PART 1

The early history of the First Founding Space Marine Legions is largely lost to the relentless march of time. Accounts and details of those Legions that rebelled (and especially of the Arch-Traitor Horus himself) were further expunged from Imperial records after the Horus Heresy, to deny any knowledge of those events from the vulnerable minds of Imperial citizens. Indeed, only a select handful of powerful individuals know any of the truth and it is likely that none know it all. Such information that does exist is sketchy and anecdotal, and lies in ancient heretical tomes closely guarded by certain Inquisitors or handed down within the secret orders of the original Legions that remained loyal. Sons of Horus: The Black Legion Space Marine Legion, Index Astartes IV, 2004 Sons of Horus: The Black Legion Space Marine Chapter, White Dwarf, volume 168

The Imperial Truth, 2013, edited by Laurie Goulding 

Before the publication of the many, many volumes of The Horus Heresy, the earliest records of the Great Crusades and terrible betrayals enacted during the Horus Heresy provided an official history that is often at odds with the more recently published accounts.  In some cases the anomalies and contradictions are obvious, extreme, and defy explanation, but then there are differences so baffling that they are clearly mistakes. The facts are, of course, difficult to verify, and even statements by the so-called authorities on the subject are often tainted by self-serving agendas and ignorance. The official records are built on elements of fact, but establishing the reality (in the background literature of this fictional setting) requires careful study of all the available material before and after the events in question.

Following the Horus Heresy, thousands of records, archives and libraries were destroyed to purge ad mention, indeed any memory, of the traitors. Ten millennia later there are now billions of Imperial citizens who remain unaware that the rebellion ever happened. However, a few tomes survived, mostly in the hands of those in high authority or heretics whose loyalties still remained undiscovered. It is from these works that historians and Inquisitors have gleaned their knowledge of those ancient times. Of course, shifting out the truth is never easy, because most books are copies of copies or simply forgeries filled with lies. The Enemy Within: The Alpha Legion Space Marine Legion, Index Astartes IV, 2004 Sons of Horus: The Black Legion Space Marine Legion, White Dwarf, volume 268

THE ISTVAAN V DROPSITE MASSACRES

Although the treachery in the Istvaan system triggered rebellion across Compliant worlds throughout the galaxy, the Horus Heresy began long before this. Furthermore, the most recent records contradict earlier accounts as to which Legions were involved and in what capacity, and the exact timing of the galactic uprising. Then there are discrepancies within the timeframe that conflict with specific incidents to consider, particularly in regards to the locations of these events.

Flight of the Eisenstein, 2007, by James Swallow

The earliest records do not name all of the Legions involved in the dropsite massacres, and the few they do have failed to reveal exactly what their roles were, let alone their loyalties, a situation that has led to assumptions that obscure the facts.  More recent accounts provide information that conflicts with preceding records. These have been written years, even decades later. The content must, therefore, be reduced to core elements and reviewed through the process of comparison to all other available data.

The facts that form the foundation of these events are a consisted theme within all the accounts, earliest to most recent. They all indicate that the Horus Heresy was revealed when the Warmaster and his rebel Space Marines virus bombed Istvaan III. The Emperor sent seven loyalist Legions to muster in the Istvaan system to eradicate the traitors, a task that required several months simply to gather the reprisal forces for the attack.

