The Emperor and Horus book. Read 2 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. EDITOR'S NOTE: The above was sourced from transcribed copies. The Emperor chose to sacrifice His immortal life at the end of the Horus Heresy in the service and protection of Mankind. To Humanity's countless trillions across the galaxy-spanning Imperium, He is nothing less than God.

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'Let the galaxy burn.'

– Horus Lupercal

'Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven.'

– Satan in John Milton's Paradise Lost.

'Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell.'

– William Shakespeare

Horus Lupercal, The Breaker of Tyrants, The Warmaster, The Arch-Traitor, or FUCKING HORUS! was the Primarch of the Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus/Black Legion, and the main figure in the event known as the HorusHeresy (this is NOT a dead giveaway. Oh no), who is generally known as 'THE GUY WHO FUCK'D IT ALL UP', but not really really.

Overview[edit]

Once the most favoured son of his father the God-Emperor of Mankind, he began to resent his father's treatment of him and other Primarchs, and believing that the Emperor's secret plan was to become a god using his own Primarch sons as a tool (when in fact all this is due to the lies of a certain religious zealot), eventually turned to Chaos. If you really need to be told any of this, what in the actual fuck are you doing on /tg/ in the first place? This is such common knowledge, that the outlines of the Horus Heresy and every bad ass taking part in it, are more or less engraved in the mind of every /tg/ reader. Much like the Emperor being crippled and the Imperium devolving into a bureaucratic grimdark empire, the death of Horus and the placement of Abaddon as the most influential Chaos champion ever, turned the Traitor legions from a genocidal force bent on utter domination for the glory of Chaos into a Saturday-morning cartoon villain organization. Also his armour made him look like an egg.

It is argued that Horus was not actually evil but possessed by the Chaos Gods or that he was a victim of Lorgar, who is officially labeled as 'The First Heretic.' However, he was still a massive dick. Hence the common saying in the post-Heresy Imperium: 'Of all the mighty Primarchs, Horus sure was a dick.'

But long story short, the Imperium got into this fucked up state because this guy had daddy issues (honestly, who didn't?), he got scammed by religious nutjobs, and because the Chaos Gods showed him horrific visions of the future, supposedly under the Emperor's rule, all while conveniently leaving out the fact that it would be his own efforts to avert said future that would cause it in the first place. Lol-irony. They did show him that the Emperor was planning to discard him and the other rest of the Space Marines when their usefulness ended, and in fairness, that was actually completely true as Master of Mankind shows and which totally contradicts previous Horus Heresy novels where the chambers the primarchs were supposed to live in once the Crusade ended were depicted. Why would you build large apartments for your 'sons' if you really did not give a rat's ass about them? Or was the EMPRA intending on luring them into their respective apartment and then strangle them to death? Why go through all the effort when his psychic might was enough to force Lorgar to kneel (causing a small brain hemorrhage as evidenced by blood tricking out of his nose. See 'The First Heretic)? He could have just BLAMMED them all Thunder Warrior style with all his psychic prowess and shit. Either way, you know what they say- the best lies contain a grain of truth. The Chaos Gods did show Horus the future he would create which seemed to prove that the EMPRA had planned his own ascension all along (so he obviously must enjoy to be chilling on the couch as a decomposing corpse these days).

It also doesn't help that there's prior precedence provided by Malcador committing damnatio memoriae on the 11th and 2nd Primarchs, a conspiracy which was first uncovered during its development by 'Alpharius' and brought to the attention of the Warmaster himself, leading to a confrontation between 'Alpharius', Horus, Jaghatai Khan & Malcador the Sigillite on Terra. After calling each other ambitious freeloaders, Horus threatened Malcador's life, to which the Sigillite said if they didn't like the erasure of the recently lost legion, they could shove that precious vainglorious memory of theirs where the sun don't shine. When Horus tried to speak his dead brother's name as an act of defiance, Malcador froze his brain & had to be talked down from sploding his grey matter all over the room by Jaghatai & 'Alpharius'. When he got back up, Horus flipped a table and gave Malcador the bird when he had his back turned, effectively planting the seed of resentment & pouring boiling piss over it.

It is during this confrontation that it's revealed that Horus had always disagreed with the idea of standard humans ruling over themselves & believed that since it was he, the other Primarchs and their Astartes who conquered the stars, that it should be themselves who rule over the compliant planets; rather than this opinion being implanted by the ruinous powers, it was merely exacerbated. His low opinion on mortals probably isn't helped by the fact that the conspiracy to condemn the memory of his lost brothers was concocted by baseline noble humans (there was even a noble present from House Carpinus by the name of Na-Baron Petronius Vivar at the confrontation with Malcador). Evidently, the other traitor Primarchs thought much the same when he revealed to them that it was the Emperor's plan to give the right to govern these planets to standard humans of noble houses, only to then discard the Primarchs and the remaining 18 legions (2nd and 11th style) once their stated purpose had been fulfilled. How this plan exactly meshes with putting Magnus on the Golden Throne to manage the Webway for Him is unknown, but we suspect it involves strapping an explosive collar around his neck that would detonate should he decide to peel his red ass off the chair. No bathroom breaks.

Either way though, the Emperor psychically nuking of Horus' body and soul means Horus is gone as fuck now, occasional Fabius Bile cloning shenanigans notwithstanding, and Horus' influence of modern 40K will remain posthumous.

Also, 40K(30K?) Horus has more of an reverse connection to his Egyptian god namesake, given the Egyptian Horus heroically took to the throne of the gods from a usurper while 40K Horus is instead the failed usurper.

