PART 4

THE XII ‘WORLD EATERS’ LEGION

According to all of the official records, the relationship between Angron and the Emperor was already strained by the time the Horus Heresy began. Angron and his XII ‘World Eaters’ Legion has been reprimanded for their use of psycho surgery, and instructed to cease this practice. Angron had ignored the order. The campaign on the world of Ariggata that ended with the World Eaters murdering the entire population in an act of brutal genocide had so shocked Roboute Guilliman that he had sent a report to the Emperor.

No mercy was offered by the World Eaters, only bloody death at the end of a chain-axe. The Liber Malum speaks of whole systems surrendering wholesale rather than face the wrath of the World Eaters. But it was only a matter of time before the Legion's use of psycho surgery on its recruits became widely known. Following the infamous Ghenna Scouring, where an entire planet's population were butchered in a single night of bloodshed, the World Eaters were censured by the Emperor and commanded to cease the use of implants. Angron paid little heed to this and ordered the work of the Techmarines to continue, until almost every Space Marine in the Legion had undergone the ritual surgery. Blood rites became an increasingly important part of the Legion's heritage as their slaughter continued across the galaxy, and it became common practice for Space Marines to compete in the number of enemy skulls they could take in battle. Many of Angron's brother Primarchs voiced their concerns to the Emperor, and now the Master of Mankind made a fatal error. He dispatched Horus, the most trusted of all the Primarchs, to confront Angron and bring him back into line. Horus was a master psychologist and, unbeknownst to the Emperor, had already been corrupted by the Chaos powers. In Angron he saw a warrior consumed by bitterness and resentment and it was a simple matter for Horus to feed that bitterness, emphasising the Emperor's betrayal, painting him as a weakling in need of replacing. He told Angron exactly what he wanted to hear and, when Horus eventually betrayed the Emperor, beginning the first galactic civil war, Angron's World Eaters marched beside the Sons of Horus. Chosen of Khorne: The Imperial Fists Space Marine Chapter, Index Astartes II, 2003 Emperor’s Fist: The Imperial Fists Space Marine Chapter, White Dwarf, volume 259

At the time, the XIII ‘Ultramarines’ Legion had been serving alongside the XII ‘World Eaters’ and XVI ‘Sons of Horus Legions’. The timing also suggests that the Warmaster had arrived to bring Angron back to Terra to answer for the accusations, a task he had not completed. Instead, Guilliman was order to return to Ultramar with his Legion and muster at Calth with the XVII ‘Word Bearers’ Legion for a new campaign.

The Warmaster then appears to have led Angron and their Legions to the Istvaan System, where they joined with Mortarion and Fulgrim and their Legions to unleash treachery upon the loyalists in their Legions. But even the loyalist World Eaters were, according to official records, little more than mindless thugs hell-bent on brutal violence and murder. There was very little redeeming about any of them, regardless of whether they were altered through psycho-surgery or had, somehow, avoided the surgery.

Loyalist World Eaters proved just as singular and unimaginative as their traitor brethren, and died in droves just as quickly, wasting their lives in pointless acts of bravado. In fact, almost every act of heroism he and his Legion demonstrated (few and far between as they were) was undone by textbook examples of unethical behaviour and cowardice. It also seems odd, given his history, that Angron would inflict – or allow others to inflict – the kind of violence and (in effect) slavery the Great Crusade inflicted on civilians.

Tales of Heresy, 2009, edited by Lindsey Priestly and Nick Kyme

There are many examples of the barbaric and genocidal excesses of Angron and his Legion, but one in particular demonstrates further evidence of the effect Primarchs had on unenhanced humans. Trans-human dread is a term used to refer to the effect the mere presence of an Astartes has upon the mental and physical functions of those not similarly enhanced, but the effect is multiplied in regards to Primarchs. Emissary Braxton, for example, was so unnerved by Fulgrim that he referred to Angron as the Primarch of the VII Legion, something that would be considered offensive by both Rogal Dorn and Angron, as well as the members of their Legions.

“My apologies.” Continued Braxton smoothly. “The rulers of these planets attempted to assassinate the Warmaster and thus he declared a legal war upon them to bring their worlds to compliance. In this matter he had been aided by Lord Angron of the VII Legion.” Fulgim laughed. “Then I don’t hold out much hope for their being much left of this Technocracy at the end of the war.” “Quite,” said Braxton, “Lord Angron’s excesses, shall we say, to the Council of Terra, but we have received some unsettling reports from Lord Commander Hektor Varvarus, commander of the Army units within the 63rd Expedition.” The Horus Heresy, volume V, Fulgrim, p321

This, in itself, may have been perceived as a simple recording error. When considered in terms of other records detailing incidents involving one or more Primarchs, then a pattern begins to emerge that could explain why the accounts sometimes contradict one another. It is possible that the author was so overcome by the subject of their writings that they made mistakes, referring to one Primarch when they meant another, or even failing to make an accurate recording of the incident in question.

