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Jun 19, 2024 · Sanakht. Sanakht was a former member of the Thousand Sons legion. [Needs Citation] He was of the Athanaeans and a student of ancient swordsmanship techniques and of such great skill, that none of the Thousand Sons' Corvidae were able to see visions of his eventual defeat.
- Overview
- Legion History
- Legion Homeworld
- Legion Organisation
- Legion Combat Doctrine
- Sorcerous Disciplines of the Thousand Sons
- Legion Beliefs
- Legion Gene-Seed
- Notable Legion Members
The Thousand Sons are one of the Traitor Legions of Chaos Space Marines who are sworn solely to the service of Tzeentch, the Chaos God of change, intrigue and sorcery, though they were once the Imperium of Man's XVth Legion of Space Marines. The main feature that distinguishes the Thousand Sons from the other Traitor Legions is the sheer number of psyker mutations that have always existed amongst the Space Marines in this Legion.
Every current member of the Legion possesses psychic abilities and they prefer to use Chaos Sorcerers and guile in combat, relying on their psychic powers and sorcerous knowledge to earn them victory.
As a result of an ancient spell known as the Rubric of Ahriman that was cast soon after the Thousand Sons fell from their homeworld of Prospero during the early days of the Horus Heresy, every Thousand Sons Astartes that lacked psychic powers had his soul fused directly into his power armour. The Thousand Sons have become living embodiments of sorcery animated by the power of Chaos and the will of the Lord of Change.
The Thousand Sons are the scions of the Primarch Magnus the Red, the copper-skinned cyclops whose thirst for knowledge in all its forms led ultimately to damnation and an eternity of servitude to Tzeentch, the Chaos God known as the Changer of the Ways. When the primarchs were scattered throughout the galaxy, Magnus found himself coming to rest upon the distant, isolated colony world of Prospero.
It was perhaps fortunate that a being that many other Human societies would have denounced as a mutant came to such a place. Prospero's only inhabitants were a population of outcast scholars and mystics, who had long since fled the galaxy at large to establish a refuge where they could practise the arts of the psyker.
Raised by such scholars, Magnus learned and mastered every one of their arts, soon surpassing them in every regard. The primarch turned from pupil to master, his fearsomely powerful mind able to manipulate the raw power of the Warp in ways no others could.
The Space Marines of the Emperor's Legiones Astartes were genetically engineered, psycho-indoctrinated warriors with superhuman abilities and minds and souls for war. In addition, each individual Legion had its own idiosyncrasies and character -- the product of their gene-seed and unique warrior culture.
The Thousand Sons were a Space Marine Legion bound up with occult lore, mysticism and the otherworldly powers of the psyker. It was these esoteric arts of war that made them one of the most formidable Legions, but also one of the most distrusted, and would eventually see them subjected to the Emperor's judgement against them.
Prospero was chosen by its original settlers for one reason: its remoteness. Isolated from the most common Imperial travel lanes and boasting virtually no independent resources of any value, Prospero had only one redeeming quality: it was a good place to hide. In the end, it was not even that. Today it is a blasted ruin, declared Purgatus by the Inquisition.
Through the millennia of endless raiding since, it has been discerned the City of Light survived its transit through the Immaterium intact. It came to rest within the Eye of Terror, upon a world that has come to be known as the Planet of the Sorcerers. That daemonic place is a seething cauldron of magical power, reflected across its breadth in the form of infernal volcanism and tempestuous skies saturated with magical vapour. Towers jut from craggy fists of rock thrust up from plains of lava, twisted and obscene mockeries of the spires and pyramids of learning which were the hallmarks of the City of Light before its fall. Mightiest of them all is the obsidian monolith that is the Tower of the Cyclops, said to be so massive it can be discerned from space with the naked eye. More obscenely, the Tower of the Cyclops looks back, as the pinnacle of the obelisk is a glowing warp eye, through which Magnus watches the paths of the future. The Silver Towers of the City of Light have been transfigured by the sorcerous might of the Thousand Sons into space-faring fortresses in which psyker lords set out from the Planet of Sorcerers to traverse the cosmos, launching vengeful assaults upon the Imperium of Man.
