Emperor's Children
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| Emperor's Children | |
|---|---|
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| Primarch | Fulgrim (Daemon Prince) |
| Battlecry | "Children of the Emperor! Death to his foes!" |
| Colours | Pink and Black |
In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Emperor's Children are a legion of Chaos Space Marines who worship the Chaos god Slaanesh.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Fulgrim
The Legion's history begins with the descent of the Primarch child Fulgrim to the resource-poor world of Chemos. Dependent on interstellar trade for food, and cut off from the rest of the galaxy by ferocious warp storms, strict rationing and improvisation could not prevent the slow death of the people of Chemos. When the capsule containing the infant Fulgrim plummeted to the planet, the scouts who recovered the child pleaded with the leaders of the settlement of Callax to spare the child's life, as orphans were seen as a strain on already stretched resources and normally put to death.
Named after a long-abandoned god of the people of Chemos, Fulgrim soon became a legend in his own right. At half the age of his fellow workers, he was able to fulfil his obligations to the continual running of Callax with ease. He quickly grew to understand the technology he had to work with, and began to modify it, increasing efficiency dramatically. By the time he was fifteen years of age, Fulgrim had risen from the rank of worker, to become one of the Executives ruling the settlement. Learning of the gradual deterioration of both Callax and all the other settlements of Chemos, Fulgrim decided that he would save his world.
Under Fulgrim's leadership, teams of engineers travelled far from their factory-fortress, reclaiming and repairing many of the far-flung mining outposts. As minerals poured back into Callax, Fulgrim supervised the construction of more sophisticated and energy efficient machinery. As recycling efficiency grew to the point where Chemos was producing a surplus for the first time in years, Fulgrim began to foster a re-emergence of art and culture, aspects of humanity sacrificed in the struggle for survival. The other settlements allied themselves with Callax, and fifty years after arriving on Chemos, Fulgrim was its sole leader.
Fulgrim is described by Garviel Loken in the book False Gods as being beautiful, pale to the point of albinism, with eyes so dark as to be almost entirely pupil and with shimmering white hair.
[edit] The Great Crusade
When the Emperor first arrived on Chemos, Fulgrim swore fealty to him instantly, and was placed at the head of his Legion. From the Emperor, Fulgrim learned of the distant world of Terra, of the Great Crusade to reclaim the sundered galaxy, and of his own origins.
Travelling to Terra to meet his new Legion, Fulgrim learned that an accident had destroyed the majority of the gene-seed designated for his legion, and without their Primarch, replacing it was a slow and laborious process. Fulgrim came to address the two hundred Space Marines of his legion, and the words he spoke were said to inspire the Emperor so much that he named the legion the Emperor's Children, and allowed them to bear the sign of the Aquila, the double-headed eagle that was the Emperor's personal symbol, on their power armour.
Fulgrim was anxious to make his contribution to the Great Crusade, but the comparatively small size of his Legion meant that the Emperor's Children were placed under the command of Horus and his Luna Wolves. Horus and Fulgrim grew close to one another while pacifying the Eastern Fringe. Eventually, swelled by recruits from both Chemos and Terra, Fulgrim was soon able to lead a crusade of his own, bringing countless worlds into the light of the Imperium
[edit] Horus Heresy
When Horus declared that he would no longer follow the Emperor, believing him to be weak and undeserving of the battles fought in his name, the Emperor sent seven full Legions to challenge the Warmaster, and destroy him and his followers if necessary.
Fulgrim and the Emperor's Children were the first to arrive in the Istvaan system, Horus' forward base, and Fulgrim met Horus in person, demanding a personal account of his actions. Instead, Horus was able to sway Fulgrim to his cause. Fulgrim's respect for Horus allowed Chaos to find its way into Fulgrim's heart, destroying Fulgrim's loyalty to Terra, and replacing it with burning desire to destroy the man who held humanity back from the perfection Fulgrim desired. Slaanesh whispered to Fulgrim, and Fulgrim accepted the promises of his new god.
The rot spread from Fulgrim to his lieutenants, the Lord Commanders of the Legion, then to company and squad leaders, and finally all but a bare handful of Marines followed Slaanesh and the Arch-Traitor Horus rather than the Emperor. Perfection became perfect hedonism. When the loyalist legions arrived in the Istvaan system, the Emperor's Children were at the forefront of the fighting, aiding in the massacre of their former brethren.
The time of Fulgrim's conversion to Horus' rebellion is not entirely clear, the recent book False Gods heavily hints of a pact between the brothers before the events of Istvaan, as Horus gifted Fulgrim with an alien weapon known as an anathame during a visit by Fulgrim to Horus' command ship shortly after the events of Davin. The anathame was stolen from the interex's Hall of Devices by First Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers, and is reportedly capable of killing even the Primarchs. This weapon wounded Horus on Davin, and it's been heavily speculated that this weapon was involved in Fulgrim's killing of his brother Ferrus Manus and the serious wounding of Roboute Guilliman after the Heresy.
Further, Galaxy In Flames suggests that Fulgrim is corrupt by the time of the novel's events. Inspired by a previous encounter with the alien Laeran, he has already commissioned Apothecary Fabius Bile to tamper with the Legion's gene-seed, creating monstrous abominations and enhancing marines like Eidolon beyond the original Space Marine template. Fulgrim is also complicit in the betrayal and slaughter of members of his own legion that are loyal to the Emperor alongside loyalist Death Guard, Sons of Horus and World Eater marines on Istvaan III. Horus himself notices a change in Fulgrim, noting that he has become more like a rake or a libertine than a warrior.