New fluff[edit]

Recent fluff from the book Vengeful Spirit has Horus visiting the same gate to the Warp on Molech that the Emperor used to get some of his powers. While only seconds pass in the Materium, Horus spends what is basically implied to be an eternity inside the Warp battling rival Daemon Princes, amassing billions of warp-creature minions, and wrecking shit. In the end he somehow gains the same powers that the Emperor received to create the Primarchs, but Horus gets them in a 'legit' way (as far as the Ruinous Powers are concerned) by passing their near constant tests through sheer force of will, where the Emperor just took what he wanted. Refusing to become a slave to the Ruinous Powers (or perhaps that's what the Chaos Gods wanted him to think) he leaves his Warp-empire to return to his rebellion in the Materium. Horus' time inside the Warp was so long that he, a fully grown Primarch, had visibly aged. However with his new psychic hack abilities he disguises his over-the-hill face and still maintains his youthful appearance. Apparently the Emperor does the same trick. This was basically a big retcon by Black Library who previously explained Horus being able to fight toe-to-toe with the Big E as having all four Chaos Gods channel their powers into him at once.

It's important to explore this clusterfuck of nonsense to make sense of the lore before one comes to the rubbish conclusion that the Emperor only became god-like after Molech. This is balls-deep nonsense. This is what Horus (who is himself not in any way whatsoever a good source for reliable information regarding Chaos) thinks he knows from his own narrow/skewed/manipulated point of view. The more commonly held belief is that, as with the vision he received from the Great Fuckhead Himself, he was misled. That the Emperor, a being capable of trapping and fighting a C'Tan (that as it turned out had been tired out prior by another warp entity.. oops) during the Middle Ages, was always as powerful as He has been portrayed. It is explained that the Primarchs are more than just flesh and bone, and that each of them has a fraction of His personality in them that they themselves embody. Ferrus Manus' rather dramatic death highlights that inside Primarchs lies a great deal of energy. Now to the heart of it - Molech. Why would a being as powerful as the Emperor, who has to combat 4 monstrously powerful otherworldly entities whilst maintaining a beacon anywhere he goes, soul bound psykers and fight throughout the Great Crusade, split His formidable power 20 times into 20 beings? He wouldn't, he'd grab extra power to do so. That was Molech - a source and gateway to a wellspring of power claimed by Chaos for its use alone. A source the Emperor broke into and stole/took/tricked for His Primarch Project. Using the additional power, He crafted, with His scientific mastery, 20 genetically engineered super hosts. In the same way that god-aligned daemons are formed by splitting a portion off the God itself, He used each portion of power as a blank mould, investing them with a sliver of His personality and allowing the power to coalesce around it to form a soul/Emperor-Greater Daemon. That pseudo-daemon is then implanted in a host that can never die or degrade due to age, perfectly tailored to hold it. This explains why each Primarch radiates an aura of awe and magnificence. Horus didn't become as powerful as the Emperor, he retrieved the power that made himself and all his brothers and had it infused into himself. While it appears he has lost a significant chunk of this power (and a piece of his soul) after his duel with Leman Russ in the Battle of Trisolian, it is still likely that he is at least a match for the Emperor.

Following the duel with Russ, Horus suddenly entered a near coma, throwing the legion into disarray. Maloghurst later entered the Realm of Chaos and found that a part of Horus's soul - an uncorrupted part - was still trapped in the Warp. That part of his soul was suffering from the effects of Russ's spear, leading to the material Horus falling unconcious. The fragment expressed remorse over it's actions, as well as a morbid clarity that his rebellion was just part of the Gods plan and he had been manipulated into doing so. Left with no other option, Maloghurst destroyed the fragment at the cost of his own life, releasing Horus from his coma and giving him total control over the powers granted by the Chaos Gods, as well as leaving him utterly without doubt in his actions (however delusional they may actually have been).

In Path of Heaven he appears in all his pomp and Chaotic corruption to assign Mortarion to kill Jaghatai Khan, explain that all his other generals have gone doolally and wax lyrical about killing the Emperor, as well as make the point that being 'roided up by the raw stuff of the Empyrean doesn't get you out of having to manage the logistics of a galactic civil war. Soon after, Mortarion kills his Navigators in a fit of rage and makes the dumbass decision to go into the warp anyway. In other words, Horus was the only one of his brothers who had his shit together, which was why the Horus Heresy fell apart so quickly after his death.

Newest fluff heavily suggests that Chaos Gods' plan from the very beginning was for Horus to lose, but only barely. Apparently the Gods knew about the Cabal's plans and made sure they would get the outcome of a fucked up Imperium that lasts for millennia, feeding them with all the negative emotions they needed, rather than an Imperium of Chaos which would go to shit in a few centuries of infighting, taking humanity and gods themselves with it. It does make sense that at least Khorne and Nurgle would appreciate a bloody and decaying Imperium. One daemon even referred to Horus as 'sacrificial lamb' needed to stop the Imperium from turning into a prosperous empire of reason, and kickstart the Long War. The Emperor may have developed a counter-plan that caused the Chaos Gods to scream in frustration in The Outcast Dead but that book is fairly trippy. Later still, Lorgar hinted that the Chaos Gods were displeased with the Warmaster's unwillingness to become a slave to Chaos and that his ultimate defeat in the duel with the Emperor would be a punishment for his refusal to surrender his will to them.

Long after the Scouring, Fabius Bile succeeded in creating a stable clone of a pre-Molech Horus, who utterly wrecked a huge boarding party of traitor marines before being fucking impaled through the chest with his own talon by Abbadon. The clone was capable of speech and seemed to possess a semblance of memory from its twin brother's past (calling Abbadon its 'son', just before being turned into a kebab). It's unknown why it was so hostile to other Astartes or what degree of control Fabius had over it. Several prominent marines were adamant that such an abomination (cloned Astartes apparently being the closest thing to taboo you can get for even a traitor marine) would not be Horus in any way, because his soul was annihilated by the Emperor. It should be noted that Horus can still be found within the warp, performing his labors for the Chaos Gods to gain more power. Theoretically, since time in the Empyrean is dynamic rather than linear, this could mean he could be pulled back out of the warp from the middle of his trials to resume leadership of his legion.