Pre-Heresy Organisation
The organisation of the Thousand Sons before the coming of Magnus the Red is not currently known but it is recorded that they were not considered particularly different from the organisation of a typical Astartes Legion apart from their unusually high number of battle-brothers that possessed psychic abilities which resulted in the Legion possessing the most powerful Librarians during that era. When Magnus took over command of the Thousand Sons, he instituted organisational and hierarchical changes within his Legion. Line officers included the sergeants who led a squad-analogue unit called a "chantry," and lieutenants (junior centurions) and captains (senior centurions) who served as the sub-commanders and commanders, respectively, of a company-analogue unit called a "circle." Legion officers of higher rank, including consuls and praetors, commanded one of the nine "Fellowships" that togther comprised the entirety of the Legion. The Thousand Sons also utilised a unique and impenetrable chain of command derived from the hermetic teachings of Magnus the Red, wherein officers held multiple ranks in overlapping tiers of seniority and specialisation, including those of Fellowship, order and cult. Units known as "chapters" in some of the other Legions which contained approximately 1,000 Astartes were now referred to as "Fellowships" within the Thousand Sons. The highest number of Fellowships the Thousand Sons were able to field when they rebuilt the Legion following the return of the primarch was ten. However, at the conclusion of the particularly bloody Kamenka Troika Campaign where the Thousand Sons had lost nearly nine hundred Astartes, this effectively wiped out an entire Fellowship. Rather than rebuild the decimated Fellowship, Magnus decided to reorganise and maintain the Legion with only nine Fellowships. This organisation was referred to as the Pesedjet. The Legion's command structure was adapted in accordance with Prosperine philosophy and were now known as the "Rehati" (or the coven of Magnus), a secondary command-track in which the Legion's senior officers were ranked according to psychic ability and influence. As part of their training, all captains of a Fellowship undertook a secondment to another Space Marine Legion to learn its ways and further the Thousand Sons' understanding of the galaxy in their pursuit of knowledge. Khalophis had served with the Iron Warriors, a Legion he admired and ranked second only to the Thousand Sons. Phosis T'kar fought alongside the Luna Wolves, and never tired of regaling his brothers with tales of meeting Horus Lupercal, or boasting of his close friendship with Hastur Sejanus and Ezekyle Abaddon, the first primarch's closest lieutenants. Hathor Maat's secondment had seen him serving with the Emperor's Children in their earliest days as they fought alongside the Luna Wolves. As Hathor Maat told of his experience to his fellow captains, he had caught the Phoenician's eye with his perfectly moulded features, and had fought within his sight on many an occasion. Maat's proudest possession was an Oath of Moment carved by Fulgrim, and fixed to his breastplate as he took his leave to return to Prospero. Uthizzar's secondment had been amongst the shortest ever served, lasting a little less than a Terran year with the Space Wolves. Ahriman had spent five standard years with the Word Bearers, learning much of their Legion and methods of war. Magnus placed great faith in his subordinates, believing he had taught them well, that their powerful sorceries gave them the necessary tools to function independently of him. Before the Horus Heresy, individual Thousand Sons squads were not led by Veteran sergeants but by those who showed the most psychic promise. These "thrall-wizards" were apprenticed to more experienced sorcerers for their cabalistic training, but at the same time gained experience leading their fellow warriors in small units. While this practice meant it was rare for a Thousand Sons Astartes who did not possess some measure of psychic talent to become a ranking officer, it also meant those sorcerers who did gain prominence had considerable combat experience. As a result, the Thousand Sons, a numerically small Legion to begin with, rarely took to the field en masse. Instead they campaigned in smaller detachments under the command of sorcerers who often acted with much more authority independent of their primarch than the officers of other Legions. This past command experience has stood them in good stead as independent leaders of Chaos Space Marine warbands since the end of the Heresy, to the Imperium's considerable and continuing misfortune.
