THE HORUS HERESY
Graham McNeill
A THOUSAND SONS
All is dust…
original scan by Undead
edited by fractalnoise
v1.3 (2012.01)
The Horus Heresy
It is a time of legend.
Mighty heroes battle for the right to rule the galaxy. The vast armies of the Emperor of Earth have conquered the galaxy in a Great Crusade – the myriad alien races have been smashed by the Emperor’s elite warriors and wiped from the face of history.
The dawn of a new age of supremacy for humanity beckons.
Gleaming citadels of marble and gold celebrate the many victories of the Emperor. Triumphs are raised on a million worlds to record the epic deeds of his most powerful and deadly warriors.
First and foremost amongst these are the primarchs, superheroic beings who have led the Emperor’s armies of Space Marines in victory after victory. They are unstoppable and magnificent, the pinnacle of the Emperor’s genetic experimentation. The Space Marines are the mightiest human warriors the galaxy has ever known, each capable of besting a hundred normal men or more in combat.
Organised into vast armies of tens of thousands called Legions, the Space Marines and their primarch leaders conquer the galaxy in the name of the Emperor.
Chief amongst the primarchs is Horus, called the Glorious, the Brightest Star, favourite of the Emperor, and like a son unto him. He is the Warmaster, the commander-in-chief of the Emperor’s military might, subjugator of a thousand worlds and conqueror of the galaxy. He is a warrior without peer, a diplomat supreme.
As the flames of war spread through the Imperium, mankind’s champions will all be put to the ultimate test.
CONTENTS
A THOUSAND SONS
The Horus Heresy
CONTENTS
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
BOOK ONE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
BOOK TWO
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
BOOK THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
The Thousand Sons
MAGNUS THE RED, Primarch of the Thousand Sons Legion
The Corvidae
AHZEK AHRIMAN, Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons
ANKHU ANEN, Guardian of the Great Library
AMON, Captain of the 9th Fellowship, Equerry to the Primarch
The Pyrae
KHALOPHIS, Captain of the 6th Fellowship
AURAMAGMA, Captain of the 8th Fellowship
The Pavoni
HATHOR MAAT, Captain of the 3rd Fellowship
The Athanaeans
BALEQ UTHIZAAR, Captain of the 5th Fellowship
The Raptora
PHOSIS T’KAR, Captain of the 2nd Fellowship
PHAEL TORON, Captain of the 7th Fellowship
The Primarchs
LEMAN RUSS, Primarch of the Space Wolves
LORGAR, Primarch of the Word Bearers
MORTARION, Primarch of the Death Guard
SANGUINIUS, Primarch of the Blood Angels
FULGRIM, Primarch of the Emperor’s Children
The Space Wolves
AMLODHI SKARSSEN SKARSSENSSON, Lord of the 5th Company of Space Wolves
OHTHERE WYRDMAKE, Rune Priest of the 5th Co. of Space Wolves
The Custodes
CONSTANTIN VALDOR, Chief Custodian
AMON, Custodian Guard
Non-Space Marines
MALCADOR, The Sigillite of Terra
KALLISTA ERIS, Historiographer
MAHAVASTU KALLIMAKUS, Scrivener Extraordinary to Magnus the Red
CAMILLE SHIVANI, Architectural Archeohistorian
LEMUEL GAUMON, Societal Behaviourist
YATIRI, Leader of the Aghoru
“The ancient knights’ quest for the grail, the alchemist’s search for the Stone of the Philosophers, all were part of the Great Work and are therefore endless. Success only opens up new avenues of brilliant possibility. Such a task is eternal and its joys without bounds; for the whole universe, and all its wonders… what is it but the infinite playground of the Crowned and Conquering Child, of the insatiable, the innocent, the ever-rejoicing heirs of the galaxy and eternity, whose name is Mankind?”
— The Book of Magnus
“The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.”
— Ahzek Ahriman
“The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself: ye, all which it inherits shall dissolve, and like this insubstantial pageant faded, leave not a rack behind!”
— The Prophecy of Amon
All is dust…
How prophetic those words seem now.
A wise man from ancient Terra said them, or words just like them. I wonder if he was gifted as I am. I say gifted, but with every passing day, I come to regard my powers as a curse.
I look out from the top of my tower, over a landscape of madness and storms of impossible energies, and I remember reading those words in a crumbling book on Terra. Over the centuries, I read every one of the texts from the forgotten ages that filled the great libraries of Prospero, but I do not think I really understood them until today.
I can feel him drawing near with every breath, every heartbeat.
That I still have either is a miracle, especially now.