Malcador the Sigillite - Seeds of Heresy: Horus felt slighted when the Emperor retreated to Terra to work in His laboratories and dungeons rather than continuing what he felt was the more important work of the Great Crusade. As worthy as the honour of being named Imperial Warmaster was, it was nothing compared to the sense of loss Horus felt as his father abandoned him.He had done his best to carry on the fight and lead the glorious Great Crusade. But many Astartes had died and not once had the Emperor cared enough to honour them with His presence. As news filtered from Terra of the Emperor's latest pronouncements, Horus became ever more estranged from the man he thought of as his father. More and more he thought only of his mission to complete the conquest of the galaxy and bring even more glory to his Space Marine Legions.The Warmaster joined his XVI Legion, the Sons of Horus, on the moon of Davin. The Legion had some ties to the primitive warrior-society of Davin from their previous conquest of the world solar decades before and it was at the request of the Davinite priests that the moon had been targeted. Cleansing the moon of its plague-worshipping cultists was a simple task for the Legion, but Horus was felled by an assassin's blade, the Kinebrach Anathame, wielded by the Nurgle-corrupted former Imperial Planetary Governor of Davin, Eugen Temba.The wound festered and the medical experts of his Legion proved unable to treat him. Horus was soon close to death. In desperation Horus's Apothecaries enlisted the help of the Davinites. Horus was treated by a Davinite sect. He was carried into the Temple of the Serpent Lodge a dying man and emerged some solar days later apparently cured and bursting with energy. None know what profane rites to the Dark Gods were performed to save him.Horus commanded that all his senior officers be inducted into the Warrior Lodges which had proliferated secretly through the XVI Legion in the decades following its initial conquest of Davin. Within a short time, the entirety of Horus' Legion had been inducted. In the following solar months Horus extended the Warrior Lodge system to other Space Marine Legions with the blessing of those Primarchs who would later ally themselves to his cause. So it was that the seed of Heresy was first planted in the heart of the Emperor's greatest champion and within some of the most powerful military forces in the galaxy.Horus had listened to the blandishments of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos and made his pact with them while he lay unconscious within the Temple of the Serpent Lodge. He would deliver to them the Emperor and they would give him the galaxy. It was a simple bargain and one that made sense to Horus. Humanity was under dire threat from the daemons of the Warp, though few recognised the danger. If the Emperor knew, He seemed to ignore the threat.After his sojourn on Davin, Horus was a changed man. The Warmaster drew to him those Primarchs he could trust the most. He met with each in turn and corrupted them. After he secured the loyalty of nearly four full Legions of Space Marines, he hoped to draw more forces into his web of deceit. Horus despatched his agents to other Legions and began the process of winning to his side various Imperial Commanders and Mechanicum Forge Masters. The latter held positions of authority on the Forge Worlds of the Mechanicum. They also controlled the fearsome Titan Legions of the Collegia Titanica. With these powerful war machines at his side, Horus believed that he might even be able to force the Emperor to submit to his rule without more bloodshed.