Post-Heresy Organisation
Following the end of the Horus Heresy, proper hierarchical structure within the XV Legion's squads and Fellowships (chapters) disintegrated, as was common in most of the Traitor Legions as the more deleterious effects of Chaos manifested with the end of the unity between the forces of Chaos after the Siege of Terra. In the wake of the Fall of Prospero, the organisation of the Thousand Sons Legion is based around the number nine, the sacred number of Tzeentch. The nine cults of the Thousand Sons are each ruled by a powerful Daemon Prince or Exalted Sorcerer who bears the ancient rank of Magister Templi. Together with their most powerful sorcerous followers, they form a group known as the Rehati. Within each cult are a number of arcane ranks. A fundamental principle of the Thousand Sons' organisation remains the arrangement of nine lesser sorcerers beneath a psychic potentate. This practice has its roots in the first cabal of Magnus. At the core of the war assemblies of the Thousand Sons are the "thrallbands." These primarily consist of a Chaos Champion known as a Magister and up to nine thralls, each a lesser Sorcerer-Champion of Tzeentch. This cabalistic gathering usually manifests as an Exalted Sorcerer and nine Aspiring Sorcerers -- or Scarab Occult Sorcerers -- who lead the Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators into battle. In the rarest of thrallbands, the thralls might instead be powerful Sorcerers or Exalted Sorcerers themselves. Whatever the individual might of the thralls, the conjunction of nine lesser Champions of Tzeentch bolsters the sorcerous powers of their Magister to truly inhuman levels. The Exalted Sorcerers and Daemon Princes who rule the Silver Towers each command many of these thrallbands, which may be gathered together into hundreds-strong task forces called Exalted Thrallbands. Their followers comprise the raiding forces through which Tzeentch enacts some of his most violent schemes upon the galaxy. While the warbands of Tzeentch's Champions manifest in countless ways, the sorcerous thrallbands of the Thousand Sons are the most favoured by the Changer of the Ways. Each thrallband is bolstered by the mutated warrior auxiliaries of the Planet of Sorcerers, or by Chaos Cultist forces drawn from the Imperium. In addition, the Legion maintains a small number of battle tanks and Daemon Engines. Some Adeptus Astartes equipment is captured during their raids, but as very few of those weapons or vehicles are properly maintained, they rarely last for long and so are never numerous. Those Thousand Sons who took their Legion's fate unbidden and helped work the arcane Rubric of Ahriman earned their Primarch's wrath and were banished forevermore to the far reaches of the galaxy. These Exiles formed into sorcerous warbands of Chaos Space Marines of varying size and composition, led by Exalted Sorcerers -- those exiles who have stalked the galaxy for ten millennia -- whose lips uttered the dread spell that doomed so many of the Thousand Sons to an eternity of dust.
Legion Recruitment
The XV Legion was initially created from Terran stock. After his genetic-sons of the XV Legion were reunited with their Primarch, Magnus the Red's pact with Tzeentch was sealed; only one in a thousand Battle-Brothers were spared from the further corruption of the Flesh-Change. Throughout the rest of the Great Crusade, the Legion recruited exclusively from Prospero, despite the fact that the isolated world possessed only a small population with low genetic diversity. Though new recruits were only culled for the Legion in small numbers, many of them were psychically gifted. This resulted in the Thousand Sons being a smaller Legion than was common amongst their fellow Astartes. Currently it is unknown how the Legion is able to maintain its current strength. It was once observed that the Legion has performed what appeared to be some sort of resurrection ritual for a slain Thousand Son Astartes. This magical conjuration allowed the XV Legion's Chaos Sorcerers to summon the spirits of deceased Thousand Sons from the Warp so they could possess a mortal body. The Sorcerers were able to use either a living body or a deceased shell for the embodiment of the dead souls. It made no particular difference for the ritual which was used, as both were effective. These newly possessed bodies then transformed into reborn Thousand Sons Battle-Brothers, maintaining the always small numbers of the XV Legion even after their fall to Chaos.
The Thousand Sons were known to dislike close combat, instead relying on strategy and their psychic abilities. Deceit and guile were their hallmarks, and the legion was commonly criticized for its ways, particularly by Leman Russ, who thought that any battle won by means other than strength and courage was dishonourable. Magnus was confident that h...
Those who dabble with the stuff of change seek to master the psychic essence empowering Tzeentch himself. Such individuals skirt the edge of sanity as they wield the forces of madness and mutation, blessing their allies and cursing their foes unto death. Tzeentch lends immense power to those who win his favour with such displays, but always at a co...
