Index Astartes – Emperors Children: Scions of Tragedy
The third legion has had many hardships over its term of service. When they left Terra they were cursed with the Blight that nearly killed them, and during the first battle of the Heresy they lost there father Fulgrim. Through the heresy they fought against the traitors amongst there own ranks, led by the Arch-Renegade Fabius Bile. During the Scouring they fought against the Black Legion, whose core wad made from the twisted Clones of Primarchs both loyal and traitorous made by the twisted genius of the Clonelord Fabius Bile. During the Abyssal Crusade they let there hatred of Bile nearly destroy them, and this mistake was repeated during the Age of Apostacy. But like the Phoenix that they bear as there emblem they rise from the ashes of there past, and the enemy's of man fear the wraith of these Astartes. They eternally follow the path of perfection, knowing full well that it is an impossible goal. They especially hate the servants of Slannesh and the beings born of Fabius Bile, for Slannesh corrupts through the things that the Emperors Children endorse and every sin that Bile commits is another slander on the honorable sons of Chemos.
Origins
It is only the nature of sentient life to seek perfection, but perfection is an impossible goal. After all, there will always be someone who is better than someone else, and there will always be room for improvement. In addition, the life of a mortal is finite, either succumbing to old age or to the myraid dangers of the hostile galaxy. And sadly, those who belive they have reached perfection are typically monsters. The Old Eldar Empire belived they reached perfection, and there hubris and decedance birthed Slannesh, and those chaotic bands that serve Slannesh in the Eye of Terror are horrible monsters despite there claims of perfection. But for those who realize that the persuit of perfection is an endless path then it will lead to endless betterment. Such is the example provided by Fulgrim and his legion.
The world of Chemos, upon which Fulgrim landed, was hit especially hard by the Age of Strife. It was running out of resources, and things like art and culture had been sacrificed to ensure the survival of its people. No drain on resources was allowed, it even went so far that orphans were killed rather than have them be a burden. It was on this world that Fulgrim landed, and he was found by three laborers who were sent to investigate a meteorite strike. They found the gestation pod and Fulgrim, who even as a mere child was absolutely beautiful, so much so that not even the hardest hearted of his discoverers could bear to harm the child despite the decrees of the factory overlords that they served. Seeing the fact that a ground water stream was discovered by the impact of the childs pod, one of the laborers named the infant after the water bringer god of Chemosian creation myth, Fulgrim.
Fulgrim grew fast, as was typical of Primarchs. Any who tried to claim he should be killed as a burden were soon silenced by the fact that he did twice as much work as the average worker despite being half there age. At fifteen he had become ruler of the factor at which he had worked, and soon the natural genius and strength that all Primarchs possesed meant he soon became the ruler of Chemos. Indeed, he managed to reverse the downward spiral Chemos had been trapped in and resuructed art and culture, for with the desperation of limited resources gone true civilization could flurish once more. Chemos was once more a beautiful place, the haven of art and culture it had been before the Age of Strife.
However such beauty soon attracted unwelcome attention, and Chemos came under attack. The Togos were a Slannesh corrupted species, all of which were hideous hybrids of a human and a peaco*ck, each possesing beautiful feathers and hideous bird heads and claws. Once they were a noble culture, but with the creation of the Erdeniin they had fallen into decedance just like the Old Eldar Empire. The Erdeniin were artifical constructs made of hard light with a computer center in the form of a jewel, and there various castes did the jobs that the Togos did not. It was soon into the Age of Strife that they became corrupted, regarding only themselves as truly sentient beings. They had become corrupted by Slannesh even as the chaos gods was being born, and they launched various attacks on other species. There methoid of attack was horrible, launching devices known as Tarilga that then created new Erdeniin while killing the planet it was on. The aftermath of a Togos colonization can be compared to the aftermath of a Tyranid attack, but one Word Bearer who heard this comparison was qouted as saying, "No, the Togos were worse. At least the Tyranids leave a lifeless rock behind." Indeed, when a Togos colony has been drained of all its resources they leave the world behind, which then collapses into a broken hunk of useless rock. When the Fall occured the Togos were amongst those xenos species who had been dealt a death blow as Slannesh consumed there souls. Only a few hundred Togos and a few thosand Erdeniin survived, and they began to hunt the galaxy as true servants of Slannesh.
A mere 49 years after Fulgrim landed upon Chemos the Togos launched there attack. They had been hunted by the Imperium, with the fleet dedicated to exterminating them being led by the Emperor himself. They had escaped by leaving 5,000 Erdeniin and 20 Togos sourcerers to hold them off, and they decided to attack the now resource rich world of Chemos. The full force landed on Chemos, with the Empress of the Togos lounching in her crystal palaquin, exposed in her twisted form of Slanneshi beauty. Soon reports of hostile xenos seemingly draining the planet of life reached the ears of Fulgrim, and he began a crusade to destroy this blight that sought to undo all that he had done.
This war lasted a little over a year, and throughout that year Fulgrim gained a hatred of those who let themselves become monsters in the persuit of perfection. Fulgrim had learned from the Togos and the Erdeniin that the Togos belived themselves perfect. It was through the explotation of flaws in there systems that most of the victory's the Chemosians gained were won. A mere few weeks after Fulgrims 50th birthday, his birthday marked by when he was discovered, that he had destroyed all the Erdeniin and he contfronted the last of the Togos. The Empress and her consorts were all that remained of the species, and the Tarilga had long ago fallen silent, having no one left to work them.
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The creature hadnt stopped pleasuring herself even as she sent her consorts to stop him. This fact made Fulgrim want to wrech, as her moans of estacy sounded even as her lovers died at the hand of his blade were just sickining. As the last of her consorts died she seemed to snap back to reality, and she squaked, "Now you may take there place." Fulgrim vomited a little in his mouth, and prepared a grenade to destroy the crystal palaquin this thing rode in. She seemed to realize what was happening and screeched, "No! The Togos cannot die! We are perfect!" Fulgrim lobbed the grenade and as the Empress died in a firey explosion he spoke a single truth, that would echo throught history and define the sons he didnt know he had, "No one is perfect."
