
For those who are not interested in writing any fiction on the topic but are interested in discussion, we’ve discussed a few ideas in the thread in Amicus: HERE.
The Faithful Son
"What if Horus had won?!" The old warrior spat, bitterly injecting a savage inflection to the sentiment. "Let me tell you about 'What if Horus Won'" his lips twisted into a cruel snarl as he spoke the fallen Warmaster's name. "Horus was a fool, he never understood the Truth! He tried to make slaves out of Gods!" He shook his head and looked down, "What if Horus had won?" He muttered, almost to himself. "What would have happened then? The corpse-emperor fallen at his favoured son's feet? The whole Galaxy would have learned the Truth! The Truth that Blessed Lorgar found on Cadia! The Primordial, fundamental Truth that underpins everything." The ancient Word Bearer's eyes gleamed at the mention of his Primarch; where otherwise only hatred burned, for an instant something more shone.
"Fear, Pain, Hunger, Despair, these are what keeps Humanity alive, not some guiding light, it has ever been so, when you strip back everything else it is the urgency of these base emotions that has always been the driving force of life itself." He paused, relishing the knowledge; licking his lips he continued: "These base emotions are the source of the Dark Gods' power, their very essence, this was Horus' biggest failure. He thought he could control them, control the Gods of the Empyrean! Pah! He may as well have tried to hold the snows of Fenris in his hands or parlay with an Ork!" The speaker paused, as if pleased with himself, he smiled in self-satisfaction.
"Horus was lucky he lost, if he had won he would have tried to exert control over the uncontrollable, he would have attempted to wrestle his will onto the raw hunger of instinct personified! He was ever the puppet of the Dark Gods, a tool they would have discarded once it had served it's use." The smile was resolved by a disdainful sneer, "Horus was a plaything, nothing more, had he won he would have learnt just how fickle Chaos can be, he would have been torn apart, as would the Galaxy, now you may see that as a blessing, and perhaps it would have been. After all it would have allowed someone who truly understood the Truth to gain power." He smiled again, his thin lips twisting around his pointed teeth mockingly.
"Lorgar knew, Lorgar had faith." His voice quickened, a note of fervour gripping him as he uttered his beloved primarch's name. "Lorgar would have ridden the ebb and flow of the tides of the raw unchecked emotion that would have engulfed the galaxy, he understood that change and alteration were inevitable and rather than fight against these things he would have been a noble pilot, dancing like a leaf on the wind!" His eyes almost began to glaze over with the reverence in his voice. "This is why the Aurelian has been in exclusion for millennia since Horus failed, preparing for the next opportunity to present itself, as it does now at the dawn of the so-called Dark Imperium! the Urizen's time is coming!" Spittle gathered at the corners of the fanatic's mouth, the cadence and pitch of his voice peaking as his excitement grew to a fever pitch. His eyes shone with barely controlled mania, "if Horus had won? Don't make me laugh!"
Urriak- great read and perspective of the iron warriors. Also i think the idea of the universe still being a massive battleground even if horus won and the way they are head hunting the other legions a great read
MaliGn - i really like the idea of horus winning beimg just a thought of the word bearer and how he saw horus was just a paw in the chaos gods game
Thanks! I bet Horus believed that by killing the Emperor it would have been game over, he's the new big boss, roll credits. But from the loyalist perspective, Guilliman was already prepared to start over with Secundus, and the more wild Primarchs like Leman probably would have wanted Horus' head as some sort of consolation prize.
First time trying this, i tried to incorporate my own army to
Edited by Sagentus, 24 November 2017 - 10:01 AM.
Absent
Edited by Carrack, 24 November 2017 - 09:01 PM.
Edited by Trevak Dal, 25 November 2017 - 08:32 PM.
"Our Turn" - Centurion Khârn.
Sorry, does someone get picked as a winner of each challenge? I'm curious who won the last one.
I am sorry for the delay; it's been a busy weekend!
I'll cut to the chase: MaliGn's "The Faithful Son" is the winner I choose.
What I like about it is that it capture's the arrogance of the zealot perfectly. I can totally see a Word Bearer thinking and saying exactly these things with utter and unironic sincerity. The story is simple, to the point, convincing, and well executed.
It's always hard to choose, but it is an honour to bear the responsibility. Thank you all; I enjoyed reading everyone's work.
Congratulations, MaliGn!! Enjoy the amulet of the Gods!
As for the new challenge, I feel like I should write something about my IW boys since I want to write some fluff for them anyway but I kinda want to draw something instead! Not sure if I'd be able to do either of those things, though.
Truly humbled to win this one, I know that there was an expectation for this to be more of an alternate history theme, but I had a flash of inspiration and ran with it. I'm glad that it seems to have come across more or less as I intended, one of my favourite parts of the hobby was the short halfpage to a page stories that used to be all through white dwarf and the codexes, rulebooks etc, often written by those that have now become the Black Library authors. These excerpts would not always feature a full story but all would hint at the bigger picture, I miss this aspect a bit and have often found a worthy replacement in this series of threads.
It was certainly in this vein that I tried to write my entry, an incomplete meeting between an unknown listener and the protagonist that aims to leave more unsaid than said.
I'm very pleased that this seems to have worked and my thanks again. I look forward to reading the entries I will be judging.
I really enjoyed all of the If Horus had won stories, so I was inspired to try my hand at a story about an Exalted Champion. Hope you guys enjoy.
Unworthy
A less-than-serious entry this time around. While ruminating on idea for this week, something struck me within the descriptions of the Exalted Champion - how they constantly fight for the attention of their patrons just for the chance to be noticed and rewarded. Enjoy my thinly-veiled silliness, friends.
Thanks for reading guys. I've always found it especially cruel how it seems some of the most infamous Chaos champions seem to rarely be granted Daemonhood (Khârn, Abaddon etc), and yet there are plenty of Daemon Princes around who are far less prolific and yet have somehow been gifted immortality by the gods! I tried to capture how (an already pretty angry) berserker champion might feel about this - his supporters idolise him, and his prowess is unmatched, yet the only approval he desires, from Khorne, is instead given to some berserker Raxus easily defeats. The gods are as unknowable as they are fickle!
Shout outs to Scourged as well... the whole thing flew over my head until I read the last line haha. Had a good laugh after that.
From Ice and Iron
This is my first attempt at something like this, don't give me too much flak! I got to expand on the murky fluff of Dorn's homeworld and try and weave a redemption in there if all the Primarchs are supposed to eventually turn on Horus.
EDIT: Fixed a typo.
Wow, thanks for that, Kierdale! I had an idea for the Black Legion topic but didn't get around to writing it. I'll be taking this second chance!