PLACEHOLDER COVER

TThhee DDoorrnniiaann HHeerreessyy

Includes Alternate Heresy Index Astartes articles for the

World Eaters

Emperor’s Children

Raven Guard

Word Bearers

Ultramarines

White Scars

Space Wolves

Thousand Sons

and

Blood Angels

Introduction & Contents

Welcome to the first issue of the Legio Imprint, an electronic magazine produced by the Bolter and Chainsword, the Ultimate Space Marine Resource Site. The Legio Imprint aims to showcase the best of the articles and features to be found on the Bolter and Chainsword, as well as including original content created especially for the publication.

This premier issue is devoted to chronicling something a little different; a twisted alternate timeline in which Warmaster Horus was able to cast off the daemonic influences that sought to possess him, and where the Ruinous Powers were instead forced to corrupt Rogal Dorn to overthrow the Emperor. The Dornian Heresy is the tale of an alternate universe where choices, sometimes large, sometimes small, have led to the familiar primarchs and legions meeting very different fates. For instance, how different might things have turned out if Sanguinius had instead been found and raised by the mutant tribes of Baal, or if Angron‟s first meeting with the Emperor had been as an honourable ally against the slavers at Fedan Mhor? Well, read on! ROGAL DORN – THE ARCH-BETRAYER

The first article – The History and Legacy of Dorn‟s Betrayal – gives an overview of how different things are in this alternate timeline, with different aspects of Introduction & Contents ...... 1 the story told from the perspective of individual Space The History and Legacy Marine Legions in their own Index Astartes articles. of Dorn’s Betrayal ...... 2 The Dornian Heresy is such a large undertaking that we can only present the fates of the first nine legions Index Astartes: World Eaters ...... 9 here, although the plan is to publish the second half of the project in a future issue of the Legio Imprint. Index Astartes: Emperor’s Children... 15 Index Astartes: Raven Guard ...... For those of you who have been following the Dornian 21 Heresy as it has been released on the Bolter and Index Astartes: Word Bearers ...... 29 Chainsword, we have given the articles a polish, added some amazing original artwork, and have also included Index Astartes: Ultramarines ...... 39 articles for three legions not yet seen on the board – the Index Astartes: White Scars ...... 48 Khornate Space Wolves, the soul-bound psychic Thousand Sons and the plague-infected Blood Angels. Index Astartes: Space Wolves ...... 56 So thanks for downloading this first issue of the Legio Index Astartes: Thousand Sons ...... 65 Imprint. We hope you enjoy it! Index Astartes: Blood Angels ...... 73 Aurelius Rex - Editor Credits ...... 81

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Elaidanath was dying; poisoned and ravaged by the Death Guard. The It shouldn‟t have been this way. Dornian The Farseer had been there at her birth; seeding the ball of rock with Heresy life. He had watched the Maiden-World of Elaidanath mature over the millennia into a verdant paradise; a place of peace and unparalleled beauty. That was, until the arrival of the Death Guard.

He had foreseen the threat too late to avert it, with only a small group of his companions from the Em'brathar Craftworld arriving before the webway portals succumbed. Thus, trapped on the doomed planet, they had done what little they could against the Plague Marines, but it was clearly a lost cause. Animals lay bloated and glassy-eyed, awaiting the end; the once-great forests were reduced to endless swathes of slime-coated tree trunks. The only creatures to flourish were Nurgle‟s favoured pets; the flies and maggots, but even that wouldn‟t last. Elaidanath was rapidly returning to the lifeless rock it had once been. It was such a pointless waste.

With the eastern horizon lightening from black to a deep bruise- purple, Exarch D‟Larha signalled for them to seek shelter during the daylight hours in nearby caves. Even before the warriors had The History declared the refuge safe, the Farseer had slumped down wearily in the entrance of the cave. He was tired, worn thin by his wounds, age, and the heartbreak of what he had witnessed. Within seconds, he had and Legacy settled into a fitful, febrile sleep.

of Dorn’s This fate was wrong. Not just that of his companions, or even of this world; the whole galaxy had taken a wrong turn, with The Ruinous Betrayal Powers corrupting everything they touched. His thoughts went back, investigating what could have been… It shouldn‟t be this way… It needn‟t be this way… If only he could change things, find a different, better path…

Rather than detaching his consciousness to search the possible futures, he felt himself being pushed back; moving into the past. He traced the strands of history back further and further, feeling the alternate universes flowing together, with even the tiniest choice causing a division, innumerable streams joining and flowing into the sea of time. From his view outside of history, the mon-keigh‟s Heresy was the greatest confluence; the place where a single choice could by have changed the course of history so profoundly. He searched for a strand where the Death Guard and their ilk had never turned to Aurelius Chaos; for a path where this wrong fate, both on this planet and in the wider galaxy, could be averted. Rex Before he could find his utopia, a dark presence slammed him back into the time-stream, forcing him down into a brutal and twisted alternate history…

2

Pre-Heresy: their snare, the Ruinous Powers turned large part due to Guilliman‟s The Seeds of Destruction their attentions elsewhere. organisational skills, and so a suitably overwhelming force was assembled in In the closing years of the thirty-first The ordeal revealed to the Warmaster opposition. Dorn summoned the might millennium, the Emperor‟s Great the true dangers of Chaos - a power so of nearly half the Emperor‟s legions to Crusade to reunite humanity under His great that even he and his fellow the task, although offers of forces from banner was continuing apace. Vast primarchs were not immune to its long-time rival, Perturabo of the Iron expeditionary armies, spearheaded by corrupting touch. Horus was severely Warriors, were pointedly rebuffed. His primarch sons, surged out across weakened by the events of Davin, and the galaxy, bringing enlightenment and out of position to deal with what was to Such was the size of the task of compliance wherever they went. The come. First, Curze of the Night Lords bringing the secessionist realm back to future seemed assured, and during a attacked Rogal Dorn, before going on heel that two whole legions were sent mighty celebration on Ullanor, the the run with his legion. Worse still, deep into Ultramar Segmentum. The Emperor announced that He would word came from the galactic east that Alpha Legion, never friends of the return to Terra, and that Horus, Guilliman had declared independence Ultramarines, were to infiltrate and Primarch of the Luna Wolves would from the Imperium, claiming dominion undermine the rebel worlds, while the command the Great Crusade in His over a massive region of space that he religious zealots of the Word Bearers stead. Some say that this event was called „Ultramar Segmentum‟. used a more direct approach: bringing where the seeds of disaffection were the light of the Emperor to the very planted amongst the primarchs, with Even as the Imperial forces assembled core of Guilliman‟s powerbase on the one of their number being so publicly to confront the Ultramarines, terrible Eastern Fringe. elevated above the rest. In truth, the rot news came from Prospero that the had started long before. Space Wolves had fallen upon the The first to join the Imperial Fist fleet homeworld of the Thousand Sons. After the Ullanor Declaration, the outside the Istvaan system were the cracks began to appear. Bitter disputes Raven Guard and the increasingly over the use of psychic powers came to With the Warmaster insular and secretive marines of the a head at Nikaea, with legions Iron Hands. These were closely vehemently split over their use. The having escaped their followed by the Salamanders, led by Emperor's final ruling, and the special snare, the Ruinous their burned, bitter primarch. Shortly concessions he gave to the Thousand after came the Emperor‟s Children, Sons, enraged Russ and his Space Powers turned their fresh from extinguishing the xenos threat on the planet Laer. The events of Wolves. They saw Nikaea as a terrible attentions elsewhere... mistake, and secretly vowed to save the that campaign had affected Fulgrim Emperor from himself. deeply, and on arrival he declared that They proclaimed that Magnus was his legion had achieved the pinnacle of On the feral world of Davin, mired in foul sorcery, and sought to the Emperor‟s „Perfection‟. The relish Warmaster Horus was struck down by destroy them before they could betray with which they embraced the chance a mysterious contagion which baffled the Emperor. With the dream of to prove their superiority over other the finest of the legion‟s apothecaries. mankind coming apart at the seams, the Astartes bordered on the unseemly. During his recovery, Horus attended an legions came into high orbit around initiation ceremony of one of Davin‟s Istvaan V. Then, in precise, well-ordered primitive warrior lodges, after which formation, came Angron‟s World the Warmaster‟s condition dramatically Betrayal at Istvaan Eaters. Long-gone was the savage worsened to critical. That a primarch Guilliman and the lion's share of his gladiator mentality of Angron‟s early could succumb to any natural pathogen massive Ultramarines Legion were years – his first meeting with the should have given a hint that what identified as being present at his Emperor on the slopes of Fedan Mhor happened in the halls of the Knife of newest conquest, the fifth planet of the had seen him reject his former brutality Bone involved the supernatural. It was Istvaan system. This was set to be the as the impetuosity of youth. The final in fact an act of possession by a place that the Imperium would crush force to break from the warp was powerful warp entity, although at the the rebellious primarch and his dreams composed of vessels belonging to the time the concept of the daemonic was of an independent domain. Dark Angels, whose arrival came as a widely regarded as errant superstition. surprise to those assembled. Lion Only with the aid of the psychic might With Horus still recovering after El'Jonson himself had sent word that of the blind Primarch of the Thousand Davin, Rogal Dorn used his position as they would not be able to return in time Sons, and spiritual counselling from the Emperor‟s Praetorian to take from their assignment among the Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers, command of the forces congregating Ghoul Stars. It was explained that the could the entity finally be cast out. So, around Istvaan. The Ultramarines were force had arrived directly from their with the Warmaster having escaped by far the most numerous legion, in homeworld of Caliban, and Luther, the

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The Arch-Betrayer - Primarch Rogal Dorn of the Imperial Fists legion‟s second in command, was in an act of base treachery. In the in the device, until eventually it welcomed into the burgeoning fleet. greatest betrayal and military disaster unhinged his mind, and he was claimed the Legionnes Astartes had then faced, by the Pantheon of Chaos. He was not On the eve of the battle, Dorn went the Imperial Fists, Dark Angels, Iron beholden to one, but to the glory of down to the planet‟s surface under flag Hands and Salamanders decimated the Chaos Undivided. of truce to speak to Guilliman. On his survivors of the planet-fall. It was only return, he gravely reported that no the timely intervention of the cruiser, Ultramar Segmentum's neutrality in the peaceful solution was possible, but that Eisenstein, which had been Heresy had been bought with the blood he had taken the opportunity to view commandeered by loyalists among the of three loyal legions, and as agreed, the defences and had formulated a plan turncoat forces, which allowed even a the traitors left Guilliman and his to crack them wide open. Knowing small percentage of the ambushed realm. The Chaos powers had not even Dorn‟s tactical expertise at siege legions to fight their way back into needed to corrupt Guilliman to split warfare, no-one questioned the wisdom orbit, and escape. him from the Emperor - his pride and of this plan. The Imperial Fists, Dark the need to entrench his position was Angels, Salamanders and Iron Hands When Horus had slipped from their enough to ensure temporary made planet-fall first. Their stated clutches, the Ruinous Powers had quiescence. The Imperial Fists, intention was to draw an ever- moved to groom another for the role of Salamanders and Iron Hands headed to tightening ring of steel around Arch-Betrayer. True, they had been the Sol system to tighten their grip on Guilliman, so that the Raven Guard, able to corrupt other primarchs, but Terra, while Luther and his Dark World Eaters and Emperor's Children Rogal Dorn was chosen for his Angels went to rendezvous with their would be able to sweep in from orbit potential to bring the entire Imperium brothers under Lion El'Jonson on and land the crushing blow. crashing down. They preyed upon and Caliban. What occurred on the Dark magnified his feelings of jealousy at Angel homeworld is unrecorded by Instead of the pressurised, demoralised being passed over as Warmaster, and Imperial history, except that it ended opponents Dorn had predicted, the then being withdrawn to Terra while with the utter destruction of the planet. second wave found the drop-zones to his brothers were carving a reputation be heavily fortified killing grounds, across the galaxy. Feeling revulsion at The Space Wolves that left the ruins of well-garrisoned by the Ultramarines. such thoughts, Dorn had sought to Prospero and set course for Terra were The three legions took horrendous drown out these shameful doubts of his a much changed breed. Although they losses fighting their way to link up father‟s judgement in the scourge of arrived believing that they were with their allies, only for their the Pain-Glove. As the pressure protecting the Imperium, the ferocity supposed brothers to open fire on them increased, he spent longer and longer of their battle with the Thousand Sons 4

stripped away their veneer of Night Lord fought Imperial Fist, but possessed Imperial Fists and the righteousness. By the end, the Space this time the reason for it was clear. plague-ridden Blood Angels across the Wolf Legion had been baptised in Characteristic of the Night Haunter‟s globe using his Sky-Fortress, but still blood, and anointed into the overt favoured tactics, the battle through the the civilian uprising grew apace. worship of Khorne, the Blood God. Imperial Palace was brutal and swift. Then, without warning, they withdrew The loyalists, however, had their own The events on Istvaan had revealed a to take the fight elsewhere across troubles. The Death Guard were third of the Legionnes Astartes as Terra. stranded on the other side of the traitors to the Emperor, with five loyal galaxy, having been ambushed by legions left either effectively This respite was short-lived, though, as Eldar raiders, which had left their warp destroyed, or entangled on the other within days the Arch-Betrayer, Dorn, engines wrecked and their navigators side of the galaxy in an interminable arrived back from Istvaan in force, dead. The White Scars were thought conflict. With the news growing worse along with the Salamanders. The Iron lost in the warp, having not been heard by the day, the remaining loyalist Hands moved to secure Mars for the from since their first astropathic recall. legions scrambled to get back to Terra, rebellion, silencing all word from the At any other time, the Palace‟s great and to save the Emperor... Adeptus Mechanicus and their Titan Cassius bell would have rung out ten Legions. Shortly after, the fleets of the thousand times in mourning, but in The Siege of Terra Sons of Horus and the Iron Warriors such blood-soaked days even a lost With Dorn's Betrayal on Istvaan battered their way through the legion would have to wait for proper prematurely revealed, the Emperor and blockade to make planet-fall, before remembrance. his Custodes were able to seal encircling the Imperial Palace in a themselves off inside the Imperial counter-siege. This forced the Imperial By the 55th day of the siege, the Iron throne-room complex. Dorn‟s intention Warriors had broken through to the had been to quietly dispose of the Ultimate Gate. Perturabo himself led legions he could not corrupt, and then Before them stood the assault that he fervently hoped return to the palace before his would bring him face-to-face with treachery was discovered to deal with Sanguinius of the Blood Dorn. As the mighty gates were blasted his father. Dorn, however, had allowed Angels, skin pocked and open, it was not Dorn that defended for this eventuality. As the Emperor‟s them, but Sanguinius of the Blood Praetorian, a portion of his legion welted, and his once Angels, skin pocked and welted, his garrisoned the Imperial Palace, and white-feathered wings once white-feathered wings now when the time came, guards became balding and slicked with necrotic pus. jailers, trapping the Emperor and His now balding and slicked As the two brothers fought, the wider Custodes within the armoured bunker battlefield grew still. All eyes fixed of the Imperial throne-room. with necrotic pus. upon the epic clash as they traded blows that would have crippled lesser Dorn‟s grip upon Terra was tightened Fists to defend the outer walls of the beings. In the end, Sanguinius hefted as, according to his plan, the Blood palace at the same time that they tried the stunned Perturabo aloft, and Angels fleet broke from the warp. to break into the heavily fortified brought him down across his knee, What emerged from the landing craft at throne-room. The combination of the breaking his spine. Sanguinius then the Eternity Wall spaceport were not Warmaster‟s cold fury and Perturabo‟s took flight, carrying his dying brother the proud, red-armoured sons of Baal, siege-craft slowed Dorn‟s progress into the air, and drained him of blood. but gaunt, diseased creatures, who fell towards the Emperor. As the Ultimate Gate was bulldozed upon the terrified defenders to feast shut once more by the defenders, upon their blood. The legion had fallen In those bloody days the war hung in Sanguinius contemptuously threw the prey to some form of malady that first the balance, with neither side able to corpse back down at the broken Iron rotted their blood, forcing them to take land a fatal blow. With the Iron Hands Warriors. fresh stocks from unwilling victims, incommunicado, seemingly following and in the process ate away at their their own agenda on Mars, and the As it transpired, the Ultimate Gate was sanity and loyalty to the Emperor. renegade Space Wolves and Dark never assaulted again, and within a day Angels unaccountably slowed to a Dorn broached the adamantium walls A ray of hope came for the embattled crawl in the warp, Dorn turned ever- of the throne-room. What he found, defenders as the mercurial Night Lords more towards the daemonic to win the however, drove him to a fury. The appeared from nowhere. Nothing had war. Through foul sorceries and blood- Emperor was long-gone - spirited away been heard from the legion since their pacts, Terra became a playground for by the Night Lords at the start of the primarch, Konrad Curze, had all manner of entities from the siege. While Chaos had focussed its physically attacked Dorn and taken his Empyrean. To try to crush the attention upon the throne-room, the followers into hiding. Once more, resistance, Dorn despatched units of Emperor had used the time to organise

5 resistance across Terra. The skeleton constantly tormented to ensure that the brother. More wary than Horus, the force of Custodes that had remained to worst excesses of his visions would not Emperor hung back, and as though maintain the illusion bore the brunt of come to pass. compelled by some unexplained urge, Dorn‟s anger. kicked aside a fallen tapestry to reveal Before he could be asked more details the brutalised corpse of Konrad Curze. Despite strenuous assertions from of his plan, Curze was gone. True to Horus that He must leave Terra, the his word, though, at the appointed hour With his deception revealed, Dorn Emperor flatly refused. He had spent sensors registered an internal explosion raised the broken standard pole and the whole of his long lifetime battling aboard the Phalanx and the shields plunged it deep into Horus' chest. The to unite Terra and mankind, and had preventing teleportation flickered and Warmaster died, never realising that he fought at the forefront of the Great died. The Emperor, flanked by his had been betrayed a second time. Crusade. He would not be driven away Custodes, and Horus along with his Spurred into action, the Emperor leapt from His own planet. He also had a Mournival of captains teleported onto at Dorn. The room had seen the deaths plan. In the time since His rescue by the ship, but were scattered across the of two of his sons, and He hardened his the Night Lords, He had been working vast command decks by sinister heart to cause a third. Dorn, though, to this end, and just after the death of magicks. Called by the psychic had been endowed with all the gifts of Perturabo, the Emperor completed His presence of the Emperor, the loyalists the Ruinous Powers, and was a match modifications and bonded a portion of fought their way back to their leader. for even the Master of Mankind. The His consciousness with the two battled for what seemed like an Astronomicon. In an instant, the warp- Horus reached the Emperor just outside age, but when the Mournival, led by influence weakened planet-wide, with of Dorn's personal Sanctum, to find the Captain Abaddon, reached the whole legions of lesser entities primarch's Terminator armour-clad devastated site of the battle, they found banished from the physical realm. guards dead, and the armoured both of them broken, burned and doorway already open. A wail of shattered beyond aid. The rebellion was wounded, but not finished. Then, beyond all expectation, Dorn's Heresy had been ended, but the White Scars arrived. Thought lost, The Phalanx had seen doing so had claimed the Emperor's their ships filled the comm-channels mortal life. All that remained was an with disturbing, discordant harmonics the deaths of two of his echo of His spirit that had been bound before swooping down into the sons. The Emperor to the Astronomicon. It bade Abaddon embattled Lion's Gate spaceport. They to reclaim the bodies of the Emperor murdered the Imperial defenders, and hardened his heart to and His loyal sons, and to re-unite the without even fortifying their positions, cause a third. physical shell with what remained of the corrupted White Scars took to their His immortal soul. They fought their vehicles and scattered across the planet unutterable anguish echoed from the way off the ship with cold fury, and at high speed to make sport with the chamber beyond. The pair ventured after that the Phalanx, under the cowering civilian population. inside and found the room a wreck. command of Sigismund, stayed in orbit Fine tapestries had been ripped from just long enough to collect the With another fresh legion throwing its the walls, and Dorn was smashing the remaining Imperial Fists. The coalition weight behind the traitors, and the complex mechanisms of his Pain- of traitors fractured, and then scattered, fleets of the Dark Angels and Space Glove with the sheared adamantium with the Blood Angels, Salamanders Wolves only days away, the Emperor haft of his personal standard – the and White Scars commandeering had no choice but to cut out the Heresy banner awarded to him by the whatever vessels they could to escape. at its source. He and his finest troops Emperor. The pair advanced, ready for The Dark Angel fleet turned from its prepared to board the Phalanx and the kill, but Horus recognised the look Terran course, and even the blood- destroy the Arch-Betrayer, Dorn, on in his brother's eyes from his time just crazed berserkers of the Space Wolves his own battle-barge. after the possession on Davin and faltered, before falling to fighting

urgently waved his father back. amongst themselves. The Phalanx As soon as the Emperor announced His Dorn mumbled that he had been freed - The Emperor was brought to the decision to board the Phalanx, Curze that the pulse from the Astronomicon Astronomicon, where His shattered, appeared from the shadows and had given him enough strength to lifeless, flesh was integrated with the volunteered his services. It was known finally banish the daemon. He said that psychic machinery of the beacon, and that the Night Lord Primarch was privy he had killed his corrupted bodyguards fed and nourished with a thousand to prophetic visions, often of the worst and retreated to the Pain-Glove to souls a day to sustain His wavering possible fates, and yet even to the atone for his sins. Empathising with life-force. Emperor he rarely spoke of what he Dorn, the Warmaster put aside his saw. It was said that these nightmares weapons and advanced, open-handed The Long War to drive the traitors were not inevitable, and that Curze was in friendship, to embrace his returned from the Imperium could then begin. 6

enemies they faced, Abaddon made the were regarded with bitterness by the Black Templars the core of an other traitors. If they had won, the “Horus was weak. Horus overwhelming force composed of as Imperium would have been forced to was a fool. He stayed his many legions as possible. The idea was accept the Traitor Legions as the heroic hand and allowed the Arch- to prevent the legions becoming liberators they knew themselves to be, Betrayer to cripple the isolated, both so that they would not be but Dorn‟s failure, and perceived Emperor. If he had survived I destroyed piecemeal, and that they weakness, had ultimately broken the would have executed him would watch over one another to rebellion. Now they would forever be myself. prevent any further legions falling to condemned as pariahs. Worse, the the Ruinous Powers. Initially there was ravages of extensive daemonic “We are no longer the Sons resistance to such a cautious approach, possession and the brutal meat-grinder of Horus. Neither are we the especially from legions whose battles of the Siege had reduced the Luna Wolves. That is the primarchs had survived. However, the Imperial Fists to a shadow of their past, we are the future, and tragic fate of the isolated Raven Guard, former strength. Inheritor of Dorn‟s must crusade to take back and the grievous losses the Iron mantle was Sigismund, who, to avoid what was lost, and to destroy Warriors sustained trying to dislodge the hated 'Imperial' associations, the traitors. From this day the Imperial Fists from their Iron Cage renamed them as the brooding 'Black forth, we are the Black worlds reinforced the wisdom of Legion'. Templars” Abaddon's proposals. Such was the bitterness surrounding Legion Master Abaddon, Soon he was able to command the the legion that Sigismund could not First High Lord of Terra fealty of the surviving primarchs, and expect to command the loyalty of the played on their individual preferences other traitor primarchs - he could not and prejudices. For instance, Mortarion even prevent elements of his own The Bitter Harvest: would commit to a force to drive the command from rebelling. Alexis Polux led many of the possessed marines to Post-Heresy to M41 Space Wolves from Fenris proposed by Magnus, on the understanding that their own fate, and these bloody- The Heresy had been averted, but reciprocity would be observed when it handed butchers showed even the amongst the many casualties had been came to mounting a xenocidal crusade Space Wolves the true meaning of the Imperium‟s Manifest Destiny to against an Eldar Craftworld. For savagery. Another group despised the rule the galaxy. The Emperor‟s vision Fulgrim and the Emperor's Children, way Sigismund had turned his back on of a Great Crusade was but a memory, an attack on Guilliman deep inside their primarch. Proudly and defiantly and although the eight Traitor Legions Ultramar Segmentum in revenge for calling themselves the Scions of Dorn, had failed to claim Terra, they were far Istvaan was the prize, and Lorgar was they set about carving a reputation by from defeated: Guilliman‟s secessionist pacified with leadership of the newly targeting a selected Great Company, be Ultramar Segmentum was only the formed Ecclesiarchy and support for they loyalist or traitor, and not resting largest and most organised of the his legion's Wars of Faith. Painfully until it had been annihilated to the last rebellious realms. slowly, but surely, the tide turned and marine. the borders of Imperial-controlled With the Emperor hovering as a ghost space rolled back once again. The Imperium slowly pushed the in the machine, the Warmaster and Traitor Legions out of their traditional most of the loyal primarchs scythed In the course of a long lifetime, enclaves, and most set up bases on the away, it was Abaddon who stepped Abaddon saw his patience rewarded. hellish worlds in and around the Eye of forward and became de facto leader of The remaining loyalist legions were Terror. Each seemed driven to the Imperium. Hating his primarch for rebuilt and expanded, and the Traitor periodically strike out from their not protecting the Emperor, he first Legions were pushed from their daemon-worlds for spoil, pleasure, or reorganised, and then re-named his homeworlds and enclaves towards the necessity. The contagions afflicting legion to shun their past, and to reflect massive warp-rift which became Sanguinius and his cadaverous Blood their crusading future. Thus, the Black known as the Eye of Terror. He died as Angels grew worse over the centuries, Templars were born, and just as the he lived; leading the Imperial forces and they were forced to raid further Warmaster had done before him, from the front. On the world of Uralan, and further afield to provide the fresh Abaddon proved supremely adept at in the shadow of a monumental tower, blood and replacement organs they so manipulating the disparate parts of the Abaddon was struck down by a huge desperately needed. The worst afflicted shattered Imperium back to some golden-skinned creature bearing an brethren were driven insane as the semblance of order. enormous blade of warp-construction. build-up of toxins rotted their brains The first High Lord of Terra was dead, beyond recovery. These wretches are Accepting the numerical weakness of but his philosophy would live on. often grouped together and in battle the Legionnes Astartes at that time, and herded towards their enemies. the vast numbers of threats and After the Heresy, the Imperial Fists Although little more than beasts, their

7 warp-boosted vitality, maniacal was only narrowly averted by a joint War, when the legion assaulted and strength and inability to register pain action of the newly rebuilt Emperor's spirited away several of the arcane make them more than a match for even Children and World Eaters, and this Blackstone Fortresses that had veteran Astartes warriors. early success cemented bonds of formerly defended the sector. A being brotherhood between them. Imperial claiming to be Ferrus Manus himself Although their home-world of Caliban cogniscii have proposed that the led the successful assault on was reduced to an asteroid field, Luther Salamanders have formally aligned Blackstone II, but if it was Manus, the and his Dark Angels have stubbornly themselves with an aspect of the Warp fabled liquid metal that covered his retained a strong presence in the they call 'Malal', although what this hands seemed to have enveloped his system, although they have also been means in practice is unclear. What is entire body. The Mechanicus has never seen to appear from nowhere and certain is that the Salamanders remain been able to account for what the Iron destroy targets throughout the galaxy. an unpredictable and dangerous foe. Hands excavated from beneath the red The reason for these attacks has been sands of Mars, but as the frequency of hotly debated by Imperial strategists The actions of the Iron Hands are, if attacks by the legion increases, so too over ten millennia, with theories anything, even more bizarre. Other does pressure for a proper explanation. ranging from institutionalised insanity than at Istvaan, the legion has never to that they are searching for, or trying been seen to fight alongside the forces To the galactic east, Guilliman took to obliterate, someone or something... of Chaos, and it is widely believed that advantage of the anarchy of the Heresy Manus fought there solely to further to further cement his realm. Despite The intentions of other Traitor his own agenda of raiding Mars. Their strenuous crusades and the Legions, such as the White Scars and objective there has remained shrouded insurrectionist actions of the Alpha the Space Wolves, are much clearer. in mystery, as they ignored priceless Legion, the massive size, military The White Scars now exist only for the stores of archeotech to instead excavate efficiency and organisational ability of thrill of speed, sensation, and battle, the Ultramarines and their off-shoot while the Space Wolves have successor 'chapters' meant that any submerged themselves wholeheartedly Inheritor of Dorn‟s losses were swiftly reclaimed into the in the worship of Khorne. The mantle was Sigismund, Ultramar fold. This has changed in disappearance of Leman Russ during recent centuries, as wars within its own the Purging of Fenris saw the legion who, to avoid the hated borders with xenos races have sapped disintegrate into warbands, each 'Imperial' associations, their prodigious military strength. The competing to be the most brutal and arrival of the extra-galactic hive-race bloodthirsty in honour of their god. renamed them as the of 'Tyranids' was proclaimed by the The Space Wolves' attentions extend Ecclesiarchy as a judgement from the little beyond slaughter, and scant brooding 'Black Legion'. Emperor, although this line of rhetoric attention is given to the crafting of has been dropped recently as hive- weapons or armour. Instead, the Space something from deep beneath the fleets have started attacking into the Wolves have chosen to scavenge such mountains of Noctis Labyrynthus. heart of Segmentum Solar. things from slain foes, which act both After leaving Mars, the Iron Hands as trophies to proclaim their combat vanished, and were thought lost to As dangerous as the incursions from prowess, and to repair the battle history, appearing once or twice in a the Tyranids may be, they are only one damage they inevitably sustain. millennia. A collation of confirmed of the rising threats to the Imperium. sightings, usually from attacks on After ten thousand years, the Traitor Vulkan's nihilistic disillusionment with archaeological excavations of dead Legions at last seem to be putting aside what he saw as the hypocrisy of the worlds, showed a creeping their differences. That Chaos should Imperium spread over the centuries to mechanisation of the body, replacing finally follow the tactics dictated by encompass his fellow traitors. He and flesh with metal. Some Iron Hands, the Abaddon of a massed crusade would his legion came to despise the petty so-called Rubrics of Paullian, appear to be a terrible irony. What their excesses of the Chaos Gods and their revel in total mechanisation. intentions would be are unknown, but servants, and made war with both the if the Ruinous Powers were to attempt Imperium and their fellow traitors. The Iron Hands only revealed a second assault on Holy Terra, the Their attempted Burning of Skalathrax themselves fully during the Gothic bloodshed would be truly apocalyptic.

8

Of all the Space Marine legions, none exemplifies the virtues of martial honour and strict self-control more than the World Eaters. Just as Angron transcended his violent youth, he ensured that his legion would shrug off every setback and betrayal to become paragons of the warrior creed, and ardent supporters of The the Emperor's intention to unify the galaxy. Dornian Origins were implanted directly into the brain, According to Carpinus‟ Speculum turning the subject into little better than Heresy Historiale, the best record of Angron‟s a mindless berserker. After suffering early years, the young primarch was this fate, Angron bent all his will to born and raised into bloodshed and escaping these puppet masters. death, but never let these things claim him. Stolen away from the Emperor by The walls were high and the guns of the Ruinous Powers and scattered their guards powerful, but using his throughout the galaxy, the infant natural talent as a warrior and leader of Angron was found, on an un-named men, he found a way. During a massed planet, surrounded by the corpses of display of gladiatorial combat, the what were thought to be armed bandits slaves, as one, turned their weapons on that prowled the region. He was taken their guards. Angron‟s meticulous and in by the locals, was fed and clothed, inspired planning saw to it that they and according to their traditions took control of the arena with a promptly sold into slavery to repay minimum of casualties, but the their generosity. Given his obvious bloodshed that followed shocked him skill in the combat arts, he was forced to the core. With freedom in sight, first into small-time pit-fighting, and many of Angron‟s gladiator brothers inevitably was traded to the capital became uncontrollable, and with the city‟s gladiatorial arena. guards routed, continued to fight rather than make good their escape. In the Index The planetary rulers used the grand height of blind fury, some of the spectacle of the gladiatorial arenas to berserkers turned on the fleeing crowds Astartes: slake their population‟s bloodlust, and and even, in their madness, their to remind them of the penalty for brother gladiators. thoughts of revolt. As the primarch grew, so too did his reputation, and his The slave army escaped the city, but frustration. Ever-eager to boast of the without their berserker brethren, which World brutality of their fighters, the slavers remained to kill and be killed. The had named him Angron, but the experience brought home to Angron Eaters Emperor had made him to be more that without iron-willed self-control than a bloodthirsty taker of skulls. It they would lose themselves. The look was his name, but not what he was. in the eyes of his blood-drunk former brothers he had been forced to kill that Angron resented that he and his fellow day convinced Angron that he himself gladiators were being forced to fight must never suffer that fate. and kill for the pleasure of their masters, and that of the baying crowds. While the gladiators fled into the wild- Even worse were the physical and lands, the rulers of the city assembled by mental mutilations imposed upon them and despatched an army of mercenaries to provide better sport. Implants, to chase them down. Angron and his Aurelius „glanding‟ and the replacement of arms brothers ambushed the overconfident with hooks or blades were all and ill-disciplined soldiery, stripped Rex commonplace in the arenas. Angron them of their weapons and provisions, saw them all as an attempt to steal the and sent them back to the city as a only things the slaves still possessed; bloodied warning not to pursue them their dignity and sense of self. Worst of any further. However, with word of all were the psycho-surgical Angron‟s escape spreading and procedures where „aggression chips‟ fomenting unrest among the gladiators

9 in other cities, this was not efficient warriors, and with something the planet‟s rigid self-control they were rulers were able to ignore. nothing to be feared. When Fearing for their grip on the Twelfth Legion finally power, and no longer arrived to formally meet underestimating this „simple their primarch, Angron was gladiator‟, a force a hundred ready for command. thousand strong was mobilised and sent to scour Angron had not forgotten the land. Against such his old comrades, and the overwhelming force, army of former slaves were Angron‟s only option was to the first from the planet to press further and further into join his new legion. The the mountains, but aggression chips were cast eventually there was off as tools of the oppressor, nowhere left to go. At the and the legion was summit of Fedan Mhor, dedicated to the course of Angron and his brothers martial honour and iron- prepared to make their willed self-control. stand. Berserker fury became a shadow of the past; a legacy In the time since the loss of of their enslavement that the primarchs, the Emperor would never again be had not been idle. Guided permitted. Committed to the by His unparalleled psychic glory of the Imperium and talents He homed in on His the Emperor, they would be lost sons. And so it was that masters of their own fates. as Angron prepared to Tactical squad Brother-Sergeant of the World Eaters Some aspects of his past - address his army for the such as his own name - hopeless battle to come, Imperial ships Emperor and His cause. Accepting the Angron retained, and even embraced as of the Great Crusade hastily entered inevitable, the planet‟s ruling elite reminders of what they must always orbit. Unwilling to risk losing his son quietly stepped down from power, and fight against. Back in the arena, the before they had even been reunited, the the world rapidly acceded into the slavers called Angron and his fellow Emperor ordered that Angron be Imperium. gladiators the 'World Eaters' to brag to teleported aboard, but Horus, who was other cities of how violent and frenzied accompanying his father, urgently Horus took Angron under his wing, they were. Thus, to the surprise of counselled against it. Horus' peerless educating him in every aspect of the members new and old, he chose it to insight into the psychology of the Imperium. In doing so, he was able to remind them of the darkness against warrior recognised that to whisk a true assuage his brother‟s lingering doubts which they must always guard. He leader to safety while his army was that he would simply be swapping one renamed the Twelfth Legion the World butchered would be intolerable. He set of chains for another; that the Eaters. saw that such an act would irrevocably Emperor was far from being just taint the relationship with bitterness another slaver who wanted him to fight The Heresy and resentment from the start. and die for his own amusement. Their In the following years the World Eaters first meeting on Fedan Mhor had gone became synonymous with martial Horus successfully convinced his a long way towards this, and the honour, and were paragons of the father that there was a better way, and presence of Horus and his Luna Emperor‟s dream to re-unite humanity when the sun rose on the mountain, the Wolves overcame Angron‟s initial in the galaxy. Their grand companies slaver's armies were faced not only by misgivings about the implants and often fought alongside those of the Angron's former gladiators, but by The psycho-conditioning that becoming a Luna Wolves, with Angron‟s idealism Master of Mankind, and the Astartes of marine entailed. At first, the process tempering Horus‟ more pragmatic the Luna Wolves. Against such seemed to be eerily similar to the approach. In fact, at a banquet to powerful adversaries, the slaver‟s aggression chips and cybernetic celebrate the successful completion of forces were easily routed. As they fled implants that the slavers had forced the Herax compliance, Horus the field in disarray, Angron upon the gladiators, and which had publically praised Angron as his „moral approached his father through the made them less than human. However, compass‟. When Horus was elevated to smoke, and knelt in supplication, after seeing the Luna Wolves in action, the rank of Warmaster at Ullanor, none recognising the bond between them, Angron knew that such things were was more forthcoming in support for and respecting the true nobility of the merely tools to make them more his mentor than Angron, and it seemed 10

that even with the the transports were Emperor returning to silenced, and the few Terra, the Great Crusade survivors of the three would be in safe hands. legions evacuated to safety. Angron‟s Sadly, it was not to be. ultimate fate is a matter First the Warmaster was of heated conjecture. laid low by an unknown The World Eaters and malady, and then word Emperor‟s Children both came that Roboute assert that he met his end Guilliman had declared in combat with the the vast swathes of the turncoat Vulkan, while galactic east liberated by scurrilous black his Ultramarine Legion propaganda spouted by to be an independent the Salamanders hint at a realm - the so-called considerably less heroic Ultramar Segmentum. end. Needless to say, Such an affront to the ever since the Heresy the Imperial dream saw the World Eaters have taken World Eaters pledge every opportunity to take themselves immediately the fight to the to bringing Guilliman Salamanders. Any back to his senses, or to campaigns involving end this betrayal once these two legions, such and for all. Under the as the Battle of command of Rogal Skalathrax or the Dorn, the Emperor‟s Cleansing of Gorthan- Praetorian, seven legions Liess, are bitterly assembled in orbit contested in the extreme. around the Ultramarine‟s latest conquest, at the fifth planet of the Istvaan After Istvaan, the World system. The World Eaters were reduced to a Eaters, along with the shadow of their former strength. They limped Emperor‟s Children and The scars that resulted from removing the back to their homeworld Raven Guard, made aggression chips became a palpable reminder with the intention to planet-fall into what they of the World Eater’s rejected past. were told was a shattered rebuild their forces, and and broken rebel legion, must not stand unchallenged, but even to play some part in but instead were devastated by the he knew there was nothing to be gained ending Dorn's treachery, but it was not guns of both the Ultramarines, and from suffering a glorious massacre. to be. The Heresy had reached even their erstwhile allies. Dorn had been Their mission now became to warn the their own planet. The former rulers of the world were gone from power, but corrupted by the Chaos Gods, and had Emperor of Dorn's treachery. After taken the Imperial Fists, Iron Hands, dragging as many of their fallen still retained much wealth and Dark Angels, and Salamanders with brethren as they could onto the influence. On their isolated estates, him into damnation. Knowing the evacuation landers, they came under away from prying eyes, they continued World Eater‟s legendary idealism and intense fire from heavy weaponry from their decadent ways and fell into the loyalty to the Warmaster, Dorn had not Salamanders commanded by Vulkan, worship of Chaos. History is unclear even attempted to turn them to his their hideously disfigured primarch. whether this happened independently, cause. Instead, he opted to use them as With shuttles and landers full of his or as part of Dorn's plot to destabilise a blood sacrifice to his Dark Masters, brothers exploding around him, the legion, but when they realised that and to buy the Ultramarine‟s neutrality Angron took this final opportunity to the World Eaters had been decimated, in the coming war. save his legion, and to fulfil his and the Imperium wracked by civil personal code. He threw open the hatch war, they seized their opportunity. Wading through rivers of their own and leapt out of the slowly rising vessel Private armies besieged the legitimate blood, the shattered remnants of the into the midst of the Salamanders. Imperial government, and paid three loyal legions fought their way to agitators, sought to raise mobs in evacuation. Angron‟s martial code rebellion. The war was short, though, demanded that such a gross betrayal The heavy weapons directed against as even in their weakened state the

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is able to select the finest candidates wherever they may be found. Each grand company‟s battle barges have the knowledge and resources to recruit and train the next generation of World Eaters. The legion is well respected and universally regarded as being fair and honourable, and most planetary governors are eager to become a recruiting world, with all the added protection this entails.