Good Guy Horus[edit]

It's often forgotten by fans that before he was corrupted and decieved by Erebus and Lorgar, Horus was a genuinely nice guy, he could even be found regularly posting on the r/niceguys subreddit. Fans are quick to joke about 'that dick Horus,' but before Things Went Wrong he was one of the most personable, down to earth primarchs. Yeah, part of the reason people fell for him so easily was that he shared the Emperor's psychic magnetism, but he also went out of his way to be friendly and considerate of custom, if not necessarily polite. Granted, at times he had arrogance to match Magnus and choler to match Angron, but despite that he always made effort to honor those under his command, mortal and astartes alike. Whilemanyotherprimarchs saw their warriors as little more than tools, or werealoof and unnapproachable, Horus was a true father to his sons, guiding and shaping them personally. To most legions it would be unimaginable for the primarch to personally seek out and comfort a legionary during a time of crisis, but for the Luna Wolves, it was obvious. He was no saint or coddler, as we see him encourage rivalries within and between his legion and others, but in doing so he brought strength and glory. Even when dealing with outsiders, he always attempted diplomacy before making war, something even his gentler brothers cannot say. Horus was a cunning, brutal, supremely confident warlord with a huge cock who nonetheless took great pains to make sure his warriors and mortal retainers were treated well, and furthermore, from the very few pre-Davin POV scenes we get, we know he actually believed others deserved to be treated well, it wasn't simply feigned politeness or a calculated display of regard. Then fucking Erebus happened. Even his edgy rebellion and fall to Chaos was due to his honest love of people. He's basically 40k's version of Arthas Menethil.

On the Tabletop[edit]

Horus is everything you love about an HQ wrapped up in one man. He is a very good tactical HQ allowing reserves to outflank, giving every Son of Horus +1 to Leadership and seizing the initiative on a 4+. He and any Terminator unit he has joined may elect which turn they arrive in and they will not scatter if they choose to Deep Strike (and he bestows the rule to the entire unit). He also makes veteran-tactical squads and Justaerin Terminators troops choices (if he is the Warlord.. but then again when are you not going to make him your Warlord?).

He is good at shooting with a BS of 5, night vision, a thing that gives - if he chooses to not fire during his turn - a single unit within 6' (other than super-heavy or Independent Characters) +1 BS, a twin-linked super-bolter, and an orbital bombardment using his BS (also twin-linked). And, finally, he is a monster in close combat, being able to take down full terminator squads in 1 turn if you roll well for his 6 attacks plus +D3 attacks if he is fighting a unit or character of weapon skill 4 or lower. He can rape blobs, MEQ's, TEQ's and HQ's.

His weapons are the Warmaster's Talon (an AP2 lightning claw which saddles whoever survives it with a -1 penalty to WS and S for every wound it inflicts that in theory can stack, ensuring that even if he doesn't kill what he's fighting, his target will be completely unable to harm him or anybody else in close combat), and a S10 AP1 master-crafted thunderhammer called Worldbreaker. Combine this with an initiative of 6, and he will strike first most of the time. He's also pretty durable with a toughness and wounds of 6, 2+ armor save, 3+ invulnerable save, 5+ deny the witch, and an additional 3+ save against any psychic attack or adverse profile modifications, which comes to play more often then you may think, given most other Primarchs are bristling with Concussive, Strikedown, Blind or some weirder stat-lowering shit. As in 30k destroyer weapons don't have a 'deathblow' result, titan-killer weapons cannot one-shot him, but they still hurt a lot, and while Shadowsword cannot spam D-strength, Magnus definitely can, and the horrible abomination of cheese that is a Warlord-class battle titan could vomit out enough D to kill three Horuses in one turn, so don't get too cocky.

Horus is an absolute motherfucker, and can be thought of as everything a Chapter Master should be between his Orbital Bombardment and army buffs. Letting reserves Outflank makes crossing the board much easier. His Justaerinstar will make anything shit its pants. The Ld bonus patches his Legion's weak morale, and 4+ seize can make a huge difference. His Orbital Bombardment is also awesome. The multi-wound EWless models one finds in 30k will die, and you're likely to put vehicles out of commission. Unfortunately this comes at a really steep fucking price (500 points!) so use him wisely.

As this is said to represent him as he was during the Great Crusade and the start of the Horus Heresy, it is possible he may get an updated profile to represent him as he was when he got all Chaos'd up. When or if that'll happen is anyone's guess, however.

Horus VS other Primarchs:[edit]

Horus wins against any other Primarch except Leman Russ, super-charged Magnus, and Sanguinius if he's using the Angel's Wrath Rite of War (fitting). That's it. He beats ALMOST any other opponent he gets pitted against.

No seriously, what did you expect? With WS 8, 6 Attacks with a S7 AP2 lightning claw that cripples whoever survives his onslaught or a MC S10 Thunder Hammer and 2+/3++ he can destroy almost any other Primarch relatively safely. He's clearly built to be the hardest dude around and his gear is borderline unfair. Disabling Strike is just disgusting and it's directly intended to make sure he stays the top dog no matter how angry, pretty or wellequipped anyone else is.. so long as he doesn't piss off the Angel. Ouch, that Talon really hurts. So, yeah, almost no one can actually fight 1 on 1 with the Warmaster, barring some incredibly lucky rolls.

