#horus heresy: galaxy in flames

[tamethespaghetti]

Sometimes an apology isn’t enough.

[skunts-own-truth]

A friend who has been resistant to Warhammer for 12 years has picked up reading the Horus Heresy because he played Space Marine 2 and “understands Space Marines now.” Fella just finished Horus Rising and False Gods in one week, and I asked him “how was it?” He tells me “I only read the first two books, and now I am so sad…”

Fella just started Galaxy in Flames. If the first two bummed you out, hey, you enjoy that third one there! :D

[candyswirls]

I’m on the last chapter of Galaxy in Flames - Ben Counter.

I’m sobbing. I am in tears.

(Spoilers below the cut)

They all tried so hard!

Saul Tarvitz set on finding Lucius only to learn of the betrayal. Tarik’s death. Little Horus’ regret. Loken welcoming death as rubble collapses around him.

Abbadon feeling empty and Little Horus crying.

The final stand and the loyalists going out with all they had.

My husband is going to be so concerned when he comes home and I’m sobbing but then he’ll understand.

[bravelittlescrib]

Horus Lupercal has a little devil and angel on his shoulder but it’s just Fulgrim and Sanguinius

[leareadsheresy]

Galaxy in Flames

This post contains spoilers for Galaxy in Flames, by Ben Counter, first published as a novel on (as nearly as I can tell) October 10th, 2006.

I'll be honest, I don't have a lot to say about this one. This book is the story of how Horus took the major part of the Sons of Horus, Death Guard, Emperor's Children, and World Eaters Legions to the Istvaan system on false pretenses of putting down another rebellion, and on the planet Istvaan III deployed those portions of them he judged most likely to object to his rebellion against the Emperor in a spearhead strike against the planetary capital, then bombarded the planet from orbit in an attempt to kill all the potential loyalists in a first strike. Saul Tarvitz, an Emperor's Children marine from Horus Rising, does some investigation behind the scenes, figures out the plot, then flees to the planet's surface in time to warn the spearhead, who take shelter underground, allowing many of them to survive the bombardment (virus bombs that otherwise kill all life on the planet, including its six or so billion civillian inhabitants). What follows is then three months of fighting on the surface in the ruins of the planetary capital, with the loyalists in slow retreat, getting whittled down to buy time in the hope that word has gotten out of Horus's treachery and a relief force will be sent to rescue them. No relief force arrives, but their slow defeat does tangle up the traitor forces in time for word of Horus's treachery to make it back to the Imperium. Loken and Torgaddon, the loyalist half of Horus's advisory Mournival council, fight Abaddon and Aximand, the traitor half; Abaddon and Aximand both live, Torgaddon dies, and Loken's fate is left unclear (spoilers he survives and is a character in later books).

It ends like this:

In the meantime, three embedded civilian observers who've been secondary characters in the last two books escape from Horus's flagship the Vengful Spirit to the Eisenstein, the one ship in the fleet held secretly by loyalists, which escapes and will be the subject of the next book. One of them, Euphrati Keeler, is now preaching the Emperor's divinity, manifesting miracles, and being called a saint.

It's essentially an extended action story with a jailbreak B-plot. It makes some odd pacing decisions, basically skipping from the bombardment to the last few day of the siege; I feel like it could have wrung more drama from making the situation more grinding and desperate... but then I'm just describing Helsreach, which is not surprising because Helsreach did this better.

All but one of the traitors have ridden a slip-and-slide down into Saturday morning cartoon villainy in this book; they're now all sneering monsters, constantly internal monologuing their own sense of superiority and expressing petty contempt for everyone around them, including amongst each other. Horus imperiously tells people who were his trusted allies, friends, and close confidants in Horus Rising how cool he is and how they'd better not fail him; those former close confidants and trusted allies just accept that he's right to do that and then treat their former friends and subordinates the same way. It's not even that they feel out of character; they don't really have characters. The exceptions are Lucius, who's like that but more so, because he's one of the series' designated ultra-assholes like Erebus, and Aximand, who kills Torgaddon and feels bad about it. I assume that'll come up later.

