Word Bearers
| Word Bearers | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Battle Cry | Verses from the Book of Lorgar | |
| Number | XVII | |
| Original Name | Imperial Heralds | |
| Original Homeworld | Colchis | |
| Current Homeworld | Sicarus | |
| Primarch | Lorgar Aurelian | |
| Champion | Erebus, Kor Phaeron | |
| Strength | Legion strength | |
| Specialty | Mass Indoctrination, Summoning Daemons, Cult Uprisings. | |
| Allegiance | Chaos Undivided | |
| Colours | Dark crimson with steel trim | |
"By its very nature, theology tends - and under certain conditions, must always tend - to become demonology."
- – Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus
"From the fires of betrayal unto the blood of revenge we bring the name of Lorgar, the Bearer of the Word, the favoured son of Chaos, all praise be given unto him. From those what would not heed we offer praise to those who do, that they might turn their gaze our way and gift us with the boon of pain, to turn the galaxy red with blood, and feed the hunger of the gods."
- – Excerpt from the three hundred and forty-first Book of the Epistles of Lorgar
"We are twice armed if we fight with faith."
- – Plato
"Power and dominion are taken by the will! By divine right, Hail and Kill!"
- – Manowar
The Word Bearers are a legion of Chaos Space Marines, sons of the Primarch Lorgar, and the most infamous army of zealous, violent demigods of war this side of the Eye of Terror. Their bloody, thunderous, bellicose fury would make the Black Templars blush if they weren't so GOD DAMN HERETICAL. Imagine a Legion of bioengineered psychopathic Jehovah's Witness Space Marauders, and instead of knocking on your door and asking if you want to talk about Jesus they knock your door down and ask which end of a daemon summoning you want to be on.
History
There is a phenomenon of psychology: some people are prone to zealotry. It does not matter what they believe in, when they come to believe in something they believe in it with all their heart. This type of individual who is likely to end up becoming a fanatical member to a certain ideology will, if they somehow become disillusioned with it, often find it easier to adopt an opposing or opposite ideology and be just as fanatical to said new cause rather than simply moderating their commitment to their first ideology as needed and making caveats and exceptions to its general principles. The Word Bearers and Lorgar in particular are this phenomenon at its most extreme.
Early History
The Emperor used the genetic templates of the Primarchs to create the Legiones Astartes after the powers of Chaos stole the gestating Primarchs. Those who received gene-seed from template XVII stood apart from their brother Astartes in duty and outlook. They fought with utter devotion and a fanatical zeal. Their original recruits were drawn from the sons of defeated enemies, raised to know the crimes of their fathers and the price of the Emperor's forgiveness. Thus while the other Legions went to war with righteousness, the XVIIth fought with the cold fury that only the condemned and redeemed could know. While other Legions took some time to acquire formal names, the XVIIth was named the Imperial Heralds right from the start. This wasn't due to any favouritism, but because the Emperor had their role already figured out: to deliver the His ultimatum of submission or destruction, especially against enemies that opposed E-Money for ideological reasons. Upon defeating an enemy, the Imperial Heralds would empty their libraries and records of any contents deemed heretical or sorcerous. Condemned works, individuals, and buildings would be destroyed in the name of the Imperial Truth (though they also tended to exterminate the entire population of the places they conquered; see Antarctica). The Imperial Heralds repeated this process again and again all across Terra during the Unification Wars, and during the early Great Crusade. This earned the Imperial Heralds a nickname among the greater Imperium: the Iconoclasts.
Great Crusade
The planet Colchis was full of people that worshiped a watered down version of chaos. Primarch XVII was adopted by Kor Phaeron, one of the chief priests, and given the name Lorgar. Lorgar received a vision of the Emperor and formed a religion around him, leading to a six-year religious civil war that Lorgar's faction eventually won, shortly before the Emperor came to Colchis. During the Great Crusade, they bore the word of the Emperor to new worlds, wiping out any traces of dissenting faiths as they assimilated cultures into the Imperial way of life, including enforcing the worship of the God-Emperor. Seriously though these guys were like the Black Templars on super-steroids, as they were at Legion strength, lacked the moderation of the Inquisition, and had their Primarch to guide them.
