Title: The Shadow War: Horus’s Betrayal and Lorgar’s Ascension in Warhammer 40,000 Lore
In the grim darkness of Warhammer 40,000, the War Master Horus, once a beacon of loyalty, ventured down a path of betrayal. His thirst for power grew insatiable, pushing him to commit acts of treachery he once wouldn’t have dared. As Horus’s betrayal emerged, he masterminded a stratagem to isolate as many faithful legions from Terra as possible. One such maneuver involved redirecting Rabut Gilan, the Lord of Ultramar, to the planet Calth.
Gilan’s mission, as orchestrated by Horus, was to bolster the Eastern borders against an imminent Ork onslaught. This move was not made in isolation, as a considerable fraction of the Word Bearers – a Legion Horus intended to use to debilitate the 13th Legion – were also dispatched to Calth.
The treacherous War Master’s machinations didn’t end there. He refrained from leading the attack on Calth, entrusting the command to the capable hands of Kor Phaeron and Erebus. With superior numbers and the element of surprise on their side, Lorgar’s sons, the Word Bearers, managed to decimate a significant portion of their ex-allies’ fleet.
The Battle for Calth was not merely a strategic endeavor for the Word Bearers; it held a sacred significance. The selection of the Astartes who fought against the Ultramarines was influenced by factors that echoed the ones which guided Horus’s choice of warriors for the fateful battle on Istvaan III. Yet, for the Word Bearers, it was less about loyalty to the Primarch and more about their motives for wanting to engage the Ultramarines.
Lorgar, the Golden Primarch, sought to cleanse his Legion of those who bore resentment towards the sons of Gilan – those who had witnessed their disgrace at Monarchia. To Lorgar, those driven more by personal hatred than a desire for victory were unworthy and deserved death.
The brutality of the battles on Calth had an ulterior motive – to inflict immense suffering on the Ultramarines and civilians alike. This torment, repeated on multiple planets, manifested a deadly storm severing Ultramar from the Imperium, a monstrous plan devised by Lorgar with support from the Primarch of the World Eaters.
Amidst the chaos, Lorgar initiated the transformation of Angron into a Daemon Prince of Khorne, all the while battling Rabut Gilan. Despite his loyalty, Gilan was forced to retreat, leading Lorgar to question Horus’s capabilities.
Lorgar’s belief in his destiny to overthrow Horus and become the foremost defender of the Dark Gods led to a failed rebellion against the War Master. His defeat forced him into hiding, leaving behind 5,000 Word Bearers in service of Horus. Yet, Lorgar’s prophecy of Horus’s impending defeat and loss in the final battle proved to be accurate.
In the end, after countless rituals and sacrifices, Lorgar ascended to the status of a Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided, spending the last millennium in solitude. Thus, the saga of Lorgar’s rise and Horus’s impending downfall continues, a testament to the grim and perpetual war that characterizes the world of Warhammer 40,000.
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