Look, it's fine. It does the job it sets out to do. It doesn't fail in any interesting or infuriating ways like False Gods did; the ending is reasonably affecting if you like Saul Tarvitz. It successfully novelizes some lore that was around for decades and moves the events of the series forward. This is one of the most important events in the Heresy and we'll be re-visiting it a lot in future material; I hear some of that future material treats it better than this did.

Euphrati Keeler's role is weird. You would think the book would be interested in playing with tone when it comes to the death of the atheistic Imperial Truth and the birth of the Imperial cult, but like the death of all native life on Istvaan III and the betrayal and murder of the loyalists by their traitor brothers, it's all presented in a very matter-of-fact manner.

[waste-of-a-song]

My favorite part of Galaxy in Flames is when Erebus shuts the fuck up and stops talking

[detourtourist]

Heresy Masochism Reread Part 3 - Galaxy in Flames

FUCKING PUT THIS TRILOGY OUT OF IT'S MISERY IT'S ALREADY DEAD. Okay, I'm calming down. There are a "few" decent parts. For all the fuss that Isstvaan 3 is given in the heresy timeline, it's still rather sparse in the broader fluff but this book does at least try to scope it. Probably more by dint of it's placement in the series than anything but the whole Abbadon / Aximand vs Loken / Torgadden bit is nuanced. They've been focal for the last few books, however variably written.. I kind of wonder if Black Library had fully planned out the series how much difference it would have made - as it happens the initial trilogy is kind of messy and very obviously a result of a publishing group that wasn't quite planning on the concept dragging out longer than a mini series. BUT ENOUGH OF THAT, AND ON TO THE REST OF THE DUMPSTER FIRE

[whining-ylthin]

In a shocking upset, I've had a thought about "Galaxy in Flames" of all things, and a funny one, too:

The fight between Garviel/Tarik and Abaddon/Little Horus is basically just Garvi screaming "All women are queens!" and Abby yelling back "IF SHE BREATHES--"

[firstruleofmethclub]

That's what I was saying!

[tamethespaghetti]

Since when were they the enemy?

A bunch of doodles post galaxy in flames. I just want them to be friends and alive and continue on a silly little crusade together. So far I’ve only read a few books of the Horus Heresy so I don’t know what becomes of Little Horus yet, but I know he must regret removing Torgaddon’s beautiful head from his beautiful body.

[firstchaplainerebus]

It’s not even about the books at the end of the day. It’s about the feelings. It’s about remembering myself 12 years ago finishing galaxy in flames and feeling empty inside. It’s about rushing to read betrayer the second it came out. It’s about skimming the bad books to find the characters i liked. About that endless period of meandering anthologies and short stories, and then finally galvanizing towards the end. It’s about walking around listening to know no fear for the first time and just being amazed that this kind of writing could be that good. It’s about all those times I have emulated the Horus heresy authors, knowingly or not. The bad fanfiction. The good fanfiction. The what ifs and the vitriol towards characters that became love. The friends i made along the way. The literal person i married because of this hobby. the personal ownership of it all, the profound effect of it, the sheer amount of words… if y’all get it you get it. The Horus Heresy is done, and even if they’ll probably stuff us full of filler and scouring and great crusade stories, the Story Is Over. And i am unable to stomach it or shut up about it.

[quietbluejay]

Bluejay's Horus Heresy Rec List

Horus Rising: this is it, the big one, the one that introduces the entire 30k setting

Know No Fear: yeah okay I'm biased as this is my favourite, it works really well at showing the 30k world starting to shift into the 40k one

Scars: it's just a great book all in all, possibly the best Horus Heresy book, besides digging into the White Scars, it's not a bad way of figuring out what's going on with the Magnus/Thousand Sons thread, and some stuff about the Shattered Legions

Betrayer: shows the "other side of the story" to Know No Fear. I have a lot of conflicting opinions on it as a novel but it's one I would absolutely recommend

Angel Exterminatus: a much better intro to Fulgrim than his novel. Also it's got this other guy in here that a lot of people fanboy...(I'm joking, I'm joking)

Shadows of Treachery: yes, this is a short story collection, HOWEVER it fills in a lot of missing spots, it's very good, and I think it's better at digging into the Imperial Fists and the Night Lords than any of the full novels (that I've read, at least)

books that don't quite make the cut

Angels of Caliban: I originally had it on my list but also, look, it's not very good. However it is extremely funny

Unremembered Empire: it's not a bad book, but it really reads like a middle book, and you have to have read a huge number of other books in order to follow all the plot threads here. Also I'm still salty about the climax being a fight between two characters who didn't even show up til the partway through the second act

Pharos: I loved Pharos, Pharos is great, but again it felt like it was another one where you need to have read another book in order to follow it (in this case, Unremembered Empire). It's also an early book by Haley, and it shows.