Their thorough attention to this kept them far behind the pace of other expeditionary fleets and drew the ire of the Emperor. He repeatedly made it clear that he did not consider himself a god and wanted Lorgar to knock it off and catch up with the other fleets. Lorgar responded by penning the original Lectitio Divinitatus, which would much later form the core of the beliefs of the Temple of the Saviour Emperor. Finally, the Emperor had enough and ordered the Ultramarines to make an example of him. They torched the city of Monarchia, capital of the planet Khur and custom designed by Lorgar, and called the entire Word Bearers legion to kneel in its ashes before Guilliman, Malcador, and the Emperor.
To say Lorgar was devastated would be an understatement. He spent an entire month in seclusion, taking only the advice of Kor Phaeron and First Chaplain Erebus. They revealed to him that they had kept the old faith alive and that many worlds appeared to have religions that aligned with it, suggesting a more primal truth than worship of the God-Emperor. They convinced Lorgar that the primordial truth was truer than the Imperial Truth and he took his legion on a pilgrimage to the Eye of Terror to learn more about Chaos.
Whereas the Word Bearers were the slowest to conquer planets before Monarchia, they became the fastest after. Lorgar would casually order his legion to slaughter every man, woman and child on any planet that refused to bow to Imperial rule.
Chaos
They were the guys who used to be really, really, really loyal to the Emprah. Like, these guys used to be the Church of the Emprah. After the Horus Heresy, they became the complete opposite. Now they go around fucking up the Emprah's sepulchre planets, relic worlds, and cardinal worlds, setting up cathedrals to the Chaos Gods in their places. They are also notable for being the one Chaos legion to still have Chaplains, known as Dark Apostles, which is probably because they invented the idea of Space Marine preachers and no other traitor Legions wanted them after the Horus Heresy was over, because there is little sense in having morale officers in a Chaos force. Unlike the other Chaos legions and renegade chapters, Red Corsairs notwithstanding, these guys actually managed to sort of keep their shit together rather than having everyone with a slightly fancier costume take his ball and go home. They're sorta like grimdark Chaos Taliban. Except the Word Bearers make the Taliban look like sissies in comparison.
Their hobbies include human sacrifice, prayers to the Chaos Gods, daemon summoning, and occult study.
First Chaplain Erebus (Fucked be his name) was actually pretty much the driving force behind Horus turning to Chaos. At the climax of Horus Rising, Erebus steals a weapon from the Interex, which caused them to get all butthurt and blame Horus and the Luna Wolves for the theft. In the next book, False Gods, Horus and the merry Luna Wolves take a trip to Davin IV on Erebus's advice, during which all hell breaks loose and Horus takes some wounds and comes as close as a primarch can to a near-death experience (he basically took a nap). Abaddon, having as many daddy issues as Horus, decided it'd be a good idea to follow the advice of Erebus and take Horus to a local temple run by the serpent-worshiping locals, where it was said he could be healed. Erebus sent Horus into a trance and basically whispered sweet nothings about Chaos into his ear the entire time, planting the very first seed of corruption.
Word Bearers Today
After 10,000 years of violence, terror, destruction, and fervent worship of the Ruinous Powers, combined with the orchestration of the Horus Heresy, the Word Bearers have achieved god-tier infamy status unmatched by nearly ANY OTHER CHAOS WORSHIPERS. The Black Legion has proven to be a much greater threat to the Imperium overall, but the Word Bearers' sheer zealous hatred for the Imperium and the Imperial Cult propels them to some truly legendary status. It truly cannot be overstated. The Word Bearers trilogy by Anthony Reynolds has some good examples, and include a Chaos Lord and his Terminator bodyguards taking on an Imperator Titan and WINNING, a Dark Apostle killing a Space Marine Captain with his bare hands, the main character summoning Daemonettes without any rituals and setting them on a Dark Eldar Archon...
