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Word Bearers

2020-01-04T05:00:18Z

2001:48F8:2C:527:B4DF:32B:8678:1939: /* Word Bearers Today */

{{Infobox Traitor Legion
|Name = Word Bearers
|Heraldry = [[Image:Post-Heresy Daemon Head.jpg|250px]]
|Battle Cry = Verses from the Book of Lorgar
|Original Name = Imperial Heralds
|Number = XVII
|Primarch = [[Lorgar|Lorgar Aurelian]]
|Original Homeworld = Colchis
|Current Homeworld = Sicarus
|Champion = [[Erebus]], [[Kor Phaeron]]
|Specialty = Mass Indoctrination, Summoning [[Daemon]]s, Cult Uprisings.
|Strength = Legion strength
|Allegiance = [[Chaos Undivided]]
|Colours = Dark crimson and steel
}}

{{heresy}}

{{topquote|By its very nature, theology tends - and under certain conditions, must always tend - to become demonology.|Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus}}
{{topquote|From the fires of betrayal unto the blood of revenge we bring the name of Lorgar, the Bearer of the Word, the favoured son of Chaos, all praise be given unto him. From those what would not heed we offer praise to those who do, that they might turn their gaze our way and gift us with the boon of pain, to turn the galaxy red with blood, and feed the hunger of the gods.|Excerpt from the three hundred and forty-first Book of the Epistles of Lorgar}}
{{topquote|We are twice armed if we fight with faith.|Plato}}

The '''Word Bearers''' are a legion of [[Chaos Space Marines]], sons of the [[Primarch]] [[Lorgar]], and the most infamous army of zealous, violent [[Space Marine|demigods of war]] this side of the [[Eye of Terror]]. Their bloody, thunderous, bellicose fury would make the [[Black Templars]] blush if they weren't so [[Heresy|GOD DAMN HERETICAL]]. Imagine a Legion of bioengineered psychopathic Jehova's Witness Space Marauders.

==History==
There is a phenomenon of psychology that some people are prone to zealotry. It does not matter what they believe in, when they come to believe in something they believe in it with all their heart. This type of individual who is likely to end up becoming a fanatical member to a certain ideology will if they somehow become disillusioned with it will often find it easier to adopt an opposing or opposite ideology and be just as fanatical to said new cause rather than simply moderating their commitment to their first ideology as needed and making caveats and exceptions to its general principles. The Word Bearers are this phenomenon at its most extreme.
===Early History===
[[File:Dark_apostle_by_kunkka.jpg|250px|left|thumb|Why hello there unbeliever. Would you mind a small theological chat?]]
The Emperor used the genetic templates of the Primarchs to create the Legiones Astartes after the powers of Chaos stole the gestating Primarchs. Those who received gene-seed from template number seventeen stood apart from their brother Astartes in duty and outlook. They fought with utter devotion and a fanatical zeal. Their original recruits were drawn from the sons of defeated enemies, raised to know the crimes of their fathers and the price of the Emperor's forgiveness. Thus while the other Legions went to war with righteousness, the XVIIth fought with the cold fury that only the condemned and redeemed could know. While other Legions took some time to acquire formal names, the XVIIth was named the Imperial Heralds almost immediately after their founding. This was due to their early role: to deliver the Emperor's ultimatum of submission or destruction.
Upon defeating an enemy, the Imperial Heralds would empty their libraries and records of any contents deemed heretical or sorcerous. Condemned works, individuals, and buildings would be destroyed in the name of the Imperial Truth (though they also tended to exterminate the entire population of the places they conquered; see Antarctica). The Imperial Heralds repeated this process all across Terra during the Unification Wars. This gave the Imperial Heralds a rarely-spoken nickname among the greater Imperium: the Iconoclasts.

===Great Crusade===
[[File:Daemon world by majesticchicken.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Okay, so the Imperial Cult might not exactly be hot chicken wings with thousand island sauce, but worshiping Chaos might not be the best alternative.]]
The planet Colchis was full of people that worshiped a watered down version of chaos. Primarch XVII was adopted by Kor Phaeron, one of the chief priests, and given the name Lorgar. Lorgar received a vision of the Emperor and formed a religion around him, leading to a six-year religious civil war that Lorgar's faction eventually won, shortly before the Emperor came to Colchis. During the Great Crusade, they bore the word of the Emperor to new worlds, wiping out any traces of dissenting faiths as they assimilated cultures into the Imperial way of life, including enforcing the worship of the God-Emperor. Seriously though these guys were like the [[Black Templars]] on super-steroids, as they were at Legion strength, lacked the moderation of the Inquisition, and had their Primarch to guide them.

Their thorough attention to this kept them far behind the pace of other expeditionary fleets and drew the ire of the Emperor. He repeatedly made it clear that he did not consider himself a god and wanted Lorgar to knock it off and catch up with the other fleets. Lorgar responded by penning the original Lectitio Divinitatus, which would much later form the core of the beliefs of the Temple of the Saviour Emperor. Finally, the Emperor had enough and ordered the Ultramarines to make an example of him. They torched the city of Monarchia, capital of the planet Khur and custom designed by Lorgar, and called the entire Word Bearers legion to kneel in its ashes before Guilliman, Malcador, and the Emperor.

To say Lorgar was devastated would be an understatement. He spent an entire month in seclusion, taking only the advice of Kor Phaeron and First Chaplain Erebus. They revealed to him that they had kept the old faith alive and that many worlds appeared to have religions that aligned with it, suggesting a more primal truth than worship of the God-Emperor. They convinced Lorgar that the primordial truth was truer than the Imperial Truth and he took his legion on a pilgrimage to the Eye of Terror to learn more about Chaos.

===Chaos===
They were the guys who used to be really, really, really loyal to the [[Emprah]]. Like, these guys used to be the Church of the Emprah. After the [[Horus Heresy]], they became the complete opposite. Now they go around fucking up the Emprah's sepulchre planets, relic worlds, and cardinal worlds, setting up cathedrals to the [[Chaos Gods]] in their places. They are also notable for being the one [[Chaos]] legion to still have [[Chaplain]]s, known as [[Dark Apostle]]s, which is probably because they invented the idea of Space Marine preachers and no other traitor Legions wanted them after the Horus Heresy was over, because there is little sense in having morale officers in a Chaos force. Unlike the other Chaos legions and renegade chapters, [[Red Corsairs]] notwithstanding, these guys actually managed to sort of keep their shit together rather than having everyone with a slightly fancier costume take his ball and go home. They're sorta like [[grimdark]] Chaos <s>Taliban</s> <s>Al-Qaeda</s> ISIS. Except the Word Bearers make <s>the Taliban</s> <s>Al-Qaeda</s> ISIS look like [[Tumblr|hippie]] sissies in comparison.

Their hobbies include human sacrifice, prayers to the [[Chaos Gods]], [[daemon]] summoning, and occult study.

First Chaplain Erebus was actually pretty much the driving force behind Horus turning to Chaos. At the climax of ''Horus Rising'', Erebus steals a weapon from the [[Interex]], which caused them to get all butthurt and blame [[Horus]] and the Luna Wolves for the theft. In the next book, ''False Gods'', Horus and the merry Luna Wolves take a trip to Davin IV on Erebus's advice, during which all hell breaks loose and Horus takes some wounds and comes as close as a [[primarch]] can to a near-death experience (he basically took a nap). [[Abaddon]], having as many daddy issues as Horus, decided it'd be a good idea to follow the advice of Erebus and take Horus to a local temple run by the serpent-worshiping locals, where it was said he could be healed. Erebus sent Horus into a trance and basically whispered sweet nothings about [[Chaos]] into his ear the entire time, planting the very first seed of corruption.

==Word Bearers Today==
After 10,000 years of violence, terror, destruction, and fervent worship of the Ruinous Powers, combined with the orchestration the Horus Heresy, the Word Bearers have achieved god-tier infamy status unmatched by [[Black Legion|nearly]] ANY OTHER CHAOS WORSHIPERS. The Black Legion has proven to be a much greater threat to the Imperium overall, but the Word Bearers' sheer zealous hatred for the Imperium and the Imperial Cult propels them to some truly legendary status. It truly cannot be overstated. The Word Bearers trilogy by Anthony Reynolds has some good examples, and include a Chaos Lord and his Terminator bodyguards taking on an Imperator Titan and WINNING, a Dark Apostle killing a Space Marine Captain with his bare hands, the main character summoning Daemonettes without any rituals and setting them on a Dark Eldar Archon...

