Emperor's Children
From Warhammer 40k
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The Emperor's Children are a legion of Chaos Space Marines who worship the Chaos God Slaanesh.
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[edit] Fulgrim
The Legion's history begins with the descent of their Primarch Fulgrim to the resource-poor world of Chemos, where strict rationing and improvisation were necessary to sustain life. It was decided to spare the infant and when Fulgrim grew to manhood he set about reviving his dying world. Old technology was restored, lost areas reclaimed, and the people of Chemos were able to spend time on art and culture. Fulgrim took pride in this, as he harbored a love of perfection in all things.
When the Emperor first arrived on Chemos, Fulgrim swore fealty to him instantly and was placed at the head of his Legion, who were to be named the Emperor's Children in honor of their devotion to Humanity's ruler. An accident had destroyed nearly all of the Emperor's Children's gene-seed, and so the comparatively small force was placed under the command of Horus the Warmaster for a time. Horus and Fulgrim grew close to one another, with dire consequences for the Imperium.
When the Horus Heresy erupted, Fulgrim rushed to the Warmaster's side, attempting to reason with his old friend. Instead, Horus seduced Fulgrim, playing upon his love of perfection to weaken Fulgrim's loyalty to the Emperor. With Fulgrim broken, it was a simple task for Horus to convince the Primarch to turn to Slaanesh, who promised perfection in all things.
[edit] Corruption of the Legion
The rot spread from Fulgrim to his brother Lord Commanders (although one, Vespasian was executed by Fulgrim because he would not turn), then to company and squad leaders, and finally all but a bare handful of Marines followed Slaanesh rather than the Emperor. The remaining loyalists fought bravely on Istvaan III, led by Saul Tarvitz and Solomon Demeter, but were eventually overwhelmed when they were betrayed by Captain Lucius in order for him to rejoin the legion and to punish Tarvitz for taking command of the defense. The Legion then gleefully proceeded to aid in the destruction of the arriving Loyalist Legions, with Fulgrim personally slaying his most beloved Brother-Primarch Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands with the sword he took from a Slaaneshi temple on the planet Laeran (where the legion's path to Chaos began).
All trace of decency amongst the Emperor's Children had vanished by the time they partook in the Siege of Terra. While other Traitor Legions assaulted the Imperial Palace, the Emperor's Children soon grew bored with the slow process of reducing the massive fortified walls, and began to embark upon a murderous spree of rape and terror against the helpless citizens of Earth. Millions of defenseless civilians were killed and rendered down to create all forms of drugs and stimulants. Many more died to provide the Legionnaires with more direct, cruder pleasure.
[edit] Post Siege of Terra
The Emperor's Children fled with the rest of the rebels at the death of Horus. As they fled towards the Eye of Terror, they left a trail of ravaged and depopulated worlds behind.
Within the Eye, they devoted themselves purely to pursuing their every perverse whim, and in their murderous abandon, their supply of slaves dwindled. Mere raiding could not fuel their need for victims, and the Legion soon took to capturing the slaves and servants of the other Traitor Legions. This began a series of inter-traitor wars in the Eye, which lead to the Emperor's Children capturing the corpse of Horus from the Sons of Horus, and using it to create at least one clone of Horus.
As to Fulgrim himself, his fate is uncertain. Some believe he was killed, others maintain that he was elevated by Slaanesh to the rank of Daemon-Prince and rules over a planet of unending, unlimited pleasure. To this day, warbands of Emperor's Children seek this world, but obviously its existence has not been publicly revealed. The Horus Heresy series novel Fulgrim however specifically states that the slaying of his brother Primarch Ferrus Manus shocks him back from the brink of chaos and in a near suicidal state begged the Daemon trapped in his sword for release. He received it; just not in the form he was expecting. The Daemon took his body leaving him a prisoner of his own mind as the Daemon controlled his body. The true identity of Fulgrim in this form was only revealed to Horus at the time of the Heresy the Daemon revealed his identity as The Lord of Shadows an agent of the Dark Prince.
[edit] Organization
From its humble beginnings, the Emperor's Children Legion expanded to a full thirty Companies. According to the battle statistics given in the Book, Fulgrim, there were approximately Ten Thousand Space Marines in the Legion. The legion was a strongly hierarchical army with orders coming down via a rigid command system and marines taught to follow orders without question and aspire to the perfection displayed by their officers. The Primarch Fulgrim was the commander of the Legion and exercised authority over all, he directly issued his orders to his two Lord Commanders, namely Lord Commander Eidolon and Vespasian in the latter days of the Great Crusade, who would in turn issue the orders of the Line Officers of each company.
Like the other legions of the Great Crusade, the Emperor's Children operated a lodge system although it was much more formal than in their comrade's systems and was open to only the Primach, the Lord Commanders, and select Captains.
In the 41st millennium, the Legion has fragmented into a small number of warbands of varying size, each led by their own commander.
[edit] Noise Marines
As with all followers of Slaanesh, the only focus of admiration is senseless indulgence. This makes the Emperor's Children the most violent, sadistic, and debauched creatures imaginable. Many Emperor's Children have become Noise Marines. The original Noise Marines were created by Fabius Bile; due to Fabius's alterations, a Noise Marine's hearing is a thousand times more sensitive than even a 'normal' Space Marine's, and can distinguish between even the subtlest differences in pitch and volume. A Noise Marine's enhanced hearing affects his whole mind, causing extreme emotional reactions that make all other sensations seem pale and worthless. The louder and more discordant the noise, the more extreme the emotional reaction provoked. Eventually only the din of battle and heightened screams of fear stir a Noise Marine.
The name comes from their preference for weapons that use sound: the Sonic Blaster - outwardly resembling a bolter - produced discordant blasts of sound; the Blastmaster - a rifle-like weapon that fires different frequencies that overpower senses and destroy flesh; and the Doom Siren, a loudspeaker melded into the Marine's body that enhances his screams to violent torrents that can knock the largest enemy back. Noise Marines also possess an ability called the 'Warp Scream'. This dulls the reactions of all in close vicinity to them. Not all Noise Marines are Emperor's Children and not all rank and file Emperor's Children are Noise Marines. Other Chaos Marine armies may field Noise Marines as part of their troops.
[edit] Headquarters
The Emperor's Children's homeworld of Chemos was declared exterminatus and destroyed following the conclusion of the Horus Heresy. In the current time frame of the Warhammer 40,000 universe the legion exists in fragmented warbands each adopting their own headquarters from which to strike out from, rumours also persist of a daemon world dedicated to pleasure ruled over by the Daemon-Fulgrim, although how substantial a detachment of Emperor's Children marines he retains, if indeed such a planet exists, is unknown.
[edit] Gameplay and painting
Pre-heresy Emperors Children sported Purple and Gold power armor, somewhat similar in some respects to the Soul Drinkers chapter it could be imagined (also, they where the first legion granted the right to wear the Imperial Aquila on their breast plates).
Following the Heresy they repainted their armour in colours which honour Slaanesh - pastel colours such as pink; they also favor bright, garish, clashing, sensuous colors for decoration, as well as black. They also make wide use of Noise Marines in their forces.
