Almost nine weeks of lancing headlong through the tides of unspace, breaking through the immaterium with little thought of safety or control. They lost vessels. They lost lives. But they lost no time. Reality trembled in their wake. The first ship to burst from the immaterium ripped back into reality on tormented engines. As it accelerated from the wound of re-entry, it seemed cast from the warp like a grey spear, trailing plasma mist the colour of madness.

Its engines roared heavy and hot into the silence of space. Along its ridged spine, statues of marble and gold stared out into the starry void. Battlements lined the walls of those cathedrals, and dozens of lesser temples were decorated with banks of weapon turrets in their tallest towers.

The vessel, terrible in size and grim in aspect, was more a bastion city of prayer and warfare than a spaceborne vessel. Blue-white engine wash streamed in disintegrating smoke trails from immense boosters that had taken decades to construct, by thousands of labourers working millions of hours.

In its talons, the eagle held the steel21 The First Heretic forged icon of an open book. Its cold eyes reflected the stars. Other ships arrived, rending reality, breaking from the warp as lesser blurs of grey — a volley of arrows that eclipsed the stars around them.

A few at first, then a dozen, soon a fleet, at last an armada… A hundred and sixteen ships, one of the greatest coalitions of force the human race had ever assembled.

And still more arrived, savaging the layer between realms, dropping from the immaterium, attempting to race alongside their glorious flagship. The grey armada moved in loose formation, the slower vessels falling behind as over a hundred ships closed in on a single bluegreen world. A world already surrounded by another battlefleet. The throne itself was carved ivory and black steel, draped with devotional parchment scrolls and taking up the centre of a raised dais.

On the tiered steps leading up to his throne stood three other figures, each clad in the same granite grey battle armour, each one with their gazes cast at the display occulus taking up the entire forward wall. The scene unfolding on the visual screen was one of unrivalled chaos. Order was breaking down before the fleet even engaged the enemy, as if the anger of every captain bled freely into the trajectories of their vessels, breeding irrationality where focus was needed.

Ornate beyond many other suits of Astartes warplate, the personal armour of Chapter Master Deumos was unashamedly brazen in its declaration of his accomplishments. Detailed in engravings etched onto his pauldrons was a recording written in Colchisian cuneiform, the runic script listing his victories and kill-counts in poetic verse.

Emblazoned on his left shoulder guard and overlaying the runic poetry was an open book sculpted from bronze, with its pages aflame. Each tongue of fire was hand-carved from red iron, welded with artful craft onto the book itself.

In the right light, the metal pages seemed to flicker with iron flame. Lastly, ringing one of the slanted red eye lenses of his snarling helm, was a stylised, spiked star of brass. It was a symbol repeated across the hull and spinal buildings of the De Profundis, heralding the battle-barge as the vessel of the Chapter of the Serrated Sun.

Each ship in the fleet bore its own unique sigils — the Osseous Throne, the Crescent Moon, the Coiled Lash… symbol upon symbol, a stream of signifiers. The eyes of every warrior, officer, serf and slave were fixed upon the planet of Khur, and the capital city that had once been visible from space. In a sense, it still was: an ashen stain blackening a quarter of a continent. Some men laughed, and laughed often. Deumos was not one of them. His humour ran along bleaker lines. Deumos smiled at the recollection.

Breaking from the momentary indulgence of reverie, Deumos regarded the occulus, still unsure exactly what he was bearing witness to. The rest of their ships spread out in loose attack for23 The First Heretic mation, many of them still accelerating. The outriders and scouts were slowing significantly, their momentum dying as the rage of their engines faded. His helm emitted the words as a crackling growl.

Their senior rating, the Master of Auspex, had gone pale. A host of transponder codes are flooding the sensors, actively broadcast. Instead, it wormed deeper into his thoughts, dredging the memory of that maddening message to the fore.

Return to us, it had pleaded. Deumos let the disquiet sink back into the calmer sediment of his mind. He needed to focus. He watched the occulus as grey-hulled ships slowed, their wide-mouthed engines breathing diminished flares. Several vessels veered away from the rest of the fleet, breaking the elegance of the attack formation. Doubt, most definitely. No captain could know what to do. The perfect, regimented anger of the assault run was crumbling, unsalvageable with so many vessels slowing and breaking away.

All around them, the colossal fleet on the edge of open warfare collapsed, powering down their weapons. As an astral ballet, it was running through these final anticlimactic motions with clear 24 Aaron Dembski-Bowden reluctance.