Combat Doctrine Given their primarch‟s origins as a pit- fighter and gladiator, and Angron‟s devotion to martial honour, it is unsurprising that the legion places such a particular emphasis upon close combat. This is reflected by the high World Eaters were quickly able to rout of the question. Angron had seen the number of Assault squads found in the enemy and re-establish order. damage that the blood-drunk could do, their orders of battle, but far from to both themselves and their erstwhile being bloodthirsty maniacs, its roots Enraged at having power snatched friends, and decreed that iron-hard self- come from their own code of martial away a second time, the deposed control was vital to become one of his honour, and ironically, a desire to leaders enacted their final solution: If legionnaires. avoid indiscriminate slaughter. Where they could not have the planet, then no- many legions routinely use orbital one would. At their command powerful Part of this was the removal of their bombardment and saturation firepower explosives detonated along seismic aggression chips, and the ugly scar against a rebellious world, the World fault-lines and inside the planet‟s tissue that resulted from the procedure Eaters take great pains to minimise geothermal power plants, spewing lava became a palpable reminder of their civilian casualties, even when it means across the land and choking the rejected past. In solidarity the Terran that they themselves suffer greater atmosphere with ash. This triggered legionnaires that had never had the losses as the result. It is against an further waves of volcanic activity that procedure took to tattooing the scalp enemy‟s leaders and military forces plunged the world into darkness, and above the left temple, and even ten that they take the fight, and test their caused a global extinction event. The millennia later, this practice still mettle; there is no honour to be gained World Eaters, protected by power endures. in butchering the old, infirm or infants, armour, were the only survivors of the especially when done from orbit. In cataclysm, but even their fortress- After the destruction of their close combat the World Eaters know monastery on Fedan Mhor was homeworld the legion necessarily had and suitably value each human life seriously damaged. Evacuating to their to draw their recruits from other they take. orbiting fleet, the legion stood vigil systems. The World Eater fleets range over their dying homeworld for one far across the Imperium, so the legion On many occasions, most notably the hundred days, and then left, vowing always to remember, but never to return. Skalathrax

Recruitment Their shared experiences on Istvaan brought the legions of the World Eaters and Emperor's Children together, and forged a strong bond of friendship Before the Heresy, the World Eaters between the two despite their philosophical differences. Just decades after recruited extensively from the former the heresy, while both legions were still in the midst of rebuilding, they gladiator and pit-slave population of deployed together to defend the world of Skalathrax from the Salamanders. their homeworld. These proved to be a The traitors claimed that the incineration of Skalathrax would anoint it as hardy and talented source of marines, their new daemon-world, but together the loyalists managed to avert this, and although to their regret they found that in doing so extracted a measure of vengeance for the Salamander's betrayal not all were suitable. A proportion, be at Istvaan. The phrase 'Remember Skalathrax' became a rallying cry for a it through ill-treatment or by resurgent Imperium, one that echoed from the halls of the High Lords on inclination, took such enjoyment and mighty Terra to the darkest depths of the Eye of Terror. abandon in the spilling of blood that to become a World Eater was simply out

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famous assault on the rebellious Partrum Junta and the boarding of the Battle Barge Black Narcissus, entire Khârn the Deathless grand companies of World Eaters have taken to the field armed solely with Angron‟s noble sacrifice on Istvaan allowed a precious few World Eaters to bolt pistol and chain-axe. However, escape the carnage, and with them they dragged as many of their wounded and that is not to say that the World Eaters dead brothers as they could. Among the corpses was Captain Khârn, equerry to eschew ranged weaponry - particularly the primarch himself. Covered in the blood of a hundred grievous wounds, Khârn woke in the makeshift morgue, later saying that Angron had come to him when facing xenos and warp-tainted in a vision and told him that it was not yet time for Khârn to join him, and that opponents. The bolter is as holy an he still had a mighty task ahead. This proved to be the case. Khârn led the instrument of the Emperor‟s will to tattered shreds of the legion back to their homeworld, and as legion master them as it is to any of the other loyal overcame insurmountable challenges to rebuild and revive the World Eaters. legions, and since their earliest days, Having passed into the vale of death, and yet returning all the stronger, Khârn World Eater Devastator squads have the Deathless is an analogy for the legion itself. been referred with genuine honour as „The Teeth of the World Eaters‟. The legion is clinical in its assessment of scale invasions by heretics and warlike machination to serve their own the best method to eliminate the alien races. agendas. Imperium‟s foes, and on the battlefield Assault, Tactical and Devastator The diffuse nature of the World Eater While the legion does maintain a squads mesh seamlessly into an Legion means that, in practice, each Librarium of psychically gifted battle unstoppable white and azure engine of grand company retains a great degree brothers, they are few in number, and power armoured death. of independence. The ultimate their remit specialised. This springs

authority is the Council of Captains, primarily from their innate distrust of

Organisation headed by the legion master, which by the immaterial, instead preferring to Having no homeworld, the World necessity meets almost exclusively by rely on the heft of an honest chain-axe Eater Legion is now fleet-based, and astropathic means. It is essential in to the summoning of eldritch fire. After has spread itself out amongst the stars. coordinating the actions of the World the Heresy revealed the horrifying Each grand company, numbering Eaters across the Imperium, as well as scope of the threat posed by the upwards of a thousand battle brothers ruling on the commitment of forces to Ruinous Powers, successive legion and commanded by a captain and his Imperial crusades, and on rare masters began to realise the value of lieutenants strive to perform their occasions sanctioning the creation of a being able to fight on the aetheric plane assigned duties to the utmost. new grand company. as well. To this end, World Eater Normally at least two-thirds of World librarians are charged with the vital Eater grand companies are to be found Beliefs role of sensing the malefic, and engaged in the Crusades proclaimed by warding the souls of their brethren The World Eaters retain their the High Lords of Terra, a proportion from harm. These roles do not exempt primarch‟s sense of martial honour, unmatched by any other legion. These librarians from their normal duties. discipline and iron-willed self-control. grand companies are at the vanguard of They are World Eaters, and so are They are, if anything, even more the battle against the Ruinous Powers expected to prove themselves at the organised and regimented than the and xenos threats and reclaiming areas bloody edge of battle - a place in which secessionist Ultramarines and their of the galaxy long-lost to Imperial rule. their psychically attuned force successor chapters, although the World Such a role is a dangerous one even for weaponry comes in extremely useful. Eaters restrict themselves to military the Legionnes Astartes, and the vehemence with which the World matters rather than extending it into the Eaters pursue this task is enviable. civilian side of things. Despite the Gene-seed betrayals and losses they suffered Gene-seed of the Angron line suffers Once the crusade has achieved its during the Heresy, the World Eaters an unusual degree of genetic drift, and objective, they return to the Imperium have never lost their idealistic belief in the omophagea implant is absent proper to recruit, train and replenish the concept of the Emperor's altogether. Adeptus Mechanicus their strength. Though this could be Imperium. To this end they are records showed that the implant considered as reserve status, there are endlessly willing to contribute forces to abruptly and inexplicably disappeared still many battles to be fought inside crusade alongside other legions and the from samples submitted for purity the Imperium. Rebellions against Imperial Army. Unlike some of the testing in mid-M34. When the offer rightful Imperial rule are sadly all-too other legions though, the World Eaters was made to return gene-seed from common, pirate fleets plague the are motivated by a deep-seated belief tithed stocks which still contained the space-lanes and even the Imperial that it is the right thing to do, rather omophagea, the legion declined the crusades are unable to prevent wide- than as part of some political offer, stating in no uncertain terms that

13 such an implant was no longer required. Varren stepped aside of the wildly swung frost-blade. In return he brought the The general degradation in gene-seed chain-axe round and caught the Space Wolf in the vulnerable area between quality is attributed to the use of higher upraised arm and toughened breastplate. Energised teeth churned easily into armour and flesh, sending an arterial spray across the room, and coating his than recommend doses of certain face and once-white and blue armour in darkest crimson. chemicals involved in marine hypnotherapy and indoctrination. This The traitor slumped to the floor, nearly chewed in half by the blade. He was hazardous treatment allows World incapacitated, but still clinging to life. It saddened Varren that one of the Eater marines to control their Emperor‟s legions could have fallen to the worship of the Ruinous Powers, responses, emotions and autonomic dedicated only to the spilling of blood and the taking of skulls. Looking into the reactions beyond that of other legions, madman‟s eyes, a chilling thought struck him; would this have been his fate if in line with their compulsion to enforce Angron hadn‟t turned his back on bloodshed? There but for the grace of the iron-willed self-restraint on the Emperor... battlefield. While this genetic drift has „Do you have any last words, oath-breaker?‟ Varren asked, raising his chain- not yet been observed to have axe in preparation for a warrior‟s execution. materially affected implant quality, there is serious concern that eventually „Blood for the Blood God. He cares not from where it flows,‟ rasped the Space the long term viability of the gene-seed Wolf with a burbling chuckle. „We are brothers in blood now –‟ the sacrilegious as a whole could be in jeopardy. The insult was cut off abruptly by the falling blade. Imperium can ill-afford to lose the World Eaters, but despite this the Varren absently licked his lips, and tasted the coppery tang of the traitor‟s legion has strenuously resisted pressure blood. Just for the briefest second his mind filled with the memories of his opponent, and he experienced the joy of losing himself within the rising blood- to modify its procedures. tide...

Battlecry Then the walls of self-control slammed back into place, and with revulsion he “For Angron and the Emperor!” is a fell to his knees. Over the sound of his own retching, Captain Varren was common battlecry, although where certain he could hear the taunting laughter of the Dark Gods. World Eaters face traitors of the Salamanders Legion, “Remember Skalathrax!” is often used instead.

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Before the Heresy, Fulgrim proclaimed that his legion had achieved a state of perfection, and for their pains were targeted for destruction at Istvaan by the Ruinous Powers. Through their peerless abilities they survived and ever since have fought tirelessly against the entropy and decline that has afflicted even The the Legionnes Astartes. With their meticulously maintained marks of ancient equipment and weaponry, they are the epitome Dornian of a small, but elite, mobile strike-force. Heresy Origins their gene-seed the legion was only So concerned were the Ruinous Powers 200 strong, but the return of their by the Emperor‟s plan to create the primarch would change this. In front of primarchs that they stole the infants the massed Terran dignitaries and even away and scattered them throughout the Emperor Himself, Fulgrim the galaxy. Not even this, though, addressed his warriors, saying: “We could deflect Fulgrim from his fate. are His children. Let all who look upon The planet of Chemos, like many us know this. Only by imperfection can before the Emperor‟s reunification, had we fail him. We are the Emperor‟s been settled during mankind‟s first Children, and we will not fail him.” expansion into the cosmos, but having lost the gift of spaceflight, had become The onlookers were shocked by the isolated over the ages. By the time presumption of appropriating the Fulgrim fell to earth, the inhabitants of Emperor‟s name for the legion, but the Chemos had slipped perilously close to Master of Mankind simply laughed, extinction, clinging to survival by and further indulged His son. The scavenging from deserted settlements newly named Emperor‟s Children were and endlessly recycling their allowed the signal honour of being the increasingly sparse stocks of food and only legion to bear the Emperor‟s water. Aquila on their armoured breastplates, Index a distinction that endures to this day. It was five decades later that the Thus named and anointed, the arduous Astartes: Emperor finally set foot on Chemos, process of building the legion to and it is a testament to Fulgrim‟s fighting strength began. In his exceptional abilities that in that time he eagerness to prove himself, Fulgrim had risen from a foundling to become volunteered his legion for duty at the the ruler of the entire planet. What is earliest opportunity. Unfortunately, Emperor’s more, he had transformed it from a they were so few in number that they faltering society in terminal decline to had to accompany another force. Children a powerful, resurgent world reclaiming Fulgrim chose that of the Emperor and the lost settlements and rediscovering His praetorians, the Imperial Fists. long-forgotten knowledge. No longer were they living day to day: Fulgrim The first meeting between the brothers, had given the population of Chemos Dorn and Fulgrim, was cordial, but this hope for the future. state of affairs did not last. The source of the hostility stemmed from a clash On meeting his father and hearing the of personalities, and Fulgrim‟s opinion, by Emperor‟s story, Fulgrim was struck perhaps borne out by what followed, by the parallels between their lives. that he rather than Dorn should be the Both had risen to power purely through Emperor‟s Praetorian. Fulgrim was Aurelius merit, and the Emperor‟s Great certainly forthright when it came to Crusade to reunite the lost human criticising the performance of the Rex worlds into a galaxy-spanning Imperial Fists, and was the first to Imperium echoed his own boast of his warriors‟ achievements to achievements, and reassured Fulgrim the Emperor. Fulgrim clearly saw of the truth of his father‟s words. Back himself as the favoured son, and when on Holy Terra, Fulgrim was introduced the Emperor‟s Children finally reached to his legion. Due to a catastrophe with full-strength, a lavish ceremony was

15 held on the newly compliant guardians of genetic purity, world of Pelthan. shone as they performed Expectations among the miracles in keeping their legion were that at this brothers alive and fighting. coming of age, they would From weightless conditions take their rightful mantle as aboard orbital defence the Emperor‟s new platforms to dog-fights Praetorians. When they among freezing clouds and were instead merely granted lethal close-range meat- their own expedition of the grinders aboard deep Great Crusade, a palpable submersible habitats, the sense of shock and outrage Emperor‟s Children scoured at the injustice spread the Laer from existence. The through the hall. Dutiful son very last Laer was cut down that he was, Fulgrim stood, in one of their blasphemous silenced his troops, and temples, three days before contritely thanked his father the allotted month was out. for the honour. Despite being regaled with tales of its haunting beauty, The voyage from Pelthan Fulgrim declined to tour the was a lonely one for the site, saying he had no wish Emperor‟s Children. There to so dignify the xenos or was a sense that their fate, their superstitions. He and indeed the entire instead had the fane universe, had been upended. pounded to dust by orbital Worse was to come as the bombardment, along with demoralised legion suffered every other remnant of a succession of gruelling, Emperor’s Children Battle-Brother Laeran culture. drawn-out campaigns of of the 16th Grand Company compliance, the last of Back in orbit around the which left Fulgrim critically and turned them instead towards a dead world, Fulgrim wounded. Lord Commander Eidolon xenos world inhabited by a hostile and addressed his entire legion. He said the immediately suspended the expedition, powerful race known as the Laer. campaign had proved that they had and the fleet returned to Chemos, fully indeed achieved the Emperor‟s expecting to lay their primarch to rest Such was the threat posed by the Laer perfection. Driven to constantly change on his home soil. Rather than succumb that Imperial planners had projected and adapt, the Laer had twisted their though, Fulgrim awoke reinvigorated, any force attacking them would be minds and bodies beyond all and demanded to address the legion. wading through rivers of blood for recognition, and yet the Emperor‟s He spoke with eloquence and passion decades. As the Laer were seemingly Children had defeated them through that they had collectively been blinded content in their isolation, they had been their unsurpassed skill and devotion to by doubt and fear, but on the brink of left until now. Fulgrim, however, saw purity. Similarly, the legion must be death he had been gifted an epiphany. them as his legion‟s greatest test. He wary of diluting their Emperor-given Their path was to seek out and achieve would exterminate them, and state of perfection in the guise of perfection in the arts of war, and once furthermore achieve this task within a „progress‟, as to corrupt the ideal in they achieved it, they must hold to it standard solar month. The Emperor‟s this way would be an unforgivable act unflinchingly. Children found that rather than a single of sacrilege. race, the Laer had adapted and Just as Fulgrim had done when he first specialised their bodies to such a came to Chemos, this second arrival degree that they were barely brought hope to the population. Thus recognisable as the same species. The This war is the crucible in armed, the Emperor‟s Children, with only traits they held in common were a which we will be tested, my Fulgrim at their head, returned to the mastery of their own sphere of combat brothers. In their ignorance, the foul Laer offer us the chance to Great Crusade with renewed purpose, and the desperate tenacity of those achieve perfection. Apotheosis knowing that they would not fail again. facing total extinction. is within our grasp!” After innumerable stunningly successful campaigns that brought The war wrought a terrible toll on both Fulgrim, on the eve of the countless worlds into the growing sides as weapons of incredible power Cleansing of Laeran Imperium of Man, Fulgrim redirected were unleashed. The skills of the the fleet from their assigned course, legion‟s apothecaries, long the

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On that day, the Emperor‟s Children became a bastion of constancy in an ever-shifting galaxy. Fabius Bile

Despite Fulgrim‟s declaration that the Emperor‟s Children had reached The Dornian Heresy perfection during the Laer campaign, a small faction within the legion defied No sooner had the Emperor's Children their primarch‟s injunction. Most prominent amongst these conspirators were a reached their apotheosis than they group within the Apothecarion who covertly continued their experiments under received an urgent astropathic the cloak of treating their wounded brethren. These perversions included re- communiqué concerning the wiring the pleasure centres of the brain and even using xenos biological material Ultramarines. Guilliman‟s legion had from the vanquished Laer in their blasphemous works. This unforgivable breach brought much of the far galactic east of discipline was swiftly rooted out on the voyage to Istvaan. The leader, a talented but misguided apothecary by the name of Fabius Bile, took the into Imperial compliance, but now by coward‟s way out rather than having to answer to Fulgrim for his crimes. By the right of conquest had claimed the area time they were able to break into the apothecarion, Bile's body had been rotted as their own. Rather than showing to an organic stew inside his armour by powerful enzymes. If he had lived, dismay and disbelief that one of his Bile‟s punishment would undoubtedly have been an order of magnitude worse. brother primarchs could turn his back upon the Emperor, Fulgrim took the news with quiet satisfaction. It erstwhile allies also opened fire upon inevitable fight-back. The Emperor‟s reinforced his feeling of superiority, them. Children had risen from the ashes once, and gave him the chance to put his they would do so again. legion to the test against the closest The comm-channels were awash with thing that remained to a challenge: pleas for their brothers to cease fire, After the Heresy other Astartes. The only thing to sour and it was Fulgrim who first guessed Despite their betrayal and near- the moment was the news that the force the terrible truth. This was no accident: extinction at Istvaan, Fulgrim‟s sent to discipline the Ultramarines Dorn had betrayed them. The assertion that his legion had achieved would be commanded by his Emperor‟s Children vented their the heights of perfection remained adversary, Rogal Dorn. frustration on the turncoats before unshakeable. If anything, these events them, and Fulgrim led what remained reinforced his view. They could not The Emperor‟s Children set course for of his personal retinue against the have been corrupted or defeated in a the Istvaan system. It was the site of Primarch of the Iron Hands. Fulgrim fair fight, so instead Dorn had tried – Guilliman‟s latest addition to his had considered Ferrus Manus to be a and failed - to obliterate them beneath „Ultramar Segmentum‟, and both the rare friend rather than a rival, and so overwhelming numbers. Dorn‟s Heresy rebellious primarch and much of his the betrayal was all the deeper. Legion was brought to a bloody end before massed legion were present on the fifth records tell that Fulgrim managed to they could properly reconstitute their planet. Seven legions were called to mortally wound Manus, and even sever losses. Chief among the casualties was Istvaan, with the Imperial Fists, Iron one of his fabled metal hands. Sadly, the Emperor Himself, who was left as Hands, Salamanders and Dark Angels this account has been proved to be little more than a ghost in the making planet-fall first to encircle, apocryphal, as Manus was later seen on Astronomican machine. devastate and demoralise the Mars, and personally commanded his defenders. The Emperor‟s Children, legion in the Gothic Sector as recently Although Fulgrim never spoke openly World Eaters and Raven Guard were as early M41. of it, he clearly grieved for his father, given the task of falling upon what and perhaps even regretted his choice remained to administer the coup de Through daring, skill and to rebuild the legion rather than trying grâce. On Dorn‟s command the three determination a tiny fraction of the to fight their way back to Terra. Dorn, legions descended from orbit, only to three legions escaped back to orbit to the Arch-Betrayer, was dead, and yet find themselves caught in an ambush. spread word of Dorn‟s Great Betrayal other traitor legionnaires still drew Far from demoralised, they found the to the wider Imperium. Despite their breath. The urge to track them down Ultramarines well dug-in, heavily brutish demeanour, the World Eaters and mete out bloody retribution was armed and highly organised. Landing had impressed Fulgrim on the field of powerful, yet Fulgrim never once craft were torn apart by concentrated battle, and genuine bonds of friendship compromised his principles to boost anti-aircraft fire and drop pods were forged that persist to this day. their numbers. Only the finest recruits incinerated before their hatches were Corax and his Raven Guard left, as was were inducted into the Emperor‟s even blown. Under the peerless their way, silently and swiftly for their Children, which meant that while their leadership of the Emperor‟s Children, home-world. Though it pained Fulgrim high standards were maintained, the the mauled remnants of the three to do so, it was agreed that their legion remained pitifully small. legions broke out to link up with their numbers were so few that the only For this reason they deigned to fight supporting legions, only to uncover the option was to return to their home- alongside other loyalist legions, first true depths of the betrayal, as their worlds and rebuild their legions for the with the World Eaters, where they

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spiritual level, and that it was a physical manifestation of this “And what of Fulgrim?” rumbled the first voice. transcendence. Few though, within the “He and his legion are ripe with pride, arrogance and jealousy,” said the legion, truly believe that their primarch second voice. “Even now they are walking straight into the embrace of my is dead. They only differ over how and children, the Laer. By the time they reach Istvaan, they will be willing when he will return. supplicants to -” “No! I forbid it!” roared the primarch through the pain. Homeworld “Forbid?” whispered the second, as silky and dangerous as an unsheathed Before the arrival of Lord Fulgrim, blade. Chemos was isolated from the wider The four paused. Could their control have slipped? galaxy, its inhabitants clinging to “They don‟t deserve to be elevated like that,” said the primarch more levelly. existence on their desperately polluted “They don‟t deserve such a reward.” The poisonous animosity between the two world. Fulgrim reversed this decline, was a livid wound upon his psyche. It was clear to the four that the outburst was reclaiming previously abandoned motivated by loathing rather than mercy. settlements and giving the population “Very well, my lord,” said the third in the phlegmy rattle that passed for a hope for the future. With the arrival of voice. “In any case, I know my brother has his eye on another morsel, the White the Emperor and an influx of Imperial Scars.” technology, this development leapt “So be it – we grant you this boon,” said the fourth voice, “but you must make forward dramatically. Chemos became sure that you have sufficient forces to crush them utterly.” the site of the legion‟s fortress- “It will be my pleasure,” said Rogal Dorn as he deactivated the Pain-glove, monastery, and extensive new mines climbed out, and strode rigidly from the empty room. and manufactories were built to arm the Emperor‟s Children for their wars in the Great Crusade. saved the planet of Skalathrax from the territory of Ultramar Segmentum, and Salamanders, and eventually took their it was Fulgrim who met, and bested This increased level of production place in Abaddon‟s massed Crusades. Guilliman on the blood-soaked world darkened the skies with pollution, an To finally strike back was cathartic, but of Prandium. image akin to the desperate days before Fulgrim was horrified at the short-cuts the coming of the primarch. This, the other legions had taken to replace Such a deed would have made Fulgrim along with the desire for perfection and their losses, in particular the new, the only person, bar the Emperor, to the call of his artist‟s soul prompted inferior marks of war-gear being have killed one of the traitor primarchs, Fulgrim to decree that they would turn rushed into production. Though it and yet he willingly forwent this the planet itself into a place of beauty: significantly slowed the rate at which singular honour in favour of a far more a world fit for the Children of the the Emperor‟s Children could fitting punishment. Using their superior Emperor. Using influence that only a reconstitute their ranks, Fulgrim was pre-Heresy technology, the Emperor‟s primarch could wield, Fulgrim ordered confident he had made the right choice. Children placed the dying Guilliman that the planet be terraformed. They would not compromise their within a temporal stasis field and Pollution was scrubbed from the air principles and their purity. returned it to Holy Terra so that his and water, and Chemos was eternal torment might be witnessed by transformed into a wild, verdant world Ever since the dark days of the Heresy, the Emperor. The body is housed of azure skies, shining lakes and the Emperor‟s Children have been within the deepest vaults of the deepest forests. So as not to spoil this dedicated to the protection of the Purgatory Falls Sepulchre, and idyll, Fulgrim also ordered the Imperium. However, while they do although it should be impossible, it is manufactories, mines and main fight against xenos incursions and said that the agonies of his long final population centres be relocated below bring heretical regimes back into the second have been felt by generations of the surface in vast, hermetically sealed Imperial fold, they rarely see such telepaths down the millennia. caverns. opponents as a worthy challenge. Their real passion is ignited by the Of Fulgrim‟s own fate, nothing is Such a mighty task took many chance to test themselves against the known for certain. He disappeared centuries to fully complete, interrupted Traitor Legions, and especially those without a word from the inner sanctum as it was by the Heresy, the near- that betrayed them on Istvaan. It was of his flagship, the Pride of Chemos. destruction of the Emperor's Children Fulgrim who proposed a Crusade Much has been read into the physical at Istvaan, and the dark times that against Roboute Guilliman himself, evidence in the chamber, such as the followed. Eventually, Fulgrim was that it was their duty to finally end the etched adamantium wall-panels. Some rewarded for his labours with a world existence of the man who had triggered speculate that it was caused by some to rival even the lushest pleasure-planet the Heresy. It was Fulgrim who led the unknown type of weaponry; others said in its beauty. Only the Emperor‟s nine loyal legions deep into the hostile that Fulgrim had ascended to another Children themselves and civilians

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charged with the upkeep of the hopeful that the lost knowledge might Speeder. Another example of the environment and for the production of one day be reclaimed. superiority of the legion‟s venerable fresh food for the legion are allowed war-gear is the Raptor jump pack. The access to the surface. The remaining Combat Doctrine complexity of manufacture and population labours endlessly in the Marines of the Emperor‟s Children are maintenance of these devices became buried hive cities, producing the pre- expected to be proficient, nay, to excel prohibitive even for the Legionnes Heresy patterns of equipment and in each and every battlefield role. This Astartes. When the STC for the weapons demanded by the Emperor‟s means that a battle brother would be simpler, but far less effective DH2 Children. The skill of these artisans in expected to crew a vehicle as capably pattern jump pack was discovered, keeping alive knowledge of patterns as they would fire a heavy weapon or only the Emperor‟s Children opted to and marks used during the Great fight in close combat. Although this is retain the older form in service. Such Crusade is unparalleled even, so they sought through endless training, as it is rigid adherence to Fulgrim‟s pre- boast, by the Adepts of Mars. among the other loyal legions, the Heresy vision of perfection, along with Emperor‟s Children add a different the luxury of limitless access to the Sadly, despite their best efforts, the aspect to their regimes – the manufacturing base of an entire planet, beauty of Chemos has faded over the incorporation of artistic pursuits. is a defining feature of the combat millennia. In the absence of the Lord doctrine espoused by the Emperor‟s Fulgrim, entropy has taken a heavy toll The most obvious benefit of this is Children. upon the little-understood terraforming their approach to close combat. Where equipment, and catastrophic cave-ins the World Eaters are coldly clinical Organisation have scarred the once-pristine world. and methodical, with each member of While other legions have increased in In addition to the death-toll, these the force meshing together seamlessly, size and adapted their command disasters have caused irretrievable the Emperor‟s Children have a fluid structures over the millennia, the losses of ancient technology. For grace borne of the study of dance and Emperor's Children have defiantly instance, Persuai sub-hive was poetry. They flow across the remained the same. They are composed responsible for vital power generation battlefield, darting aside from blows of thirty grand companies, the same systems used in mark 3 Iron pattern and bullets before sweeping past their number that made up the legion during power armour. The catastrophic foes to strike three more before the first the ascension of the Laer campaign. collapse that destroyed it in late M39 corpse has hit the ground. Officers of Each grand company is led by a lord has meant that ever since these suits the Emperor‟s Children are renowned commander, an instrument of have incorporated non-authentic for their powerful rhetorical style, Fulgrim‟s will, who through his elements cobbled together from later honed through intense study of the subordinate captains directs upwards of marks. To this day, search-teams still form and function of literature, poetry a thousand marines. Respect for their excavate the ruins of Persuai, ever- and the oratorical arts. superior officers is ingrained into the psyche of the Emperor‟s Children, with Their steadfast rejection of each successive rank moving closer to technological developments has meant Lord Fulgrim, and by extension, closer The Chemos Curse that many vehicles commonly used by to an unquestionable ideal. the other legions are absent from the From orbit, Chemos was armouries of the Emperor‟s Children. The excessive care taken over both infamously compared with the face of “an aging courtesan, far For them the trusted, ancient marks of gene-seed purity and the calibre of new past her prime but gamely Predator, Rhino and Land Raider are recruits has meant that even in the applying rouge and powder to more than sufficient. Modifications aftermath of the Istvaan Betrayal, the cover her pitted, pock-marked such as the Tilvius APC or the brutish Emperor‟s Children have never face.” Admiral Markovich, Vindicator are looked upon as at best a compromised their standards simply to received orders to patrol the corruption of the purity of the fill out the ranks. Similarly, given the Ghoul Stars shortly after venerable Rhino chassis. Even smaller degree of time and effort required to uttering this unflattering variants in weapon system such as the produce their venerated wargear, it is witticism, a tour from which his Predator Dominator and the Land grand cruiser and escort cadre unsurprising that they are by far the never returned. This has led to Raider Incinerator are shunned. smallest of the Emperor‟s legions. an Imperial Navy superstition What they lack in numbers, they say, is that to speak ill of Chemos is Their laborious production of older more than compensated for with their deathly bad luck, and that weapons and wargear mean that the unparalleled skill. This is something anyone doing so is roundly Emperor‟s Children are the only legion which they are all-too eager to flogged, be they the lowliest able to field appreciable numbers of demonstrate to Astartes of other ship's rating or the commanding jet-bikes, which they maintain, with legions, be it in the duelling cages, or officer. some justification, are more than a on the battlefield against the Emperor‟s match for the slow and ungainly Land enemies.

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implants. This solemn duty falls to the legion‟s apothecaries. From the battlefield harvesting of progenoid glands from critically wounded brethren to the testing, culturing and implantation into new recruits, they are the guardians of Fulgrim‟s genetic legacy. As such, the gene-seed of the Emperor‟s Children is of unmatched purity, with all nineteen implants working as well today as when they were first gifted by the Emperor.