Outright Rebellion Horus’s fall came as a great shock to the Emperor.  He hesitated, stunned by the extent of the Warmaster’s treachery, unable to believe that his friend and general was really gathering forces against him. The Inquisition began a purge of the Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperial Guard but fighting broke out almost immediately as both organisations were shattered into loyalist and rebel factions.  On Mars Techpriests fought with ancient, forbidden weapons as both sides strove to win dominance. The corrupted Imperium tore itself apart as old feuds were revived and ambitious planetary lords seized the opportunity to declare their independence or join with the Warmaster.  Many of them did not realise what manner of monster they were allying themselves with but others embraced Chaos wholeheartedly.  Planetary battles raged across the galaxy as rebels attacked loyalists and vice versa. The Imperial fleet dithered and only succeeded in driving the rebel ships from the Imperial home system.  In the process they suffered such heavy casualties that they withdrew to their Lunar bases. After an almost fatal delay the Emperor finally ordered seven Legions of the Adeptus Astartes to destroy Horus and his rebels. Only with the death of Horus, the figurehead and inspiration of the rebellion, would the revolt come to an end.  But organising and mobilising such a crusade to the other side of the galaxy took precious months. Horus used the time well, consolidating his position and establishing his claim as the “New Emperor” within hundreds of systems.  Wherever Horus was accepted, the worship of Chaos followed. The assault of the loyalist Legions against Horus’s strongholds on Istvaan V were a disaster. The Legions struck with their customary ferocity and cunning but this time they fought brother Space Marines.  Both sides possessed troops as fully capable and hardened as the other, every stratagem and ploy was met and countered.  In the end strategy was overturned by treachery as the initial wave of three loyalist Legions were first mauled during their landings and then destroyed in detail.  Only five Space Marines, bearing the gene-seed of their departed brethren, eventually managed to escape and carry news of the disaster to the Emperor. Somehow Horus had managed to corrupt four of the seven Legions sent against him. After the initial landings the ‘loyalist’ follow-up waves had attacked their allies instead of the rebels. Horus now controlled nine Space Marine Legions and had destroyed three loyal Legions. Throughout the Imperium loyalists and rebels were fighting each other to a virtual standstill, although the tide of battle was turning, ever so slowly in the Emperor’s favour.  Horus knew that if he could crush the heart of the Emperor’s resistance he could remould the Imperium in his own warped image.  He ordered an assault on Earth. Codex: Chaos, 1996, pp9-10

The first wave of three loyalist Legions was massacred when the second wave allegedly declared their allegiance to Horus.  Only five loyalists of the first wave managed to escape the massacre, and fled back to Terra with news of the disaster, carrying the gene-seed of their fallen brethren. The traitors had completely destroyed two Legions and mauled a third so badly it, too, was all but eliminated.

The first real, in depth account was followed by one that confirmed the outcome of the original but named the seven loyalist Legions sent to Istvaan V as the reprisal force. But this version was so flawed that it contradicted and supported the previous record at the same time, and even managed to contradict itself. Despite reiterating the point that only a handful of survivors from the first wave Legions escaped, none of them was destroyed. In fact, two of them comprised enough Space Marines to create several Second Founding Chapters.

This account also claimed the civil war within the Imperium began after the Istvaan V dropsite massacres, rather than before, as was the indication in previous records. The new account raised many questions, including why so many loyalist Legions were required to eliminate what appeared to be one rebel Legion, and what the traitor forces had been doing in the time following the treachery on Istvaan III. The questions would become more important when the next official version of history was published many years later. 

The third variation of this pivotal moment that ended the Great Crusade coincided with the publication of the first volumes of The Horus Heresy, an extensive collection detailing the events that occurred during this period of history. Unfortunately, while it contained many of the core elements of the original documents, it conflicted with a number of those records, presenting contrary claims that reduced much of the collection to nonsense.

The Emperor despatched seven Legions to confront Horus, to call him to account for his actions. The Warmaster’s forces had redeployed to Istvaan V, where the first wave of loyalists made planetfall. The details of what has become known as the Istvaan V Drop Site Massacres are vague, for only a handful of Space Marines survived, and their descendants will not speak of it. According to the Mythos Angelica Mortis, the Raven Guard, Iron Hands and Salamanders made up the first wave of the action, and were caught off guard by the ferocity of the traitor counter-attack. As the first wave became pinned at the drop site, they attempted a breakout, only to discover that the four Legions of the second wave, listed in the Libra Historica as the Iron Warriors, Emperor’s Children, World Eaters and Death Guard, had betrayed them. In the wake of the Drop Site Massacres the Imperium tore itself apart in a galaxy-wide civil war. The empire for which so many had sacrificed so much was cast down overnight. The Space Marine Legions were split and brother fought brother in a war rooted in insanity. The ferocity of the conflict was unmatched in any bloodshed before or after. The bitterness with which a man fights his own kin is far more savage than any war he may persecute as a stranger.  Upon a million worlds, leaders who had sworn fealty to Terra renounced their vows. Governments that had been co-opted into the fold of the Imperium now threw off the shackles of what they saw as an unjust and unworthy rule, regressing to their pre-Imperial states. Where once the rule of the Emperor prevailed, now chaos and anarchy reigned.  Upon thousands of worlds the previously hidden followers of Chaos rose up. The Traitor Legions rampaged across the galaxy committing acts that bore testimony to their new loyalties. The Libra Historica Vangelia, penned in the 34th millennium Codex: Chaos Space Marines, 2002, p5