The planet itself was close, close enough for the enemy fleet to edge into visual range. At this distance, they were little more than dark specks framed by dense cloud cover, hanging in low orbit. Deumos turned to his brothers, his subordinates, each one of them standing on the lesser steps of his raised dais. No reasoning will quell his rage. You know this as well as I, master. Brother against brother, Astartes against Astartes. Once, he would have smiled at the delicious blasphemy of an impossible idea.

Not now. At last. A fleet-wide message, from the only voice that mattered. The message was relayed across the bridge, ruined by voxbreakage but recognisable nonetheless.

The last prayer from Monarchia must now be answered. Today we witness with our own eyes the ruin our brothers have made of the perfect city. We will have the answers we seek before the day is done. This voice was deeper, colder, and just as sincere. You are ordered to descend to the surface immediately and muster in the heart of the razed site once known as Monarchia.

Coordinates are being conveyed. There will be no defiance of this mandate. Your Legion, in its entirety, will gather as ordered. That is all.

Almost a hundred souls — human, servitor and Astartes — gathered on the bridge of De Profundis. None of them spoke a word for almost a full minute. Without even acknowledging the others, the Seventh Captain turned and stalked across the chamber, his armoured boots thudding on the plasteel decking.

His visor display tracked his subordinate captain, scrolling white text feeds of biorhythmic data across his vision. He blinked at a peripheral rune to clear the automatic tactical display. I want those answers, Deumos. The ground was a black ash desert, with heat-seared patches of glass and melted marble that reflected the sunlight until they were crunched underfoot. Each breath drew in a penitent trace of the brimstone and scorched rock reek of the surrounding devastation.

Stone powder in the air, the result of a million pulverised marble buildings, was already coating their armour as the Word Bearers stood in the heart of Monarchia. Oath parchments and prayer scrolls attached to Astartes warplate turned a grey-white with settling dust. Argel Tal watched his warriors standing amidst the ruination — some picking through debris with no real intent, others simply remaining motionless — and he searched for the words this moment required.

Whatever those words were, they escaped him for now. Do you recall it? Argel Tal stared out at the annihilated terrain, seeing ghosts in the mist — the spires and domes of buildings that no longer existed. The weapon mag-locked to his back — a ritual crozius arcanum, the war maul of Word Bearer Chaplains — was forged in the same shape. Its hammerhead was a spiked sphere of dark iron, threaded with silver.

The conversation, such as it was, ebbed to nothing until the unwelcome serenity was broken by another company making planetfall. On howling thrusters, gunships made their final approaches, clawed landing feet crunching onto the fire-blasted ground. Usually, the flame-and-oil stench of their engine ex27 The First Heretic hausts would assault the senses. Here, it was undetectable among the ruin already inflicted.

Bulkheads and ramps clanged open. Another hundred warriors in the etched armour of the XVII Legion took their first steps into the dead city. What little formation existed broke almost immediately as the Astartes scattered, struggling to come to terms with what they were seeing.

Argel Tal blink-clicked a vox rune on his visor display, tuning into the general channel again. These new arrivals, wearing the heraldry of 15th Company, voiced their breathless disbelief and impotent anger. Their chestplates were marked with the sigil of heaped human skulls, the Chapter of the Osseous Throne.

Argel Tal offered a quiet greeting. The closest warriors saluted, respecting his rank despite his allegiance to another Chapter. Body and blood, every one of them was a Bearer of the Word. That outweighed all else. Still more Thunderhawks streaked overhead, the gunships seeking clear ground to land. East to west, north to south, the sky was a mess of shaking gunships and the heat-shimmers of engines struggling to keep the Thunderhawks airborne. Every few minutes, the sky would fall dark, heralding the passage of a Stormbird.

These largest landers carried entire companies, their deafening passing temporarily blocking out the sun. Argel Tal walked without purpose, crushing ruined rock underfoot. He knew Xaphen was following him even without looking at the digital distance tracker on his retinal display. It was no surprise when the Chaplain spoke again. Our father comes. Its hull was gold, reflecting the midday sun in a spray of solar glare.

With greater clarity came the revelation of shame. Smaller gunships, Thunderhawks with hulls of blue, flew in formation around the mighty golden Stormbird. An escort squadron: watchmen, not honour guards. Static fuzzed for half a second, quickly clearing as his eye lenses refocused at the new range. Every turret on the Ultramarines gunships was trained on the golden hull of the Word Bearers Stormbird.