Despite the stability of the Fulgrim gene-seed, the stringency of the screening process still results in a relatively high proportion of rejections. Although this is in part compensated for by an implantation success rate unmatched by the other legions, it does mean that the Emperor‟s Children are slow to replace brothers lost in battle. The legion has been brought twice to the brink of destruction, and twice they have emerged triumphant. They see Among lord commanders there is a pristine specimens of gene-seed. This this as a testament to the strength of strictly defined hierarchy. In the obsessive attention to detail means that their gene-line, and a vindication of absence of Lord Fulgrim, what would while the Emperor‟s Children will their zeal in guarding its integrity with elsewhere be called the post of legion never be a large legion, each member terminal intensity. master resides with the Lord is a paragon of what it means to be an Commander of the First Grand Astartes. They believe that the only Company. Even before the Heresy, being to surpass them is the Emperor, By long tradition, the progenoid gland each grand company had its own and while they do not view him as a in the chest is surgically removed as favoured style of combat. This was a god, their respect and admiration for soon as it matures, while the second is reflection of their lord commander‟s him is unbreakable. harvested only upon the marine‟s personality, something encouraged by death. The early elective removal of Fulgrim himself. This was reflected in Fighting alongside allies, such as the one progenoid minimises the chances unofficial, but enduring names for each Imperial Army or even Astartes from that it will be damaged or subjected to grand company. For example, the other legions is often a source of contamination. In the event that some Seventh Grand Company are friction. Their superiority can catastrophe should destroy the legion‟s informally known as the „Hawk Lords‟ sometimes be mistaken for arrogance stocks of gene-seed, surviving battle for their unmatched skill at aerial or high-handedness. Despite this, the brothers carry within them the means warfare with Raptor pack and jet-bike. Emperor‟s Children enjoy to continue the Fulgrim line. As a demonstrating their skills to others, but legion that has faced extinction on more than one occasion, the Emperor‟s Beliefs ultimately are most comfortable fighting alone, where they only have to Children are acutely aware of the need With all their hearts, the Emperor‟s to consider such things. Children believe in their own purity rely upon their own trusted battle- and innate superiority. They cling tight brothers. to Fulgrim's assertion that they Battlecry achieved perfection just before the Gene-Seed The legion has, of course, kept its Pre- Heresy, and will do nothing to dilute Since the gene-seed disaster that nearly Heresy battlecry - "Children of the this, be it with the new, inferior marks wiped out the legion in its infancy, the Emperor! Death to His Foes!" of weapons and equipment, or Emperor‟s Children have taken accepting anything less than the most obsessive care in the screening of

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Corrupted while attempting to rebuild their legion after the Istvaan massacre, the Raven Guard have dedicated their lives and souls to Tzeentch, the God of Change. Flesh follows desire, as bone and armour is moulded into wings and claws. Even before their Fall the legion was able to strike from the darkness, The to end battles before they even began. Now, guided by their Dornian powerful sorcerers, they are able to manipulate the fates of entire worlds. Heresy free the downtrodden population of Origins Lycaeus from their brutal masters. When the infant primarchs were scattered across the galaxy, most came Despite the sickly surroundings, Corax to rest on worlds outside the bounds of matured rapidly to become a warrior of the growing Imperium. The infant superhuman proportions. As he did so Corax, though, landed on a moon the convicts taught him all manner of orbiting a planet that had recently been techniques honed in Kiavahr‟s criminal brought into compliance, yet there was underworld. Tactics such as sabotage, no way for the Emperor to know that misdirection, intimidation and His lost son was already within His assassination would be vital in freeing domain. The pale youth was found on them from the iron grip of their jailers, Lycaeus, an airless mining moon and Corax put all these skills and more orbiting the world of Kiavahr. to use. It was clear that they could not Unfortunately, the Imperium‟s hope to match their overlords in open presence on the planet extended little combat as the only weaponry they beyond a handful of officials sent to possessed were mining tools and ensure that the ruling Tech-Guild kept machinery. up the flow of equipment and weapons to nearby expeditions. Lycaeus was a Corax clinically analysed his enemies‟ penal colony, with the mines worked weaknesses and constructed an Index by criminals and dissidents opposed to ingenious plan to bring about their Kiavahr‟s rulers. To be shipped up to demise. Through a subtle campaign of Astartes: Lycaeus was a life and death sentence sabotage, Corax's followers steadily combined, as the back-breaking labour, increased the pressure on the guards bad air and ever-present risk of cave- without ever drawing their wrath. The ins meant that life was ugly, brutish prisoner‟s mining skills were Raven and short. Protests were quickly invaluable in this, first in gaining stamped upon by the guards, backed up access to restricted areas, and later to Guard with the ultimate sanction that if unrest outflank and surround their enemies. A ever became too vocal, the force- series of „accidents‟ at the spaceport domes that enclosed the settlements grounded much of Kiavahr‟s small would be deactivated and the unruly fleet of mining shuttles which saw the elements vented to open space. guards‟ tours and shifts constantly extended as their replacements were The boy-primarch was found by the trapped on the planet below. By the convicts, who recognised something time Corax‟s revolution finally ignited, exceptional about him. They hid the the warders were exhausted, child from the guards and named him disgruntled and easy prey. The by Corax, or „the Deliverer‟, so certain greatest threat came from the towering were they that he held the key to their black mountain from which their Aurelius salvation. This vision was shared by overlords ruled the moon, but it too Corax, who from an early age had was neutralised when the defenders Rex dreams of a vast, winged presence, a found their control of the force domes raven that guided him in times of had been subverted. Their attempts to trouble and spoke of a great destiny to vent the rioting prisoners into space protect mankind from its enemies. The only resulted in their fortress‟s blast first steps on this long road were to doors grinding open and the force

21 dome over the tower failing, out across dozens of flushing the guards expeditionary campaigns themselves into space. alongside many other legions. Indeed, it is said the Incensed by the rebellion, reason Horus claimed so the rulers of Kiavahr used many victories was because their remaining shuttles to he so readily used the Raven carry military forces up the Guard to crack open the gravity well. They fared no defences of worlds, which better than the guards before his own legion then them, and were torn apart by followed up and took credit Corax‟s grim-faced rebels, for liberating. In other cases, made all the more deadly by though, the cultural the weaponry taken from differences were just too their former warders. great. Corax had forbidden Finally recognising the the creation of a psychic seriousness of the threat Librarium within his legion, they faced, the leaders of the and considered that the way Tech-Guilds called for aid the Thousand Sons‟ from the Imperium to put embraced their burgeoning down the revolt. Without psychic potential bordered access to their moon‟s upon sorcery. He forbade mineral resources the forges the Raven Guard from would rapidly fall cold, and fighting alongside them, and the expeditions they even spoke out against supplied would soon falter. Magnus at his trial at Nikaea. The Imperial fleet arrived with creditable haste, heading directly fortress-monastery, and named the The other legion the Raven Guard went for the turbulent moon, and after only a „Ravenspire‟. out of their way to avoid was the brief time the heads of the Tech-Guilds Imperial Fists. Rogal Dorn‟s distain were curtly informed that the rebellion It has been suggested that the great for tactics he deemed dishonourable was at an end. When the Imperial raven in Corax‟s dreams was a was legendary, publicly decrying flagship‟s landing craft touched down manifestation of the Emperor reaching camouflage as being “the colour of at Kiavahr‟s main spaceport, the rebel out to find him. Certainly, after father cowardice”. It is not clear if offense leader was brought out not in chains, and son were reunited, Corax was was intended, or if it was simply part but emerged proudly as a victor, rarely visited again by this mysterious of Dorn‟s brash insensitivity, but in the alongside none other than the Emperor presence. At Ullanor, Corax famously wake of such pronouncements the Himself. All assembled fell to their asked his father about this Raven Guard saw fit to remove knees before the Master of Mankind, phenomenon, but, ever enigmatic, the themselves from Imperial Fist led who proclaimed Corax as His son, and Emperor simply smiled knowingly. campaigns. the man who would from that day onwards rule the Kiavahr system in His The Great Crusade Despite this, the list of worlds brought stead. Even with the power of a legion of into the Imperium thanks to the Raven Astartes at his disposal, Corax Guard‟s subtle application of military Cowed by this edict, and the legion of continued to follow the precepts with pressure continued apace. The fortress- Astartes placed under Corax‟s which he had been brought up. He system of Sangramor had withstood the command, the now subservient Tech- trained his commanders to observe the might of the Imperium for decades, but Guilds were given the task of enemy, to strike at the place they were within three months of arriving providing arms and armour for his new the most vulnerable, and to cripple Corax‟s legion succeeded in isolating „Raven Guard‟. Conditions for the their ability to strike back. While some and crippling the system's rulers. With miners were dramatically improved, primarchs used their forces as a the planetary confederation fractured, and the moon of Lycaeus, now bludgeon to bring worlds to the system‟s planets easily fell one renamed „Deliverance‟ for Corax‟s compliance, the Raven Guard were the after another and accepted the achievements, became the legion‟s rapier of the Legionnes Astartes. Emperor‟s rule. Their mastery of home. The forbidding black tower that warfare was not restricted to battling had been the symbol of the Tech- Because of this, the Raven Guard human societies, either. When the Guild‟s power was reinforced and rarely needed to operate in large Tanaburs sub-sector was threatened by expanded to become the legion‟s groups. Instead they spread themselves a massive Ork uprising, the Raven

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Guard were able, through assassination malaise set in. This found form when turmoil, Corax's dreams were visited and sabotage, to kill and discredit the the Warmaster himself was struck once again. As on Nikaea, the presence most troublesome leaders without down by a sickness, and was unable to was elusive and did not reveal itself, detection. The inevitable squabble for respond to the stories coming from the but this time it spoke to him. Corax had power stalled the Orks long enough for Eastern Fringe that Roboute Guilliman, been counselled by the raven countless the Imperium to amass a large enough Primarch of the Ultramarines, was times before, and so the warning that force to exterminate the xenos threat about to secede from the Imperium. the legion faced a great disaster chilled once and for all. With Warmaster Horus indisposed, him to the core. Corax‟s journal Rogal Dorn, in his role as the describes the dream: With the future of His Imperium Emperor‟s Praetorian, assembled a seemingly assured, the Emperor fleet sufficient to bring the massive „I begged the figure to show itself, to withdrew to Terra, but before He did, Ultramarine legion to heel. Along with explain what must be done to avert He called His sons together at Nikaea. many others, the Raven Guard was one this terrible fate. From behind me I Evidently Corax was not alone in his of the legions summoned in their heard a scratching of claws in the concerns over Magnus, who stood entirety to the Istvaan system. shingle floor and turned to see not the accused of pushing beyond the raven that had guided me in my boundaries of the psychic and into the youth, but a thing far more like a forbidden realms of sorcery. One after vulture in aspect. The creature another Russ, Mortarion, Corax and “Do not ask me to approach spouted bile, hissing that the Emperor even Dorn spoke out against their the battle meekly, to creep had forsaken me, but that the lives of brother. The Raven Guard were not through the shadows, or to my men could be saved if I denounced the only legion to have rejected approach my foes quietly in my father and dedicated body and librarians, and at Nikaea the nature of the dark. soul to the God of Change. psychic ability itself was put on trial. I am Rogal Dorn... Imperial Fist... I confess to be so revolted and On the night before the Emperor Space Marine... stunned that I could not speak. rendered His judgement, Corax‟s Emperor's Champion.” Perhaps mistaking my silence for dreams were again visited by a great consideration of its offer, the thing bird. Rather than a comforting came closer and asked again if I presence, it was troubling and elusive, would betray my father. “Never!” I an indistinct figure spied out of the The Istvaan Betrayal shouted, and pushed it roughly away. corner of his eye. This disturbing omen It reared up into the air, plumage presaged the Emperor‟s decision, Guilliman‟s new „Ultramar Segmentum‟ composed a sizable flushing pale blue, and fixed me with which not only allowed the legions, its evil, malevolent gaze. In a sibilant with certain precautions, to continue portion of the galactic east, and in their relative seclusion the Ultramarines had hiss it claimed that I would run like a the use of psychics, but went further coward on the battlefield of Istvaan, and gave significant concessions to the grown to vast proportions. To oppose them, fully half of the Legionnes and consign my legion to utter ruin. Thousand Sons. Magnus was to be personally instructed by the Emperor in Astartes had been called to the task, I picked a stone from the ground, and the subtle arts of the psychic, and could with seven alone assembled to strike at pouring into it all my revulsion and pass this knowledge on to his legion. In Guilliman in his forward base of anger, cast it at the apparition. It return, he and his marines would Istvaan V. Though disturbed that it caught the vulture in one of its submit to the soul-binding process. By could have come to brother fighting hateful, blue-filmed eyes, provoking it merging their essences with that of the brother, and worse, doing so at the into a fit of screeching curses. Its Emperor, it was claimed, they would command of Rogal Dorn, Corax final threat of “Nemo me impune be shielded from the horrors and approached the task with his usual lacessit”, or „No one attacks me with temptations of sorcery. This analytical nature. His offers to aid in impunity‟, echoed in my ears long compromise did little to allay the fears the planning of the assault were after I awoke.‟ of the most sceptical primarchs and led brushed aside by Dorn, whose own to bloodshed later, yet the Emperor skill at siege-breaking was legendary. seemed blind to the resentment it Corax was dismissively informed that Disturbed by the dream, Corax re- caused. Dorn would lead the first wave of four examined anything he could find about legions to make planet-fall. They the coming battle to make sure that the The primarchs returned to their legions would weaken the Ultramarines, while prediction would not come to pass. At to continue the Great Crusade. Under the Raven Guard, World Eaters and the final briefing Corax raised his Horus‟ stewardship as Warmaster the Emperor‟s Children waited in orbit concerns about the lack of visibility list of worlds under the Emperor‟s ready to strike the killing blow. over the drop-site, but was mocked by dominion continued to grow, but On the eve of the attack on Istvaan, as Dorn for is caution. The Praetorian without His presence a sense of often happened at times of great even portrayed it as cowardice in „not

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loyally followed to their doom. Finally, with only a score of his brothers left around him, Corax realised what his pride had done to the legion. He bitterly ordered the retreat, and the tattered remnants of the once-mighty Raven Guard faded back into the fog of war to join the evacuation.

With the Imperium alerted to Dorn‟s betrayal, the three broken legions evaded the traitors and paused, before returning to their respective homeworlds to rebuild. Corax silently fumed, not only at the traitors but at his allies for not supporting his final, catastrophic attack upon Rogal Dorn. He was certain that if they had followed his lead they could have killed the Great Betrayer and ended his treachery there and then. This resentment only deepened as the true scale of the war reached Deliverance.

The Fall Nothing was heard from the legion for some years after Istvaan. This in itself was not surprising as the entire Imperium was in the midst of a civil war, and the Raven Guard was ever a taciturn legion. When Imperial forces finally investigated rumours of dark wanting to take to the battlefield in an fast drop pods meticulously blown goings on in the surrounding area of honest fight for once‟. Before this apart by the Ultramarines‟ defences. space, they found not just Deliverance, escalated further, Dorn threw down a but also Kiavahr completely deserted. sheaf of images of the planet below, Corax assembled the survivors, only to Even the force domes which retained taken, he said, the previous night be set upon not just by the the atmosphere around the Ravenspire during his unsuccessful visit to Ultramarines, but also Dorn‟s vanguard were down, the great gates flung wide, persuade Guilliman to surrender. None legions gone turncoat. Stung by the and the fortress-monastery exposed to of his brother primarchs would return prophesy that he would run like a the vacuum of space. The account of Corax‟s gaze as they filed out to start coward, Corax assembled what what happened in that dark time has the attack on Istvaan V. remained of his legion for an attack been drawn from what are thought to against their betrayer, Rogal Dorn. be Corax‟s own words, although their The four vanguard legions landed and Time and again the Raven Guard accuracy, and completeness, are reported good progress, and after what struck out of the darkness at Imperial matters of much conjecture. seemed like an eternity of waiting Fist command positions, and yet Dorn Dorn gave the command for the second himself was nowhere to be found. Corax‟s journal tells that in his desire wave to attack. Despite having scoured Certain that Dorn had finally been to rebuild his legion, he used the kind the images, Corax could find no fault located, Corax appealed to the World of accelerated zygote implantation in Dorn‟s plan. An orbital strike was Eaters and Emperor‟s Children for techniques used in the earliest days of part of the Raven Guard‟s favoured support, only to find them making a the Imperium. These methods had been approach, so they took to their drop fighting retreat to their rescue landers. abandoned for good reason, as the vast pods and ships with confidence, but Cursing his brother primarchs for their majority of the test subjects proved to even before they reached the ground it weakness, Corax led the remnants of be grossly deformed. Rather than became clear that something was very his legion in a forlorn, hopeless attack dramatically increasing their numbers, wrong. They were targeted by ground into the teeth of the Imperial Fist‟s it instead resulted in the depletion of fire far beyond that predicted, with guns. Heavily outnumbered, they their stocks of gene-seed. The lowest jump pack equipped brethren cut to sustained hideous losses, but while levels of the Ravenspire were filled bloody shreds and even the lightning- their primarch marched on, his men with slavering monsters that became 24

known as the „Weregeld‟, and their Clonelord, Progenitor or even the saw about me made the Weregeld look rhythmic, hypnotic hammering against Manflayer. Extant records such as like beatific angels in comparison.” their prison walls – like his shame – Corax‟s journal talk in glowing terms haunted Corax wherever he went. of an individual that had „solved‟ the It appears that Corax had been drugged problem with the creation of new and imprisoned by the Clonelord as At this low ebb, Corax‟s dreams were marines, although any reference of both a vital source of genetic material, again taunted by the daemonic how this was achieved, or the identity and a cruel demonstration of what his presence. It did not speak, and only of the Clonelord, had been carefully legion was becoming. Corax went on looked down in silent judgement upon removed. As the Raven Guard‟s to describe, in painful detail, how the him with those cold, dead, vulture numbers rose, so did Corax‟s spirits. Clonelord went about perverting his eyes. The next day, as Corax walked He took to training the new battle genetic legacy, and repeatedly the corridors of the Ravenspire‟s vaults brothers and even wrote of taking a chastised himself for a wilful blindness and happened to stare at one of the force to help in the Siege of Terra. of how his new brothers had been pitiful wretches penned within, he However, this was eventually replaced created. He told of the breeding of noticed the same vulture-like gaze by disquiet at the nature of his new monsters, the forerunners of those who staring mockingly back. Down the marines, in particular their increased would go on to become all-too familiar rows of Weregeld he searched, and level of uncontrolled psychic abilities, opponents of the loyal legions. inside each cell he found the same and the disturbing methods used to Through blasphemous rites their corruption of the soul looking back at create them. natural psychic potential was him. Knowing what he had to do, dramatically enhanced, turning the Corax dismissed his assistants and After this the journal entries end, most skilled into sorcerers able to went from cell to cell to systematically although further information has been effortlessly manipulate the powers of expunge his mistakes from existence. gleaned from writing on the wall of a the Warp. The majority were only able The rhythmic hammering of the specially constructed cell in what to use their latent powers to creatures rose to a shuddering would have been the fortress- reconfigure their own bodies, and to a crescendo in the hour of the wolf, but monastery‟s Apothecarion. The lesser extent their armour and by the dawn, it was at long last following was written in what was weapons. silenced. undoubtedly Corax‟s hand, and indeed in the primarch‟s own blood: “For these abominations, form The full story of what happened later – follows desire. Fingers mould into of how Corax was deposed and of his “At first I thought I was still asleep; talons. Nascent wings are extruded to eventual fate – is far from clear. The all I could hear was the same lift them aloft. The failures, and those bloody raids that brought the Imperium rhythmic thumping that has haunted unable to control the changes they back to Deliverance were commanded my dreams for so long. Then I invite upon themselves, become little not by the legion‟s primarch, but a opened my eyes and realised I was more than amorphous sacks of claws shadowy figure known variously as the truly in a waking nightmare. What I and spite.”

The remainder of Corax‟s writings The equerry paused before the inner sanctum‟s door, his knuckles inches from become ever-more incoherent as the dark wood. The Lord Corax had wallowed in the depths of depression since imprisonment, realisation and the night of slaughter, shifting between raging anger and black melancholy. whatever experiments the Clonelord Feeling the calculatingly expectant gaze of the visitor at his back, he rapped subjected him to took their toll. The sharply three times, and entered at the grunted response. final marking, drawn in blood, was a simple representation of a raven. “My lord,” he said, “the honoured envoy from the Emperor‟s Children has arrived and seeks an audience.” His primarch stood before the window in finely What ultimately became of Corax is polished power armour, but looked haggard, as though he had not slept in weeks. Receiving a curt nod, the visitor was ushered in. Rather than coming as a unknown. When the Imperium came to warrior in armour, he wore the simple white robes of an apothecary, overlaid investigate Deliverance the door of the with a tabard of soft, finely tanned leather. prison cell was open and no body was ever found. At first it was thought that On his way out, the equerry heard Lord Corax rumble that he had thought they rapid decompression when the had been forgotten after Istvaan, but then brightened, his voice filled with hope fortress-monastery‟s force dome failed once more. As the door swung shut he heard the expectant, almost pleading had vented all of its occupants into words from his primarch. space, but the rest of Deliverance, and

“So, Fabius, you have come to help me rebuild the Raven Guard... Do you really Kiavahr were similarly deserted. The think you can do it?” Imperium has recorded seventeen different instances of Raven Guard warlords and daemon-princes claiming

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to be Corax, but all have been discredited over the millennia. As the corrupter of one of the Emperor's loyal Corax loped through the shadows, slipping effortlessly back into the role of the legions, much time and effort has gone terror in the dark. It was only a matter of time before the bodies were found into establishing the real identity and and the alarm was raised, but for now he ruled the darkness. The raven, though bloodied and broken, had returned to him at long last and had purged his mind fate of the Clonelord, though after ten of the madness that had poisoned him. He didn‟t even want to consider the thousand years the trail has grown deeper significance of the apparition's torn flesh and ragged plumage. Here cold. No-one by that name has been and now he knew what he had to do. With the controls to the force domes and associated with the Raven Guard since the fortress-monastery‟s blast doors set and locked down – a repeat of his they fled Deliverance, although he earliest visit to the tower - only one thing remained. could easily have taken another. He caught sight of his prey, surrounded by those monstrous acolytes. Corax was emaciated, exhausted and unarmed, but he was one of the Emperor‟s

Post-Heresy primarchs, and still more than a match for the grubby little apothecary that had In the wake of Dorn‟s Heresy, the murdered his legion. Then the alarm howled through the halls of what had once corrupted Raven Guard fled their home been his home, and more of the creatures started to arrive. There was no other moon of Deliverance and scattered to choice. Without a sound he scaled the wall, the better to leap over the heads of the whims of the Warp. While many of the beasts and get as close as possible to the Clonelord. Whatever else the Traitor Legions gravitated to the happened with the force dome, however thorough it might be at expunging his Eye of Terror to craft daemon worlds mistakes, he had to end the life of the traitor no matter the cost. in their own images, the Raven Guard Embracing his fate, Corax leapt. rejected such stagnation and have never been observed to stay in one place for long. Instead they endlessly move from planet to planet and from these small, seemingly unconnected aetheric conflagrations have been left place to place, following the attacks were part of something far as uninhabitable husks. unfathomable whims Tzeentch, their more sinister. For instance, a chain of dark God of Endless Change. events that started with a small raid on Recruiting a promethium refinery in Pinosa Minor Sometimes on their twisting path Anywhere touched by their foul has been shown, with nudges from the through the galaxy the Raven Guard presence is never the same again, as Raven Guard, to have caused the loss choose to take captives rather than crops grow twisted and insanity and of the entire Jhadra sub-sector a simply kill their victims. Among those mutation run rampant. Investigations century later. destined to become slaves and by the Adeptus Mechanicus, Thousand Sons and the Ecclesiarchy have each sacrifices for their dark rituals, a few Because of this, confirmed attacks by put forward theories to explain these may be chosen to join the legion‟s the Raven Guard are analysed time and phenomena, yet none have been able to ranks. Given their eldritch powers, it again by Imperial commanders for fear effectively combat the corruption. has been postulated that they are drawn of where it might lead. Sometimes the Purging the area with fire and sowing to claim those with psychic potential. very reinforcements and pursuit forces the ground with salt seems to be the Be it an isolated agri-world settlement requested to bolster a region pays only way to prevent further loyal or the depths of the underhive, it seems directly into their hands, as defences Imperial subjects from becoming that nowhere is beyond their grasp. around the legion‟s true target are corrupted. drawn away and left ripe for Whereas in most legions the creation destruction. Such are the subtle For all the many changes that their and implantation of new marines is the weaving of fates the Raven Guard seek corruption had wrought, they retained responsibility of the Apothecarion, in to engineer. their primarch‟s ability to cripple an the Raven Guard this grisly duty is enemy before they even know they are solely the domain of their sorcerers. fighting. In the centuries following Of all the loyal legions of Astartes, the The process is an abomination of warp- their Fall, the Raven Guard carried out one with the best record of deflecting craft which transcends any mere raids on disparate targets that left and thwarting the Raven Guard‟s wiles chirurgical procedure. It wipes away Imperial commanders bemused. While are the Thousand Sons. Their psychic the conscience and morality of the they had been bloody and militarily divinations have enabled them to set victim and opens them up to the God successful, the targets themselves were traps for the Raven Guard, to counter of Change, and in doing so unlocks unusual, leaving other, much higher their sorcerers, and banish their their psychic potential. This horrific priority locations untouched. Initially it daemonic allies back to the warp. This process unleashes an uncanny ability to was attributed to the inevitable insanity rivalry has led to titanic battles twist flesh and armour so that, as associated with the worship of Chaos. between the two legions, although Corax put it, „form follows desire‟, and In time, though, it became clear that many of the worlds caught in these in the most receptive individuals

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produces psychics amongst the most teleportation array, although the Raven such cogitation is to invite only powerful in the galaxy. Guard have only been observed to use insanity, and that no good can come the smallest types of capital ships. from trying to know the mind of a Combat Doctrine Given the power of their sorcerers, it is Chaos god. The Raven Guard has retained the possible that this ability may be warp- ability to attack without warning where derived, or, given their battles with the Organisation Farseers of the Ulthwé Craftworld, the the enemy is most vulnerable, and a Raven Guard covens are led on the Raven Guard may have forced access favoured tactic is to strike under the battlefield by their greatest warriors, to the fabled Eldar Webway. cover of darkness, be it true night or a although careful examination has form of stygian gloom conjured up by shown that the true leaders are the their sorcerers. As befits their Beliefs sorcerers. As direct conduits to lightning-fast ambush tactics, the After leaving Deliverance, the Raven Tzeentch, the cabal of sorcerers guide legion favours infantry over heavier Guard fragmented to all intents and their charges and direct them towards vehicles. At the forefront of attacks are purposes, and has never fought as a whatever incomprehensible mission always their assault squads, who sweep legion since. They broke into warbands they might be intent upon. The number in on sable wings before rending their called „covens‟ and spread out to every of sorcerers in a coven varies victims apart with razor-sharp talons. corner of the galaxy to further their depending upon its size and prestige, In their wake come all manner of own vision of how best to serve and the coven will sometimes split daemonic creatures spitting balefire Tzeentch, the God of Change. These apart or merge with another seemingly and hate, and the grossly mutated missions are frequently inexplicable, on a whim. spawns that can only be directed, if not and on some occasions have led them controlled, by their sorcerer masters. into bloody conflict with rival covens. According to Chief-Librarian Mieuren With a great deal of hindsight and of the Thousand Sons, the success of a The youngest, least mutated marines infinite patience, dozens of seemingly Raven Guard coven can be judged by are tasked with providing a strong gun- minor nudges at history by the legion its composition. Older, more line to suppress the enemy. These over the course of centuries have been established forces are composed brethren, whose abilities to transform shown to have catastrophic largely of assault troops. Ones that their bodies and armour are yet to fully consequences. Imperial scholars and have recently split off from a larger mature, fight instead with bolters and strategos have spent lifetimes trying to warband, or that have taken heavy on occasion with heavier weaponry. unravel the greater meaning behind the losses, contain more of the younger, An over-reliance on static firepower is Raven Guard‟s actions, to as they say bolter armed marines that have yet to rare though, and the role of laying „unweave the strands of fate‟. The fully manifest their abilities to down the heaviest ordnance is most Adeptus Terra conducts periodic transform. According to Mieuren, often provided by the monstrous crackdowns upon this kind of research, covens rarely grow beyond a hundred Annihilators. These abominations have saying, with some justification, that marines in size – not including the willingly given themselves over to daemonic possession to enhance their natural abilities, and are able to transform their bodies and armour into Kayvaan Shrike - a wide array of exotic weaponry. Be it Daemon-Prince of the Raven Guard a mob of Orks or an Imperial Land Of all the Raven Guard covens at large in the galaxy, the most feared is Raider, there is no target that these undoubtedly that led by Kayvaan Shrike. He claims to have been born on living tanks are unable to deal with. Kiavahr, which the Adeptus Mechanicus have periodically tried to repopulate, and rose swiftly through the ranks to command the Subtle Blade Coven. His How the Raven Guard are able to campaign to destabilize the Targus system, long a bulwark against the local Ork travel so rapidly between battle-zones empires, reduced the million strong Imperial Army stationed there to a fraction without the aid of conventional of its former strength. Even the arrival of the Sixth Grand Company of the Iron transportation has never satisfactorily Warriors could not halt this decline, who themselves lost more than half their been explained by the Imperium. The number and three associated Ordinati to the crippling Raven Guard raids. most mundane theory has it that they The loss of the Targus system, and the subsequent Ork rampage across the have well-camouflaged transport surrounding sub-sector crowned Shrike‟s ascension to daemon-princehood. His vehicles away from the site of the taunting proclamations that 'We are closer than you think, and our blades are battle. In recent centuries, though, sharp' strikes fear into what little remains of the Imperial Army in the area. credible reports have claimed seeing What deeper reason Tzeentch might have for unleashing this tide of greenskins, Raven Guard forces both appearing out beyond fomenting chaos and unrest, is unclear, but the High Lords of Terra of, and disappearing into, thin air. This themselves watch for Shrike‟s next appearance with great apprehension. could point to their ships possessing some advanced form of massed

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psycho-indoctrination, the sorcerers of the cabal utilise other, more esoteric ... because of the nature of the targets the Culexus Temple was approached, who methods to create new brethren. dispatched six of their operatives to locations throughout the Dortask sector. Many of the original implants, such as The Eternal Night Coven was finally identified on the northern continent of the Mucranoid, Betcher‟s gland and Argosa II, and Operative Dervlas Rykhart was rushed to the scene. On arrival, Operative Rykhart was able to infiltrate the Raven Guard defences and carried often the Haemastamen are absent in out his primary objective of executing every one of the coven‟s cabal of the Raven Guard, while the intent of sorcerers, but was killed while attempting to evade the remaining Traitor others have been changed radically, Astartes. and completely new ones added. These changes, in particular the drastic The follow-up operation was delayed by a warp-squall, and when Imperial alterations to the catalepsean node, are forces arrived on Argosa II more than a month later, they expected to find the primarily focussed on enhancing coven long gone. While the initial settlement was abandoned, it was clear that psychic abilities. In true prodigies this the coven had not left the continent. Aerial scans revealed sixty eight shapeless leads to the creation of sorcerers of spawn creatures aimlessly wandering the surrounding area, the exact number of Raven Guard that remained after Operative Rykhart‟s mission. This supports incredible power, and in time can Magos Karsarno‟s theory based on observations of captured Raven Guard stimulate transformational abilities in marines that the sorcerers somehow keep their brethren‟s transformations in others. While the remarkable ability of check, and without their presence they eventually degenerate in an uncontrolled Raven Guard brethren to grow wings manner... may be due in part to a hyper- stimulation of ossomodula and Officio Assassinorum mission status report (Extract) biscopea, nothing short of warp-craft would explain the way that ceramite

and adamantium can be re-shaped at attendant spawns and summoned marines are given respect based upon will into razor-sharp talons. daemonic entities - as their style of the extent to which they can transform warfare achieves with lightning strikes their bodies. The monstrous Despite the seemingly infinite variety what others would attempt with a Annihilators and the raven-winged into which the Raven Guard twist massed assault. The number nine also Assault squads are held high above themselves, one constant remains. Just seems to hold a fascination for them, their younger bolter-armed brethren. like their tragic, betrayed primarch, with units composed of nine members Even the youngest initiates, though, their skin is as white as snow and their being particularly favoured. look down in pity upon the amorphous hair and eyes are black as night. If this spawn. These unfortunates have proved is an immutable part of Corax‟s genetic Because of the vital role played by the unequal of Tzeentch‟s gifts, and in heritage or a bitter, taunting joke at his sorcerers to the continued existence of doing so have paid the price with their expense, only the God of Change the coven, on only the most critical and sanity. knows for certain. sensitive occasions does a senior magus venture onto the battlefield. Usually lesser members of the cabal Gene-seed Battlecry are sent in their stead, but such is the The shadowy Clonelord's perversion of Due to their chosen role in conducting importance of even these individuals the Raven Guard intentionally and ambushes, assassinations and covert that they are inevitably surrounded by irrevocably altered the legion‟s gene- operations, the Raven Guard prefer to a cadre of brutal killers, summoned seed; not only was Corax betrayed, his approach their prey silently. Instead the daemonic entities and the hideous genetic legacy was murdered. In legion‟s motto is simply “Nemo me results of their failed genetic addition to the usual methods of impune lacessit”. experiments. Outside the cabal, implantation, chemotherapy and

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The Word Bearers are tireless in their crusade to have the galaxy worship the Emperor as divine. It is a duty they carry out with both impassioned, fiery rhetoric and the cleansing purity of the bolt gun. They were one of the first legions to comprehend the existence and threat of Chaos, and that faith in The God- The Emperor was soul-armour against its wiles. They used this knowledge to save Warmaster Horus from possession on Davin, Dornian but to their eternal regret were unable to prevent the Dornian Heresy Heresy, which crippled their living deity. As Guardians of the Faith, they founded the galaxy-spanning Ecclesiarchy, and after witnessing how it nearly plunged the Imperium into another civil war, now act as its moral compass to ensure that such a powerful body can never again be corrupted.

Origins gave his political enemies a chance to Uniquely among the Emperor‟s eliminate what they saw as a powerful primarchs, Lorgar‟s formative years rival.

were spent not on the battlefield, but It was only with an army approaching within the cloistered halls of the that Lorgar‟s innate skills in warfare seminary, struggling with concepts of came to the fore. Over the course of faith and the nature of divinity. The eighteen months, his small entourage planet of Colchis had been settled early of clerics and civilians was in the first wave of human expansion transformed into a battle-hardened into the galaxy, but had become army numbering in the hundreds of isolated and fallen into feudalism thousands that swept away all who during the Age of Strife. Through the opposed them. Lorgar had not started long millennia an order known as the the fight, but he was determined to Covenant remained a spark of hope finish it. Whenever he wearied of the Index against the darkness. Though much of slaughter, Kor Phaeron was there to the meaning behind their belief had assure him of the righteousness of their Astartes: been lost to superstition, they kept cause, and by the time the final enemy alive the knowledge of a humanity that stronghold was razed to the ground and had colonised distant stars, and the peace restored, the death-toll was truly promise that one day they would be monumental. His actions were reunited. Word vindicated, though, when shortly after the Emperor, accompanied by Magnus Bearers The tale of how Lorgar came to the of the Thousand Sons, did indeed land Covenant is recounted by Carpinius in on Colchis. Unafraid, Lorgar knelt his Speculum Historiale. It posits that before the Master of Mankind, and Lorgar was subconsciously aware that pledged the planet to His worship. the Emperor was searching for him, and this was the reason the Covenant‟s Lorgar was instructed by Magnus on tenets resonated so strongly. Once the marvels of the Emperor‟s initiated into the Covenant, he Imperium, and given command of the absorbed every aspect of the vast and legion of Astartes based upon his by complex creed, and as would be genetic pattern. He named them the expected of a primarch, excelled in its Word Bearers, and inducted his most Aurelius practice. Driven by the knowledge that devout followers into their ranks. Kor re-unification was at hand, and urged Phaeron was of course amongst the Rex on by his friend and mentor, Kor first members of the Covenant chosen Phaeron, Lorgar undertook a to join the legion, but in a tragic twist pilgrimage across Colchis, preaching to of fate, suffered catastrophic side- whoever would listen. His speeches effects during the gene-seed were electrifying, and soon drew implantation process. Though the death crowds in their tens of thousands, but of his closest friend since childhood

29 was a source of great pain his brother primarchs to to Lorgar, he bore the loss incorporate chaplains into stoically, as an event pre- their own legions, and destined to occur. while many rebuffed the idea as outside interference, Despite such views being the Thousand Sons, Dark regarded as laughable Angels and Luna Wolves superstition on all but the were the first to embrace most primitive Imperial the concept. Lorgar sent worlds, Lorgar was his personal confessor, unashamed by his beliefs. Chaplain Erebus, to Horus' He saw to it that the Word legion, and he became a Bearers and the Covenant frequent visitor and embraced the worship of confidant to the man who the Emperor with would eventually become unrivalled devotion. They Warmaster. made it their duty to bring enlightenment to the As Lorgar‟s tenets for the galaxy. worship of the Emperor as divine spread through the The Great Crusade Imperium, it incorporated Lorgar and his legion of other nascent cults Astartes were charged with dedicated to the Master of reclaiming the scattered Mankind. One of the most worlds settled by humanity influential sects they under the rightful dominion absorbed was that of of the Emperor, and they Lectitio Divinitatus, a faith took to the task with zeal. The black votive cloth covering this Word Bearer’s right prevalent amongst the Each world they liberated pauldron denotes his squad's assignment to Devastator artists, poets, iterators and required a lengthy period in duties for the coming battle. even military forces that which they built great accompanied the Great cathedrals to the Emperor, Crusade‟s expeditions. The of worlds in the Great Crusade be the and won the people over to the cause. co-opting of this group strengthened a way we praise Him”. religion already in the ascendant, and They would not continue on to the next planet until the previous one‟s devotion By the time the Word Bearers reached brought with it a group of people adept was unquestioned. Although their their next world, the expedition had at catching the imagination and stirring the passions. progress was much slower than that of transformed its practice beyond all other legions, the planets converted by recognition. The task of converting At Ullanor, the Emperor announced the Word Bearers, such as Yara and newly compliant worlds to the worship Fortrea Quintus, stand among the most of the Emperor was instead given over that he was going to return to Terra, devout in the Imperium, unwavering in to men and women from outside the and that Horus would command the even the darkest days of the Heresy. legion. These preachers and Great Crusade as Warmaster in his stead. His last act before leaving was However, with a million worlds to missionaries were given the task of to call a conclave at Nikaea to rule claim, the Emperor grew concerned. guiding the worlds in worship after the upon the allegations of sorcery Word Bearers had gone. Beyond the When the summons came to attend to ad-hoc army of zealots that gravitated surrounding the Thousand Sons, and The Master of Mankind, the Word to their banner, a new, highly trained indeed that of all psykers within the Bearers took it as a pilgrimage, and the and well resourced military formation Legionnes Astartes. The brother- primarchs were sharply divided in their entire fleet set aside their plans of was created, called the Frateris opinions, and not even Lorgar‟s robust conquest to attend to their lord. Lorgar Militaris. Nominally independent of defence of his friend could sway Russ took his audience with the Emperor as the Imperial Army and Navy, they a great honour, and hung on every would ensure the preachers‟ voices and Mortarion from their stance. The word his father said. He emerged were heard. Emperor eventually ruled that there transformed; his eyes opened to how would be tighter restrictions on he might even better serve the great These changes greatly accelerated their Astartes librarians, and in addition the work. By making such slow progress, progress in the Great Crusade, but not Thousand Sons would be „soul-bound‟, they were denying so many other content with spreading the word to and merge their essence with Him to worlds the Emperor‟s Truth. In the their one small corner of the galaxy, grant them greater protection from the words of Lorgar: “Let the reclamation Lorgar went further. He approached dangers of the warp. 30

Lorgar disappeared behind the great armoured doors of the throne room. Outside, Horus stood stiffly to attention amongst the Custodes, unable to relax. He had witnessed events that had moulded the fate of the Imperium, and the meeting going on beyond that armoured wall had the feel of another pivotal moment.

