Thousand Sons

"Our knowledge is our power."

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The Thousand Sons is one of the legions of Chaos Space Marines in the game Warhammer 40,000. The main features that distinguish them from other legions is the number of sorcerers at the Legion's disposal, and their worship of the Chaos god Tzeentch.

 

History

 

Magnus the Red

When the infant Primarchs were scattered across the galaxy, the child that came to be known as Magnus the Red landed on the world of Prospero. He was fortunate, as normally a grotesque cyclopean being would have been slain at once by superstitious locals. As it was, Prospero was home to an exiled commune of human psykers who saw Magnus as one of their own.

Magnus became a ward to the community. He quickly exhibited the psychic traits common to the commune, and by the time he reached physical maturity, his power had grown so much that he surpassed every single person on the planet, possibly the greatest that ever existed other than the Emperor. He believed his intellect could master any discipline and his maxim, above all others, was 'Knowledge is power'. One day, Magnus used his single eye to look into the Immaterium, and changed the course of his life forever.

 

The Great Crusade

The Emperor of Man was attracted to the world of Prospero by the psychic beacon that was one of his lost sons. The actual meeting of the two was said to be a mere formality; the bond between father and son was believed to have been established via psychic communication.

Magnus was granted command of the 15th Space Marine Legion, the naming of the Legion as the Thousand Sons was a recognition that only a thousand original Marines were created from Magnus' genetic material. It was a reunion that could not have come at a better time for the Legion. Formed from Magnus' gene-seed, the Legion contained a high number of Marines who had undergone psychic mutation. Very few survived the mutation, of the few who did, many became the greatest psykers of the era. At this time, factions within the Imperium were calling for the extermination of all mutants and psykers.

Taking on the challenge of saving his Legion from destruction, Magnus bent his intellect towards training the Thousand Sons Legion in the way of the psyker. It is during this time that many believe that the Legion may have began to fall to Chaos, it is speculated by some that Magnus may have taken shortcuts in order to have his Legion battle-ready as soon as possible. It is not precisely known when the Legion crossed the threshold, but at some stage during the Great Crusade, the Thousand Sons passed the point of scholarly pursuit and began to dabble in sorcery.

Many had not noticed when Magnus began its practice but at least two of Magnus' brothers had their concerns; Mortarion who knew of the cost of sorcery personally, and Leman Russ who thought Magnus' ways were dishonourable to say the least. Eventually, it came to the point where the Emperor himself held a council on the planet Nikaea, bidding that both sides present their view. Both sides argued each other to a standstill, and it was only the intervention of a contingent of Space Marine Librarians from other Legions that presented a compromise.

The proposal was made that while the education of psykers to best serve humanity should be made a priority, the conduct of arcane sorcery would be outlawed as an unforgivable heresy. This compromise was made law without a provision for rebuttal, and the Edicts of Nikaea have stood for ten thousand years as official Imperial policy. Magnus disagreed with the decision, but was forced by the Emperor to swear that his Legion would cease all research relating to the sorcerous arts.

The Horus Heresy series by the Black Library tells a slightly different story, where Magnus was critical in the development of the Librarius departments of various Marine Legions to harness the outbreaks of psychic mutation among Marines in all twenty Legions. Some Primarchs accepted the program into their Legions, others refused to deal with what they saw was another form of sorcery. Primarchs from both sides convened with the Emperor at Nikaea, and the Emperor decreed the disbanding of the Librarius program in all Marine Legions, much to Magnus' anger. The Emperor's primary servant, Malcador the Sigilite, furthermore created the Chaplain Edict to have marine legions have a watcher over their brethren to make sure no Librarians remained.

 

The Horus Heresy

The result of the Council of Nikaea served to mask other, darker betrayals, as Warmaster Horus fell to the machinations of Chaos. While meditating on Prospero, Magnus foresaw Horus being corrupted by Chaos and the future events of the Horus Heresy, the betrayal of half the Space Marine Legions, and the sundering of the Imperium. Burdened with the information imparted by this precognitive vision, he first tried to dissuade Horus through the warp but failing this he used the power of his Legion's greatest sorcerers to convey the news of the impending civil war to the Emperor himself via a sorcerous spell (instead of the slower method of Astropathic psychic communication).

Upon receiving the sorcerous message, the Emperor was furious to see that Magnus had broken his oath and was using sorcerous means once more. In light of this, the Emperor considered Magnus more suspect than his favoured Horus. Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves Legion, who had always been averse to witchcraft, was ordered by the Emperor to bring Magnus to Terra to account for his actions. During his voyage to Prospero Leman Russ was convinced by Horus to destroy Magnus's legion rather than simply bring them to account before the Emperor. Accompanying the Space Wolves were a full contingent of his own personal bodyguard and his elite witch-hunting units, the anti-psyker (pariah gene-bearing) Sisters of Silence (originally known as Null Maidens).