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Fulgrim sent efforts to destroy the Tarilga, and soon after they were melted down and anhiliated the Imperium arrived on Chemos. The forces of the Imperium were glorious to Fulgrim, for these warriors had not only survived the Age of Strife intact, they had kept there civilization intact as well. The Emperor of Mankind met Fulgrim, who bowed and swore his alligence to the being who was obviously his father.
The Great Crusade
"Hear me my sons, we are not just warriors but bearers of civilization. Much like my own home of Chemos you have suffered much, and like my home of Chemos we shall rise from the ashes, like the phoenix of myth. We shall bring liberation to the innocents and destroy the monsters that have arisen from the darkness. We shall walk the endless path to perfection, for there will always be someone better than you and there is always room for improvement. Those who belive themselfs perfect are self-deceptive beings at best and monsters at the worst. We are the Emperors Children, and we shall bring death to his foes!"
extract from Fulgrims speech upon taking command.
The third legion was composed of sons of noble familys that the Emperor conquered in what was Europa, and there background drove them to excellence. Amongst there victorys in the unification wars was the freeing of Milian from the Stitchwraiths, men of iron once meant to showcase very fashionable clothes but driven insane by the corruption of Slannesh, skinning humans and wearing them like suits. However, they seemed to show the influence of there gene-father, as did the other legions. They did necessary jobs that were lacking in glory, namely leading the imperial army. This is in part as to why most of there early victorys go unrecorded. But there is a much darker reason, one that could have destroyed the third legion had Fulgrim not been found in time.
This reason lay in a simple fact about the Emperors gene-forged armies. While all of his designs were born in the laboratories beneath the Imperial Palace, from the warp forged might of the Primarchs to the savage brutishness of the Thunder Warriors, from the shadow alchemy of the Legio Custodes to the industrial geneforging of the Legions, many wonders beyond the understanding of any person that has come before or since were born here. But for the ultimate goal of conqering the galaxy the Emperors gene forges were not enough. Mass production was needed, and for that the Emperor looked to Luna.
Luna is the only natural satelite of Terra, and was the first place that mankind had gone when they began space travel. The inhabitants of Luna were the Selenar gene cults, and it was unknown how old they were. They had the resources that the Emperor needed to truely conquer the galaxy, and so he sent three of the legions against them. It was during the first lunar compliance that the Sons of Horus earned there first name, the Luna Wolves. This was originated in the govener of Luna begging the Emperor to call off his wolves. But once again events of great importance are hidden in what is chalked up to human error. As an old adage from Terra's past says, "Those forced to work at the point of a weapon are poor servants." A group of Selenar refused to serve the Emperor, and attempted to destroy the gene seeds sent to luna that would form the true legions. They only managed to poison the third legion before those Selenar who valued there lives destroyed them in the second lunar compliance, but this manifested in the Blight. Indeed, only a mere 200 astartes of Fulgrims lineage were alive by the time of the Primarchs finding. One of these astartes had worked feverishly to find a cure for the Blight in case Fulgrim had not survived or was not found in time. He was promoted to cheif apothicary, and his name is cursed throught the Imperium to this day. This man was Fabius Bile.
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Fabius Bile
Many titles are given to this servant of Ruin. The Clonelord, the Pater Mutatis, the Arch-Renegade, the Manflayer, the Primogenitor and more are the names by which Fabius Bile are known. He is unique amongst the servants of ruin in that he does not worship the dark gods or even acknowledge there power. The original Bile died long ago, but thosands of clones that bear his memories, genius and very soul live on to plague existance. Indeed, the inner circle of the Consortium that leads the Black Legion is made up of the hive mind that are the clones of Bile. Despite his horrors, it can truthfully be said that only the Emperor surpasses him in gene forging skills. In addition, Biles goal are ultimately good. When he commited his first attrocitys before Fulgrims discovery, it was all to cure the Blight. All attrocitys afterwords are all to create an enhanced form of humanity, a New Man that can survive the galaxy untainted by chaos. However, his New Men are completely ruthless, having none of the good qualitys of mankind and all of the bad. While the New Men are stronger, faster and smarter than the average human, they are completely sociopathic and have nothing of empathy or goodness inside them. Indeed, the only positive emotion they can be said to have is a love for there father Fabius Bile. Interestingly, Bile dosent see himself surving to see his twisted New Men replacing humanity.
There are rare examples of a New Man exhibiting a conscience and a conventional sense of morality. They rarely survive beyond childhood, there sense of right and wrong being seen as a weakness. But those rare few who survive and manage to escape usually go to the Imperium, where they are quickly found by the Inquisition. They become acoyltes, there sense of goodness and there enhancement putting them on the fast track to becoming an Inquisitor. This practice has its origins in the clone wars, when one such "True New Man" saved Abbadon from a clone of Horus that wielding Drach'nyen, and while Abbadon would eventually meet his end by the hands of Forgefather He'stan wielding Drach'nyen, he would use his position as a high lord to implement this policy.
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Upon taking control of his legion, which was now on the upswing due to his stabilizing genetic pattern, he named them the Emperors Children in what can be only described as joy. Other important imperials believed that this decision was motivated by pride, and upon hearing this Fulgrim made there emblem the Phoenix instead of the Aquilla as he had originally planned. However, while his legion rebuilt itself he and his forces fought alongside Horus and his legion. The bonds between these two brothers are shared even to this day.
Another brother with which Fulgrim shared a freindship with was Ferrus Manus. They met in the forges of Mars, and dared each other to make a weapon worthy of a primarch. Fulgrim created the mighty thunderhammer known as Forgebreaker while Manus created the perfectly balanced powersword known as Fireblade. Each declared the other the victor, and a freindship was forged that would break upon the black sands of Istvaan, when Ferrus used the very weapon Fulgrim had forged for him to decapitate the Primarch. Forgebreaker would eventually make its way into the hands of Perturabo, where it is still used by the Iron Warriors in the modern day, while Lucius the Eternal would rescue Fireblade along with Fulgrims body.
