Primarch Horus
Horus, also known as Horus Lupercal or simply The Lupercal by the Astartes of his Luna Wolves Legion, was one of the 20 genetically-engineered primarchs created by the Emperor of Mankind from His own DNA before the Great Crusade. These primarchs were intended to lead the armies of the newborn Imperium of Man.
Opening
Horus was the primarch and master of the XVIth Legion of Space Marines, the Luna Wolves, which he later renamed the Sons of Horus. He became the first Imperial Warmaster, the Emperor's most favored son, and ultimately, the greatest traitor in human history.
Horus hailed from the Hive World of Cthonia, located a few light years from Terra, making him the first primarch rediscovered by the Emperor after the Great Crusade commenced in the late 30th Millennium.
Horus was infamous for the Eye of Horus symbol and was responsible for initiating the horrific civil war known as the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium. This conflict claimed billions of lives as Horus pursued his ambition to overthrow the Emperor and assume control of the Human race.
Although Horus ultimately failed in his bid for power and was slain by the Emperor during the Siege of Terra, his actions left the Imperium of Man irreparably damaged. This ushered in the current Age of the Imperium, a time when humanity faces countless threats and the Imperium itself has become a stagnant, repressive, and dehumanizing galactic presence.
Welcome, lore-lovers, to Liandrug! Today, we delve into the epic and tragic tale of Horus, the favoured son of the Emperor of Mankind, who became the greatest traitor in the history of the Imperium. From his origins on the harsh world of Cthonia, through the glories and heartbreaks of the Great Crusade, to the cataclysmic events of the Horus Heresy, we'll uncover the rise and fall of this legendary Warmaster. Let's explore how Horus' ambition and the dark whispers of Chaos led him to wage a war that forever changed the fate of humanity.
The Chronicle
Created as a genetically-engineered organism by the Emperor in the gene-laboratories beneath the Himalazian Mountains on Terra in the late 30th Millennium, Horus, along with his brother primarchs, was scattered across the Milky Way Galaxy through the Warp by the machinations of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos.
This dispersion is believed to be when the Dark Gods first sowed the seeds of heresy within the infant primarch, whispering darkly into his soul and tempting him to their cause. The capsule carrying the still-gestating Horus came to rest on the Mining World of Cthonia, the primary planet of a star system within a reasonable slower-than-light distance of Terra.
While the early history of many primarchs is extensively documented, Horus' early years are shrouded in contradiction and omission. It is known that the Emperor found Horus and that he took command of the XVIth Legion early in the Great Crusade. Beyond these facts, agreement between early Imperial sources is lacking, with some even claiming Horus was found as a foundling on Cthonia.
Like many of his superhuman brethren, the young primarch thrived in Cthonia's harsh environment, learning his first lessons in war and killing from Cthonia's tech-barbarian kill-gangs. Cthonia had been settled in the earliest days of Humanity's exploration of the stars, its rich natural resources exploited until they were nearly exhausted.
Horus matured among the anarchic gangers of this post-industrial world, honeycombed with long-extinct mines and dominated by decaying hive cities. Though he had not been raised on Cthonia during his formative years, he spoke the harsh language known as Cthonic fluently, with the particular hard palatal edge and rough vowels of a Western Hemispheric ganger, the commonest and roughest of Cthonia's feral castes.
It always amused some battle-brothers within the XVIth Legion to hear this accent, assuming Horus spoke this way because he learned the language from a similar speaker. However, many would later doubt this hypothesis, believing instead that Horus deliberately adopted the accent to appear as honest and low-born as any of them to the Astartes of the XVIth Legion.
Horus, the first of the Emperor's lost sons, was found among the hyper-violent gang-scum of Cthonia, where many of the earliest Space Marine inductees were recruited. Some sources claim that Horus returned to Terra itself, growing at the Emperor's side, learning from his father as they reclaimed the Sol System and forged the early Imperium of Man.
Surrounded by millennia of myths and allegory, the truth of Horus' origins may never be known. As the Emperor's only son for many years, there was a great affinity between them. The Emperor spent much time with Horus, teaching and encouraging him. Horus soon took command of the XVI Legion, known as the Luna Wolves, composed of Astartes created from his own genetic code.
With these transhuman warriors, Horus accompanied the Emperor and His Principia Imperialis fleet for the first thirty standard years of the Great Crusade, which began around 798.M30, and together they forged the initial interstellar expansion of the young Imperium of Man.
