vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Thousand Sons - Magnus the Red: The world of Prospero was, as records report, originally a place of pure desolation. It was a desolate, dark planet and was chosen by its original inhabitants because of its sheer distance from Terra. Mutants and psykers lived in reclusion and study on the world, safe from the prejudice and hatred of their fellow Humans.In the end, the only good thing about Prospero was its galactic position as a backwater and the reality that it was an easy world to hide on. It had one major city, Tizca, the City of Light, a gleaming metropolis of white marble, with spires reaching into the sky. Tizca was situated on the most central of the many mountains of the planet and it was nourished by underground hydroponics and techno-psychic collectible arrays that provided sustainable energy. All of its towers were gleaming works of architectural grace defined by soaring obelisks and towering pyramids.Within Tizca, the mutant psychic outcasts of Human society devoted themselves completely to the study of their psychic abilities in order to master their powers. Thus Magnus could freely develop his own full psychic potential far from the sight of other men. Time passed and Magnus went from student to adept and from adept to master.When he reached adulthood, someone whose coming he had long foreseen finally arrived on Prospero: the Emperor of Mankind. As legend tells, the two recognised each other immediately.The Emperor, of course, acknowledged the psychic giant to be one of His long-lost sons and granted Magnus the command of the Thousand Sons Space Marine Legion that had been created from his own genetic profile. Bearing Magnus' gene-seed, the XVth Legion had a strong predisposition towards psychic mutation and a considerable number of Thousand Sons Astartes inherited their primarch's potent psychic capabilities.
Thousand Sons - Aghoru Compliance: The Imperial Compliance of the world of Aghoru (officially codified in Imperial records as 28-16) was an action carried out by units of the Thousand Sons Legion that was achieved through diplomacy and was considered a success. Interestingly, the Human population possessed ancient legends of a race of elder beings known as the "Elohim" (which might be analogous to the Aeldari).According to their mythology, a perverted and corrupt daemonic force, known as the "Daiesthai", who had succumbed to the corruption of the Elohim's self-obsession, and hedonistic excesses, were imprisoned within the massive, artificially constructed peak, designated by the Thousand Sons as "The Mountain." The Thousand Sons Primarch Magnus was enthralled by the planet's mountain and the tomb of the dormant Daiesthai.Upon further investigation within the artificial mountain, Magnus discovered that it was some kind of gateway with a web-like network of conceptual conduits, containing billions of pathways between worlds. Unfortunately, Aghoru's link to the network had become corrupted by the Warp and was ultimately sealed.Yet somehow, these daemonic forces were inadvertently released from their imprisonment and took over the massive Revenant Titan guardians that stood sentinel over "The Mountain," and began to attack Magnus and his Thousand Sons. These Daemons were only defeated by the combined efforts of the Crimson King, his Thousand Sons and a contingent of the Space Wolves 5th Great Company, led by Jarl Amlodhi Skarssen Skarssensson, who had recently arrived to from the campaign in the Ark Reach Cluster.The primarch had initially bristled at the jarl's cursory and demanding manner that was typical of the VIth Legion, and thus, had held off in giving the deputation a timely reply.After the conclusion of the battle, the Crimson King appreciated his cousin Legion's efforts, and deigned to give the Jarl his assent. Magnus then gathered his Legion and made all due haste towards the Ark Reach Cluster.
Thousand Sons - The Council of Nikaea: Rumours and condemnations began to spread about the Thousand Sons Legion amongst the other Expeditionary Fleets. The most vocal of these detractors were the Primarchs of the Death Guard, Imperial Fists and Raven Guard Legions. The majority of the Legionaries of the XV Legion had been afflicted by the rampant genetic mutation within their ranks. Those that still remained unafflicted had seen their psychic abilities increase dramatically in power level. Soon the Thousands Sons' detractors raised their objections to the Emperor Himself, calling for the XV Legion's disbandment and for the Legion to be expunged from the Imperial records like the II and XI Legions.The Emperor was also displeased by the Thousand Sons' dabblings in manipulating the corrupting powers of the Warp. Serious suspicions began to surround Magnus as the hatred towards mutants and psykers spread through the Imperium as the Crusade progressed and the Legions learned how dangerous the use of psychic abilities could be on world after world that had been ravaged by them during the Age of Strife. After much debate in the Imperium over the use of psykers, the Emperor called an Imperial Conclave of all the primarchs and chief Imperial officials at the remote and volatile planet of Nikaea to deal with the issue once and for all.The highest authorities in the young Imperium were present or were represented, including the Emperor and His Sigillite and Regent Malcador, who officiated over the council. At the forefront of the debate was Magnus, who argued very passionately for his cause and the important contributions that psykers and the use of sorcery could make to the improvement of the Imperium and to speeding up the successful conclusion of the Great Crusade. The main opponents to the use of psykers were the Space Wolves who shared their Primarch Leman Russ' hatred of sorcery as unclean and cowardly and the Death Guard, whose Primarch Mortarion testified in person against the use of psychic powers.When a consensus emerged among the Council's participants that psykers and their powers represented a potential danger to the people of the Imperium, the Emperor's edicts were that in the interest of unity, no one was to be censured for prior actions involving the use of psychic abilities. Use of psychic abilities by the Imperium's military forces was banned (except the use of Astropaths, Navigators, and very strictly sanctioned and controlled psykers who were authorised to carry out Imperial business, like the Sisters of Silence). All Astartes Legion Librarians were to be disbanded, and their members returned to conventional combat duty.In effect, Magnus and the Thousand Sons were banned from practicing "sorcery" or using the psychic abilities and knowledge they so coveted. However while fighting in the Great Crusade the Thousand Sons would secretly gather the sacred texts and forbidden research into psychic phenomena of several thousand conquered worlds and compile them into the infamous tome of sorcery known as the Book of Magnus.