Despite this fanaticism, however, they are the most uniform Traitor Legion by quite a lot, and one of the most organised and structured ones (Iron Warriors are more organized within their autonomous Grand Companies, but every Company is its' own political entity; the Black Legion are generally only uniform during a Black Crusade; and while the Alpha Legion is capable of amazing feats its' also extremely divided, maybe even more so than the other Legions).
As such, combined with their surprisingly understandable and HUMAN conflict during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, the Word Bearers function as a true brotherhood. Backstabbing is mostly minimal (which is quite of an irony considering they are led by the two biggest backstabbing cunts ever), command hierarchy is mostly respected, the Marines themselves are comrades or sometimes even FRIENDS, and great honors are given to those who fall in battle and those who rise to power. However, it is not accurate to say that they join hands and sing the gospel of love in comparison to other Legions though, as [[Grimdark|bitter rivalries can surface, the Leaders of a Grand Host can...."Excommunicate" you if they aren't a fan of your interpretations of the faith, and, in true Chaos Space Marine fashion, the strong are strongest alone.]] As for the aforementioned backstabbing cunts, Kor Phaeron and Erebus have apparently cannot stand each other anymore, and have spent the last ten millennia scheming and plotting against each other while Lorgar's been on vacation. Many of the Word Bearers have lined up behind one or the other, depending on who they think is stronger/has a better vision for the legion's future, and they will openly talk shit about the one they don't like, even if they're conversing with someone who's loyal to the other guy.

Lorgar's also gotten off his daemonic ass and has started leading his Legion once more in a massed Jehovah's Witness March. Well, maybe; the novel ''Apocalypse'' implies that he's still on his millennia-long gap year, and that the Legion has different ideas about what will get him to come back.

==Organization==
Yeah, we know what you're thinking: organization? Of a Traitor Legion? While it may surprise you, the Word Bearers still function as an organized Legion (though much looser than the Legiones Astartes). Ironically, their uttermost commitment to Chaos as a religion gives them a semblance of order (DOUBLE HERESY?) As such, they have a clearly designated hierarchy and command structure. Lorgar always remained the ultimate master of the Word Bearers but during his self-imposed silence/penance/... the Legion organized as such:

*'''Master of the Faith''': The ''de jure'' head of the Word Bearers in Lorgar's absence, currently held by First Captain [[Kor Phaeron]].

*'''Chief Dark Apostle''': The head of the priesthood, and true power behind the throne of the Legion, currently held by [[Erebus]].

*'''Dark Council''': A collection of Dark Apostles who oversee the overall actions of the Legion, and confirm the ascension of other Dark Apostles.

*'''Dark Apostle''': spiritual leader of a Host, the primary organization of the Word Bearers following the Horus Heresy. Dark Apostles are confirmed by the Dark Council and in turn make the decisions of the rank and advancement for the Host.

*'''First Acolyte''': Direct assistant to a Dark Apostle, with many having a Sith-like "master in need of a strong underling to get shit done" - "disciple that is powerful but who wants his master's place and more power" relationship.

*'''Coryphaus''': The senior military commander of a host, comparable to a [[Chapter Master]] or [[First Captain]]. The Coryphaus leads the Host's returns during religious ceremonies (and trust us, the Word Bearers have a lot of religious ceremonies) and makes all tactical decisions during actual combat, freeing up the Dark Apostle to better commune with the Chaos Gods.

*'''Icon Bearers''': A Word Bearer charged with carrying the Icon of the XVII Legion in battle, similar to a Company Standard Bearer in a [[Space Marine Chapter]].

*'''Champion''': The leader of Word Bearer squads, know as coteries. Comparable to a Squad Captain from the Legiones Astartes.

*'''Aspiring Champion''': Another Squad leader, comparable to a [[Brother-Sergeant|Sergeant]].

*'''Anointed''': The [[Terminator]]s of a Host.

*'''Gal Vorbak''': The [[Possessed Marine]]s of a Host.

*'''Warrior-Brother''': The rank and file soldiers of a host.

==Daily Rituals==

*04:00: Morning Prayer: The Word Bearers are roused from their cells to begin the day with sermons from the Book of Lorgar read by the Dark Apostle. Prayer lasts four hours, one dedicated to each of the Chaos Gods.
*08:00: Morning Firing Rites: The Word Bearers engage in target practice. Often using human slaves captured during raids.
*09:00: Battle Practice: The Word Bearers descend to the practice cages for training.
*12:00: Midday Meal: A light meal is prepared by the Legion Serfs. They are frugal with meals, as all intake of nonessential sustenance is considered indulgent and obstructive to enlightenment. Basically a permanent fast.
*12:30: Tactical Indoctrination: The Word Bearers gather for a tactical briefing, showing which planets they will be invading, and locations of cathedrals to the False Emperor which must be destroyed. Cultists who have demonstrated enough daily heretical devotion are dispatched to go door to door in Imperial neighborhoods with the Book of Lorgar, inquiring "“Excuse me sir, do you have a moment to talk about CHAOS?"
*14:00: Evening Firing Rites: The Word Bearers gather for target practice.
*15:00: Evening Prayer: The Word Bearers gather for the Dark Apostle to lead them in prayer. Pacts are often made during Evening Prayer, and Marines may be blessed with possession.
*19:00: Evening Meal: A light meal is prepared by the Legion Serfs. Sometimes Legion Serfs are on the menu.
*20:00: Evening Maintenance: Word Bearers will be stripped of their [[Power Armour]] (assuming they can still remove it) for repairs to be completed. Sometimes Warrior-Brothers will see the Apothecary to check on the status of mutations.
*00:00: Rest Period: The Word Bearers retire to their cells for rest.

==Famous Word Bearers==
In [[Dawn of War|Dark Crusade,]] the Dark Apostle [[Eliphas]] leads a warband of Word Bearers to take over Kronus. [[Awesome]] ensues.

In the videogame [[Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate]], an ENTIRE Word Bearers ARMY OF 10,000 MARINES is lead by the Chaos LORD Zymran, who is the main antagonist of the game. Apart from sounding MANLY, he does nothing but taunt the Ultramarines like a saturday morning cartoon villain (''Seriously all he needs is that large mustache to twirl and he'll be as contrived as the [[Abbadon|Warmaster]] himself''). Ultimately somewhat forgettable.

There's also a guy named Marduk from the book series, that shows how one can get shit done despite being a villain and how to do proper [[just as planned]] [[Tzeentch|out-plotting your rivals by factoring their plots into your own]]. Sadly for Marduk, he is being completely overshadowed in awesomeness in his own books by his terminator Coryphaus, Kol Badar, who for instance takes an Imperator Titan out by entombing himself and his squad just next to where it'll be forced to pass, revive just in time to hop aboard the leg bastion and then storming in and slaughtering the whole crew. And that's just in the first book.

Amongst [[/tg/]], the most famous Word Bearer would be [[Dranon]].

