Black Legion
| Black Legion | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Battle Cry | "Death to the False Emperor!" Luna Wolves: "Kill for the living, kill for the dead!" or "Lupercal!" Sons of Horus: "For the Warmaster!" |
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| Number | XVI | |
| Original Name | Luna Wolves, later Sons of Horus | |
| Original Homeworld | Cthonia | |
| Current Homeworld | Vengeful Spirit | |
| Primarch | Horus | |
| Champion | Ezekyle Abaddon | |
| Strength | Actually quite large, despite Abaddon's best efforts. | |
| Specialty | Flexible organization. Veteran Elites. Destroying Enemy Leadership. | |
| Allegiance | Chaos Undivided | |
| Colours | Black and Gold. Formerly Pale Green; formerly Grey | |
"I recognize in thieves, traitors and murderers, in the ruthless and the cunning, a deep beauty - a sunken beauty."
-Jean Genet
"Just because I'm a murdering, thieving, cowardly, traitorous sort doesn't mean I can't do my job properly."
"-James A. Owen"
The Black Legion (Legion XVI) are one of the nine Space Marine legions which betrayed the Emperor during the Heresy. Their Primarch was Horus. Originally called themselves the Luna Wolves before changing their name to The Sons of Horus. After the HH they changed their name to The Black Legion, possibly due to being ashamed to carry the name of one who failed to conquer the Imperium, or as a mourning, together with the black armor, for Horus's death. Opinion likely differs between warbands. Canon has now been muddled further with the new ADB novel series, where Abaddon officially dissolved the Sons of Horus, and merged its old forces in with Abby's friends from the other Legions into an entirely new Legion; this narrative making it clear that anybody who joins the Black Legion is NOT just changing the name of the guy who is signing the paycheck, but rejecting their previous Legion or Chapter identities and committing to fighting the Long War.
The Black Legion was depicted as the "vanilla" Chaos Space Marine legion in the past, similar to how the Ultramarines are with the loyalists. For a long time they were mostly overlooked fluff-wise, because, like the Ultrasmurfs, they weren't that interesting being the 'middle-of-the-road' chaos marines. Now though they have their own Codex Supplement and are an elites oriented army with possessed, chosen, and terminators being the norm for a fluffy BL army.
History
When they were still loyalists, there were known as the greatest and most powerful legion during the Great Crusade, the Luna Wolves. They won many victories and brought many worlds into compliance. After Horus won the Ullanor Crusade, he was given the title "Warmaster" by the Emperor. This gave him almost complete control of all the space marine legions and the Imperial Forces. He renamed his Legion the Sons of Horus, and ordered them to switch over to a green-grey colour scheme that no one seems to know how to paint properly.
After Horus was severely wounded on Davin, he received visions from the Chaos Gods who told him that the Emperor would cast him and his brother Primarchs aside once he attained full God-hood. After seemingly being easily convinced by them, Horus turned traitor. He corrupted most of his brother Primarchs, the majority of the Imperial army and half of the Adeptus Mechanicus to his side. After Horus' defeat during the siege of Holy Terra, the traitor legions fled to the Eye of Terror. You know, instead of saying "Well Horus is dead but so is your Emperor" and continuing to attack the Imperial Palace where they might have won. Rowboat Girlyman was hot on their heels along with The Lion and The Wolf tag team. Kinda the whole reason Horus wanted to finish it decisively. Anyway, it was here that the Sons of Horus eventually renamed themselves the Black Legion, and changed colour scheme yet again.
Their leader, Abaddon (A.K.A. Failbaddon), is known for launching 13 Black Crusades against the Imperium, all of which have (obviously) failed to overthrow it. While his 13th crusade may have won him a foothold in Cadia, it is technically a Pyrrhic victory due to the remaining Black Legion forces having no way of reinforcing their current forces with the Imperial Navy beating back the Chaos fleets. In turn, this forces a war of attrition, which Space Marines never win anyway as such a war is devoted to who can replace their losses the quickest. Lord Topknot is thus the constant butt of jokes by 40K fans for his cartoon-villainish attempts to destroy the Imperium, all of which have seemed to end in failure.