These are the old numbers on Leman Russ pre-FAQ:

• Horus vs. Leman Russ
  • Horus, Round 1: Hits 2 times, wounds 1.777 times with his Claw, 0.888 wounds after saves, and IWND brings it down 0.555
  • Horus Round 2 and on: Hits 1 time, wounds 0.888 times with his Claw, 0.444 after saves and IWND brings it down to 0.111
  • Leman Russ, full Wounds + charge/Counter-Attack (Balenight): hits 4.667 times, wounds 3.502, 1.167 wounds after saves and IWND brings it down to 0.834 at the start of the next turn.
  • Leman Russ, full Wounds + charge/Counter-Attack (Helwinter): hits 4.861 times, wounds 4.051 times, 1.350 wounds after saves and IWND brings it down to 1.017 at the start of the next turn.
  • Leman Russ, full Wounds (Balenight): hits 4 times, wounds 3 times, 1 wound after saves and IWND brings it down to 0.667
  • Leman Russ, full Wounds (Helwinter): hits 4.190 times, wounds 3.492, 1.164 wounds after saves and IWND brings it down to 0.831 at the start of the next turn.
  • Sever Life: Being a pain in the ass to calculate, Sever Life will go off most of the time against Horus, but for the purposes of this mathhammer Sever Life's chance to not go off will be included in its average Wounds roll:
    • Every time Leman Russ Attacks Horus (as he'll always manage to Wound him and it doesn't say it's triggered via unsaved Wounds) Horus takes an additional 1.091 Wounds, only 0.364 of which will make it through Horus' save.
  • Keeping Sever Life in mind and the fact that Leman Russ can split his attacks, the ideal way to split them (for round one and two anyway) would be: 2 Attacks with Balenight, 4/5 Attacks with Helfrost. Here's what that looks like:
    • Leman Russ, full Wounds + charge/Counter-Attack: hits 4.851 times (1.333 times with Balenight, 3.518 times with Helwinter), wounds 5.023 times (1 time with Balenight, 2.932 times with Helwinter, 1.091 times with Sever Life), 1.674 wounds after saves and IWND brings it down to 1.341 wounds at the start of the next turn.
    • Leman Russ, full Wounds: hits 4.177 times (1.333 times with Balenight, 2.844 times with Helwinter), wounds 4.461 times (1 time with Balenight, 2.370 times with Helwinter, 1.091 times with Sever Life), 1.487 wounds after saves and IWND brings it down to 1.154 wounds at the start of the next turn.

Leman's negative to hit modifier is brutal, basically negating Horus' ability to do any damage, while Leman is still pounding him over the head. As stated, this includes Sever Life and Breaker of Shields, Bringer of Ruin. The theoretical breakdown of the match would be:

• Round 1:
  • Leman Russ, 6 Wounds, WS9, S6 + charge/Counter-Attack (2 attacks on Balenight, 5 attacks on Helwinter): hits 4.851 times (1.333 times with Balenight, 3.518 times with Helwinter), wounds 5.023 times (1 time with Balenight, 2.932 times with Helwinter, 1.091 times with Sever Life), 1.674 wounds after saves.
  • Horus, 4.326 Wounds: Hits 2 times, wounds 1.777 times with his Claw, 0.888 wounds after saves.
• Round 2:
  • Leman Russ, 5.112 Wounds, WS9, S6 (2 attacks on Balenight, 4 attacks on Helwinter): hits 4.177 times (1.333 times with Balenight, 2.844 times with Helwinter), wounds 4.461 times (1 time with Balenight, 2.370 times with Helwinter, 1.091 times with Sever Life), 1.487 wounds after saves.
  • Horus, 2.839 Wounds: Hits 1 time, wounds 0.888 times with his Claw, 0.444 wounds after saves.
• Round 3:
  • Leman Russ, 5.001 Wounds (IWND puts him slightly above 5, but it can't regenerate his damaged characteristics), WS8, S5 (3 attacks on Balenight, 3 attacks on Helwinter): hits 3.188 times (1.5 times with Balenight, 1.688 times with Helwinter), wounds 3.498 times (1 time with Balenight, 1.407 times with Helwinter, 1.091 times with Sever Life), 1.166 wounds after saves.
  • Horus, 2.006 Wounds (IWND): Hits 1 time, wounds 0.888 times with his Claw, 0.444 wounds after saves.
• Round 4:
  • Leman Russ, 4.557 Wounds, WS8, S5 (3 attacks on Balenight, 3 attacks on Helwinter): hits 3.188 times (1.5 times with Balenight, 1.688 times with Helwinter), wounds 3.498 times (1 time with Balenight, 1.407 times with Helwinter, 1.091 times with Sever Life), 1.166 wounds after saves.
  • Horus, 0.84 Wounds: Hits 1 time, wounds 0.888 times with his Claw, 0.444 wounds after saves.
• Round 5:
  • Leman Russ, 4.446 Wounds (IWND), WS7, S4 (The Talon of Horus technically causes another unsaved wound here) (all attacks on Helwinter): hits 3.214 times, wounds 1.607 times, 0.536 wounds after saves.
  • Horus, 0.637 Wounds (IWND): Hits 2 time, wounds 1.778 times with his Claw, 0.888 wounds after saves.
• Round 6:
  • Leman Russ, 3.558 Wounds, WS6, S3 (all attacks on Helwinter): hits 3.214 times, wounds 1.071 times, 0.357 wounds after saves.
  • Horus, 0.28 Wounds: Hits 1 time, wounds 0.888 times with his Claw, 0.444 wounds after saves.
• Round 7:
  • Leman Russ, 2.67 Wounds, WS6, S3 (all attacks on Helwinter): hits 3.214 times, wounds 1.071 times, 0.357 wounds after saves.
  • Horus is dead before IWND kicks in for him and so cannot strike back.

Mathematically, if Russ takes full advantage of Breaker of Shields, Bringer of Ruin then Horus loses the fight in 7 rounds (4 game turns!) while Russ still has 2.67 Wounds left. Whoah.

• Do note that IWND messes up the math a little at face value for Talon of Horus. Since Russ does not gain characteristics back that he lost because of Severing Strike, he'll appear to have fewer unsaved Wounds than he actually does.

The above was based on Russ' armour before it got nerfed, which before would make -2 to hits against by round two. Now it is only -1 for the entire battle.

