Thousand Sons

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Thousand Sons
Primarch	Magnus the Red
Battlecry	All is Dust
Colours	Blue and Yellow/Gold
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The Thousand Sons is one of the Legions of Chaos Space Marines in the game Warhammer 40,000. The main features that distinguish them from other Legions is the number of sorcerers at the Legion's disposal, the ghostly Rubric Marines and their worship of the Chaos god Tzeentch.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Magnus the Red 1.2 The Great Crusade 1.3 The Horus Heresy 1.4 The Rubric of Ahriman 2 Organization 3 Combat Doctrine 3.1 Sorcerer Marines 3.2 Rubric Marines 3.3 Special Weapons 3.4 Battlecry 3.5 Heroes 4 Appearance 5 Inspiration 6 References

[edit] History

[edit] Magnus the Red

Magnus the Red is the cyclopean Primarch of the Thousand Sons Space Marine Legion.

When the infant Primarchs were scattered across the galaxy, the child that came to be known as Magnus the Red landed on the world of Prospero. He was fortunate, as normally a grotesque cyclopean being would have been slain at once by superstitious locals. Whether Magnus had a single eye centered on his face or was simply missing the eye from one socket has never been stated by Games Workshop themselves, however the recent artwork and Horus Heresy novels have all depicted him as having one eye missing from the socket, usually the right. As it was, Prospero was home to an exiled commune of human psykers who saw Magnus as one of their own.

Magnus became a ward to the community. He quickly exhibited the psychic traits common to the commune, and by the time he reached physical maturity, his power had grown so much that he surpassed every single person on the planet, possibly the greatest that ever existed other than the Emperor. He believed his intellect could master any discipline and his maxim, above all others, was 'Knowledge is power'. One day, Magnus used his single eye to look into the Immaterium, and changed the course of his life forever.

[edit] The Great Crusade

The Emperor of Man was attracted to the world of Prospero by the psychic beacon that was one of his lost sons. The actual meeting of the two was said to be a mere formality; the bond between father and son was believed to have been established via psychic communication.

Magnus was granted command of the XV Space Marine Legion, the naming of the Legion as the Thousand Sons was a recognition that only a thousand original Marines were created from Magnus' genetic material. It was a reunion that could not have come at a better time for the Legion. Formed from Magnus's gene-seed, the Legion contained a high number of Marines who had undergone psychic mutation. At this time, factions within the Imperium were calling for the extermination of all mutants and psykers. Taking on the challenge of saving his Legion from destruction, Magnus bent his intellect towards training the Thousand Sons Legion in the way of the psyker. Many believe it was here that the Legion began to fall to Chaos. It is unknown when the Thousand Sons crossed the threshold, but at some stage during the Great Crusade, they passed the point of scholarly pursuit and began to dabble in sorcery.

Many had not noticed when Magnus began its practice but at least two of Magnus's brothers had their concerns; Mortarion who knew the cost of sorcery at first hand, and Leman Russ, who thought the Librarians Magnus had fostered among the Space Marine Legions were simply warlocks by another name. Indeed, Magnus was pivotal in the creation of the Space Marine Librarian, and a number of Legions welcomed his expertise and guidance. In the end, the Emperor held a council on the planet Nikaea (an allusion to the council of Nicaea), bidding that both sides present their view. In an ancient amphitheater, the witch hunters presented their case, citing many instances of misery and horror caused by those who consorted with the warp. In response, Magnus himself rose to address those gathered in the amphitheater. He argued that no knowledge was intrinsically evil, and that the Thousand Sons had complete mastery of the sorcerous arts. In the end, a contingent of Librarians proposed a compromise. This compromise entailed the identification and thorough training of those with psychic potential, but a complete ban on the study of sorcery and incantation. The Emperor immediately ruled it law, thus creating the Edicts of Nikaea.

[edit] The Horus Heresy

The result of the Council of Nikaea served to mask other, darker betrayals, as Warmaster Horus fell to the machinations of Chaos. While meditating on Prospero, Magnus foresaw Horus being corrupted by Chaos and the future events of the Horus Heresy, the betrayal of half the Space Marine Legions, and the sundering of the Imperium. The only fate the vision did not mention was Magnus's own. Burdened with the information by this precognitive vision, Magnus used the power of his Legion's greatest sorcerers to convey the news of the impending civil war to the Emperor himself via sorcery, rather than the unreliable means of Astrotelepathy.

Upon receiving the message, the Emperor was furious at Magnus's oath-breaking, particularly because the strong psychic message broke the seal on his webway project, an attempt to break into and use the Eldar webway that would render warp travel obsolete. The Emperor saw Magnus as the traitor, not his beloved Horus. Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves Legion, who had always been averse to witchcraft, was ordered swiftly to bring Magnus to Terra to account for his actions. During his voyage to Prospero, Leman Russ was ordered by Horus to destroy Magnus's Legion rather than simply bring them to account. Accompanying the Space Wolves were with a full contingent of Adeptus Custodes, and the elite anti-psyker (pariah gene-bearing) units, the Sisters of Silence.