It is, however, exactly the sort of combat where the Imperial Guard shines. Nice going, dumbass. It is unknown exactly how they managed to survive for so long due to Failbaddon's incompetence and poor leadership skills (plus, his failed Black Crusades could have left them largely undermanned). And they can't actually do anything to him due to the Chaos Gods protecting him from possible assassinations or getting Sindri'd, and likewise, Failbaddon cannot do anything to them due to not having arms (He could still try to kick them, but it would have little to no effect). It may be possible that they receive millions of volunteers due to their paint job looking awesome. Another reason is because they allow Chaos Marines from other Chaos Legions (or from renegade chapters) to join them in their ranks (an example is Eliphas the Inheritor, who originally came from the Word Bearers). The new ADB novels indicate that the Black Legion is an open institution for anyone who is serious about waging the Long War against the Imperium (and not just raiding / pillaging / winning favour with the chaos gods / feeling sad about it) and is strong enough to prosper. The founding members came from a variety of different legions.
Newer fluff, however, indicates that Abaddon's Black Crusades are part of a larger scheme to destroy the Imperium, and all achieved at least some of their goals. Abaddon knows that his forces are not large enough or organized enough to break through the massive quantities of Imperial forces that stand between him and Terra, and thus plans to cause enough chaos (heh) to allow legions of daemons to enter realspace and overwhelm the defenders of the Imperium. This has received a mixed reception among the fanbase.
There have only ever been four awesome members of the Black Legion: Araghast the Pillager, Neroth, Kain, and Eliphas (who wasn't even originally from the Black Legion). And the middle two are kind of iffy on the cool factor. Neroth is a whiny bitch, but he makes up for it by shitting free doombolts. Kain knows better than to speak given most of Chaos' shitty Abaddon admiring script, which makes him cool.
However it is only a matter of time before someone overthrows Abaddon, we're betting on Eliphas, a revived Araghast, or Huron Blackheart...probably Eliphas (it's in his name after all, Eliphas, the Inheritor of the Black Legion)...but still...BRING ARAGHAST BACK!
HMKids have done a good job for their theme, it's full of energy and fury towards the emperor and his slaves!
On the Tabletop
The Black Legion have their own 7th edition supplement, which is essentially the same as the base Chaos 'dex with the exception that everything that can must take "Veterans of the Long War." The book gives them some formations, relics, and a few unique missions. It should be noted that this book offers the only way that Chaos can get an Eternal Warrior character without incredibly lucky rolling on the Chaos Boon Table.
Daily Rituals of the Black Legion
04:00 - The Black Legionnaires rise up from their spiked beds.
04:30 - Mutation Checks. Each Black Legionnaire is checked on their mutation levels.
04:50 - Morning Meal. A light meal is made by the legion's serfs. Failure to cook properly will result in said serf being flayed alive and his/her skinless body is forced to walk for a hundred miles until they die of exhaustion, pain, shock and blood loss. Their dead bodies are promptly used as sex toys by any Slaanesh worshipers.
05:00 - Morning Prayer. A prayer is done for each Chaos God, thus it is extra long.
09:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The Black Legion hone in on their shooting skills upon captured Imperial Citizens.
10:00 - Battle Practice. The Black Legion fight and train within gladiatorial rounds.
12:00 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Black Legion are tasked on which planet to pillage, which areas in Cadia to assault without getting Creed in the ass and which worlds to subvert.
14:50 - Midday Break. A short break is accompanied with cookies made from the remains of puppies and beverages distilled from the tears of crying children.
15:00 - Evening Firing Rites.
16:00 - Battle Practice.
17:00 - Evening Prayer. A prayer is held which is just as long.
21:00 - Evening Meal. A feast is made by the legion's serfs. Chaos Burgers are ordered in the dozen.
22:00 - Bitch at the Emperor. A special one hour period is held exclusively for the Black Legion to bitch at the Emperor and why he stinks.
23:00 - Bitch at Abbadon. A secret special one hour period is held by fellow Black Legionnaires to bitch at Abbadon's failures and incompetence. Secretly called 'Free Time' to avoid Abbadon's wrath.
24:00 - Rest Period. The Black Legionnaires rest in their spiked beds.
Noted members