Thousand Sons - Magnus' Vengeance on the Space Wolves: Revenge for the Thousand Sons finally came against the Space Wolves in the 32nd Millennium, even though most of those Loyalist Astartes of that Chapter who had originally fought against them had died and passed on long centuries before. The Thousand Sons began raiding worlds around Fenris, attempting to bait Great Wolf Harek Ironhelm away from his homeworld, because he wanted nothing more than to bring the Thousand Sons to battle. Magnus even taunted him in his dreams, showing Harek the smoldering remains of conquered cities which Magnus was walking through. Eventually Harek found what he believed to be the Thousand Sons' secret base on Gangava and launched a full scale attack against it. This allowed the Thousand Sons to assault Fenris itself. For forty days and nights, the Thousand Sons assaulted the Fang Citadel, and the defending Space Wolves were forced to awaken Bjorn the Fell Handed, now a Venerable Dreadnought. The remaining Space Wolves troops retreated deep into the Fang, while sending scouts out to escape and inform Harek. Harek returned to Fenris and brought the battle to Magnus. Magnus, now a Daemon Prince, was too powerful for Harek however, and slew him on the slopes of the Fang but not before taking a terrible wound himself. When the Space Wolf Chapter fleet returned, the Thousand Sons withdrew from Fenris back into the Warp, but were pleased at the death of the Space Wolves' Chapter Master.
Thousand Sons - The Rubric of Ahriman: Some time later, the surviving Thousand Sons Marines began to suffer severely once more from the constant mutations of their genomes that were always a result of time exposed to the Chaos energies of the Eye of Terror. In addition, the Thousand Sons' patron Chaos power Tzeentch was the very embodiment of Change, and he often gave mutational "gifts" to those who served him. Soon after their arrival in the Eye of Terror, several of the Thousand Sons' Battle-Brothers were mutating out of control into mindless Chaos Spawn. All their medical efforts to staunch the spread of mutation were for naught. The Thousand Sons were losing the only thing they had left after the Horus Heresy and the destruction of Prospero -- their humanity.When Ahzek Ahriman, the Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons and long-time friend and adviser of Mangus the Red saw the gene-curse, known as the "Flesh-Change," of his fellow Thousand Sons manifest at the dawn of the Great Crusade, he vowed to find a way to halt its hideous rampage. When he witnessed his twin brother Ohrmuzd mutate into a mewling abomination, the vow to save his brethren became the defining core of Ahriman's being. The Chief Librarian turned his every waking moment to finding a solution to the Flesh-Change. Ultimately, his single-minded crusade led to a kind of success, but also a terrible failure. During the Thousand Sons' exile to the Planet of the Sorcerers, when they began to fall back into rampant mutation, Ahriman devised a way to prevent further mutation in the form of a powerful spell known as the Rubric of Ahriman. However, the rest of the Sorcerer Librarians of the Thousand Sons did not agree or see eye-to-eye on the matter. It was only when Magnus was finally elevated to the status of Daemon Prince of Tzeentch that the Legion's Sorcerers banded together to create a Cabal. They agreed to cooperate and unleash the Rubric.The following sorcerous cataclysm unleashed lightning strikes that hit each and every Thousand Sons Chaos Marine. Those that had little or no psychic power were disintegrated outright, their bodies turning to ash within their armour. Those that possessed psychic power found those abilities greatly augmented, becoming among the most powerful Sorcerers in the galaxy, yet their souls were fused with the very essence of their Power Armour as a result, creating a horrific, undying hybrid of man and machine.
Thousand Sons - The Cabal of Ahriman: Magnus was about to destroy Ahriman and his Cabal for what they had done to his Legion, but just as he was about to strike, the Cabal was saved by Tzeentch who revealed: "You destroy my pawns too easily." Ahriman's Cabal were instead exiled from the Thousand Sons' Planet of Sorcery for their actions by the Daemon Prince Magnus the Red. Magnus cursed Ahriman to wander the galaxy in search of the true meaning of Chaos. Instead, Ahriman now seeks out sacred artefacts and talented psykers to corrupt them to Chaos and add them to the arsenal of the Ruinous Powers; the threat presented to the Imperium by the Cabal of Ahriman is so great that the Inquisition will sooner destroy a precious artefact than allow it to fall into Ahriman's hands. Despite the Inquisition's opposition, Ahriman has successfully wandered the galaxy gathering up promising new cult members and artefacts on thousands of worlds for the last several millennia.