Mind your humours. It was not helping his own fragile calm. One hundred thousand warriors in perfect formation, bolters held in grey fists, helmed heads raised in pride. A hundred thousand pairs of red eye lenses stared ahead. Squad by squad, led by sergeants. Company by company, led by captains.

Chapter by Chapter, led by Masters. Standard bearers stood before each company, banners held high even as their details faded in the dust. Borne by Sergeant Malnor, the Serrated Sun Chapter icon rose alongside the war banners of its three component companies, eclipsing them in both size and significance.

The skulls were human and alien, each one the head of a fallen enemy champion worthy of remembrance. The left eye socket of every skull was ringed by the serrated sun symbol, painted with Astartes blood, blessed by the company Chaplains. Similar icons were held above the mustered Legion.

They rattled in the wind, trinkets chiming in grim melody, while the company war banners waved. Argel Tal moved forward with the other commanders of the Serrated Sun, leaving their warriors in assembled columns. As he walked through ranks of statue-still Word Bearers, Argel Tal switched to the vox frequency secured by Seventh Company prior to planetfall.

Enlightenment will soon be ours. Before them all, the golden Stormbird stood at bay, resting in the midst of six Ultramarines Thunderhawk gunships.

The edges of their ceramite hulls were scorched bare in places from the fires of atmospheric descent. One captain broke ranks. In hulking Terminator armour, the silver-wrought warplate still fresh from the forges of Mars, First Captain Kor Phaeron stood apart from his brothers, as was his right.

He carried no weapons beyond those his armour already offered: oversized gauntlets ending in talons extending from each finger, the individual blades as long and curved as the primitive scythes used to harvest crops on backwater Imperial worlds. Unlike the gathered captains, Kor Phaeron wore no helm, and it was fair to say no poet or painter could ever portray the First Captain as a handsome being without liberal artistic license.

I hate him, brother. This was hardly the time for such things. A false Astartes. They stood together through the years of sacrifice and revolution, through the holy wars that threatened to tear Colchis apart before its unity under the benevolent rule of Lorgar. When the God-Emperor came to Colchis over a century before to offer Lorgar command of the XVII Legion, Kor Phaeron had been far too old to receive the organ implantations and prepubescent genetic manipulations necessary to grow into one of the Astartes.

Instead, through rejuvenat surgery, costly bionics and limited gene-forging, Kor Phaeron was exalted above humanity as a sign of the value placed in him by the primarch. Despite leaving humanity behind, he had not ascended to the ranks of true Astartes. Argel Tal watched him now, this pinnacle of genetic compromise. Respect stilled his tongue, even if admiration did not. Kor Phaeron spat onto the broken ground. The acidic gobbet of saliva hissed as it ate into the ruined stone.

Or is it his complete lack of Legion discipline, and that his victories eclipse yours and mine put together? His crozius hammer was in his fists, its mace head resting on the ground. It would take a fool to fail in those circumstances. As have you. I do not like him, but I respect him. He speaks the Word with an insight possessed by no other, and his wisdom pours fire into my blood. He orchestrated victory in a planet-wide civil war when he was merely a human priest.

Do not underestimate him now. Argel Tal breathed out, slow and tense, feeling his primary heart thud faster. The figure descended the ramp alone, and the Seventh Captain felt the stinging threat of worshipful tears even as he kept his gaze on the ruined ground. To be cast away from his radiance, even in the name of sacred duty, was to walk in shadow, devoid of inspiration. Many thanked fate for the chance to stand within his presence once again. Reverent chants ghosted over the communication channels, never rising above whispers.

Argel Tal was one of the few that remained silent at first, thanking fate in voiceless piety. Three long, long years of fighting in the darkness, praying for this moment to come. The figure stopped walking. Argel Tal knew this from the cessation of footsteps on blackened earth. Only then did he speak. Argel Tal raised his eyes at last, to see the son of a living god standing in the heart of a necropolis.

Yet as with many primarchs, he also bore an informal title — a term of respect often used by the eighteen Legions. None of the one hundred thousand warriors gathered spoke those names now. As the Word Bearers Legion stood at its full, unbelievable strength in perfectly ordered ranks, every one of his sons chanted his true name in sibilant whispers, as if the syllables were an invocation.

Aurelian, they breathed in unison. Lorgar Aurelian, Lorgar the Golden One. Thus was the father known to his chosen children. The Seventeenth Primarch turned his gaze to the ocean of greyarmoured warriors bred to do his bidding.