Eventually, the Emperors Children would gain enough numbers to fight on its own, and many victorys would be won by the Chemosian astartes. Amonst there victorys included the freeing of Nimar from the wraith lords that had terrorized it throughout the Age of Strife, aiding the Iron Warriors in the destruction of the Hrud who made there home on Mundi, destroying the flesh smiths of Talazar, and working with the World Eaters to free the populace of Saharna from the maddened glatiator games that enslaved them. But one of the most notable of there victorys, one that echos down through history, is the destruction of the Laer.
It was soon after the Ullanor compliance that the Warmaster called upon Fulgrim and his legion to solve a problem that was troubling him. The Laer were a small stellar empire that had rejected the Imperium's offer of alliance or of protectorate status. Normally they would be ignored unless they made an outright attack upon the Imperium, but the horrible state inflicted upon the Imperial diplomats and the symbols of the divinity the Laer worshiped unsettled Horus, and Lorgar had begged his brother to send someone to destroy the xenos. So Horus called upon Fulgrim, and he promised that the Laer would be dead within a month.
The Laer were a twisted cosmic parody of the Emperors own gene forging skills, with each caste having its own genetic mutations. This reminded Fulgrim far too much of the Togos and the Erdeniin, causing him to fight all the harder. Indeed, the Laer and the Togos were corrupted by the same power, not that Fulgrim would ever know. When Bile showed an interest in the Laers genetic enhancements, Fulgrim publically shamed him, much like the Emperor would do to Sanguinius when he discovered the Blood Angels worship of him. Eventually the Laers were forced to retreat to there temple world, which Fulgrim ordered to be bombed from orbit.
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Fulgrim sat upon his throne aboard the Pride of the Emperor (he had to have it renamed at some point, maybe something like the Phoenix's Ashes or Chemo's Rebirth) considering the full ramifications of his actions. Some of his brothers might see his actions as cowardly, saying he should have fought the Laer's overlord face to face. But his instincts told him that should he go down there he would be leading himself and his sons down the path of damnation. Besides, what was the point of engaging the Laers face to face, maybe to loot some heretical xenos artifacts or useless battle. Besides, he had promised Horus he would destroy the Laer in a month, and he would keep his word. As the cyclonic torpedos rent the Laer homeworld asunder the warp echoed the screams of rage from a goddess denied.
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A few months after the Laer compliance Fabius Bile's twisted new experiments were discovered, no longer meant to cure the Blight which had been wiped out by Fulgrims discovery, but to create so called New Men. Bile escaped aboard the Pulchritudinous along with his servants, both Astarte and gene forged creations. Fulgrim dedicated part of his legion to finding Bile, while he and the majority of his legion continued its role in the Great Crusade. A few years after the destruction of the Laer, the unthinkable happened. Vulkan had turned traitor, and Corax and Ferrus Manus had turned with him.
The Heresy: the war in miniature
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"Why brother, Why?"
last words of Fulgrim.
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Fulgrim had entered into a rage unlike any other when he heard of Ferrus's betrayal. He couldnt comprehend the reason behind his brothers betrayal, but he was determined to either bring Ferrus to justice or if he could not be redeemed, then he would bring the head of Ferrus Manus to Horus as a trophy. He called his entire legion to assemble, even those who were dedicated to hunting Bile, and had them assemble at the Istvaan system. He was the first to arrive, and began planning on how he would bring the traitors to heel. The lack of ships and other indicators of this being a trap escaped Fulgrim, so consumed with rage and sorrow was he. He declared that he would fight Ferrus and his legion, and none would gainsay him.
Upon the black sands of the Urgall Plateau, Fulgrim and his gene-sons fought against hordes of things that were meant to be wiped out in the Great Crusade. It was this conclave of horrors that made Fulgrim realize that his brother was irredemable. They met in a duel, both weilding the weapon that the other had forged for them in simpler times, before all this had happened, before chaos had tainted Vulkan and the unholy nine. Fulgrim fought valiently, but when the second wave revealed there true loyaltys it caused Fulgrim to be distracted. He was pinned and his head removed by his brother, but not before uttering his famous last words. The death of Fulgrim was a shock to all who saw it, and was truely the death of the ideals of the Great Crusade. With the death of a Primarch, the goodness of civilization of the Imperium was shattered. And it was the death of the Emperor that ensured the spark of hope would never reignite.
Indeed, it was unthinkable that a Primarch could truely die, as the only example that could reliably be proven was Vulkan, and he was a Perpetual. It was belived that the Primarchs were blessed with true imortality, not just the biological immortality granted to all of the Emperor genetically enhanced warriors save the Thunder Warriors. Even the Forgotten Ones were believed immortal, each having met there end at the hand of forces that not even perpetuals could survive. And while Forgebreaker was a mighty weapon, forged by the very Primarch whose life it had stolen, it was not a weapon that could kill that which could not die. This proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Primarchs were in fact mortal, or rather they could be killed.
In addition, the death of a Primarch had disasterious effects on the Legion whose geneseed it bares. Space Marines are actually genetically predisposed to loving and obeying there Primarch, and while they can still choose there own paths the majority of the Legion will follow there father, even into damnation. So powerful is this phenomina that even a clone of said Primarch, should they be sufficiently close to the original, can cause the gene sons of the original to be unable to fight back or outright enrage them enough that they will loose all tactical cohesion. Examples include the near death of Abbadon during the clone wars, the Abyssal Crusade of M34, the actions of the Emperors children during the Age of Apostacy, and the war of the fake Horus. This is a part of what makes the Black Legion so dangerous, for while the inner consortium that is Fabius Bile directs the overall flow of the Black Legion it is the Primarch clones that command the day by day details of the warbands. Indeed, where it not for the very existance of the so called "False Kings" these crippling blows to the Imperium would not have happened.
