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Originally Posted by Zveroboy Certainly is for me, I hadn't heard about the Terminator entering the battle before.
I did read a blow-by-blow account of the battle between Horus and the Emperor (goes into gory detail about how Horus physically lifted the Emperor up and brought him down on his knee, smashing the Emperor's back horribly) and the Terminator was not mentioned. I think this was on a site called Mabuskan Republic (now defunkt, account suspended).
The Heresy certainly is an epic story, it's why I got into 40K in the first place, the background is just so rich. |
Yes, the background is why I became interested in the hobby also, and to this day my fluff collection outnumbers my total amount of figures by far (although, to be fair, I do have the beginning of a Daemon Hunter army now.) Since you seem to find the Heresy fluff very fascinating, I will share with you some more of the older fluff that I always found very neat, although it has sadly become obsolete with more recent additions of the game.
Back in the very old days, even before the second edition fluff I believe, there was an Imperial saint named Ollanius Pius. He was raised to sainthood by the Emperor Himself because of his selfless sacrifice during the battle of Terra. The old fluff had the duel between the Emperor and Horus taking place on the ground, at the gates of the Imperial Palace. Horus and the Emperor found themselves suddenly standing face to face while the chaos of the assault on the Palace reigned around them. They charged each other, exchanging mighty blows, until suddenly the Emperor stumbled. Horus raised his bolter to finish off his opponent, but just as he fired it, an unnoticed Guardsman jumped in front of the Emperor, saving Him from the bullet. Seeing this heroic sacrifice, the Emperor got back up and killed Horus, thus ending the Heresy.
This I found to be a really cool piece of fluff, since it showed that even a lowly Guardsman could have an influence on the battle between Horus and the Emperor. Ollanius Pius was honoured as the shining example of how a single man can make a difference, no doubt instilling lots of courage in the hearts of Imperial Guardsmen everywhere. In the later editions, however, the battle between Horus and the Emperor was moved to Horus’ battle barge, and it made little sense that a lone Guardsman should be found up there, nor that the Emperor would think to bring him along when there was a bunch of much stronger Space Marines standing ready. So Ollanius Pius was written out of the fluff, and the lone Terminator was added instead. While it is a nice touch that the recent fluff states that the Emperor had his golden armour taken apart after the battle and a shard of the metal added to each Terminator’s armour in memory of the heroic deed of their fellow, it still isn’t as cool as the Ollanius Pius fluff in my opinion. Space Marines save the day with heroic self-sacrifices all the time, while Guardsmen are tremendously overlooked in the fluff.
I do believe that Ollanius Pius is still an Imperial saint, though I must admit to not knowing which deed raised him to sainthood. Still, the old fluff remains way cooler in my opinion and, although now obsolete, a great story to be told.
~Grephaun.