Ironically, given his precognitive abilities, this betrayal of the Thousand Sons came as a surprise to Magnus. Landing in a surprise assault on Prospero, the Space Wolves destroyed its capital city and with it much of the knowledge carefully collected by the Thousand Sons. In the ensuing, bloody battle on Prospero and in the capital of Tizca, the City of Light, Magnus and Russ met. Having moved from his ebony throne, and in command of great eldritch powers, Magnus first moved through the legion of the Space Wolves, slaying all who came near and killing even the oldest and staunchest of Long Fangs with his gaze alone. Soon Russ charged in to meet his foe on the battlefield, rushing from the melee he was in to stop Magnus. In mere moments of joining battle Russ and Magnus had traded blows that would shatter tanks. In one blow Magnus splintered Russ' breastplate. During the titanic clash, Magnus picked Leman up and as he did so, Leman kicked Magnus in the eye. Russ lifted the wounded Magnus with a grunt and broke Magnus' back upon his knee. Magnus appeared defeated, but fate had something else in mind for the cyclopean Primarch. Turning to the power of sorcery once more in order to save himself, his Legion, his world and all the knowledge he had accumulated, Magnus, in his anger at the Emperor and at his brother primarch crossed over to the side of Chaos in vengeance, he and his Legion becoming the pawns of the Chaos God Tzeentch in exchange for a mighty work of magic that transported the City of Light into the Eye of Terror. Though Prospero was destroyed that day, Magnus and the remainder of his Legion were not. The next time the betrayed Thousand Sons were seen in combat, they were on the side of Horus, and Magnus was Tzeentch's most powerful daemonic servant: the Prince of Change.

The Thousand Sons took part in Horus' attacks against the Imperium, and retreated to the Eye of Terror after Horus' defeat by the Emperor. His ever-changing form now resides on the Planet of Sorcerors within the Eye of Terror with the majority of his minions and Legion, he casts an ever present eye over his world - literally, a great Sauron-like eye sits atop his tallest of towers - The Tower Of The Cyclops. Sculpted to his liking, his world and his Obsidian Tower are places where dimensions exist beyond the norm. For Magnus, working the planet in four dimensions is child's play, and his tower certainly has many, many more.

 

The Rubric of Ahriman

Mutation had been a curse borne by the Thousand Sons since their inception, as they had an abnormally large amount of Psykers. Once the Legion had settled on the Planet of Sorcerers, Tzeentch began bestowing his 'blessings', random physical mutations, on members of the Thousand Sons. Although many embraced the favour of their new god, the veterans of the Legion began to feel that all their efforts to save their Legion had been for nothing.

A cabal of the legion's strongest sorcerers attempted to counter the warping corruption. They secretly laid the foundations of a mighty spell, afraid that their Primarch would disapprove of their risky actions. Led by Ahriman, their chief Librarian, the cabal hoped to dispel the violent mutations that were slowly destroying the Legion, also hoping that their battle-brothers would prove immune to later corruptions.

The Rubric was both a total success and a total failure. The Thousand Sons were no longer susceptible to mutation, because there was nothing left to mutate. The flesh of the Space Marines was turned to dust, their souls trapped within armour that had become completely sealed. The majority of the Legion had been reduced to little more than automata. Magnus was enraged, as the Legion he had sacrificed so much for had been destroyed. Striding to the top of his tower, he swore that he would see the galaxy burn and summoned Ahriman to account for his actions.

Magnus had the intention of destroying the errant sorcerer, for despite the Chief Librarian's considerable powers he could not match the Primarch. The fallen Primarch's fury knew no bounds. As he raised his fist to deliver the single killing blow, a distant and sibilant voice reverberated with the knowledge of thousands and the machinations of something altogether beyond his understanding; "Magnus ... You would destroy my pawns too readily."

Realising the Architect of Fate, Tzeentch itself, had orchestrated the entire event, Magnus spared Ahriman, realising there were yet still things beyond even his elevated understanding. The Thousand Sons' Chief Librarian was banished on an eternal quest for perfect understanding -- leading him to take up such dangerous and enticing quests as the hunt for the Eldar Black Library.

 

Organisation

Magnus placed great faith in his subordinates, believing that he had trained them well enough to operate autonomously. Squads were led by the greatest psyker in the unit, each psyker apprenticed to the lead Sorcerer of the detachment. As such, all psykers within the Legion have considerable combat and leadership experience.