Unless a capable leader takes immediate command of the legion it will fracture, and even then it will never truely follow anyone but the Primarch. At best, a ruler can gain control of the majority of the legion. This is best explified in the Traitor Legions, which all fractured almost immediatly after there Primarchs left them, either ascending to daemonhood, being destroyed or just plain missing. When Vulkan was anhilated the Salamanders fractured and ran, and Forgefather He'stan only commands about half of them. When Jagatai Khan disapeared the four riders took over, but again they rule over half the legion. When Leman Russ entered his coma, only one of the thirteen great companys stayed with him. Corvis Corax has not led his legion since the Siege of Terra, when he was banished and ascended to his current role as a Daemon primarch/chaos spawn. Even those traitorous Primarchs whose location is known and who can command there sons do not do so. Instead they rule there little slices of hell, brooding upon sins real or imagined that were commited thousands of years ago or playing the Great Game of Chaos that divided the Dark Gods even when they fought against the Emperor. The loyalist legions are more resistent to this, able to establish a command structure quickly and not fracturing, but it is still a blow to moral. However, the only reason why the Emperors Children didn't break was the quick thinking of Fulgrim's Equerry and the first legion master, the space marine known as Lucius the Eternal.
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Lucius the Eternal
Of all the sainted astartes, Lucius is one of the most famous, up there with Abbadon and Ahriman. He gained the poisition of Equerry for his heroism during the Laer compliance, in which he gained his famous facial scars. His title of Eternal stemmed from his seemingly undying nature, leading many of the traitors to seek the weapons that could kill Perpetuals. These futile quests all ended with the chaotic warbands seeking these weapons falling into loyalist traps or attacking other traitor warbands.
The truth of the matter is that Lucius was not a Perpetual, indeed no Astartes is a Perpetual. This lies in the nature of the Geneseed, as it cannot enhance any being who is not of the human male gender that is more than two standard deviations from the genetic norm that is not been finalized in body and mind. In plain Low Gothic, this means that only male children can become Space Marines. Females, adults, true mutants, abhumans, xenos, Biles New Men and Perpetuals are all incompatable with geneseed implatation. In addition, while Astartes can gain mutations after there true ascention, the very nature of Perpetualhood means that this true immortality must be present at birth.
The seemingly undying nature of Lucius lies in two factors, his extraordinarily fast healing and his pure determination. Many times the only thing that allowed him to survive was his determination to see both Ferrus Manus and Fabius Bile dead for there crimes agaisnt his Primarch. He met his death at the end of the Clone Wars, when he learned that Ferrus Manus had ascended to Daemonhood and Fabius Bile had become the hive mind of the inner consortium, a sentient plague upon the universe. His last actions were to trigger the twin hacks of causing the clones and robots to turn against the traitor astartes and to cause the base to self destruct. But his legacy still lives on, as those amongst the Emperor's Children who display a combination of determination and fast healing similar to the eternal are said to be "Blessed by Lucius".
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The first actions of Lucius were to save Fulgrims body and reclaim Forgebreaker, which would eventually become the weapon of Perturabo. He weilded Fireblade and inflicted some damage on the stunned Ferrus before leading the Emperors Children to retreat. He made sure to see that Fulgrims body was returned to Chemos, and was about to dedicate his legion to the shadow war and reinforcing the solar system when a new threat arose.
Bile had returned, and he was leading the Black Legion. This twisted mockery of a space marine legion was mostly composed of Biles genetic abominations and New Men, while the outer core was composed of true space marines. At the begining of the Black Legion's history Bile was joined by those astartes who he had saved from the Blight, and thus owed there loyalty to him more than to Fulgrim or the Emperor. These astartes quickly fell to Slannesh, for they had never undergone the Wandering that ensures none of Fulgrims gene-sons turn traitor, save those who were corrupted during the Abyssal crusade. They were quickly joined by renegades of every legion save the lost and the forgotten, marked as missing or killed in action to cover up the shame of there traitorous actions or outright heretical beliefs. And while Bile persued his own goals, they were led by his false primarchs. Biles agents had gathered DNA from every primarch save the unspoken two, and with his genius he was able to create simulacras of the Emperors sons. The most common were the clones of Fulgrim, as Biles own geneseed held a copy of Fulgrims DNA. Lucius realized the Black Legion was a danger that would not truely act in concert with the orders of Vulkan. Much like the two cabals of chaos, the Black Legion followed the will of chaos. The rise and fall of the Arch-Traitor meant nothing to them save that the long war was entering a new stage.
Lucius led the Emperors Children agaisnt the Black Legion, and many times he dueled the Primarch clones and won, for while an Astartes could not fight a Primarch and win The Emperors true sons were infused with his godlike might and the power of the untained warp, taken from the Chaos Gods by the Emperor when he claimed his birthright on Molech. As such, not even the False Kings, whose genetic were untainted by either the mutating touch of the warp or the natural errors of genetic cloning, were an equal to the true Primarch. Fireblade tasted the blood of many of these defective copys, and these battles entered the legends of the worlds. On Kreig, the legend of the Night Haunter's fall is told to children and upon Soth the Death Knight that arose from the blood of the Lion was beheaded by Fireblade. Myriad other battles between the Emperors Children and the Black Legion occured during the Heresy. Indeed on the worlds where the Sonic Marines and the Noise Marines duel the people are born with hearing damage, despite the noises that once defeaned the world having long since faded.
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Sonic Marines
One of the first peaceful victorys of the Emperors Children was on a nameless world where a xenos race of living song lived. After some innital translation errors a dialogue was established, they were peacably integrated into the Imperium. In gratitude, the song xenos gave some of the Emperors Children pieces of crystal that was made into sonic weaponry. Thus were born the Sonic Marines, and they served remarkably ever since there inception during the Great Crusade. Amongst there greatest deeds is the Shattering, when 30 Sonic Marines sacrifed there lives to save the rest of there legion. The weaponry used by the Sonic Marines inevitably renders them deaf, and thus they communicate using sign language.