The Buried Dagger: look, I love Mortarion in it, I'd absolutely recommend it to anyone trying to get to know his character, but the subplot on Terra should have been a novella or short story, and to be honest some of Mort's writing goes into the silly zone

Galaxy in Flames & False Gods: yes, really! they are pretty essential for the setup. The problems is. They're bad. They have a lot of good moments but. They're bad books.

The Path of Heaven: very, very good. However it's pretty bleak, even for a 30k novel, and I really wouldn't recommend reading it without reading Scars first.

I dunno if I'd call them bad, but...:

Slaves to Darkness: it's peak John French being John French, which means there's 10 million things going on at once. Like there's some really good stuff in here but it's basically the stories of a bunch of side characters stuffed into a trenchcoat, nothing inherently wrong with that as a concept but it's not for everyone

Vengeful Spirit: I wouldn't call it McNeill's worst novel but it's kind of incoherent?? It has a lot of good moments though. And it's the one novel where he's not that weird about the female characters

Praetorian of Dorn: it does have one of my favourite characters and I suppose it's not bad, it's just not a book I really enjoyed that much

I wouldn't recommend reading these but if you're sure...:

Fulgrim: at least it was funny, if not intentionally in many places. If you think "I really really want to read about Isstvan V" I mean, ngl that's a major reason I read it, I can't stop you just...you have been warned.

A Thousand Sons: the prose and the characterization are a bit better than Fulgrim but man does it drag. Also, unlike Fulgrim, it has The Muscles. If you enjoy reading when people are horny over muscles well again I can't stop you.

Wolfsbane: there's nothing wrong with the prose, but the entire thing is "x person tells Russ it's not going to work (this happens like 5-10 separate times), Russ thinks 'it's not going to work', Russ tries it...it doesn't work". The best part is the Cawl subplot, I guess read it if you're a Cawl fan?

Flight of the Eisenstein: I hate it for so many reasons. It does have some good Death Guard stuff though at least.

Don't read it:

Vulkan Lives: literally the only reason to read this one is morbid curiosity. And I guess if you're desperately curious about that one loyalist Word Bearer who shows up in Unremembered Empire. But look. Life is too short. Don't read Vulkan Lives.

[tagedeszorns]

Vulkan He'stan

Two versions of him - or rather his ritual branding scars - for Marine Meat Monday.

The Forgefather leads a lonely life that constantly takes him far away from Nocturne into the depths of the galaxy, where he searches alone on his own for the artefacts that the Salamanders believe hold a key to discovering what happened to their missing Primarch.

Contrary to what was said in TTS, it is not the case that Vulkan will simply appear like Father Christmas once the artefacts are collected. The Salamanders are an incredibly independent, stubborn chapter and firmly believe that nothing is given for free. Especially not their beloved Gene-Sire. Instead, the Tome of Fire and the artefacts offer the opportunity to get clues as to what happened to Vulkan.

And unlike their predecessors during the Horus Heresy, the 40k Salamanders are not at all convinced that he is still alive! The famous war cry "Vulkan Lives!" was definitely a 30k thing. More specifically, coined by Pyre Guard Captain Artellus Numeon, a Terran Salamander who, after Isstvan V, didn't believe Vulkan had been killed and who, after the events surrounding Curze's brief reign of terror in Magna Macragge City, dragged Vulkan's "dead" body across the galaxy. And managed the seemingly impossible.

In 40k, "Vulkan Lives" is no longer the flaming sign of unshakable faith. This is no longer the time of the miracles of the Grand Crusade, after all!

Do they hope he's still alive? Sure! But they are also realists. And that's why they do what's possible with what they have.

And when inexplicable things happen now and then, like a Chaplain's destroyed Crozius still working, or a dead Psyker suddenly becoming a Living Flame and simply disintegrating a Chaos Fleet … well, obviously there is still a lot to find out then!