“The Night of the Wolf doesn’t count. We both know Russ will never have let that reach any Imperial records. Couldn’t have his precious war-dogs’ defeat entered into the archives, could he? Not by us. No by a worthless Legion with fire in their minds.” The Horus Heresy, volume XXIV, Betrayer, p117

There is also evidence that some records were never even made of certain events, or were deliberately expunged. In one account, Kharn and Kargos of the World Eaters refer to an incident in which they and the Space Wolves clashed in open conflict, yet there is no official record of the incident beyond that detailed in Betrayer, and even then the account is questionable, the events tainted by the perspectives and claims of those involved.

Imperial records stated that two Primarchs came to Angron, both claiming to have been sent by the Master of Mankind. The first arrived soon after Angron joined his Legion. The second wouldn’t come until almost a century later. By then, it would be too late. The Horus Heresy, volume XXIV, Betrayer, p117

The first was Russ. The second would be Horus. Unlike the incident with Magnus and the XV ‘Thousand Sons’ Legion, Leman Russ had not been sent by the Emperor to rebuke Angron. At least, not officially. A century later, Horus would be sent in an official capacity, although his plans to betray the Emperor meant the reprimand was never delivered and, instead, Horus used Angron for his own purposes.

“Did he send you?” The Eater of Worlds asked. Russ said nothing. His silence had Angron smiling, though it was an ugly slice of a thing, showing no joy. “He didn’t, did he? The Emperor and Horus sail the stars together without a care for any of this. You’ve come to punish me because you believe it’s your place.” The Horus Heresy, volume XXIV, Betrayer, p117

Russ had come, so he claimed, because he had heard reports about the direction the XII Legion had taken after being placed under the command of their Primarch, Angron. They were no longer the War Hounds. Their name, heraldry, and approach to the Great Crusade had changed under his leadership. Every legionnaire was expected to submit to the surgical implantation of a parasitic device based on the archeotech embedded in their Primarch’s brain. It was called the Nails, and few within the Legion did not have it fitted. Those who did gradually became detached from emotions, becoming increasingly more sociopathic and, eventually, completely psychotic.

World Eaters. Lhorke still felt an intruder to that name. He’d lived and died as a War Hound, in the decades before Angron, before they took the name Eaters of Worlds to honour the primarch’s slain rebel army, the Eaters of Cities. He still displayed the old Legion scratch kill-markings on his ironform, and on his breastplate he bore the armoured wolf’s head, collared by a chain around its throat. War Hounds. That was his Legion. Not these furious, half-lobotomised madmen who abandoned all notions of honour when they lost themselves to berserker rage. The Horus Heresy, volume XXIV, Betrayer, p152

The references also include one that reveals a very interesting possibility. Many other accounts that mention the otherwise undocumented fate of the two unrecorded Legions and their Primarchs include several references that suggest the Emperor ‘unleashed the Wolves’ upon them. Many simply assume this meant the Space Wolves, an assumption that makes sense, but the Sons of Horus were once named the Lunar Wolves, and the heraldry of the War Hounds was that of a wolf’s head with a chain collar around its throat… a leash. 

Of course he could. He’d fought the Wolves, hadn’t he? Sent them yelping back to their gunships after they came howling about the Nails, after Angron had assumed command over the Legion. As long as he lived within this foetid, cold coffin, he’d never forget. Angron and Russ fighting in the amber light of that alien sunset. The battlefield had reeked of their godly blood. The Horus Heresy, volume XXIV, Betrayer, p154

There is also the most obvious question: why were the two Legions fighting with one another? If Russ had come about the Nails, but had not followed through as he had when dealing with Magnus, and the incident never made the official records, then it seems likely the Emperor did not order the action. But if the Emperor had not, then why did Russ confront Angron at all? Was Russ trying to reason with Angron? Was he worried that he would be ordered to do to Angron what he would one day do to Magnus?

Maybe Russ knew of these things, and was worried that he would be ordered to do to Angron what he had been ordered to do to the two unrecorded Primarchs? There is also a very real possibility that ‘the Wolves’ unleashed upon the unrecorded Legions were the War Hounds, or maybe them, the Space Wolves and Lunar Wolves. The truth behind the behind the boasting of Kharn, Kargos and Lhorke seems destined to remain a mystery.

PART 3

PART 5