Recalculations from Reddit by u/Fromageopain, showing Horus' win:

• Round 1 (Russ's turn, 7 attacks from charge. If turns are swapped, still 7 from Counter-Attack, but Horus makes IWND first)
  • Russ [6 Wounds, WS9, S6, 2 attacks with Balenight, 5 attacks with Helwinter]
    • Hits 1.333 times with Balenight and 3.912 times with Helwinter, wounds 1 time with Balenight, 3.2601 times with Helwinter and add 1.091 for Sever Life. That leads to 1.7833 wounds after saves.
  • Horus [4.222 Wounds, 6 Talon attacks]
    • Hits 2 times, wound 1.778 times, 0.889 wounds after saves and 0.444 after IWND.
• Round 2 (Horus' turn)
  • Russ [5.444 Wounds, WS9, S6, 2 Balenight 4 Helwinter]
    • Hits 1.333 times with Balenight and 3.201 times with Helwinter, wounds 1 time with Balenight, 2.668 times with Helwinter and add 1.091 for Sever Life. That leads to 1.586 wounds after saves and 1.253 after IWND
  • Horus [2.969 Wounds, 6 Talon]
    • Hits 2 time, wounds 1.778 times, 0.889 wounds after saves.
• Round 3 (Russ' turn)
  • Russ [4.555 Wounds, WS8, S5, 4 Balenight 2 Helwinter]
    • Hits 1.5 times with Balenight and 1.375 times with Helwinter, wounds 1.111 times with Balenight and 1.407 times with Helwinter and add 1.091 for Sever Life. That leads to 1.203 wounds after saves.
  • Horus [1.766 Wounds, 6 Talon]
    • Hits 2 times, wound 1.778 times, 0.889 wounds after saves and 0.444 after IWND.
• Round 4 (Horus' Turn)
  • Russ [4.111 Wounds, WS7, S4 (he is over 4 wounds thanks to IWND, but lost his characteristics since the talon wounded 4 times), 6 Balenight]
    • Hits 3 times , wounds 0.917 times and add 1.091 for Sever Life (let's be kind), 0.669 wounds after saves and 0.335 after IWND.
  • Horus [1.430 Wounds, 5 Talon 1 Worldbreaker]
    • Hits 2.5 times with Talon and 0.75 times with Worldbreaker. wounds 2.222 and 0.625 times. That leads to 1.111 and 0.313 wounds after saves.
• Round 5: (Russ's turn)
  • Russ [2.687 Wounds, WS6, S3, 6 Balenight]
    • Hits 3 times , wounds 0.917 times, add 1.091 with Sever Life (let's be kind again), 0.669 wounds after saves.
  • Horus, [0.761 Wounds, 5 Talon 1 Worldbreaker]
    • Hits 2.5 time with Talon and 0.75 times with Worldbreaker, wounds 2.222 and 0.625 times. That leads to 1.111 and 0.313 wounds after saves. IWND brings this down to 1.09 wounds
• Round 6: (Horus' Turn)
  • Russ [1.596 Wounds (IWND), WS5, S2, 6 attacks on Helwinter (Str2 cannot hurt T6)]
    • Hits 3 times , wounds 0.582 times, 0.194 wounds after saves (not enough to actually kill Horus) and IWND will mean that Horus will actually heal more than Leman inflicts, resulting Horus gaining 0.139 wounds at the end of the turn
  • Horus [0.900 Wounds, 5 Talon 1 Worldbreaker]
    • Hits 2.5 time with Talon and 0.75 times with Worldbreaker, wounds 2.222 and 0.625 times. That leads to 1.111 and 0.313 wounds after saves.
• Round 7: (Russ's turn)
  • Russ [0.172 Wounds, WS4, S1, all attacks on Helwinter]
    • Hits 3 times , wounds 0.582 times, 0.194 wounds after saves.
  • Horus [0.761 Wounds, gain +d3 attacks] and finish Leman..

Keep in mind that these results are made considering that Sever Life will apply regardless of Horus successfully saving the wounds inflicted by Balenight which is greatly benefiting Russ and is probably not the way the rule is supposed to work. On a side note, if Sever Life only triggers when Horus suffers an unsaved wound from Balenight, then the fight is way more one sided in Horus' favor because Leman would have to make more attacks using the sword in order to trigger Sever Life, losing damage since the axe hits harder than the sword.

The Wolf-king also has a secret weapon: Wolves.. yeah. Russ can choose to have both his dogs accompany him, both of which are characters. Thanks to how wound allocation and challenges work, Russ can force Horus to engage with the dogs instead of him for 2 whole rounds, making Horus use Worldbreaker to ID the dogs, since if he uses the Talon it'll take 3 wounds total to kill the dogs and he can tank the full Worldbreaker on himself to stop the other dog from dying too fast, which prevents his stats from dropping early. By that point there is a high probability Horus will be on his last couple wounds if not already dead when the attacks from the wolves are added in to augment Leman Russ. Meaning Horus will simply die even faster. Emperor's Executioner indeed.

Thanks to HH6: Retribution, the Mechanicum has its primarch-like character. Anacharis Scoria, lord of Xana and the first of the Dark Mechanicum used to be able to easily kill Horus thanks to a 3+ Invuln, Feel No Pain, and a weapon that wounds automatically and causes D3 wounds at AP2 per hit (making Horus' talon worthless). This allowed him to kill Horus in 5 rounds, whereas Horus needed 6 to kill him in return. He also got nerfed in the same FAQ that nerfed Russ, so now Horus kills him too.

Gallery[edit]

• Ah too many wolves.

'Where I fall, ten more shall take my place! And one hundred each of them! So strike me down! I am the harbinger!'

– Ollanius Pius, an Imperial Guardsman (The First Guardsman), to Arch-Traitor Horus 'supercharged motherfucking avatar of Chaos' Lupercal. Yes, you read that correctly.

'A hero is someone who steps up when everyone else backs down.'