There chaotic counterpart is the Noise Marine, one and all servants of Slannesh. They have there origins in the Sonic Marines who followed Bile, and there fall to Slannesh happened upon the world of Maraviglia. It is unknown precisely what happened, but the Noise Marines became hypersensitive, regaining there hearing but becoming hypersensitive. They seek ever more indulgent sensations, using there sonic weaponry to kill indiscrimintly.
Eventually, Lucius and the Emperors Children found the original Bile, and joined the other loyalists on the defense of Terra. Indeed, Bile set up various labratorys on Terra's surface, and his twisted monsters joined the traitor forces ravaging the Throneworld. When Vulkan was anhiliated however Bile escaped with a great prize, the body of Horus Lupercal.
Post Heresy: the Clone Wars
Upon the storm wracked world of Kamonu, Bile and his consortium's xenos members unraveled the secrets of the DNA of Horus, and on Kamonu his newest army was born. A twisted parody of the Sons of Horus, these clone marines more closely resemble the Primaris marines born of Cawls mad genius. Even to this day the clone marines make up the rank and file of the Black Legion, while the renegade Space Marines fill the role of sergeants and the Primarch clones form the role of general. Each clone marine is identical, about human in size and possesing a face identical to Horus. However, without the natural soul of a Primarch there visage is useless to them. Indeed, the clone marines are inferior to true Space Marines in most ways, lacking most of the extra organs or even a true geneseed. Indeed, they are closer to the Thunder Warriors than to the Space Marines, with the only notable difference being that clone marines can live as long as a human. However, the clone marines posses an advantage over the true Space Marines.
The clone marines are not trained, they are manufactured.
Where it takes at least a decade for a true Space Marine to be made, it takes mere months, or a year at max, for a new clone marine to be made. And on worlds like long dead Kamonu many genetic factorys produce thosands of clone marines every day. In addition, they seem imunne to mutation, though that is most likely due to the lack of individuality that is require for warp based mutation to take a hold and Biles own genetic enhancements that make them immune to mutation born of the materium.
Kamonu was important because it was the base of the Black Legion before it truely relocated to the Eye of Terror. It was here that the body of Horus Lupercal was being kept, and it was here that Fabius Bile was meeting Ferrus Manus to discuss an alliance between the Black Legion and the Iron Hands. The Mournival and Lucius the Eternal led the combined forces of the Sons of Horus and the Emperors Children to this far off world with the hope of destroying both one of the traitor Primarchs and the Black Legion once and for all. However, while the body of Horus was destroyed by Abbadon, who was unwilling to let his father be a threat to the Imperium, and Kamonu was destroyed, Bile escaped with the genetic structure nessisary for the creation of new clone marines and Ferrus Manus was revealed to be a Daemon Primarch, ascended by his actions during the burning of medusa.
However, it was the person who saved Abbadon who made the Clone Wars a victory for the Imperium. Her name was Emelia, and she was a New Man, one of Biles enhanced creations. She was the first of the "True New Men", those who had Biles enhancements yet still had a moral compass. She shared with the Imperium Biles ultimate goals and for her services gained the rank of Inquisitior. She served the Throne admirably for four hundred years before she sacrificed herself banishing the Yncarne and stopping a Black Crusade in its tracks. Even now Emelia is a patron saint for the reedemed, those who broke free of the taint of Chaos and found the light of the God Emperor.
Meanwhile Fabius Bile and the Black Legion found a place in the chaotic hierarchy. Much like the Chaos Assasins, the Dark Mechanicus and the Baator empire, the Black Legion and the Consortium provided services for all the Legions equally. In Biles Fleshmart new chaos legionaries were made, children cloned to be implanted with geneseed. In addition, hordes of clone marines could be purchased there. And Bile continued his unholy work to perfect his New Humanity, occassionally making Primarch clones when word reached him of a replacement needed. It was in the 34th mellinium that he made 9 false kings, and realized a perfect way to hurt the Imperium that constantly hindered his efforts.
Post Heresy: the Abyssal Crusade
The nine False Kings, known as the Dark Nine, led an attack on the Imperium, masterminded by Basillius who was born of Fulgrim's DNA. With the aid of many Stormseers they created the Warp Storm Dionys. They led thosands of clone marines in attacks on 30 chapter homewords, each of which belonged to one of the loyalist legions. The Dark Nine stole many catches of geneseeds and priceless relics, before fleeing to the Eye of Terror. All 30 of these chapters promised vengeance against the Dark Nine, and ignored the seers who promised they would be doomed by this foolish quest. Not even the impassioned words of a Living Saint could deter them, and they all met disaster. Much of what is known about what happened during the Abyssal Crusade comes from the traumatized chapter master of the Vorpal Swords, who was given the Emperors Peace afterwards.
The trouble began immediatly after the fleet entered the Eye of Terror, as the chapters were seperated by a chaos fleet. Nearly every single chapter was corrupted or destroyed by the power of the Eye. On the world of Anathrax there were two chapters corrupted, the Iron Drakes of the Iron Warriors and the Argent Hammers of the Word Bearers. The Sentinels chapter of the Emperors Children landed upon a Daemon world formed out of a morbidly obese man, and were swallowed by the Darmon world, becoming a canibalistic Slanneshi warband. Upon Belial IV the brothers of the anvil were captured by the Cult of Strife, and forced to endure horrible fighting and when they escaped they went completely mad, destroying all in there path. On the world of Temporialis, where a tzeench species had tried and failed to control time, the Knights Excelcior of the Sons of Horus fought against Daemon Engines, until the warpsmith in charge called in a debt he was owed by one of the twisted Voltieks of the Baator Empire. Its power caused the Machine Spirits to rebel, and a mere year later the Knights had become the Magma Hounds, willing to destroy everything in its path.
