I mentioned in day three on my tribute model on the sons of Horus how I was inspired by the Horus Heresy books. I took inspiration from various books relating to the Sons of Horus including Horus Rising, Vengeful Spirit and various short stories in the series.
Recently I read Graham McNeil’s first book in the series, False Gods, a continuation from Horus Rising following the aftermath of the genocide of Interex. The story really caught my attention with lots of questions about the Emperor and his “Great Crusade”, religion and how things could have gone if Horus acted differently to the events that take place.
Having read Erebus in other books (a majority of books I own has Erebus in it, and most are Word Bearers story!), I was intrigued to learn how he enacted the downfall of Horus with the help of the Serpent Lodge. I was almost glad when Akshub killed him, it was good to finally see the old wretch get what he deserves after all the terrible things he’s done. But alas, the First Chaplin survives and the rest is history.
What interested me was how Graham McNeil interwove religious and historical myths on snakes, and how they are portrayed by human cultures. What would be said by Kyrle Sinderman about what the serpent represents would be shocking when everything starts to align, even the revelation has not yet really dawned on Loken, the protagonist of the story, just how dire Horus’s resurrection would spell for the galaxy.
There’s an interesting part of the story where the Sons of Horus meet a human world that is to be in compliance, with peaceful arrangement to discuss relations. What’s fascinating is that the Brotherhood, the armed forces of the planet, share nearly the same power armour design as the Sons of Horus. This is strange as the civilisation of this world hasn’t made contact with outside communication for many decades. Now the military do pale in contrast to the Astartes due to being biologically enhanced, but nevertheless appear very much like their brethren.
The mystery as to why they look the same is unclear, but their wealth of STC templates were very promising to the 63rd expedition and Horus’s own Mechanicum expert, Regulus. Shame any good will was established since Horus thought putting a bullet to the Brotherhoods ambassador was a good idea!
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel with an engaging story that really asks a lot of questions, and very few answers. I’ve got a lot of inspirational ideas from reading this book, including my own tribute to the Sons of Horus with my display model (you can find that on day three in this years 12 days of Winter!). Im currently stuck between making a tribute piece on Legio Mortis using AT Titan miniatures or Primaris sized tribute models of the Mornival.
Either way, I’m getting back into painting something new thanks to this inspiring book. The Horus Heresy book series has been a long line of stories that really expands the universe of Warhammer 30k, not all of the stories are perfect, but on the whole it’s great Sci-Fi historical journey!
The Tidal Leviathan 