The identities of three of the second wave Legions that had been revealed in the second variation of the incident were altered. The III ‘Emperor’s Children’, XII ‘World Eaters’ and XIV ‘Death Guard’ Legions were now part of the traitor forces that sided with Horus during the virus bombing of Istvaan III. The XX ‘Alpha Legion’ had been returned to the role of a second wave Legion alongside the IV ‘Iron Warriors’, just as the original accounts recorded, but the other two Legions that formed the second wave made no sense.

Both the VIII ‘Night Lords’ and XVII ‘Word Bearers’ Legions had previously been recorded as having turned traitor before the events of the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre. The third evolution of the incident did manage to retain the original references to the loyalists aboard the Eisenstein who carried warning to the Emperor about the massacres, and even named them as part of the XIV ‘Death Guard’ Legion.

The third evolution of the incident also indicated that the rebellion across the galaxy occurred after the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacres, contradicting previous accounts which revealed this had happened following the virus bombing of Istvaan III, before the treachery on Istvaan V. This is perhaps one of the most important aspects of the Horus Heresy because it establishes the legitimacy of records, chiefly which Legions were involved and the roles they played.

As a result, The Horus Heresy series presents a great deal of information which not only contradicts the previous versions (particularly literature in the Index Astartes series), but is so manifestly illogical and inconsistent that it is laughable. However, it is possible to ascertain what might be fact from all the misinformation, assumptions and propaganda; we must simply consider and analyse all the evidence.

The Dropsite Massacres The assault by the loyalist Legions against Horus’s strongholds on Istvaan V was a disaster.  The Legions struck with their customary ferocity and cunning but this time they fought brother Space Marines.  Both sides possessed troops as fully capable and hardened as the other, knowing every stratagem and plot the other would employ.  In the end strategy was overturned by treachery.  Four of the Seven Legions sent against Horus had been tainted by Chaos and now sided with the Warmaster.  Instead of supporting the landings, they turned on the three loyal Legions.  The initial wave of three loyalist Legions was heavily mauled during the landings and then all but destroyed in the subsequent fighting.  Only five Space Marines, bearing the gene-seed of their butchered brethren, escaped the slaughter to carry news back to the Emperor.  During the drop site massacre, the veteran companies of the Iron Hands Legion fought gallantly beside their Primarch Ferrus Manus, but they were hopelessly outnumbered by the sudden appearance of the full strength of Horus’ Legions.  In moments the Iron Hands were swamped by foes too numerous to count.  World Eaters, Death Guard, Emperor’s Children and Sons of Horus Space Marines poured over the Urgall Hills.  The loyal Space Marines struggled to maintain order and cohesion in their perimeter as they desperately tried to stave off the seemingly never-ending onslaught launched by the traitors. Meanwhile the Salamanders and Raven Guard Legions fell back to the dropsite to regroup and rendezvous with four Legions – the Word Bearers, Iron Warriors, Alpha Legion and Night Lords.  Vulkan and Corax, the Legions’ respective Primarchs, were still unaware that their erstwhile allies had sworn to Horus.  This soon became apparent as the four newly arrived Legions began firing on them.  The Salamanders and Raven Guard were later caught between two traitor armies as the Iron Hands veterans were killed to a man, failing to hold off the counter-attack launched by Horus. The Salamanders and Raven Guard were massively outnumbered.  Lesser troops would simply have given up in the face of such overwhelming opposition, but the warriors of Vulkan and Corax were Space Marines and so they fought with all the strength they possessed.  Even so it was a massacre. Horus now controlled nine Legions and had succeeded in destroying three loyalist Legions in the process.  All across the galaxy, loyalists and rebels were at each other’s throats, gripped in a bitter conflict that would see all of Mankind destroyed – or worse, enslaved to the Ruinous Powers.  However, even with his Space Marine Legions, Horus could sense that soon the tide would turn against him, for his uprising would lose heart in the face of staunch loyalist resistance.  He needed to crush the hearts of the Emperor’s followers, and he chose to launch a full-scale assault on the seat of all Imperial power: Earth. Codex: Chaos Space Marines, 2007, pp13-14