– Anonymous

Ollanius Pius embodies what it means to be a soldier of the Imperial Guard in this grimdark universe. He is THE most hardcore Guardsman ever and also the legendary saint of the Imperial Guard, because as legend goes, in the hopes of protecting the Emperor of Mankind, Ollanius Pius put himself directly in front of a walking demigod of battle. The fact that he did so without fainting, shitting himself in terror, or mewling like a wounded grox suggests that his testicles must have been forged from Mars-grade adamantium (or more likely, he had power balls. His testicles were of such might that they ignored armor saves in close combat and could themselves be used as weapons). Ollanius Pius is so manly that he makes Vance Motherfucking Stubbs, Commissar Yarrick, Gregor Eisenhorn, Ciaphas Cain, Kharn, Colonel 'Iron Hand' Straken, Logan Grimnar, Merrick, Harker, Creed and Sly Marbo piss themselves in terror. Well, maybe not Sly Marbo but he still respects the shit out of him.

Naturally, like a bunch of awesomeshit and virtually every piece of lore that has ever existed in Warhammer 40,000, Games Workshop retconned this story in several ways. Firstly his introduction is a bit of a retcon, since Ollanius wasn't in the original battle (read the Slaves to Darkness book) where the Emperor teleported to Horus' bunker (not flagship) and fought him there. Then when he was introduced, he was said to have originally sacrificed himself during Horus' assault on the Imperial Palace, placing himself between the Emperor and Horus (which would mean in that version Horus broke through), which makes sense, so they had to change it. The next story the Emperor fought Horus in Horus' command bunker again, teleporting in with Imperial Fists and Custodes, and while having a bunker on the ground makes it entirely possible that Pius was there (especially since the traitor legions were busy at the palace walls) it's fairly unlikely. Then they changed it again, this time having Emps board Horus' flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, along with a company of Imperial Fist terminators and Custodes, no Pius this time due to the fact that a Guardsmen would probably die the second they arrive there. At no point from here on out is Ollanius ever mentioned to have boarded the Vengeful Spirit, though the idea of a heroic sacrifice was kept, GW replaced Pius with a Spehss MahreenTerminator, which wasn't that bad but then they retconned out the Terminator with an Adeptus Custodes, which is SIX KINDS OF LAME.

Fantasy Flight Games brought him back though (sort of, leaving his existence in current canon questionable at best), which is a great justice and if you trust them, he really is just the most badass Guardsman ever, though exactly what he did isn't too clear besides die for the Emperor. But, NOW, thanks to Dan Abnett, if GW ever returns Ollanius to his place at the Emperor's side, that's no big deal. He'll just be over 10,000 years old. Still a normal human, but just one that regenerates and has lived a long time. So..following the trend, there is a risk that he will be added back in the universe as the one who made the chip in Horus's armor and not Sanguinius, and thus completely ruin the original story.

Other than the fact that he was man enough to stand up to Daddy's former favourite with nothing more than a flashlight and toilet paper armour, not much else is known about him, which probably means that he did even more heroic and manly shit during the Siege of Terra.

The entire point of the character is to demonstrate that true courage and inner strength can be found even among the weakest (by comparison) of individuals. (Also, see 'Tank Man' [1]). Games Workshop, in their infinite wisdom, completely missed this point and proceeded to replace the brave and ordinary little soldier with a progressively bigger and stronger superhero with every reveal/retcon (although, see below for a different take on his perepetuality and it's implications in his final act of heroism.) This, in a way, makes Horus' fall to Chaos seem less and less despicable; the original story of a superhuman so remorselessly killing an ordinary human could be seen in a similar light as a grown man killing a child. It is probably a near certainty that the next retcon will trade up the Custode for one of the missing Primarchs (such as the glorious and magnificent Ollanius Partridge) or a fucking omnipresent Imperial Knight. Further updates will likely add the Terminator, the Custode, the second missing Primarch and an Imperial Titan for good measure, all at the same time.

However, in the Visions Of Heresy Novel, the humble Imperial Guardsman is back with his heroic act of sacrifice, though it is not stated whether his name was Ollanius Pius. 55dsl. Probably because there was no need to, since everyone already knew his name in the fandom.

He also has a relic in the latest 6th Edition Astra Militarum/Imperial Guard codex, with the fluff saying he martyred himself against Horus and is the epitome of Imperial Sainthood, as does a similar relic in the 8th Edition Astra Militarum Codex. The Dark HeresyBlood of Martyrs splat mentions him there, saying the story of Pius is apocryphal (bringing up that other organizations have their own version of the tale) but still frequently told and he is widely venerated among Guardsmen as an exemplar of what a faithful Guardsman should be. So the Imperial Guard apparently canonically believes the original version of the tale, whether or not that's what actually happened. And at this point, nobody knows what actually happened and never will because GeeDubs refuses to enforce any kind of consistency in its own fluff (see below).

• 1New Fluff
• 2Writefaggotry

New Fluff[edit]

Also known as 'Why the Black Library should not be allowed to write or sell anything'.

In Dan Abnett's Horus Heresy novel 'Know No Fear' Ollanius Pius' lore has changed dramatically. In the book he is named 'Ollanius Perrson' (or 'Oll' to his friends) and is part of a small group of immortal humans spread throughout the galaxy called Perpetuals. John Grammaticus (who is alive and well) claimed that out of the entire Ultramarine empire (which at the time consisted of a staggering 500 planets) there are only three Perpetuals (the total amount in the Imperium is unknown, but almost certainly not much higher). Pius estimates his date of birth at some point around 15,000 BC (by contrast, the Emperor claims he was born in roughly 8,000 BC- which would make Pius no less than 7,000 years older than the Emperor. It would also make him older than agriculture), and is the same 'breed' as Grammaticus and possibly the Emperor. At first this sounds like GW is missing the point again, but besides his extreme age and the whole immortality thing he seems to just be a normal human with normal human strength (coupled with the fact that, by all indications, he hasn't died once so far). Which, when compared to the psychic gestalt übermensch that is the Emperor, is kind of important; Ollanius is more representative of every strength (and weakness) of Mankind than the Emperor EVER was.