Thousand Sons - Ahriman's Current Dealings: Every since casting that darkest and most powerful of spells, Ahriman has roamed the galaxy in search of eldritch power enough to make good his mistake. For the last few decades, he has been embroiled in a quest to locate and plunder the fabled Black Library of the Eldar, where the sum total of that ancient race's learnings about the Forces of Chaos are sealed away.During Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade, Ahriman sought entry into the Black Library in a hidden branch of the Webway, the Labyrinthine Dimension that lies between reality and the Warp. He was finally able to achieve this goal and gained access to the Webway by using the captured Inquisitor Czevak and a long-forgotten Webway portal on the world of Etiamnum III. It is rumoured that if Ahriman was able to secure entry to the Black Library, he could use the information inside to become a new and powerful Chaos God. But truth, often times, is much more mundane than one would want to believe. To achieve his aims, Ahriman fought through the Black Library's protectors and was able to get near enough to his destination, enabling him to project his astral form inside it, avoiding its strange guardians long enough to transcribe the fabled Tome Labyrinthus onto hermetic parchments of his own making. With this priceless manuscript at his command, Ahriman can now navigate long-lost sections of the Webway.After summoning "Leviathan", a giant flying Warp Beast wreathed in flame, a cyclopean daemonic monstrosity with Screamers that follow in its wake, disrupting not only the Warp but the Webway as well, and causing horrendous casualties on both sides of the conflict, Ahriman was ejected from the Webway. At the time, it was believed that his goal was unattained. Inquisitor Czevak was captured by the Eldar's Harlequins and is believed to be still held in the Webway. The Webway gate Ahriman used was later sealed by the Eldar, never to be opened again.With his ill-gotten copy of the Tome Labyrinthus in his hands, Ahriman can navigate his way through the Webway at will, and reopen the many portals that are situated on worlds settled by the Imperium. Amongst these are ancient cairn-gateweays that lead onto the Death World of Fenris, the home planet of the Space Wolves Chapter, the ancient enemies of the Thousand Sons. With this knowledge, Ahriman has made himself vital to Magnus' plans once more -- and vice versa. With Magnus the Red in Ahriman's debt, the Arch-Sorcerer would likely be able to invade the Black Library in earnest in search of the arcane cure he desires, to reverse the effects of the Rubric, and turn his brothers back into beings of flesh, blood and limitless mental potential.Ahriman himself believes to this day that Chaos can be controlled and used effectively with enough strength of will to master its willful eddies and a powerful mind to focus its demands. While often portrayed as the Hero of Tzeentch, he instead believes he is serving his own goals, despite being just a pawn of that mercurial god. He does not openly recognise the Changer of Ways as his master, though all his machinations by definition empower the Lord of Change.
Thousand Sons - Legion Homeworld: Prospero was chosen by its original settlers for one reason: its remoteness. Isolated from the most common Imperial travel lanes and boasting virtually no independent resources of any value, Prospero had only one redeeming quality: it was a good place to hide. In the end, it was not even that. Today it is a blasted ruin, declared Purgatus by the Inquisition.Through the millennia of endless raiding since, it has been discerned the City of Light survived its transit through the Immaterium intact. It came to rest within the Eye of Terror, upon a world that has come to be known as the Planet of the Sorcerers. That daemonic place is a seething cauldron of magical power, reflected across its breadth in the form of infernal volcanism and tempestuous skies saturated with magical vapour. Towers jut from craggy fists of rock thrust up from plains of lava, twisted and obscene mockeries of the spires and pyramids of learning which were the hallmarks of the City of Light before its fall. Mightiest of them all is the obsidian monolith that is the Tower of the Cyclops, said to be so massive it can be discerned from space with the naked eye. More obscenely, the Tower of the Cyclops looks back, as the pinnacle of the obelisk is a glowing warp eye, through which Magnus watches the paths of the future. The Silver Towers of the City of Light have been transfigured by the sorcerous might of the Thousand Sons into space-faring fortresses in which psyker lords set out from the Planet of Sorcerers to traverse the cosmos, launching vengeful assaults upon the Imperium of Man.
Thousand Sons - Specialist Units: When Magnus the Red reorganised the hierarchy and organisational structure of the Legion he had two specialist units created -- the Rehati and the elite Scarab Occult Terminators.Rehati - The Rehati was the XV Legion's inner coven of advisors and was comprised of the most trusted confidants to Magnus the Red throughout the Great Crusade until the start of the Horus Heresy. The Rehati were drawn from the ranks of the elite captains of the Thousand Sons' Fellowships to address whatever issues were currently concerning the XV Legion. Its members were ever-changing, and inclusion within the Rehati was dependent on many things, not least of which was an Astartes' standing within the Legion. The Cults of the Thousand Sons vied for prominence and a place in the primarch's inner circle, knowing that to bask in his radiance would only enhance their powers. As the power of the Empyrean waxed and waned, so too did the mystical abilities of the Cults. The Rehati served a similar position for the Thousand Sons that was comparable to the Mournival of the Sons of Horus Legion.Scarab Occult Terminators (Sekhmet) - The specialist unit known as the Scarab Occult were also sometimes called the "Sekhmet" or "Magnus' Veterans." They were made up of the best and brightest of the the Thousand Sons Legion and equipped with crimson-coloured Tactical Dreadnought Armour. The Sekhmet were active throughout the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. The Scarab Occult were all members of the elite 1st Fellowship, under the command of 1st Fellowship Captain Ahzek Ahriman. These proud and extremely devoted warriors were both combat Veterans and highly-ranked members of the psychic mastery cult system of the Thousand Sons. None of the Sekhmet were below the Cult grade of Philosophus, the final Cult rank a warrior could hold before facing the Dominus Liminus. Each warrior was able to mentally transcend their physical and emotional weaknesses; achieving a form of emotional purity that resulted in warriors who were both fearless and willing to follow orders immediately and unquestioningly. This extraordinary level of discipline was commented on by some of the other primarchs who witnessed the Sekhmet in action during the Great Crusade. The Great Khan of the White Scars Legion, Jaghatai Khan, commented that they were no better than automata, whilst, in a similar vein, Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands Legion likened them to robots, though some within the Thousand Sons suspected that knowing the Iron Hands' affinity for technology, this comment may have been meant as a form of compliment. Leman Russ, the Great Wolf of the Space Wolves Legion, showed disdain for what he perceived as the Sekhmet's perceived "lack" of fighting spirit and espirit d'corps due to their taciturn natures. The Sekhmet's status following the Thousand Sons Legion's transformation into a Chaos Traitor Legion devoted to Tzeentch and the enactment of the Rubric of Ahriman is unknown.