He had only met Lorgar once before today, and that briefly. His brother had struck him as intense and earnest, even brittle, but Magnus classed him as a friend, and Horus had learned to value his judgement. That was why he had been so ardent in trying to change the Emperor‟s mind. Certainly the Word Bearer expeditions had been slow, but it was borne from the best of intentions. Horus knew the Emperor was uneasy that some of His subjects had taken to deifying him as a living god, preferring a form of empirical rationalism to such errant superstition, but perhaps such beliefs could be harnessed for the good of the Great Crusade.

Horus‟ concern was that there was something fragile about Lorgar; as though he was a fine blade that had not yet been tempered. He sensed a great potential within his brother, but that at this stage too brutal a chastisement from the object of his worship would cripple him. That had been the reason Horus had pushed his father so hard to take a more measured approach.

Something about that conversation puzzled him even now. When he had asked where the harm was with some of his subjects worshipping him as a god, his father's face had darkened, and He had muttered ‟Better they pray to me than to... others...‟ before pausing. It was as though He was on the verge of revealing some great secret that had been welling up inside Him, but then the moment passed as fast as it had arisen.

It was alright, though. Perhaps it was Lorgar‟s infectious faith rubbing off on him, but Horus felt certain that his father would tell him what he needed to know when the time was right.

Lorgar saw this as a great honour for banished the entity and brought the his so-called „Ultramar Segmentum‟. his friend, and when he spoke with Warmaster back from the brink. When Rogal Dorn approached Lorgar Magnus even referred to it as a with evidence that the Ultramarines “communion with the divine”. It was From that point onwards, the Sons of were set to secede from the Imperium then that Magnus revealed the dark Horus joined the covert war against and challenge the rightful rule of the truth that had been haunting him; that Chaos. Emperor, Lorgar was instantly the words of Corax, Russ and concerned that the Ruinous Powers had Mortarion held more to fear than even Ultramar Segmentum found a new champion. they realised. On that night, Magnus The barely averted possession of the explained to Lorgar the nature of the Warmaster had brought home to Aware of Lorgar‟s suspicions, Dorn Empyrean, the existence of the Chaos Lorgar the dire threat posed by the laid subtle hints to reinforce the gods, and the vulnerability of psykers Ruinous Powers, and that not even the impression that the Ultramarines had too weak, or weak-willed, to resist. It primarchs were immune to the danger. been corrupted. Claiming it was the was, he said, a truth so devastating that The Imperium was not yet ready to will of the Emperor, Dorn had the Emperor would rather it not be accept the full horror of what they marshalled fully half of the Legionnes known, even to most of His sons, for faced, but Lorgar, along with Horus Astartes to assault the Ultramar the fear it would bring. Magnus, and Magnus, remained alert to the Segmentum. While the bulk of the however, believed that Lorgar must machinations of Chaos. In a bitter twist forces arrayed against Guilliman know, and that widespread belief in the of fate, this very caution was used by moved to strike at him on his newly Emperor would be vital to shield them the Arch-Betrayer to further his own conquered world of Istvaan V, the from the Sinister Powers. schemes, and is a salutary lesson into Word Bearers and the Alpha Legion the wiles of the Great Enemy. were tasked with attacking Ultramar The vigilance of the Word Bearers and Segmentum from within. As was his the Thousand Sons paid off sooner For some time there had been disquiet favoured tactic, Alpharius scattered his than they could possibly have voiced over Roboute Guilliman‟s ever- legion far and wide to destabilise the expected. On the primitive world of expanding realm in the galactic east. rebellious Segmentum, while Lorgar‟s Davin, Warmaster Horus was laid low, During the Great Crusade his quest for fleet set course for the core worlds on and while the baffled apothecaries power and control had driven him to the assumption that with Guilliman misdiagnosed the malady as the effects claim vast areas of the galaxy, and his captured or dead, the rebels would look of poison, Chaplain Erebus recognised legion had swollen correspondingly. to Macragge for leadership. This plan the signs of daemonic possession. Even with the Eastern Fringe brought was stymied because of the ever- Together with the psychic presence of into compliance, Guilliman‟s domain increasing numbers of enemy vessels the Thousand Son‟s Primarch, Erebus had continued to grow as Imperial that shadowed them through the warp. carried out an exorcism which worlds bordering it petitioned to join This was seen as yet more evidence the

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Ultramarines were in clear that Istvaan had league with the been a ruse. Rogal Dorn daemonic, and only had been in league with much later did it become Guilliman, and the clear that their course Praetorian had plunged had been given away by the Imperium into a civil Dorn, the Arch-Betrayer. war. Many of Lorgar‟s Forced to break out of captains pleaded with the warp far short of him that they should Macragge in an area of return to Terra with all space known only as „the haste, but they were Abyss‟, the Word over-ruled. Lorgar said Bearers tore into the that no force could stand shadowing Ultramar against the Emperor, and fleet with a ferocity that as a god, He would borne of the righteous inevitably destroy the denied. traitors. Their duty remained the same; they Despite their triumph, it must destroy Dorn‟s ally was clear from and prevent them from astropathic scans and marching on Terra. readings of the Historians have debated Emperor‟s Tarot that Lorgar‟s motives for not overwhelming forces returning to Terra. Most had been massed for the attribute it to his defence of Macragge. stubborn dogmatism and Knowing the Word faith in the divinity of Bearer‟s dogmatic the Emperor, although a approach, the few cite practical Ultramarines had considerations; that they expected that nothing were so far away and so would deflect Lorgar deeply mired in combat from a frontal attack, and that they would never so had drawn their have been able to return armies and fleets back to in time to make a the expected, well defended seemed that it was only a matter of difference. Lorgar had already shown battleground of their capital world. time before the planet would be weak greater tactical skill than he was Although not possessing the tactical enough to attack directly. All-too generally given credit for, and this has genius of Horus or Alpharius, Lorgar‟s soon, though, reinforcements started to been viewed as further evidence of a decision to split the fleet and attack the flow into the area, and not just from growing tactical maturity. neighbouring systems to draw the neighbouring sub-sectors, but Ultramarines away from Macragge Ultramarine forces fresh from their As the war went on, Guilliman himself caught the defenders off-guard. shocking victory at Istvaan. returned to coordinate the defences, and the scouring of the core worlds Displaying a degree of brutal Communication so far back to the degenerated into a bloody stalemate. inventiveness not previously associated Imperium through hostile territory was Although the legion was gratified that with the Word Bearers, the lightly problematic, but eventually it became the threat they posed at the heart of defended Ultramar worlds were devastated. Iax and Talassar were invaded and their cities sacked, Masali +++ People of Quintarn, you have turned your eyes from the Emperor‟s Light, was bombarded from orbit, and Calth‟s and for this heinous crime you must face the consequences. Our fleet will arrive star was put to death by the Battle- in sixty... nine... hours and... twenty... one minutes, and unless every single eye has been plucked out before that time, your entire world Barge, „Kor Phaeron‟. Even that will be reduced to ash. People of Quintarn, you have turned your paled compared to Quintarn, which eyes from the Emperor‟s Light... +++ they turned into the World of the Blind without having to fire a single shot. Fragment of automated recording The campaign proved successful in broadcast by the Word Bearers fleet drawing the Ultramarines away from Macragge, and in the early stages it

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their realm prevented the Ultramarines In the depths of the gloom Lorgar the Imperium, especially on planets from moving to reinforce Dorn‟s addressed them. Every brother on where the Emperor Himself had insurrection, the prospect of the Word every ship heard his proclamation. The walked during the Great Crusade. No Bearers ever setting foot on Macragge Emperor was not dead, he said. His true Imperial citizen was without a seemed to diminish with each passing heart still beat and His soul still blazed devotional medallion bearing the day. That was until the arrival of like a nova within the Astronomicon. thunderbolt and lightning sigil, and envoys from the Alpha Legion. Had He not destroyed the Arch- shrines in workplaces and homes Betrayer and banished the Traitor became commonplace. Preachers and Working together at last, a plan was Legions from His sight? He explained missionaries accompanied the fleets devised to break the impasse. With that this was an act of transcendence, that brought worlds back into the Alpharius‟s tactical genius and the pre-ordained, and that just like the fate Imperial fold, with even the most Word Bearer‟s stubborn determination of his friend, Kor Phaeron, it was not backward feudal world taught a and indomitable will, Macragge was to their place to question or doubt the suitably simplified version of the be brought to its knees. Using divine actions of the Emperor. The creed. Alpharius himself as bait, the Alpha events they had endured were a test of Legion drew Guilliman and a large faith; some had been found wanting Lorgar used his growing influence to proportion of his forces to the planet of and been judged accordingly. Those heal the rift between Terra and the Eskrador. The Ultramarines could not that remained had proved themselves, Adepts of Mars. There was much pass up this rare chance to strike back and were all the stronger for it. bitterness at the Mechanicus‟s relative at the Alpha Legion in open battle, and silence during the Heresy, but after took advantage of the seemingly When Lorgar stepped down from the much discussion, an understanding was collapsing Word Bearer threat to strike command-pulpit, there was a silence so reached whereby the tech-priests and with overwhelming force. deep it drowned out the noise of the magos very publically re-affirmed the fleet‟s warp engines. Then, as one, Omnissiah as an aspect of the The grand assault upon Macragge every brother raised a cry of devotion Emperor‟s divinity. He also bartered never came, though. Just as the Word to the Emperor and to their primarch. the Word Bearer‟s support for Bearers were withdrawing from their With that one speech Lorgar healed the Abaddon‟s Crusades in return for his scattered battlefields to assemble for a spiritual wounds that had threatened to own Wars of Faith. In the main these massed planetary assault, their plans cripple the Word Bearers, and by the were directed against the Traitor were torn apart by catastrophic news; time they reached Terra they stood Legions that most closely aligned the Emperor had been grievously ready to take their place as paragons of themselves with the Gods of Chaos, wounded by Dorn and lay dying. faith in The God-Emperor of Mankind. but on occasion it became necessary to Lorgar couldn‟t have stopped his fight against human worlds that had legion leaving for Terra even if he had The Ecclesiarchy perverted the Imperial creed for their wanted to, and they threw caution to The Dornian Heresy had revealed the own ends. the wind in their flight. In their grief, true, horrifying nature of the Ruinous the Alpha Legion was forgotten. Powers, and despite, or even because The Age of Apostasy Withdrawal turned to rout, and many of the Emperor‟s sacrifice, Imperial Although Lorgar was the Ecclesiarch, brothers died during the return to their citizens turned to worship Him in their he was also a primarch of the Adeptus ships. Many more lost their lives as trillions. Lorgar‟s talk of faith in The Astartes and continued to lead his their vessels were destroyed by the Master of Mankind being soul-armour legion into battle. In M36, warp-storms pursuing Ultramar fleet. against Chaos resonated with a fearful swept across the whole of the populace, and within decades it had Imperium, disrupting travel and A feeling of desolation settled over the become the official religion of the legion on the endless journey back to Imperium. The monumental task of Terra. Despite Lorgar‟s calming coordinating the worship of The God- presence, the thought that their God- Emperor across the galaxy was given We Astartes charge the guns of Emperor could be proved vulnerable, to a new body called the Adeptus the arch-enemy clad in and therefore fallible, gnawed at them. Ministorum, or Ecclesiarchy. It was ceramite and bearing the most potent weaponry that mankind For some wounded brothers it was all only natural that Lorgar, author of most too much; brethren in the ship‟s can devise. They do the same of their tenets of faith and son of The wrapped only in a prayer. The Apothecaria who should have returned Divine Emperor should lead this new next time you speak ill of our rapidly to their squads died in their body. As Ecclesiarch, he became one pilgrim brethren, boy, you‟ll be droves. Even proud veterans who had of the High Lords of Terra, the group doing the same. passed unscathed through the bloodiest that ruled in the Emperor‟s stead. battles of Calth and Iax succumbed to - Sergeant Dolchac of the soul-sickness, laying down their Cathedrals, basilicas and monasteries the Word Bearers heads to rest, but never awaking. dedicated to the faith sprang up across

33 weakening the boundaries between the physical plane and the realm of the Ruinous Powers. This led to widespread unrest as planets were periodically isolated and the whispers of Chaos grew stronger. It was the start of what later came to be called 'The Age of Apostasy'. To combat this, Lorgar personally voyaged across the Imperium, re-igniting the faith of those who had faltered, and rooting out the Chaos cults that sprang up in unprecedented numbers.

On the planet of Dimmamar, Lorgar led a force of Word Bearers and Frater Militaris against an outbreak of the Plague of Unbelief. The scale of the infection ran far deeper than had been anticipated, though; most of the population had degenerated into hollow-eyed walking dead and daemons of Nurgle stalked the streets. Despite Lorgar‟s inspiring presence, his small force was cut off and surrounded by enemies numbering in the billions. When their final bolt round had been expended and the last flask of sanctified promethium had run dry, Lorgar threw open the great doors of the cathedral they had garrisoned. In the shadow of his father‟s house of worship, he and his battle-brothers strode out, unafraid, into the press of plague-infected wretches. In a strong, steady voice, Lorgar recited from the Scriptures of the Dead, his sacred „Lorgar‟s Great Sacrifice‟, from a tapestry hanging in the warhammer in one hand, a metre-long adamantium spike of the cathedral‟s Basilica of the Emperor Ascendant on Dimmamar damaged altar in the other. banished and the Plague of Unbelief Without their primarch, the Word For days the slaughter went on, and driven from every human on the planet. Bearers were bereft, going through the Lorgar wearied, not of battle, but of the It is said that there is no zealot like a motions as before, but pale shadows of waste of his Emperor‟s humanity. convert, and the survivors of their former selves. Into the yawning Though he could have fought on until Dimmamar set out to demonstrate the chasm left by Lorgar stepped an the end of time, Lorgar dropped to his truth of this. As living proof of the ambitious and greedy marine by the knees in prayer to his father. As his power of the Emperor to save their name of Goge Vandire. He excelled in retinue formed a protective circle bodies and souls from the Fell Powers, organisation rather than in piety, and around their primarch, the battlefield they returned to the worship of Holy his guiding principle proved to be the was enveloped by a golden glow and a Terra with a passion. Dimmamar accrual of personal power. Such a feeling of peace which gave even the rapidly became a shrine world, and person should never have been allowed pestilent hordes pause. When it faded such was their piety that the Word to become a Word Bearer, but once away, the Primarch of the Word Bearers even took to recruiting from inside, his manipulative, scheming Bearers‟ soul had returned to the the planet. nature saw him rise inexorably through Emperor. Despite the many wounds he the ranks. While the legion grieved, had suffered, his face was peaceful and For the Word Bearers, the loss of Vandire smoothly assumed command at rest. This final sacrifice infused the Lorgar was a tragedy second only to of the Word Bearers, and in so doing world with the Emperor‟s Grace, and the Emperor‟s grievous wounding at became the Imperium‟s new in doing so every daemon was the climax of the Dornian Heresy. Ecclesiarch.

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Once ensconced on Terra as a High Lord, Vandire traded on the deep well of sympathy over the death of Lorgar Chaplains of the Word Bearers to further extend his power base. As his confidence and lust for control Even amongst a legion of the devout, Word Bearer chaplains stand out as grew, he used manipulation, bribery paragons of the Emperor‟s Truth. Charged with ensuring the spiritual health of the legion, those chosen to enter the Reclusiam are trained and tested and threats of excommunication extensively before they are allowed to bear the Crozius Arcanum and Rosarius against High Lords who dared to of their office. As befits their dedication to the Emperor, the imagery of His oppose him. By the time it became ancient thunderbolt and lightning icon is prominently displayed. This device clear that Vandire had ordered the predates the Aquila, and goes back to the wars to unify Terra. Lorgar selected it assassination of the Master of the over the double eagle, honouring his father‟s decree that Fulgrim‟s legion would Astronomicon and replaced him with a be the only Astartes to bear the later image. Just as their souls are sanctified and more malleable candidate, it was annealed by their training, so too is their armour. The process darkens the slate already too late – his grip on power grey ceramite plates to midnight black. This, and the distinctive death head was unassailable. skull mask they wear, makes them a fearsome sight to behold.

Vandire‟s Imperium was in a perilously fragile state, though. Still defence, he and their chaplaincy were confrontation with the insane wracked by warp-storms and beset by branded apostates for defying the will Ecclesiarch. the resurgent Traitor Legions, his of the Ecclesiarch. With the threat of response was to call for ever-more whole legions being branded Feeling his control of the Imperium brutal Wars of Faith. Rather than Excommunicate Traitoris, it seemed slipping away, Vandire revealed the targeting the true enemy, these inevitable that brother would once existence of a previously hidden and pogroms were aimed at persecuting again be pitted against brother, to the fanatically loyal force. He had long parts of the Imperium that showed ruin of all. been concerned over the way his own even minor doctrinal differences to his legion had responded to his edicts, and own increasingly idiosyncratic view, or knowing the Frateris Militaris were no The Fall of a Tyrant worlds which baulked at the ever- match for Astartes, Vandire had, higher tithes demanded by the The man who eventually rose to though base trickery, groomed a sect Ministorum. While Vandire‟s radical epitomise resistance to Goge Vandire‟s called the Brides of the Emperor to interpretation of the lore differed reign of terror came from within the become his enforcers. Their faith was wildly from Lorgar‟s, the concept of ranks of the Word Bearers; a young subtly corrupted into an unshakeable disobeying orders came harder to the initiate by the name of Sebastian Thor. devotion to Vandire himself, and using Word Bearers than to perhaps any He was everything that Vandire was his position armed them with potent other legion. A sense of deep unease not; devoutly pious and selfless. Thor weaponry and even a crude version of spread through the legion, and they had in fact been born on Dimmamar at power armour. Thor‟s open defiance took increasingly creative the time of Lorgar‟s ultimate sacrifice, pushed Vandire to send contingents of interpretations of Vandire‟s edicts to the symbolism of which was not lost his Brides to ensure the compliance of minimise the harm that they were upon his followers. Thor claimed with the Word Bearers, but this insult doing, much to their master‟s great passion and eloquence that the backfired. The resulting bloodshed displeasure. actions Vandire had taken spat upon pushed ever-more grand companies to everything that their primarch had side with Thor. Events came to a head when Vandire stood for, and called for him to moved to oppose the only group able to immediately step down. In response, By the time the coalition reached Holy threaten his schemes: the Legionnes Thor was branded a heretic and Terra, Vandire‟s paranoia and Astartes. Up until that point the other sentenced, in his absence, to death. desperation had reached fever-pitch. legions had stayed neutral in the power Any forces sent to carry out the The seriousness of the situation had struggle. The Wars of Faith were Ecclesiarchal decree, be they Frateris even penetrated the secluded, armoured carefully targeted to avoid systems Militaris, Imperial Army or throne room of the Emperor Himself, with marine homeworlds or recruiting detachments of Word Bearers only and tragedy struck when a group of bases, and both sides were unwilling to swelled Thor‟s host, as they were won Custodes were attacked and killed by be the first to fire for fear of igniting a over by his stirring oratory. the Brides, who claimed that they had second Inter-Legionary War. This Recognising a sense of the purpose tried to sway them from their loyalty to uneasy arrangement was broken when they had thought lost, the Word Vandire. Vandire accused the Emperor‟s Bearers flocked to Thor‟s banner. Even Children, who had never felt the need marines from other loyalist legions After that outrage, what became known to have chaplains in their ranks, of joined the great pilgrimage through the as the Second Siege of Terra was impiety. When the Legion Master of Imperium, which led inexorably bloody and brief. Unwilling to back the World Eaters spoke in their towards Holy Terra, and the down, even in the face of the

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Emperor‟s displeasure, the Brides died culled by the butchers of Leman Russ‟ a reputation for tactical inflexibility to a woman, and their order expunged Space Wolves. and naivety. While it is true that they from the pages of history. Dishevelled cannot match the skill at arms of the and raging, Vandire was hauled bodily At long last the greed, corruption and World Eaters, or the strategic acumen from his hiding place by Sebastian lust for power that had been so rife of the Alpha Legion, it is a foolish Thor, his time of misrule at an end. under Vandire‟s rule were swept away. commander who underestimates them. The two Word Bearers were then With the Ministorum returned to its Once dedicated to a goal, the Word brought by the Custodes to the role of guiding the galaxy in the Bearers are enthused with an Emperor‟s throne room to face worship of The Divine Emperor, and to unquenchable will to succeed, and the judgement. While Thor emerged as the protecting the Imperium from the exhortations of their chaplains drive new Ecclesiarch, Goge Vandire was whispers of the Fell Powers, Sebastian them to incredible feats of strength and never seen again, and none present Thor announced his final reform: he endurance that can only end in victory would ever speak of his fate. stepped down as the Ecclesiarch. No or martyrdom. They inspire the same longer would any Word Bearer hold fervour in those around them, so that It is a testament to the character of the role. Instead, the legion became the once committed, the only way for the Sebastian Thor that he was able to Chamber Militant of the Ministorum, battle to end is with the total rebuild the reputation of both the acting not only as its strong right arm, annihilation of one side or the other. Ecclesiarchy and the Word Bearers. but as the body charged with ensuring Part of the act of contrition was to it never again overstepped its bounds. While the Word Bearers are the fatal make radical changes to the These decisions returned stability to spear-point in any attack, the organisations of both bodies. While the the galaxy, and marked an end to the psychological effect of an endless tide High Lords on Terra were purged of Age of Apostasy, and ever since, the of wild-eyed zealots closing on the Vandire‟s influence, Thor took Word Bearers have remained diligent enemy cannot be discounted. These advantage of the waning warp storms guardians of the Emperor‟s Truth in mobs are often little more than local to tour the Imperium and reorganise the Imperium. citizens, untrained and armed with the Ministorum. Even though Vandire nothing but improvised weapons. was gone, his cronies were unwilling to Combat Doctrine Individually they are no match for a yield their petty fiefdoms without a The legion frequently takes to the field well-drilled opponent, and yet they fight. The Traitor Legions had also of battle leading much larger groups, give their lives willingly in the service taken advantage of the confusion to such as the Frateris Militaris, Imperial of the Emperor, and are lauded for venture forth from the Eye of Terror. Army or even massed mobs of doing so. Across the Imperium there By the time the Word Bearers reached pilgrims. It also places much weight are vast monuments built to honour the the domain of the Apostate Cardinal upon divinations and interpretations of glorious sacrifice of these martyrs, Bucharis, they found that the entire the Emperor‟s Tarot, and for these often alongside the mass graves of the sub-sector‟s population had been reasons the Word Bearers have gained fallen.

Organisation The Tower of Blood For nearly five millennia the Word Bearers were commanded by Lorgar, The tallest monument to the martyred is the recently completed Tower of and in their primarch‟s absence, this Blood, on the world of Tanakreg. Traitors of the Iron Hand Legion stormed role has fallen to the legion master. the capital-hive of Shinar and drove the survivors into the surrounding wilderness. The small contingent of Word Bearers that responded found the Aware that the first person to hold the enemy numerous and well dug in, but were able to rally the scattered refugees position came perilously close to and whipped them into a righteous fury to re-take their city. Even hardened destroying the legion, subsequent veterans of the Imperial Army would have faltered at the sight of their masters have been diligent in their comrades being flayed to the bone by the weaponry deployed by the traitors, attempts to redeem it. Despite the but the citizens of Shinar were resolute. In a long night of bloodshed the hive moral authority that chaplains wield was liberated, and though it was reduced to an uninhabitable ruin in the amongst the Word Bearers, they do process, the mechanical abominations of Ferrus Manus were at last destroyed. not command. Such a task is far too important to get bogged down in the In honour of the fallen, a vast tower was constructed where the city had once minutiae of directing the flow of stood. At the dedication ceremony, Chaplain Veraik, a veteran of the battle. Instead, their role is to provide campaign, said that the tower had been built, like the Imperium itself, with spiritual guidance, inspire their the blood of martyrs. The tower extends high into the clouds above, and the brethren, and watch over the souls of pilgrims contest that it contains one block for every life that was lost that day, those under their charge. although calculations have shown that if this was truly the case it would reach into low orbit. Librarians are greatly valued by the captains of the grand companies, and

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their divinations and predictive They understand better than most the arrival of Lorgar. His presence abilities through readings of the threat from the Ruinous Powers, and brought back not only a new era of Emperor‟s Tarot are used to inform that mankind is beset on all sides by piety, but drew the attention of The strategy. It is also common for malign forces that would seek to God-Emperor Himself to their world. companies to be drastically reorganised destroy or enslave it. Only through a In the thousands of years since it was on the eve of battle based on how the deep understanding and acceptance of embraced by the Imperium, Colchis cards fall, even if it flies in the face of the Emperor‟s Light can the Imperium has become a focal point for the what is known of the enemy or hope to survive, and to that end they Adeptus Ministorum. The holy places expected battlefield conditions. help to spread His Holy Word to the and temples of the Covenant have been Despite disdain for this practice from furthest corners of the galaxy. expanded, and now there are a outside the legion, it has proved to be multitude of cathedrals, basilicas and divinely inspired on countless Though it is routine to carve the words shrines to the saints, and through them, occasions. Even when it has led to of Lorgar into the ceramite of their the Master of Mankind. catastrophic defeats, these are borne power armour, some initiates choose to with stoicism as the Will of the sear large passages of the holy texts Pilgrims flock to Colchis in their Emperor. into their flesh so that they will never millions, but the holiest site, the place be without the words of their primarch. where the Emperor first set foot on the Because of the dramatic changes in This practice is often taken to extremes world, is forbidden, because on that organisation from battle to battle, by chaplains, with a rare few covering spot was built the legion‟s fortress- squads are not assigned to Assault, their entire bodies, heads and even monastery. From there, protected by Tactical or Devastator specialties. their tongues with the sacred script. adamantium walls as strong as their Instead, marines are expected to be This is done with a red hot stylus and faith, the Word Bearers ensure that proficient each of the roles. Their the sap of the Black Jula bush, a plant their compact with the Imperium is designation on the battlefield is native to Colchis. Because of the kept. Engraved upon those walls, just displayed by coloured votive cloths super-human regenerative capabilities as it is engraved upon their souls, is the draped from shoulder pauldrons, with of the Astartes constitution, even this credo that Lorgar adopted on returning sergeants proudly displaying their potent scarring will fade over time, and back to Colchis after seeing the colours on richly embroidered back just as faith must constantly be Emperor entombed within the banners. Such ostentatious displays renewed, so too must the devotional Astronomicon: “The Emperor protects, not only help to identify the squad‟s script branded into their skin. but we must also protect the Emperor.” position to their officers, it also acts as a spur to inspire their allies to ever- Homeworld Gene-Seed & Recruitment greater acts of valour. Colchis, long-isolated from the wider Like their faith, the gene-seed of the human galaxy, was reborn with the Word Bearers is pure, with all implants Their role as guardians of the Imperial creed, enforcing and, where necessary, checking the power of the Ministorum, requires the legion‟s strength be Despite all their interventions, his body was tearing itself apart. He called out to the Pantheon of Chaos to save him; his great work was not yet complete. distributed thinly across the galaxy. Lorgar had been blooded, pushed to take the lives of innocents. He had been For this reason, Word Bearer grand primed for blind, credulous belief. Having passed inspection by the hated companies are composed of less than Emperor, and in possession of a whole legion of Astartes, he was ripe for five hundred brethren each, perhaps disillusionment and enlightenment to the true powers of the divine. All the half the size of that found in most other intricate plans, all those years of work... All ruined by the incompetence of an legions, the better to cover the vast apothecarion implantation servitor. distances involved. Their fleets are accompanied by ramshackle civilian Through the agony, and eyes clouded with rheum he dimly made out a presence; transports packed with zealots eager to Lorgar. He tried to speak, to convince him of the majesty of the Chaos Gods, but his trachea had swollen closed against the breathing tube. He tried to reach martyr themselves for the cause, as out to the tray of chirurgical equipment to slash open the fool‟s throat, but he well as regiments of Frateris Militaris. had been firmly restrained to prevent his violent muscle spasms. As the Encased in matt-black carapace armour Larraman‟s cells began to curdle the blood in his veins, he heard the final, and wielding powerful hellguns and unknowing insult. purging flame weaponry, the grim- faced Frateris endlessly strive to “I am sorry, my brother, but fear not. No one will ever be allowed to forget emulate their Astartes superiors. your loyalty and service to the creed. You will forever be remembered as Master of the Imperial Faith.”

Beliefs Trapped inside his meat prison, begging for release, Kor Phaeron howled. Belief in the Emperor as divine is the guiding light of the Word Bearers.

37 working as efficiently as when Lorgar importance of sacrifice, and the another way to serve doing menial commanded the legion. Their willingness to suffer pain and death in tasks for the Ministorum. Because of apothecaries treat the gene-seed as the face of the unrighteous. Such this, it is not uncommon to see these sacred; a palpable connection to their lessons are an excellent preparation for pitifully misshapen, hunched figures in beloved primarch, and regard it with the life of an Astartes. the shadows of cathedrals, acting as the same reverence the chaplains hold choral page-turners during masses or the word of Lorgar. Just as the gene-seed implantation ringing the bells to call the faithful to procedure strengthens the body, their worship. The Word Bearers draw their recruits lessons in theology strengthen their not just from Colchis, but from across souls. Despite the skill of the legion‟s Battlecry the Emperor‟s realm. Strength of faith apothecaries, there are cases where the The Word Bearers do not have a single is as important a factor as skill at arms, primarch‟s gene-flesh finds the fixed battle cry. Instead, an and as such Cardinal-worlds and the neophyte wanting. Just as happened appropriate passage is chosen by the Ministorum-run Schola Progenium with Lorgar‟s friend, Kor Phaeron, this chaplain from amongst the Books of orphanages are prime recruiting is stoically accepted as the Will of the Lorgar. He then leads the assembled grounds. Word Bearers are expected to Emperor. Most of those who are marines in a recitation of the faith, be thoroughly conversant with rejected are granted the Emperor‟s before blessing them for the coming Lorgar‟s writings, which teach the Mercy, but some are spared, and find battle.

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Manipulated and betrayed first by the Traitor Legions, and then by the Imperium, the Ultramarines now stand defiantly against both great powers. From their fortified realm of Ultramar Segmentum, the legion and its successor chapters watch with The pity as the Imperium falls ever-deeper into superstition, ignorance and corruption. Built firmly upon the inspired Dornian organisational principles of Roboute Guilliman, they patiently gather their strength for the day they will invade Terra and re- Heresy unify humanity under their own benign rule. Origins instructors. With nothing left to learn, Although it is commonly stated within he graduated, and re-took his place the Imperium that the infant primarchs alongside Konor. It was clear that were abducted and scattered across the Guilliman's gifts for the practice and galaxy by the Ruinous Powers, the tale organisation of warfare would be of of Roboute Guilliman‟s arrival upon great use in battling Macragge's Macragge has led the people of enemies, both on and off the planet. Ultramar to doubt the received Proving that their faith in him was not wisdom. According to legend, Consul misplaced, Guilliman delivered an Konor Guilliman, one of Macragge‟s unbroken series of military victories. planetary leaders, was granted a vision This culminated with the complete of a noble child alone in the deep destruction of the pirate fleets that had forest, and that a shining entity, long-plagued the space-lanes between supposed later to be the Emperor Macragge and the nearby systems with Himself, commanded Konor to guide which it had remained in contact. and protect him. In the shadow of the mighty Hera Falls, the infant was At a banquet held in honour of found playing amongst the wreckage of Guilliman‟s achievements, Konor‟s co- Index his gestation vessel, and sensing the consul, Gallan, proposed that an power within the boy, Konor did as he ancient Macragge tradition be re- Astartes: had been instructed. He named the instituted: After performing some great child Roboute, or „The Great One‟, and deed for the nation, a feted hero would raised him as his own son. be rewarded with the opportunity to carve out territory of their own. What Imperial scholars claim that this was new lands they could conquer for the Ultra- simply the Emperor seeking to protect kingdom, they could keep. Gallan His sons until they could finally be proposed that Illyrium, Macragge's marines reunited. However, the Ultramarines wild, bandit-haunted northlands, would believe that the Master of Mankind be the perfect challenge and reward. Its deliberately engineered the dispersal so savage barbarian tribes had never been that the primarchs would be able to pacified, and although they attacked experience life among common the expedition with unparalleled fury, humanity in their formative years. within six months Guilliman had Furthermore, they propose that bested each of the tribal leaders in Guilliman was intended to be found single combat and earned their respect and mentored by Konor in his unique and fealty. by style of leadership and organisation. The conclusion of this stunningly Aurelius As befitting the son of a consul, successful campaign was tainted by the Roboute Guilliman was intensively news that Konor had passed away, and tutored, and rapidly absorbed every that as sole remaining consul, Gallan Rex scrap of knowledge on offer, before had taken command of his holdings. taking his place at the prestigious Gallan sent his condolences, but also Agiselus Barracks in Macragge City. commanded that Guilliman and his There he was trained in the military forces leave Illyrium at once to swear arts, and in short order outstripped his allegiance to him. Guilliman returned fellow students and even his as requested, but was horrified to see

39 the state of disrepair that his worlds brought to adopted father‟s former compliance by other lands had fallen into in the Imperial expeditions. few short months of its new Recognising the superior consul‟s stewardship. So it way that Ultramar was run was that when he stood in comparison to the staid, before Gallan, he defiantly inefficient Administratum, refused to kneel. an increasing number quietly petitioned to join Before the assembled nobles them. There were even calls he stated in no uncertain from some planets on the terms that Gallan was not Eastern Fringe to rename the only consul; that before Ultima Segmentum as them stood the Consul of Ultramar Segmentum. Illyrium, as laid down in the ancient traditions Gallan This led to bitter exchanges himself had invoked. Gallan between the Administratum had no more hold over him and the Ultramarines. The than the stars themselves. legion was charged with With that, Guilliman instigating these petitions returned to the north at the and of undermining the head of his large, battle- Imperium. This was tempered army, and after strenuously denied, but the such a display of martial defiant Ultramarine strength, no more talk of representatives said that fealty was heard from they would continue to lend Gallan. their expertise to those Ultramarine of the Orpheus Chapter wearing Mark 16 Imperial planets that Free from the restraints of „Damocles‟ pattern power armour requested it. The war of tradition, Guilliman forged words escalated to the point his own vision of legion went to great lengths to avoid where, at the Jhalta civilisation. Within a decade the once unnecessary civilian bloodshed, even at conference, high ranking barren wastes of Illyrium were home to the risk of sustaining greater casualties Administratum officials accused the industries and military forces that put themselves. This, along with the way Ultramarines of attempting to take those of the rest of the planet to shame. they repaired and improved each control of Imperial worlds by stealth. By the time the Emperor arrived at world‟s infrastructure, meant that with During one particularly heated Macragge, drawn by tales of the nation every conquest they gained a stable exchange, a member of the that Guilliman had wrought, Illyrium world willing and eager to contribute Administratum even dared suggest that was firmly the centre of political and to Guilliman‟s mission, rather than a they had turned their backs on the military power. In comparison, resentful population that required Emperor. With the meeting seconds Gallan‟s stagnant holdings were a mere garrison forces to pacify. In this way from descending into violence, backwater. The reunion of father and the Ultramarines were able to draw Guilliman himself entered the room. son, and the relocation of the recruits and materiel from an ever- His superhuman charisma and presence Thirteenth Legion of the Astartes to the larger area, and in doing so expanded calmed the tense situation, and by the planet merely reinforced Guilliman's their numbers at a rate unmatched by end of the conference the position as the true leader of Macragge. any other legion. Administratum representatives had accepted the primarch‟s intentions as Ultramar Segmentum The worlds under their control became benign. Many were even discussing Roboute Guilliman set his legion, closely knit, with an identity as much organisational theories with him and which he renamed the Ultramarines Ultramarine as it was Imperial. With taking notes. It appeared that the after the deep blue seas of Macragge, each new world, these Ultramar misunderstanding had been resolved. to work reclaiming lost human worlds planets grew in military strength and for the Emperor. First came the planets cultural influence. Often their Istvaan V with which Macragge had remained in reputation would precede them to such With the Administratum seemingly contact through their isolation from a degree that invading forces would be pacified, Guilliman was shocked and Terra, such as Talassar, Calth, welcomed on their arrival by cheering horrified to receive a covert Quintarn and Tarentus. The crowds rather than armed resistance. communiqué from Rogal Dorn, who incorporation of these early planets Eventually their expansion reached so brought a warning that the Emperor became the template for the future. The far that it came into contact with had personally ordered that he and the

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able to convince several of the primarchs over the course of the journey, Corax, Fulgrim and Angron had been beyond reason. As repugnant as it was, Dorn proposed that their legions could be „neutralised‟ by ambushing them at the newly compliant Ultramar world of Istvaan V. Dorn also revealed that the Word Bearers and the Alpha Legion had been ordered to strike deep into the heart of Ultramar Segmentum. To seal the pact, Dorn transmitted to Guilliman the projected routes of the Alpha Legion and Word Bearer fleets so that they could be more easily tracked, and eventually countered.