He seemed to pause, just for a moment, at the immensity of what he was seeing. Those closest to him saw the fires of thought light up his eyes. Human senses, even the laboratoryforged perceptions of an Astartes warrior, struggled to process what they were seeing.

When Argel Tal first stood before Lorgar as a boy still shy of his eleventh birthday, he had suffered nightmares of confusion and pain for a month. Your mind must come to terms with what you have seen. Mortal minds and eyes were never meant to witness such things. It will take time to adjust. It hurts to remember him. Argel Tal had listened to none of it — at least, not then, not that morning with the weak Colchisian sun bringing dawn to his singlewindowed cell.

He still thought of Turyon. The Apothecary had died forty years before, and Argel Tal kept a memento of the battle. In truth, that was why he kept it. A morbid habit, perhaps, and one the Chaplains had often chastised him for. Certainly, they trailed down his face in tight, perfect lines, from his shaved head to his jawline, each sentence a prayer of devotion, a prophetic hope for the future, or an invocation of strength from a higher power.

Yet for all his majesty, the Seventeenth Primarch did not display his grandeur by ceremonial wargear. His armour may have been gold, but it was no more ornate than the Mark III plate worn by his captains.

It reached the ears of his closest sons, and translated smoothly across the vox for the rear ranks. His slender lips were curled into the crooked half-smile of an impassioned poet, despite standing in 37 The First Heretic the grave of his greatest achievement.

In his gauntleted hands, clutched in gold fists that seemed reluctant to raise the weapon, was a crozius the height of an Astartes warrior.

Evenly-spaced spikes the length of human forearms projected from its outer edges, lending the mace a brutish air almost at odds with the philosophical seeker who carried it across the stars.

Entire worlds had been put to the flame by its bearer, while every Chaplain of the Word Bearers Legion wielded its lesser reflection. The primarch cast glances back at the grounded Ultramarines Thunderhawks, waiting for any signs of emergence. Lorgar turned away from his sons, now staring down at the impassive gunships.

Over the years, several books have either been combined into omnibuses or are out of print. If I had to pick the most robust, rich, and all around versatile science-fiction universe, it would be Warhammer 40, by a country mile. It has a deep, complex lore that is well-seeded in more than twenty years of rulebooks and codexes, all of which is wonderfully explored in various novels from Black Library. Fortunately, you have me as a guide on your walkabout, kind of like Dingo in that one Gargoyles episode.

In the wake of the 13th Black Crusade, the world of WH40k is changing dramatically. This is how I suggest doing that. Why you should read it: These stories provide one of the best introductions and primers for the concept and basis of the Space Marines which can be a foreign concept to newcomers of the universe. The Wolf of Ash and Fire was released as a free e-book with every copy of Macragge's Honour and later released as a stand alone e-book.

Heart of the Conqueror is a Horus Heresy short story that takes place after the events of the main series novel Betrayer , and follows the World Eaters Legion and their now Daemonic Primarch , Angron. Angron is chained in the deepest dungeon aboard the Conqueror , his own flagship. Meanwhile the ship's only Navigator takes her own life after no longer being able to be part of the Legion's insanity and bloodlust, ripping the ship violently out of the Warp and into realspace, where they are then stranded and lost, with the Daemon Primarch beneath their feet.

Heart of the Conqueror was released as a Horus Heresy Weekender exclusive, and is also included in the Legacies of Betrayal anthology. This short story was later released as an e-book. Child of Night is a Horus Heresy short story. What will happen when he discovers that his Legion has fallen into heresy? And where will his loyalties lie?

Child of Night was later released as part of The Silent War anthology. The Shadowmasters is a Horus Heresy Short Story that first appeared within the dusk jacket for the hardback release of the Horus Heresy Novella Corax: Soulforge and later released as an audio book.

The Mor Deythan stand apart from their brothers of the Raven Guard Legion - indeed, there are many who would claim that they do not even exist. Blessed with the same powers of stealth and subterfuge as their Primarch Corvus Corax , the self-styled Shadowmasters may slip through any battlefield, unseen and unheard, until they are ready to strike. Now, as the Legion mounts its attack on the Forge World of Atlas , Brother-Sergeant Chamell leads his warriors on a vital, clandestine mission to strike at the enemy's heart.

Cover art taken from audio book release. The Shadowmasters was later released as part of the Corax anthology. Decades before Horus's civil war sunders the Imperium , Raeven Devine , ruler-in-waiting of the world of Molech , prepares for his Becoming , the rite that will elevate him to the rank of Knight and bond him with the mighty war machine that will be his steed for years to come.