THE XVII ‘WORD BEARERS’ LEGION

Long before the Horus Heresy, Lorgar and the XVII ‘Word Bearers’ Legion were chastised for their failure to advance the Emperor’s Great Crusade as quickly as the other Legions. In 963M30, the XVII Legion was ordered to deploy on the surface of Khar, in the rubble and dust of Monarchia, and rebuked for their failures. Lorgar and his Legion had wasted time building monuments and indoctrinating those they conquered into worshipping the Emperor as a god, a practice that defied Compliance. 

Lorgar and his Legion were humbled in the presence of Lord Malcador, Roboute Guilliman, the Ultramarines 19th Company, and elements of the Legio Custodes, a situation that humiliated Lorgar and many members of the XVII Legion, breeding resentment and, ultimately, treachery. After a period of reflection on the lesson they had been given, a time others referred to as sulking, Lorgar recreated his Legion.   

The Legion returned to the Great Crusade the very image of obedience, destroying any culture that refused the Emperor’s offer of so-called Enlightenment, reducing resistant cultures to ashes and unrecorded memories as if they had never existed. Their new dedication, however, was calculated deception. Lorgar and his most trusted sycophants were secretly sowing the seeds of corruption.

The First Heretic, 2010, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden  

Lorgar decided to seek out being worthy of the worship he and his Legion had once bestowed upon the Emperor, but when he discovered the entities dwelling within the warp, they stopped looking. These creatures appeared to have power, and Lorgar was easily convinced by their manipulations that they were the old gods which he had been seeking.  Their deceitful nature and the possibility that they were manipulating him never once entered Lorgar’s mind, and soon he and his Legion were corrupted. 

“So they do not seek to raise a warning back on Terra,” mused the arch champion, his considered tone at odds with the slack-jawed, drooling visage of the supplicant. “A pity. I suspect Sor Talgron is itching in his traitor’s shackles.” “I trust that brother Talgron would have acquitted himself with distinction, Kor Phaeron.” In the eyes of Zadkiel, Sor Talgron’s mission was not a desirable one. The lord commander was to remain in the Solar System, his four companies ostensibly guarding Terra, in order to maintain the pretence that Lorgar still sided with the Emperor when in fact, he had been instrumental in the Warmaster’s defection.  The Horus Heresy, volume VIII, Battle for The Abyss, pp180-1

The problem with the role of the XVII Legion in the most recent variations of the Istvaan V incident are obvious. In the earliest records, the Word Bearers declared their allegiance to Horus before the dropsite massacres enacted on Istvaan V. They could not have been one of the seven Legions that formed part of the loyalist reprisal fleet. And then there are the incidents on Calth and commandeering of the Abyss to consider.

After the virus bombing of Istvaan III, the loyalists aboard the Eisenstein carried warning back to Terra. Rogal Dorn immediately tightened security measures and it was next to impossible for any vessels to come and leave as they had done before. Zadkiel and his treacherous Word Bearers would never have been able to accomplish their task under those enhanced security measures. The very idea that this occurred after the virus bombing, or even after the dropsite massacres, is ludicrous.

Then there is the distance from Terra to Ultramar to consider, all the way to the eastern fringes, on the other edge of the galaxy. According to the literature, when the XVI ‘Lunar Wolves’ Legion were campaigning around the eastern regions of the galactic core, they were almost three-and-a-half years away from Terra, and at least six weeks warp travel from Murder. At the very least, the distance from Terra to Murder is, therefore, four years warp travel. Since Murder is the same distance from Terra as Terra is from Ultramar and Isstvan, and the same distance as Isstvan is from Ultramar, this creates an interesting set of circumstances to consider in regards to the timeline of the Horus Heresy.