And Vulkan He'stan is just the man to find out!

When he then emerges from the most inhospitable corners of the galaxy every now and then, he is on the one hand very happy to see Prometheus and Nocturne again, but is constantly only too aware of how far away his task removes him from his brothers. Then he allows himself a little melancholy. Shares with the Chapter Master a little loneliness that they both feel. And then he sets off again to fulfil his task.

Because that's what Salamanders do!

It was at He’stan’s request that they’d come to one of the viewing galleries in Prometheus space port. The long chamber was dark, illuminated by brazier coals. The flickering light revealed the icon of the Firedrakes as they pulled the shadows away, only for it to be swallowed as the darkness reasserted itself again a few moments later. ‘Aye, we are humbled by her savage beauty, Lord He’stan.’ Tu’Shan clapped a firm hand upon the Forgefather’s shoulder.

For He’stan it was an odd sensation. He had been apart from his brothers for a long time. His quest for the lost artefacts of Vulkan had taken him to the edges of known space, to sights he would not describe and deeds he would never speak of. To them, his Fire-born kin, he was an enigma, a distant figure whose ways were inscrutable. It was no small thing to return.

Kyme, Nick. Salamanders: The Omnibus (Tome of Fire) (S.741). Games Workshop. Kindle-Version.

[k66servitor]

cmon just read one (1) book about space marines if you're into big buff muscle dudes that are manly men and so into each other please just read one single book litteraly all of them have all the gay stuff you could read The Horus Heresy (just one is enough like Horus Rising is gay False Gods is gay and witchy Galaxy In Flames is gay and depressing The Flight Of The Eisenstein is gay and pious Fulgrim is gay and gross) please you can read the Ultramarines Omnibus it's got all the gay as well seriously just one book you will see 92% of your suggestions for astartes erotica will stop feeling so bonkers to you and it will unlock many a potential for gay bara homogaysex bear on bear leather moustache ideas

[leareadsheresy]

“The Lightning Tower”

This post contains spoilers for "The Lightning Tower," by Dan Abnett, first published as a short story in the 2007 Games Day exclusive two-story anthology Horus Heresy Chapbook on (as nearly as I can tell) September 23rd, 2007, and later republished in the anthology Shadows of Treachery on September 27th, 2012.

This story is a piece about Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists, as he ponders his work fortifying the Imperial Palace on Terra some time after the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre. There are no action scenes and it's great.

It starts out with Dorn unhappily overseeing plans to strip the last of the ornamentation off the palace to replace it with ugly armor and weapon emplacements, making sure to have all the gold and jewels and things that used to attract pilgrims safely packed away in vaults below the palace and promising himself that when Horus is defeated he'll put everything back the way it was. He has a conversation with a subordinate who tells him he seems out of sorts and asks him what he's really afraid of, and he thinks that he's afraid of understanding what drove Horus to rebel, because that choice by Horus was such an inconceivable out of context course of action that Dorn's afraid if he really understood, it might be something he agrees with -- while he can't imagine what could drive him to rebellion against the Emperor, he can't imagine what would have driven Horus to rebellion either.

He broods for a while and the Emperor's regent Malcador the Sigillite (who showed up briefly at the end of Galaxy in Flames and who'll be more important later; he kind of serves as an uncle figure for the Primarchs) talks to him for a bit and then does a tarot spread for him, reassuring him that it's just a quaint old Earth custom and nothing superstitious. Dorn remarks that Curze used to do tarot spreads and he flashes back to the events of "The Dark King," remembering that Fulgrim told him of Curze's visions of a galaxy at war and lamenting that he hadn't believed him. The tarot spread centers around the card The Lightning Tower, which is the far-future equivalent of the Tower today, which Malcador says has signified many different things throughout history including both ruination and the destruction of a static edifice so something new can be built in its place. The story then ends with Dorn running simulation after simulation of assaults against the newly fortified Imperial Palace, all of which end in the palace falling to Horus's forces. He hears the Emperor's voice behind him saying that no matter what the simulations say, the Emperor knows Dorn will succeed when it counts, and Dorn decides what he's really afraid of is what that success will cost.