But traitors within the Sacristans have other ideas and a shocking act of betrayal sets the stage for one of the bloodiest battles of the Horus Heresy. The Devine Adoratrice was released as an ebook so it could act as the prequel to Book 29, Vengeful Spirit. Chagrined by his defeat at the hands of Jaghatai Khan , Mortarion abandons the pursuit of the White Scars Legion and instead leads the Death Guard in a spiteful, punitive rampage across the systems of the Prosperine Empire.

World after world has fallen to this horrific onslaught, and yet the insular and secretive Primarch seems preoccupied by some other, unspoken goal. Daemonology was originally released as an ebook but was later released as part of the Blades of the Traitor anthology. Daemonology was later released as part of the War Without End anthology. Sins of the Father is a Horus Heresy short story.

As Azkaellon and Amit duel in the ritual Tempest of Angels , the two favoured sons of Sanguinius learn something about their virtues and their weaknesses, of both themselves and each other. Sins of the Father was also later released as part of the Eye of Terra anthology. As Horus grinds the Imperium beneath his boot, emissaries from the XVIth Legion return to worlds sworn to the Warmaster during the Great Crusade to have them renew their fealty. With the Sons of Horus already at battle readiness over Sixty-Three Fourteen, a grim decision must be made Vorax is a Horus Heresy short story.

But those rogue priests and adepts lurking in the depths will soon face a new enemy, and the hunters shall become the prey Vorax was later released as part of the Eye of Terra anthology. The Value of Fear is a Horus Heresy short story. The Raven Guard under Corax continue to gather all leaderless loyalists to their banner, determined to take the fight to Horus and his heretics. In the industrial nightmare of the underhive, the XIXth Legion receive a lesson in terror tactics from the most unlikely of allies — the Night Lords The Value of Fear was later released as part of the Corax anthology.

Brotherhood of the Moon is a Horus Heresy short story. In the aftermath of the rebellion within his Legion, Jaghatai Khan ordered the trials of his wayward sons to determine whether or not they would atone. The proud Terran legionary Torghun Khan now stands before his accusers, and must account for the events that could have led him into outright heresy Brotherhood of the Moon was later released as part of the Eye of Terra anthology.

Virtues of the Sons is a Horus Heresy short story. Virtues of the Sons was published simultaneously as a stand-alone ebook and as a part of the Death and Defiance anthology. Virtues of the Sons was later released as part of the War Without End anthology. Imperfect is a Horus Heresy short story. Especially since Ferrus Manus is dead Imperfect was published simultaneously as a stand-alone ebook and as a part of the Death and Defiance anthology.

Imperfect was later released as part of the War Without End anthology. Howl of the Hearthworld is a Horus Heresy short story. In the wake of the Razing of Prospero and Magnus the Red ' betrayal, Space Wolves watch packs were sent to keep an eye on each of the Primarchs , ready strike should treachery rear its head. Howl of the Hearthworld was published simultaneously as a stand-alone ebook and as a part of the Death and Defiance anthology.

Howl of the Hearthworld was later released as part of the War Without End anthology. Scattered and leaderless after their disastrous defeat at the hands of the Dark Angels Legion , the remnants of the Night Lords once mighty fleet head to a prearranged location: the world of Sotha , located on the fringes of Ultramar.

They expect to find some of Guilliman's XIII Legion opposing them, but they're not prepared for what awaits them when they stumble across one of the most important worlds in Imperium Secundus.

A Safe and Shadowed Place was published simultaneously as a stand-alone ebook and as a part of the Death and Defiance anthology. Gunsight is a Horus Heresy short story. His target? Non-other than Warmaster Horus himself.

Gunsight was published simultaneously as a stand-alone ebook and as a part of the Death and Defiance anthology. Gunsight was later released as part of the War Without End anthology. Black Oculus is a Horus Heresy short story. Their only option? To thread the needle, and dive into the heart of the black hole.

Perhaps by sheer blind luck, they were transported far across the warp to the Tallarn System — but the Navigators in service to the Iron Warriors fleet were irreversibly corrupted by that harrowing experience. Black Oculus was originally released as an ebook but was later released as part of the Blades of the Traitor anthology.

Black Oculus was later released as part of the War Without End anthology. Wolf Mother is a Horus Heresy short story. Aboard the Molech's Enlightenment , amongst the countless civilian refugees that fled the Warmaster 's invasion of Molech , a serpent makes its nest.