“Here are the conditions,” Loken said. “Stick to them, or I will withdraw my sponsorship of you entirely, and you will be spending a cold forty months lugging your arse back to Terra. First, you reform your habits.” The Horus Heresy, volume I, Horus Rising, p249

The commandeering of the Abyss would have had to occur four years before the attack on Calth. This explains how the Zadkiel’s Word Bearers were able to accomplish their treachery without having to negotiate enhanced security measures in the wake of the Istvaan III and Istvaan V incidents. What it fails to explain is just how the XVII Legion could be part of the reprisal fleet sent to the Istvaan system and then ambush the Ultramarines on Calth less than a year later, and how word of the treachery enacted by the traitor Legions did not arrive before the ambush. The answer may actually explain why the loyalists deployed on the surface of Istvaan V.

THE VIII ‘NIGHT LORDS’ LEGION

Decades before the Horus Heresy, in 984M30, Konrad Curze turned renegade and destroyed his adopted home world, Nostramo, after fleeing into the eastern fringes with elements of his VIII Legion where they launched a campaign of terror and genocide against compliant Imperial worlds. That was just over thirty years before the virus bombing of Istvaan III.

No longer did Night Haunter crusade in the name of the Emperor, who he now denounced as a weak hypocrite without the courage to admit that his own doctrines were just as extreme. Now the Primarch fought in the name of death and fear, knowing full well how the horrific arsenal at his disposal could aid him in his malign work. Night Haunter changed physically during this time, his lips receding completely, his muscular frame hunching over, and his gnarled hands stretching into grasping talons. Appalled by his son's grotesque acts, the Emperor was forced by repeated protests to call Night Haunter to account, demanding his presence for a full inquiry into his Legions' methods. But as the edict was issued, and the slow but powerful arm of Imperial law stretched out to Night Haunter, the greatest betrayal the Imperium had ever seen came to terrible fruition. Horus, first among the Emperor's chosen, betrayed him by converting several of the Space Marine Legions to the worship of Chaos. The true extent of his treachery became evident to the Emperor at Istvaan V, and the quest to bring the Night Lords to justice was abandoned as the Imperium tore itself apart in all-out war. Bringers of Darkness: The Night Lords Space Marine Legion, Index Astartes II, 2003 Bringers of Darkness: The Night Lords Space Marine Chapter, White Dwarf, volume 261

One of the earliest records that detailed the first meeting between the Emperor and Konrad Curze was an event known as the Delegation of Light, and includes an account by Captain Lycius Mysander of the Ultramarines. It is similar to one recorded in Shadows of Treachery, volume XXII of The Horus Heresy, but with one noticeable exception – mention of four other Primarchs.

According to the more recent account, Rogal Dorn, Lorgar, Ferrus Manus and Fulgrim were also present during the Delegation of Light, and yet Captain Mysander’s account did not mention any of them. It is entirely possible Curze alone saw those Primarchs, his brothers no more than a vision of a future yet to come. The four of them did, after all, play pivotal roles in his own future, inexplicably tied to one another in different ways.

The Prince of Crows, 2014, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden 

It is also worth noting that the Bringers of Darkness: The Night Lords Space Marine Legion article which was published in Index Astartes II was originally published in White Dwarf, volume 261, with the title Bringers of Darkness: The Night Lords Space Marine Chapter. At that time, the terms Great Company and Chapter referred to several Companies within a Legion, so what appears to be a simple error could reveal something far more profound.

“Lord Dorn was adamant that we not send the fleet assembly orders for the Istvaan expedition to Konrad Curze, only the Night Lords Chapters stationed within the Sol System.” The Horus Heresy, volume XVII, The Outcast Dead, p73

Despite the actions of their Primarch, there is clear evidence that not all of the VIII Legion joined Curze in his insane campaigns of terror and genocide. There is also evidence that the Emperor planned to disband the Night Lords Legion before the Horus Heresy began, but the treachery which occurred in the Istvaan System forced a different course of action. It appears that the loyalist elements of the Night Lords may have been placed under the command of Rogal Dorn and even retrained.

