series of events that would still bear his name ten thousand years later.

In total nine Space Marine Legions turned Traitor, along with many regiments of the Imperial Army and the battlefleets of starships which were under their control. They began to lay waste to the Imperium that Horus had fought so hard to construct. The Horus Heresy came close to shattering the Imperium as brother fought brother on the battlefields of a thousand worlds.

The final stage of Horus' plan to defeat the Emperor resulted in the fifty-five day Siege of the Emperor's Palace on Terra. Battering the defenders with almost innumerable forces, Horus may have achieved his goal. However, on the fifty-fifth day, Horus learned that the Space Wolves, Ultramarines and Dark Angels Legions were on their way to reinforce the horribly outnumbered Loyalist forces on the surface.

Gambling the result of the Heresy on a single action, Horus lowered the shields protecting his battle barge, the Vengeful Spirit. The Emperor, accompanied by an elite bodyguard of Space Marines, teleported aboard the Warmaster's flagship, but were scattered throughout the Chaos-warped starship by the powers of Chaos at Horus' command. Horus easily defeated several Veteran Imperial Fists before slaying Sanguinius, the angelic Primarch of the Blood Angels. Finally, the Emperor himself found his way to Horus' throne room, and engaged his once-beloved son in a titanic duel.

Although accounts of the actual battle vary, almost all confirm that the end of the duel resulted in Horus' death, and the fatal wounding of the Emperor. Knowing instantly that their leader had fallen, the Forces of Chaos that had declared their loyalty to Horus splintered and fled, their daemonic allies disappearing back into the Warp without Horus' power to maintain their link to the material universe. Pursued by Imperial forces, most of the Traitor Space Marines retreated into the vast Warp Storm in the Segmentum Obscurus known as the Eye of Terror. The Sons of Horus did likewise, but under the direction of Horus' First Captain, Ezekyle Abaddon, the remaining Chaos Space Marines of the Traitor Legion took the time to launch an assault on Horus' battle barge and retrieve their leader's body from the throne room of the Vengeful Spirit.

After Death

The tragic tale of Horus does not end with his death aboard his flagship, the Vengeful Spirit. His body was enshrined on the Daemon World the Sons of Horus claimed for their own within the Eye of Terror after they renamed themselves once more as the Black Legion. He resided there for several hundred years, before the body was stolen by Fabius Bile and the Emperor's Children Traitor Legion, in an attempt to clone the body of the Warmaster.

Abaddon led an assault on the fortress, and believing that the worship of his Legion's dead Primarch had trapped them and led them to the brink of destruction, utterly destroyed Horus' corpse and claimed the Warmaster's Power Claw, the 'Talon of Horus', as his own.

Sources

Chambers, Andy (2004). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Space Marines, 4th Edition, Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1841545260.
Games Workshop Design Staff (2002). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Chaos Space Marines, 1st Edition, Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1841543225.
Abnett, Dan (2006). Horus Rising. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 184416294X.

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