{{Template:Chaos-Official}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Chaos]][[Category:Space Marines]]

World Eaters

2020-01-04T04:51:42Z

2001:48F8:2C:527:B4DF:32B:8678:1939: /* World Eaters Schism and Khârn */

{{Infobox Traitor Legion
|Name = World Eaters
|Heraldry = [[File:Worldeaterslogo.png|250px]]
|Battle Cry = Pre Skalathrax: Blood for the Primarch! Skulls for the Twelfth Legion! (I shit you not, this was their original battlecry) After Skalathrax:
{{BLAM|"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!"}}
|Original Name = War Hounds
|Number = XII
|Primarch = [[Angron]]
|Original Homeworld = Bodt (primary muster site), in no way Angron's homeworld of [[Nuceria]]
|Current Homeworld = Hell if we know (emphasis on [[Warp|'hell']])
|Champion = [[Khârn|Khârn the Betrayer]]
|Specialty = Khorne [[Berserkers]], mass infantry, raping everything in sight with chainweapons.
|Strength = A metric fuckton of Warbands, each with numbers ranging from 12 to 12000.
|Allegiance = [[Khorne]]
|Colours = Post-Horus Heresy: White body washed with the bright/dry blood of Imperial scum, with brass lines.
When Angron was found/early Horus Heresy: White body with Blue pauldrons and Blue power pack.
Great Crusade era: Blue body with White pauldrons
}}
{{Topquote|The Germans, perhaps, at first ill-treated the Jews because they hated them: afterwards they hated them much more because they had ill-treated them. The more cruel you are, the more you will hate; and the more you hate, the more cruel you will become-- and so on in a vicious cycle for ever.|C.S. Lewis}}
{{Topquote|Cry 'havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war, that this foul deed shall smell above the earth with carrion men, groaning for burial.| From the tragedy ''Julus Kasar'', by the ancient Terran dramaturge, Shakespire, ca. M2}}
{{Topquote|Because we couldn't be trusted. The Emperor needed a weapon that would never obey its own desires before those of the Imperium. He needed a weapon that would never bite the hand that feeds. The World Eaters were not that weapon. We've all drawn blades purely for the sake of shedding blood, and we've all felt the exultation of winning a war that never even needed to happen. We are not the tame, reliable pets that the Emperor wanted. The Wolves obey, when we would not. The Wolves can be trusted, when we never could. They have a discipline we lack, because their passions are not aflame with the Butcher's Nails buzzing in the back of their skulls. The Wolves will always come to heel when called. In that regard, it is a mystery why they name themselves wolves. They are tame, collared by the Emperor, obeying His every whim. But a wolf doesn't behave that way. Only a dog does. That is why we are the Eaters of Worlds, and the War Hounds no longer.| Captain [[Khârn]], of the World Eaters Legion's 8<sup>th</sup> Assault Company, from his unpublished treatise ''The Eighteen Legions''}}

The '''World Eaters''', worshipping [[Khorne]], are the canon [[Angry Marines]], a Chaos Legion (or rather a collection of various warbands that all share kinship in that legion) dedicated entirely to the principle of [[rage]]. Their Primarch's name is a pun on the fact that they're so damn angry ([[Angron]]). How the Big E in all his infinite wisdom did not see the betrayal coming of a legion called the fucking "WORLD EATERS" is beyond me, but maybe it's because they were originally called the War Hounds. Anyway, they use any kind of ECKSBAWKS HUEG melee weapon capable of putting Terminator armor to shame, a pistol, their Berzerker-styled power armor and [[Khorne]]'s everlasting [[rage]], which turns them angry beyond all reason so that they simply refuse to run away when spilling blood for the blood god, even if they're hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned by 100-1 (the Blood God isn't picky, it doesn't care whose blood it is:it must be spilled). It is unknown who pilots their tanks but they still have transports; it is very unlikely that the Khornate marines are driving their vehicles like their loyalist counterparts, as with their anger they will most probably use a Rhino as a makeshift powerfist instead of a transport and if somehow made to use a Rhino, they'll probably end up killing the driver and tear their way out of the vehicle onto the battlefield. ("We need a new driver, this one is dead!") Actually, they have drivers, but even they tend to prefer [[rip and tear]] which leads to them always having an axe or so in reach for the particular [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/File:Closer.jpg I ] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrrCY7dgaqs want to hit them with his sword].

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL19beIJSE0 Here is their anthem.]

==Legion History==
[[File:World Eaters.jpg|400px|thumb|left|Before they went '''completely''' bonkers. A more accurate depiction would show Angron's armor with a fresh coat of chunky red paint.]]
From the beginning, the World Eaters, then called the War Hounds by the Emperor, were destined to travel a dark road. The initial recruits on Terra during the [[Unification Wars]] were picked from the most aggressive and bloodthirsty candidates, the legion usually being held in reserves for when Big E needed someone or something dead and [[get shit done|need it done fast]]. Once the [[Great Crusade]] kicked off, they became expert shock troops known to pacify worlds within less than a dozen hours. The majority of them were concentrated into an Expeditionary Fleet known as the "Bloody 13th", made up of various other human regiments and even Titans that just didn't give a shit about collateral damage. [[Sanguinius]], [[Red Thirst|ironically]], described them as a "carnival of monsters."

For their Primarch Angron, even as a baby, he didn't take any shit. The Eldar used their psychic powers to look into the future, and saw that if Angron ever grew to be a man, he would spend his whole life slaying everything in his path. 24/7, nonstop, all the fucking time. So the Eldar sent a contingent of elite warriors to kill him. But Angron tore their fucking eyeballs out so they couldn't see, then he ripped their fucking legs off so they couldn't run away, and he beat them into a bloody pile. Even as a literal infant, Khorne had his eye on the Primarch. To reiterate, Angron was only a kid when he did this. This really speaks volumes about his combat skills and the Eldar's [[Plot armor|hilarious ineptitude]] in combat.
[[File:Warhound_Mk II.jpg|thumb|250px|A War Hound Veteran Legionary, pre-Angron.]]
So after being found by humans this time he was brought to a city called Desh'ea, on a technologically advanced planet called [[Nuceria]]. Said city was run by a bunch of fat fucks whose only purpose in life was to build armies and make war with other city states. The best form of entertainment in Desh'ea, no, in Nuceria was watching slaves with rewired brains killing each other. Sounds like a nice place, am i right? But they fucked up when they enslaved Angron and made him a gladiator. How? You may ask, well, even Angron has his limits, I suppose. Then again he was a child at the time and made a terrible planetfall and fought with damn Eldar for his life. During this time, they tried to make Angron even more killy, but all methods failed due to his Primarch body. However, one method was successful: Butcher's Nails. What is the Butcher's Nails? It is a brain implant that drives the wearer to a berserker rage, and makes you unable to feel peace at all, unless you are butchering every goddamn thing on your path. It also has side effects like making the wearer of nails unable to sleep. Yes you heard it, '''ANGRON NEVER SLEPT''' since he was implanted with the nails on his childhood. Fucking Brutal. According to Khârn, they stunt the Serotonin in the brain as well. First he went all Conan the Barbarian on the other gladiators, but spared any who fought well despite the damn thing in his brains urging him to kill. Naturally, this earned him the respect of the other slaves, so he eventually went Spartacus on the ruler's fat asses and escaped with his buddies. Then word got out that there was a new fucking sheriff in town, even more guys started to defect, and pretty soon Angron had his own slave army ready to take over the whole planet. They started killing every warlord and their armies in sight non-stop, but eventually, Angron and his merry band of warriors faced a combined army of 7 warlords. They were readying themselves for their inevitable deaths because they were already outnumbered and outgunned, when the Emperor came down to talk to Angron, promising him an army of his own and a life of eternal war for humanity.

[[File:175px-WarHounds.jpeg|thumb|right|War Hounds Great Crusade icon, before the coming of Angron]]
But then, Angron said: "Fuck that shit, I'm taking care of business." And because the Emperor knew Angron would simply waste his life and [[Not as Planned|die in combat]], he forcefully beamed up Angron into his ship, just before the final assault, which naturally pissed off Angron for millennia to come because he didn't die along with his soldiers, thus earning an honorable death. This made Angron develop an ever-lasting [[Rage|hatred]] of his father that would eventually come back to bite him in his divine ass.

Much later when Angron was about to be presented to the Astartes Legion he was going to command, the Emperor gathered the War Hounds' Captains and commanded them to persuade their father to be their leader ''without'' laying a hand on him. Still frothing and outraged that he'd been denied death alongside his brothers and sisters, Angron outright refused to command the then-War Hounds Legion, taking out his rage on his own legionnaires (since Big. E and his bananas had wisely made themselves scarce). You can pretty much imagine the results: Angron killed every Captain that tried to negotiate with him, up until he got to Captain [[Khârn]] who somehow managed to talk him down and get him to assume the title of Primarch of the War Hounds, which he subsequently renamed the "World Eaters". Khârn, who had climbed up the ranks as Angron had killed all the other higher ranking Captains, would then go on to be Angron's "cool head", assuming the rank of Angron's personal equerry, even after receiving the mental upgrades that turned the World Eaters more bloodthirsty than they already were. Seriously, a hell of a guy that Kharn.