Thousand Sons - Notable Sects: Ammitara Occult Intercession Cabal - The very existence of the sect known as the Ammitara Occult was in some cases doubted, such was the group's secrecy and shadowed reputation beyond the confines of its Legion. Even within the ranks of the Thousand Sons, it was spoken of obliquely, if acknowledged at all, as evidence collected from the wreckage of Prospero was later to attest. The Ammitara was the striking fangs of the Order of the Blind, perhaps the most hidden and obscure division of the Thousand Sons, dedicated to misdirection, reconnaissance and some claimed even espionage beyond the Legion, with the Intercession Cabals of the Ammitara specialising in another dark art of war -- assassination. The psychic talents of the Ammitara were more subtle and honed than those of the greater adepts of the Thousand Sons, and encompassed a number of forces touching on the purview of the different cults, but with a single goal in mind -- the precise and efficient dealing of death. So it was that one Ammitara might use delicate precognition to predict where their target would be when they fired with preternatural accuracy, while another might psychokinetically accelerate a shell towards its target with shattering force, or cause a foe's blood to evacuate their wound with horrifying speed. These myriad esoteric agencies of death were manifested as a single unique psychic power -- the "Mind Killer."Khenetai Occult Blade Cabal - The Khenetai Occult were a mystical sect within the Thousand Sons Order of the Jackal who served as the guardians of the Prosperine cults as well as their reliquaries and sanctums. Bound together by oath and ritually-forged psychic bonds, each of the elite were all initiates of the cults' inner secrets and adepts in their techniques, philosophies and arts. The foremost warriorrs of the Khenetai formed cabals of "Blades," sublimely skilled warriors who had honed their psychic powers to be at one with their sword mastery. Their dual Force Swords were shaped from single sheets of psycho-crytalline-infused ceramite and gilt, with sigils said to correspond to the wielder's secret name and the deeds they had performed. In battle they wore armour forged and shaped by the Legion's blind artificers using fire and the force of their minds alone, and fought with a unified precision that made them seem a single warrior manifested many times, rather than a group of individual fighters.
Thousand Sons - Post-Heresy Organisation: Following the end of the Horus Heresy, proper hierarchical structure within the XV Legion's squads and Fellowships (chapters) disintegrated, as was common in most of the Traitor Legions as the more deleterious effects of Chaos manifested with the end of the unity between the forces of Chaos after the Siege of Terra.In the wake of the Fall of Prospero, the organisation of the Thousand Sons Legion is based around the number nine, the sacred number of Tzeentch. The nine cults of the Thousand Sons are each ruled by a powerful Daemon Prince or Exalted Sorcerer who bears the ancient rank of Magister Templi. Together with their most powerful sorcerous followers, they form a group known as the Rehati. Within each cult are a number of arcane ranks. A fundamental principle of the Thousand Sons' organisation remains the arrangement of nine lesser sorcerers beneath a psychic potentate. This practice has its roots in the first cabal of Magnus.At the core of the war assemblies of the Thousand Sons are the "thrallbands." These primarily consist of a Champion of Tzeentch known as a Magister and up to nine thralls, each a lesser Sorcerer-Champion of Tzeentch. This cabalistic gathering usually manifests as an Exalted Sorcerer and nine Aspiring Sorcerers -- or Scarab Occult Sorcerers -- who lead the Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators into battle. In the rarest of thrallbands, the thralls might instead be powerful Sorcerers or Exalted Sorcerers themselves. Whatever the individual might of the thralls, the conjunction of nine lesser Champions of Tzeentch bolsters the sorcerous powers of their Magister to truly inhuman levels. The Exalted Sorcerers and Daemon Princes who rule the Silver Towers each command many of these thrallbands, which may be gathered together into hundreds-strong task forces called Exalted Thrallbands. Their followers comprise the raiding forces through which Tzeentch enacts some of his most violent schemes upon the galaxy.While the warbands of Tzeentch's Champions manifest in countless ways, the sorcerous thrallbands of the Thousand Sons are the most favoured by the Changer of the Ways. Each thrallband is bolstered by the mutated warrior auxiliaries of the Planet of Sorcerers, or by Chaos Cultist forces drawn from the Imperium. In addition, the Legion maintains a small number of battle tanks and Daemon Engines. Some Adeptus Astartes equipment is captured during their raids, but as very few of those weapons or vehicles are properly maintained, they rarely last for long and so are never numerous.Those Thousand Sons who took their Legion's fate unbidden and helped work the arcane Rubric of Ahriman earned their Primarch's wrath and were banished forevermore to the far reaches of the galaxy. These Exiles formed into sorcerous warbands of Chaos Space Marines of varying size and composition, led by Exalted Sorcerers -- those exiles who have stalked the galaxy for ten millennia -- whose lips uttered the dread spell that doomed so many of the Thousand Sons to an eternity of dust.