Seeing no other option, with a heavy heart Guilliman agreed to Dorn‟s plan. His legion, supported by those that Dorn had been able to convince of the Emperor‟s folly, crushed the Raven Guard, Emperor‟s Children and World Eaters on Istvaan V. With knowledge of their transponder codes, the Ultramarines were able to target the landing ships and drop pods before most of their occupants could even set foot on the planet. The few that survived fought like lions, and while they were no match for the forces arrayed against them, a handful still managed to escape back into orbit, carrying with them word of the rebellion.

Dorn and his legions prepared to leave Istvaan, but before they departed the two brothers met one last time. entire Ultramarines Legion be put to Imperium. The situation had spiralled Guilliman offered the renegade legions death. Despite the unthinkable nature out of control, and in a fit of rage, the asylum within Ultramar Segmentum. of what Dorn was saying, the haggard, Emperor had commanded that a vast Dorn thanked him for the offer, but haunted look in his brother's eyes battle fleet be assembled to tear down said that he had to return to Terra to convinced Guilliman to hear him out. Ultramar Segmentum. Dorn said that explain his actions to the Emperor. when disquiet was voiced at the Dorn warned that those manipulating According to Dorn, since the Emperor prospect of brother marines, indeed their father were experts in the arts of had withdrawn to Terra, He had brother primarchs, trying to kill one twisting the truth, and the same people become increasingly isolated, and this another, the Emperor had decreed that who had whispered falsehoods against had been played upon and twisted by anyone who opposed the order be the Ultramarines would doubtless sinister forces so that He had refused to declared a traitor and be put to death. begin to spread their black propaganda see even His own sons. Dorn said that against Dorn and his comrades in the behind closed doors the And so it was that Dorn came to months to come. Whatever news might misunderstandings with the approach the fringes of Ultramar reach them, Dorn urged Guilliman to Administratum had been manipulated Segmentum in command of the remember their friendship, and to trust to the point where their father had Imperial fleet. The Emperor‟s mind, he in him. become convinced Guilliman was on said, had been clouded by lies and the brink of seceding from the paranoia, and while Dorn had been With that, Guilliman bade them

41 farewell and good luck. As much as he desired to return to Terra and help free his father from the malign forces that The Librarium surrounded Him, Ultramar was still under attack from two full legions of Coordination of a realm as large as Ultramar Segmentum is a monumental task, Astartes. Every marine, indeed, every but it is one to which the rigidly organised sons of Guilliman are equal, and none citizen of Ultramar Segmentum, would are more vital to this than those of the chapter‟s Librarium. With no access to the „soul-binding‟ ritual required to produce astropaths, only the powerful Astartes be needed to defeat them. psykers of the Librarium have the ability and resilience to the Warp to communicate across the length and breadth of the segmentum. Fortress Ultramar Ultramar mobilised to defend itself, Strong psykers are particularly valued in Ultramar, and the danger of „wild‟ or with travel, trade and communication even weak psykers is well known. Most are weeded out, but some still lurk on the fringes of society. It is the responsibility of the librarians to sniff out the cut off with the Imperium. What news spoor of these misguided fools, as whole cities have been lost to daemonic did leak in told of all-out civil war, and incursion because of the unguarded mind of a single rogue psyker. as Dorn had predicted, his forces were portrayed in lurid terms. They were accused of having perpetrated acts of gross excess, torture and genocide. seemingly everywhere, disrupting the significantly slow the insurrectionist There were even fanciful stories of command structures of each world they cancer the Alpha Legion had spread sorcery, magicks and daemons, which touched through assassination, throughout the segmentum. only reinforced their belief of the disinformation, terrorism and sabotage. desperation of Dorn's enemies. Worse, they were like ghosts: working Better news came when the Word through networks of human agents and Bearers broke off their attacks on Within their own borders, the fleets of maddeningly difficult to bring to the Ultramar‟s core worlds and set course the Word Bearers headed arrow- field of battle. In any realm other than back towards the Imperium. It seemed straight for the heart of Ultramar Ultramar such an approach would have that the zealots‟ will to fight had been Segmentum. Thanks to Dorn‟s caused widespread paralysis and broken. In time it became clear that warning, the Ultramarines were able to thrown every world into selfish this had been sparked by the death of assemble sufficient forces to intercept isolationism, but Guilliman‟s the Emperor, although it seemed that their ships before they reached organisational teachings saw them Dorn and his side of the civil war had Macragge. Denied their primary target, weather the worst of the storm. also been defeated. Despite all that had

Lorgar‟s fleet turned its fire on any happened, Guilliman still grieved for Eventually, Guilliman ran Alpharius to planet they could find. They seeded his father, but he knew that this was ground on the world of Eskrador. To Calth's star with arcane minerals that merely a pause in the larger conflict. throw his brother primarch off-balance, quenched its celestial fire and plunged Wounded and bleeding though the Guilliman forewent his usual tactical the planet into eternal, icy night. Imperium was, it was only a matter of caution and instead attempted to beat Quintarn fared little better. With the time before their vengeful gaze turned Alpharius at his own game. Taking the zealots‟ threat of exterminatus hanging back towards them. War production enemy by surprise, Guilliman‟s force over them, the entire population were was redoubled, and a metaphorical hit them from multiple directions at forced to pluck out their eyes. Even to “Curtain of Steel” was thrown around once, overwhelming them and cutting this day, Quintarn is known as the the Ultramar Segmentum. „World of the Blind‟. What Lorgar‟s off all chance of escape. With no other legion lacked in tactics it more than option, the cornered Alpha Legion had made up for with religious fury and a no choice but to engage in a For decades the only contact they had fanatical determination never to give conventional battle, and though they with Imperial forces was in the form of up, whatever the cost. They did fought fiercely, they could not stand the insidious insurrections and guerrilla horrendous damage, and the against the Ultramarines. actions inspired by the Alpha Legion, Ultramarines had to expend great effort and some dared to hope that they After a duel that seemed to last for simply to prevent the Word Bearers would be left largely in peace. hours, Roboute Guilliman finally from massacring entire civilian Guilliman, though, remained adamant executed Alpharius for his crimes at populations. that they must stay vigilant. He was the foot of the Amanthi cliffs. Rather proven right when the hammer-blow The Alpha Legion‟s approach to than being a catharsis, Eskrador proved came in the form of massed Imperial warfare was radically different, yet just to be a pyrrhic victory for the crusades. Through meticulous as deadly. Where Lorgar‟s assault was Ultramarines. Many great heroes of planning, skill and bravery they turned a battering ram, destroying all in its Ultramar, such as Captain Orar and aside every attack. The death-toll was path, Alpharius was a debilitating Lord Kharta, Regent of Talassar, died horrendous, with whole planetary poison that spread insidiously through to achieve it, yet the loss of their populations lost in the fighting, but Ultramar Segmentum. The enemy were primarch did not stop, or even Ultramar, as ever, endured.

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Seeing the rise in corruption and Istvaan, and pushed him into choosing Instead, it was the site of a cowardly ineffectiveness of the Imperium after the wrong side of the uprising against ambush under the flag of truce, and the the Emperor‟s death, Guilliman refined the Emperor. Guilliman‟s hands were last, best hope for peace between the and codified his thoughts in his stained with his father‟s blood, and this realms was squandered. The Imperial organisational masterpiece, the Codex realisation threw him into a bout of delegation lulled them with warm Ultramar. As well as laying down how black depression and anguished self- words, and discussions between the civilian authorities should be reflection. This development two sides appeared to be progressing structured, it also decreed that his own concerned his men deeply, and when well, until the massed ranks of Imperial legion be sub-divided into more self- he emerged from isolation, he made Astartes tore into their Ultramarine sufficient units to cover the vast areas two announcements. The first was the hosts without mercy. Guilliman was of space under their protection. The aching certainty that history had the target of their ire. In his final report grand companies were reorganised and repeated itself. It had always been as head of the primarch‟s honour renamed as chapters of the wider thought that Konor‟s death had been guard, Kaisus described cutting Ultramarines Legion, with chapter accidental, but in light of Dorn‟s plot through the press of bodies, only to see masters given far greater autonomy. In to isolate Guilliman in his attempt to Fulgrim of the Emperor‟s Children this way, Guilliman created a structure kill the Emperor and snatch power, strike his Lord Guilliman down from that was tied closely to the worlds they Gallan‟s actions became far clearer. behind. The two were then obscured in protected, but was still able to call From sending him far away to Illyrium, a cloud of acrid fyceline smoke, and upon the rest of Ultramar when faced to the speed with which he took when it had cleared, both were gone. with overwhelming threats like control, it became obvious that the man Imperial crusades. who had adopted him had also been They had both been whisked away into murdered. Under the glare of scrutiny, orbit, and though the Ultramarines This was put to the test when they Guilliman‟s assertions were rapidly hounded the Imperial fleets all the way came under attack from hideously proved correct, and the name of Gallan back to the border and beyond, they perverted forms of marines bearing the and his line were cursed across the could not rescue their primarch. Only insignia of the legions they had fought whole of Ultramar. later did they find out the awful truth, alongside at Istvaan. It was that the Imperial forces had trapped accompanied by an explosion in the Guilliman‟s second announcement was Guilliman in a stasis field a moment number of bizarre and brutal cults even more shocking. They must heal from death as a special torture, and that within their borders. Although this was the rift between Ultramar Segmentum he had been brought to Terra as some initially attributed to a new ploy by the and the Imperium. Despite all the grisly spoil of war. Alpha Legion, it soon became clear blood that had been spilled, they must that it was something far more reunite to overthrow Chaos, the Great This atrocity destroyed forever any dangerous, as the full, hideous nature Deceiver. Much to the consternation of chance of reconciliation between the of the Warp was belatedly uncovered his lieutenants, Guilliman opened up a realms. It was clear that the Imperium by the legion‟s librarians. As though détente with those who ruled in the could never be trusted, and that it the reality of daemonic possession, the Emperor‟s stead, and the world of would not rest until every last Ultramar existence of the Ruinous Powers and Prandium was chosen as the place for world and citizen was enslaved. From their ability to corrupt even Astartes what should have been a historic what they could glean from their covert was not shocking enough, it also meeting. agents and from refugees who fled brought the sickening realisation of how Dorn had manipulated them, and their view of the civil war. It became Ultramarine Successor Chapters horribly clear that the fanciful tales from beyond the Imperial borders – The concept of successor chapters was born out of Guilliman's early years on tales that had been dismissed as Macragge. After he had proved himself, he was sent out into the wilderlands and nothing more than black propaganda - given the chance to carve out a domain of his own. The same opportunity has been given to Ultramarine heroes down the millennia, and hundreds of new contained a bitter kernel of truth. chapters have been founded, split off from the greater legion and sent out to garrison the wild border areas of Ultramar Segmentum. The marines that strike The realisation of how he had been out on their own do so for a variety of reasons. Some, such as the Sons of used by Rogal Dorn was devastating Guilliman and White Consuls, were founded by marines eager to challenge for Guilliman. Dorn had played themselves, and to emulate Guilliman. Others, such as the death-cult expertly on Ultramar's isolation from worshipping Mortifactors did so to gain greater autonomy and acceptance of Terra and the misunderstanding with their views. Though these successors wear different heraldry and battle-colours the Administratum for his own ends. from the Ultramarines, and may deviate, sometimes wildly, from the norms of Guilliman's trust in his brother had Guilliman's great Codex, all are unified in their support for the ideals of Ultramar Segmentum. been used to make him complicit in the destruction of three loyal legions at

43 across the border, the Imperium was trapped in a downward spiral of superstition, corruption, inefficiency The Battle for Macragge and brutality. Without the Master of Mankind, the Imperium was slowly Macragge's northern polar defence fortress was the site of the bloodiest battle in dying, but like any badly wounded the planet's history. At the height of Hive Fleet Behemoth's attack upon the planet, countless millions of Tyranid organisms were scattered like seeds across beast it could still be lethal in its death the land. Seemingly endless swarms converged upon the northern polar fortress, throes. and deep below it the legion's gene-seed repository, but it was a location that the Ultramarines could never allow to fall. Though the First, Third and Seventh Ultramar Ascendant Companies of the Macragge Chapter died to a man in its defence, their sacrifice Beyond retaking worlds conquered by had not been in vain. It bought enough time for the rest of the planet to mobilise and exterminate the xenos invaders. Imperial crusades and building up defences against the next assault, there Not only did they save the genetic legacy of the Ultramarines, they prevented was a wide consensus that the borders the horror that would have ensued if the Hive Mind had been able to feed on of Ultramar Segmentum should such a rich store of biological information. Recognising the vulnerability of expand. The task of wresting systems relying on a single site, the Ultramarines have since constructed further gene- from the dead hand of Imperial misrule seed repositories. Needless to say, the number and locations of these sites are was given primarily to newly founded among the most closely guarded secrets in the segmentum. successor chapters, who, like their primarch before them, carved out new territory to prove their prowess. two centuries ago in 740.M41. A large by the lessons learned in the struggle Although the borders of Ultramar number of new successor chapters had against the Tyranids, and infused by Segmentum have waxed and waned just been founded, and the Lord of technology gleaned from their wars over the millennia, these aggressive Macragge, Marneus Calgar, seemed set with the Tau, they will rise again, all young chapters have been the cause of to decree just such a crusade to rescue the stronger for their trials. a gradual expansion of the realm. their primarch. This bold plan, though, was derailed by the arrival of the Gene-Seed Though it is but a fraction of the Tyranid Hive-mind from beyond the As befits the legacy of Roboute Imperium's size, Ultramar Segmentum galactic fringe. These implacable aliens Guilliman, each of the nineteen gene- continues to be ordered, productive and devoured everything in their path, seed implants operate at the same efficient, which enables it to support its stripping whole worlds to the bedrock outstanding level of efficiency they did vast military. It is also enlightened, in their hunger. This first hive-fleet, when they were first created. tolerant and cultured, a far cry from the designated „Behemoth‟, was only Untouched by the corrupting nature of bigotry and closed-minded repression stopped by a segmentum-wide the Ruinous Powers, and free of the of the Imperium. This is why refugees deployment of forces, and the sacrifice superstitious ritual of the Adeptus take such risks to reach it, and the of the bulk of the Calth Battle-Fleet. Mechanicus, their gene-seed is reason that populations fight so hard Despite this, the Tyranids succeeded undoubtedly the purest of all the against being taken back into the where the Imperium had failed so Legionnes Astartes. Their optimised corrupt and brutal Imperial fold. many times, by landing forces upon the methods of implant culturing and surface of Macragge. Enemies and aspirant selection minimises rejection There have also been many calls down allies alike took advantage of the and ensures that the Ultramarines can the millennia for Ultramar to undertake devastation, with Orks, the Imperium replace losses and produce new a crusade of its own. Not just to and even the previously friendly Tau marines at an astonishing rate. liberate border worlds, but to mount a encroaching into Ultramar space. strike deep into the rotten heart of the To ensure that the high quality of Imperium and stop the attacks once This stopped calls for an attack on Ultramarine gene-seed is maintained, and for all. This is also motivated from Terra in their tracks, and for a short each of the legion‟s chapters regularly a burning desire to storm the gates of while after the realm of Ultramar tithe samples to a facility deep beneath Terra and finally reclaim the body of contracted. These events were shrilly Macragge‟s northern polar defence Guilliman from his stasis prison. They proclaimed as being “judgements of fortress. There it is tested for any sign passionately call for his release, the Emperor” by the Imperium‟s of deviation or genetic drift, catalogued allowing him either to die with dignity, Ecclesiarchy, and these calls rose to and stored. This process has been or to be healed, so that he might lead fever pitch in the last decade with the invaluable in replenishing the gene- the reunification of the whole of emergence of a second Tyranid hive- stocks of chapters that have suffered humanity into a new era of fleet, code-named Kraken. catastrophic losses, and during the enlightenment. founding of new successor chapters to But Ultramar Segmentum does as it expand the borders of Ultramar The last of these calls came just over always does: It endures. Strengthened Segmentum.

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Homeworlds and Ulixis have the honour of hosting has been called a „Curtain of Steel‟, Ultramar Segmentum spans a vast one from the original legion, or one of and is certainly a formidable barrier, swathe of the galactic east, and with their many successors. Of the core yet despite the Ultramar Navy‟s best each passing year it encroaches ever- Ultramar worlds, the frozen planet of efforts, raider forces still slip past them further into the crumbling Imperium. Calth and the shrine-world of to prey upon the more settled worlds Along with the technological benefits Prandium, where Guilliman fell in beyond. There are even wars within the that membership of Ultramar brings, battle, have both housed chapter segmentum‟s borders, from skirmishes the legion also imports its culture and monasteries. Over the millennia, Calth against the Tau beyond the Damocles values and weaves them seamlessly has grown into an orbital shipyard Gulf and the omnipresent threat of Ork into that of the original society. This second only to the segmentum Navy infestations to the insidious rabble- means that while Ultramar Segmentum dockyards in Kar Dunaish. After Hive rousing of the Alpha Legion and the encompasses a vast array of different Fleet Behemoth came so close to minions of Chaos. Every Ultramarine cultures, from the savage head-hunters devouring Macragge, a successor and every successor know all-too well of New Posul to the aeronauts in the chapter, the Lamenters, was founded the threats that face the segmentum, floating cities of Doromus Minor, each on Prandium. Sadly, both they, and but with courage and honour, they will one is tied, with great affection, back to another successor, the Scythes of endure.

Macragge. Guilliman set to guard the outer rim, were completely destroyed in the Combat Doctrine As befits the world where their Second Tyrannic War against Hive The master of organisation and Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, fell to Fleet Kraken. strategy, Roboute Guilliman laid down earth as an infant, Macragge remains the blueprints for these teachings in his the heart of Ultramar Segmentum. The Despite now being deep inside the Codex Ultramar. It is a comprehensive fortress-monastery still dominates the borders of Ultramar Segmentum, tome, covering not just military and northlands of Illyrium, and from there Istvaan V has continued to be a Astartes organisation, but also vital the chapter master rules with frequent target for Imperial attacks. civilian aspects of governance and beneficence. Like every world in their Though it has become a veritable trade. The Codex emphasises a culture, Macragge is home to a great fortress-world, it still holds a special balanced, combined-arms approach to many military academies, and through attraction for forces headed by the warfare, but is also flexible enough to the halls of these hallowed institutions Emperor‟s Children and World Eaters. recognise that there are times, such as have passed countless generations of Sadly, they seem unable to grasp that when Guilliman defeated Alpharius, Astartes and segmentum guardsmen. the Ultramarines were as much victims when a more extreme approach is The most venerated academy is the of Dorn‟s Great Betrayal as they were. required. He encouraged additions by Agiselus Barracks in Macragge City, later commanders to allow for the where Guilliman himself was trained. Since the schism that tore humanity arrival of new enemies or apart, the worlds along the border with developments in things such as tactics While Macragge houses the first and the Imperium have been ringed with or weaponry. greatest of the Ultramarine chapters, defence platforms and are under many other planets such as Orpheus constant patrol by fleets of warships. It Each of the legion‟s chapters and successors has their own copy of the Codex, each with different changes and additions to reflect their own “My brothers, we have become complacent. Yes, our technology is superior to that of the Imperium, but our advances have come in tiny increments – circumstances and experiences. The continual evolutionary improvements - rather than the leaps forward that will original, unamended version, written in be required to defeat the next hive-fleet, or to finally break the stalemate with Guilliman‟s own hand, is stored in the the Imperium and reclaim Terra for all humanity. deepest vaults of the fortress- monastery on Macragge, and is, like its “Look to the Tau. In the millennia that we have been facing down the Imperium author, preserved in temporal stasis. and the Ruinous Powers they have grown from dwelling in caves to mastering This incalculably valuable relic is technology that in some cases exceeds even our own understanding. By their retrieved only for the inauguration of a unprovoked attacks across the Damocles Gulf, the Tau have rendered their new chapter master. By placing his treaties with us null and void, including those about the use of their weaponry. right hand on the fragile book, he “The time has come to put aside our pride and our preconceptions and use this signifies his intention to rule according new source of technology to strengthen our fleets, our defences and our to his primarch‟s tenets and wishes. Astartes. If we do not, if we instead blindly and timidly continue as we always have, we will inevitably fall to the enemies that surround us.” The most important examples of changes to the Macragge Chapter‟s - Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, after the First Tyrannic War. annotated Codex in the last millennia are those concerning the best uses of

45 heavy rail-gun technology, and the extensive tactics built up to combat the extra-galactic menace of the Tyranids. Chapter Master Calgar felt the buzz of anticipation among his bridge crew Before any additions to the Codex are as the Seditio Opprimere came to full battle-readiness. The battle barge‟s allowed by the chapter‟s librarians, the last action had been in the defence of Prandium from Hive-Fleet Kraken, prospective author must be able to and while she had served valiantly, not even her ultimate sacrifice had been recite, and show a thorough enough to save the planet from consumption. She had needed more firepower, and this was now just what she had been given. Not just another understanding of, Guilliman‟s original upgrade to her lances and gun-decks, but a wholesale refit with completely text. In this way their primarch‟s new technology. The super-heavy rail-guns had astonishing rates of fire, philosophy and intentions for the and were as devastating at extreme range as when firing point blank at a Codex have been protected down the target. millennia. Calgar had warned his fellow chapter masters after the First Tyrannic Organisation War, but only a few of them had been willing to listen. Mastery of the The vast scale of Ultramar Segmentum Macragge Chapter brought with it a great deal of influence over the other necessitated that Guilliman break his chapters, but he did not control them. According to tradition going back to legion into far more autonomous units. Guilliman‟s defiance of Consul Gallan, each chapter master had ultimate authority within his own realm, and the inertia of history could not easily Instead of the grand companies, the be overcome. The concept of gradual evolution had become the norm chapters of the Ultramarines were within Ultramar Segmentum, and even in the face of dire threats, created, with ten companies each of a revolutionary ideas and approaches were shunned, despite Guilliman hundred brothers. Each chapter was himself carrying out such actions on countless occasions. Even on given stewardship over an area of Macragge alone, Calgar‟s scribes had returned from the archives bearing space, and charged with ensuring its reports of groundbreaking developments in weaponry that had been good governance and defence. New rejected by chapter masters down the ages as being too radical. Advances recruits come from amongst the local that could have saved countless lives had been quietly filed away and population to closer bind their fates forgotten. He could only imagine what wonders lay mouldering in the together. Drawn from the most vaults of the other chapters... promising youths, usually from the military academies modelled upon the It felt like a betrayal of his primarch to even think such a thing, but in part Macragge tradition, these potentials are he blamed the Codex Ultramar. Guilliman‟s master-work was so useful sent to the Tenth, or Scout Company, and all-encompassing that in some cases it seemed to have replaced the where they are rigorously trained, need for independent thought. He had applied the most promising tested and implanted with the organs innovations, combined with the best insights gleaned from the Tau, to necessary to forge them into full resurrect the Seditio Opprimere. In the face of such scepticism, though, it Astartes battle-brothers. From there seemed that only a comprehensive and overwhelmingly successful field-test they pass into one of the four reserve would shake the other chapter masters out of their complacency. companies, where they are trained in As predicted by their enhanced auger array, the trio of Imperial cruisers the arts of war, from piloting a vehicle, broke out of the warp. It was time to put his new ship - and the principle in providing heavy weapon support, close general - to the test. combat with bolt pistol and chainsword, or - the backbone of the chapter - in the bolter-armed Tactical squads. feats of heroism. Although a chapter of believe that it is their manifest destiny the Ultramarines is composed of only a to extend the boundaries of Ultramar The Second to Fifth Companies are the nominal thousand Astartes warriors, Segmentum so that one day it will main front-line fighting strength of the these are only the tip of the spear. The encompass all the worlds of humanity. chapter. In line with the balanced chapter master is in effect the military The misguided, corrupt Imperium will approach laid down in the Codex, the governor of every world in his domain, inevitably fall and they will subsume it, ideal is for each of these battle and so also commands every Ultramar be it by slow expansion or a single companies to contain six Tactical guardsman, Navy ship and auxilia, and strike against Terra to topple the squads, supported by two Devastator when the Ultramarines go to war, so regime once and for all. squads and two Assault squads. The too do they. chapter‟s First Company is composed They see the Emperor as one of the of the veterans. Clad either in Beliefs greatest men who ever lived, and the Terminator armour or power armour, Above all things the legion venerates father of their primarch. However, these marines are tasked with the most Guilliman and his teachings, and the despite the proclamations of the deadly missions, and by their example realm of Ultramar Segmentum that Ecclesiarchy, they know that the inspire all those around them to great they have created together. They Emperor is long dead, and have no

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respect for the incompetent thugs that especially the Traitor Astartes, who Battlecry rule in His name. For all of this, their have given up all semblance of Each chapter and successor is free to attitude towards the Imperium is one of humanity. Only once they have the full choose their own battlecry, although distaste and pity rather than hatred. resources of mankind, though, will "For Guilliman, and the greater glory Their true loathing is reserved for the they finally be able to extinguish the of Ultramar!" is favoured by the servants of the Chaos Gods, and Ruinous Powers from the galaxy. Macragge Chapter of the Ultramarines.

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Though a trusted friend to Warmaster Horus, it was Jaghatai Khan’s fate to fall to the clutches of Slaanesh. The Dark Lord of Ecstasy enticed the White Scars’ Primarch with promises of material wealth, power and above all else, freedom from the confines of the Imperial war machine. Their betrayal was as swift as their attacks and equally The devastating; bringing a tear to the eye of the sternest warrior. Though Jaghatai himself has long-since lapsed into decadent and ecstatic Dornian repose, his khans still terrorise the Imperium with lightning strikes; each a mockery of the Emperor they used to serve. Heresy Origins many of his father‟s bondsmen, though The inhabitants of Mundus Planus others mocked him for preaching of a know nothing about the past of their united tribe of the plains. world, the truth hidden deep in ancient lore kept secret since the Heresy. The Sensing the power and potential of his only surviving text, The Terror of son, Ong heeded the young Jaghatai's Quan Zhou, predates the arrival of the words, approaching many tribes under Imperium of Man to Mundus Planus, the banner of peace. Initially, few gave when the people called their home them presence in their camps, deeming Chogoris. The long verses paint a such friendships signs of weakness and picture of soaring mountains, vast a plea for aid. Countless times the green plains and deep turquoise seas. Talskar had to prove their strength in Cities of white stone sparkled along the arms to be allowed to leave alive. But, coasts of these oceans, their inhabitants against the odds, and eased by the living prosperous and comfortable smooth tongue of Jaghatai, a fledging lives under their leader, the Palatine. alliance grew around Ong and the Though they had achieved little beyond Talskar. Unfortunately many still basic black powder technology, these refuted this new nation and war metropolises were havens of luxury continued to rage across the Empty and learning. Opposed to these high Quarter. When brute force did not walls lay the spartan land of the Empty achieve the desired result, raiders of Index Quarter, which stretched featureless for the Kurayed tribe ambushed Ong and as far as the eye could see. Scattered Jaghatai. Father and son fought back- across the plains were tribes of to-back, the last two remaining souls of Astartes: horsemen; nomads whose savagery and their hunting party. Skill and courage lust for battle were infamous across the won the day and the two returned to lands. their encampment more determined in their quest. Reinvigorated, the united White Many of the tribesmen‟s own fables tribe prospered and gained strength as told of the dreaded Talskar tribe and more khans pledged themselves and Scars their khan, or leader. Though he was their families to Ong‟s banner. Soon called many names, such as Aŭdac, their lives were luxurious and Ciĥttera and Mephaeta, amongst his comfortable; a rarity which had not own he was Jaghatai, the great warrior. been seen upon the steppes before, His legend began when Ong, then the where food could be promised and khan of the Talskar, happened upon a children were allowed to play. Jaghatai small child wandering lost across the was held as a champion of the times, plains. Knowing that any soul alone in holding true to the ideals and virtues of his world should return to the earth his teachings. Even as this young by within a day, he was astonished to find nation bloomed to life, fate would play the boy had survived the passing of the heavily against it. Ferrata moon. Believing he was a gift from the Sky Father, Ong took the youngster as While riding the plains one day, his own. Teaching him the arts much Jaghatai came across three horsemen valued by their society, Jaghatai from the white cities attempting to became a master of the bow, the sword ravish a young tribeswoman. Years of and the horse. His tactical wisdom and luxury had not dimmed the skills of the foresight earned him the respect of young warrior, who quickly took the

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heads of two of the attackers and the broken ranks of the Palatine urges of Jaghatai that the Emperor had allowed the badly wounded third to unwilling to pursue further into the little trouble convincing His son to join escape as a warning to his people. field of blood. Unfortunately for the the Great Crusade; simply telling him Jaghatai was not to know that he had tribesmen, amongst the survivors was of the treasures of the shining Imperial damned himself, his father and his tribe Jaghatai, a son who had lost his father Palace and the glory he could find that day, for one of the men he had and a man who had seen his dream amongst the stars was sufficient. With killed had been a favoured son of the shattered by the weaknesses of others. his eyes wide with greed, Jaghatai Palatine. Soon an army stood on the eagerly pledged himself to the plains craving revenge. Outraged by their treachery, Jaghatai Emperor, becoming the Great Khan of swore that the Empty Quarter would the Fifth Legion of Astartes; baptising The Palatine was not a foolish man; he die by his sword. Riding down upon them the White Scars after the tribal knew full well the strengths and those who had failed them, the markings of the Talskar. weakness of his enemy like all great remaining warriors of the Talskar commanders. As vanguard to his army, became daemons of the plains. Finding The Great Crusade a force of diplomats visited the tribes pleasure in the screams of pain that surrounded them, they extended the As with all things in his life, Jaghatai that made up the alliance, offering took to commanding his legion with money, horses and countless luxuries if torture of their enemies as long as ease. He abandoned his home world to they refused to take to battle. The possible. Though it was the Palatine‟s train in the heat of battle, he adapted to campaign of subterfuge and bribery nation which had shed the blood of the Talskar, it was the tribesmen who the bike over the horse with the skill succeeded in turning the heads of only a son of the Emperor could. Not Ong‟s allies, leaving the Talskar to suffered the pain of Jaghatai a thousand fold. The legends of Jaghatai yet trusted to command an expedition face the Palantine‟s armies alone when of their own, the White Scars were they met on the Fields of Zhangiu. Khan took form from these horrors, instead enlisted to aid the other, more Though they had been abandoned, they and by taking their rights of conquest in armour, horses and women, the established legions. Serving alongside fought like beasts. They were almost Dorn, Guilliman and Magnus, the slaughtered to a man before they fled Talskar grew in strength. Not even a united force, like the one Jaghatai White Scars became infamous for the battlefield. The few who were able being reckless allies; abandoning their to retreat were left to do so in peace, himself had dreamt of, could withstand their fury. duties to charge the flanks of the enemy, chasing those who fled and As the Empty Quarter fell under the bathing in the agony of the foe. It was When I was a youngling, my terror of the Talskar, the Imperium whilst fighting alongside the Luna father honoured me with his finally made contact with Chogoris. Wolves that Jaghatai found purpose. company on a hunt. He was a The Emperor Himself is said to have Horus, angered by the needless losses man many thought weak due to walked upon the soil of the planet, with his legion had sustained because of my teachings, my dreams. The the Palatine quickly offering his Jaghatai‟s rash actions, struck his vultures of the plains swooped younger brother, telling the wild down from their hidden perches, allegiance. Sensing one of His sons, striking our party. Our strength the Emperor wandered the lands in primarch to act like a commander and in arms saw victory that day, search for one of humanity‟s greatest not a dog. Instead of lashing back, but maybe it would have been heroes. The first meeting between the Jaghatai embraced his brother, saying better if my father had died Master of Mankind and Jaghatai was he had finally met a man he could instead of falling this night. far from pleasant. The Emperor found respect. „Words‟ I told my father, His son perched upon a throne in a ger „promises and pacts‟ was the of luxury, the years of war funding a The White Scars and their primarch way forward, the way to unite tent of pleasure and excess. were reborn, the silver tongue that the tribes, not by sword and bow. We shared our food, our Surrounded by intricate armour, Jaghatai had used to first unite the gers and our horses; we gave beautiful women and sumptuous feasts, tribes of his homeland now eased the and ask for nothing in return. I Jaghatai was not a warrior-hero but a desires of his men, chastising their was wrong. Whispered words dreaded warlord drowning in his own mindless actions. After barely a year and dirty handshakes have ecstasy. The Emperor was outraged at they had become a respected ally and defeated the alliance, slain my how low one of His own had fallen. In Jaghatai a trusted friend of Horus. father, your Khan. Tonight we a bitter irony, although the Talskar‟s Indeed, the legion became popular take back our lands, our homes, lightning emblem echoed His own, the amongst expeditions of the Great our women. Tonight we unite Crusade, their swift strikes timed the tribes through fear! two leaders could not be more different. This ghoul had destroyed beautifully to crush the enemy. When - Jaghatai Khan as night drew were he could have conquered; the Emperor decreed that Jaghatai close on the Fields of Zhangiu terrorised those he could have ruled, would lead his own grand campaign, but the Emperor was forced to embrace twelve of his brothers‟ legions sent this child of His. So simple were the representatives to congratulate him,

49 with three of them These years were not personally attending the kind to the wild great feast. Though sad primarch. He became to be leaving the less the warlord and comfort of those he held more the bureaucrat, dear, Jaghatai‟s face was separated from the rush alight with pride as his of battle and the father bestowed the emptiness of the plains. greatest honour upon His only connections to him – allowing the Fifth the frontline were the Legion to bear the few times he was able to lightning emblem of the abandon his quarters to Emperor which had spectate selected battles; been refused when the his khans showing him legion had been his heroic legion. Once renamed. Jaghatai had returned to his chambers, his men Many new worlds fell to continued to plunder the war machine of the armouries, reliquaries White Scars, so swift and treasuries in search were their actions that of the perfect gift for the Imperium failed in their lord. Those who documenting them all. brought him the most The battle honours for precious items were the legion did little to heavily favoured, and represent the number of soon Jaghatai was victories that the Scars surrounded by claimed. From the Hive sycophants instead of World of Kerait to the leaders, minions rather jungles of Olkhun, it than heroes. As he listened to their tales of seemed wherever the Battle-leader of the White Scar Legion Fifth Legion took to valour, honour and bravery, warzones were battle, glory and triumph force had been necessary. Constantly rode with them. Jaghatai personally scavenged by blade and blood in the confined to his war room, he spent most brutal of ways to satisfy his headed many of the battles himself, his sleepless nights poring over tactical personal banner standing tall at the rear greed. The tide of fresh victories maps, viewing and reviewing the wide- earned by Jaghatai‟s expedition slowed of his modified jet bike, his huge reaching arms of his expeditions. He shoulders thrusting his power lance to a trickle, and the poor tactical became distant from the warfront, acumen of the new khans caused deep before assaulting the enemy with swamped instead by petitions for his his sword. Not only did his men see the horrific losses to the Fifth Legion. presence, local governors seeking aid honour of the Great Khan, but those in petty disputes or to honour them by The items which garnered the lion‟s who he defeated would willingly serve accepting invitations for social share of the Great Khan‟s pride were a him and the Imperium. gatherings. For a man born under the twin pair of gauntlets named Mamonas night stars with blood on his hands, the and Avauras, which had been gifted to For a second time when his life looked imprisonment of the diplomatic world him by the High Priest of Ikesentii. fruitful and promising, Jaghatai was was a grinding axe worse than death. The jewel incrusted gages were of little struck down. The isolation from his Alone, with no-one to turn to for use in combat, their protection brothers who he had begun to trust, conversation without sly meanings, he compromised by the golden weaving love and depend upon troubled the attempted to find tranquillity in the sea and delicately placed precious stones, primarch deeply. He had felt loneliness of confusion that was becoming his but by then Jaghatai had little need for like this only once before, during the life. He learned to appreciate the many weapons of war, instead his vanity took battle against the Palatine. Without great artefacts which had come to dominance. It is said that he became council from those who he respected, adorn his chambers. Tributes, bribes bound to them, unwilling to leave their such as Horus and Mortarion, he took and gifts, each tainted by hidden presence, even going as far as to the responsibility of every death, either meanings, underhand favours and declare that „only a son of the Emperor brother or ally, as a personal failure. silent wants – though he found an old was equal to their beauty and He even lamented the deaths of his feeling of comfort and security in such magnificence‟. enemies, when words had failed and items.