After the Ullanor Crusade, where Horus came out victorious against the Orks, the Emperor suggested to Horus that he rename the XVIth Legion the "Sons of Horus" in honor of their Primarch and to acknowledge his preeminent place among the other Primarchs.
Horus initially declined this honor, not wishing to be set above his brothers, so his Legion continued as the Luna Wolves for a while longer. However, neither Horus nor the other Primarchs ever came to terms with the Emperor's absence. Their feelings of hurt over His seeming abandonment of the Great Crusade to pursue a secret project, whose purpose He did not reveal to His sons, laid the seeds of jealousy and resentment that ultimately blossomed into the corruption that led to the Horus Heresy.
Following his promotion to Warmaster, Horus sought the opinions and advice of all his brother Primarchs on the subject since the honor had been bestowed upon him. Being named Warmaster set him abruptly apart from them and raised him above his brothers, which led to some stifled objections and discontent, especially from those Primarchs who felt the title should have been theirs.
The Primarchs, like any group of brothers, were prone to sibling rivalry and petty competition. Guided by the shrewd political hand of his Equerry Maloghurst, Horus courted his brothers, stilling fears, calming doubts, reaffirming pacts, and generally securing their cooperation. He wanted none to feel slighted or overlooked, and none to think they were no longer listened to. Some, like Sanguinius, Lorgar, and Fulgrim, acclaimed Horus's election from the outset. Others, like Angron and Perturabo, raged at the new order, requiring masterful diplomacy on the Warmaster's part to placate their anger and jealousy. A few, like Leman Russ and Lion El'Jonson, were cynically resolved, unsurprised by the turn of events.
Others, like Roboute Guilliman, Jaghatai Khan, and Rogal Dorn, took it in stride, accepting the Emperor's decree as the right and obvious choice. Horus had always been the brightest, the first, and the favorite. They did not doubt his fitness for the role, for none of the Primarchs had ever matched Horus' achievements nor the intimacy of his bond with the Emperor.
Hey there, lore-lovers! Just a quick pause to remind you: if you're enjoying this journey through Horus' story, don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe to Liandrug. I mean, who else is gonna sponsor me but me, right? Your support means a lot and helps me keep diving deep into the lore of Warhammer 40,000. Alright, back to Horus and his world-shaking antics!
Horus turned in particular to these solid, resolved brothers for counsel. Dorn and Guilliman embodied the staunchest and most dedicated Imperial qualities, commanding their Legions' expeditions with peerless devotion and military genius. Horus desired their approval as a young man might seek the acceptance of older, more accomplished brothers.
The Serpent Lodge on Davin was, using sorcery, which the Emperor had outlawed, managed to warp the mind of the Warmaster against the Emperor by exploiting the jealousy and resentment Horus felt after the Emperor left the Great Crusade to return to Terra. During the dark rituals that ensued within the temple, Horus' spirit was transferred from his body into the Immaterium.
There, he witnessed a nightmare vision of the future. He saw the Imperium of Man as a repressive, violent theocracy, where the Emperor and several of his Primarchs (but not Horus) were worshipped as gods by the masses. While this vision granted by the Chaos Gods was true, it was ironically an outcome largely created by Horus' own actions.
The Dark Gods portrayed themselves as victims of the Emperor's psychic might and claimed that they had no real interest in the happenings of the material world. Magnus the Red, the sorcerous Primarch of the Thousand Sons Legion, had also traveled into the Warp via sorcery to try and stop Horus from turning to Chaos. Magnus explained that Horus' vision was only one among many possible futures, but one that Horus alone could prevent.
However, Horus, already jealous and resentful of the Emperor, proved receptive to the Ruinous Powers' false vision. The Chaos Gods' pact with Horus was simple: "Give us the Emperor, and we will give you the galaxy." Driven by jealousy, desire for power, and anger at what he saw as his father's abandonment, Horus accepted the Ruinous Powers' offer.