The Eternal Infantryman[edit]

In the days of ancient Terra he was one of the Argonauts who adventured with Jason on the Argo to get the Golden Fleece and later he learned how to fight with a bayonet whilst fighting for the French in the trenches at Verdun during World War I. (Note that 'Ole Persson' is the obvious pun, but in idiomatic French, 'Olivier Personne' means 'Oliver Nobody,' which has interesting implications in and of itself.) Interestingly, Ollanius seems to be a sort of 'eternal soldier' (he is also confirmed as having fought in the armies of Napoleon and Saddam Hussein), but always is depicted as being a part of the 'poor bloody Infantry', in direct opposition to another perpetual, big E himself, who is spoken of as having taken on the roles of various august and well known historical personages, or at least being close to positions of power throughout history. There is also an implication that Ollanius always or at least usually fought on the losing side, which is also an interesting extension to this parallel. This makes him a sort of representative of the eternal ordinary everyman; unlike almost every other perpetual, he doesn't have superpowers (except the neat trick of not dying), and lives ordinary lives, again and again (as the Emperor says to him in the exchange quoted above.) This is more in line with the original spirit of the 'legend of Ollanius Pius,' and is a counter-argument to the more common view that he is becoming an OP Mary Sue instead of a representative of ordinary human strength and courage, the ultimate manifestation of which is seen in his actions aboard the Vengeful Spirit.

We sometimes see glimpses of his soldiering past. In Unmarked, another Abnett work (a short story in the anthology Mark of Calth), he travels through time to various battles he fought in while evading the daemon prince M'kar. In Angel Exterminatus, where an Iron Warriors Trident Warsmith Kroeger has a flashback (sort of, the memories were the memories of other people) and relives the near-death of 'Carl', a German soldier at the hands of one 'Olivier Perrson.' Carl thought Ol was very rude because he interrupted Carl's dinner. Yes, poor Carl's dinner. Oll happened upon Carl eating . . . Carl's own commander. Oh yeah, Carl was a closet cannibal. Still, Carl thought it was a bit of an overreaction by an overly Pius asshole to stab Carl in the gut. Carl was only saved from a certain death when the crush of the battle forces Oll out of the trench.

We don't get it either but a vision given to Ollanius by Grammaticus indicates that he'll be restored to his original status as the person who sacrifices his life to save the Emperor from Horus, so at least he's back. Of course, whether he actually dies when this happens given the Perpetuals' ability to resurrect themselves upon death is anyone's guess. The confrontation with Horus might be 'true death' for him, though, as in Unmarked, he gets the distinct feeling that the current galactic clusterfuck is going to be the end for him. This might even make sense, given that he was killed by not only a primarch, but Horus supercharged by the energies of all four of the Ruinous Powers during an apocalyptic confrontation which outright killed another Primarch and put the most powerful being ever to emerge out of humanity in a near-death state. Get hit by what did that, you're probably not going to get up, and immortality won't help you if your soul is snuffed out by one of the most powerful material manifestations of Chaos ever.

If he did regenerate, he'd probably wake up on the Vengeful Spirit unless his body was moved-Perpetuals don't teleport when they die, they just heal and wake up. This might wind up being a far, far worse end than having his soul shredded (see over on the page for Perpetual where we say that they've drawn the short straw? Here's an example of why..) Needless to say, being trapped in the bowels of a chaos-infested warship would not be good for him (assuming he can even get off the bridge before Abby or one of his guards shoots him.)

Also in Unmarked, Ollanius briefly hooks up with John Grammaticus, another perpetual (although far more of a dick, and, unlike Oll, apparently turned into a perpetual by the Cabal rather than being born one) . you know, the guy who is actually with the Cabal, going along with their 'Alpharius gambit' to destroy humanity but wipe out Chaos, but who is at some point persuaded by Eldrad Uthan to turn rogue against the Cabal, since in a rare moment of non-dickery, Eldrad decided that wiping out humanity might not be the best idea, giving John the final push after long having some scruples about aiding in the genocide of his own race for, among others, arrogant space elves and a sentient floating ball of gas.

Religion[edit]

Befitting his epithet, he is, indeed, a pious man. He is, in fact, a believing 'Catheric,' which is apparently a bastardization of 'Catholic.' Exceedingly rare in the rabidly atheistic Imperium, although not unique in the Heresy Era: another badass guardsman Imperial Army Geno 5-2 Chiliad hetman, Hurtado Bronzi in Legion, also by Dan Abnett, identifies himself as 'Catheric by devotion.') He even wears a cross around his neck which conceivably could get him into trouble. Practicing the major aspects his faith (five of the seven sacraments require a priest) would be difficult, as what happened to the Pope and Church hierarchy we don't know (although it's probably pretty grimdark.) According to real-world Catholic belief, there is a Biblical guarantee for an 'unbroken chain' of Popes and Papal authority (Matthew xvi, 18), so there would be theoretically a Pope somewhere, or on the way. The church in Graham McNeal's The Last Church wasn't Catholic, although it's sort of implied that it is a bastardized form of high-Church Christianity at least in aesthetic which drifted in it's beliefs over 30 millenia .. which isn't that surprising from the perspective of the sociology of religion. If it was really, however, the literal last church on Terra, and the real-world Catholic view is true, somewhere in some corner of the Imperium there is a man who is the Pope and the Church still exists (picking up sticks and moving probably would have been wise anyway.) Several sci-fi writers have speculated about this sort of thing: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller, considered a classic, has the Catholic church surviving several end-of-the-world techno-barbarian type scenarios, preserving civilization, and enduring over many millenia, eventually spreading beyond Earth.