Despite this fanaticism, however, they are the most uniform Traitor Legion by quite a lot, and one of the most organised and structured ones (Iron Warriors are more organized within their autonomous Grand Companies, but every Company is its own political entity; the Black Legion are generally only uniform during a Black Crusade; and while the Alpha Legion is capable of amazing feats its' also extremely divided, maybe even more so than the other Legions). As such, combined with their surprisingly understandable and HUMAN conflict during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, the Word Bearers function as a true brotherhood. Backstabbing is mostly minimal (which is quite of an irony considering they are led by the two biggest backstabbing cunts ever), command hierarchy is mostly respected, the Marines themselves are comrades or sometimes even FRIENDS, and great honors are given to those who fall in battle and those who rise to power. However, it is not accurate to say that they join hands and sing the gospel of love in comparison to other Legions though, as bitter rivalries can surface, the Leaders of a Grand Host can...."Excommunicate" you if they aren't a fan of your interpretations of the faith, and, in true Chaos Space Marine fashion, the strong are strongest alone. As for the aforementioned backstabbing cunts, Kor Phaeron and Erebus apparently cannot stand each other anymore, and have spent the last ten millennia scheming and plotting against each other while Lorgar's been on vacation. Many of the Word Bearers have lined up behind one or the other, depending on who they think is stronger/has a better vision for the legion's future, and they will openly talk shit about the one they don't like, even if they're conversing with someone who's loyal to the other guy.
Lorgar's also gotten off his daemonic ass and has started leading his Legion once more in a massed Jehovah's Witness March. Well, maybe; the novel Apocalypse implies that he's still on his millennia-long gap year, and that the Legion has different ideas about what will get him to come back.
Also, the newly founded Covenant of Fire are totally a Salamanders successor Chapter, and not Belisarius Cawl's attempt at using leftover Word Bearers gene-seed to create Primaris Space Marines. Just ignore the identical Chapter badge, suspiciously similar colour scheme, and near-identical MO to the Imperial Heralds-era XVII Legion.
Organization
Yeah, we know what you're thinking: organization? Of a Traitor Legion? While it may surprise you, the Word Bearers still function as an organized Legion (though much looser than the Legiones Astartes). Ironically, their uttermost commitment to Chaos as a religion gives them a semblance of order (DOUBLE HERESY?) As such, they have a clearly designated hierarchy and command structure. Lorgar always remained the ultimate master of the Word Bearers but during his self-imposed silence/penance/... the Legion organized as such:
- Master of the Faith: The de jure head of the Word Bearers in Lorgar's absence, currently held by First Captain Kor Phaeron.
- Chief Dark Apostle: The head of the priesthood, and true power behind the throne of the Legion, currently held by Erebus.
- Dark Council: A collection of Dark Apostles who oversee the overall actions of the Legion, and confirm the ascension of other Dark Apostles.
- Dark Apostle: spiritual leader of a Host, the primary organization of the Word Bearers following the Horus Heresy. Dark Apostles are confirmed by the Dark Council and in turn make the decisions of the rank and advancement for the Host.
- First Acolyte: Direct assistant to a Dark Apostle, with many having a Sith-like "master in need of a strong underling to get shit done" - "disciple that is powerful but who wants his master's place and more power" relationship.
- Coryphaus: The senior military commander of a host, comparable to a Chapter Master or First Captain. The Coryphaus leads the Host's returns during religious ceremonies (and trust us, the Word Bearers have a lot of religious ceremonies) and makes all tactical decisions during actual combat, freeing up the Dark Apostle to better commune with the Chaos Gods.
- Icon Bearers: A Word Bearer charged with carrying the Icon of the XVII Legion in battle, similar to a Company Standard Bearer in a Space Marine Chapter.
- Champion: The leader of Word Bearer squads, know as coteries. Comparable to a Squad Captain from the Legiones Astartes.
- Aspiring Champion: Another Squad leader, comparable to a Sergeant.
- Anointed: The Terminators of a Host.
- Gal Vorbak: The Possessed Marines of a Host.
- Warrior-Brother: The rank and file soldiers of a host.
Daily Rituals
- 04:00: Morning Prayer: The Word Bearers are roused from their cells to begin the day with sermons from the Book of Lorgar read by the Dark Apostle. Prayer lasts four hours, one dedicated to each of the Chaos Gods. Can be done in any order but for Chaos' sake don't put Khorne and Slaanesh prayers next to each other.
- 08:00: Morning Firing Rites: The Word Bearers engage in target practice, often using human slaves captured during raids and cardboard cutouts of Ultramarines.
- 09:00: Battle Practice: The Word Bearers descend to the practice cages for training. Popular approaches are ignoring defense and enduring pain like Nurgle would want and follow with attacks that are efficient like Khorne would want and without flaw like Slaanesh would want. Every now and then you should still do something unpredictacle like Tzeentch would want.