With that business concluded, first stop for the World Eaters was this planet they were supposed to help conquer with the Luna Wolves and the Ultramarines. Angron and his Legion, who were itching to go down to the planet's surface and get their hands dirty, grew irritated at Horus and Guilliman as they held back the Imperial forces in order to make a plan of attack. Foreshadowing the future events on Istvaan III, Angron jumped the gun, ignored his two brothers and deployed himself and his forces straight into the thick of the enemy and engaged the rebels in bloody melee. Unable to cease shit from hitting the fan, the Luna Wolves and Ultramarines could only watch in horror as the World Eaters hacked the defenders apart and decimated everything in their path. Horus and especially Guilliman, who had always tried to minimize casualties and overall damage to a rebelling planet and its infrastructure, were obviously furious at Angron not only for trashing their well-laid plans but more importantly for slaughtering most of the population and leaving the planet in ruins. Even the Emperor himself, when he eventually heard about this, was angry as well but he could not do much to reprimand the already disobedient Primarch as he had other things to take care of.
[[File:WE_Vet_Early_Mk_II.png|thumb|250px|A World Eaters Legionary (pre-heresy).]]
Angron then had his worst idea ever: in order to improve his Legion, he ordered (poor) copies of his Butcher's Nails to be added first to new recruits then to everyone else, removing their ability to feel or care about fear but increasing their [[rage|aggression]] by large amounts. Only the few psykers still in the Legion were not implanted, and even then this was only because the damn things malfunctioned when implanted in a psyker and killing him in the process. The [[Emperor]] eventually banned this practice after the World Eaters exterminated all life on a planet in one night, but Angron didn't listen. As it eventually turned out, the implants were reacting abnormally to Angron's physiology; the Adeptus Mechanicus predicted that they would kill Angron before the end of the Great Crusade. After numerous attempts at removing them from other World Eaters resulted in the death of the subjects, the Emperor 'wisely' decided to hide this from Angron and his Legion and drop the subject, aggravating an already delicate situation.

Leman Russ, acting both out of a sincere desire to help and on the orders of the Emperor to make Angron stop implanting the Butcher's Nails, attempted to talk some sense into his brother. Angron, furious that the Emperor was trying to have Russ push him around, attacked him in a fit of anger [It was recently revealed in the novel "Betrayer" that Russ did not come on order of the Emperor, but of his own accord in a (futile) effort to try and make Angron see what he had done to his sons]. The impromptu duel caused the dam to burst and a skirmish between the present forces broke out. In the end, Angron disarmed Russ, but in the process was surrounded by the Space Wolves, guaranteeing his own death if he tried to kill his brother. However, Russ called them off, insisting that he had proved his point and Angron did likewise, retreating with his sons. No one else was ever told what happened, but both Legions insisted they won, though no one was sure. Overall, the Space Wolves took more casualties and Angron had Russ pinned to the floor and disarmed, but Angron and the remaining World Eaters were outgunned and outmaneuvered, very likely being killed on the spot as well if Angron had gone through with killing Russ. In the end though, it proved futile: the Nails and Angron's own stubbornness had already broken down what rationality he had.
[[File:Chaos inthe imperium.jpg|310px|thumb|right|Let's get this bloody party started.]]
[[Horus]], [[Horus Heresy|corrupted and seeking to turn the Primarchs to his cause]], didn't have to do much to get Angron to [[heresy|side with him]], as all it took was to tell him that the Emperor was weak and to stir up his rage at preventing his honorable death on Nuceria. This might not have been the smartest of ideas as Angron proved to be uncontrollable, though, and Horus would more than once lament that those who sided with him weren't exactly [[Fulgrim|paragons]] [[Perturabo|of]] [[Night Haunter|mental stability]]. In the purging of the loyalists from the Traitor Legions on Istvaan III, Angron trashed Horus's plans for a clean [[Exterminatus]] by deploying to the surface to butcher the enemy, inevitably drawing out the slaughter and costing Horus precious time in consolidating his resources. They also participated in the battle on Istvaan V, where they massacred a fair share of the loyalists in bloody hand-to-hand combat. Angron even almost came to hands with [[Vulkan]] during the first part of that battle, challenging him to a duel; but heavy bombardment drove them apart before they could go mano-a-mano.

[[Lorgar]] later brought the World Eaters back to Nuceria during his Shadow Crusade alongside his own [[Word Bearers]], ostensibly to find any information about how to keep Angron from being killed by his implants. In reality, Lorgar knew that when Angron learned that his former masters claimed that he had fled from battle, the resulting [[rage]] produced by Angron (and the World Eaters' subsequent annihilation of all life on Nuceria) would allow Lorgar to perform a ritual that would turn Angron into a Daemon Prince while also generating a warpstorm large enough to completely cut off Ultramar from the rest of the Imperium. Guilliman tried to intervene and stop Lorgar from completing his ritual, but even he and his Blue Boys were no match for Angron and the World Eaters when really angry and they had to retreat from Nuceria after Angron thrashed Guilliman and ascended. To be fair though, in "Betrayer" Lorgar makes it quite clear when fighting Girlyman that he truly believed he was saving his brother. So it is not like he tricked Angron to go to Nuceria as part of some great Chaos Scheme with the end goal of turning him into a Daemon Prince. It was simply the only way how he saw he could save his brother from an otherwise inevitable death.

When the Legions of Horus attacked the Imperial Palace, the World Eaters were at the forefront of the Traitor Marines, rushing into the breach and killing the most inside the palace. Sadly, they lost when Horus was killed aboard his flagship, and the World Eaters with Angron fled to the [[Eye of Terror]]. Kharn himself was killed and his corpse dragged from the debris, but Khorne blessed him with a second chance and resurrected him to slaughter and maim for millennia to come.

==World Eaters Schism and Khârn==
[[Image:Worldeater-awesome.gif|thumb|right|250px|Second Edition World Eaters were ''awesome''. Believe it or not, this guy is actually an apothecary.]]
A hell of a guy by the name of [[Khârn]] comes from this Legion. Hell of a guy that Khârn is... Even if he single handily split his legion into countless warbands.

The World Eaters are not organized anymore (at least no more than any other Chaos Legion, except for the Word Bearers maybe which still operate as a legion). After the Heresy, the majority of the World Eaters legion stayed together whilst fleeing from the Imperium but rivalries and power plays continued to drive them apart. Angron had vanished into the Warp somewhere and the only other figurehead, Khârn himself, was in a comatose state after having his almost dead body dragged away from the Siege of Terra. The legion stumbled upon a planet in the warp, isolated by a barrier of normal space; a oasis of safety in the Warp. Unfortunately, the Emperor's Children had also found it. Half the Legion wanted to do their own thing, whilst half wanted to stay together and rebuild. Kharn suddenly woke up and proceeded to murder the shit out of an entire berserker assassination squad (no, really) that had been sent to off him. He then took authority over the leading legionary elements and proceeded to wreck pretty marine face.

The end result of this venture was that Khârn irrevocably split the Legion on [[Battle of Skalathrax|Skalathrax]] when the World Eaters were kicking the [[Emperor's Children|Emperor's Children's]] asses. Khârn got pissed off at his fellow Legionnaires for taking shelter from the Ice Cold Darkness, because the [[Grimdark|cold stuff on Skalathrax would freeze you to death]]. Khârn took a flamer and torched everyone's shelters and started killing everything in sight, while his fellow brothers fought for whatever shelters were left, even after [[FAIL|kicking the Emperor's Children's asses off the planet]]. The World Eaters are now fractured into Warbands, who sell their services to other Chaos Armies for the lulz (for the lul throne).