The Chaos cult that brought House Devine to its knees lives on, preying upon the weak and the helpless, and it falls to Alivia Sureka to root out the evil that hides in plain sight. Luckily for her, she has an ally who is more than familiar with such tactics: the lone wolf Knight Errant , Severian.

Wolf Mother was originally published simultaneously as a stand-alone ebook and as a part of the Blades of the Traitor anthology. Wolf Mother was later released as part of the War Without End anthology. Twisted is a Horus Heresy short story. Since he was crippled by rebel treachery on Sixty-Three Nineteen , Maloghurst the Twisted has continued to serve Warmaster Horus as his closest aide and confidant. His loyalty has remained constant, but the XVI Legion has changed rivalry and personal ambition run rife, and although Horus's authority is supreme, his equerry's is certainly not.

When a daemonic plot to infest the Vengeful Spirit comes to light, Maloghurst reluctantly turns to the few allies he has left: the mysterious Davinites.

Twisted was originally published simultaneously as a stand-alone ebook and as a part of the Blades of the Traitor anthology. Twisted was later released as part of the War Without End anthology. Chirurgeon is a Horus Heresy short story. In its earliest days, the III Legion was blighted by a genetic flaw that threatened to end the Phoenician 's bloodline forever.

Fortunately, through tireless effort and the miracle of the Primarch 's own genetic perfection, visionaries like Apothecary Fabius Bile were able to halt the corruption and restore the Emperor's Children to their former glory. Except, it would seem, that a terrible secret has been kept from the rest of the Legion , and the threat of further degeneration is quite real Chirurgeon was originally published simultaneously as a stand-alone ebook and as a part of the Blades of the Traitor anthology.

Chirurgeon was later released as part of the War Without End anthology. Tallarn: Witness is a Horus Heresy short story. With the wreckage of a million tanks and war machines spread across the planetary surface, Syn and his allies in the Space Marine Legions and Imperial Army survey the carnage, and consider the price that they have paid in blood Tallarn: Witness was originally released as a short story in the Horus Heresy Weekender, but was later released as an e-book.

Ironfire is a Horus Heresy short story. His body broken by the fall of the Schadenhold , the Iron Warriors Warsmith Idriss Krendl is nonetheless far from defeated. Now commanding two of the mighty siege guns stolen from the forge world of Diamat , he seeks to redeem himself in the eyes of his Primarch by bringing down the Great Selenic Palace on Euphorus , and gather invaluable tactical data for the eventual assault on Terra.

His plan? To utilise a strategy of his own devising - the glorious Ironfire Protocol. Ironfire was later released as part of the Eye of Terra anthology. Hands of the Emperor is a Horus Heresy short story. There are no more loyal servants of the Master of Mankind than his own Custodian Guard When Shield-Captain Enobar Stentonox is assigned to watch over the Imperial Palace , it is only a matter of hours before a full alert is sounded - secure airspace has been breached, by none other than their well-intentioned Space Marine allies.

With neither side willing to accept responsibility for the mistake, tensions rise and a new battle begins in the skies over Terra. Hands of the Emperor was originally published part of The Imperial Truth exclusive anthology, but was released later as a stand-alone ebook. Hands of the Emperor was later released as part of the War Without End anthology. By the Lion's Command is a Horus Heresy short story.

Following the splitting of the Dark Angels fleet in the aftermath of Perditus , Seneschal Corswain continues to hunt down the Death Guard forces under the command of the infamous Typhon.

Now, a tense standoff erupts in the heavens over the supposedly independent world of Terra Nullius , and Corswain must either bend the local population to his own cause or make an example of them to other worlds that might secede from the Imperium. In this war, there can be no innocent bystanders. By the Lion's Command was originally published part of The Imperial Truth exclusive anthology, but was released later as a stand-alone ebook.

All That Remains is a Horus Heresy short story. As Horus ' rebellion consumes the galaxy, the dead number in the billions. Far greater, however, are the countless casualties evacuated from front line duties to tend their wounds and someday return to the fight. On one particular vessel cast adrift in the Warp , a handful of ragged Imperial Army soldiers make a startling discovery, and the question of why so many more of their comrades have been lost is soon answered All That Remains was originally published part of The Imperial Truth exclusive anthology, but was released later as a stand-alone ebook.

The Phoenician is a Horus Heresy short story. On the black sands of Isstvan V , Gabriel Santar is dying. Struck down by his former battle-brother, Julius Kaesoron of the Emperor's Children , he watches helplessly as his father Ferrus Manus is murdered by the thrice-damned traitor Fulgrim. But Santar's fading sight reveals far more about the supposedly perfect Phoenician Primarch than anyone could have guessed - is it too late for this revelation to have any value to the Iron Hands Legion?

