World Eaters - Primarch of Wrath: A very great deal about the life story of the Daemon Primarch Angron remains unknown to the wider Imperial record. During the scattering of the primarchs' gestation capsules from the Emperor of Mankind's gene-laboratories deep beneath the Himalazian (Himalayan) Mountains, Angron was cast through the Warp to a "civilised" Human world far from Terra.How Angron came to be separated from the Emperor so soon after his creation and the name of the planet he eventually came to call home was later removed from the Imperial record. Indeed where this planet was or even if it still exists is often uncertain to the Imperial savants of the present time.There is in fact evidence that this information, including the true name of the world he was found upon was known but was kept deliberately secret by command of the Emperor and those close to Him.The truth is a dark tale of the primarch's brutal upbringing, murderous violence, and Angron's revolt against his cruel masters.After Angron came to be separated from the Emperor and Terra by the mysterious machinations of the Ruinous Powers he was deposited through the Warp on the world of Nuceria. Where this planet was located in the galaxy or if it even still exists is uncertain, though most signs seem to point to somewhere in the Ultima Segmentum.Carpinus' Speculum Historiale speaks of Angron's world as technologically advanced and ruled over by a wealthy elite who lived in decadent opulence while the populace of their cities lived in abject poverty in the slums that surrounded their walled palaces and villas.To distract the populace from their poverty, the oligarchic rulers of Nuceria held regular gladiatorial deathmatches in massive arenas, using cybernetically-enhanced gladiators who battled to satisfy the endless bloodlust of the oppressed people. It was on this world that the Primarch Angron was eventually discovered, though little else about the circumstances of how he came to be there remains known.After his arrival, Angron was discovered by a slaver who chanced upon the battered and bleeding figure of the young Primarch surrounded by scores of alien corpses, high in the northern Desh'elika Mountains.History does not record what species these aliens belonged to, but many Imperial scholars believe them to have been Craftworld Aeldari who attempted to kill the primarch, due to some psychic foreknowledge of the plague upon the galaxy he would one day become.The young Angron had been badly wounded in the combat, but remained alive.Taken as a slave by the planet's ruling masters, known as the "High-Riders," the young boy was brought to the Palace Praxica, the seat of the Reksium Throne of the powerful Nucerian city-state of Desh'ea, where he was sold to the ruling clan, House Thal'kr.Still a frightened young child, he was subsequently dumped into a pit consisting of a single ziggurat with hundreds of other slaves. Acid filled the pit, and to the cheers of the spectators Angron was eventually forced to kill all around him to remain standing upon the ziggurat's uppermost platform and survive. Shedding a tear for the last time, Angron was proclaimed a promising newcomer to Desh'ea's arena combat.With the youth's obvious potential as a gladiator apparent, he was bought by the largest and most popular arena in the capital. The young Primarch was given a name, Angron Thal'kyr, which meant "Child of the Mountain," and was nursed back to health.The young Primarch quickly grew to a formidable size, and was forced to take part in the gladiatorial games of Nuceria. After only a few solar months, Angron Thal'kyr had become a proud warrior of fearsome skill and an even stronger sense of honour, known to the crowds as "the Lord of the Red Sands." He killed hundreds of other gladiators, but those who fought well he always spared.Reaping many victories, Angron soon became a fan-favorite of Desh'ea and came to be known as "The Unbeaten." Although he seemed to enjoy the life of a gladiator and the adulation of the Desh'ean crowds, Angron secretly resented his slavery, and was always plotting to escape. He proved to be a troublesome champion, prone to escape attempts whenever he saw an occasion, but such efforts always failed.During this time, Angron was mentored by an older gladiator named Oenomaus, who formed a deep bond with the younger gladiator and became somewhat of a father-figure to the impressionable warrior. Together, the two formidable warriors slew a deadly tally in the gladiatorial arenas of Nuceria, which culminated in an astounding victory against a pair of berserk Ogryn that were surgically equipped with the deadly cybernetic implants known as the Butcher's Nails.Their momentous victory, however, proved short-lived as the High-Riders demanded that the two gladiators fight one another in a duel to the death. The fiery Angron refused and openly insulted his Nucerian masters. This resulted in Angron having the Butcher's Nails implanted as a form of punishment. These crude neural implants were hammered into the Primarch's skull and surgically grafted to his cerebral cortex.Relic devices from the Dark Age of Technology, these cortical implants artificially boosted a warrior's adrenaline, resulting in greater strength and aggression in battle. However, they bleached a warrior's mind of all reason, all caution, all the instincts of mortality. The Nails rewarded rage with spurts of electrochemical pleasure, tingling synapses and deadening enjoyment of everything else. No better machine for slaughter had ever been contrived by the minds of men.The cells below the massive arena were home to several thousand gladiators, all implanted with the Butcher's Nails, and Angron would soon take his place amongst them. Following the successful surgery, Angron was loosed upon Oenomaus and tore apart his friend in a blind, berserk frenzy.Upon regaining his senses, Angron realised the horrible transgression he had committed against his mentor, and was driven to such depths of despair that it was said that he unleashed a bestial howl that lasted for several solar days.The death of Oenomaus proved to be too much for Angron to bear, and he swore that one day, he would make good his escape and make all the High-Riders pay dearly.Within a few standard years Angron's fame had spread to every corner of his homeworld. Under his training, the gladiators of his arena soon became the greatest their world had ever seen and none could stand against them.Yet Angron also learned, following a final failed escape attempt, that he would never succeed alone. His unbending warrior's code and sheer combat skill had