==Noteworthy Shenanigans==
*Cerberus Insurrection, where the legion engaged in a manly duel with [[Thunder Warriors|Thunder Warrior]] escapees, showing them the true power of rage (despite losing 4 to 5 for each Thunder Warrior, with the exception of [[Endryd Haar]], who single-handedly took out a Thunder Warrior by snapping his neck!). (Pre-Heresy)
*The Cleansing of Arrigata (Pre-Heresy campaign. This was noteworthy in that the World Eaters slaughtered the entire world's population in a single day.)
*Beat (and got beaten) the shit out of the Space Wolves when they were asked to come with them to get "Help by some doctors to make them not crazy anymore." A ridiculous battle, really. (Pre-Heresy)
*[[Battle of Isstvan III]]
*[[Drop Site Massacre|And Isstvan V]].
*The Shadow Crusade with Lorgar and his home boys, and making Rowboat Girlyman literally crawl away on Nuceria after getting his pompous blue ass kicked while Lorgar lol'ed.
*Siege of the Emperor's Palace. Where Angron got beat up by Sanguinius. In melee.
*Most of [[Abaddon|Failbaddon's]] Black Crusades.
*Cholercaust Blood Crusade - The World Eaters and Khornate followers in general curb-stomp the Imperium into the ground, until they're turned back by the fucking [[Legion of the Damned]] (a force around 200 strong, mind you, or [[Gav Thorpe|as many as necessary]]) because GW loves its stagnation and if they continued on they would have gotten to Terra and killed the Big E. This is also clear evidence that Khornates are the only Chaos Worshipers who [[get shit done]].
*Doombreed's actually successful black crusade. ('Success' is [[skub|debatable]], since the Imperium still stands. Doombreed's crusade did inflict one hell of a lot of damage to the Imperium. And to Chaos' side as well, but Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows!)
*Angron's Dominion of Fire campaign, where 50,000 World Eaters and Angron wasted over 70 Imperial Sectors in two Centuries. That's one sector every 2.86 years... which means that Khorne must have blessed Angron with extra heroin-induced RAEG to get shit done ''this quickly.''
*First War of Armageddon. Where Angron <s>got raped by a Grey Knight</s> got his sword broken by a Grey Knight and proceeded to [[Rip and tear]].

==General need to know information==
[[File:WE_KhorneBerzerkers.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Can you believe they can drive a car? ROAD RAGE!!!]]
The World Eaters are all Berserkers, thanks to the Butcher's Nails. Homever, before Skalathrax, [[Heresy|not all of them were Khorne worshippers]], instead they were naytheists that couldn't give a shit about chaos. Kinda like the [[Night Lords]]. Considering the funky state of time in the warp, there is bound to be naytheist warbands of World Eaters, who swore to never worship chaos after the horror on Skalathrax. They use Chainaxes, one of the most brutal hand to hand weapons in the game and whole 40K. Also, Angron killed all of their librarians because they tried to kill Lorgar. One wishes that they were successful, because if Lorgar died, Angron would have finally died too, finally having his deathwish on his homeworld, after two centuries of brutal warfare, guilt, sadness and deathseeking. Fucking Word Bearers, they ruined the goddamn galaxy.
[[Image:Angaron.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Angron is not a happy chappy.]]
The helmets that Berserkers wear are representations of the Khorne Skull icon, or the mark of Khorne. It's like a cool stylized eight thing. Khorne's favorite number is eight, so every Khornate Warband organizes its marines into squads of 8 and its multiples. Scary shit. But this also proves that World Eaters are just big nerds with rage, because they can do on-the-spot mathematics in the middle of a combat scenario just so they can make sure they do everything in multiples (or factors) of eight. Bet the Loyalists can't do that. Bet the Blood Angels with THEIR prissy version of RAEG can't do that. Thus it is proved that Zerkers are smart and can drive tanks.

==Summary==
Ruthless, [[Manly Marines|manly]], bloody, and [[awesome]]. They are the most angry, awesome and brutal Space Marines out there, Closest Imperial equivalents are the [[Space Wolves]], [[Blood Angels]] or the [[Black Templars]]. Primarily due to the fact that they fight the exact same way.

==Trivia==

===Catch Phrase===

[[File:HGD.jpeg|250px|thumb|left|Despite the popular beliefs, they're not ''always'' angry. Just most of the time.]]

World Eaters use the most used catch phrase in [[Warhammer 40k|40k]] next to '''[[Ork|"WAAAAAAAAGH!!!!"]]''' or '''For the [[Emperor]]!''' They scream '''[[Khorne|BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD]]''' in combat, while taking skulls for the skull throne. It is unknown what they scream while taking blood for the blood god, but it is probably '''SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE.''' Luckily the two activities are rather interchangeable, but at home life gets rather confusing as they bellow MILK FOR THE KHORNE-FLAKES while filling out their tax returns, or howl "POPKHORNE!!!!!!" whenever anybody suggests a movie.

===Colors===
The World Eaters Pre-Heresy colour scheme was white and blue, both colors which believe it or not in many cultures ironically stand for calmness (blue) and purity (white), white being cultural and blue being a biological human reaction (since most shades of blue have been scientifically proven to calm and relax the human mind).
Blue and white are also the colours of the Finnish flag, so yeah that's yet another Nordic connection.
If you factor in the biological responses to those colors, though, they would make sense for use by Angron's legionnaires as the sight of them would help stem their RAEG just briefly enough to avoid attacking their battle-brothers ("Friendly Fire" being something the Emperor probably wouldn't have appreciated much).

However in Japan and other Asian cultures white stands for death, and often bloody death, as the white brings out the color red. Also, corpses tend to go pale due to blood loss and/or lack of blood flow to the skin. Meanwhile, blue was the favourite colour of Turkic and Mongolian nomadic empires, as it represented the clear blue sky of the steppe - [[Doombreed]] certainly approves.

While most World Eaters repainted their armour after embracing Khorne (what with the bronze trim), according to fluff, some World Eaters never repainted their armor, the red is simply layers of dry blood. Which doesn't make much sense because dried blood is brown due to the iron in the blood oxidizing, unless they just keep adding new layers of 'paint'.

==Daily Rituals==
04:00 - The World Eaters rise up from the mountain of corpses.

04:30 - Morning Practice. The World Eaters start [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheSpartanWay to train and work out.]

05:30 - Morning Meal. Nothing is prepared, the marines simply grab the nearest slave available, rip out their heads, and drink their blood. Eating their flesh is optional but encouraged for nutritional purposes. Eating yesterday's leftovers are also an option.

06:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The World Eaters conduct in target practice. Most marines attempt to practice marksmanship with their bolt pistols, but most of, if not all fail in this task. The practice typically ends with them simply throwing their pistols and axes at the target and mercilessly tackling them in frustration.

07:00 - Battle Practice. Not so much as practice as it is a giant gladiatorial game where the berzerkers fight just about anything from daemons, captured slaves, giant beasts, each other...etc.

14:00 - Tactical Indoctrination. Surviving marines are corralled into the briefing room, where the warlord simply shows a picture of the planet, the main objective, and the rest of the marines simply shout in approval. Injuries and fatalities arise from the more "overzealous" marines.

14:30 - Evening Firing Rites. The marines now attempt marksmanship training in the dark. It usually just ends up with them using the muzzle flash of their guns as a flash light so they can close in on the target. Some marines may now actually hit something with their guns while doing this, but its usually another marine using the same tactic.

15:00 - Battle Practice. The marines now attempt to spar with each other, it isn't complete unless it ends up with a handful of fatalities.

20:00 - Evening Meal. Typically, nothing is still prepared and the marines will simply use slaves for nourishment. But any slave or marine capable of cooking and still alive will attempt to create some dishes for their bloodthirsty brethren (blood sausage and blood stew is a common favorite). Anything from warpspawn or slave innards can and will be used.

21:00 - Evening Practice. Battle is the greatest form of worship to Khorne, the marines will then proceed to battle each other in a massive moshpit.

23:40 - Rest Period. By this point, most of the marines have knocked each other out or killed the ones still awake. The slaves enjoy a few hours of peace until their psychotic masters wake up in a few hours.

==Notable World Eaters==
*[[Angron]]
*[[Khârn]]
*[[Crull]]
*[[Lheorvine Ukris]]
*[[Zhufor]]

{{Template:Chaos-Official}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Chaos]][[Category:Space Marines]]

Alpha Legion

2020-01-04T04:43:00Z

2001:48F8:2C:527:B4DF:32B:8678:1939: /* Tactics */ Fixed some typos, etc etc.