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fortress-monastery upon Chogoris and prepared the citizens for war against a “A dog they call you – a tamed beast with no claws.” fallen Imperium, the Great Khan left them with chilling orders, “Isolate The intertwined voices were in his head, yet Jaghatai knew they belonged to yourself from the outside, be the viper Mamonas and Avauras. He couldn‟t remember a time when the two spirits hadn‟t guided his way – a blessed gift from the Sky Father. in the pit, hidden, but ready to strike. Bar me or the Emperor Himself, trust “Caged. No freedom, no power, nothing. Just a pawn to their whims. We can no-one.” offer you everything. Rule without question, wealth beyond the damned Imperial treasury. We can give you an escape from this coffin – you can live again. All The arrival of the White Scars on Terra you have to do is listen, and obey.” was meant to be a beacon of hope to the loyalist cause; reinforcements to Jaghatai listened, and Jaghatai obeyed. aid the war against the traitorous Dorn. Unfortunately, all communications with the legion were lost in static, with The Dornian Heresy glistened with an energy which only only the crazed mumblings and Jaghatai had ventured far from the emphasised the grin which spread screams of the damned breaking the heart of the Imperium when the direst across his face. Unknown to all bar interference. Jaghatai Khan had lost of messages reached him. When all Jaghatai himself, he had found a none of his tactical mastery over the those around him were turning against saviour from the troubles that racked years, leading his host of his father, Warmaster Horus contacted his mind. Walking amongst his blood- Thunderhawks directly for the Lion‟s one of the few souls he could trust to brothers, he called them all by name Gate Spaceport. Mindful of the support him. He was forced to inform and judged their skill with a sword, massacre perpetrated by the Blood his younger brother that Primarch Dorn their worth as a comrade and their Angels at the Eternity Wall Spaceport, had turned his back upon the Emperor, eagerness to follow his lead. With his and unable to receive any coherent and he was not alone. With echoes of renewed vigour he personally fixed the reply to his hails, the spaceport‟s the Fields of Zhangiu against the warp engines, labouring for many commanding officer ordered that the Palatine reverberating in his heart, hours alone in the dark confines, with Lion‟s Gate anti-air defences and Jaghatai flew into a violent rage, only his gauntlets for company. heavy shields remain active. Only swearing that he would personally through the direct intervention of destroy all those who had failed When the fleet finally broke into real Warmaster Horus himself were these mankind. Halting his expedition and space at Chogoris, Jaghatai had systems finally deactivated and the recalling all of his forces to his banner, organised a patchwork force of all the White Scars given permission to land. the fleet prepared for warp jump brotherhoods, stating that if the White This proved to be a grave error of destined for Terra, intending to stop Scars were to fail, then all would be judgement. The details of the slaughter only at Chogoris to recuperate their represented in the rebirth of the legion. which followed were overshadowed by losses. Retreating to his chambers to As this detachment secured the later actions across the globe, and the reclaim his calm, Jaghatai lost himself among his precious gifts; the intricate Horus yelled through his vox caster – his usual calm demeanour finally broken armour plates from Khasa, the hand- through the stress of the Siege of Terra. Whilst his men, and those of the other crafted sword which had cost the lives loyalist legions present, were laying down their lives for the Emperor, this of three Arslanii forge masters, and captain, this damned captain, refused to allow allies to land. Every second the finally Mamonas and Avauras, which anti-air defences remained up was a second the White Scars could not be whispered sweet words of comfort into fighting alongside him. the primarch‟s heart. Even when the fleet‟s warp engines inexplicably “Lower those batteries captain, or do I have to come down there myself?” failed, he would not be distracted from his obsession. “...Warmaster...Scars are...attack formation....no call signs...sounds of screams...sir?”

The Warp has neither night nor day, The weak voice of the captain struggled to break through the interference which just a constant stretch of time without had plagued Imperial communications for the past few hours; only the visual respite. When Jaghatai emerged from sightings of the White Scars‟ Thunderhawks had announced their arrival. his quarters, his crew and men had lost Horus had to rely on a series of short-distance messages to relay his commands all morale, believing themselves across the battlefield; his temper shortening with each minute he was left in the abandoned in the Warp and their dark. commander distraught from his brothers‟ treachery. Though his eyes “I don‟t care if they start shooting at you - lower those defences!” looked sore from lack of sleep, they

51 ground of Terra shook under traitors. As the truth was the bikes of White Scars told, many refused to accept dedicated to Slaanesh. that their primarch could have discarded them. Others At first Horus refused to wept as it struck chords believe the reports which within them, their souls reached his command post, telling them all they needed but once Jaghatai had to know. Those left behind accepted the bounty of the were the ones Jaghatai had Imperial Palace from Dorn - been unable to taint, those a prize which the Great too noble and pure of spirit. Khan saw as rightly his after For their virtues, they had the promises of his father - led their people into a and began massacring the massacre. A remembrancer citizens of Terra, the of Abaddon‟s fleet penned Warmaster was forced to the words for this most accept that in these darkest harrowing of events; of days even one of his “Chogoris, burnt to ashes, closest friends could betray bloodied by war. Though him. Painting a single tear enemies, though foes; only drop in the corner of the Eye loyal sons of the Emperor of Horus which emblazed died that day.” his chest, he stood amongst his Sons as they accepted In the first few millennia the charge of the White after the Great Betrayal, a Scars. The initial assault Jaghatai Khan, wearing his prized gauntlets, daemon-centaur claiming to devastated the loyalist line, Mamonas and Avauras be Jaghatai led invasions but to universal surprise the into the Imperium, striking second attack never chronicles of Abaddon‟s Crusades. without warning and materialised. Having proved their After stabilising what remained of the seemingly without logic. During this worth on the battlefield against their Imperium; the First High Lord turned time, the beast commanded the legion Astartes brothers, and with the riches his gaze to the homeworlds of the to such horrors as the Red Highway of the Imperial treasury now secured in Traitor Legions. A combined force of Massacre, a feat which, even with their their ships‟ holds, the White Scars Death Guard and Black Templars, bitter hatred of one another, the capriciously returned to the spaceport. under the dead eyes of Mortarion, was Khornate Space Wolves respect as an Ignoring the bitter threats from Dorn given the honour of reclaiming act of bloodshed almost without and the other traitor primarchs, and Chogoris. The patchwork brotherhood comparison. As the centuries wore on, seemingly indifferent to the fate of the abandoned by Jaghatai fought like Jaghatai became increasingly distracted Heresy that hung so precariously in the wolves, alongside the endless tides of from his conquests, instead depending balance, the Fifth Legion left Terra in tribal horsemen and Palatine infantry. upon his khans to fight in his name search of further plunder. Still heeding the words of the Great whilst he lived in ecstasy surrounded Khan, none dared to question the by treasures and pleasures. It has been Since the Heresy righteousness of their cause. Their many millennia since the Daemon- Whilst the victorious loyalists still hearts were full of sorrow, for the Primarch of Slaanesh has personally wept at the death of the Emperor, the coming of the enemy meant that made war upon the Imperium, and White Scars slaughtered world after Jaghatai, and indeed the Emperor, had many scholars doubt he truly still world and ransacked their riches. Relic failed, and that they were the last commands the legion. worlds, shrine worlds and forge worlds warriors of his memory. all suffered from the lightning strikes Homeworlds of the White Scars, with countless There would be only one result to this Mundus Planus, or Chogoris as it was treasures lost to the greed of Jaghatai war; a triumphant Imperium. The once known, was a planet of two before he finally retreated into the Eye tragedy of this conflict would only worlds when Jaghatai rode across its of Terror. come to light when the few surviving soils. The cities that had belonged to White Scars were interrogated for the the Palatine were built from white Jaghatai never set foot upon Chogoris location of their primarch. The rock, a shining beacon of humanity‟s again, seemingly forgetting his defenders believed themselves the final glory from horizon to horizon. The childhood home. The fate of the planet guardians of the Emperor‟s dream, the ivory walls secured a life of peace and is, however, detailed extensively in the invading force, to them, were the prosperity for its inhabitants. Both

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landscape and lifestyle stood in Of the White Scars themselves, they Beliefs contrast to that of the Empty Quarter. settled upon the daemon world of The ideologies and practices of the As grasslands stretched into grasslands, Kaprax, located deep within the Eye of White Scars have travelled a dark path, it seemed impossible for any single Terror. The vast plains of their home much like the legion itself. The man to claim it as his own. Hills rolled world were recreated to the whims of teachings of the Stormseers, both into mountains, of which the elixir of Jaghatai, the very earth given form by skilled in the art of magicks and the life trickled into the mighty rivers the desire of their primarch. Allowing ways of Slaanesh, are structured which fed the land. Upon these nomads his men to roam free, doing as their around two core pillars by which all a strict life was forced, food was urges decreed, the planet became home brothers live and die. These central scarce, war was frequent and many to excess, greed and indulgence. Those beliefs are that one must attain all that died young. Master of the horse, the with enough blood-money and power is possible and live to their body‟s bow and the sword, it was these people erect gers filled with exotic luxuries fullest capabilities. If an Imperial who raised Jaghatai as their own, and it which ape the great Pleasure Dome of preacher taught these words to his was they who formed the ranks of the Jaghatai himself. It is unknown how flock they would be virtues of life, White Scars. many brothers of the White Scars, like creeds that would surely send a soul to their primarch, have not left Kaprax the table of the Emperor, but the All the bloodshed in its history paled in since its creation, spending all eternity twisted minds of the White Scars have comparison to the fate of the world. there without ever growing bored. belittled these tenets into nothing more Abandoned and deceived by Jaghatai, a than greed and ecstasy. They want for small force of loyal White Scars stood Recruitment into the White Scars is a all that is not theirs, but once they have alongside both tribesmen and warriors torment for even the sternest of acquired it, it pales and fails to satisfy of the Palatine against Abaddon‟s soldiers, and few enter the path their lust. They take their bodies to the Crusade. Not only was every inhabitant willingly. The ancient rituals which highest of pleasures and the deepest of slaughtered in the foolish war, the once produced warriors loyal to the pains all in the name of their patron, culture and legacy of the world was Emperor have become twisted like Slaanesh. also obliterated. In the centuries to their masters into ceremonies of pain. come, the planet was transformed into The magicks of Chaos allow any host Organisation the Mundus Planus of today. The cities to be overcome by the power of of marble were replaced by endless Jaghatai‟s gene-seed. Stormseers - the Though all White Scars still remain factories, pumping smoke and masters of the winds of Slaanesh - bind loyal to the Great Khan, it has been pollutants into the air whilst the Empty the genes of the Great Khan to the long millennia since he left his palace Quarter became host to towering hives captive whilst apothecaries carry out of pleasure to lead the legion. Instead, that would make the nomads turn in the ritual scarring. The transformation groups have formed around inspiring their graves. Though spared the horror takes many weeks, although to the khans who command by strength of of Exterminatus, Mundus Planus was recruit it seems to be an eternity of arms, fear and, above all else, the instead sentenced to become but a agony. During this time the promise of wealth. These brotherhoods simple, anonymous cog in the Imperial Stormseers never cease in their trance- range from a small band of like- machine. For century after century it like chants, delivering new souls to the minded individuals to forces equalling has quietly and unremarkably produced Dark Lord. Many weaklings fail, their that of several loyalist grand its worth in goods and regiments, physical forms too frail for the power companies in number. Of all the oblivious to the horrors of its dark past. of Jaghatai. brotherhoods of the White Scars, the triumvirate of the Rampagers, Destroyers and Marauders constantly vie to be the most brutal and feared. The Red Highway Massacre Each brotherhood is structured around Of all the sadistic acts in the history of the White Scars, the slaughter of the the disposition and resources of their refugees of Urgench is by far the bloodiest. After days of constant attacks which khan, making each one individual and culminated with the critical destabilisation of the city‟s reactor core, Jaghatai unique. A few commonalities have retreated to his ger to watch the hive cripple itself with fear. Instead, the valiant survived the fall of the legion, such as Imperial Governor led his people on a desperate march to the neighbouring hive the absence of Havoc squads and the of Merv. distaste towards Dreadnoughts. Whilst The onslaught of the White Scars was swift, their bikes allowing them to easily the first is simply antagonistic to the catch the massive train of civilians. Over a period of six days and nights, the flowing style of warfare taught by population of Urgench was besieged by the murderous hordes of Jaghatai Khan. Jaghatai, the latter strikes a fear into the hearts of the fearless. Entombment Not a single soul made it to the gates of Merv. within the sarcophagus of these beasts is seen as the greatest of torments for them, the cold metal devoid of the

53 sense of pleasure. It has been known for khans to punish those under their command by imprisoning them inside a The Legend of the Hunter dreadnought when such behemoths can be captured from loyalist forces. These Brother-Captain Cato Sicarius was a proud warrior of the Ultramarines, a poor souls quickly fall to insanity and champion of Guilliman and heir-apparent to the throne of the legion. He was are launched into the heat of battle, quick with the blade, precise with the pole arm and deadly with the axe. This degenerate, this White Scar, had been a competent foe, but he had been a fool resulting in much consternation to challenge him. Be they loyalist or traitor, none could match the martial throughout the enemy‟s ranks. prowess of the Ultramarines.

The preference for mobile warfare Sicarius sighed at the waste of such ornate armour. The helmet alone was a within the legion still echoes from the masterpiece, crafted in the form of a snarling wolf; it was a work of art. His foe tribesmen of Chogoris, with the use of was crippled, unable to move for the pain racking his body, and yet he seemed bike squads being heavily favoured. to be revelling in the experience. With a practiced movement of his Talassarian These brothers will often group in Tempest blade he removed the head of his enemy in a single stroke. It was his sixes, the sacred number of Slaanesh, last act as a warrior of Ultramar. From deep within him a voice that was not his own spoke: and those who embrace it are smiled upon by their Dark Lord. The White „Welcome vessel, I am the Lord of the Hunt – and you are mine.‟ Scars are the only Traitor Legion able to field Land Speeders, though their numbers are limited by the legion‟s by scholars. The legend states that a surrounded by the enemy, whilst a foe inability to produce the vehicle, instead khan walked the fields at the Siege of thinking itself under attack awakes to depending on pillaging them from the Terra, challenging loyalist and Chaos see no enemy but can hear the screams battlefield. A khan who manages to champions alike to single combat. The of men in defensive lines behind them. acquire such treasures will find his number which fell to his blade is There have been occasions when the status and power much advanced. unknown, but since that day, the nobility of humanity has prevailed, and

Though there is no true ranking of the coming of the Lord of the Hunt is a instead of falling apart, a strengthened, splinter-factions bar that Jaghatai is harbinger of death for his prey. united community stands against the lord of all, there are positions of great White Scars. Such insults are treated power within the legion. An Astartes Combat Doctrine harshly, and the brave fools sometimes known only as the Voice of the Great Since their fall to the Dark Prince of find themselves suffering a fate worse Khan speaks in the name of Jaghatai, Excess, the White Scars have only than death – forced induction into the and effectively rules all. It is a foolish furthered their mastery of mobile legion against which they fought so khan who refuses to follow the orders warfare. Their assaults are reminiscent bravely. of the Voice for the wrath he can bring of those of the Talskar as they bled the is almost equal to that of the primarch. Empty Quarter dry. Appearing from all Such is the decoration and wealth of The Stormseers are also a dominant sides, the only warning is the thunder the armour and weapons which adorns force within the legion, their expertise of engines as bikes appear on the each marine that many have confused in the magicks of Slaanesh granting horizon. Strikes come hard and fast, brothers of the White Scars as leaders. them power beyond the dreams of only for an eerie silence to settle as the Blades worthy of loyalist captains are others. They extract a high price in White Scars retreat though victory found in the hands of mere warriors. It treasure and slaves for their services on could easily have been achieved. Such is said that a victory over the legion, if and off the battlefield, but it is one the tactics are deemed foolish by many it can be achieved, is a lucrative one khans must pay for the continued strategists, as they allow an unprepared indeed, for the riches earned from existence of their brotherhoods. foe time to dig in, but such is the pillaging the bodies of the Astartes brutality of the first blow that the could build a city. The Lord of the Hunt is a much feared enemy is demoralised and terror begins brother of the White Scars. Owing no to spread its insidious roots. The White Gene-Seed allegiance to any force, he roams the Scars watch in glee as the enemy force Even while serving the Emperor during galaxy in search of his prey. A few tears itself apart from within, unable to the Great Crusade, the purity if the marines, drunk on the thrill of the hunt, cope with the fear of a second attack White Scars gene-seed was thrown into follow the stalker on his missions, that might come at any moment. doubt. The genetics of the tribesmen of though none survive long. The Chogoris proved as resolute and strong Imperial records on the Lord of the Wherever the sons of Jaghatai tread, as the people themselves, entwining Hunt are confused at best, whether it is destruction follows. Their ability to itself with the gene-seed of Jaghatai. a single man who has survived since isolate the weak link in any defensive Their lust for war and savagery became the Heresy or if as one dies, another force wreaks havoc across the line. A one with the brutality of the Space takes up the title, is mere postulation once secure flank finds itself Marine to produce a dark stain in

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humanity‟s history. Even without the genetic integrity. The Marauders are White Scars he is obsessed with want recruits of their home world, the White renowned for the daemonic forms and destroyed by pleasure - a true child Scars have become increasingly many of their marines have taken; their of Slaanesh. sadistic and barbaric in their nature. horror almost rivalling that of the Even their most hated ally, the myriad creatures of the warp. The Battlecry Khornate Space Wolves, have been magicks which are used to create new Although many different calls are used known to call the White Scars cruel. recruits for the legion only further by the White Scars, “For the Khan!” stifle the purity of Jaghatai‟s legacy, remains a constant across the Mutations have become rife in a the poison of Chaos flowing early into brotherhoods. number of the brotherhoods, whilst what was once a holy ritual. Even as a others have managed to maintain some marine is born into the foul life of the

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Leman Russ' early experiences on Fenris left him with an abiding hatred and suspicion of sorcery, a feeling that was reinforced by what he saw during the Great Crusade. Concerned that the Thousand Son’s magicks would lead them to corrupt even the Emperor, the Space Wolves attacked them to avert a worse fate. When Magnus' The counter-attack brought them to the brink of destruction, Russ called out to his father for aid, but his pleas were instead answered by Dornian Khorne, the bane of all enchantments. The Space Wolves prevailed by giving themselves over to the beast within, revelling in bloodletting Heresy and bestial fury. Now, as Khorne’s chosen legion, they have turned on the Emperor, who they see as the Arch-Sorcerer. They now slaughter all in their path, taking skulls and trophies from their fallen opponents for the glory of the Blood God. Origins into a trap set by a wyrd, one of their Ancient Fenris, the world onto which rune-priests, who planted the the infant Russ came to rest, was a impression that one of their number world of violent extremes. Trapped in was wounded and crying out for help. an acute elliptical orbit, its winters Once hemmed in by the steep walls of were long and dark, and the a gorge, the dense undergrowth was set gravitational upheaval as Fenris passed ablaze with flaming arrows, and the close to its sun threw the scattered maddened animals slaughtered as they inhabited islands into turmoil. The broke from cover. human tribes were forced to make their living from the storm-tossed seas, The boy-primarch saw his den-mother building boats from the few trees to charge at the hunters, only to be survive to maturity and the hides from knocked to the floor by the rune- monsters of the deep. These vessels priest‟s eldritch lightning. With a were vital not just for fishing, but to wordless howl of fury he leapt to the Index relocate entire communities to new mighty she-wolf‟s side, scattering the islands as their own sank beneath the humans that sought to harm her. Astartes: waves. Such a harsh world forged hard Despite being struck by many a and hardy people, nomads, with little poisoned arrow, rage and defiance still care for knowledge that couldn‟t be burned within him. In the end it was carried inside their heads. Survival the rune-priest‟s sorcery that finally meant not just being able to navigate rendered him insensible. The wolves Space the waves, but to drive the enemy into were skinned, but the feral curiosity the sea, be they raiders, or simply a was securely bound and returned to the Wolves tribe unable to defend, and hence halls of Thengir, King of the Russ unworthy of inhabiting, the precious tribe. Seeing a challenge before him, islands. Thengir boasted that he would tame the feral child and teach him the human However, it was not these people that tongue. Though it started as a the infant primarch was found by, but humorous wager, the king soon grew to something far more dangerous. regard the boy as his own son, naming According to Gnauril the Elder‟s him Leman of the Russ. While he legendary saga, 'The Ascension of the retained a certain lupine savagery, the by Wolf King', he was raised in the first boy took to his new-found human few years of life by a pack of Fenrisian heritage with aplomb. His Aurelius wolves, suckling from the she-wolf extraordinary strength, skill and like a cub and hunting on all fours with cunning earned him a dominant role Rex the pack. It was these raids that first within the tribe, and cemented his brought him into contact with the tribes position as the rightful heir to of man. On hearing of the wolves Thengir‟s throne. terrorising his vassals, the ruler of the island ordered his bondsmen to bring In Leman Russ‟ rise to greatness one back their pelts. The pack was lured group found themselves excluded from

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the king‟s councils: the Adeptus Custodes who had once-powerful rune-priests. subtly moved to protect Some say that Russ could their lord, but the Emperor never forgive what they bade His guards stand had done to the great she- aside, and realising what it wolf who had raised him. would take to convince Others claim that having him, issued Russ a only recently gained the challenge. power of speech and human reason, seeing the The Master of Mankind wyrds cloud men‟s minds and the Wolf-King fought and steal their thoughts bare-handed all through seemed to be the worst that night, and as the sun kind of crime to the young rose over the wreckage of primarch. His instincts the lodge-house, the matter were vindicated when the was finally settled. The rune-priests used their Emperor had shown He powers to twist loyal was willing to spill His members of the tribe to own blood, rather than just attack Russ and King demand it of His subjects, Thengir. Recognising the and by merely surviving taint of sorcery, Leman that long, Russ had proved Russ swiftly dispatched the beyond doubt that he was rune-priests among the truly one of his father‟s group and ended the attack, primarchs. All that but not in time to prevent remained was for the Thengir from suffering a Emperor to establish His mortal wound. dominance without Post-Heresy Space Wolf question. With a mighty The freed bondsmen Note use of Ultramarine cuisse taken as a trophy blow that stunned the grovelled for their lives at assembled crowd, the the feet of Leman Russ. Emperor struck Russ They spoke of how their will had been glowing metal in the blood of an square in the face and knocked him out stolen, that they had been nothing but enemy. Thus protected, by the time the cold. Then, to the appreciative cheers helpless puppets in the attack. They Emperor arrived on Fenris the newly of the Fenrisians, the bloodied Master also claimed to have heard talk of the crowned Wolf-King, had expunged the of Mankind placed His golden sigil involvement and complicity of other taint of sorcery from the island, and around Russ‟ neck. In doing so, the rune-priests, both on the island and also from those of their neighbours. Emperor formally passed command of further afield. Grimly, Leman Russ the Sixth Legion to their primarch, bade them stand, and in a voice filled Russ‟ early instinctual acceptance of known ever-after as the Space Wolves. with certainty made the following the Emperor as his true father was proclamation: severely shaken when it became clear The Great Crusade that He was not just what the When Russ awoke he was a man “To beat someone in a fair fight and Fenrisians would call a wyrd, but the transformed: at ease with his place as prove your dominance is only right. most powerful one in the galaxy. The the enforcer of the Emperor‟s will To trick your opponent to do so... all Emperor patiently explained the among the stars. The legion took the the better. But to steal someone‟s difference between wild sorcery and stable and previously unexplored mind with sorcery; to take from them his own tightly controlled psychic continent of Asaheim as its base and the very thing that makes them powers, but Russ refused to listen. established their fortress-monastery, human... that can never be forgiven. Even the honour of commanding a which they called the Fang, at the legion of the Adeptus Astartes was summit of the highest and most “We will kill them all.” taken as an insult. He coldly accused forbidding mountain peak. The the Emperor of being no better than the original Terran legionaries adapted To this end, the tribe of the Russ took rune-priests who had used others to quickly to their primogenitor‟s whims, to wearing torcs made of solid, fight their battles for them, and and the hardy islanders of Fenris dependable iron. A known protective contemptuously threw the offered proved to be excellent candidates to against sorcery, its qualities were golden thunderbolt and lightning sigil take the Helix Lupus and join their further enhanced by quenching the to the floor. Russ confronted the ranks.

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Though savage and unconventional by the standards of many other legions, the Space Wolves‟ innate skills as “Books? We keep our knowledge up here! [taps head] Any tribe that used seafarers and raiders translated well to its wood to make paper rather than spear shafts or axe handles wouldn‟t the role of bringing the lost human last long on Fenris, I can tell you! We were given some books once to try worlds into compliance with the to „civilise‟ us, so they said. They came in very useful to get the fire going, Imperium. Russ‟ legendary charm, and the pages were certainly smoother and more comfortable on the amply backed by the threat of his cheeks than using ghora leaves after a big meal, [grins toothily] though I ferocious warriors, persuaded all but don‟t think that was quite the „civilising‟ effect they had in mind!” the most truculent planetary leaders as - Chief Bran Irontooth on the benefits of the Imperium to the benefits of the burgeoning Imperium. On occasion the Space Wolves found themselves fighting alongside marines from other legions, wholeheartedly that psychic talent was off their fleet and blasting their orbital and while Russ counted most of his the key to Mankind‟s future, and used defences into wreckage before brother-primarchs as firm friends, in it as an integral part of his war strategy. descending onto the planet below. the case of the Dark Angels the rivalry The first and last time the two legions What they found beneath the shining was far from cordial. The gregarious fought alongside one another, they white cities‟ veneer of purity sickened and headstrong Russ found Lion came within moments of all-out the Space Wolves to the core. They El‟Jonson to be cold, arrogant and warfare. The experience convinced uncovered entire libraries of superior, a fact made worse by them Russ that Magnus‟ explorations into sacrilegious texts, buildings having brought a greater tally of the nature of the Immaterium were constructed for the sole purpose of worlds into compliance than the young nothing more than thinly veiled conducting black rites, and a populace Space Wolf Legion. This antipathy sorceries of the blackest kind. who openly bore the mark of the spilled over to such a degree that after mutant and the witch. While the Space their shared enemies had been defeated Russ was not alone in his concerns, Wolves drew the noose around the it was common for unseemly fistfights and on the planet of Nikaea the Master heavily protected capital city of Tizca, or even blood-duels to erupt. of Mankind called a council to stand in Russ had no qualms about ordering judgement on the subject. The Wolf- sustained orbital bombardments to Despite their complete trust in the King was characteristically forthright scour the lesser cities from the face of Emperor, the culture of Fenris left the in his views, and supported with the planet. Space Wolves eternally vigilant for any damning testimony from like-minded taint of sorcery in the worlds they primarchs such as Mortarion, Corax The Space Wolves advanced conquered. Where less „superstitious‟ and even Dorn, Magnus‟ fate appeared cautiously beneath the protective legions blinded themselves to the truth, sealed. When judgement came, the shield-curtain, and at first met only the Space Wolves took the same direct Thousand Sons were not only allowed scattered resistance. Emboldened, they and bloody approach to the uncanny to continue their practices, but also pressed on, only to find the city itself that they had on Fenris. It seemed that given leave to soul-bind themselves to becoming a labyrinth, as though the on every planet they brought into the Emperor. Fearing that Magnus had buildings themselves were moving and compliance, no matter how tranquil, a used his corrupt powers to influence re-arranging to divide their forces. It coven of wyrds lay hidden like the their father‟s decision, Russ stormed was then that the Thousand Sons maggot within the apple. Though the from the council and laid plans to save finally showed themselves. Isolated very concept of the daemonic was the Emperor from Himself. and unsupported, the Space Wolves treated by others at the time as were attacked from all sides by balefire laughable, the Space Wolves saw them and mind-numbing enchantments. for what they were. In the face of mass The Burning of Prospero Their iron torcs were of little use possession and daemonic Believing that the soul-binding ritual against such potent magicks, and with manifestation, even the oblivion of would allow Magnus to poison the his legion dying around him Russ global extinction was a kindness. Emperor‟s essence with sorcery, Russ called out to his father, to anyone, for gathered his entire legion together to aid in destroying the sorcerers. While Russ himself calmed the attack the Thousand Sons‟ homeworld misgivings of his men over working of Prospero. To their credit, not a The answer came from deep within with aberrations like Astropaths and single brother shied away from the him. It was the personification of the Navigators, he forcefully forbade terrible thing the Wolf-King had asked bestial fury that had boiled inside his battlefield psykers in his legion, and of them. soul since he had first run with the was outspoken about their use by other wolf-pack on Fenris. It was the part of Astartes. The worst offenders in Russ‟ With all of their cunning and skill, the him that yearned to slaughter whole eyes were the Thousand Sons. Their Space Wolves were able to catch the worlds, to feast upon warm flesh and to primarch, Magnus the Red, believed legion of sorcerers unawares, chasing swim in oceans of blood. The howl

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that started at the back of Russ‟ throat Custodes, his father‟s personal the mutants‟ lives, but not to the fleet‟s echoed from the shining towers and bodyguards. He also found the predicament. Cooped up with no one was in turn taken up by every Space remains of the golden thunderbolt sigil but each other to vent their frustration Wolf in the city. In an instant the that had been destroyed by the upon, Russ became concerned they enchantments faltered, the insane Guardian Spear‟s thrust. With an iron would either arrive too late, or that the cartography shifted back to the norm certainty Russ knew the truth of the legion would destroy itself long before and aetheric lightning guttered and matter. From the actions of the it reached Terra. died in the sorcerer‟s hands. Adeptus Custodes, it was painfully clear that the Emperor not only Their salvation came from an Transformed into little more than condoned the sorcery that Magnus had unexpected source: the Dark Angels. slavering beasts, the Space Wolves fell perpetrated, but stood proudly with When yet another warp-jump deposited upon their tormentors. Only after they him. Russ also recognised the then far off course and within hailing had reduced the city of Tizca to a thunderbolt sigil for the focus of distance of a Dark Angels fleet, the charnel pit did they return to anything psychic power it most certainly was. Space Wolves prepared to continue resembling sanity. They did so with While he had worn it Russ had been their long-standing feud. Instead they the name of their saviour on their influenced to be utterly loyal to his were greeted warmly as fellow reddened lips: Khorne, the God of „Allfather‟. After its destruction, Russ enlightened of Chaos. Luther, the Dark Blood and Skulls, the bane of all could see the Emperor for what he Angel‟s commander, said that he had sorcery. There were bodies of truly was: The Arch-Wych. personally slain Jonson for the glory of Thousand Sons among the piles of Chaos, and further, claimed to have corpses, but not nearly enough to With the Thousand Sons gone, embraced and studied the Dark Gods in account for their full numbers. Most Prospero‟s shining cities in ruins and all their aspects. With Luther‟s aid, the tellingly, of Magnus himself there was its mutant population put to the sword, Space Wolves were able to control and no sign. Stalking through the rubble of Russ tasked his legion with an even direct their aggression. This was the primarch‟s tower sparked a greater challenge. The whispers of his performed in a symbolic bloodletting memory of the battle in Russ that new patron in his ears, Russ declared on the planet of Dulan. Even though changed the legion forever. He that they would tear down the Imperial the world had sided with Chaos, the remembered fighting the cyclops Palace and put the Emperor to the two legions tore down the Crimson primarch, trading blows which shook sword. Fortress of its ruler, the tyrant Durath. buildings to their very foundations. The blood pact, sealed with Durath‟s Just as he had Magnus at his mercy, a Drowning in Blood evisceration, gave the Space Wolves a figure in golden armour appeared from The news that Rogal Dorn had also deeper understanding of Khorne. From nowhere and parried the death-blow seen the light and had crushed three then on, Russ and his brothers had the with an ornate spear. The memory of legions loyal to the Emperor roused the chance to be masters of the blood-tide the heart-strike, only narrowly turned Space Wolves to jubilation. It seemed rather than its servants. aside by Russ‟ thick chest-plate, that at last mankind was awaking to the brought back an ocean of pain, but it threat, and was rising up as one against Both fleets continued onwards, was washed away by the joyous sorcery. In a state of high excitement drawing torturously slowly but surely remembrance of tearing the assassin the legion returned to its fleet and set towards Terra. With the two Chaos apart a second later. course for Terra to join the revolution. Legions only days from their This celebratory mood rapidly soured destination, and the war balanced upon Magnus the Red was long gone, but the though, as the legion immersed a knife-edge, the Emperor was forced corpse of the golden armoured warrior themselves in the worship of Khorne into a desperate gamble to attack the remained. He recognised the man for with riotous bouts of bloodletting and leader of the Heresy on his flagship. what he was, a member of the Adeptus head-taking. Worse still, what was Though Dorn was killed and the heart always going to be a long journey torn out of the Chaos Legions on Terra, seemed to be cursed. The tides of the it left the Emperor a broken, mortally “Fear not of how Imperial warp had turned against them, slowing wounded husk. history will judge our their progress to a crawl and sweeping actions. If we stand aside them far off course. Even with the Chaos Legions in full this day, the Imperium itself retreat and the vengeful loyalists eager will soon be history.” The fleet‟s Navigators were blamed, to avenge their fallen lord, Russ still either through incompetence or by continued onwards. It was only the - Leman Russ intent, yet even the most bloodcurdling sage counsel of Luther that turned him on the eve of the of torments failed to right their course. from the path of certain destruction. He Burning of Prospero Russ‟ realisation that their new-found said that they must have faith that gifts allowed them to traverse the warp everything had transpired according to as well as any Navigator put an end to Khorne‟s great plan. With the

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Imperium in such a state of upheaval though attracted by the worship of the driven by the will of the Blood God to there was an entire galaxy of skulls Blood God, had swept out to oppose the invaders. The war of ripe for the harvesting. The idea that encompass Fenris. Still the attrition stretched from weeks to Khorne himself had prevented them consummate raider, Russ used the brief months, but finally, under a burning from reaching Terra in time did not go periods in which the warp was calm to sun that filled the sky with ominous down well with the Space Wolves, bring the judgement of Khorne down portent, the Imperial forces broached with Wolf Lords openly voicing their upon the already weakened Imperium, the walls of the Fang itself. Though disgust. At last, however, Russ turned always returning to Fenris just before there were other legions and indeed them aside, and they set course for the storms descended once more. primarchs fighting across Fenris, only Fenris, leaving a swathe of butchered the Thousand Sons led by Magnus, the worlds in their wake. Eventually, three years shy of the Word Bearers commanded by Lorgar second century anniversary of the and the Black Templars under High The Scourging of Fenris Emperor's entombment inside His Lord Abaddon set foot inside the Space As the Imperium regained its strength, Golden Throne, the warp-storms Wolves mighty fortress-monastery. it took to reclaiming the worlds which enshrouding Fenris briefly cleared and had sided with Chaos during the a crusade was launched to assault the In the centuries since the Wolf-King Dornian Heresy. The ancestral world with overwhelming strength. and the cyclops had fought to a homeworlds of the so-called Traitor The loyalists had hoped that their standstill on Prospero, Russ had Legions were particular prizes for relative isolation would have caused become both a daemon-primarch and them, but were something that could the skull-takers to turn upon one an avatar of Khorne. In such a clash no only be attempted by massed crusades another, depleting their numbers, but mere mortal could hope to survive, and of the loyalist Astartes. Excepting this was not to be. the Fang‟s massive halls were choked Macragge, which has not fallen to this with the dead of both sides. Then, after day, Fenris was the last Astartes During the Scourging of Fenris, every three days, the loyalist simply homeworld to fall. For long periods it isolated island became a battleground. withdrew and returned to their ships. was isolated by swirling warp storms The animals and even the landscape The only sign the Space Wolves found from the Eye of Terror which, as itself seemed to rise up as though of their primarch was his frostblade,

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Mjalnar, and his massive, empty suit of daemon-armour scattered outside the entrance to his personal temple to The Wolf Brothers Khorne. Burning with the arrogance and certainty of youth, and no longer burdened by their fealty to Leman Russ, large numbers of Blood Claws rejected the teachings Though consumed by the of their elders and struck out to show the galaxy the meaning of unbridled disappearance of their primarch, there aggression. Wilfully ignoring the structure of Luther‟s teachings, which they was no time for the Space Wolves to saw as an anathema to the purity of Khorne, each competed to be the most ascertain Russ‟ location, or even if he brutal and bloodthirsty in honour of their god. Though these so-called „Wolf was still alive. The loyalists had fled Brothers‟ drowned the stars themselves in blood, such intensity could never be because the world itself was dying, its sustained. They were rapidly consumed in the crucible of war, dead either at the ever-eccentric orbit in terminal decay. hands of the enemy, or just as likely, murdered by each other. Such a fate is The Space Wolves blamed the little deterrent, though, and periodically bands of rebellious Blood Claws leave Thousand Sons, claiming that only the the confines of their great companies to follow in the footsteps of the original Wolf Brothers. foulest of sorceries could have performed such a deed. Bereft of their primarch, and with their world tearing name of Khorne. Those skilled or killed during raids. In either case such itself apart, the legion did the same. lucky to survive long enough to weaklings do not last long before Some remained on Fenris and slaked assimilate Luther‟s insights take a running foul of one of their master‟s their bloodlust by killing whoever they more measured, and even more rages, or becoming food for the could find before the end. Most took to effective approach to battle. These Fenrisian wolves on the long journeys their ships and were scattered across Grey Hunters use stealth and cunning between battles. the galaxy by the tides of the warp, to quietly lope into position, the better content simply to wreak their to deliver swift death to their Combat Doctrine vengeance upon the Imperium. unsuspecting enemies. The finest On the field of battle, the Blood Claws

exponents of Khorne‟s art rise to the throw themselves madly towards the Organisation position of Wolf Guard. They are enemy. In their desire to fight, these After the disappearance of Leman charged with the most important tasks, young marines, often transformed into Russ, the Space Wolves‟ fiercely such as enforcing their master‟s will bestial Wulfen, lose all thought of headstrong and independent nature upon a difficult pack, or clearing a path tactics or stealth. The more mature meant that no single Wolf Lord could for the Wolf Lord to challenge the Astartes use their years of experience claim the unanimous support of their enemy‟s leaders. to work their way into position, ready peers. As a result the legion fractured to attack the enemy in its vulnerable into great companies, with charismatic The legion has no love or need for the flanks. The psychological effect of this Wolf Lords such as Kyrl Grimblood, written word, instead storing all of its cannot be over-estimated. Even the Hengst Bloodmane and Bjorn the Fell knowledge and history in the form of most disciplined gun-line has faltered Handed leading their brothers out on sagas recited aloud. While every and broken on the realisation that they disparate, uncoordinated rampages. In brother strives to tell the epic tale of face not only an onrushing tide of time even these allegiances began to their deeds on the battlefield, the claws and teeth, but that the enemy is fracture. The first to depart were legion‟s specialists use it as an aid to already behind them and slaughtering groups of younger Astartes who broke complete their own tasks. The Iron its way towards them. away from what they saw as the staid Priests consign everything to memory and complacent rule of their in this way, from the operation of While the legion does not intentionally commanders. As death or spawn-hood starships to the repair of weapons and summon daemons, such acts being claimed the original Wolf Lords, feuds armour, while the Choosers of the much too akin to sorcery for their erupted amongst those who sought to Slain use the sagas to recall the liking, the entities are drawn to the succeed them. Such confrontations procedure for the creation of new sites of their butchery anyway. Lesser generally end with the victor claiming Space Wolves. daemons have been observed to burst the skulls of his challengers, but on from corpses or exude themselves from occasion it has led to the acrimonious The Space Wolves' ships are crewed by pools of freshly spilled blood to aid in breakdown of once-mighty great humans referred to as bondsmen. They the slaughter. After the fight has been companies. attend to the marine's needs and even won, and befitting their nomadic follow them onto the battlefield. Some nature, the legion and its assorted Newly inducted marines start out are cultists of Khorne who have hangers-on descend to pick the grouped together into large packs consciously sought out the legion in a battlefield clean. Guided by scent the known as Blood Claws. With the vain attempt to prove their worthiness battle brothers return to the sites of vitality of youth, they rush headlong as Astartes. Most bondsmen are simply their kills to take trophies from worthy towards the enemy to spill blood in the souls taken captive rather than swiftly enemies. In the case of other Astartes

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bodies. They then had to show enough composure to return to the Fang so that „I was barely initiated and full of the spirit of the Wulfen when the primarch the process could be completed and himself summoned my pack of Blood Claws. He led us deep into the forests of their training begin in earnest. Asaheim, and put our skills to the test tracking a pack of Fenrisian wolves.