“Greetings brothers,” Cestus began, taking his seat alongside his fellow Ultramarines. “You have the gratitude of Guilliman and the eighth Legion for your attendance here this day.” The Horus Heresy, volume VIII, Battle for the Abyss, p61

There is a very real possibility that Roboute Guilliman may have been asked to assign a number of Ultramarines companies to retrain the loyalist Night Lords Chapters. After Horus, Guilliman was considered the authority on military matters. The Warmaster and his Legion were notorious for being at the forefront of the Great Crusade, and considered training duties beneath them. Guilliman and the Ultramarines took a more practical approach to such duties.

Although the assignment of Captain Cestus and his Ultramarines before their involvement in the incident with the Furious Abyss was never disclosed, his slip of the tongue suggested he and his men had spent a prolonged period of time serving with elements of the VIII Legion. It also seems to have led him to develop an unconscious habit in response to that time, one in which he had become use to referring his command as the VIII Legion.

As dawn broke, the primarch reached Tor Venghis, a mount that overlooked the dropsite where so many of his warriors had been slain. From this vantage point he looked out across the Urgall Hills. Huge dropships dominated the landscape, blazoned with the liveries of the traitors: Sons of Horus, Iron Warriors, World Eaters, Emperor’s Children, Death Guard, Alpha Legion, even the Word Bearers.    The Horus Heresy, volume XXII, Shadows of Treachery, p154

Then there is the reference to the traitor Legions on Istvaan V in the wake of the dropsite massacres that leaves out the Night Lords, as if they took no part in the treachery. There is a curious suggestion that, if they did, their participation was not as traitors. Several older accounts of the Horus Heresy claim that the Night Lords sided with neither faction, but pursued their own agenda. More recent accounts present conflicting claims that Konrad Curze and his renegades were, indeed, present and fought alongside the traitors against the loyalists.

But there is another possibility few consider at all: the Night Lords were divided, and rumour had it the Legion was to be disbanded. Curze had committed crimes against the Imperium well before the Horus Heresy, fled his incarceration after murdering his guards as he awaited whatever censure was to be imposed for attacking Rogal Dorn, then destroyed Nostramo with the renegades of his Legion. These incidents occurred decades before the Horus Heresy began and it makes no sense that no action would be taken in response to this treachery.

But duty had held him back: duty to the Emperor and the Imperium that Horus now sought to destroy. They had returned to Terra, but Dorn had sent his sons as emissaries of his anger. He had named it a Retribution Fleet. Thirty thousand Imperial Fists and over five hundred warships had struck toward Isstvan, a force great enough to subdue a hundred worlds, bearing a brother’s wrath. Now a second force from many Legions gathered to strike at Isstvan, but no word had come from the Retribution Fleet.      The Horus Heresy, volume XXII, Shadows of Treachery, p33

When news of the atrocity on Istvaan III broke, Rogal Dorn sent a full third of his Legion to the Istvaan system in what was names a Retribution Fleet. Thirty thousand legionnaires. A second force also gathered, comprised of elements from other Legions, and also bore the title of Retribution Fleet. There seems to be something which many have overlooked in these accounts, something clouded by the misguided belief – albeit the result of some seriously flawed use of a single word – that seven ‘entire’ Legions were ordered to form that force.

Cassander now saw the full horror of the green glass dewars arranged around the room – a menagerie of body parts, harvested organs and preserved heads. Even in his horrified shock, the scale of these grim specimens told Cassander that they were from the bodies of Space Marines. He saw markings denoting at least eleven Legions. “A hobby of mine,” explained Fabius, relishing Cassander’s disgust. “I have tissue samples from all of the Legions present on Istvaan V. Some given willingly, others… less so. But of all the samples I have in my collection, yours is the one I most anticipate unlocking. Iimagine Dorn’s gene-seed is closest to the source.” The Horus Heresy, volume XXIII, Angel Exterminatus, p148

The Reprisal Fleet may not have included the loyalist Night Lords Chapters as a Legion at all, but as part of the Imperial Fists. The VIII Legion may have actually been disbanded, the loyalist elements reassigned to the VII Legion, and sent with the Imperial Fists contingent of the Reprisal Fleet to Istvaan V. The accounts of what happened to the Imperial Fists component indicate they were trapped in the Phall system as they managed to escape the warp storms impeding their progress, but it may not be the whole story.

