Welcome to a reading of the Roboutian Heresy by Zahariel

The Horus Heresy is an ongoing series of science fantasy set in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 setting of tabletop miniatures wargame company Games Workshop. Penned by several authors, the series takes place during the Horus Heresy, a fictional galaxyspanning civil war occurring 10,000 years before the far future of Warhammer 40,000. The war is described as a major contributing factor to the game's dystopian environment.

The books are published in several media by the Black Library, a Games Workshop division, with the first title released in April 2006. As of February 2023 the series consists of 62 published volumes; the concluding story, The End and the Death, will be released in three volumes, with the first released in February 2023.[1]

The series has developed into a distinct and successful product line for the Black Library; titles have often appeared in bestseller lists, and overall the work has received critical approval despite reservations. It is an established, definitive component of Games Workshop's Horus Heresy subbrand, and authoritative source material for the entire Warhammer 40,000 shared universe and its continuing development.

Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual properties from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing. Fan fiction ranges from a couple of sentences to an entire novel, and fans can retain the creator's characters and settings and/or add their own. It is a form of fan labor. Fan fiction can be based on any fictional (and occasional nonfictional) subject. Common bases for fan fiction include novels, movies, comics, musical groups, cartoons, anime, manga, and video games.

Fan fiction is rarely commissioned or authorized by the original work's creator or publisher and is rarely professionally published. It may infringe on the original author's copyright, depending on the jurisdiction and on legal questions such as whether or not it qualifies as "fair use" (see Legal issues with fan fiction). Attitudes of authors and copyright owners of original works to fan fiction have ranged from indifference to encouragement to rejection. Copyright owners have occasionally responded with legal action.

The term came into use in the 20th century as copyright laws began to delineate between stories using established characters that were authorized by the copyright holder and those that were not.[1]

Fan fiction is defined by being related to its subject's canonical fictional universe, either staying within those boundaries but not being of the canon itself, or else branching outside of it into an alternative universe.[2] Thus, what is "fanon" is separate from what is canon. Fan fiction is often written and published within circles of fans, and therefore would usually not cater to readers who have no knowledge of the original fiction.