Thousand Sons - Notable Thrallbands: Thrallbands form the core of the Thousand Sons war assemblies, led by a Magister Templi (a minor Chaos Sorcerer) or in rarer cases, a more powerful Sorcerer or even an Exalted Sorcerer. The following list contains the known thrallbands of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion, as of 999.M41:The Blades of MagnusBrothers of RetaliationThe Prism of FateThe Sectai ProsperineThe Tizcan HostWarband of Sektoth
Thousand Sons - The Exiled and Estranged: When Ahriman and his allies worked the dread spell known as the Rubric of Ahriman, they took the Legion's fate unbidden into their hands, and shattered it forever. In doing so they earned their Primarch's ire, and were banished to the far corners of the galaxy. Since that dark day the Exiles have gathered unto them a variety of ad hoc armies, thrallbands and psyker hosts, and some of these have gone on to propagate more sects and enclaves in their turn. Where once there stood a Legion united by a single vision and the heraldry of an ancient empire, now there are a thousand shattered shards of that dynasty, each as bitter and twisted as their cyclopean founder, including:Brotherhood of DustCrimson SonsGrand Order of Hermetic BladesProdigal SonsRed EchoThe Silver SonsWarp Gheists
Thousand Sons - Legion Recruitment: The XV Legion was initially created from Terran stock. After his genetic-sons of the XV Legion were reunited with their Primarch, Magnus the Red's pact with Tzeentch was sealed; only one in a thousand Battle-Brothers were spared from the further corruption of the Flesh-Change. Throughout the rest of the Great Crusade, the Legion recruited exclusively from Prospero, despite the fact that the isolated world possessed only a small population with low genetic diversity. Though new recruits were only culled for the Legion in small numbers, many of them were psychically gifted. This resulted in the Thousand Sons being a smaller Legion than was common amongst their fellow Astartes.Currently it is unknown how the Legion is able to maintain its current strength. It was once observed that the Legion has performed what appeared to be some sort of resurrection ritual for a slain Thousand Son Astartes. This magical conjuration allowed the XV Legion's Chaos Sorcerers to summon the spirits of deceased Thousand Sons from the Warp so they could possess a mortal body. The Sorcerers were able to use either a living body or a deceased shell for the embodiment of the dead souls. It made no particular difference for the ritual which was used, as both were effective. These newly possessed bodies then transformed into reborn Thousand Sons Battle-Brothers, maintaining the always small numbers of the XV Legion even after their fall to Chaos.
Thousand Sons - Legion Combat Doctrine: The Thousand Sons were known to dislike close combat, instead relying on strategy and their psychic abilities. Deceit and guile were their hallmarks, and the legion was commonly criticized for its ways, particularly by Leman Russ, who thought that any battle won by means other than strength and courage was dishonourable. Magnus was confident that he had taught his officers well enough for them to act independently and indeed the legion could function very efficiently without the presence of their Primarch. Following the casting of the Rubric of Ahriman, the Thousand Sons' tactics have changed somewhat to compensate for the effects of the spell, and as a result they now make extensive use of Sorcerers and Aspiring Sorcerers leading squads of slow yet unrelenting Rubric Marines into battle.
Thousand Sons - Sorcerous Disciplines of the Thousand Sons: Those who dabble with the stuff of change seek to master the psychic essence empowering Tzeentch himself. Such individuals skirt the edge of sanity as they wield the forces of madness and mutation, blessing their allies and cursing their foes unto death. Tzeentch lends immense power to those who win his favour with such displays, but always at a cost.
Thousand Sons - Discipline of Change: Tzeentch's Firestorm - The Sorcerer conjures a storm of pink and blue fire that mutates his foes, leaving capering daemons that claw and bite in its wake.Boon of Mutation - The Sorcerer lays hands upon a warrior marked for glory, channelling the warping power of Chaos into his body until his flesh wrenches and flows.Doombolt - The Sorcerer hurls a bolt of roiling Warp energy that blasts its target into terrifying new shapes. Anything caught in the explosion is hurled across the field with horrific force.Siphon Magic - The Sorcerer opens his arms wide, embracing the invisible gales of arcane force that rage around the battlefield. By chanting backwards in the Dark Tongue, he can steal the power of other psychic emanations and use them to bolster the strength of his own spells.Breath of Chaos - The Sorcerer exhales a mutagenic cloud of negative Warp energies that leave his victims' physical forms running like wax.Baleful Devolution - With a shout, the psyker channels transmutative forces into his adversaries. Their bodies soon devolve into horrendous new forms.Treasons of Tzeentch - The Sorcerer whispers into the minds of the enemy. Brother turns upon brother before the pall of confusion dissipates to leave the aggressors staring in horror at the treachery they have wrought.Gaze of Magnus - To fall under the monocular gaze of Magnus is to be utterly destroyed by the power of Tzeentch.Glamour of Tzeentch - The Sorcerer twists and obscures the perceptions of his foes to the point that his allies become all but invisible.Temporal Manipulation - By creating a pocket of dilated space-time around an injured ally, the psyker drastically accelerates the rate at which wounds heal and muscles regrow.Weaver of Fates - The psyker traces the skeins of the future to see the fates of battle. Forewarned of imminent danger, warriors dodge bullets and sword blows with seemingly supernatural reflexes.