Ironically the Burning of Prospero took the Thousand Sons by total surprise. Landing on Prospero, the Space Wolves destroyed the capital city and with it the Thousand Sons' hard-won knowledge sending Magnus into a deep melancholy. In the close-quarter melees that followed, Magnus and Russ met in single combat. It was a battle of titanic proportion in which Magnus used his sorcerous powers on Russ. Russ was by far the better fighter but with Magnus using powers from the warp, the battle was even. At the climax of the battle, Magnus shattered Russ's breastplate, puncturing one of the Primarch's hearts. Russ would not be slowed, and countered with earth-shattering head butt that bloodied Magnus's single eye and fractured his skull. With Magnus dazed, Russ seized Magnus and lifted him high into the air, and broke his back over a bent knee. Horus had predicted that the attack would convert the Legion to Chaos, and so it did.

To save himself, his Legion, his world, and all the knowledge he had accumulated, Magnus pledged himself to the Chaos God Tzeentch. His new patron's response was immediate. The City of Light was transported into the Eye of Terror. While Prospero was destroyed that day, Magnus and his Legion survived. By the time the Thousand Sons were seen next, they were allied to Horus, and Magnus had become the most powerful of all Tzeentch's daemonic servants.

After the Emperor defeated Horus, the Thousand Sons claimed a planet for themselves within the Eye of Terror. Now, Magnus's ever-changing form resides on the Planet of Sorcerers. Here, Magnus stands atop his tallest of towers, The Tower Of The Cyclops, and his vast sorcerous eye surveys the entire planet. The world and its buildings are places where dimensions exist beyond the norm.

[edit] The Rubric of Ahriman

Mutation had been a curse borne by the Thousand Sons since their inception, as they had an abnormally large amount of Psykers. Once the Legion had settled on the Planet of Sorcerers, Tzeentch began bestowing his 'blessings', random physical mutations, on members of the Thousand Sons. Although many embraced the favor of their new god, the veterans of the Legion began to feel that all their efforts to save their Legion had been for nothing.

A cabal of the Legion's strongest sorcerers attempted to counter the warping corruption. They secretly laid the foundations of a mighty spell, afraid that their Primarch would disapprove of their risky actions. Led by Ahriman, their chief Librarian, the cabal hoped to dispel the violent mutations that were slowly destroying the Legion, also hoping that their battle-brothers would prove immune to later corruptions.

The results of the spell were completely unforeseen, though Ahriman believed the spell a total success. All except the most powerful of psykers of the Thousand Sons were turned to dust, their souls trapped within armor that had become completely sealed, while those that survived found their powers increased tenfold. Magnus was enraged, as the Legion he had sacrificed so much for had been destroyed. He summoned Ahriman to account for his actions. Magnus spared Ahriman and The Thousand Sons' Chief Librarian was banished from the Planet along with his cabal to roam the galaxy hunting unknown and forgotten powers including his hunt for a way into the Eldar Black Library.

[edit] Organization

Magnus placed great faith in his subordinates, believing that he had trained them well enough to operate autonomously. Squads were led by the greatest psyker in the unit, each psyker apprenticed to the lead Sorcerer of the detachment. As such, all psykers within the Legion have considerable combat and leadership experience.

[edit] Combat Doctrine

The Thousand Sons were well known for their avoidance of close combat, instead relying on their mastery of the psychic arts to win battles. On many occasions, the Thousand Sons would accomplish by guile and trickery what other Legions would pay dearly for in blood.

Since the Rubric of Ahriman, little has changed. The Sorcerer-Lords of the Legion utilize their ghost-brethren as bulwarks of fire support, while they establish elaborate plans, dependent on the use of magic, to win the day.

Unlike other Legions that serve a single Chaos God, the Thousand Sons divide into two categories:

[edit] Sorcerer Marines

The once-loyal psykers of Prospero now turn their awesome powers on the Imperium of Man they once protected. Anyone in the Thousand Sons that held a status other than a marine was considered a powerful psyker in his own right. With the Chaos God Tzeentch now smiling down upon them these once peaceful librarians are now vengeful Sorcerers, directing their unholy fires upon the Imperium. Nearly all members of the Thousand Sons are Sorcerers and, with Tzeentch having augmented their powers, are all living weapons in their own right.

In game terms, Thousand Son Sorcerers are able to summon twice as much psychic energy as a standard chaos sorcerer. Since nearly all Sons inherited this ability, the Thousand Sons are a fearsome sight for naturals and psykers alike.