Despite the Emperor hating religion, Ollanius was still doing the right thing by the tenants of his by-then-ancient faith explicitly says that soldiers should obey orders and people should respect their governments and leaders in general (cf. Romans xiv, 3ff., referring to the Emperor of the time .. ça change beaucoup de chose, non ?), except of course if it involved breaking the precepts of his religion (this was a real dilemma for Roman soldiers up until the 4th century or so, because they had to worship the emperor) .. but this was not such a problem for Ollie, he was a faithful Imperial citizen and, while the Imperium forbade religiosity, it did not (at the time of the Horus Heresy, which is when we last hear of him) require him to worship other Gods or such, even though such beliefs were proscribed by the Imperium (which again, resembles certain periods in Church history.)

Despite the prohibition on religion, he seemed to live his faith reasonably openly and at best be regarded as a bit of an eccentric for it: again, not all that different from certain eras of the Roman history in the 2nd and 3rd centuries-it depended on who was on the imperial throne just how vigorously Christians were persecuted: sometimes it was an all-day buffet for lions and sometimes Christianity was looked at as at best a strange affectation certain people indulged in (perhaps not entirely unlike we look at new religious movements today.) In fact, Ancient Rome, very unlike the 30K Imperium, would've had no problem with Christians at all if they didn't refuse toworship the Emperor. You know, what Monarchia got glassed for. In the 40K Imperium, the Ecclesiarchy would've probably been pretty cool with Christianity if the Emperor was ultimately seen as God (which would make Sanguinius Jesus? Except for the resurrection part.) Which Christianity would not be cool with. So Ollanius being 'Catheric' would be a problem for him either way. And probably at several other points in his life (maybe in the Iraqi army, for example. And one assumes at several points over the next 30,000 years or so.)

There is another fan theory that it refers to the 'Cathars,' a heretical religious sect that the IRL Inquisition IRL exterminatused in the 13th century. This is a clever play on words, but probably reads too much into it, but doesn't make any historical sense and doesn't really line up with the vague hints at 'Cathericism' we get in the books.

Ollanius Piers[edit]

A new character introduced in one of the newest Horus Heresy Books and the in-universe source of the legends about an Ollanius Pius, Ollanius Piers was an Imperial Army soldier who fought in the siege of Terra. He is a descendant of the immortal one.

While under attack against forces of the World Eaters, Piers as well as a few other soldiers and a historian went out of their way to raise up a banner of the Emperor before they were attacked by a World Eater Marine. Ollanius managed to stand against the Marine long enough that a member of the Sisters of Silence who's powers made her invisible could kill the marine. Afterwards, the historian decided to record Pier's story, making it grander by replacing the World Eaters marine with Horus himself, and the banner with the Emperor. They are just piling on the lame plot twists. Ollanius Piers would go on to die during the fall of the Eternity Wall spaceport, defending a banner of the Emperor from Angron himself.

This is of course nonsense and stupid and rejected by the fandom. How could anyone think the Great Crusade Imperium would accept such a bold-faced bullshit lie? Sure, people will believe a lot, but not when the whole damn planet knows the Emperor wasn’t there.

Writefaggotry[edit]

WARNING: The following entry is so manly that reading it out loud may cause you to suddenly grow a beard. Girls, do not read this out loud. A fa/tg/uy's explanation of the original Ollanius:

LOOK AT THIS FUCKING GUARDSMAN.

He's spent months fighting a grueling war in which his enemies are demigods allied with daemons, and now he's found himself in the closest thing to Hell he's ever known. He probably wasn't even supposed to get teleported up to the arch-traitor's battle barge in the first place, and just ended up in the wrong place at the worst possible time.

Somehow he's survived horrors beyond comprehension to make his way to the very bridge of Horus' flagship. He saw a veritable angel call upon Horus to answer for his crimes, and he saw that angel die as messily as any guardsman. His Emperor - who he fervently believes is a god incarnate, even if he's not supposed to - lies mortally wounded, and Horus, perhaps, has taken a moment to gloat before he strikes the killing blow.

And yet there he is, standing, all alone, between the Warmaster of everything humanity have ever fought against and the greatest beings amongs all humanity, if even not godhood.

His armor is slightly more effective than tissue paper, his weapon slightly more powerful than a flashlight. A single electrified claw from Horus' weapon is bigger than his entire body. He stands before a being infused by the dark gods with incalculable power, that can and will obliterate his soul with no more effort than it would take him to swat a gnat. Nothing he can do could possibly make a difference.

The Real God Emperor Of Mankind, A Warhammer Fanfic FanFiction

He could run. He could turn his weapon on himself. He could give in to the insidious whispers that echo from the ship's corridors into his mind.

Ollanius Pius does the duty his Emperor requires of him. He dies standing and holds the FUCKING line.

A short poem about Ollanius Pius[edit]

The first time I hold my blood in my hands,
The first time I see a man with nothing.
Would be the first time I see my own lands,
Covered in heresy, death, and rotting.

My son stands over him corrupt and pale,
A guard Ollanius Pius stands free.
My fallen Horus lifts the deadly flail,
In one instant, the strength of man I see.

This mere man done what I was unable.
A tear flows from my eye and it is clear,
The tyrant's cold reign I must disable.
Briefly I know what it means to feel fear.

I leave the future to the strength of man,
For they alone do far more than I can.

Another poem regarding Ollanius[edit]

Somewhere in the universe a coin flip lands on its side.

Somewhere in the universe a drop of water saves a life.

Somewhere in the universe a pebble stops a landslide.

Maybe it is because someone believed hard enough.

Maybe it is because everything is secretly fair.

Maybe it is because the universe is a vast place.

Yesterday, I was very cold.

Yesterday, I was very hungry.

Yesterday, I wanted to run away.

Today, I am going to believe hard enough.

Today, a pebble will stop a landslide.

Today, I am not going anywhere.

Gallery[edit]

• The first version of Horus and the Emperor's duel. Notice the location, making Pius' sacrifice possible, if implausible.

• The legend.

• The retcon.

• Fantasy Flight Games' take on it.

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