Editing Sons of Malice (section)

==Origins==
The founding of the Sons of Malice is unknown although they are suspected to be one of the [[Astartes Praeses]], the twenty chapters tasked with guarding the regions around the [[Eye of Terror]] and preventing chaos incursions into [[Imperial]] Space. They are also assumed to be the missing 11th Legion of Astartes, as their Primarch/god Malal/Malice's sacred number is 11 and they have 11 companies (which ironically makes them more compliant with the [[Codex Astartes]] than a few loyalist chapters) and 11 "champions" (translation: 11 sacrifice to Malice). If the Sons of Malice were in fact descended from the lost 11th legion, its probable that they were absorbed into the Ultramarines following the legion's destruction, but we don't know enough about even their "official" gene-seed parentage prior to turning traitor.

A possible clue is in ''The Last Council'' by L J Goulding, when Horus tried to speak the name of one of his two fallen and disgraced Primarch brothers before having his throat crushed by Malcador:

:"‘Mal…’ the stricken primarch choked. ‘M-Mal… al…’"

Of course, he was probably just saying "Malcador".

[[File:SOM_T2007_lord.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Hmmm, you look really delicious...GET OVER HERE!!!]]

The Sons of Malice fell when, after a victorious campaign, they engaged in a series of victory celebrations that bordered on cannibalism. Inquisitor Pietas, observing their victory rites, was unacquainted with such customs and was subsequently horrified by it. While some Space Marine chapters have their own set of grotesque rituals (the [[Blood Angels]], for example, partake in literal consumption of blood as a scout's initiation), they're not considered ''heretical'' as such, as these types of rituals are usually viewed as part of Astartes tradition. Indeed, one of the Space Marine gene-seed organs, [[Gene-seed#The_Organs|the Omophagea]], is even specifically designed to encourage/facilitate cannibalism to gain knowledge via eating brain matter. Regardless of the inexperience of the inquisitor, the High Lords of Terra have no excuse for approving excommunication, knowing Astartes were designed by [[The_Emperor|that guy in the shiny chair]] to have this ability. (Though to be fair, if the Sons of Malice were routinely cannibalizing servants of chaos, they could have very well been corrupted, since [[Kroot]] have been documented to become tainted under similar circumstances. Also their home world had a Schola Progenium on it so the Sons probably should have known that cannibalism was a no-no from an Ecclesiarchical perspective and probably would scare an inquisitor).

Whether or not they ''were'', Pietas, believing them corrupted by chaotic taint and for some reason never asking another Space Marine or even inquisitor about it, formed a strike force of [[Sisters of Battle]] [[Celestians]] and assaulted the Sons of Malice chapter homeworld [[Scelus]]. The Sons fell on their attackers with <strike>savage anger</strike> emotionless hatred at the interference with their chapter rites and defeated the Celestians, before the captain of the 1st company Kathal dragged the Inquisitor to the chapter's altar, ritually sacrificed her, and [[Slaanesh|devoured her]]. (Because only the most loyal chapters have sacrificial altars.)
[[File:Warhammer-40000-фэндомы-art-красивые-картинки-875313.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The Sons of Malice approve of your actions and eating habits!]]

How lovely.

It wouldn't have been the first time a "foolish" inquisitor had "gone missing" due to a loyalist chapter not wanting them to look too deeply into their operations (they were one of the few chapters tasked with guarding the fucking eye of terror after all and not even the [[Administratum]] wanted to fill out the necessary paperwork to get replacements); the imperium as a whole probably would have let the whole incident slide if it wasn't for the fact THEY SLAUGHTERED AND ATE AN ENTIRE STRIKE FORCE of [[Sisters of Battle]] along with the inquisitor! Rather difficult to ignore.

Needless to say the Imperium was a ''bit'' miffed at this and declared the Sons renegades (even though it had been the Imperium to first betray the Sons, rather than vice versa) deploying the Cadian 331st to commit genocide on the tribes the Sons of Malice recruited from. In return the Sons lead by newly appointed Chapter Master Kathal engaged in a hate-fuelled war with the Imperium. Needing a powerful patron, the sons found this in [[Malal|Malice]], the Chaos God of Terror and Anarchy. As Malice is directly opposed to the other chaos powers, the Sons battle the other worshippers of Chaos with as much hate as they do servants of the Imperium. Considering this, it is surprising that the Sons have not been wiped out by either side, unless they are receiving additional support from somewhere, but to be fair, Malal/Malice supposedly buffs his followers to almost Primarch levels, so at least there's some slight reason they aren't all dead yet.