[edit] Rubric Marines

Those of the Legion that proved they had little or no psychic powers were turned to dust when Ahriman executed his Rubric Sign. Their armor has been sealed shut, their bodies reduced to dust, and their souls trapped for all eternity. Since that fateful day these poor, mindless souls have been wandering the warp, following their masters into battle without a second thought, however the downside to this is that they cannot learn, hence, they need a nearby Sorcerer to guide them around, though they are perfectly capable of defending themselves. Since the corporeal form of the Rubric Marines no longer exists, their only weakness is to compromise their power armor. This releases the spirit contained within. However, it is said that once the suit of armor is fully repaired and sealed, the spirit will return and the suit of armor will walk once again. Because of their state, they are the strongest and most difficult troops to bring down in the game, only mass fire and heavy weapons can bring them down effectively.

[edit] Special Weapons

Tzeentchian Sorcerers use their psychic powers to augment their already-formidable strength. They also use force weapons. In doing so they sacrifice the special weapons of other Traitorous Legions. However, because of this Sorcerers of Tzeentch are privileged to more psychic powers than any other Legion (especially Khorne). They do, however, include certain Daemon weapons, including:

• Deathscreamer: A blade of fire or a twisted gun which hurls a magical blast.

[edit] Battlecry

A ghostly whisper of "All is Dust," to symbolise the mutation and then the dissolving of their skin and bones to dust within their armour. They have also been heard to use the whisper/cry "For the Changer of Ways."

[edit] Heroes

The most well known hero of the Thousand Sons is Ahriman, the Chief Librarian. He is clad in turquoise sorcerer's garb and wields the Black Staff. The Black Staff is one of the most potent and evil magical weapons ever constructed and gives Ahriman almost ultimate power over the dark arts. Ahriman was the leader of the cabal against the rampant mutations afflicting the Legion, and was held responsible for the conversion of so many battle brothers into mindless Rubric Marines. Ahriman was spared at the last minute from execution, because of the whispering of Tzeentch, which convinced Magnus the Red to spare him. He was nonetheless exiled for his crimes and bidden to never return, driving him to travel the warp in search of more magical secrets.

[edit] Appearance

According to both the Horus Heresy artbooks and White Dwarf Index Astartes - Thousand Sons, The Thousand Sons Legion wore red power armor in the days of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, trimmed in grey or gold.

The original symbol of the Legion was a hollow ring with eight wavy radiating points, the four cardinal points slightly larger than the other. The symbol is often rendered in red or pink on a white field, or reversed as white on a red field (or shoulder pad, in this case). The symbol may represent a star or a sun, but has strong similarities to the eight-pointed star of Chaos that is very prominent in the Warhammer universe(s). Variations of this hollow star symbol include a red eye in the center of the symbol, possibly representing Magnus' cyclopean eye.

The Horus Heresy artbooks shows that the Legion also made heavy use of the Scarab as both a drawn symbol and sculpted relief on Marine armor, spacecraft and vehicles. The scarab is often shown painted or sculpted in a golden color, or black. One painting shows a scarab sculpted onto the chest plate of a Marine that has an additional red eye.

(Games Workshop had another Marine Chapter called Brotherhood of a Thousand which uses a black letter M - the Roman numeral for a thousand - on a solid white disc as its symbol. The How to Paint Space Marines lists the Brotherhood of a Thousand as a Loyalist Chapter, with no apparent links to the Thousand Sons.)

At some point after the Heresy, the armour of the Thousand Sons became predominantly blue, with yellow or gold decoration. The helmets of the Marines affected by the Rubric are built up in elaborate structures, which highly resemble ancient Egyptian burial masks in design and color (to represent the fact that the Rubric Marines are more or less entombed within their armor), while their armour is covered in dedication markings to Tzeentch.

The Legion's symbol was changed to that of an ouroboros, often flaming. Realms of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned shows the icon as a flaming ring similar to a flaming ouroboros but with an avian head instead of a snake.

[edit] Inspiration

Many elements of the Thousand Sons' design, along with descriptions of the commune on Prospero, draw heavily on both Gnostic and Egyptian history and myth. The post-Heresy color scheme of the Legion, along with the design of the helmets worn by many of the ghost-Marines, was inspired by the burial mask of Tutankhamun.

It should also be noted that Angra Mainyu, the god from whom Ahriman's name is derived, is actually Persian in origin. Other influences may include the naming of the Primarch, the name of whom may have been a reference to Simon Magus - although early background descriptions and representations of Magnus stressed his monstrous, daemonic nature and appearance, rather than his former sorcerous studies. The council of Nikaea is slightly more obvious, drawing from the Christian First Council of Nicaea, whilst use of the Ouroboros is another link to gnostic symbolism.

[edit] References

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