 

Combat Doctrine

The Thousand Sons were well known for their avoidance of close combat, instead relying on their mastery of the psychic arts to win battles. On many occasions, the Thousand Sons would accomplish by guile and trickery what other Legions would pay dearly for in blood.

Since the Rubric of Ahriman, little has changed. The Sorcerer-Lords of the Legion utilise their ghost-brethren as bulwarks of fire support, while they establish elaborate plans, dependent on the use of magic, to win the day.

Unlike other legions that serve a single Chaos God, the Thousand Sons divide into two categories:

 

Sorcerer Marines

The once-loyal psykers of Prospero now turn their awesome powers on the Imperium of Man they once protected. Anyone in the Thousand Sons that held a status other than a marine was considered a powerful psyker in his own right. With the Chaos God Tzeentch now smiling down upon them these once peaceful librarians are now vengeful Sorcerers, directing their unholy fires upon the Imperium. Nearly all members of the Thousand Sons are Sorcerers and, with Tzeentch having augmented their powers, are all living weapons in their own right.

In game terms, Thousand Son Sorcerers are able to summon their powers without the risk inherent to those who dabble in the warp, the Thousand Son Sorcerers are able to use the most powerful of Chaos Spells without fear of dreaded daemons. Since nearly all Sons inherited this ability, the Thousand Sons are a fearsome sight for naturals and psykers alike.

 

Rubric Marines

Those of the legion that proved they had little or no psychic powers were turned to dust when Ahriman executed his Rubric Sign. Their armour has been sealed shut, their bodies reduced to dust, and their souls trapped for all eternity. Since that fateful day these poor, mindless souls have been wandering the warp, following their masters into battle without a second thought.

In game these warriors are the most resilient troops. They cost the most of all troop units of Chaos and are harder to kill than even Horrors. They can lay down a hail of fire and are quite capable of standing up after taking a hit from a plasma gun. The down side to them is that they are the slowest troops in the game.

 

Special Weapons

Tzeentchian Sorcerers use their psychic powers to augment their already-formidable strength. In doing so they sacrifice the special weapons of other traitorous legions. However, because of this Sorcerers of Tzeentch are priviledged to more psychic powers than any other legion (especially Khorne). They do, however, include certain Daemon weapons, including:

 

Appearance

According to both the Horus Heresy artbooks and White Dwarf Index Astartes - Thousand Sons, The Thousand Sons Legion wore red powered armour in the days of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, trimmed in grey or gold. The original symbol of the legion was a hollow ring with eight wavy radiating points, the four cardinal points slightly larger than the other. The symbol is often rendered in red or pink on a white field, or reversed as white on a red field (or shoulder pad, in this case). The symbol may represent a star or a sun, but has obvious similarities to the eight-pointed star of Chaos that is very prominent in the Warhammer universe(s). Variations of this hollow star symbol include a red eye in the center of the symbol, possibly representing Magnus' cyclopean eye.

The Horus Heresy artbooks shows that the legion also made heavy use of the Scarab as both a drawn symbol and sculpted relief on marine armor, spacecraft and vehicles. The scarab is often shown painted or sculpted in a golden color, or black. One painting shows a scarab sculpted onto the chestplate of a Marine that has an additional red eye.

(Games Workshop had another marine chapter called Brotherhood of a Thousand which uses a black letter M - the Roman numeral for a thousand - on a solid white disc as its symbol. The How to Paint Space Marines lists the Brotherhood of a Thousand as a loyalist Chapter, with no apparent links to the Thousand Sons.)

At some point after the Heresy, the armour of the Thousand Sons became predominantly blue, with yellow or gold decoration. The helmets of the Marines affected by the Rubric are built up in elaborate structures, while their armour is covered in dedication markings to Tzeentch. The Legion's symbol was changed to that of an ouroboros, often flaming. Realms of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned shows the icon as a flaming ring similar to a flaming ouroboros but with an avian head instead of a snake.

 

Inspiration

Many elements of the Thousand Sons' design, along with descriptions of the commune on Prospero, draw heavily on both Gnostic and Egyptian history and myth. The post-Heresy colour scheme of the Legion, along with the design of the helmets worn by many of the ghost-Marines, was inspired by the burial mask of Tutankhamun.

It should also be noted that Angra Mainyu, the god from whom Ahriman's name is derived, is actually Persian in origin. Other influences may include the naming of the primarch, who seems to be named after Simon Magnus. The council of Nikaea is slightly more obvious, drawing from the Christian First Council of Nicaea, whilst use of the Ouroboros is another link to gnostic symbolism.