The Cyclopean Heresy

Preamble to the Chronicle of the Age of Darkness and the Great Purification, text written by multiple writers and compiled together in the aftermath of the Cyclopean Heresy. Final version dated to 800.M41.

WARNING: This is an account of the events of the Cyclopean Heresy. Look for the Inquisition mark upon the cover. If it's not there, assume this text is a corrupted version left as a trap by Chaotic servants and destroy it immediately.

WARNING: This text holds details into the corruption of the Primarchs and the Cyclopean Heresy. Only personnel with Omega-level and above clearance may access. Unauthorized access will result into extensive interrogation followed by execution of the culprit or forced recruitment into the Holy Ordos with immediate effect.

You have been warned.

"If your battle plan is working, it's probably a trap"- Perturabo, Bane of the Fra'al, Primarch of the Fourth Legion, the Iron Warriors.

The Great Crusade was in its 202nd year. The last major xeno empire capable of matching the power of the Imperium, the Ork Empire of Ullanor, had been ground to dust under the boots of the then-Luna Wolves, the White Scars and the Dark Angels. A full-scale triumph had been held upon the formerly Ork World.

The galaxy seemed destined for Mankind's rightful dominion. The Emperor then chose to retreat to Terra, leaving the running of the Great Crusade in the hands of the Sixteenth Primarch, Horus Lupercal, who was named Warmaster of the Imperium of Man. The reasons behind this decisions are still debated by the Ordo Historia.

Perhaps, He believed that truly, there was no longer a threat to the Imperium strong enough to challenge its might from without, and desired to dedicate himself to the building of a civilian power structure within the Imperium, the Council of Terra.

But there was a threat. Hidden, unseen, but always watching. The Threat Beyond. And it had chosen to attack the Imperium not through the Threat Without, but through one we never anticipated. One we could not have possibly anticipated. The Threat Within.

The Ruinous Powers had decided to attack the Imperium. But not with hordes of corrupted, insane xenos or armies of screaming daemons, but with its own soldiers. The Adeptus Astartes.

The Imperium was to be thrown down through treachery and the hidden blade striking in the back.

And the one they chose to wield that blade, raise the banner of rebellion and shatter Mankind's manifest destiny…was exactly the one who was critical to the Emperor's plan to finally free Mankind from the malignant cancer that is Chaos through the Seshala (ancient Yndonesic Bloc term for "Highway") Project. The only one with enough might to be said to be in the Emperor's league when it came to psychic power. It is only because of historical duties that we, members of the Holy Inquisition, sully these pages with his foul name, written in sanctified ink itself to prevent the corruption of the text you are now reading.

Magnus the Red. Primarch of the Fifteenth Legion, The Thousand Sons.

At the time of the Great Crusade, he was known as the Crimson King. Leader of a Legion and a Dominion dedicated to the acquisition of knowledge. Of any kind of knowledge, it turned out. Even that which brings only damnation.

To us, and to all future generations of Mankind, he will be forever known as the Arch-Traitor. The Cyclopean King who shattered Humanity's destiny and promising future, forcing it into a dark present of endless war, ignorance and dictatorship in the name of survival.

The Imperium still stands due to the sacrifice of many heroes along the millennia, whose names are still sung in reverence on all worlds. But the Cyclops dealt Humanity a blow from which it may never recover. For he destroyed the ideals that held the Imperium together with the blade of betrayal, and paranoia and ignorance has replaced those ideals.

Worst of all, that paranoia, which we recognize as dangerous, even perhaps counterproductive and destructive…is more than justified.

For in the Age of Darkness, only the paranoid had a chance of survival, for there was always the risk that the ally of one day could turn upon you and become the enemy of the next day, and without …contingencies... in place, one would have died without even realizing it.

Trust became a luxury. But then again, if a Primarch who had always been in mental contact with the Emperor from the first day of his life could betray him, pull eight of his brothers down with him, along with their respective Legions, and then wound Him fatally with his cursed Warp-Blade, then…what possibility is there for the normal humans?

This is the tale of those times. Harden your soul as you read those that follow.

This is a tale of betrayal and bloodshed. It is a tale where brothers kill brothers and an empire which was built in hundreds of years is sundered and nearly destroyed in a single decade of madness and betrayal.

It is a tale where Legions once lauded and glorified ignominiously fall into the servitude of malicious entities that call themselves Gods, and others feared or ignored would rise and become the Shield and Sword of Humanity.

This is the tale of the greatest war Humanity has ever fought, and as always happens, it fought against its worst enemy…itself.

This is the tale of the Cyclopean Heresy.

-Hans Dorfmann, Inquisitor. Ordo Historia.

This is the beginning of my first story, the Cyclopean Heresy.

Inspired by Zahariel's awesome Roboutian Heresy. I felt the need to follow in his footsteps...to a point.

DISCLAIMER: The Warhammer 40000 universe belongs to Games Workshop.