„From the cover of a rock outcropping we watched as the pack brought a herd of After the Heresy, the application of the snow-elk to bay. The young wolves howled and snarled, then charged straight Helix Lupus became even more brutal. towards the solid wall of bulls that faced them. I gasped at such brave stupidity, On the battlefield, the legion slaughters muttering that they would be torn apart upon the elk‟s razor sharp antlers, but indiscriminately, dedicating their kills Russ just laughed softly and pointed to a patch of scrub. From it burst the older to Khorne, their God of Blood and and wiser members of the pack. They had taken advantage of the noisy Skulls. Stalking through the carnage distraction to infiltrate the herd‟s weakly guarded flanks. In the panic the like cadaverous wraiths are the defensive line was scattered and the young wolves had no trouble bringing the Choosers of the Slain. Part apothecary, mighty bull elks down one by one without a single casualty. part acolyte of Khorne, they minister to

„As the pack began to feast, Russ turned to me and said “That is how a true wolf their fallen brethren, deciding if they fights, Bjorn. That is how we fight...”‟ are worthy to live on, or to yield up their gene-seed and skulls to their - Wolf Guard Bjorn the Fell Handed god‟s throne. The Choosers also select those enemies that have fought with sufficient valour and ferocity, and this can include weapons and pieces of had been stolen away and scattered proved worthy of joining Khorne‟s armour to replace the damage that across the galaxy, the Emperor ordered legion. They are touched by the will of inevitably occurs. They rarely repaint that the legions‟ implants be created the Blood God himself, with skills that it, preferring that it remain as a based upon what remained of their far exceed the wit of even the most reminder of their battles, and as a gene-templates. In the case of the skilled chiurgeon. Under their taunting sign to their enemies of their Space Wolves, the process was flawed, ministrations, and with the application previous defeats. resulting in extensive and crippling of the Helix Lupus, even a mortal levels of rejection and mutation. A wound may be averted. In their wake come the Choosers of the number of alternate therapies based Slain. They stalk the battlefield upon their primarch‟s gene-sequence Once marked by Khorne in this way, selecting skulls adjudged to be were investigated, but the one finally the beast within is released, and the particularly prized by Khorne. They selected was known as the Helix long, agonising process of also claim the gene-seed of fallen Lupus. At first the process was almost transforming their bodies and minds Space Wolves and select those enemies rejected as it transformed the aspirants into those of sons of Russ can proceed. who fought well enough to be saved into incoherent savages, devoid of all While traditional gene-seed from the brink of death and forcibly reason. However, when the changes implantation processes require that the initiated into the legion. Under the had subsided, it was recognised as the aspirant be no older than early puberty, direction of the Iron Priests, the missing piece of the puzzle, it appears that the ministrations of the legion‟s bondsmen are sent out to reconfiguring the aspirant‟s body into a corrupted Helix Lupus can allow this scour the area for anything of use. As form far more amenable to the quirks process even in full grown adult the Space Wolves have little of the Russ gene-line. candidates. It has even been suggested manufacturing capacity, and even less that it can even be used to forcibly interest in settling down to use it, This was initially conducted under corrupt Astartes of other legions to almost everything they have has to be controlled conditions, with subjects serve Khorne. Though none of the scavenged, ranging from bolt-rounds to restrained throughout the process and loyal Astartes legions have ever entire Land Raiders. Only when the intravenously fed with the nutrients admitted this has occurred with any of Fenrisian wolves have returned from required to fuel their transformation. their brothers, it would certainly bring chasing down and glutting themselves On taking command of the legion, a new danger to the prospect of upon enemies that fled in cowardice Russ changed these procedures fighting against the Space Wolves; that from the battlefield does the legion dramatically. A sterile laboratory was in doing so they risk a fate worse than start its journey to the next battle. no place for the birth of a Wolf of death. Fenris, and so immediately after the Gene-seed & Recruitment Helix Lupus was administered, In addition to the bestial nature of the Back to the earliest days of the legion, aspirants were dropped into the Helix Lupus, the Russ gene-line has the Space Wolves‟ method of gene- mountainous wastes of Asaheim. In the always exhibited certain quirks, such seed implantation has been brutally midst of the change, these bestial as their uncannily sharp senses and idiosyncratic. Since their conversion creatures were expected to follow their how their incisors grow long and tusk- to Khorne, this has become all-the urges; to hunt down and consume the like with age. Over the millennia, the more acute. After the infant primarchs flesh needed to reconfigure their warping power of Chaos has bestowed 62

further beneficial changes which boost their already considerable strength and brutality. Under the watchful eyes of The Collars of Khorne the Choosers of the Slain this process has been guided to bring them ever- Worn by the warriors of Fenris as a ward against magic, iron neck torcs became closer to their ideal of the perfect common even amongst the Terran-born members of the Space Wolves. After the legion came to the worship of the Blood God, they took to calling them „Collars killer. of Khorne‟ and carved elaborate skull symbols into the metal. Far beyond simple superstition, these devices have a potent protective effect against psykers and Homeworld magic, Khorne being the bane of such things. As the custom is to anoint the Fenris, the place of the legion‟s birth, collar in the blood of a defeated opponent, the chest armour of a Space Wolf is was a death-world even before it was constantly splattered crimson. So ingrained is this that collars taken from dead Space Wolves have been observed to exude blood for months or even years. claimed by Khorne. Its islands periodically sank beneath the waves, The most infamous collar was crafted for Bjorn the Fell-Handed, the iron for forcing the population to brave the which supposedly came from the blood of thousands he had personally slain. It is kraken-haunted seas in search of new said that Khorne took exception to Bjorn‟s hubris at withholding that which was homes. The fertile volcanic soils rightly his, and damned the Wolf Lord for his actions. At the climax of the allowed them to grow crops in season Proxima Rebellion, the moment of his greatest triumph, Bjorn was struck down to see them and their animals through and consigned to eternity inside a dreadnought. Any son of Russ who dares to the long, cold winters, as well as grain wear this collar is imbued with Bjorn‟s legendary fury and skill, although not, it for the brewing of ales. seems, with a long life.

The planet‟s sole continent, Asaheim, was the only place insulated from this gods of Chaos. Like many other echoes of Skyrar‟s Rift still pulse tectonic upheaval. Permanently raised legions they have claimed a world through the Fenris system as a sign of up above the battering seas, its coast there, though not as a home, but a their defiance. was a single precipitous cliff-face, shrine. It is to this dead world, far which meant that the first time beyond the prying sensors of the Beliefs humanity was able to set foot there was Imperium‟s null-ships, that the legion Since their enlightenment at Prospero with the arrival of the Imperium. The comes to make their offerings to the Space Wolves have dedicated animals that stalked the forests and Khorne. The mountains of votive themselves to the worship of Khorne, mountain peaks of Asaheim were no skulls stretch up into the daemon- slaying entire systems in his name. less dangerous than those found in the haunted clouds, a pile they say that Without the structures of faith gifted to oceans: bears, mammoths and most supports and raises Khorne‟s throne them by Luther, their wild, self- dangerous and iconic, the Fenrisian higher with every death. In a realm destructive excesses would long-since wolves. Packs of these had even been where the warp and the material plane have driven the legion to extinction. found on the islands, hunting the intersect, who is to say that they are As a mark of respect, the Dark Angels livestock and inhabitants, and well able wrong? are one of the few of the Chaos to brave the seas in search of fresh Legions the Space Wolves are willing prey. Unable to accept that their ancestral to fight alongside. They usually prefer home is truly gone, some Space to fight alone, confident that even Though Fenris died when its erratic Wolves are drawn to return to the while heavily outnumbered, they are orbit plunged it deep into the heart of Fenris system. This knowledge has more than a match for any opponent. their sun, a more subtle death occurred been used by the Imperium, and in when Russ returned after the Heresy. particular the Thousand Sons, to bring While the fate of Leman Russ is Those that would not dedicate them to battle. The presence of the unknown, every Space Wolf has a themselves to Khorne were culled and legion‟s blood-enemies desecrating the theory. Some say that, like Roboute the turbulent seas ran red with the site of their homeworld is an insult that Guilliman, he was captured by the blood of the „unenlightened‟. The twin no true son of Russ could ignore. Many Imperial primarchs and returned to losses of both primarch and homeworld a Space Wolf warband has gone Terra in chains. Others say that he was shattered the legion into warbands willingly into the teeth of such a trap, banished to the warp, or that his very which set off on the sea of stars in the most glorious being the fate of essence was annihilated by Magnus‟ search of new planets on which to ply Wolf Lord Skyrar and his Dark psychic power. They all agree, their murderous trade. Wolves. They destroyed three however, that even death itself will not escorting frigates, and even with their be able to prevent Russ from returning On occasion these warbands tire of the ship debilitated by wild magicks, were to reunite the legion for the final great Imperium and gravitate to the Eye of able to ram the Thousand Sons‟ battle battle – the Wolftime. Some believe Terror to test their blades and take the barge and catastrophically breach its that with the forces of Chaos gathering skulls from worshippers of the other warp core. Long after it had closed, the and finally organising themselves for

63 an almighty attack upon the Imperium, Battlecry that the End of Days is at hand, and Usually the only thing the Space that Russ‟ return is imminent. Having Wolves‟ opponents hear before the been denied setting foot upon Terra attack is the berserk, ravening howl of during the Dornian Heresy, they the Blood Claw packs, but on believe that no power in the universe occasions where the whole force fights could prevent him from taking his part out in the open, “For Russ, for skulls, in the final destruction of the Arch- for the Wolftime!” is frequently used as Wych. a battlecry by the Wolf Lord.

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Magnus was the first of the primarchs to recognise the existence and the threat the Ruinous Powers posed to Mankind, and because of this the Thousand Sons became the first legion to be targeted for destruction by the forces of Chaos. Though it cost them dear, those that survived the Space Wolves’ slaughter were pivotal in bringing the The Dornian Heresy to an end. As the most powerful battle-psykers in the Imperium they are feared and mistrusted, even by the people they Dornian selflessly defend against the encroaching darkness. Heresy Origins He was most often to be found poring During the great diaspora, when over the ancient tomes in the city‟s humanity colonised the galaxy, the extensive libraries and animatedly world of Prospero was chosen by the debating with wizened scholars many mutants and psykers that settled it times his own age. Knowledge was his precisely because of its remoteness and passion, and with the fiery certainty of lack of mineral resources. In their youth he believed that no subject was splendid isolation, these outcasts from beyond his mastery. It was the study of the rest of humanity created Tizca, a the hermetic arts of alchemy and shining city of light, learning and sorcery that changed his life forever. culture amidst the barren wasteland. Doing so awakened him to the true Although they had been cut off for power of the Warp, an act which thousands of years, tales still abounded levelled the building in which he had of the howling mobs that had been studying. As his psychic powers persecuted their forefathers, and they blossomed, he became aware of both lived in quiet dread that their haven the Gods of Chaos, and his father, the would be invaded. Unsurprisingly, Emperor of all Mankind.

when the infant Magnus‟ incubation Though separated by half a galaxy, the Index chamber fell to earth amongst the Emperor and Magnus recognised each shining silver towers in Tizca‟s central other for what they were. With his Astartes: plaza, the population was gripped with insatiable thirst for knowledge, terror. Finally overcoming their Magnus eagerly learned about every trepidation, they found it to be not an aspect of the young Imperium, of the orbital bombardment or the vanguard Great Crusade, and the search for his Thousand of an invasion force, but a battered, brother primarchs. Through his scorched and damaged wreck expanded acuity, and the tutelage of his Sons containing a badly injured child. father, Magnus became the first of the primarchs to learn of the terrible threat Though he was near the point of death posed by the Ruinous Powers. Even as when they first found him, the boy the Emperor taught him these things, displayed a tenacious will and He swore Magnus to secrecy, remarkable constitution. Under the explaining that the threat was so grave ministrations of the commune‟s healers that even knowledge of their existence he quickly returned to robust health, would be enough to seduce some to but nothing could be done to save the their worship. Magnus had seen to his boy‟s right eye. An ugly welt of scar cost the palpable link between sorcery tissue covered the socket, but in a and Chaos, but argued that the Ruinous society where mutation and deformity Powers could easily use such ignorance by were rife, this was little cause for to corrupt the unwary. Despite this, he comment. He was named Magnus, or, was unable to persuade his father. The Aurelius more usually and affectionately, Emperor spoke of a grand plan that Magnus the Red after his ruddy would one day see humanity strong Rex complexion and the colour of the enough to resist Chaos‟s wiles, but unruly mane of hair that he doggedly until then, He solemnly forbade refused to cut. Magnus quickly grew to Magnus from telling anyone outside vibrant maturity and threw himself his own legion, even his own brother wholeheartedly into learning. primarchs, of what he had learned.

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Their travels across the galaxy brought them into contact with many of The thing shredded old Master Colpek without breaking its stride, and Magnus‟ brother primarchs. Some, in advanced on Magnus. They had summoned a creature of nightmare... His particular Horus of the Luna Wolves nightmares! He recognised the same rasping growl and the way its talons and Lorgar of the Word Bearers, moved like liquid flame; it was the thing from his earliest memories. It had torn its way into the vessel that had brought him to Prospero and taken his eye. Now became firm friends. Others, such as it was back for more. the Mortarion of the Death Guard and Leman Russ, the feral primarch of the Something had happened to him. At first Magnus thought that his skull was Space Wolves, took an instant dislike splitting, but now the pain had gone, and his mind had opened up to something to Magnus and everything he stood for. far beyond the material plane. His awareness snapped back into the hermetic The uncouth Russ called him mutant, tower to find himself alone with the entity... the daemon. Before he could react, sorcerer, unclean and even a cyclops the thing had him pinned to the floor with a talon pinking the flesh around his after the one-eyed giant of Terran one good eye. It whispered to him, gloatingly, that it had come here to stop him legend. At every meeting, be it cordial from becoming a powerful tool of his master‟s rival. The names it spoke of, „Khorne‟ and „Tzeentch‟, resonated through his soul like shards of ice. or adversarial, Magnus respected the Emperor‟s demand to keep silent about Despite his desperate struggles the creature whispered that it would first take the nature of Chaos, despite the his eye to complete the set, and then pluck out Magnus‟ heart to appease its crushing certainty that ignorance left master. Then, just as the talon broke the skin beneath his eye, a total calmness his brothers vulnerable to the descended. It all became so clear to him. With a smile, Magnus reached out predations of the Ruinous Powers. with his mind and snuffed out the daemon‟s very essence. The ensuing explosion was heard all across Tizca. Untouched by the conflagration, Magnus Magnus bore his brothers‟ harsh words considered the daemon‟s words. He would not be a puppet of this Tzeentch, and with good grace, in the certainty that no one would take his eye. once on the field of battle all enmity would be placed aside. This was tested most sorely on the fortress-world of By the time the Emperor and the nominal level by the cream of Bartok, where a campaign by the Space Fifteenth Legion of Astartes had Prospero‟s talents. As they set out to Wolves to bring the planet into reached Prospero, father and son knew do the Emperor's great work, what they Imperial compliance had degenerated each other as though they had never lacked in conventional numbers was into a bloody stalemate. In order to been parted. Despite all of Magnus‟ more than made up for with highly bring the campaign to a rapid assurances, the arrival of the Master of trained battle-psykers able to kill an conclusion, the Emperor Himself had Mankind and His fleet of warships was enemy with but a thought. ordered the Thousand Sons to reinforce greeted with suspicion by the people of the assault. The headstrong Leman Prospero, but the Emperor‟s legendary The Great Crusade Russ detested the idea of being seen to charisma quickly won them over. To As Magnus and his new legion need the help of another legion, further assuage their fears, Magnus had ventured across the stars, it gave them especially one he had so publically his legion build their fortress- an opportunity to gain that which they denounced, but he grudgingly monastery at the heart of Tizca in the craved the most: knowledge. Each submitted to his father‟s decree. hope that they would no longer have to world brought into compliance with the apprehensively watch the skies. Emperor‟s will revealed to them the Even with the might of two legions, it learning and insights of a new culture. soon became clear why Russ had The legion itself had particular reason As well as the countless human struggled. The final and greatest city to celebrate finding their primarch. societies, the myriad xenos breeds was protected by directed energy fields Although they had not recruited on the were also a constant source of wonder. and ringed with trenches, strongpoints basis of psychic talent, the gene-seed From the subtle Eldar to the brutal and bunker networks resulting in they had been patterned upon had Orks, each new sample was brutally effective interlocking fields of boosted their innate abilities and characterised, dissected and fire. The approaches had been turned triggered latent ones. As a side-effect it catalogued. This expansion also into a killing ground worthy of those also caused a very high incidence of brought with it fresh dangers. Even designed by Perturabo or Dorn. As both genetic and implant mutation forewarned against the Ruinous Russ prepared to throw his forces into among the brethren, to the extent that Powers, the Thousand Sons still yet another headlong charge against the the legion was smaller than most of the suffered losses. Every battle brother enemy guns, Magnus and his legion others. As the home of the mutant and that fell hardened their hearts against exposed the weak link in the Bartok the psyker, Prospero was the perfect the evil of Chaos, and turned Magnus‟ defence. All across the battlezone, the place for such a legion. By the time thoughts to the casualties sustained by Thousand Sons reached into weak, Magnus was ready to join the Great the other legions who had no concept unguarded minds and urged them to Crusade, his original „Thousand Sons‟ or defence against the threat they turn their guns on their friends. Even as had expanded moderately beyond their faced. Russ‟ Wolves advanced, heavy weapon

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emplacements tracked away Magnus standing proudly from them to fire upon each alongside his father, his one other. The doomed forlorn eye socket an empty wound. hope was transformed into a The process of soul-binding, famous victory, and once of merging essences with inside the lines of defence, the psychic might of the the city quickly fell. Emperor, had burned out his optic nerve and left the Perversely, the Space „cyclops‟ blind, but Magnus Wolves did not appreciate was filled with a second this intervention, again sight that left him far from throwing accusations of vulnerable. Though it sorcery and evil intent. pacified most, the Though Magnus well knew judgement did nothing to the difference between assuage Leman Russ, who warp-tainted magicks and stormed from the chamber, the pure psychic talents his and into the service of the legion deployed, Russ could Blood God. not be reasoned with. Only a rapid departure from the Before the legions left warzone averted fratricidal Nikaea, Magnus met with bloodshed. Magnus hoped his brother primarch, Lorgar that never again putting his of the Word Bearers. He legion in a position to fight was a pure soul, genuinely alongside the Space Wolves happy for the great honour would allow his brother‟s that he saw his friend had anger to cool, but by then been given. Magnus had the damage had already Brother-Sergeant of the Thousand Sons with psychic hood long held his tongue about been done. and force staff (Post-Heresy) the Ruinous Powers, but it had cost him his eye, and he The Coming Storm starting with himself, every member of feared that before long it Just before the Emperor was set to the Thousand Sons be soul-bound to would cost them all far more. For the return to Terra, leaving Horus in the Emperor. Just as soul-binding first time, Magnus broke the vow to his supreme command of the Great fortified Astropaths against the horrors father and warned Lorgar of the threat Crusade, He called His primarchs of the Warp, the rite would purge and posed by Chaos. The dire news was together to the planet of Nikaea. There protect the legion from the temptations received gladly, as it reinforced all that He sought to address the increasingly of sorcery, and be a palpable sign of the Word Bearers believed. Their piety acrimonious disputes that had broken their loyalty. The Emperor agreed to and dedication to spread the worship of out over the nature of psychic ability. this elegant solution, and the act was the Emperor as a deity stood vindicated Mortarion, Dorn, Corax and of course performed that very night. as vital to the continuation of the Leman Russ led the charge, saying that human race. there was no boundary between When the primarchs and their psychic abilities and the use of attendants filed into the council The Thousand Sons returned from destructive sorceries. It was all a matter chamber the next morning they saw Terra irrevocably changed. Though the of degrees, with one inevitably leading to the other. The Emperor‟s decision to withhold knowledge about the nature In the heart of the Warp, a prized soul that had long been destined to fall to of Chaos had not stopped the Tzeentch flared like a nova. It incinerated the numberless daemonic entities primarchs from sensing its dangers, which had been shepherding it along the path, and floated free once more. and as Magnus had feared, some lashed Tzeentch, the Weaver of Fates, roared in disbelief as the course of the future lurch down a new and unexpected path. out against psykers, the eternal scapegoats. Magnus and his legion would have been pivotal in the corruption of the Imperium, but as the God of Change, part of him revelled in this unexpected Hamstrung by the Emperor‟s decree, turn of events. Searching the myriad branching threads of the future, Tzeentch Magnus realised that no words of his traced one that caught his vulture eye. It contained a potent brew of loss, pain, could pacify the growing mob. He degradation and rebirth, and started inside the dreaming mind of the Raven desperately begged a private audience Guard‟s primarch... with his father, and in a move both practical and symbolic, proposed that,

67 soul-binding had taken their sight, they Archenemy had made a move against use lethal force against other Astartes. were given a psychic awareness of Horus. While visiting the Warmaster, a their environment that was far superior. Word Bearers chaplain named Erebus Before the Thousand Sons had always It had also given them a measure of had recognised the malaise that Horus held back their true power for fear of inner strength – a touch of the had contracted on Davin was in fact alienating their allies, but in the face of Emperor‟s reflected aura, as it were - nothing less than possession by a extinction they threw caution to the that they had not even known they had powerful daemonic entity. Only wind. They lured their enemies into been missing. The most obvious through an epic act of heroism that ambushes on the outskirts of Tizca, outward sign of their change was required both spiritual salvation from first disorienting them with psychic shown in their helms, which they had Erebus, and the combined psychic powers, and then cutting them down in re-forged on the journey back to might of the entire Thousand Sons lethal crossfires. Just as the battle Prospero into un-nerving, eyeless Legion, could the warp-creature be cast seemed to be tipping in the Thousand masks. They still retained the ability to out and Horus‟ life saved. In a terrible Sons‟ favour, the power of Khorne tore obtain detailed information on their irony, before they could even recover through the Empyrean like a tidal surroundings from their suit‟s from the exertions of saving one wave, affecting every psyker on the autosenses, something that became of primarch from Chaos, another planet. The Thousand Sons, protected particular importance in the presence descended upon Prospero intent on as they were by the soul-binding, were of psychic blanks such as the Sisters of planetary annihilation. left powerless and dazed. The civilian Silence. population was affected far more gravely. Those who survived boiled The Dornian Heresy As well as eliminating the need for the madly from their shelters, only to be vision-enhancing effects of the Without warning, drop pods and torn apart by the bestial, inhuman occulobe implant, the soul-binding also assault craft lit up the sky like comets, creatures the Space Wolves had had the welcome effect of reducing the and the worst fears of the people of become. rate and severity of mutation within Prospero were realised. Distracted by their bodies and gene-seed. They also the events of Davin, and, it is With his world turned to ash and its brought back with them a member of suspected, with their precognitive skills people murdered, Magnus strove to the Adeptus Custodes. Though blunted by Khorne‟s power, the Space access his psychic powers, but to no ostensibly sent as the Emperor‟s Wolf fleet devastated the planet‟s avail. Under such physical and mental personal envoy to monitor the progress orbital defences. Before any kind of assault, it was all the Thousand Sons of the soul-binding, Magnus suspected effective resistance could be mustered, could do to stay alive. When Leman that his father had learned of the the newly built cities were turned into Russ inevitably came for Magnus he confession to Lorgar, and the guard funeral pyres, killing all those who had was unrecognisable: a blood-drunk was a reminder that he was being come from across the Imperium beast steeped in the power of Khorne. watched closely. seeking protection. Though shielded Only through the Custodian‟s heroic from orbital bombardment behind self-sacrifice was Magnus able to Just as the newly transformed legion powerful energy fields, grey figures escape with his life. With the prepared to return to the Great were seen massing just outside Tizca disruption to the aetheric plane finally Crusade, Magnus received intelligence for a grand offensive. Unthinkable as it beginning to wane, Magnus was able to of the utmost importance: The was, Magnus sanctioned his legion to obscure his remaining brothers from view, and leave the necropolis that Tizca had become. Constantin Valdor had always felt this assignment a fool‟s errand and a complete waste of his talents. He was of the Adeptus Custodes - one of the Emperor‟s elite guardians. How could he protect his Emperor from half way Hearing of Dorn‟s betrayal at Istvaan, across the galaxy? it became clear that the attack on Prospero was just the opening salvo in But as he followed the thunderous noise of combat into the Thousand Son a much larger war. Even with their Primarch‟s private chambers, his master‟s purpose for sending him here numbers so depleted, the Thousand became clear. Magnus, who only a short while before he had been ready to Sons were determined to do what they denounce as a practitioner of sorcery, was sprawled on the shattered marble could to save the Emperor. Following floor, and above him, howling in triumph, stood Leman Russ. Whatever faults Russ‟ much larger fleet at a discreet the Thousand Sons may lay claim to were as nothing compared to the evil that distance, they used their mastery of the emanated from the Space Wolves‟ Primarch. As the inhuman creature before him raised his weapon high to administer the death-blow, Valdor knew how he warp to delay the enemy and send them must serve his Emperor. far off track. It was hoped that in this way they could buy time for the loyal Knowing that even he could not hope to stand against such an opponent, Valdor legions to end the rebellion before they energised his Guardian spear, and leapt at Leman Russ. arrived. Their gambit to divert the Space Wolves into contact with their bitter rivals, the Dark Angels, sadly did

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not erupt in the hoped for bloodshed. Terra, saying only that the solution was In Magnus‟ absence, Regent Ahriman They greeted each other as allies in “to gather together the Emperor‟s went to great lengths to see the Chaos, although it did at least mean sons”. What was meant by this, he has Thousand Sons rebuilt. His callous and that from then on they were keeping never explained, not even to his own high-handed attitude towards the lives two Traitor Legions from the legion or to the High Lords of Terra. of allies, especially those of the Emperor‟s throat. By this point most of the primarchs Imperial Army, meant that even as were either dead or turned to Chaos, their numbers rose, the regard in which Their contribution did not come and as the millennia pass, fewer and they were held fell. This reputedly without a price, however. The fewer remain alive. earned a furious rebuke from Magnus continuous strain began to take its toll, on his return, after which Ahriman was and towards the end every day that The Thousand Sons have never grown careful to show more respect for non- went past left another brother as a used to the unsettling nature of their psychics, or at least to moderate his powder-dry corpse inside his power primarch‟s frequent disappearances public comments. armour. With the Space Wolves and and unheralded returns. At first his Dark Angels just days from Terra, the quests were measured in months or At the end of his life, Regent Ahriman Emperor was forced to break the years, and he found the time to lead was finally able to redeem himself. stalemate and confront Dorn directly. them on the quest to purge the Space When the hexagrammatic wards used Magnus felt the psychic battle going on Wolves from their homeworld of to seal the webway portal in the old aboard the Phalanx, but was powerless Fenris. As time went on, Magnus Imperial palace began to decay and to intervene. Though the Dornian vanished for decades at a time, his threatened to tear wide open once Heresy was ended that day, it left the whereabouts obscured from even the more, Ahriman was at the forefront of Emperor wounded to the core, and most determined of seers. researching a way to permanently close Magnus felt every one of those agonies across the light-years.

Magnus had shadowed the small band of outlaws through the badlands for more

The Bloody Aftermath than a fortnight, but having searched for years to find his man, he was content to As the Traitor Legions scattered to the wait a little longer. They had finally shaken off the Arbites squads in the stars, the Thousand Sons arrived to do badlands three days ago – Magnus had been tempted to subtly lend a hand, but what they could. Along with the Iron if his target had needed help to escape local law enforcement, he wouldn‟t have Warriors, Magnus interned the been worth the effort of saving. They always seemed to be troublemakers. They Emperor‟s paralysed body within the would see a wrong and, filled with the righteous certainty of their convictions, life-sustaining mechanism of the seemed compelled to right it, be it a corrupt official or a den of possessed. Astronomicon. Meanwhile, the rest of Despite the man‟s filthy clothes and several days‟ growth of stubble, he had the same patrician bearing that he remembered from so long ago. The way their the legion put their talents to use in inner purity shone out from beneath the often grimy exterior, it was no surprise cleansing the taint of the daemonic that some had called them „Grey Knights‟. It also explained the devotion they from the planet. Terra had been the site inspired in their followers. It made sense, Magnus supposed. Their father would of many desecrations and have been the same even before he rose to power. summonations, and it took decades to ward all of the portals that had been Up ahead, wild magicks flickered across the sky from their target. Perhaps it created. The worst site of all was inside was ostentatious, but he preferred to make contact just as they were fighting for the old Imperial throne-room. When their lives against the forces of the daemonic. Then, with the bond of Dorn had found that the Emperor had comradeship established, Magnus would reveal to the man his true lineage - the reason for his unearthly powers, and why he had never grown old. The man was escaped him there he had desecrated one of the Emperor‟s immortal sons, from the days when He had walked among the nascent webway portal that had humanity and sowed his wild oats. They were, in a sense, Magnus‟ brothers. been under construction. An army of daemons had flooded out, and even He would also explain that within them they held their father‟s only hope for after the Heresy it took an almighty salvation. Down the long millennia, Magnus had dedicated his existence to effort to seal. contacting every one of these very special individuals. When he had found enough, they could be gathered together to heal the Emperor‟s soul and bring Magnus threw himself wholeheartedly Him back from the point of death. They were the hope of all humanity. It was a into finding a way to restore his mission so audacious and secret that his brother primarchs, and even the father‟s vitality. It became an members of his own legion could not be trusted to know about it. obsession, with effective command of What Magnus would not be able to tell these Grey Knights was the extent of the his legion falling to Captain Ahriman sacrifice that would be involved. Only by releasing their spirits from their of the First Great Company. One day physical forms and infusing them into the Astronomicon could the Emperor hope Magnus emerged from the to be saved. Magnus just hoped that his father would be able to forgive such an Astronomicon in high spirits, and, act. eschewing all offers of company, left

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In a legion of battle psykers, the captains of the grand companies are amongst the most potent and skilled, with powers far exceeding those of the chief librarians of any other Astartes. Commanding upwards of a hundred squads, each captain is charged with a specific task by the regent. This varies from guarding Holy Terra and combating incursions of the daemonic, to prosecuting the Long War against the Traitor Legions, in particular the berserkers of the Space Wolves. Realising that psychic strength is nothing without the fortitude of faith in the Emperor, the Thousand Sons were the first legion to import Lorgar‟s concept of chaplains. These individuals play a vital role in guiding the moral Thousand Sons Battle Brother and spiritual growth of the legion. Initiates who, as Lorgar put it, display the rift. His divinations showed that numbers to frequently work alongside a particularly intense „communion with this could only be done from within, more numerous organisations such as the divine‟ during the soul-binding something which, as the pre-eminent the Imperial Army. Ever since the ritual are marked out for further expert, he insisted on doing personally. damaging days of Regent Ahriman, training within the Reclusiam. Despite all of this, there are still some Magnus has taken great pains to ensure who claim that it was a ploy; that he that the Thousand Sons are perceived Just as the chaplains guard their survived the process, and became the by their allies as an invaluable brethren‟s souls, the grand company‟s first human to walk the webway‟s advantage in any battle. So important is Apothecarion and Armoury protect paths and search out the secrets of the this that Thousand Sons of any rank their bodies and wargear. Despite this, Eldar‟s Black Library. Though such may be reprimanded and even demoted it has been said that comparatively guile was certainly part of Ahriman‟s for giving their allies the impression little care is given to these roles, with character, if this was the case he has they are being treated as disposable positions such as the crewing of never returned to the Imperium to cannon fodder. vehicles being seen as dumping speak of what he found there.

Organisation Skyrar‟s Rift Though still nominally commanded by their primarch, Magnus‟ lengthy Fighting down the rising sense of apprehension, Brother-Captain Iaos extended disappearances mean that in practice his mental probe of the rent in space-time. It was bad enough that more than the legion is led by the Captain of the three hundred of his brothers had died in the explosion, but that Wolf Lord First Great Company as the Regent. It Skyrar and his butcher warband could have survived to emerge on the other side was unconscionable. is rare enough to find a candidate worthy of becoming an Astartes in a Preliminary scans confirmed the initial report that the rift was indeed a form of normal legion, but when they must also wormhole, and that the local celestial body was the Fenris system‟s sun. Simple be strong and resilient psykers, the task triangulation with the Astronomicon confirmed this, but something nagged at becomes even more difficult. For this him. The star was being orbited by a planet eerily familiar: Fenris! It should be reason they have never been a large long-dead and gone, but here it was! Mastering the rising sense of panic, Iaos legion, although they have long ago tentatively interfaced with the Astropathic network beyond the threshold, and exceeded their nominal thousand despite finding the protocols very different, searched for word of Skyrar. brothers. Their grand companies are What he learned revolted him. Not the brief mention of Skyrar, but what had small, and only Fulgrim‟s self-imposed become of his beloved Thousand Sons in this warped reality... He withdrew his limit of thirty grand companies has mind from beyond the threshold and bitterly collapsed the rift with a spread of allowed the Thousand Sons to exceed plasma torpedoes. their numbers. Skyrar had not escaped justice, it seemed. Being stuck in that terrible place Though they intentionally cultivate a would be his life sentence. distant and mysterious persona, the Thousand Sons are forced by their low 70

grounds for those who have not fulfilled their early promise as battle- psykers. However, this is not always the case, as among their ranks are brethren able to manifest psychic talents invaluable to these specialties. Such prodigies can perfectly attune themselves to their subjects, able to reach inside matter to re-knit flesh, soothe a restless machine spirit or re- forge a shattered mechanism, and are vital to the legion‟s continued existence.