The Phoenician was originally published part of The Imperial Truth exclusive anthology, but was released later as a stand-alone ebook and is now available as part of the War Without End anthology.

Shunned by the rest of the Legions after the destruction of their homeworld Nostramo , the Night Lords have fought without their disgraced Primarch Konrad Curze for many years. This short story was released for free over the course of five days only through the Warhammer App and later released as an ebook. Massacre was later released as part of the Eye of Terra anthology.

Artefacts is a Horus Heresy short story. Before the massacre on Isstvan V , the Primarch Vulkan returns to his forge on Nocturne to prepare for war against the traitors. However, in light of recent conflicts with his wayward brother Konrad Curze , he looks upon his personal armoury with a startling new clarity. If the wrath of the supposedly loyal Night Lords can be unleashed upon their own home world in a moment of unchecked rage, is it wise for any Legion to have access to such devastating devices as the Engine of Woes , the Unbound Flame or the Song of Entropy?

Artefacts was originally published part of the Sedition's Gate exclusive anthology, but was released later as a stand-alone ebook.

Artefacts was later released as part of the War Without End anthology. Ghosts Speak Not is a Horus Heresy short story. Distrusted by their kinsmen, they languished in seclusion on Luna Patience is a Horus Heresy short story. Amendera Kendel , once a Sister of Silence but more recently in service to the Sigillite, gives Helig Gallor of the Death Guard a new purpose, and a new duty — one that will ultimately see him reunited with his former battle captain on the field of war.

Patience was later released as part of The Silent War anthology. Inheritor is a Horus Heresy short story. On the world of Kronus , deep within the grand realm of Ultramar , Torquill Eliphas of the Word Bearers brings his grand designs to fruition.

But the slaughter of Ultramarines is not their only goal — Eliphas seeks to harness the power of the Warp , in the construction of the mighty Templum Daemonarchia Inheritor was later released as part of the Eye of Terra anthology. Tallarn: Siren is a Horus Heresy short story. In the immediate aftermath of the Iron Warriors ' attack, the loyalist forces on Tallarn mount a desperate mission to locate the last surviving Astropath on the planet, so that they can send a distress call to the rest of the Imperium.

Blackshield is a Horus Heresy short story. Even within the dread annals of the Horus Heresy , few events have provoked as much horror as the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V , when the Space Marines turned on their brothers in an orgy of slaughter.

The Legions were torn apart, the civil war spiralling outwards to all corners of the Imperium , shattering the trust that once bound them together. Along with a handful of other renegade Death Guard legionaries, ex- Deathshroud Terminator Sergeant Khorak has begun to raid the fringes of the Imperium - until they are cornered by mysterious warriors in crudely painted black armour, led by another fallen son of Mortarion , the Blackshield Crysos Morturg.

Can the two gene-brothers set aside their differences, or is history deemed to repeat itself? Myriad is a Horus Heresy short story.

Mars , the Red Planet, home to the Mechanicum , a mysterious cult dedicated to unlocking the secrets of the universe.

In this sequel to Cybernetica , a loyalist resistance — made up of rag-tag survivors from a Titan crew, enginseers and tech-adepts — conducts guerrilla raids on the Dark Mechanicum forces of Kelbor-Hal. But what is the cost of deploying such a power? The loyalists now face a hard decision — just because they can, does this mean they should? The Harrowing is a Horus Heresy short story. The garrison world of Callistra Mundi is threatened by traitor forces — none other than the insidious Alpha Legion.

Like so many before it, this attack will not come as a traditional legionary assault, but as a Harrowing. Operatives and turncoats are revealed within the Mechanicum ark freighter Omnissiax and her attendant battlegroup, and confusion will reign amongst the loyalist defenders.

And only when none can tell friend from foe will the true destruction begin When the traitorous allies of Warmaster Horus and Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal seized control of Mars , they sent elite hunters to apprehend key targets and ensure that any loyal resistance would fail.

One such target was the legendary technoarchaeologist Arkhan Land , the discoverer of many lost treasures and curiosities from mankind's Golden Age - and the Imperial Fists cannot allow such a valuable mind to fall into the hands of the enemy. Does Land have good reason to fear his apparent saviours?