Thousand Sons - Sinistrum Discipline: Fury of the Gods - The Sorcerer conjures a shimmering sphere of dark Warp energy, pouring his hate and spite into the crackling orb before hurling it through his foes with sledgehammer force.Warp Fate - Ripping aside the veil of time and space, the Sorcerer grasps the strands of fate and wrenches them into new configurations. Every pluck and twist changes fate in the Sorcerer's favour.Armour of Hatred - The Sorcerer turns his mind inwards, to the boundless hatred and vitriol that fester in his soul. Drawing upon that dark wellspring, he fashions a jagged psychic shield against his foes' powers.Diabolic Strength - The unholy energies of Chaos flow through the Sorcerer, swelling his frame with the strength to tear a tank in two.Warp Lure - The Sorcerer focuses his energies upon the soul of a psychic foe, ripping away his enemy's defences and illuminating their presence in the Warp to draw down a lethal daemonic feeding frenzy.Death Hex - Chanting unholy curses, the Sorcerer places a dire hex upon his enemies. Defensive wards and energised protective shields flicker and fail, leaving the foe exposed to the grasping claws of death.
Thousand Sons - Heretech Discipline: Corrupt Machine - Like a virus entering the blood stream of a living creature, the Sorcerer invades the Machine Spirit of an enemy war engine, reversing energy flows and hijacking vital systems.Boon of the Iron Beast - The Sorcerer sketches dark sigils in the air, drawing forth gibbering cacodaemons from the Warp. These swarming entities flow into the Sorcerer's chosen vehicle, lending it frantic energy and unnatural vitality for a short time.Scrapcode Curse - The Sorcerer opens his mouth wide and vomits a screaming, whining barrage of viral scrapcode. The barrage of corrupting digital code explodes electronic systems and drives the Machine Spirit of the target vehicle to insanity.Dark Invigoration - Disgusted by the weakness of nearby damaged vehicles, the Sorcerer pours a tide of fresh Warp energy into the stricken machine, causing it to shudder and spark as it is forcibly repaired.Fleshmetal Hide - Flowing from the Sorcerer's hands comes a revolting tide of biomechanical ooze. The foul substance slithers across its target, hardening into a second skin that protects them from harm.Electromortis - The Sorcerer hurls out crackling tendrils of Warp energy, winding them around the beating furnace heart of the enemy war machine and crushing it slowly to death.Flayerstorm - A rust-laden tempest howls form the depths of the Warp at the Sorcerer's command. It screams across the hull of an enemy vehicle, shaking the machine like a dog shakes a bone as it rips away great splinters of its hull and hurls them as spears into the foe.
Thousand Sons - Ectomancy Discipline: Warpshock - At the Sorcerer's arrogant gesture, the raw power of the Warp boils forth and races along his limbs, before leaping out with explosive force to obliterate his enemies.Empyric Shield - An awful, keening whine cuts through the air as the Sorcerer charges the air around him with Warp power to form a shield that repels attacks on a molecular level.Daemonshriek - Throwing back his head, the Sorcerer lets loose a hypersonic banshee howl that causes generators to overload and weapon systems to short out in eruptions of blood-red sparks.Coruscating Blaze - The Sorcerer draws Warp energies to him until he burns with dark power. Roaring with the effort, he hurls the energies forth in a searing tide that blasts its victims to ash and leaps from soul to soul with malicious glee.Infernal Blaze - The Sorcerer calls forth crackling claws that sheathe his arms in dark Warp lightning. When he strikes, his foes are blasted back as foul energy spears from their bodies, striking their hapless comrades.Ghost Storm - The Sorcerer summons a whirling mass of ectoplasmic entities from the Warp. In a jabbering, shrieking mass the half-seen gargoyles pluck the Sorcerer's allies from the battlefield and bear them swiftly -- and roughly -- to their destination.Soulswitch - Disregarding the laws of realspace, the Sorcerer gathers up the soul energies of himself and his comrades before switching them in the Warp with those of nearby warriors. Amidst crackling arcs of empyric energy, those units' corporeal forms follow suit, switching places as they are reunited with their ghosts in the Warp.
Thousand Sons - Geomortis Discipline: Rockmaw - Booming out a ground-shaking curse, the Sorcerer transmutes bedrock, soil and boulders into a ragged, stone-fanged maw that yawns wide to swallow the enemy from below.Ley Leach - Like a foul parasite, the Sorcerer siphons away the vital energies of the world upon which he fights, channelling the stolen geo-animus into invigorating waves that heal his traitorous allies.Rupture - The Sorcerer focuses his Warp-spawned powers upon a single point on the battlefield, forcing an unnatural build-up of geothermal energies. The land buckles and bulges until, unable to hold on any longer, it bursts like a vast boil and obliterates the enemy in a spewing tide of tainted lava and screaming steam.Torturer of Worlds - Sinking his psychic barbs deep into the bedrock of the world, the Sorcerer torments the ground upon which his foe stands until it buckles and churns with wordless agony.Earthly Anathema - Vomitting the words of a twisted world curse, the Sorcerer taints his very being with such monstrous psychic energies that the world around him recoils, clearing the Heretic psyker's path rather than endure his loathsome touch.Profane Ruination - Uttering the seven forbidden truths of the last ruination, the Sorcerer causes his enemies' walls to crumble and collapse, with even their mightiest fortifications crashing down.Worldwrithe - Screaming with maniacal laughter, the Sorcerer rips madly at the bedrock beneath his enemies' feet with vast psychic claws. Boulders are torn from the ground, fortifications and forests flung skyward and sent crashing down upon the broken bodies of the foe as the damned psyker reshapes the world around him.