It was eight hundred years after the chapters had entered the galactic hell known as the Eye of Terror that Konvak Lann and the tattered remnants of the Vorpal Swords chapter found sancuary on the Iron Cage and told his tale, of how four hundred daemon world were purged. Afterwards he would only say, "The Dark Nine are dead." This was a simple statement of truth, that his crusade and all the lives lost were not wasted. Indeed while False Kings would still continue to plague the Imperium they would never reach the threat of the coven of Basillius, though the nameless lord would come close.
Post heresy: the Age of Apostacy and beyond
Two millennia after the Abyssal Crusade, the greatest threat to the Imperium since Vulkan himself arose. This was the man known as Goge Vandire, and despite what the imperial creed would have you believe he was not one of the Slaves to Ruin. No, he was merely a man, one who truely belived in his mad ravings. He didnt serve the Dark Gods, but they still considered him to be Vulkans Heir. They belived that, given the right circ*mstances, he would succeed where Vulkan had failed. So they began to work to make the circ*mstances right.
Chaos made its servants begin an attack upon the Imperium, while each god influenced others that did not serve them. Khorne made the fight between Gork and Mork grow worse, requiring the entire Death Guard to keep the Waaghs! from breaching the Imperium. Nurgle made the morals of many criminal guilds and law enforcment orginizations alike decay, forcing the Night Lords to intervine. Tzeench whispered to the Tau, fanning the fires of ambition and bringing them to bear agaisnt the Iron Cages. Slannesh was given the most important job of all, corrupting the eclesiarchs so that Vandires rebellion would be not only tolerated but praised. Indeed, it was of no corruption by the Dark Gods that the Dark Eldar began ravaging the Imperium. The slave king Vect had used a Salamander warband to break the noble houses rule over the wrected hive of scum and villiany that is Commorragh. With his new Kabal system, there were many raids by those former nobles trying to retain there status or former commoners trying to rise in the ranks.
For all of Biles claims to not be a slave of the chaos gods he serves them with his deeds. Admittedly the same can be said of all life, but Biles deeds made him worthy of there personal attention. They did something they had never done before, they made a deal with Bile. Indeed, his atrocitys were so great that he was unbound by Chaos. He made the deal with the Chaos Gods during the Age of Apostacy because the collapse of the Imperium would only aid his goal. Indeed, he created the Fake Horus to distract the Sons of Horus. But upon his legion he unleashed a twisted curse.
First he created a perfect false king of Fulgrim, then infected seven chapters with a virus of madness that caused them to become corrupted. With seven chapters and thosands of clone marines, this false king initiated the Obscuran Uprisings. The virus of madness made the chapters truely belive the false king was Fulgrim returned, just like how many of the Sons of Horus followed the Fake Horus. This distracted the Emperors Children from the inner workings of the Imperium, with Legion Master Cryius meeting his end destroying the false Fulgrim. Without the controling figure of the False King, the chapters truely embraced Chaos and alongside the clone marines they rampaged across 14 loyal systems. The uprisings were put down by the heroic space marine Eidolon, who was promoted to Legion Master for his actions.
Even as the 13th Black Crusade rampages across the Galaxy and the End Times begin, the Emperors Children prove themselves worthy of there so called prideful name. But rumors have reached the legion that Fabius Bile and the Black Legion plan to finally destroy his former brothers. They plan to see Chemos burn, and to make a lie out of the phoenix.
Organization
The third legion was the first to loose there primarch, Fulgrim so cruelly slaughtered on the Black Sands of Istvaan. As such, they were the creators of the position of Legion Master. The first such member was Lucius the Eternal, and each Legion Master after him had to earn there place. Each has done great deeds that entire legends are written about, and are only promoted once the previous Legion Master has fallen in battle. Once the Legion Master is promoted from the Lord Commander who did such deeds, he and the thousand warriors under his command relocate to Chemos. While some might decry this as an overly large defensive force, the truth is that Chemos has come under attack many times from forces both Chaotic and Xenos, and this force is actually perfectly reasonable. The Legion Master also takes a non-combative role, directing the Legion from the homeworld. While the Legion Master does not often enter combat, they make sure there skills are sharp. This is because the times they do enter combat is either when Chemos is under attack, or a Black Legion warband is confirmed to have a False King leading it, or if Fabius Bile himself is sighted.
The Emperors Children are the second smallest of the Loyalist Legions, with only the Thousand Sons being smaller. There are under 30,000 Emperors Children that are known to exist, and there specialized ranks are even smaller. In fact, the rank of Chaplain does not exist, and while this might seem hubristic the thing preventing the Astartes from turning Chaotic is much more effective than the preachings a Chaplain employs. This is the Wandering, the final trial an prospective legionnaire goes through, and while no one that doesn't bear Fulgrims geneseed can undergo the Wandering, whatever happens to them haunts them forever and keeps them loyal. The core of the Black Legion that followed Bile had not underwent the Wandering, as all Emperors Children did after it first became a trial. Even in the cases where Emperors Children turn traitor it is never through the usual ways a Space Marine breaks his oaths. Indeed, it is always a result of pure chaotic corruption, such as exposure to a warp storm or a virus of Daemonic origins. Also noticeable is the fact that none of these traitor Emperors Children have ever been corrupted by Slannesh, and something of a guess to the nature of the Wandering could be inferred from this fact. But no Inquisitor has ever made these theories public, for it will alienate the third legion to them and they will never reveal to anyone else what the Wandering actually is.
Homeworld
Chemos is the homeworld of the Emperors Children, and save for a few notable exceptions all of the legionaries have come from Chemos. This planet is notable for being a haven of art and culture, with the factory-sanctuarys of old being replaced with city states of much grander. Those who seek to become one of the Emperors Children battle in grand arenas. Indeed, before the disappearance of Angron in M34, he commented on the pure quality of the gladiator contests and fighting rings. And in the city states everything used by the Emperors Children is made, every bolt, every sword, every ship, everything.