- 12:00: Midday Meal: A light meal is prepared by the Legion Serfs. They are frugal with meals, as all intake of nonessential sustenance is considered indulgent and obstructive to enlightenment. Basically a permanent fast.
- 12:30: Tactical Indoctrination: The Word Bearers gather for a tactical briefing, showing which planets they will be invading, and locations of cathedrals to the False Emperor which must be destroyed. Cultists who have demonstrated enough daily heretical devotion are dispatched to go door to door in Imperial neighborhoods with the Book of Lorgar, inquiring "Excuse me sir, do you have a moment to talk about CHAOS?"
- 14:00: Evening Firing Rites: The Word Bearers gather for target practice. Popular targets include wounded Sororitas and the Fire Warriors who didn't die earlier.
- 15:00: Evening Prayer: The Word Bearers gather for the Dark Apostle to lead them in prayer. Pacts are often made during Evening Prayer, and Marines may be blessed with possession.
- 19:00: Evening Meal: A light meal is prepared by the Legion Serfs. Sometimes the Legion Serfs are the light meal.
- 20:00: Evening Maintenance: Word Bearers will be stripped of their Power Armour (assuming they can still remove it) for repairs to be completed. Sometimes Warrior-Brothers will see the Apothecary to check on the status of mutations.
- 21:00: Choir Practice: The Word Bearers gather in their 100s for Choir Practice. Said Choir Practice will usually involve instruments made out of orphans and some kind of daemonically possessed organ pipes. Dark dirges and gospel-style hymns dedicated to the Ruinous Powers in dead eldritch languages are popular. Usually at the end of it sweeties are had.
- 22:00: Flagellation: The Word Bearers flog themselves for an extra hour to prove their dedication to the Chaos gods. Those without whips may punch themselves in the face, or put their hand on their daemonically possessed stoves.
- 23:00: Extra Prayer: The Word Bearers have another prayer. Because why not?
- 00:00: Rest Period: The Word Bearers retire to their cells for rest.
Famous Word Bearers
- Lorgar: Primarch of the Word Bearers, the Urizen, Chosen of Chaos, and one of the reasons why the Imperium can't have nice things. He was the first to begin worshipping the Emperor as a deity and suffered some major daddy issues when the Emperor told him to knock it off by having the Smurfs set one of the Bearers' shrine cities on fire. Went on to make his crisis of faith everyone else's problem, barrelling full-tilt into Chaos worship and committing many atrocities prior to and during the Horus Heresy. Has been on a ten-millennia-long gap year since the end of the Heresy, though at one point he came out of hiding long enough to get his shit kicked in by a Warp-altered Corax.
- Kor Phaeron: Lorgar's foster father, Master of the Faith, First Captain of the Word Bearers, and colossal dickhead extraordinaire. He was a priest of the dominant religion on Colchis and regularly beat Lorgar for talking back to him until Lorgar got too big for him to get away with it. Was too old to become a full Space Marine, so Lorgar had him made into a sort of half-Astartes so he could tag along with the Word Bearers. He repaid the favor by helping corrupt Lorgar into Chaos worship after the Emprah smacked him over the head at Monarchia. Tried corrupting Roboute Guilliman at the Battle of Calth, only for Rowboat to go full RIP AND TEAR and yank one of his hearts out, causing him to run like a little bitch. He and Erebus have been fighting over leadership of the legion ever since the end of the Heresy.
- Erebus: Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers and also a colossal dickhead. He killed a kid named Erebus on Colchis, stole his identity, and became a wholehearted servant of Chaos by the time the Emperor rocked up to Colchis. He was inducted into the Word Bearers and rose to the rank of First Chaplain. This put him in position to corrupt Lorgar, Calas Typhon, and Horus and spread the warrior lodges through the other traitor legions, which turned out to be the most success he ever had. Spent the rest of the Horus Heresy getting shat on by everyone around him, including Kharn, who half-killed him for murdering Argel Tal; Lorgar, who told Kharn what Erebus had done; and Horus, who skinned his douchebag face off for yelling at him. He's been locked in a cold-ish war with Kor Phaeron for leadership of the legion since the end of the Heresy.