For the Primarch Magnus, knowledge was power. He believed there was no discipline his intellect could not master, no secret he could not unlock and make serve his purpose. For the Thousand Sons, knowledge was salvation, the means to controlling the psychic legacy of their Primarch's gene. Every book was sacred, every writing worthy of study, every ...
Magnus was unquestionably the most profoundly mutated of the Emperor's Primarchs, both physically and psychically, and the Legion imprinted with his gene-seed reflected that with a high percentage of Thousand Sons manifesting some level of psychic ability. Early in the Legion's history a small, but significant percentage were prone to physical muta...
•Magnus the Red - Magnus the Red is the Primarch of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion and is currently an extremely powerful Daemon Prince of the Chaos God Tzeentch. He was also known during the early years of the Imperium as the Crimson King and the Red Cyclops. A giant in both physical and mental terms whilst still an inhabitant of the Materium, the copper-skinned Magnus possessed tremendous innate psychic ability, and constantly sought to understand the nature of the Warp, becoming a Sorcerer of formidable power. Magnus thought he would be able to control the Great Ocean of psychic energy that was the Warp; however, his prodigious and careless application of his psychic gifts eventually caused him to fall out of favour with his father, the Emperor of Mankind, as well as with the majority of his brother Primarchs. His psychic immaturity, recklessness, and arrogance also caused his own undoing, as it eventually brought about his own damnation and servitude to the Dark God of Change Tzeentch. In the end, Magnus lead his XV Legion to the banner of Horus and fought on the Arch-Heretic's side during the Great Betrayal of the Horus Heresy. He survived those events and ascended to the position of a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch as a reward for his service to the Lord of Change.
•Ahzek Ahriman - Ahriman is the former Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons, Captain of its 1st Fellowship and the Magister Templi of its Corvidae Cult. He was banished from the Legion after casting the Rubric of Ahriman using the knowledge of the Book of Magnus, which halted his Legion's corrupting mutations which plagued it after their fall to Chaos, but resulted in the creation of the Rubric Marines. During his banishment, Ahriman has continuously sought out knowledge across the galaxy to bring him closer to an understanding of Tzeentch and Chaos itself and led a warband of similarly exiled Chaos Sorcerers and Chaos Space Marines known as the Prodigal Sons. His actions have recently healed the breach between him and Magnus the Red that was opened by his casting of the Rubric of Ahriman.
•Phosis T'Kar - Captain of the 2nd Fellowship during the latter days of the Great Crusade and the beginning of the Horus Heresy in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. As one of the most powerful telekines of the XV Legion, he served as the Magister Templi of its Raptora Cult. Phosis T'Kar met his ultimate fate during the Burning of Prospero, when the Space Wolves Legion, accompanied by elements of the Legio Custodes and Sisters of Silence, were sanctioned by the Emperor of Mankind to punish the Thousand Sons Primarch Magnus the Red for his blatant violations of His Decree Absolute rendered during the Council of Nikaea forbidding the use of psychic powers and the pursuit of sorcery. During the height of the battle, Phosis T'Kar was physically corrupted by the Flesh-Change and surrendered to death at the hands of the Legio Custodes commander Constantin Valdor.
•Hathor Maat - Hathor Maat was the Captain of the 3rd Fellowship of the Thousand Sons Space Marine Legion during the latter days of the Great Crusade and the beginning of the Horus Heresy in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. He also served as the Magister Templi of the XV Legion's Pavoni Cult. Hathor Maat was present during the Burning of Prospero, when the Space Wolves Legion, accompanied by elements of the Legio Custodes and Sisters of Silence, were sanctioned by the Emperor of Mankind to punish the Thousand Sons Primarch Magnus the Red for his blatant violations of the Imperial Decree Absolute rendered during the Council of Nikaea forbidding the use of psychic powers and the pursuit of sorcery. He was one of the few survivors of the massacre who escaped when their mortally wounded Primarch Magnus the Red teleported them to the Planet of the Sorcerers within the Eye of Terror. He would later join Ahzek Ahriman's secret cabal and take part in casting the Rubric of Ahriman in order to stop the mutational Flesh-Change that ravaged the remainder of their Legion within the Eye. Following the casting of the Rubric, Ahriman and his cabal of Chaos Sorcerers were banished by their angry Primarch. Maat's current whereabouts are unknown.