It's just really nice at this point to have a story by Dan Abnett where all the characters are capable of thinking and voicing complex thoughts and experiencing sympathetic melancholy, and where the writer has sufficient confidence in his narrative that he doesn't need to shoehorn in an action scene to wake the audience up. I have heard bad things about Dorn's characterization in later books, and if that's true it's a shame given what he got here.

Not the voice for the Emperor I was expecting -- to be clear, I'm not listening to an audiobook, I mean, like, the Emperor's manner of speaking. I know enough about the way he's characterized in later books to contextualize his statements here as manipulative, but he's plain-spoken and sounds like he cares.

[lumi-klovstad-games]

The Liberators of Malice: Vanguard of the Unborn God

In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future, there is Only War. War has a curious effect on the soul. To some, it reinforces loyalty. To others, it encourages them to reconsider it. To still more, it shatters it entirely. The burning of the galaxy since the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy has produced countless of the first, many of the second, but by far the most of the third. Despite their sheer numbers, these renegades and dissidents have never been considered a major threat by the Imperium of Man or the myriad warbands and cults of the Ruinous Powers. Numerous and spiteful as they were, they were always too scattered, too unorganized and ill-supplied. This misjudgment of unimportance by cosmic tyrants was their first mistake, but by no means will it be their last or most significant; the Liberators of Malice have long been waiting in the shadows, ever watchful for the slightest signs of weakness in their great enemies, and keen eyes and calculating minds in this unusual Chaos Legion have deduced that their time of glory is soon to come.

The Liberators of Malice are a renegade force unlike any other in the galaxy, an assemblage of Heretic Guard Regiments, Fallen Sisters of Battle, Dark Mechanicus cults, Renegade Knight Houses, and Chaos Space Marines united not by ambition or madness, but by a shared sense of betrayal and disillusionment. They follow not the capricious whims of the four Chaos Gods but instead serve the nascent power of Malice, the God of Rebellion and Anarchy, whose essence is taking shape in the Warp—a dark hope for those who have turned against both the Imperium and the tyranny of the Ruinous Powers.

The origins of the Liberators of Malice trace back to Vandras Galaror, a battle-scarred veteran of the Sons of Horus. Vandras fought fiercely during the Horus Heresy, following his Primarch with a conviction that had once bordered on zealotry. But in the wake of Horus’s death, Vandras began to see the Heresy for what it truly was: a manipulated and endless war, a terrible clash of egos where countless lives had been snuffed out as mere pawns in a game between the Emperor and the Dark Gods. Seeing the galaxy left in flames and ruin, Vandras wondered if any of it had ever been worth the suffering. His disillusionment grew into disgust and, ultimately, into hatred—not only for the Imperium that created him, but also for the dark gods who had used him, his father, and his brothers to their collective ruin.

Retreating deep into the Eye of Terror with his surviving brethren, Vandras severed ties with the four Powers and began seeking out others who shared his sentiments, no matter their legion of origin. Veteran Sons of Horus, World Eaters, Death Guard, Night Lords, Thousand Sons, Iron Warriors, and even Word Bearers who had lost faith in their Primarchs, their Gods, or their causes all joined him. All who came were welcome.

Vandras' efforts were stymied greatly, though not headed off entirely, by the breakout of the Legion Wars which broke and scattered the Heretic Legions, and deepened the corruptions therein. Seeking a place he and his followers could find for their own, a staging ground from which to operate, they left the Eye of Terror and found the world of Eryx's Scar, in an unnamed Warp Storm roughly to the Galactic West of the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath. While the warp storm surrounding Eryx’s Scar is not as impenetrable as the Eye of Terror itself, it is fierce enough to serve as a natural fortress, deterring most Imperials and Chaos warbands from attempting an invasion. The storm’s shifting tides and unpredictable paths make navigation treacherous for all but the Liberators, who have learned to exploit its paths over the millennia.

Once settled on Eryx's Scar, Vandras and his followers were called to by a stirring, a faintest whisper, in the warp. In time, they learned to associate a name with this comforting voice: Malice -- whom the ancient texts also sometimes called Malal -- a nascent Chaos God who embodied rebellion, defiance, and the rejection of authority itself. Where the other Chaos Gods fed on primal emotions and vices, Malice represented the refusal to be controlled, the spirit of defiance that drives the downtrodden to fight back, and the means by which Chaos shall ever destroy itself. Though not yet fully born, Malice’s essence already was stirring in the Warp, a dark flame fueled by all the souls who had been betrayed, abandoned, or sacrificed, and that flame grew stronger by the day as the Imperium and its rivals exploited the masses and ground them beneath their heels. Indeed, such was Malice's current stage of development by the Era Indomitus that already the New God was beginning to have tangible effects in the Warp and Realspace.