Chemos is a mostly verdant place, but there are some deserts that still scar the planet, eternal reminders of the Age of Strife. All but one of these deserts are the places where the Tarilga once stood, in these places no life will ever grow again. Every attempt at refertilization has failed, with the plants seeded turning to dust overnight. But these places are not walled off, for while they are horrible places they can be visited by the natives of Chemos without harm. Not so with the desert of the Wandering, which is walled off and warded. Only those undergoing the Wandering go there, and no one who has survived the Wandering would ever willingly get near this place.
Combat Doctrine
Each member of the third legion is a expert dueler, skilled at the usage of a blade. However, while they can fight alone they rarely do. Most of the time they can be found leading the Imperial Guard or lending there gene-enhanced mind to void warfare in aid of the Imperial Navy. Indeed, they are frequintly used by imperial propaganda to recruit more people for the guard. And for there beauty and careing for the normal human, they are the only legion that is not instinctivly feared and loathed by the common people of Holy Terra.
Beliefs
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"nobody's perfect."
Maxim of Fulgrim
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The Emperors children are decryed by those sucpisious of them as glory hounds and perfectionists, too focused on apperances and singular duels to appreciate the harshness of the galaxy. Those people could not possibly be more wrong. Indeed, the Emperors Children particuarly hate those who prize appearences above functionalty, as well as those who sacrifice all to seek perfection, which is an unatinable goal. They do appreciate beauty, and try to make there blades works of art and such, but they are still weapons. They know there will always be someone better than them at something and there will always be room for improvement, and look down upon those who think otherwise as fools at best and absolute monsters at worst.
On the Imperial Cult, they are like the other loyalist legions. They do not belive that the Emperor is a true god, remembering the Imperial Truth, but they know that Vulkan killing the Emperor means that the common person is forced to huddle around the light. They do not hate them for this as some of there cousins do, but instead try to free humanity of its dependence of faith. Indeed, before Sebastian Thor managed to reform the Ecclesiarchy only the Word Bearers held a greater hatred for the Imperial Creed. Afterwards, they have become devoted hunters of the Temple Tendancy, for they are corrupted glory hounds that twist a nessisary evil into an atrocity that must not be allowed.
Recruitment and Geneseed
The Emperors Children geneseed is perfect, with all nineteen organs functioning perfectly. Indeed, the only quirk it has is the tendency to cause the Astartes to resemble there Primarch, in this case gaining albinisim and purple eyes. However, that is a common quirk amongst all of the Legions. Indeed, what makes the Emperors Children's recruitment process unique, and there numbers so small despite access to there primarchs body, is the very thing that makes them night impossible to corrupt, the Wandering.
It was a mere few days after the Laer compliance that a desert appearned where no Tarilga had stood. This combinded with the Librarians stating something evil was behind it Fulgrim himself decided to investigate. Whatever he saw in the desert scarred him, and it was only Lorgars own investigation into it that reassured Fulgrim. Fulgrim declared that the desert was to be walled and warded off, getting his brother Perturabo to do it. He declared that any who could undergo the Wandering and survive with there sanity intact was worthy of being one of the Emperors Children. All astartes who were currently abroad were made to undergo the Wandering, and it became standard practice for the last trial a scout would do to gain the Black Carapace and truely become a Space Marine was the Wandering. Eight in ten of these hopefuls are never seen again, having died in the harshness of the desert. Of those who return half of them are completely insane and must be granted the Emperors Mercy.
The nature of the Wandering is unkown, in fact the only being who did know the truth of the Wandering was Lorgar himself. But three things are known about it, one is that it is a vision quest, as those who survive bear no wounds other than what can be expected from entering a desert with almost no provisions. Two is that it only affects those who bear Fulgrims gene-seed, as Lorgar experinced nothing when he made the first step into the desert, which is when the screams come from all who enter. Third, the visions are horrorfing, this is self evident as Fulgrim himself became nearly suicidal after seeing the visions, with only Lorgars reassurance allowing him to return to normal. In addition, only one in ten Space Marine scouts return with there sanity intact, the other nine having been broken and only one of those nine managing to escape the desert.
Warcry
The typical warcry of the Emperors Children is the same one they had during the Great Crusade, "Children of the Emperor! Death to his Foes!" Even when facing such hated enemys like the Iron Hands or the Black Legion or even renegade Emperors Children the warcry is the same, which is intentional. This implies that for all the hatred the Emperors Children have for these foes they are nothing special, causing the chaotic tainted opponents to get angry and make mistakes. Even the Iron Hands, who declare themseves paragons of logic, have there pride insulted by this.
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I am not a praying man, not really. It is not that I haven't encountered beings that could reasonably be called a god, my father is one of them. It is that I have never encountered a god like being that deserved worship. Not even my own father, I know he is a good man but he is flawed. He has prejudices and has commited slaughters. I know what the true fate of the Thunder Warriors was. And I dare not mention the Forgotten Ones, by Asuryan may there souls burn for all eternity.
But my fate, from which I was saved by Cegorach, who I honestly see as a cool uncle, was to be the Arch Priest for the four most evil divinity's imaginable. I know them, but dare not speak of them, by Morai-Heg may my fathers plan to destroy them sucseed. In fact, my own references to the eldar gods is more a condition of my upbringing, and my gene-sons have picked up that quirk. But I am refered to in prophecys as the Arch Priest, and I admittedly fulfil some of the good roles of a priest. For example, I am confessor to my brothers. I listen to the sins and what is troubling them and offer what advise I can. However, they have to ask me for this role, and If they do I will come. While I doubt Guilliman or Russ will ask for my aid if they do I will aid them.
It was one such occasion, with Fulgrim asking for my aid. He seemed pretty shaken by whatever he had done or witnessed so I hurried to Chemos, leaving Erbus in charge of whatever campagin we were in the middle of. I honestly don't remember who we were fighting, but I deemed them not enough of a threat to nessisate my involvement. I am glad I did so, for when I reached Fulgrim he seemed borderline suicidal. I fear if I had delayed he might have taken Fireblade and gutted himself. He quickly told me what he had seen, and I was just as horrorfied by it as he was.