•Menes Kalliston - Captain of the 4th fellowship and an Athanaean Cult member. Six months after the sanctioned Scouring of Prospero, Captain Kalliston lead a squad of Thousand Sons Battle-Brothers to the ravaged surface of their homeworld to seek for any signs of survivors or their Primarch. Instead, the squad of Thousand Sons was taken by surprise when they encountered a much larger force of Traitor World Eaters who were also on Prospero for their own nefarious reasons. In the ensuing conflagration, the majority of the squad was killed, and Kalliston was captured by none other than the infamous Captain Khârn of the World Eaters' 8th Assault Company who was the Equerry to Primarch Angron of the World Eaters. Kalliston was subsequently tortured and later killed in a confrontation with Khârn. Only Revuel Arvida, a Sergeant of the 4th Fellowship and a member of the Corvidae Cult, managed to survive.
•Baleq Uthizzar - Baleq Uthizzar was the Captain of the 5th Fellowship of the Thousand Sons Space Marine Legion during the latter days of the Great Crusade and the beginning of the Horus Heresy in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. He obtained his rank following the death of Captain Apophis during the bloody Kamenka Troika Campaign against the Orks. Uthizzar also served as the XV Legion's Magister Templi of its Athanaean Cult. Following the Council of Nikaea where the Emperor proclaimed a Decree Absolute against the use of psychic powers and the study of the arcane, Magnus continued to dabble with forbidden knowledge despite his father's decree. When the Thousand Sons' Primarch failed to save the Warmaster Horus' soul from being corrupted by the Ruinous Powers, he utilised his own psychic abilities to get a message to the Imperial Palace on Terra by directly contacting the Emperor mind-to-mind, though this ruptured the Palace's considerable psychic defenses and killed thousands of people whose minds were unable to handle Magnus' potent psychic call. But the Emperor refused to believe that His favorite son Horus would ever betray his trust and so he assumed that it was Magnus who had been corrupted by the Chaos Gods since he was once again using the sorcerous powers that had been banned by the Council of Nikaea. Believing that Magnus sought to sow dissension in the Imperium to serve his masters in the Warp, the Emperor ordered the Space Wolves Legion to go to Prospero and bring back Magnus to Terra. When Uthizzar accidentally discovered the inevitable attack by the Space Wolves by inadvertently reading his Primarch's thoughts, he was shocked that his gene-sire would withhold such information from his sons. Remorseful at his actions and resigned to his fate, Magnus could not allow Uthizzar to reveal the truth, and so killed him with his powerful psychic abilities.
5 days ago · Ahriman, Ahzek. Chief Librarian, First Captain, Corvidae leader, Sorcerer Lord. 1st Fellowship, later Prodigal Sons. Corvidae Magister Templi. Great Crusade, Heresy and Post Heresy. Sorcerer Lord, exile, leader of the Prodigal Sons. [2] [3] [4a] [12]
Jul 9, 2024 · Maat told Lucius of Sanakht, a peerless swordsman of the Thousand Sons, and his tower on the Planet of Sorcerers. Lucius, still enraged by his defeat at the hands of Nykona Sharrowkyn, set out to challenge Sanakht to a duel.
In this short transmission, we remember the deeds of the Blademaster of the Thousand Sons: Sanakht. The greatest duelist amongst the 15th legion, Sanakht would survive the Burning of Prospero yet...
- 2 min
- 8.8K
- The Remembrancer
Sanakht recognised geometry that might have made the sign of Thothmes, or the Idris Progression, or the Sigil of the Carrion, but each seemed to blur and merge together with other designs he did not recognise.
Dec 12, 2021 · Sanakht is the newest Warlord of the Thousand Sons and HE ROCKS (the first clip is fully displayed in the video) Here's some Sanakht Gameplay from my stream on Twitch.
- 40 min
- 3.1K
- Pirate Lahaie