Thousand Sons - Dark Hereticus Discipline: Infernal Gaze - Unholy power streams from the psyker's eyes, charring and melting everything caught in its path.Death Hex - The Sorcerer places a dire hex upon his enemies. Wards and energised shields flicker and fail, leaving the foe exposed.Gift of Chaos - As the power of the Warp surges through the psyker's victim, bones snap and flesh rips as a new form takes shape.Prescience - By focusing his Warp-sight the psyker can guide the aim of his allies to greater accuracy, bringing a swift and merciless death to their foes.Diabolic Strength - The unholy energies of Chaos course through the recipient, swelling his frame with the strength to tear a tank in two.Warptime - The power of the Immaterium bursts from the psyker, warping time and heightening the speed of his allies.
Thousand Sons - Discipline of Tzeentch: Boon of Change - As the daemon chants, their minions begin to twist and new forms take shape as the will of Tzeentch demands.Bolt of Change - The daemon unleashes a bolt of roiling Warp energy that wracks the foe with sickening and uncontrollable mutations.Gaze of Fate - The daemon uses his powers of precognition to unravel the strands of destiny, and in doing so discovers the one true path to victory.The Treason of Tzeentch - The psyker reaches his thoughts into the minds of his victims, subverting their will and turning them upon their own allies.Flickering Flames - Cackling madly, the psyker's minions are wreathed in pink and blue flames that leap forth to consume their foes.Infernal Gateway - The psyker opens a portal to the Warp, a tear in the fabric of the mortal plane that sucks foes into certain oblivion.
Thousand Sons - Legion Beliefs: For the Primarch Magnus, knowledge was power. He believed there was no discipline his intellect could not master, no secret he could not unlock and make serve his purpose. For the Thousand Sons, knowledge was salvation, the means to controlling the psychic legacy of their Primarch's gene. Every book was sacred, every writing worthy of study, every document a resource to be drained. The ultimate knowledge was sorcery, the way to final enlightenment, the key to the universe. Before the Heresy, the Thousand Sons were publicly dogmatic, swearing oaths of loyalty and singing the Imperial hymns. They fought for the expansion of the Emperor's realm with diligence, but as their oath-breaking illustrated, their final loyalty rested not with the Emperor, but with their Primarch. When Magnus's reach for intellectual mastery exceeded his grasp, Tzeentch was waiting for him, and the Space Marines who believed as he did could do nothing but fall with him.
Thousand Sons - Legion Gene-Seed: Magnus was unquestionably the most profoundly mutated of the Emperor's Primarchs, both physically and psychically, and the Legion imprinted with his gene-seed reflected that with a high percentage of Thousand Sons manifesting some level of psychic ability. Early in the Legion's history a small, but significant percentage were prone to physical mutation, but in the wake of falling thrall to Tzeentch that percentage escalated wildly. The Rubric ended that forever for the battle brothers of the Thousand Sons, but the sorcerers who command those armoured shells still carry the gene-seed of their Daemon Prince, and wear their grotesque mutations proudly as tokens of their mercurial patron's favour.
Thousand Sons - Non-Astartes Personnel: Mahavastu Kallimakus - Mahavastu Kallimakus hailed from Prospero, from the subcontinent of Indoi, and was a meticulous recorder of data and a fastidious observer of details. He had scribed much of the events of the earliest days of the Great Crusade and had been one of the first Remembrancers to be chosen by the Thousand Sons. His reputation had preceded him, and he was immediately assigned to Magnus the Red. He was at Magnus' side from the time the restored XV Legion had departed Prospero to take part in the Great Crusade. Kallimakus served as Scrivener Extraordinary and the personal scribe of Magnus. He was responsible for transcribing the Primarch's own words into a massive tome known as the Book of Magnus. This tome is one of the most complete treatises on psykers, witchcraft and sorcery in the galaxy, a compilation of all the knowledge and experiments gathered by Magnus during the conquests the Thousand Sons made for the Imperium on the Great Crusade. When the Horus Heresy began, Kallimakus realised his records were a collection of mystic rites now forbidden by the edicts of the Council of Nikaea. Fearing for his safety, he fled with his works before the arrival of the Space Wolves Legion during the Burning of Prospero. Following this Kallimakus was imprisoned by the nascent Inquisition, as he continued to maintain a psychic connection to Magnus' gestalt and continued writing the Book of Magnus, now known as the Athenaeum of Kallimakus. This psychic connection was transferred by the Inquisition to successive hosts after each died. The location of the Athenaeum, Apollonia, was one of the Inquisition's most treasured secrets, but Ahriman, who sought a way to reverse his Rubric, ultimately learned of it in M32 from an Inquisitor, Iobel. He kidnapped her, stole the knowledge from her mind, and led the former warband of Amon to assault a moon in-system in which the object was held. Pursued by the Ordo Malleus and its Grey Knights and a rogue fleet of 13th Company Space Wolves, Ahriman arranged his enemies to fight one another and had the Athenaeum of Kallimakus installed in the body of his friend and betrayer, Sanakht.
