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Horus Rising is a science fiction novel written by Dan Abnett. It is the first novel in The Horus Heresy series, which in itself is an extension of the fictional Warhammer 40,000 tabletop miniatures wargame produced by Games Workshop. Taking place 10,000 years before the events presented in the lore of the tabletop game, Horus Rising primarlly follows members of the Imperium of Man's Luna Wolve's Legion of Space Marines, detailing events that would eventually lead to the Luna's Wolves' Primarch, Horus Lupercal, down the path towards betraying his father, The Emperor of Mankind, and beginning a civil war that spirals towards the grimdark future presented in Warhammer 40,000.

Plot
Horus Lupercal, Primarch of the Space Marine legion the Luna Wolves, leads his legion to the planet of '63-19' (named so as it is the ninteenth planet conqured by the 63rd Expedition, which Horus leads) as a part of the 'Great Crusade', a galaxy-wide effort led by the Emperor of Mankind, in the aim of unifying all of humanity under the umbrella of equality and scientific advancement. After losing several of his officers to 'The Emperor' of 63-19, claiming to the true Emperor of Mankind, Horus orders an assault on 63-19's palace. Garviel Loken, Capatain of the Luna Wolves' Tenth Company, leads the way into the place of 63-19, the technologically and physically augmented- Space Marine's defeating much of the palace's defences as if they are children's playthings. Loken is eventually the one who finds and confronts the False Emperor - due to a trap, Loken is almost killed and thrown from the high towers of the palace, before he is saved by Horus; Horus then slays the False Emperor.

After the death of 63-19's Emperor, Horus takes control of the planet, and brings in the civllian forces of 'Iterators', individuals who help re-educate a planet to bring them to 'compliance', and overall integrating them into the Imperium of Man as a whole. Alongside them come the 'Rememberencers', individuals tasked by Terra to document and memoralize the efforts of the various expeditions of the Great Crusade. Amongst them is Mersadie Oliton, who Loken recounts the events of the battle of 63-19 to, and soon makes her his personal Remberencer, regaling her with his personal history in regards to the Great Crusade. One question strikes a chord with Loken - Oliton asks her if they could've just 'left them alone'. One of Loken's old friends, Tarik Torgaddon, joins Loken for a sparring match, before revealing Loken has been chosen as the newest memeber of the Mournival, a small, select group of Horus's most elite soldiers, who advise him in his role as Warmaster of the Great Crusade. Loken doesn't reject the offer, but internally wonders if he is worthy of the task. Privately, Loken confides in his informal mentor, and chief Iterator, Kyril Sindermann, of how wrong he felt murdering the normal humans during the battle of 63-19, and that he feels unworthy to join the Mournival. Sinderman deligths in Loken's newfround thoughtfulness, and pushes him to be a guiding hand in assisting Horus's role as the Warmaster. Soon after, Loken is offically inducted into the Mournival, joining Torgaddon, 'Little' Horus Aximand, and First Captain Ezekyle Abaddon. Officals of the Great Crusade arrive at 63-19 to begin the process of bringing it into the fold. Rememberencer Ignaus Karkasy wanders away from a planning ceremony, walking the streets of 63-19's capitol. He stumbles into a bar, where he is not welcomed by the natives of the planet, but he quickly becomes drunks and runs his mouth. Eventually, he encounters a group of Imperial Guard - the non-augmeneted forces of the Imperium - and continues to rant, eventually leading him to receive a savage beating.

Journying the Whisperhead Mountains, followed by Sindermann and several Remberencers, Loken leads a contigent of high-powered Space Marines to assault and destroy a force of rebel holdouts sequested in the mountains. Whilst the rebels are annihlated without a single Space Marine casulty, their communications are haunted by a quiet, eerie voice, claming to be a spirit named 'Samus'. Soon after, one of Loken's officers, Xavyer Jubal, sucumbs to madness, apparently killing his fellow soldiers, and turning on Loken when he attempts to restrain Jubal. Jubal's body itself begins to change, gaining a demon-like appearence. He almost kills Rememberencer Eurphrati Keeler and Sinderman, before Loken and his second in command Nero Vipus finally manage to bring him down. Keeler and Sinderman are left traumatized in different ways; Keeler seeks comfort in the growing movement that reveres The Emperor of Mankind as a god, whilst SInderman sequesters himself in the libaries, trying to unite the reality of what he has seen with the atheist teachings he holds so dear. Soon after, Horus comes to Loken, explaining that 'Samus' was a spirit of 'The Warp', the interdimensional pathways humanity uses to travel faster-then-light. He assures Loken that the creature wasn't some great, terrifying existential threat, but an alien creature, not unlike the myraid of creatures they'd fought before. As a favour to Oliton, Loken has Karkasy freed from incarceration, under the condition he reports to Loken, and show him everything he writes, from now on.

Several months later, Horus and the rest of the 63rd Expedition travels to 140-20, nicknamed 'Murder', to investigate a distress signal sent by a fellow Legion, The Emperor's Children. The Emperor's Children, investigating Murder as a part of the Great Crusade, were rapidly overwealmed and isolated on the planet after discovering the bug-like Megarachnids. Legionaries of the Emperor's Children, Saul Tarvitz and Lucius, work hard to survive, but are on the verge of being overwealmed before the arrival of the Luna Wolves, led by Torgaddon. Joined in orbit by First Chaplin of the Word Bearers, Erebus, and fellow Primarch Sanguinius, Horus begins a bloody, month-long slaughter of the Megarachnids of Murder. This ultimatly draws the attention of the Interex; a humanoid civlization that marooned the Megarachnids upon Murder as a form of prison.