Balsar Kurthuri of the Raven Guard has always followed his Primarch 's orders. When the Edict of Nikaea forbade psykers within the Legions , he returned to the line squads without a second thought. When the Warmaster 's treachery became known, he gave freely of his powers.

Now, as the war appears to be entering its final, grim stages, at Lord Corax 's command he must return to Terra to face judgement for the apparent crime of unswerving loyalty Search for a book to add a reference. We take abuse seriously in our discussion boards. Only flag comments that clearly need our attention. We will not remove any content for bad language alone, or being critical of a particular book.

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Incorrect Book The list contains an incorrect book please specify the title of the book. Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. By: John French. Driven almost to the brink of self-destruction at Isstvan V, the Iron Hands now seek vengeance for the murder of their primarch Ferrus Manus. Gathering survivors from the Raven Guard and the Salamanders aboard any vessels capable of warp travel, these Shattered Legions wage a new campaign of annihilation against the traitor forces across the galaxy - a campaign masterminded by legendary warleader Shadrak Meduson.

By: Dan Abnett , and others. While Horus' rebellion burns across the galaxy, a very different kind of war rages beneath the Imperial Palace. The 'Ten Thousand' Custodian Guard, along with the Sisters of Silence and the Mechanicum forces of Fabricator General Kane, fight to control the nexus points of the ancient eldar webway that lie closest to Terra, infested by daemonic entities after Magnus the Red's intrusion.

By: Aaron Dembski-Bowden. From out of the shadows of the Silent War, a hero emerges. Clad all in grey, an errant warrior of the Legiones Astartes kneels before the Regent of Terra, and accepts a solemn new duty - Battle-Captain Garro, once commander of the Eisenstein, now Agentia Primus of Malcador the Sigillite. From the desolation of Isstvan to the halls of the Imperial Palace itself, he stands as a paragon of loyalty and protector of the innocent, ever ready to strike back at the traitorous allies of the Warmaster.

By: James Swallow. Imperium Secundus lies revealed as a heretical folly. Terra has not fallen, though it remains inaccessible. They seek to defend the Emperor and to atone for their sins.

But the Ruinstorm, a galaxy-wide maelstrom of chaos, hides the Throneworld from the primarchs. Now the fleets of three Legions depart Macragge, and the primarchs will stop at nothing to overcome the Ruinstorm. By: David Annandale. Recalled from the Great Crusade after Ullanor, Rogal Dorn and the VIIth Legion were appointed as the Emperor's praetorians - but only after the Warmaster's treachery was revealed did the full extent of that sacred duty become apparent. Now, the Solar System comes under attack for the first time since the war began, and many of the seemingly impregnable defences wrought by the Imperial Fists prove inadequate.

With all eyes fixed firmly upon this new threat beyond the gates of Terra, who in turn will protect Dorn from the enemy within? With the Dark Angels spread across a hundred systems, primarch Lion El'Jonson stands as Lord Protector of Ultramar - though his true motives are known to few indeed, and old rivalries on the home world threaten to tear the Legion in half.

But when word comes of the Night Lords' attack on Sotha, the Lion's brutal actions bring Imperium Secundus once again to the brink of civil war. By: Gav Thorpe.

The time has come for Leman Russ, primarch of the Space Wolves, to fulfil his vow and attempt to stop Warmaster Horus before he breaks through to the Segmentum Solar. By: Guy Haley. Reborn in body and spirit beneath Mount Deathfire, the primarch Vulkan gathers his most trusted sons and prepares for the final part of his journey.

Haunted by a sense of destiny unfulfilled, Vulkan must choose between joining their war of vengeance against the traitors and following his own barely understood path all the way to the Throneworld itself. By: Nick Kyme. After a long and gruelling conflict, the traitors at last close upon Terra. But time is dwindling for an attack. Both Guilliman and the Lion are returning with all haste, and their armies could turn the tide. The hosts of the Warmaster must unite, for only then can they attack the Throneworld itself.

For long years, the Horus Heresy has ground on. Now, the Death Guard have been sent to begin the final battle. But Mortarion and his sons must face their gravest challenge first - for Nurgle has claimed them as his own, and he will not be denied The skies darken over Terra as the final battle for the Throne looms ever closer But as he and his warriors make way, they become lost in the warp and stricken by a terrible plague.

Sanctioned because of his desire for knowledge, chastised, judged, and shattered to his very elements — there is much for the Crimson King to feel vengeful for. He seeks something, a fragment, the missing piece of himself that lies within the most impregnable place on the planet — the inner sanctum of the Imperial Palace.