According to the literature, only three-hundred-and-sixty-three surviving vessels survived the transition into the Phall system, some the two-hundred ships lost and destroyed, along with ten-thousand Imperial Fists. But there is a possibility their loss was simply assumed in response to the wreckage that was ejected from the warp into the system with the survivors. It is possible that some of that Imperial Fists Reprisal Fleet managed to arrive, as planned, in the Istvaan system to fulfil their duties as instructed.

It is possible that the elements of that Imperial Fists Reprisal Fleet that did arrive, by some freak chance, was comprised of the loyalist elements of the reassigned Night Lords. It is possible the coincidence was orchestrated by Alpha Legion infiltrators so that those loyalists could be purged during the massacres. It is possible Curze and a token force of his renegades were present by invitation, to ‘punish’ all the VIII legionaries he considered ‘weak’ because siding with the Emperor over him, and left once their deed was done.

The pressure against his skull and limbs, however, was less entertaining. The suspensor-wire pressure flightsuits worn by Taye and her crew shared some basic functionality with one of the layers of his own ceramite armour, but it didn’t render him immune to physics. Having skinned and flayed several humans, as well as warriors from five different Legions – including his own – he suspected the feeling of inertial forces threatening to pull his bones apart was fairly approximate of the continuum of pain.          The Horus Heresy, volume XXII, Shadows of Treachery, p391

The recollections of Sevatar indicate that the atrocities the Night Lords inflicted upon their victims were not limited to humans alone, but also legionnaires from five separate Legions, including their own. Their conflict with the Dark Angels would suggest this was one of the other four, and their involvement on Istvaan V makes the other three most likely to have been the Iron Hands, Salamander and Raven Guard, but the fifth being Night Lords appears to support the idea that some of the Night Lords remained loyal to the Emperor.  

This could explain the absence of the Night Lords in the reference to the traitor forces Corax observed as the dropsite massacres approached their inevitable conclusion – why he only named seven instead of eight traitor Legions. Only three of the Reprisal Fleet Legions were named while the second wave supposedly numbered four, which leaves the identity of that fourth Legion unclear. Given the evidence, it appears more than likely the identity of that Legion was not the Night Lords at all, but the Raven Guard.

THE VIRUS BOMBING OF ISTVAAN III

Although the earliest official records of the virus bombing of Istvaan III did not mention the purging of any loyalist elements of the traitor Legions on the surface, or even which Legions were involved, accounts that were published after these have revealed far more information. The III ‘Emperor’s Children’ and XIV ‘Death Guard’ Legions had been assigned the duty of restoring compliance to the Istvaan System when Horus and his recently renamed XVI ‘Sons of Horus’ Legion arrived in the Istvaan System with the XII ‘World Eaters’ Legion.

In a calculated and callous act of betrayal, Horus and the other three Primarchs deployed their suspected loyalist elements on the surface of Istvaan III, then virus bombed the planet. It is unclear whether the entire population of that world had agreed to join the separatist movement, only that Horus willingly sacrificed all twelve billion of them to purge the four traitor Legions.

“Our cousins from the Legion Mortis have decided to join our outing.” The Horus Heresy, volume IV, The Flight of the Eisenstein, p166

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the whole, treacherous incident was a curious reference to the presence of the Legio Mortis on Istvaan III during the initial stages of the loyalist deployment actions. Members of the Death Guard refer to their ‘cousins’ from the Legion Mortis joining them during the conflict, a curious use of the word because it generally means Astartes of another Legion.

“The battle for Calth descended into an underground war. The enemy was the same: our Word Bearers cousins carrying with them a hatred unsought and the shame of our fraternal failure.” The Horus Heresy, volume XXV, Mark of Calth, p238

Honour to the Dead, 2013, by Gav Thorpe

The source of the reference does not indicate who these ‘cousins’ were, however, and since there were only four Legions involved in the incident, it is equally confounding as to why they were not identified in a manner other than ‘cousins’. The Space Marine Legions were often accompanied by Titan Legions, Imperial Army and many other elements, so the presence of Space Marines from a Titan Legion secondment was not unusual, but without any identifiers concerning these ‘cousins’, the mystery deepens.