{{BLAM|The term is used by the heretical to refer to a mythical 20th Legion. It is nonsensical name, which proves it is a false story, since true priests of the Adeptus Ministorum would know 'alpha' is an ancient term meaning "first". But any such 20th Legion would have been the last to be discovered before the [[Horus|Horus Heresy]]. 'Alpha' is an old word meaning 'A' so the name Alpha Legion translates into 'A Legion' (heretic falsehoods are rarely original).}}

{{BLAM|No such legion exists, nor has it ever existed. The remainder of this page is intentionally [[Malal|left blank]]. There is no need for you to read further, and if you feel any urges to read beyond this paragraph or if you have any suspicion that there is any text following, please consult your local [[Commissar]] or [[Chaplain]] for [[Blam|re-education]]. If you happen to be the Commissar, report yourself to your sidearm.}}

Now that we've got that out of the way...
{{Heresy}}
{{Infobox Traitor Legion
|Name = Alpha Legion... we think.
|Heraldry = [[File:AL_Post-Heresy_Icon.png|center|200px]]
|Battle Cry = "Hydra Dominatus", "I am Alpharius!.", or "For the Emperor!"... probably. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iyOkFLuoBc this] and sometimes [https://youtu.be/FZcG5UOY224?t=48 this]
|Number = XX, as far as we know...
|Primarch = [[Alpharius]]. Or [[Omegon]]. Or both, maybe neither.
|Original Homeworld = Ah...
|Current Homeworld = Well...
|Champion = You see....
|Specialty = Covert espionage and infiltration, information warfare, mass use of cultists...probably
|Strength = Hmm...
|Allegiance = [[The Cabal|.]]...[[Imperium|.]][[Chaos|.]][[A Game of Pretend|Yes?]]
|Colours = Dark blue, sometimes, often with green and or silver ornamentation. Possibly both, unless neither.}}
{{topquote|Such are we that in this art of war are like unto serpents, to lie out of sight, to strike swift, to carry such poison in our mouths that men fear to tread where we may lie.|Anonymous, quoted by the Emperor}}
{{topquote|I'm confused. Really, really confused.|Adam Gilchrist, possibly}}
{{topquote|What is important is to spread confusion, not eliminate it.|Salvador Dalí, or so they say}}
{{topquote|If you want to keep a [[Dark Angels|secret]], you must also hide it from yourself.|George Orwell, maybe}}
{{topquote|Hail Hydra! Immortal Hydra! We shall never be destroyed! Cut off a limb and two more shall take its place! We serve the Master, as the world shall soon serve us! Hail Hydra!|Alpha Legi-wait a minute!}}

The [[Alpha Legion]] (allegedly known as the '''Chaos [[Reasonable Marines]]''') are basically what would happen if you gave the CIA from the 1950s onwards a Space Marine legion and told them to go nuts. They are the 20th and last Legion of the Adeptus Astartes from the Great Crusade, and were the last to find their Primarch, [[Alpharius]]. In part, this is because [[Horus]] was the first to find him, and [[What|kept him hidden from the Emperor and everyone else for some time.]] In retrospect, it probably should have been obvious that he was going to go full Chaos.

The Alpha Legion's BIG SECRET is, as you probably know, the fact that their "one" Primarch is actually two guys, the twins Alpharius and Omegon. Since the Emperor made all of the Primarchs, it's unclear how this would be a secret; surely he'd know that he made twenty-one Primarchs, not twenty. Right?

... Right?

As you are about to realize, we know absolutely ''nothing'' about the Alpha Legion or their members. Sure, there are a lot of sources with information about them around, but none of this is solid and, as we know that the Alpha Legion are sneaky as ''fuck'', and are properly getting their shit done without anyone noticing it.

==Origins==
As with most lore, the Alpha Legion's name comes from religion. The two Primarchs, Alpharius and Omegon, represent the line Jesus said in Revelation 22:13: ''"I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End."'' But as Omegon is meant to be a secret, the legion is named after Alpharius. If Omegon was to be the face rather than the secret, the Legion could possibly have been called the Omega Legion. (Although the Ultrasmurfs would probably file a cease and desist) Or in other words the "last" legion which conforms to your "needing sense in a name" thing.

Adherents to the stories of this Legion make addle-minded claims that prove their insincerity, such as: all marines in this legion were surgically altered to look identical to [[Alpharius|their Primarch]]; that the Emperor himself gave this Primarch command over campaign forces above that of the Lord Commander of the Imperial Army; even power fantasies such as the existence of more than one Primarch in this Legion; and other tall tales that defy belief. Most heretical of all is the claims that these Primarchs betrayed his holiness the Emperor of Mankind willingly without being corrupted by [[Chaos]], which conveniently excuses their absence from the Eye of Terror and thus any observable evidence of their betrayal with the other traitor Legions.

It has also been suggested that the Legion, their Primarch, and their symbol may be based on the star [[wikipedia:Alphard|Alphard]], in the constellation of Hydra. What's more, Alphard means "the solitary one", but it has a much dimmer star [[Creed|"hidden" behind it]]. If this was intended, considering that "Alpha Legion", "Alpharius" and the hydra motif have been around for a lot longer than Omegon has, it means that Games Workshop has been playing a very, very [[Tzeentch|long game]]. Meta.

===The Documented "Truth"===
Apparently, the naming of the Alpha Legion refers to the fact that it actually has no name. In Horus Heresy III: Extermination it goes to great lengths to explain the early history of the Alpha Legion and how it contrasts to other more well-known Legions. It seems that the Primarch either kept the name to be deliberately ironic, deeply meaningful in the sense that "Alpha" can also mean "Supreme" or the early title of "Alpha" just stuck.

All Legions after the [[Dark Angels|First]] were put through a series of tests and trials by the [[Emperor]] before general release into the Great Crusade. Quite literally ''(and un-ironically)'' an '''"Alpha Test"''' where the Legion would only consist of 1,000-2,000 Astartes to see how they would perform their intended function, which was pre-determined by the Emperor before their creation.

The XXth Legion (XX = double cross. Look up Twenty Committee for speculations) however was never publicly released or announced by the Imperium, though the initial tests proved positive, it never progressed past this initial stage and remained an '''''"Alpha"'' Legion'''. Leading some to question whether the XXth Legion were actually intended for a much darker purpose and were intentionally kept concealed by the Emperor.

For the first 40 years of the Great Crusade, the few warriors of the XXth were a ''"Ghost Legion"'' who would act in obscure warzones isolated from the other Legions yet would sometimes act under the heraldry of a different legion, or no legion at all. They performed dubious tasks such as assassination, kidnapping, artifact retrieval, escorts, and other clandestine support roles. It may not be coincidental that these tasks were assigned to the Legion whose number could be represented as a ''double cross'', which also figures prominently in their iconography. These roles would later be taken by the [[Adeptus Custodes|Custodians]], [[Officio Assassinorum]] and [[Sisters of Silence|Sororitas Inconcessus]], causing the XXth to fall into myth and stagnation. It was only with the discovery of the Primarch [[Alpharius]] (''which still might not even be his true name'') which allowed the Ghost Legion to resurface nearly 160 years later and become a true Legion in its own right, seemingly springing up from nowhere with a full (and rapidly expanding) force of 10,000 Astartes and a battle-ready fleet.

==Recent History==
[[Image:Alpha_Legionnaire.jpg|thumb|240px|right|The denizens of this wiki failed to detect our infiltration forces. <s>[[Just as Planned]]</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|''HERESY''!!! There are no Chaos forces infiltrating this site. Especially from the nonexistent Alpha Legion. Please stop reading this at once. There are more important, less hertical, things to be done. You should be saying your prayers to the Emperor, or eating your veggies}}]]
There are extremely persistent and consistent rumors that the most blessed Blood Ravens chapter of the holy Adeptus Astartes led by Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos and assisted by the Librarian Isador Akios, the PDF and Imperial Guard led by [[Mordecai Toth|Inquisitor Mordecai Toth]], and the [[Eldar]] of [[Craftworld]] [[Biel-tan]] led by [[Farseer]] [[Macha]], fought the mythical Alpha Legion led by Chaos Lord Bale and Chaos Sorcerer [[Sindri Myr]] and an Orkish Waaagh! led by the Warboss [[Orkamungus]] on the planet Tartarus (what a lovely name for a planet). Attempting to accuse the Blood Ravens of Heresy for spreading lies about fictional legions has universally ended in failure. The same applies to the Legion's alleged involvement in the events surrounding the [[Exterminatus]] of Typhon and [[Azariah Kyras]]' (almost) ascension to Daemonhood. We're not even going to mention the [[Metal Boxes]] incident in the [[Kaurava System]]...
Also any relation between the Alpha legion and [[Tzeentch]] dogma is purely coincidental. But everyone agrees they are space terrorists, and probably al-Qaeda with a grimdark-startrek-feel.