Combat Doctrine As has always been Magnus‟ intent, the Thousand Sons use their psychic talents to the full on the battlefield. As well as wielding powers that make them formidable opponents, the legion‟s commanding officers use their prodigious talents to guide and coordinate the movement of their squads and those of their allies. Never a numerous legion, they rely heavily upon the Imperial Army, as well as on guidance from the Emperor‟s Tarot to strike at the most auspicious time and place. Though this sometimes strikes Pre-Nikaea Brother-Sergeant of the Thousand Sons their allies as intransigence, once committed they are able to turn the tide opponent‟s sight, allowing them to and under the primarch‟s aegis, of any battle. approach undetected. The most skilled psykers flocked to Prospero from of veterans can even use their powers across the Segmentum. New cities Individual squads are led by sergeants to read what an opponent will do even mirroring the beauty of the capital who are powerful battle-psykers in as they think it, an advantage they use were constructed, and this influx of their own right. It is their responsibility to the full in the brutal mêlée of the hardy, resourceful immigrants to coordinate and focus the less mature battlefield. By the time a brother has improved still further the quality of abilities of those in their charge. earned the right to wear Terminator recruits available to the legion. This Despite the intensive training they armour his skills are all-but mature. At idyll was short-lived, though, with receive to do this, it is an exceptional this stage they are able to channel their even the oracles of Tizca unable to talent who can effectively direct more psychic might through the crystalline foresee the global destruction the than five or six of his brethren. In this matrix of a force weapon, and the long, corrupted Space Wolves wrought upon way, each squad is able to employ arduous training to lead a squad of the world. Despite the best efforts of psychic powers to complement their their own can begin. the Thousand Sons the cities were battlefield role. Such is their unity that blasted to rubble, its libraries burned to each feels the other‟s pain. A wound Homeworld & Recruitment ash and the population brutally suffered by one, let alone a death, is The Thousand Sons‟ homeworld of exterminated. felt across the mental link by all, and Prospero was originally colonised by the loss of the sergeant can leave the outcasts from human society, in After the Heresy, with Prospero squad stunned and without focus. particular by those gifted with psychic nothing more than a mass-grave, the talent who wished to escape the baying Thousand Sons felt no reason to return Tactical and Devastator squads are able mob. By the time Magnus the Red there. The place held too many to telekinetically guide their shots to arrived on their world they had memories and ghosts of dead friends. hit weak points in an enemy‟s armour, constructed a haven of enlightenment, With Magnus labouring to modify the or to strike down those who believe a place where learning was pursued for Astronomicon to sustain the Emperor‟s themselves safely behind cover. Units the simple joy of it. The psychic gifts essence, and the Thousand Sons‟ specialising in close combat use their displayed by the population were a invaluable psychic talents put to use in skills to blot themselves from their perfect match for Magnus‟ new legion, eliminating the taint of the daemonic

71 from the very heart of the Imperium, Thousand Sons the cause is more likely To this end the legion yearns to they began to regard Holy Terra as to be due to the effects of progressive reconstitute the original dream of their new home. Quietly, and with the mutation. Prospero by creating isolated havens consent of friends among the High for those with psychic talent. Lords of Terra such as Lorgar and This instability also extends to the Whenever this has been tried over the Abaddon, the legion fortified and Magnus gene-seed. While it continues millennia it has ended in disaster, expanded the complex used to carry to enhance the psychic talent of the either through massed daemonic out the soul-binding ritual into their recipient, its inherent mutability shows incursion or resentment from new fortress-monastery. From this a noticeable decline in implant neighbouring cities at the extensive and imposing edifice of silver and white, efficiency within a bare handful of preferential protection offered by the the Thousand Sons select recruits from generations. Although this has been Thousand Sons to these settlements in amongst those psykers brought in by remedied by the frequent infusion of times of war. Their staunchest critics the Black Ships. They are tested in any fresh gene-stock derived directly from leap upon such plans as evidence that number of ways, the final one being their primarch, this dependence is yet the Thousand Sons are intent on the the ritual of soul-binding. Those who another cause for concern over forcible replacement of humanity with survive are declared ready for training, Magnus‟ frequent and lengthy those of the „mutant psyker strain‟. and for the gene-seed implantation disappearances. Even beyond their There are some amongst the legion process to begin. anxiety over the risk of losing their who whisper that in the face of such primogenitor, the Thousand Sons hatred perhaps this would be a good Gene-seed realise that his death would also be the thing. They are, however, in a very In the early years of the legion‟s harbinger of their own extinction. small minority, and the legion history there were severe problems continues to fight as loyally for the with spontaneous mutations, both of Beliefs Imperium as it has since the day that the body and among their gene-seed The Thousand Sons believe that the Magnus first knelt in fealty to the implants. With the advent of the soul- only way humanity as a species can Emperor. binding the incidences of this ultimately defeat the Ruinous Powers dramatically reduced. This communion is for it to gain sufficient psychic Battlecry with the Emperor has been described strength and fortitude to resist its As the Thousand Sons are able to as alleviating the innate mutability of predations. This brings with it a great communicate far better telepathically the Magnus gene-seed, although at the dilemma as their very existence, and than with mere words, the legion rarely time critics claimed it had more to do that of the Emperor, relies upon the uses a conventional battlecry. Their with the legion being forced to forego Black Ships which bring in a constant silent, coordinated movements, along the corrupting influence of sorcery. harvest of psykers from across the with their blank-faced helms all Despite this, the Thousand Sons still Imperium. How, they ask, can contribute to their otherworldly image, suffer more from spontaneous mutation humanity increase its psychic potential inspiring fear in their enemies and un- than any other loyalist legion. when psykers live in fear of the nerved respect among their allies. Although the use of bionic limbs to howling mob, and while the finest replace ones lost in combat is common talents are constantly being removed among the Emperor‟s Astartes, for the from the gene-pool?

Magnus sat numbly, barely hearing the assembled High Lords as they discussed the defences being erected against the tendrils of Hive-fleet Leviathan. Billions of men, whole battle-fleets were being mobilised to fight and possibly die, and yet it seemed inconsequential compared to what he had learned earlier that day.

He was roused by the representative of the Ecclesiarch – even after all this time it still threw him to see someone else in his friend Lorgar‟s place. Magnus realised that he had been asked if, during his telepathic communion with the Emperor, the Master of Mankind had deigned to bless their course of action against the xenos breed. His response was that the God-Emperor was indeed pleased by their plans, and that those who fell would be welcomed warmly into the afterlife by the celestial hosts as Imperial martyrs. It was rousing and inspiring, and Magnus wished it had been anything more than a reassuring lie.

In truth it had been centuries since the Emperor had been able to communicate. With each visit his father‟s spirit grew weaker and weaker, the fractured, screaming elements of His psyche long since having blotted out all coherence. But even that had been better than the pitiful silence he had faced today. Magnus blamed himself for being too slow in the Gathering. If only he had worked harder or even reached out to his brothers he could have found them faster. But what was done was done. There, while the High Lords of Terra ordered the death of worlds, Magnus silently made a decision far more momentous.

The Grey Knights must be assembled before there was nothing left of their father to save.

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Found and raised by the mutant-cannibal tribes of Baal Secundus, Sanguinius grew up despising the normal humans who had tried to murder him as an infant. Taunted with images of his death at the hands of the Emperor, Sanguinius entered into a pact with Nurgle to cloak his true nature, a decision which culminated in the damnation of The his entire legion as unwilling, cadaverous plague-carriers. The Blood Angels now raid world after world, driven by the need to obtain fresh, Dornian untainted blood to dilute the toxins running through their veins. Heresy Origins Had their convoy not then been Even before the infant primarch of the attacked by a war-party of the Blood Angels came to rest on Baal Changed, the greatest being ever to set Secundus, the moon‟s history was one foot on Baal Secundus would have of a struggle against adversity. been slain there and then. The ambush Although the moons of Baal had once at Angel Falls, which had saved the been home to technologically advanced babe‟s life, was just the latest skirmish and bounteous human settlements, in an endless struggle, and the infant terrible wars had long since scoured primarch grew up harbouring an them away. All that remained of the abiding and righteous hatred of the population were tribes clinging to faceless killers who had tried to murder existence, scavenging for food amongst him. As he matured into robust a landscape turned to irradiated glass adulthood, seemingly untouched by the and toxic sludge by the atomic and ravages of the world‟s deadly legacy, biological weapons of their forefathers. he became an object of worship to the Lacking even the most basic protective equipment against the harsh radioactive environment, mutation and As Rupal raised his spear, ready Index sickness was rife, and only the to plunge it down into the strongest and most resistant survived. winged child, something made him pause. The creature was Astartes: plainly a mutant, and yet there Life for these scattered tribes of the was something regal, almost Changed, as they called themselves, divine about the boy. was one shorn of all sentimentality. Blood The shadow of starvation was ever- In his three decades, Rupal had present, and they did what they must to slain dozens of mutant- survive, including eating the flesh of cannibals, and yet this child was Angels those who had lost the battle for different. Spear still raised high, he turned back to address his survival, be they friend or foe. The people, ready to make them only thing to strike fear into the hearts understand that in some way this of the Changed were those creatures boy could mean salvation for known as the Faceless Ones: their whole planet, when the implacable armies of killers who arrow struck him in the chest. seemed to exist solely to hunt down and exterminate them. Stripped of Rupal stumbled backwards and their heavy protective suits and fell, paralysed by shock and the characteristic mirrored faceplates they effect of the poisons. He survived just long enough to see were nothing more than humans, and by his people running in terror from yet they looked down with contempt the ambushing mutants, and upon anyone bearing the stigmata of their twisted leader bearing Aurelius mutation. down upon the infant angel. With the black hand of death Rex So it was that when a group of Faceless upon his heart, Rupal‟s final Ones came across the infant primarch thought was not for himself, or lying unprotected in the burning even his tribe, but the desperate radioactive sands, and saw the stubby hope that the child would be wings protruding from his back, they spared.

judged him as a mutant abomination.

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Changed, and a figure of Sanguinius could act the terror to the Faceless Ones. dutiful son, the presence His wings, now full and promised to cloak him in a plumed with feathers of glamour that would shield purest white, gave him the his true intentions, and image of an angel, both make all who laid eyes upon terrible and divine. For his him see only the purest of skill and savagery he spirits. Fearing more for his became known to both sides people than for his own life, as Sanguinius – the Bloody Sanguinius reluctantly Angel. agreed, and awoke. Stumbling from the bunker The tribes of the Changed he saw the Emperor‟s fleet flocked to his banner, and arriving in orbit, and their sensing that their extinction drop-ships streaking the was at hand, the Faceless night sky with fire. Ones also banded together. At Angel Falls, the place the Protected by Nurgle‟s primarch had first been glamour, the Emperor, found, a mighty army closed accompanied by Horus, in upon Sanguinius‟ joyfully accepted growing warband. Hemmed Sanguinius as his son. To in on one side by cliffs, and be hailed as “a pure soul, the guns of their enemy on having grown up unsullied another, the Changed urged on a world of mutant- their beloved leader to fly cannibals” tore at away in the dead of night Sanguinius, but he and save himself, but he continued the charade. would not leave them. The Post-Heresy Blood Angel Against expectation, even first light of dawn glinting his wings were taken as a upon Sanguinius‟s pristine wings could deflect Sanguinius‟s righteous sign of his angelic nature rather than a signalled the start of a day of carnage anger. He was the Bloody Angel of damning mutation. Sanguinius longed unmatched since the world‟s Great vengeance right up until the moment to tear out the Emperor‟s throat there War. Even though the Changed were the defenders triggered the biological and then, but the image of his lifeless outnumbered more than five to one, weapon stockpiles the bunker had been body at Horus‟ feet stilled his hand. they had been trained in the arts of war built to house. As a parting gift, the Emperor handed by an avatar of destruction who they over control of the newly arrived Ninth loved more than life itself. The lethal pathogens killed Changed Legion of the Adeptus Astartes – and Faceless One alike, and even felled mighty warriors patterned upon the Allegedly, the tribes of the Changed the mighty primarch. In his paralysed gene-line of Sanguinius himself. ate well that night. state, Sanguinius was haunted by These Terran legionnaires were fevered dreams of a great power charged with integrating him into Victory at the Battle of Angel Falls searching the stars to find him. He was Imperial society, as well as broke the power of the Faceless Ones granted visions of being greeted by the exterminating the mutant tribes so that across Baal Secundus, and Sanguinius Emperor, who at first professed to be the settlers, who were to provide the made certain that they would never rise his father, but upon discovering his legion‟s new recruits, would be able to again. His army scoured every inch of mutation turned upon him and proved thrive. their blasted world, and brought back to be no better than the Faceless Ones. numberless rad-suits as trophies. In the Sanguinius felt his heart plucked from Sanguinius was forced to watch following years the pile of helmets – his chest by the armoured giant at the helplessly as his legion built funeral each with the mirrored face-plate Emperor‟s side, and witnessed the pyres of his Changed brothers and symbolically smashed - grew steadily genocide of every tribesman of the sisters, but slowly he came to the point at the base of the cliff at Angel Falls. Changed on Baal Secundus. where he could control their actions So it was with great ceremony that without raising suspicion. He slowed Sanguinius and his honour guard In the silent, funereal chill, a voice the purges by ordering the bulk of the approached the hiding place of the very calling itself Nurgle offered Sanguinius legion to Baal Primaris to deal with last group of Faceless Ones - a a way to avoid this fate for him and his their mutant population first. This gave damaged bunker complex left over people. It said that the Emperor could him the time he needed to learn all he from the war. No barrier or bulkhead be defeated, but only through guile. If could about the procedure for creating

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new marines, under the pretext that their sarcophagus-like life-support the exsanguination of their victims they would need fresh recruits to fulfil chambers. They emerged as echoes of turned from cultural habit to full-blown the Emperor‟s Great Crusade. During their primarch – stronger, taller and far necessity. In the face of such adversity, this time, the choking smog from the more deadly than before - and took up Sanguinius became increasingly pyres made life on Baal Secundus the armour left by the dead Terran resentful of his patron. Since the pact more deadly than ever. At first legionnaires. had been rejected, Nurgle had been Sanguinius saw this as a blessing, as silent, with demands about how much the Imperial settlers sickened and Though Sanguinius was able to longer the Blood Angels would have to became easy prey, while the tribes of reconstitute the legion‟s front-line keep up the pretence of loyalty going Changed, long-inured to such a hostile fighting forces, he could not replace unanswered. environment, were little affected. the technical knowledge that had been When the apothecaries had completed lost. Their forge sat idle, and the only Every world the legion brought into the the last batch of gene-seed, cultured maintenance being carried out was the Imperium depleted their resources from his own body, Sanguinius most basic forms conducted by the further, turning their campaigns into recalled the Blood Angels from their legion‟s servitors. Nurgle spoke to grinding wars of attrition rather than pogrom. Then, one by one, he Sanguinius once again, offering aid in the lightning strikes of their early revealed his true nature to them. this matter in return for being let years. Sanguinius was set to return to further into their souls, but the pact Baal Secundus to replenish the legion‟s was roundly rebuffed. Sanguinius ranks when he received an astropathic communiqué from Rogal Dorn, the Sanguinius fought to control intended that the Blood Angels would Emperor‟s Praetorian. Sanguinius‟s his emotions as the Terran rely upon shipments of materiel from captain, Thoros, spoke of his the Mechanicus until they had fear that his true intentions had been victories against the „mutant- mastered the intricacies of producing found out proved to be correct, but cannibal scum‟ in the southern what they needed themselves. instead of anger, Dorn greeted him polar reaches. Clearly warmly, and as a fellow conspirator. unnerved by this personal Sanguinius yearned to simply build up He told Sanguinius things that melted audience with his primarch, his forces ready for the time they could his suspicions, and requested that he Thoros was trying to impress, kill the Emperor, but mindful of the bring the Blood Angels to Terra while but his fate had been sealed the need to maintain the facade of loyalty, Dorn dealt with the three incorruptible moment he had landed on Baal ordered his new Blood Angels to take legions on Istvaan. Secundus with the Emperor. their place in the Great Crusade. To Deciding that he had heard hide their true nature they rarely fought It was what the Blood Angels had been enough, Sanguinius licked his alongside other legions and kept waiting for, but it couldn‟t have come thin, angelic lips and asked the themselves aloof from the Imperial at a worse time. Ground down by question he had posed each of Army. They always met outsiders attrition, sickness and equipment the Terran Blood Angels who wearing full armour, and officers hid failure, there was little chance of them had come before him in the last their twisted faces beneath beautiful arriving at Terra in time, and even less week: masks of shining gold. Despite all this, of them being in a fit state to kill the

Emperor. With a heavy heart, “Would you bleed for me, my rumours of their savagery on the Sanguinius opened his soul to Nurgle, son? Would you... die for battlefield became legendary, me?” alongside darker tales that they drank and ordered his brethren to do the the blood and ate the flesh of their same. enemies. The Siege of Terra Though true, such lurid tales were To the inhabitants of Terra, the full The Great Crusade easily eclipsed by the success of the enormity of Dorn‟s actions had yet to Fired with new purpose, Sanguinius set Blood Angel expeditions, but as time sink in. The destruction on Istvaan and to work reconstituting the Blood went on their momentum began to the imprisonment of the Emperor Angels with recruits drawn exclusively falter. The legion‟s lack of technical inside his own palace were all-too from his own people, the downtrodden knowledge meant that everything from familiar to them from the blood-soaked mutant tribes of the Changed. Only their vehicles, armour and even civil wars of the Age of Strife. The the hardiest of individuals were able to warships were becoming increasingly appearance of Sanguinius and his survive unprotected on Baal Secundus, inefficient and unreliable. Worse still, a Blood Angels as they emerged from and they made excellent candidates. malaise hung over the legion, souring their landing ships at the Eternity Wall Using the knowledge gleaned from the their wounds and sapping their vitality. Spaceport brought home the true nature apothecaries, these new Blood Angel When it was discovered that the worst of Chaos. They were gaunt, cadaverous initiates were implanted with gene- symptoms of this phage could be and marked with weeping sores, yet seed and entombed for a year within alleviated with transfusions of blood, also revitalised by the power of the

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Warp. Even the glamour could not hide what Sanguinius had become, or the fevered, hungry glint in his eyes. To the defenders, Dorn‟s rebellion had been unthinkable, but the Blood Angels were like something out of a nightmare. Pausing only briefly to feed after their long voyage, Sanguinius led his battle brothers to the Imperial Palace.

Inside, they greeted the demi-legion of Imperial Fists that Dorn had left behind. These palace guards turned prison warders had been charged with trapping the Emperor inside His own armoured bunker of a throne room until Dorn‟s return from Istvaan. The hatred that Sanguinius felt for the Emperor burned so brightly that in spite of his legion‟s lack of siege-craft came on the 55th day of the siege, odd choice given the number of more he summoned his Blood Angels from when the Iron Warriors breached the easily defensible sites available. As their posts on the palace‟s outer walls Ultimate Gate. As his Blood Angels they closed in on the Astronomicon, to assault the throne room‟s repelled the enemy and sallied out to the Blood Angels ran foul of the fortifications. Unsurprisingly, the destroy their mighty war engines, Emperor‟s latest trick: reconfiguring attack failed, and in the confusion the Sanguinius confronted Perturabo in the psychic beacon to flare with His Night Lords mounted the unguarded single combat. Energised by the power presence, which weakened the battlements and briefly ran amok, of Chaos and seemingly impervious to daemonic across the planet. This before melting back into the darkness. pain, the Bloody Angel triumphed over affected not just the creatures of the This led to much tension between his brother primarch, snapping his Warp, but the Blood Angels Sanguinius and First Captain spine over bended knee. Then, in an themselves, reliant as they are upon Sigismund, the commander of the act that earned them the eternal hatred Nurgle‟s favour. Imperial Fist contingent, and caused of the Iron Warriors, Sanguinius even more when the raid‟s true drained the dying Perturabo of blood Though facing the brunt of the loyalist objectives eventually became apparent. and contemptuously cast the corpse legions, the Blood Angels fought on back amongst his demoralised progeny. towards the Astronomicon. Every step Dorn‟s arrival was followed shortly and every death brought them closer after by that of the vengeful Sons of It was then the turn of the Chaos and closer to the Emperor. They even Horus and the Iron Warriors. This saw Legions to force a breach of their own, fought on upon hearing that Dorn‟s the Chaos Legions trying to break into this time against the adamantium walls Heresy had died with him, and that the the throne room while at the same time of the inner throne room. Once inside, other Chaos Legions were fleeing the holding off the loyalists besieging the it become clear that the Night Lords‟ planet. All that remained for them was outer palace walls. Eager to redeem earlier attack had in fact been a that they reach the critically injured their past failure, and to avoid his diversion to allow the Emperor to Emperor who had been returned to the entire legion being ordered away in escape. Sanguinius led his Blood Astronomicon. In the face of disgrace to crush the pockets of Angels in a rampage across Terra to overwhelming numbers and escalating resistance that were welling up find their quarry, and everywhere they casualties they fought on, but hope worldwide, Sanguinius threw himself trod, disease and sickness followed. finally died when word reached them wholeheartedly into the defence of the They rapidly traced the Emperor‟s new that even the berserkers of the Space palace‟s outer walls. Their greatest test base back to the Astronomicon – an Wolves had turned their fleet aside. 76

With bitter resignation, Sanguinius led violent insanity – the so-called Black Combat Doctrine the Blood Angels back to Eternity Wall Rage – which made them a grave Even as a youth, leading his tribes to Spaceport - the first Chaos Legion to danger to friend and foe alike. Known war against the Faceless Ones, arrive on Terra, and the last to leave. to their brothers as the Lost, these Sanguinius would fly high over the creatures are locked away in the battlefield before swooping down to After the Heresy darkest bowels of the fleet‟s ships, tear into the heart of the enemy line. In the wake of their defeat on Terra, sustained only by the unholy powers of This simple joy, from a time before his the Blood Angels returned directly to the Warp. life was marred by either Nurgle or the Baal Secundus. They hoped to Emperor, has been imprinted upon the reconstitute their dangerously thinned With this constant drain on their soul of each and every Blood Angel, ranks in preparation for a second numbers, as well as the grinding battle and is reflected in the legion‟s fighting attempt to kill the Emperor, but instead of simply staying alive, the Blood style. Highly mobile Assault squads found their homeworld to be dead. The Angels have instead fallen into taking make up the vanguard of every Blood their pleasure in punishing the Imperial changes in the atmosphere they had Angels force, and the competition to observed before departing on the Great worlds they raid. Sanguinius, however, gain a place amongst their ranks is Crusade had greatly accelerated in their has never forgotten his original fierce. Lacking the technical absence, shrouding the moon in purpose, and moves between his fleets knowledge required to create or even pestilent, acrid mists. It was unclear if urging them on to build towards the maintain traditional patterns of this was a twisted reward from Nurgle long-delayed second assault on Terra. Astartes jump-pack, a brother must There is a tension between the Blood for their service, or even a punishment make his own personal pact to create for their ultimate failure on Terra, but Angels and their patron deity that has and empower their daemon-engine. in either case the result was the same. echoed down the millennia since that These archaic devices emit a The tribes of the Changed, who had first misunderstood pact on Baal discordant sound more akin to the buzz survived the Faceless Ones, the pitiless Secundus. Nurgle has never been able of a swarm of flies than the roar of to force Sanguinius to fully submit to rad-deserts and even the pogroms of turbo-fans. In concert with those of his will, but despite this the Plague the Terran Astartes, had finally been their squad brothers, they come annihilated. God has either been unwilling - or together to strike unnatural harmonics unable - to convert a more pliable that can send their opponents Cursing the name of Nurgle, legion to his wholehearted worship. It screaming in terror rather than face Sanguinius ordered his legion to divide is possible that seeing the Blood them. Angels desperately battle against the down to the level of individual grand companies, hoping that smaller, more grinding entropy of his „gifts‟ holds In support of the assault wave come mobile fleets would be better able to more interest for Nurgle than that of infantry squads in vehicles that despite evade the Imperial Navy and cover a the blind adoration he receives from their ramshackle and corroded wider area to find new recruits to their his more obedient followers. appearance can produce a remarkable cause. Though re-building their ranks was their goal, it soon became clear that the phage which afflicted them As if in response to Sanguinary Priest Pelter‟s presence, the sounds of was far more debilitating than they had scratching from inside the sigil-engraved case rose from insistent to frenzied. suspected. The frequency with which Pelter unfastened the catch and threw back the lid, and into the air rose a score blood transfusions were required to of insects, each the size of a human hand. They were not like the ubiquitous alleviate the symptoms increased, clouds of flies that followed the legion, but forged from brass to bind and house forcing Blood Angel raids to focus a minor daemonic entity. They were yet another example of the Rite-Master‟s more upon securing captives than on craft, able to identify those suitable for exsanguination and organ harvesting. recruitment. Worse still, their Without them, the legion would long-since have fallen to ruin. requirement for healthy subjects meant The swarm rose, and then moved towards the ragged lines of captives the Blood that simply claiming a world and Angels had assembled. They quailed before the approach insects, but it was a bleeding it dry was out of the question, sign of the terror instilled by the Astartes that not a single captive broke and ran. as their very presence rapidly tainted Verdigris-mottled insects landed upon petrified faces to sample tears, or capered the populace with Nurgle‟s plagues. across bandaged wounds to dab at the blood beneath with shining, syringe-like tongues. Alarmed by the high-pitched trill signalling tissue compatibility, one of The Apothecarion‟s Sanguinary Priests the captives scrambled at the metal insect, shredding his hands on the blades of had to become adept not just at its iridescent wings. It tumbled to the ground, and was roughly stamped beneath transfusing their brethren, but at heavy boots until the entity was released from its casing. Before the stench of transplanting organs to replace those putrescence and brimstone had dispersed, Pelter had the man pulled from the crowd. He had to make an example of him, and after all, it would be a shame to atrophied by the build-up of toxins. In let compatible blood go to waste... the most severe cases the poisons rotted away the brain itself, causing

77 turn of speed. These Tactical and Havoc squads provide invaluable covering fire, and once the battle is It was in the deepest level of the deserted fortress-monastery that they found over they cordon the enemy survivors the bones: piles and piles of them stretching out in every direction. They so that they can be tested for tissue had found hundreds of such sites across Baal Secundus, but as Captain compatibility by the Sanguinary Garro stepped out upon them he realised that this one was different. They Priests. Some of those that remain are had not splintered to dust beneath his armoured boots as a normal bone would have. Kneeling down to examine them closer brought the realisation gifted by the commander to slake the that this was not just another bone-pit, but the grave of thousands upon thirsts of the brethren he deems to have thousands of Astartes. He picked a femur from the piles and saw, with an fought most valiantly, but the majority icy chill, that in spite of its ceramically toughened nature, it showed definite are allowed to live. However, this is signs of having been gnawed. not done out of kindness. In their flight to other settlements, these refugees Before he could ponder the significance of what lay before him, the call carry the seeds of sickness across the came from Mortarion himself to withdraw back to the Stormbirds. As they land. cautiously made their way back through the catacombs, Garro noticed Brother Decius shudder and grip at his arm. Despite his protégé‟s protests, When the Blood Angels wish to ensure the warp-creature‟s knife had clearly caused him more harm than he was the downfall of a planet they will delay admitting. This whole planet was death incarnate, and the sooner Decius their return to the plague fleets and had the wound treated by Apothecary Voyen the happier Garro would be. focus their attention beyond small- scale raids. In such instances they unleash the full power of their necrotic the Black Rage, has necessitated that primarchs who turned to Chaos have arsenal, and become true harbingers of the legion fragment down to the level long-since ascended to daemon prince- Nurgle‟s power. The land sickens and of individual grand companies. hood, Sanguinius remains as mortal the cloying stench of death fills the air. Because of the vast distances that and terrible as he was during the Siege Clouds of flies blot out the sun and the separate the plague fleets, each grand of Terra. Just to be in the presence of ground becomes slick with company captain has a great deal of Sanguinius, to learn from his millennia decomposing vegetation. Victims of independence and autonomy, although of experience and to replenish depleted diseases in outlying settlements are on occasion two or more fleets will stocks of gene-seed fills the grand herded in their millions against the converge to carry out particularly large company with renewed will and defender‟s strongholds. Only when the and audacious attacks. purpose. Much is expected of a fleet enemy‟s morale is at its lowest ebb and accompanied by Sanguinius, and the stocks of ammunition run low do the Each grand company, indeed, each ship penalty for displeasing the primarch is Blood Angels finally attack. in the plague fleet, has its own cadre of to meet the same macabre fate as befell

Sanguinary Priests and Rite Masters; the legion‟s original Terran Astartes. Such strategies are effective against all powerful individuals who wield great but the most stalwart of opponents, and influence. Without the Sanguinary Being a fleet based legion, the Blood yet there is one final, terrible, weapon Priests of the Apothecarion to hold the in their armoury: the mindless hordes Angels take every opportunity to bring Black Rage at bay, the Blood Angels more ships into their service. They do of the Lost. Though they are would rapidly descend into little better undeniably lethal on the battlefield, the this not just by boarding and claiming than mindless beasts. The Rite Masters other vessels, but by infecting the crew Lost are completely uncontrollable, are responsible for the legion‟s ships, unable to distinguish former friends with Nurgle‟s plagues, leaving them as armour and weapons. Much of the ghost-ships which can be easily from foes. Beyond such tactical technical knowledge for proper considerations, the Lost are terrible tracked. The most audacious example maintenance was lost during of this was at Port Maw in M34, when reminders of the fate that lies in store Sanguinius‟s bloody reformation of the for them all. For this reason only the a seemingly minor raid allowed the original legion, and that which Blood Angels to contaminate the direst of circumstances would prompt a survived was useless in the face of Blood Angel commander to sanction supplies for much of Battlefleet Nurgle‟s corrosive influence. Instead, Gothic. More than forty vessels, their use on the battlefield. the Rite Masters use their sorcery to including a dozen capital ships, fell in bind and compel the myriad daemonic Organisation their entirety to the contagion and entities that inhabit everything from the became a part of the plague fleet. The Blood Angels retain the same plague ships, to their vehicles and even basic organisational structure they had the armour they wear. during the Great Crusade, and revere Homeworld Sanguinius as their primarch and Moving between the different plague After the Heresy, with nothing left on wellspring of their existence. However, fleets, accompanied by his honour Baal Secundus for them to call home, their renegade status, along with the guard of ancient veterans, is the Blood Angels became fleet-based, need to raid far and wide to stave off Sanguinius himself. While other the better to raid the Imperium. Unlike 78

most of the Chaos Legions they have mutants can be found on the fringes of measured in weeks or months. Some, never felt the draw of the Eye of every human society. Captives bearing however, gain the favour of Nurgle and Terror, and have certainly not been the stigmata are thrown into the build a symbiotic relationship with lured by the offer of inhabiting a stygian, foetid darkness of the ship‟s their diseases, treating every new sore daemon-world created in Nurgle‟s holds, and those resilient enough to and pustule as an agonising blessing. image. Though the Blood Angels had survive until their captors have finished already turned their back on the place, their work on the organ-harvesting and Gene-seed Abaddon‟s massed Crusades against exsanguination decks are tested further The original gene-seed borne by the the homes of the Chaos Legions drew for compatibility with the Blood Angel Terran legionnaires of the Ninth them inexorably there. By this point gene-seed. If deemed worthy, aspirants Legion was stable, efficient and pure, the changes wrought by Nurgle were are subjected to batteries of surgical but they, along with their gene-line so advanced that even Mortarion of the procedures and blood-rites to implant were wiped from existence. Unknown Death Guard, brought up breathing the and initiate the Sanguinius gene-seed, to Sanguinius, just as Nurgle had noxious chemical smog of Barbarus, before being entombed within a polluted his soul, he had also tainted would not risk setting foot on the medicae sarcophagus for a year. These his flesh, and in turn the implants planet without his armour tightly arcane mechanisms feed and guide the prepared from it to create the new sealed. The loyalists found something changes wrought by the various Blood Angels. Because of this the approaching a daemon-world, implants so that when it finally opens, gene-line of Sanguinius has become a inhabited only by shambling warp they emerge bloody, but transformed, curse, acting as a mark of Nurgle upon entities of the Plague god. The an echo of their cadaverous primarch. every marine who bears it. These Imperial forces withdrew to orbit, and Through a combination of psycho- implants act more like a single subjected Baal Secundus to a sustained indoctrination and gene-line parasitic organism than mere lumps of atomic bombardment which exceeded transference they become imprinted flesh. They aggressively drain nutrients even that of its Great War in its with memories and character traits and vitality from their host, causing the ferocity. from Sanguinius‟s earliest days on Blood Angel‟s characteristic gaunt,

Baal Secundus. In this way they are cadaverous appearance. In turn the The thrice devastated moon was reborn sharing an unbreakable bond implants produce a seemingly endless declared Perditia and quarantined by and a unified purpose. array of potent diseases to which the the Imperium until it was swallowed marine becomes a carrier. The gene- by the ever-expanding borders of Those who fail the selection seed shields the host from the worst of Ultramar Segmentum. Be it through procedures serve the legion for the rest the symptoms, and also protects itself arrogance or ignorance, the of their lives, guarding and tending to by making the bearer remarkably Ultramarines chose to settle what their Astartes lords as they slumber resilient to damage, or at least heedless remained of the moon. The subsequent within their sarcophagi. In part this is of its effects until after the battle has plague and the renegade actions of the due to fear, but a more powerful ended. chapter founded to guard the area sent motivation is the desperate hope that convulsions through the realm for their actions might prompt their The effect of all this is a build-up of nearly a century afterwards. masters to deem them worthy to toxins in the bloodstream which

become Astartes after all. Given the damages the organs, and if left Recruitment myriad diseases that proliferate aboard unchecked they penetrate the brain Although the tribes of the Changed on the Blood Angels‟ fleets, the life causing the insanity of the Black Rage. Baal Secundus are now but a memory, expectancy of most of these serfs is The Sanguinary Priests treat the symptoms by administering frequent transfusions of uninfected blood, Sergeant Yorah of the World Eaters brought his chain-axe around in a tight although in extremis it can be drunk arc and decapitated the skittering mutant thing in mid-leap. They were and utilised by the body via a unique getting bogged down, and every second brought this hulk of a plague ship adaptation to the preomnor implant, or closer to the planet. He ordered Brother Kellion to clear the corridor with second stomach. The Blood Angels his heavy bolter and checked the auspex for the best route to the life-support systems. They were so few – a single squad against a whole enemy ship – spend much of the long warp-journeys that their only chance was to destroy the Blood Angels before they could between raids inside their sarcophagi, awaken. waking only as the next planet approaches. Each sarcophagus In the seconds it had taken Yorah to pinpoint the correct path, his auspex incorporates arcane life support had filled with encroaching blips. Despite the danger, he urged his brethren equipment which filters the toxin from on into the fray. They were the sons of Angron, unmatched in martial their blood and allows the marine to discipline. They would prevail against this Chaos rabble. enter an enhanced state of suspended animation to slow down his constant decline.

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Though the gene-seed wreaks a terrible death of the Emperor, in practice this is survive, and are well aware that to toll on its host, this becomes far worse all-too often obscured by the need to achieve Nurgle‟s aim of infecting the if the implants are damaged in any quench their thirsts with the blood of entire galaxy would ultimately lead to way. In order to regenerate they draw their victims. Despite the fates of their own extinction. even more harshly on the body‟s Sanguinius and the Blood Angels being resources and release potent toxins, intrinsically tied to that of Nurgle, the necessitating further transfusions and relationship is very different to that of Battle Cry transplants. Needless to say, the only the cult legions of the other Chaos During the Great Crusade the Blood time that a Blood Angel‟s progenoid Gods. Where the Space Wolves, Raven Angels were careful to give no cause glands are removed is at the point of Guard and White Scars are eager for suspicion and went into battle death, as to do otherwise would invite devotees, the Blood Angels spread swearing allegiance to the Emperor. debilitating sickness. disease across the galaxy not for the Since the Heresy they are far more love of it, but to hurt the hated honest and open about their loyalties Beliefs Imperium. They also have little choice, and motivations, and the battle cry Although the principle that has guided needing to raid far and wide to obtain “For blood and for Sanguinius!” has the Blood Angels is to bring about the the untainted blood they need to risen to prominence.

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