Thousand Sons - Legion Fleet: During the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras the Thousand Sons are known to have possessed the following vessels as part of their Legion fleet:Photep (Gloriana-class Battleship) - The Photep served as both the Primarch Magnus the Red's and the XV Legion's flagship during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy era.Ankhtowe (Battle Barge)Kymmeru (Battle Barge)Scion of Prospero (Battle Barge)Sekhemra (Battle Barge)Sycorax (Battle Barge) - An ancient Battle Barge from the Great Crusade era and flagship of the Renegade warfleet commanded by the Chaos Sorcerer Amon in his exile during his hunt for Ahriman, and his planned destruction of the Planet of Sorcerers. This vessel was commandeered by Ahriman and ultimately lost in orbit over Apollonia in late M32 or early M33.Geometric (Destroyer) - Commanded by Brother-Captain Menes KallistonHerumon (Flagship, Unknown Class)Phosis T'Kar (Planet Scourer, Unique Class)Silver Towers of Tzeentch (Capital Ship, Unknown Class)Waning Moon (Strike Cruiser) - Commanded by Fleet Captain Mhotep
Thousand Sons - Ranged Weapons: Inferno Weapons - The weapons of the Thousand Sons are shaped by the craft of artificers and Sorcerers alike. When their guns roar, they fire not only explosive bolts that tear flesh, but uncanny arcane energies that can melt even ceramite. In such a fashion is the Long War waged anew. Variants of this type of weapon include: the Inferno Bolt Pistol, Inferno Bolt Gun, Inferno Combi-Bolter and Soulreaper Cannon.Hellfyre Missile Pack - Mounted atop the shoulders of Sekhmet Scarab Occult Terminators, the Hellfyre Missile Rack fires compact but deadly warheads that detonate in explosions of ætheric light.Warpflame Weapons - In the hands of the Thousand Sons, Flame Weapons hurl gouts of transmorphic fire that mutate those touched by them. Variants of this type of weapon include: the Warpflame Pistol, Warpflamer and Heavy Warpflamer.
Thousand Sons - Chaos Icons: Icon of Flame - Coruscating energies surround the icon, swathing the weapons of the devout in mutagenic flames.
Thousand Sons - Pre-Heresy Weapons: Æther-fire Cannon - A latter developement of the Pyrae Cult Techmarine artificers of the Thousand Sons Legion, these modified Plasma Weapons utilised both occult lore and the unique techno-arcana of the Forge World of Zhao-Arkhad in their construction.Asphyx Shells - Tainted with psycho-reactive toxin of unknown origins, the Thousand Sons were able to arm their elites with these unusual and highly lethal munitions. These shells were first believed to have been developed on Prospero for use with relatively primitive projectile weapons made to defend against the Psychneuein, but the difficulties of mass production and scaling of their effect limited their deployment.
Thousand Sons - Legion Colours: The Thousand Sons' pre-Heresy Power Armour colour scheme before being united with their Primarch displayed the ochre colours of the Immortal Regiments once raised by the ancient Achaemenid Empire of Old Earth. It was from that region of Terra that many of the XV Legion's first recruits had been been drawn.The Thousand Sons' colour scheme following their unification with Magnus the Red and the Legion's relocation to Prospero was red, in honour of their Primarch, whose skin was crimson in tone.In the wake of the Horus Heresy, the Thousand Sons Legion adopted blue and yellow as their livery when they converted to the service of Tzeentch, but they possess no fixed uniform. Some Sorcerers and their attached warriors bear variations on these standard hues, such as azure and gold, whereas others add a third colour to reflect their own personal heraldry.Many Thousand Sons Chaos Marines began wearing ornate crests on their helmets similar to the striped cloth Nemes crowns of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs of Old Earth. Perhaps this is a symbol to mark out those who have been affected by the Rubric of Ahriman.
Thousand Sons - Pre-Heresy: The pre-Prosperine panoply of the original XV Legion cannot be more in contrast to the form which it was later to take, its colouration and armourials echoing that of both the pre-Unification techno-barbarian Achaemenid Empire and the Noe'hion "Witch-Mark" of Old Terra centred above a lapis-blue coloured "M". The "M" most likely represented the ancient Romanii numeral that stood for one thousand, which represented the Legion's name and the original number of Astartes raised for the XV Legion, most of whom had been hand-picked by the Emperor Himself.This number also later reflected the number of Magnus' gene-sons who survived his cure for the horrible "Flesh Change" when they finally reunited with their Primarch on the world of Prospero. Others were eventually recruited during the course of the Great Crusade, swelling the ranks of the Thousands Sons well beyond their eponymous number.Space Marine Legions usually comprised at a minimum ten thousand active Astartes. Like many of their contemporaries whose numbers grew over the centuries of the Great Crusade, the Thousand Sons were no different, eventually swelling to 80,000-90,000 Astartes at the height of the Imperium's expansion before the Horus Heresy.This was true despite the loss of so many of their original complement to the Flesh Change before Magnus found a way to cure his sons of their affliction.After the Thousand Sons were united with Magnus and relocated to Prospero, he changed the badge of the XV Legion into a solar glyph, which became the Thousand Sons' official armourial icon and the precursor to the Traitor Legion's more elaborate post-Heresy badge.