Angron - Descent of the Red Angel: Kept within the deepest dungeon of the Library Sanctus on Terra is a tome known as the Liber Malum, whose bloodstained pages record the fate of those who have trod the path to damnation. To even mention its name is to risk madness.Many are the blasphemous Heretics and tyrants whose names sully the pages with their treacheries, but foremost amongst these damned souls is Angron, the primarch of the traitorous World Eaters Space Marine Legion. Much of the legend of Angron is incomplete, and there is much that is not known or remains so shrouded in dark legend that the true facts are impossible to discern.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 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 is 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 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 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 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.