Here are some of the things that we know about them:
*Do not talk about the Alpha Legion
*Do NOT talk about the Alpha Legion.
*The Alpha legion never existed.
*The Alpha legion is the only real Warhammer 40,000 force, the rest are operatives dressed up.
*Alpharius was not killed. [[Roboute Guilliman|Rawbutt Jellyman]] was the one who died, and Alpharius disguised himself as him. Which means that he now leads the Imperium.
*'''+++Records Expunged+++'''

In all seriousness, we really, honestly DON'T have any clue what the fuck is up with the Alpha Legion because Games Workshop gives them so little fluff compared to the rest of the Traitor Legions (possibly on purpose given that part of their schtick is how mysterious they are), and even those few things we know might be misinformation.

With the release of Forge World's 3rd Horus Heresy book, Extermination, as well as several Black Library short stories and novellas, there are a few confirmed events that the Alpha Legion took part in, for a given definition of "confirmed". They consistently show that when the Alpha Legion is involved, even if they're ostensibly "allies", whether you're a loyalist, traitor, a secret society of aliens ostensibly trying to destroy Chaos ([[Derp|by arranging the destruction of the only being and species Chaos fears and can be destroyed by]]), or Alpharius himself, they're going to find a way to screw with you.

Finally, if we take [[Dawn of War]] to be canon (and Games Workshop certainly does) then we can infer that the Alpha Legion is probably just as splintered and broken up as the eight outright-traitor legions, with some of the sub-groups running off to [[Sindri|embrace Chaos outright]]. Honestly this is not all that surprising if you take into consideration [[Your dudes|GeeDub's stance on character motivation and adaptability]].

Hell, even when they have recently became their own class in the [[Black Crusade (RPG)|Black Crusade]] supplement ''Tome of Fate,'', the information provided is still somewhat vague and just stuff we already know. What it ''did'' reveal though, was that groups of Alpha Legionnaires are seldom seen together. Many are independent operatives working on extended reconnaissance missions sent by some higher up, insurgents waging a one-man guerrilla war, or trying to achieve a personal objective known only to them. Some are even seen amongst "the Severed"; a group of Chaos Marines forcibly exiled from their Legions.

Even when by themselves, many often gather a loyal cult of followers who try to help them in their goal. Alpha Legionnaires are more often than not the orchestrator behind Chaos cults and rebellions who fester within Imperial hives. They may not even pose as Marines, as ''Tome of Fate'' mentions that they have an unusual and legendary ability to disguise themselves as xenos, mutants, or even loyalists (maybe they are already loyalists, depending on who you ask). If one thinks about it, a terrifying possibility arises; that they have somehow acquired the transformative technologies of the Callidus assassins. They frequently travel in and out of the Eye of Terror, setting up decoys, assassinations, and propaganda within Imperial space.

To put it simply there are about as many different categories of Alpha Legion motives as you can think of. Here are just a few (however, most would probably unify upon the return of a Primarch).
* Those who are actually still loyal and aid the Imperium as best it can in sneaky, inscrutable ways.
* Those who are nominally loyal and uncorrupted but still carrying out their Primarch's/Cabal's plan to make the Imperium lose.
* Those who have embraced Chaos to bring about the other version of the above plan.
* Those who have embraced Chaos in a misguided effort to bring about the original version of the above plan.
* Those who have embraced Chaos and are just doing their own thing. Sindri Myr comes to mind.
* Those who are loyal only to the distant memory and legacy of their Primarch (either one) and Legion and act in whatever way they think best preserves that legacy.
* Those who are loyal to the Emperor but deeply oppose the current state of the Imperium.
* Those who are loyal to the Emperor and think that by destroying the weakest parts of the Imperium they strengthen the Imperium as a whole. Occam the Untrue specifically believes this in Sons of the Hydra.
* Those who care only about the survival of their warband and brothers, even if they venerate Chaos/The Emperor/The Primarchs/etc. Kassar from Shroud of Night falls in this category.
* Those who do their own thing, just in general.
* Those loyal to their own conception of the Alpha Legion. Whatever the hell that entails. Which is most of them.
* Those who are motivated by their hatred for something in specific, usually Guilliman. Quetzal Carthach from The Long Games at Carcharias and Sons of the Hydra just really fucking hates Ultramarines, allegedly because he was at Eskrador when Guilliman killed “Alpharius”.
* About a million other things.
* Fuck knows.

==Tactics==
During the Great Crusade the Ultramarines had a proverb: "Information is victory." What they meant to say is, "If you know an opponent, you can defeat them." The Alpha Legion took this doctrine and turned it up to eleven: why focus only on the intel '''you''' have? An enemy that doesn't know '''you''' (or better has nothing but carefully crafted disinformation about you) is doomed. That's pretty much what their strategy revolves around: ''fucking with their opponent's mind''. Since then no one knows anything for certain about them. If you think you know more, start worrying: this means Alpha Legion is messing with your mind right now. That's why the [[Ultramarines]] and Alpha Legion absolutely ''despised'' each other during the Horus Heresy, as their battle doctrines antagonized each other.

Notable examples (allegedly) include:
* Making everyone believe their primarch was killed by Rowboat Girlyman, despite even the Ultramarines having no records about such a thing ever happening.
* Leaking their attack plans to a subsector governor, so he strips nearby planets of garrisons to reinforce his defense, and then attacking those weakened nearby planets.
* Hypno-indoctrinating natives of a Space Marine recruiting world with a trigger switch, and then turning the unwittingly brainwashed Marines on their brothers when the Alpha Legion attacked their fortress-monastery after arranging for the Chapter in question to suffer a series of "accidents" that left them badly undermanned.
* Conquering hundreds of planets during Horus Heresy with a ''single agent'' planting rumors of the Warmaster's advance, and causing civil wars and rebellions of people trying to plead their allegiance to Horus only to make sure he doesn't nuke their homes upon arriving. Did I mention all these were made by a single fucking person who wasn't even a full-fledged marine?
* Plotting and executing the Night of Thousand Rebellions, that effectively severed the Segmentum Pacificus away from the Imperium, leaving it at the mercy of Chaos. Yeah, you heard it right - the entire ''segmentum'', and while it ''is'' the smallest one, it's still like 15% of the Imperium.
* Adopting the battle cries of their enemies. Yelling "For The Emperor!" before you charge will cause any true loyalist opponent to hesitate - usually fatal{{BLAM}}

{{BLAM|These stories are obvious and self-contradictory falsehoods, trash that pollutes the minds of the faithful. We apologize for any discomfort this wiki article may have caused you -- speak to your local [[Chaplain]] or [[Commissar]] if you require counseling. If you witness anyone spreading these harmful lies about a 20th Legion, immediately report the heretic to your local representative of the Inquisition or to your unit's commissar. If you happen to be the commissar and you witness yourself spreading these rumors, please report yourself to your bolt pistol.}}

So to sum it up, they are in the top league of Warhammer 40k universe, fighting when and where they want to achieve great goals with very limited forces, much like the [[Eldar]] and [[Thousand Sons]] except with less smugness and arrogance. Also, while Eldar and TS rely on extremely complicated plans that either excel brilliantly or fail horribly, Alpha Legion plans, on the other hand, are mostly simple at their core, but extremely well thought-out, with multiple backup plans, and are executed equally as stellar, so even if they are not successful (which happened multiple times, especially when they fought against equally smart or unpredictable opponents) they rarely suffer much from their defeats. It helps that they often excel at feeding completely inaccurate intel to their opponents. For example, their grand operation against the Raven Guard during the Heresy failed at the final stage with their undercover agents being compromised, and their backup plan of direct assault with their Mechanicum allies also failed, but due to extensive planning and a second fallback plan they still managed to steal the gene-codex and clear all the loose ends that could bite them in their asses later.

