You know how this one ends. Let me show you, before that, how it began — because the beginning was glorious, and the glory was real.
The Boy from Cthonia
Cthonia: a lawless mining world under permanent black smog, ruled by gangs, a school with one lesson. The records say the Emperor found him there a mere three years into the Great Crusade — the first of the lost sons recovered. I will only say this: records reflect what those who compile them are permitted to understand. Mark the words, and we will speak of them again in another chronicle.
First Among Sons
What no record lies about is what followed. Horus fought at the Emperor’s own side longer than any brother — through the first campaigns of the Crusade, learning war from its inventor. When Russ was found upon Fenris, it was Horus who greeted him first. He was beautiful, bald as a blade, effortlessly charismatic; he and his Sixteenth Legion, the Luna Wolves, went to war in flawless moon-white plate trimmed with ebony, and after the compliance of Xenobia he renamed them, at last, the Sons of Horus. He bound brothers to him the way gravity binds moons — Fulgrim, Sanguinius, Lorgar closest of all.
Ullanor
And at Ullanor, after the greatest victory of the age, the Emperor stepped away from his own Crusade and set it all — every fleet, every Legion, every conquest to come — in the hands of this one son. Warmaster, they hailed him. I stood in that triumph and cheered with the rest. I want that written honestly: we all cheered.
The brightest lamp casts the widest shadow. But oh, child of the Throne, you should have seen the light.
Questions from the Archive
Where was Horus found?
On Cthonia, a lawless gang-ruled mining world — according to the records, a mere three years after the Great Crusade began, making him the first primarch recovered. The chronicler notes that records say many things.
What legion did Horus command?
The Sixteenth Legion, the Luna Wolves, in moon-white plate trimmed with ebony — renamed the Sons of Horus after the compliance of Xenobia.
Why was Horus made Warmaster?
After the triumph at Ullanor, the Emperor withdrew from the Crusade and granted Horus supreme command of all its fleets and Legions — the newly created rank of Warmaster.