At the time, the Legions were all considered loyal. The Word Bearers had not yet revealed their disloyalty, while the Emperor’s Children, World Eaters, Death Guard and Sons of Horus were in the process of doing so. There was only one other Legion that had turned against the Emperor, or at least part of one. The VIII ‘Night Lords’ Legion. But if the renegades were present during this incident, why were they not clearly identified?

LEGIO MORTIS (DEATHS HEADS – TRAITOR LEGION) The very name of Legio Mortis has long since become a foul taint to the defenders of humanity, uttered only with fear and loathing.  Their infamy stretches back 10,000 years to the time of the Horus Heresy when the daemon-possessed Warmaster Horus sent the new born Imperium tumbling into bloody civil war. Legio Mortis had fought for the Warmaster in a hundred campaigns during the great crusade, their loyalty had long since been pledged to him rather than the distant Emperor.  When Horus began the heresy by virus-bombing the defenceless world of Istvaan III the Deaths Heads made the landings to scour the corpse-packed hives for the pitifully few survivors.  Some say that mutated strains of the virus brought their final corruption, some say the madness inspired by the billions of putrefying corpses turned their faces to Chaos. Who can say where the truth lies? Certainly when the Legio Mortis landed on Earth to besiege the Emperor’s palace they were warped and mutated almost beyond recognition.  The adamantium skins of their Titans were pocked and bubbled with foul effluvia, great tentacles of twisted flesh and metal lashed, spiked tails whipped back and forth.  Their Titans’ heads had been transformed into drooling daemonic visages filled with malice and their engines roared like angry beasts.     Horus granted the Deaths Heads the honour of breaking through the outer walls of the palace and with wreckers, power rams, warp missiles and their own fiendish bravery they did so despite suffering the loss of over thirty Titans in one night. But despite their efforts the siege failed and Horus was defeated.  The remnants of the Legio Mortis fled from Earth and were hunted and pursued, system by system, to the Eye of Terror. There, where the warp and real space overlap, time has flowed strangely for the Deaths Heads. They remain trapped in servitude to the gods of Chaos, fighting a war that ended 10,000 years ago, building their strength and testing the Imperium’s defences for the time when they shall return and wreak terrible vengeance on all living things for the defeat of their beloved Warmaster. White Dwarf, volume 178

The answer may be found in one of the earliest records of the Horus Heresy. According to some sources, the Legio Mortis Titan Legion was referred to as the ‘Deaths Heads’, but in more recent accounts, this is no longer the case. Instead, the name Deaths Head actually refers to a Warlord Titan in that Titan Legion. The record that lists the two names together in the title can be read two ways. The first assumes the Legio Mortis and Deaths Heads are one and the same. The second suggests they are two separate entities.

The way the article is written suggests the Legio Mortis was attached to a traitor Space Marine Legion during that time, but there were no Legions that went by that name. Some suspect this may have been one of the two Legions whose records were expunged, but other records indicate that those two Legions had been dealt with prior to the virus bombing of Istvaan III.

The Deaths Heads traitor Legion may have been Konrad Curze and his VIII ‘Night Lords’ Legion renegades. If they had been disavowed, and the loyalist elements retained under their name, then the renegade elements would have to be reclassified to avoid confusion. It seems likely the VIII Legion was not always known as the ‘Night Lords’, and Curze changed the name when he took command, so it is possible the Legion was originally known as the Deaths Heads.

During the Istvaan III incident, the full scale of treachery committed by Curze and his renegades would not have been known, and what was would have been rumour and (to the higher ranks) unsubstantiated allegations. It is possible that Horus and the Primarchs with him knew more and of the Emperor’s plans to eliminate their brother and his renegades, but this information would have been kept to themselves and the other conspirators complicit in what was about to unfold.

There is also the possibility that the Deaths Heads Legion nay have been IV ‘Iron Warriors’ Legion, or even X ‘Iron Hands’ Legion, renegades. There is compelling circumstantial evidence to support both, but also evidence to discredit the theories supporting all three of these Legions as the source of the potential Deaths Heads Legion traitors. There is also the possibility that these ‘cousins’ were simply a Chapter of the III ‘Emperor’s Children’, XII ‘World Eaters’ or XVI ‘Sons of Horus’ Legions.

PART 2