In a surprising move, a twelve-year-old mystery of the Horus Heresy series is soon to be resolved. While much of the future has been left in question, the fate of the Legio III loyalist Saul Tarvitz has long been the source of fan theories. Last seen with a small number of fellow survivors in the final hours of the Isstvan III conflict, Tarvitz was seen seemingly waiting for his demise at the cannons of an enemy Titan. What ultimately left many questioning his death was the fact it wasn't explicitly shown, and his final orders to the Dreadnought Rylanor, tasking him with seeking down a subterranean hanger. The upcoming book Wolfsbane reveals that not only did he survive, but he has been hunting Horus personally.
Gathering an ad-hoc force of Blackshields, Imperial Army forces, Iron Hands units and a small number of Ultramarines, Tarvitz arrives in secret within the Vengeful Spirit. As Leman Russ directly engages Horus in single combat to behead the Rebellion, Tarvitz interceeds and kills the traitor primarch by choking the life from him. This backfires on Tarvitz, who is promptly possessed by the same corruption which turned Horus against the Emperor. The final chapter of the book features him besting Russ in battle, before the Sons of Horus kneel before him.
Future novels follow this with a number of startling turns. Russ and the remaining Wolves are scattered and captured, with Tarvitz taking his place at the head of the rebellion. Leading his warship to Terra, he initiates the siege which maintaining the ruse that Horus is still alive and well by donning his armour and illusions cast by Magnus the Red. It is then revealed that this was part of Alpharius' plan from the start, and that he secretly had agents replace Perturabo, Lorgar and Curze years ago, to give him control of multiple legions. Taking advantage of Tarvitz's reliance upon him to control the legions, Alpharius abandons Tarvitz at a critical moment, allowing the Emperor to slay him.
Upon their return to the Imperial Palace, Rogal Dorn reveals that he too is Alpharius, and promptly kills the wounded Emperor. Slaying the Custodes about them, Alpharius is interred within the Golden Throne, and uses its power to re-write history itself. Preventing the Heresy from ever happening through this ability, he utilises time displaced clones of himself to reshape human history from its inception, bending it to the Emperor's will. The final chapter of the Heresy is of the primarchs - including the two missing female leaders - and Emperor gathered at Ullanor, to reveal that now everyone is Alpharius.
Fan reactions have been decidedly mixed, with some calling it an innovative subversion of events and decrying those who dislike it as "glorifying an unrealistic superhuman image" of the characters involved. Others deem it bad fanfiction dreamed up by someone bored at their desk. As per usual in the face of such news, Warseer is exploding.
You know, after what they pulled with Loken, I thought I was reading an honest article until paragraph two.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, that was actually what gave me the idea to write this as a joke.
DeleteHeh.
Delete1st of april!
ReplyDeleteCant imagine who on earth would fall for this bs.
People tend to fall for it at first and then stop. When I get the chance to do these, I always make a point of having a somewhat plausible start and then gradually dial up the crazy with every passing paragraph.
DeleteIt's funny reading this after your review of Wolfsbane, I thought this was a legit spoiler for stuff you didn't want to reveal in that review until early in the third paragraph.
ReplyDeleteYeah, apologies about that, but I was trying to pull off an old trick once again given how long it had been since the last April Fool's joke.
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