They healed his grievous wound and filled him with the powers of the Warp. Renouncing his oath to the Emperor, Horus led his Legion into worship of the myriad Chaos Gods in the form of Chaos Undivided. He then sought to turn many of his fellow Primarchs to the service of Chaos, succeeding with Angron of the World Eaters, Fulgrim of the Emperor's Children, and Mortarion of the Death Guard, among others, along with many regiments of the Imperial Army and several Titan Legions of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Magnus the Red foresaw Horus' actions through his Legion's use of psychic sorcery, forbidden years earlier at the Council of Nikaea. Magnus attempted to forewarn the Emperor of the impending betrayal. However, knowing he had to quickly warn the Emperor, Magnus used sorcery to send his message, taking on astral form in the Warp. The message ultimately penetrated the potent psychic defenses of the Imperial Palace on Terra, shattering all the wards the Emperor had placed, including those within his secret project in the Imperial Dungeons, where he was working on the human extension into the Webway.
Refusing to believe that Horus, his most beloved and trusted son, would betray him, the Emperor mistakenly perceived the traitor to be Magnus and his Thousand Sons. The Thousand Sons had long suffered from a debilitating run of mutations known as the "Flesh-change" and were known to practice the sorcery outlawed in the Imperium.
The Emperor ordered the Primarch Leman Russ, Magnus' greatest rival, to mobilize his Space Wolves Legion and the witch hunters known as the Sisters of Silence to take Magnus into custody and return him to Terra to stand trial for violating the Council of Nikaea's prohibitions against the use of psychic powers.
While en route to the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Prospero, Horus convinced Russ, who had always been repelled and horrified by Magnus' reliance on psychic powers, to launch a full assault on Prospero instead. Magnus had been willing to face the Emperor's judgment once he realized he was being manipulated by the entities of the Warp. However, Horus successfully convinced Russ to become Magnus' executioner instead of his gaoler. The tragic result was the Burning of Prospero.
The Siege of Terra lasted for 55 solar days. After the defense of the Eternity Gate, Horus sensed the Imperium's defeat was near but needed to complete the siege before Loyalist reinforcements arrived. Learning that the Dark Angels, Space Wolves, and Ultramarines were nearing Terra, Horus prepared to teleport from his flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, to lead his forces in person. In desperation, he lowered his Void Shields, either out of regret or to challenge the Emperor.
The Emperor, along with his elite guard, the Legio Custodes, and Primarchs Sanguinius and Rogal Dorn, teleported aboard the Vengeful Spirit. Horus scattered their forces throughout the ship using his Chaotic powers. Sanguinius was the first to reach Horus but was slain when he refused to turn to Chaos.
The Emperor then confronted Horus, who mocked him for not accepting the Chaos Gods' power. They engaged in a fierce battle, both physical and psychic. The Emperor, unwilling to unleash his full power against his beloved son, suffered grievous wounds. A lone Loyalist warrior intervened but was quickly killed by Horus. This act of brutality galvanized the Emperor, who then unleashed his full psychic power, piercing Horus' defenses and destroying him utterly.
Horus' destruction sent a shockwave through the Solar System, causing Chaos forces to panic and retreat. The Blood Angels, in a berserk fury after Sanguinius' death, surged forth, turning the retreat into a bloodbath, and thousands of Chaos Space Marines and Titans were slain. The ground before the Sanctum Imperialis ran red with the blood of traitors.
The tragic tale of Horus did not end with his death. His body was enshrined on the Daemon World of Maeleum in the Eye of Terror. Several hundred years later, during the Slave Wars, Fabius Bile and the Emperor's Children Traitor Legion stole Horus' corpse, attempting to clone him to lead the Traitor Legions once more.
Ezekyle Abaddon, former First Captain of the XVIth Legion, reasserted control over the Legion, declaring himself Horus' successor. Abaddon led an assault on the Emperor's Children, destroyed Horus' corpse, and claimed the Talon of Horus. Believing Horus had failed because of weakness, Abaddon decided Chaos needed a new leader.
Abaddon ordered the Sons of Horus to paint their armor black, symbolizing mourning for Horus and a desire for vengeance. He renamed the XVIth Legion the Black Legion and transformed them into a fleet-based force. Abaddon swore to fulfill Horus' dream of overthrowing the Emperor and establishing Chaos' dominion.
Thus, Ezekyle Abaddon became the greatest Champion of Chaos, known as Abaddon the Despoiler, a feared tyrant and genocidal killer.
Closing Words
Thank you for watching our deep dive into the saga of Horus Lupercal, lore-lovers. If you enjoyed this video, please like, share, and subscribe to Liandrug for more content on the lore of Warhammer 40,000. Join our Discord community to continue the discussion and connect with fellow lore enthusiasts. Until next time, remember: in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.
Back to Home