- Argel Tal: Captain of the 7th Assault Company of the Serrated Suns Chapter, one of the few survivors of Lorgar's road trip into the Eye of Terror, and subsequently captain of the Gal Vorbak, the first Possessed Marines. He was possibly one of the most bro-tier Marines in the galaxy, having managed to make friends with Kharn and a Custodian of all people, and seemed genuinely upset by some of the nastier things he was asked to do in service to Chaos. Was prophesied to "die in the shadow of great wings", which he and everyone else took to mean he would die fighting Sanguinius, until Erebus pulled a sneaky and murdered him on Nuceria while standing under a gigantic aquila atop a downed Titan. Apparently this happened because Argel would have kept Kharn from going off the deep end and somehow caused the traitors to lose the war if he'd lived. Goddammit Erebus.
- Maloq Kartho: Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers. He was present for the Battle of Calth and the subsequent Underworld War, during which he was shanked by Remus Ventanus with an athame and somehow avoided dying by ascending to daemonhood as the daemon prince M'Kar. Ultimately died ten thousand years later when Ventanus' ghost gave Uriel Ventris M'Kar's true name and the athame he'd used on him, both of which Ventris passed on to Marneus Calgar, who slew M'Kar once and for all.
- The Anchorite: A Word Bearer of unknown name and origin who initially followed his legion and primarch into Chaos worship, only to become disillusioned with all of them at Calth, when he realized that the Word Bearers were only perpetuating an endless cycle of vengeance that would accomplish nothing. He surrendered to the Ultramarines and was spared by Guilliman, who later sent him to be imprisoned on Terra. He returned to worshipping the Emperor while locked up and helped promulgate the Lectitio Divinitatus. Attempted suicide at some point out of guilt over his actions and was interred in a Contemptor Dreadnought and kept hidden on the cardinal world of Almace until a Word Bearer fleet turned up to try and "liberate" him some time after the Cicatrix Maledictum opened. He promptly manifested the powers of a Living Saint and kicked the holy shit out of his erstwhile brethren.
- Barthusa Narek: Word Bearer who remained loyal to the Emperor and turned on his own legion, planning to assassinate Lorgar for damning the Word Bearers with Chaos worship. Was arrested for apparently killing Vulkan on Macragge, but later got busted out by a Knight-Errant who tried to mind-wipe him. He killed the guy and absorbed some of his memories, which gave him a temporary identity crisis. Was later recruited by Eldrad to help wipe out the Cabal, and once that job was done he rejoined the Word Bearers so he could take his shot at Lorgar. Whatever became of him remains unknown, though he obviously didn't succeed in offing his pops.
- Zardu Layak: Dark Apostle and captain of the Unspeaking Chapter who pledged never to let anyone but the Chaos gods see his face and walked around with an entourage of warriors enslaved by their own daemonic swords. Rose through the ranks to become one of Horus' closest confidants by the end of the Heresy and brought his 5,000 Word Bearers along for the Siege of Terra after Lorgar tried to teamkill Horus and was promptly booted out. Died fighting Rogal Dorn at the Lion's Gate and exploded into a portal that let daemons manifest on Terra for the first time.
In Dark Crusade, the Dark Apostle Eliphas leads a warband of Word Bearers to take over Kronus. Awesome ensues.
In the videogame Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate, an ENTIRE Word Bearers ARMY OF 10,000 MARINES is lead by the Chaos LORD Zymran, who is the main antagonist of the game. Apart from sounding MANLY, he does nothing but taunt the Ultramarines like a saturday morning cartoon villain (Seriously all he needs is that large mustache to twirl and he'll be as contrived as the Warmaster himself). Ultimately somewhat forgettable.
There's also a guy named Marduk from the book series, that shows how one can get shit done despite being a villain and how to do proper just as planned out-plotting your rivals by factoring their plots into your own. Sadly for Marduk, he is being completely overshadowed in awesomeness in his own books by his terminator Coryphaus, Kol Badar, who for instance takes an Imperator Titan out by entombing himself and his squad just next to where it'll be forced to pass, revive just in time to hop aboard the leg bastion and then storming in and slaughtering the whole crew. And that's just in the first book.
Amongst /tg/, the most famous Word Bearer would be Dranon.