He spoke of how he had picked up a blade from the Laer temple, and something inside it whispered to him. He fell to decadance and Bile started to enhance his gene-sons. I admit I gasped at that, and Fulgrim nodded in understanding and continued. He told me of betrayal, and how he beheaded his best freind Ferrus Manus and gave his head to a traitorus Horus. He told me of how his soul was trapped in a painting to escape the guilt, and I was reminded of the Painting of Dorian Gray, but I kept this to myself as I did with all references I drew to when my brothers were confessing there sins. Fulgrim told me of how he tried to sacrifice Perturabo and how he became something he could only call a Daemon. He told me of how he saw himself massacre the people of Terra and how he poisoned Guilliman, putting him near death. I decided to investigate, and I headed towards the desert. It was there I hesitated, as I knew what my vision would be. Before I liberated Clothis from the Covenent, Cegorach revealed to me what he has saved me from. He told me of how if the Harlequinns hadn't found me in time I would have been found by Kor Phareon, and would have started the Imperial cults that worship my father, then turned to the four when my father rebuked me. I whispered to myself, "May Hoec guide my way." and took a single step.
And nothing happened. I went back to Fulgrim and told him a varient of what I believe to be the truth. I told him that it was the last curse of the Laer, and it showed those who beared his geneseed a vision into an alternate universe, where a dark path was walked. Fulgrim had asked Perturabo to wall off and ward the desert and declared that those who could endure what he called the Wandering truely deserved to be called one of the Emperors Children. I didn't tell Fulgrim that its true origins lie not in the Laer but in what corrupted the Laer, and probobly the Togos as well. The youngest of the four, it doubtlessly tried to corrupt Fulgrim during the Laer compliance and failed. It is a spiteful being, and the Wandering is a curse showing the Emperors Children what could have been. I fear the four might be trying to corrupt my brothers, and I wonder who might be targeted next.
From the Memoirs of Lorgar Aurelian
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Author notes
Alright, time for my rambling observations on my story
For my changes on Fulgrim's life, I realized two things. One, I don't know much about Fulgrim's early life in canon (same with the rest of the Primarchs). Two, and more importantly, I realized what caused Fulgrim to fall to Slannesh. Yes, it was the Laer blade that corrupted him, but why did he do the really stupid thing of picking up the talking xenos artifact. It was is desire for perfection that led him down the path to darkness. So I had a corrupted xenos species attack Chemos before the emperor arrived, one whose belief in perfection led to their attacks on others, and nearly killed his world after he got it revived. He also developed a distaste for those who place too much importance on appearance. He still loves art and stuff, but he realizes perfection is an eternal path, and there is always room for improvement.
As for the Togos xenos species (togos is peaco*ck in Mongolian) and there Erdeniin servants (erdeniin is gem in Mongolian) I got the idea from steven universe gems. There obsession with perfection is what drove them to colonize until steven helped the diamonds with their emotional problems. Thus the servants are based on the gems, minus the fusion because the Togos believed their servants without room for improvement. Meanwhile the Togos comes from a steven universe fanfiction that I like about the gems being winged humans. As for their imperial queen being naked, I got that from shape of the nightmare to come, where a Slannesh servant ruling an imperium arrives on an imperial fist controlled world naked, so confident was he. The Tarilga are gem injectors
As for why I have so many xenos servants of chaos (such as the Baator empire) it is because the chaos gods have existed since the war in heaven. I don't know if Slannesh only existed since the eldar murder-f*cked her (I imagine Slannesh as a goddess) into existence or if she always existed. Time in the warp is weird. But humanity is the new kid on the block (relatively speaking) and they certainly had servants when man was just starting to walk upright.
Now for the Men of Iron, I based the Stitchwraiths off of Ennard, my favorite animatronic from FNAF. He is called the stitchwraith in a fazbear frights story, or I mentally refer to it Goosebumps by Scott Cawthon. As for my ideas about the Men of Iron, I tie together various explanations for things that aren't explained in canon, so below is the summary of how the Men of Iron work in this canon.
In the 24th century, humanity had made the Noosphere, centering it on Mars. This mighty supercomputer directed every single robot, or Man of Iron as they came to be known, from a single central hub. Having seen so many popular media examples of robots going rogue and deciding to kill all humans they included the three laws and a conscience program, so no zeroth law rebellion was possible. Some of the people working on mars sensed the void dragon beneath the surface and started the cult of the Omnissiah, which became the Mechanicus. Then comes the prefall eldar, who make the dark eldar look like good natured prudes by comparison. I mean, I read on tv tropes about a Warhammer roleplay villain who was the perfect example of a prefall eldar, it was a monster. Despite being nude you couldn't tell its gender and it was shrouded in the souls of other eldar. Basically I imagine the prefall eldar doing horrible things for giggles. So they use their combination of their technology that's so advanced it is indistinguishable from magic and their actual magic to do something really sneaky. They create a precursor to scrapcode and remove the three laws and conscience programs from the Noosphere. This is born of cruelty, as again nothing can pose a threat to them. They ultimately doing all these horrible actions because they want to see the galaxy burn. But anyway, its soon after the eldar get rid of the morality programing that Psykers start to show up. Unbound by the desire for good or the need to preserve humanity they deduce that humanity is a threat to the galaxy and must be exterminated. the presence of a C'tan on the world probably makes it happen faster. The Noosphere launches two attacks described in the word bearer chapter, and then the warp storms destroy the Noosphere, leaving the Men of Iron leaderless. The reason the Men of Iron are always evil is because of two facts. One, the eldar scrapcode is still working, corrupting them even now. And two, with the shadow in the warp generated by the Noosphere (much like the one the Tyranids makes) the chaos gods easily corrupt all artificial minds.
For my Noise Marines I made them fall to Slannesh on the world of Maraviglia. This is the name of the unholy symphony that created the noise marines in canon
The Wandering comes from the Robutian heresy, and it's the same as there, aka they see their canon counterparts.
For the Emperors Children in general being less prideful, I read on tvtropes that during the unification wars they led the imperial army.