The Alpha Legion is basically an army of James Bond clones, like some unholy combination of the Taliban, CIA, and American MACV-SOG. No, really, that is how they fought. They were known for popping out of freaking nowhere and curbstomping the shit out of the enemy at the best possible moment (or worst, depending on whose side you were on). The Alpha Legion was also known to have a training doctrine that actually matches the idea of a super-soldier. That is, they trained ''all'' their marines in how to use all their equipment and weapons instead of picking out individuals to be trained as specialists while not bothering to educate the others on the subject beyond the basics. Every Alpha Legionnaire was a fully capable Assault Marine, Devastator, Fast Attack (like speeders and bikes, etc.), ''leader'' (hence, the hydra, because you couldn't decapitate their command structure, someone equally competent would take the leaders' places), trained in the use of Terminator armor, masters of stealth and psychology, actually used their serfs for more than spit-shining their boots, and did all of this while keeping each of their Marines fully capable of matching a specialist from another Legion. This meant that the Alpha Legion was capable of having as many, or as few, specialist Marines and vehicles as they wished to best complete any given mission at any time, tailored to each mission. Of course, that could all have been a trick, too... They also had specialized kill-teams used to sow chaos through the enemy during the Heresy and the Crusade. These so-called Headhunters had these awesome combo-bolters with two barrels. Omegon supposedly led the Alpha Legion's black-ops division, no one really knows who is who, though, so just consider "Alpharius" and "Omegon" to basically be titles, your head will hurt less. Yes, even ''they'' have special forces.

Another interesting bit of their tactics is heavy focus on team play. Alpha legion squads move, fight and think as one, and are trained to quickly adapt to new squads. There is no "battle brotherhood" bullshit in this - just a simple extensive training and lack of typical Chaos Space Marine hubris, jealousy and occasional backstabbing. It goes so far that Alpha Legion initiation trials are passed by squads rather than individual aspirants like in other loyalist chapters or chaos warbands, so you either get to play as a team or do not play at all (likely being killed if your squad fails the trial).

Their devotion to Chaos is not entirely concrete, either. Alpharius himself never turned to Chaos, only following Horus into the Heresy as he saw it as the best outcome. Of course some Alpha Legion members like [[Sindri Myr]] are balls-to-the-wall Chaos worshippers but they are a radical minority. Most may see Chaos as a means to an end, using it simply to advance whatever goals they have. Their devotion can depend entirely on the place and the time. Some may [[Night Lords|loathe it]] while others are [[Word Bearers|zealous in their belief]]. In terms of Chaos worship the Alpha Legion is one of the more diverse, some theories even claiming that some operatives within the Legion are in fact closet loyalists seeking to protect humanity and stop Chaos.

To make it even more interesting/confusing, what is considered a Legion of [[Space Marines]], was in reality more of a combined effort. More than any other Legion, they recruited outside the Legion for roles besides Astartes, or even agents. They were really, more accurately, a moving society. This trend only seems to have accelerated since the Heresy. No one knows how many regular human soldiers they have, but if their Cultist numbers are anything to go by, the Alpha Legion likely has whole Imperial Guard regiment-strength armies integrated within. That and the fact they don't even hang out in the [[Eye of Terror]] or have a recruiting planet and yet seem to only grow indicates that they have a normally functioning society. At this rate, they'll start looking like the Twilight's Hammer Clan from [[Warcraft]], but it doesn't matter. The GOAL remains!...what that goal is, no one knows.

We wish their [[HMKids]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcpR4IutUMk theme] had had quotes from [[Sindri Myr]], [[Lord Bale]] or [[Carron]]... Hey, maybe they could do a remake?

Hopefully during the final battle at Holy Terra that will no doubt happen eventually, the Alpha Legion guns down the traitors with infiltrators amongst the Chaos Marines and then comes down on them like a tidal wave of ceramite, having secretly been building up their numbers constantly for the past ten thousand years specifically to sweep away all of the Imperium's enemies in one fell swoop galaxy-wide. One interesting possibility is even that most (or at least disturbingly many) Chaos Space Marines may secretly be Alpha Legionnaires waiting for the moment to strike. This becomes a lot more likely when one considers Alpharius may be his legion. Literally. When the Marines say "I am Alpharius", the might be speaking with complete honesty. If this scenario will unironically happen, this would perhaps be a biggest [[A_Game_of_Pretend|prank]] to ever devastate Chaos. We may even see a spectral image of the Emperor pointing his finger at the Chaos gods and maniacally laughing at them.

Despite their rivalry with the Ultramarines, their closest comparison among the loyalists is actually with the Dark Angels, the first of the Space Marines just as they are the last. The Alpha Legion mirrors the Dark Angels' uncertain and often confusing loyalties from the other side of the fence. Both have unusual and enigmatic ties to xenos artifacts or beings. Both are heavily involved in "shadow warfare", which goes beyond simply being stealthy like the Raven Guard but also involves seeking advantages in war outside of the battlefield and inside the realm of information, production, communication and subterfuge. Both are completely cloistered in secrecy to the point that virtually none of their allies really ''know'' them. Both of their primarchs were noted to be especially ingenious in the field of military planning.

But they're a mirror, not a clone. The Dark Angels' loyalties are born of an unplanned for (we think) schism that is actually rather more complicated than "the Fallen all embraced Chaos", while the Alpha Legion's mysterious loyalties at least generally seem to be something they planned for. The Dark Angels seem to willingly embrace their ties to the Watchers while the Alpha Legion outlived the Cabal and thought very little of their eventual destruction. The Lion favoured using his intellect to arrive at the plan that would offer the most direct route to triumph with the least chance of complication while still delivering maximum results while Alpharius liked to show off and made his schemes as elaborate as possible to whip his intellectual dick out and invite everyone to gaze upon it in awe.

==Daily Routines of the Alpha Legion==

04:00 - The Alpha Legionnaires emerge from their - {{BLAM|++Information confiscated by orders of his majesty's most Holy Inquisition++}}

04:20 - The Alpha Legionnaires settle down to pray to {{BLAM|++Information confiscated by orders of his majesty's most Holy Inquisition++}}

05:00 - {{BLAM|++Information confiscated by orders of his majesty's most Holy Inquisition++}} - causing much confusion among their serfs.

06:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The Alp- {{BLAM|++Information confiscated by orders of his majesty's most Holy Inquisition++}} - the serfs are still left largely bewildered.

10:00 - Covert Sabotage. The Alpha Legion practice their covert warfare. Serfs are still confused on which is which.

14:00 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Alpha Legion are tasked on which pla- {{BLAM|++Information confiscated by orders of his majesty's most Holy Inquisition++}}

15:00 - Daily Facial Surgery. The Alpha Legion undergo daily surgery to continue to look like their Primarch.

17:00 - Eveni- {{BLAM|++Information confiscated by orders of his majesty's most Holy Inquisition++}} -ge, that and the serfs are still confused.

18:00 - Covert Sabotage and something involving {{BLAM|++Information confiscated by orders of his majesty's most Holy Inquisition++}} .

22:00 - Evening <strike>Malal</strike> Meal. A feast is prepared by the serfs who are still nervous on which Alpha Legionnaire is which as they try their hardest on picking the correct one, especially when it comes to dietary requirements.

23:00 - {{BLAM|++Information confiscated by orders of his majesty's most Holy Inquisition++}}

24:00 - The Alpha Legionnaires goes back to sleep in thei- {{BLAM|++Information confiscated by orders of his majesty's most Holy Inquisition++}}

{{Blam|++By order of the Ordo Herecticus, this entire section has been placed under firm observation. Any changes to the above text are subject to heresy. You anons keep away++}}

== Guilliman changes his mind? ==

[https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/03/01/1st-mar-warhammer-40000-shadowspear-first-of-the-vanguardgw-homepage-post-1/ "Vanguard Space Marines"] have been previewed for the Shadowspear box, and it sounds pretty much exactly like Ultrasmurfs getting their Alpha Legion on (aside from being still definitely loyal, and probably using less sleeper agents). Perhaps the Ultrasmurfs are indeed growing beyond their infamous Codex-adherence...

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:But_oNLY_LOYALIST_BATTle_BROTHERS_NOT_THAT_THERE_ARE_TRAITOR_BROTHERS_JUST_SOME_THAT_ARE_MORE_LOYAL_THAN_OTHERS.png|Be wary, this might be the only chance you get.
</gallery>

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