Realms of Chaos states that the Emperor's Children were loyal until the parley with forces of the Warmaster. There their officers were exposed to cult practices and this corrupted them in their entirety.
Horus' rebellion spread, bringing the entire Imperium into civil war. All trace of decency amongst the Emperor's Children had vanished by the time they partook in the Siege of Terra. While other Traitor Legions assaulted the Imperial Palace, the Emperor's Children embarked upon a spree of terror and gratification amongst the helpless citizenry of Terra. Billions of defenceless civilians were used as experimental subjects in the effort to create ever-more powerful stimulants and pleasure-inducing chemicals, used to summon daemons, raped in countless cases (more explicitly implied prior to the Third Edition), or were simply tortured and killed to sate the bloodlust of the Legion.
[edit] After the Heresy
When Horus was defeated by the Emperor, the Emperor's Children left a trail of depopulated worlds in their wake as they fled towards the Eye of Terror. As their supply of slaves was exhausted, they resorted to raiding the other Traitor Legions for fresh meat, and in the end were crushed by their angry brethren in a series of bloody wars. Finally, the Emperor's Children were shattered into bands of hedonistic fanatics.
The Emperor's Children were the ones who raided the fortress of the Black Legion and stole the body of the dead Warmaster taking it away to attempt to clone it.
As to Fulgrim himself, he was elevated by Slaanesh to the rank of Daemon-Prince and rules over a planet of unending, unlimited pleasure. To this day, warbands of Emperor's Children and expeditions from the Imperial Inquisition seek this world, but none have returned.
The Horus Heresy artbooks stated that Fulgrim was possessed by a daemon but his soul was never fully destroyed.
[edit] Organisation
From its humble beginnings, the Emperor's Children Legion expanded to a full thirty Companies, each led by a Lord Commander who was personally trained by Fulgrim himself. In the 41st millennium, the Legion has been reduced to a small number of warbands, cult-like bodies that are ruled by force of will alone.
[edit] Noise Marines
As with all followers of Slaanesh, the only focus of admiration is senseless indulgence in physical pleasure. This makes Emperor's Children the most violent, sadistic and debauched creatures imaginable. Many members of the Emperor's Children Legion have become Noise Marines. The original Noise Marines were created by Fabius Bile, even though he himself did not join them in their worship of Slaanesh. Due to Fabius' alterations, a Noise Marine's hearing is a thousand times more sensitive than even a 'normal' Space Marine's, able to distinguish between the subtlest differences in pitch and volume. The Noise Marine's enhanced sense of sound affects his whole mind, causing extreme emotional reactions that make all other sensations pale and worthless. The louder and more discordant the noise the more extreme the emotional reaction provoked, and the more tawdry and vile seems the everyday sensation of life. Eventually only the din of battle and heightened screams of fear can stir the Noise Marine.
Their name is due to their preference for weapons that turn sound into a lethal intensity: the Sonic Blaster - outwardly having some resemblance to a bolter but producing discordant blasts of sound; the Blastmaster - a rifle-like weapon that fires different sound frequencies that can overpower the enemies senses or disrupt their flesh; and the Doom Siren - a loudspeaker melded into the marines body which enhances his screams to violent torrents of sound that can knock the largest enemy back.
Noise Marines also possess an ability called the Warp Scream. This causes any enemy in close combat with them to have slower reactions (represented in game mechanics terms by suffer a penalty to their initiative score).
While not all members of the Emperor's Children are Noise Marines, most all Noise Marines are members of the Emperors Children. Other Chaos Space Marine armies may field Noise Marines as part of their forces.
[edit] Headquarters
Prior to the Heresy, the planet of Chemos was a bleak, unforgiving world. Settled as a mining colony, the cities of Chemos fell into decay when warp storms isolated the worlds of the Imperium. Food was meagre, and heavy rationing and hard labour were the only ways the people of Chemos could survive.
Under Fulgrim's rule, Chemos rapidly expanded its industrial base to become an important source of processed minerals for the Imperium. The fortress monastery of the Emperor's Children was established in the centre of Callax, drawing from the strongest, bravest and most intelligent of the population.
After the Heresy, Imperial forces set out to destroy any remnant of the Emperor's Children or Chaos from Chemos. The planet was quarantined, and no record of it has been made in ten thousand years.
[edit] Notable members
- Fabius Bile (former member)
- Lucius the Eternal, Champion of Slaanesh
[edit] Appearance
Prior to the Horus Heresy, the Emperor's Children wore dark purple armour, trimmed with gold. They were the only Legion originally permitted to bear the double-headed Imperial Eagle on their chestplates. After the Heresy, the armour of the corrupted Emperor's Children bore vivid colorful markings (often pastels or pink and black), the patterns and composition depending on the particular cult each Space Marine was a part of. Dedication marking to the Chaos god Slaanesh are common.
[edit] References
- (April 2001) "Index Astartes – Emperor's Children". White Dwarf: Australian Edition (256). ISSN 0265-8712.
- McNeill, Graham (2006). False Gods. Black Library. ISBN 1844163709.
- Counter, Ben (2006). Galaxy In Flames. Black Library. ISBN 1844163939.
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