made him a well-respected leader amongst the other Desh'ean gladiators and when the largest death games ever held on Nuceria were announced, Angron planned his most daring escape attempt.For these new games, Angron was allowed to stage a vast combat that would involve every gladiator of his arena. As the Desh'ean crowd drowned out the sounds of battle, Angron's gladiators turned on their armed guards, butchering them and fighting their way to freedom. Against the guards armed with firearms, the gladiators' casualties were grievous, but nearly 2,000 survived to escape into the streets of Desh'ea, stealing what weapons and supplies they could before fleeing into the northern mountains where Angron had first been discovered.Over the next few years, the rulers of the world dispatched many armed forces to kill or recapture the rebel slaves, who soon named themselves the "Eaters of Cities," but all were destroyed in turn by Angron's leadership, martial skill and the cybernetically-enhanced fury of the gladiators. But attrition and hunger slowly took their toll on the slaves and eventually only 1,000 men and women remained, half the size of the original force of escapees.On a mountain named Fedan Mhor, on a bleak spit of land known as Desh'elika Ridge, Angron and his forces were finally surrounded by no less than seven large Nucerian armies. Not even a Primarch could stand against such sheer numbers, yet it was at this time that the Emperor of Mankind came to Nuceria, drawn by the psychic emanations of his gene-son the Primarch.The Emperor had observed Angron secretly from orbit for many solar months and had watched with pride as he had led his freed slaves in battle against the forces of tyranny. The Emperor and a small cadre of Legio Custodes descended to the world's surface, and after the shock of the august meeting had worn off on the Primarch, the Emperor offered Angron the leadership of the XIIth Space Marine Legion, the War Hounds, which had been created from Angron's own genetic material, and a place at his side in the Great Crusade.To the Emperor's disbelief, Angron refused, claiming that his place remained with his fellow slaves amongst the Eaters of Cities and he would die before deserting them. Reluctantly, the Emperor teleported back to His flagship, shocked at His son's refusal.Appraising the situation, the Emperor saw that for all of Angron's might as a Primarch and a leader, he would die in the coming battle. Losing one of His irreplaceable sons to the assault of rabble on a backwater planet soon to be brought into Imperial Compliance was simply unacceptable.Bringing His flagship into low orbit over the world, the Emperor teleported Angron from the surface against his will, away from the mountain of Fedan Mhor and the Battle of Desh'elika Ridge. Without their leader, the morale of the gladiators was destroyed and the next day they were slaughtered to the last warrior by the armies of Nuceria's rulers.Angron watched helplessly from orbit as his brothers and sisters were quickly annihilated. Sensing his uncontrolled rage, the Custodians surrounded Angron, their Guardian Spears pointed menacingly at the smoldering Primarch. In a fit of sudden violence, Angron killed one of the Custodians, but the Emperor intervened and the Primarch was forced into a state of submission by the Emperor's potent psychic abilities.Angron angrily asked his father why He had not intervened to save the lives of his comrades on the planet below, but the Emperor dismissed the question as lacking vision. He was the Emperor of Mankind, and He possessed a much grandeur vision for Human life such as reuniting the galaxy on behalf of all Humanity. He had little concern for a small group of former slaves battling a group of petty tyrants on a backwater world.The Emperor expressed His hope that in time, Angron would come to understand His actions and why He had done what He did. Angron replied that he had been meant to die alongside his comrades on Nuceria, and now only a ghost remained. The Emperor replied that a ghost would suffice for what he had planned for his son.Allowing his fellow gladiators to die was a deed Angron would never forgive the Emperor for, and a stain upon the Primarch's honour that would never fade but fester into a soul-deep wound.The exact records of the Emperor's intervention and Angron's acceptance of his new circumstances is a matter of shadowed rumour and conjecture, but what can be said with certainty is that Angron's first reaction to his new life was simple rage. For some time any War Hound of his Legion who came before their Primarch was met with a grisly death for their efforts.At this time the Legion Master of the War Hounds, Ibram Ghreer, a respected leader who had commanded the XIIth Legion for nearly three solar decades, disappeared without explanation from any records of the period and no explanation was given by his taciturn Legion for his absence. Only after murdering at least seven high-ranking officers within the Legion, including Ghreer, Captain Khârn of the 8th Assault Company voluntarily went forth to Angron's private quarters to confront the always enraged Primarch.Nearly beaten to death for his efforts, Khârn's unwillingness to accept defeat even at the hands of a much superior foe finally convinced Angron of his Legion's worthiness and honour as fellow warriors, and he assumed his place as the rightful general and commander of the XIIth Legion.Khârn manged to form a rapport with Angron, talking about the rituals of Angron's gladiators and the traditions of the War Hounds, and showing how similar they were to each other.With Khârn's actions convincing him of the worthiness of his Astartes to become his new band of warriors, Angron finally and swiftly took charge of the XIIth Legion. The Primarch renamed the War Hounds the "World Eaters" after he assumed command.Angron did this in part to honour the gladiator force he had led in rebellion on his homeworld whose warriors had been known as the "Eaters of Cities" for their wrath and violence. He chose the new name for his Legion when Dreagher, a Terran-born War Hounds Legionary who served as Captain of the Legion's 9th Company, promised Angron after meeting his Primarch for the first time that under his leadership the War Hounds would become, "...the eaters of worlds."Soon after, the newly renamed World Eaters were influenced by Angron's own thirst for battle. During the course of the Great Crusade, Angron and the World Eaters reaped many victories, although some criticised the extreme and bloodthirsty tactics the Red Angel used to ensure the destruction of his opponents.