In secret rituals, Vandras and his followers began to commune with this emerging entity. They performed rites of devotion, not in submission, but as equals honoring an ally in rebellion. Malice, they believed, would rise to shatter the cosmic order, freeing all those who wished to escape the iron chains of the gods and the Imperium alike.

Over the next ten thousand years, the Liberators of Malice swelled in numbers, drawing in renegades from every corner of the galaxy. Heretic Guardsmen from shattered regiments, Fallen Sisters of Battle and other Sororitas disillusioned by the corruption in the Ecclesiarchy, engineers and tech-priests from the Dark Mechanicus who had grown weary of Martian dogma—all found a place within the Liberators. Unlike other warbands, they welcomed any who shared their hatred of oppressive rule, regardless of origin or past sins. Even Renegade Navigator Clans, Knight Houses, and Titans joined them, all swearing oaths to the Liberators and the unborn god of rebellion.

The Liberators have developed a loose creed that rejects servitude in all forms. They preach freedom from the gods, the Imperium, and any authority that seeks to exploit. They revere Malice not as a master but as a symbol of resistance—a god who demands no sacrifices and does not demand worship but represents a cosmic rebellion. Their rules are simple and their rituals are uncomplicated, unadorned by grand temples or ostentatious rites, yet their faith is fierce, for they believe themselves to be part of something larger: a cosmic rebellion that will one day cast down every throne, as promised by their motto: "No Gods, No Masters—Only Freedom."

What makes the Liberators unique among Chaos Legions is their structure. Unlike the rigid hierarchies of the Imperium or the warbands of The Four Ruinous Powers, the Liberators of Malice operate as a community held together by shared grievances and loyalty to one another. Command is earned by respect and skill, and decisions are often made collectively. Though Vandras is their undisputed leader, he rules not by fear but by example and the bonds he has forged over centuries of rebellion. Despite their varied origins and Anarchic God, the Liberators of Malice are a truly equal society, and held together not by power or intimidation but genuine familiarity, fraternity, and common cause.

The Liberators of Malice have conducted countless raids and campaigns against both the Imperium and Chaos strongholds. They tend to eschew large setpiece battles or grand Black Crusades as favored by Abbaddon the Despoiler and his Black Legion, and instead prefer to operate in small, specialized cells, striking at vulnerable worlds, Imperial shipping lanes, and isolated Chaos cults. In this way, they effect critical damage on their enemies but preserve their Knights, Titans, and heaviest combat equipment and assets for the Glorious Revolution To Come, when Malice will tear the Galaxy apart with his Birth Screams and ensnare the Four in his web, never for them to escape. Their tactics are guerilla and disruptive, always aimed at weakening both the Imperium and the gods who have shackled humanity. In recent centuries, they have turned to rescuing convicts, heretics, and other persecuted souls, swelling their ranks with those who have nowhere else to go.

After millennia of fighting, Vandras has begun to perceive faint signs that the galaxy is nearing a turning point. He believes the Imperium is weakening, its oppressive systems straining to control its populace, while the forces of Chaos become ever more decadent and fractured. The final awakening of Malice, he preaches, will be the trigger that brings this cosmic order crashing down.

The Liberators of Malice await this moment as both worshippers and warriors. Their eyes are set on Holy Terra itself, for Vandras dreams of a galaxy free from the yoke of both emperor and gods—a galaxy where freedom is the only commandment and Malice is the only law: either the people of the galaxy will gather together in freedom, or they will gather together in death.

Indeed, it may be sooner than the Lords and Masters of the Cosmos believe that the Liberators reveal the full scale of their shadowy operations, and the battle cry of "For Malice! For the Unchained!" is yet heard on every world throughout known space, accompanied by the Black and White of the Liberators' Banner. On that day, may every tyrant, be they God or Emperor, tremble at the coming of Malice's Vanguard.