Thousand Sons

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 and sorcery. The main feature that distinguishes the Thousand Sons from the other Traitor Legions is the sheer number of psyker mutations that have always existed among the Space Marines in this Legion. They prefer to use Chaos Sorcerers and guile in combat, relying on their psychic abilities and sorcerous knowledge to earn them victory.

Magnus the Red
The world of Prospero was, as records report, originally a place of pure desolation. It was a desolate, dark planet and was chosen by its inhabitants because of its distance from Terra. Mutants and psykers lived in reclusion and study.

In the end, the only good thing about Prospero was its backwaterness and the reality that it was an easy world to hide on. It had one major city, Tizca, the City of Light, a gleaming city of white marble, with spires reaching into the sky. It was situated on the most central of the many mountains of the planet. It was nourished by underground hydroponics and techno-psychic collectible arrays providing sustainable energy. All of its towers were gleamin works of architectural grace defined by soaring obelisks and towering pyramids.

Within Tizca, the psychic outcasts of human society devoted themselves completely to the study of their psychic mutation in order to master their powers. Thus Magnus could freely develop his own full psychic potential far from the sight of other men. Time passed and Magnus went from student to adept and from adept to master. When he reached adulthood, someone whose coming he had long foreseen finally arrived on Prospero: the Emperor of Mankind. As legend tells, the two recognized each other immediately. The Emperor, of course, acknowledged the psychic giant to be one of his long-lost sons and thus, granted Magnus the command of the Thousand Sons Space Marine Legion that had been created from his gene-seed. Bearing Magnus’s gene-seed, the Legion had a strong predisposition towards psychic mutation and a considerable number of Thousand Sons Marines inherited their Primarch’s potent psychic capabilities.

The Great Crusade
During the Great Crusade the Thousand Sons made extensive use of sorcerers, and their Warp-derived powers would leave whole populations in thrall to their will rather than carrying out a planetary conquest through a costly full frontal assault like the other Space Marine Legions. This tactic earned the ire of Leman Russ who saw anything less then a frontal assault as dishonorable. The Emperor was also displeased by the Thousand Sons' dabblings in manipulating the corrupting powers of the Warp and later forbid the use of sorcery by either Magnus the Red or the members of his Legion after an Imperial Conclave was called to deal with the question of psykers. While fighting in the Great Crusade the Thousand Sons would gather the sacred texts and forbidden research of a several thousand conquered worlds and compile them into the infamous Book of Magnus.

The Council of Nikaea
Initially, the Thousand Sons’ display of psychic powers was reluctantly tolerated, as it proved to be a powerful weapon during the Great Crusade. Serious suspicion began to surround Magnus as the hate towards mutants and psykers spread through the Imperium. After much debate in the Imperium over the use of psykers, the Emperor called an Imperial Conclave at the remote and volatile planet of Nikaea to deal with the issue once and for all. The highest authorities in the young Imperium were present or were represented, including the Emperor and his Sigillite Malcador, who officiated the council. At the forefront of the debate was Magnus who argued very passionately for his cause and the important contributions that psykers and sorcery could make to the improvement of the Imperium and to speeding up the successful conclusion of the Great Crusade. The main opponents to the use of psykers were the Space Wolves and the Death Guard, whose Primarch Mortarion testified in person.

Whatever the case, the Emperor's edicts were:

1. In the interest of Unity, no one was to be censured for prior actions involving the use of psychic abilities.

2. Use of psychic abilities by the Imperium's forces was banned (except the use of Astropaths, Navigators, and very strictly sanctioned and controlled Psykers).

3. All Legion Librarians were to be disbanded, and their members returned to conventional combat duty.

In effect, Magnus and the Thousand Sons were thus banned from practicing 'sorcery' or using the psychic abilities they so coveted.

The Fall of Prospero
When Magnus the Red learned of Horus' betrayal of the Imperium and his decision to give his loyalty to the Ruinous Powers, he used 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 dissenion in the Imperium to serve his masters in the Warp, the Emperor ordered an assault against the Thousand Sons' base on their homeworld of Prospero to return Magnus to Terra for questioning and punishment for breaking his oath never to use his psychic powers again. Magnus had psychically foreseen the Loyalist Marines' attack on Prospero, which was eventually carried out by the Space Wolves Legion, elements of the Emperor's Adeptus Custodes, and millions of Imperial Army troops, all assisted by the Sisters of Silence acting as psychic "blanks" in order to nullify the Thousand Sons' psychic abilities.

Magnus had finally understood, after his forced psychic entry into the Hall of the Golden Throne and his direct mental communication with the Emperor, that he had been manipulated by Tzeentch, with whom he had apparently consorted with while desperately looking to stop the emergence of the psychic mutations that were threatening to destroy his Legion. In an act of repentance and sacrifice, and to show his father that he and his Legion were loyal to the end, he did not warn the defenders of the planet or his Legion of the attack, on the contrary, he imposed a psychic veil on the planet so the Thousand Sons would have no clue of the impending assault. He also dispersed the Thousand Sons' Legion fleet far away from Prospero. He knew that Tzeentch wanted the Thousand Sons and Space Wolves to slaughter each other, and he wanted to stop these plans, even if it meant the sacrifice of his Legion and homeworld. Therefore, the Space Wolves' attack on the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Prospero came as a complete surprise. Because there was no warning, the invading fleet translated from the Warp into realspace practically on top of the planet, and quickly destroyed its orbital defenses. Then, a tremendous orbital bombardment reduced Prospero to cinders, except its capital, Tizca, a beautiful city and the seat of Magnus and the Legion, that was at all times protected by a psychic void shield. This shield was maintained by one of the Thousand Sons' cults, and Magnus did not disable it, knowing that such action would alert his Legion. Because of the shield, an Imperial invasion of Tizca had to take place. A huge force of landing vehicles and support craft descended on the city, whose defenses had been left mostly unmanned. Establishing a beachhead in the spaceport area, the Space Wolves began slaughtering thousands of Prosperans and burning everything in sight. Yet the Thousand Sons' rank-and-file did not share Magnus' acceptance of defeat and punishment, so they took up arms against the Loyalist invaders. The Thousand Sons managed to hold Tizca (the only surviving city on the planet) for a period of time before they were eventually pushed back. Magnus eventually, reluctantly, took to the battle against the Loyalist forces when Leman Russ and his Wulfen were unleashed on the last standing Pyramid of Tizca. Magnus and Leman Russ took part in a devastating duel in which Russ was ultimately victorious. Magnus invoked ancient sorceries in order to escape Prospero by opening a gateway through the Warp into the Eye of Terror where a Daemon World had been prepared for Magnus and the remnants of his Legion by their new patron, Tzeentch. Magnus was subsequently "rewarded" by Tzeentch by being transformed into a Daemon Prince.

Following the siege of Prospero, the Thousand Sons have been the arch-enemies of the Space Wolves Chapter. They have tried several times to uproot and destroy the Space Wolves, including establishing a Chaos temple in a mountain spire on the Space Wolves' homeworld of Fenris, a temple to Tzeentch known as the Daemonspire whose creation was ordered by Madox, a high-ranking Chaos Space Marine in Magnus' service. The Thousand Sons tried again on the world of Garm by stealing the Space Wolves artefact known as the Spear of Russ to perform a sorcerous ritual that would transform the planet into another Daemon World of the Warp. Even though the Spear was lost, the world was saved from Chaos and retaken for the Emperor by the Imperial Guard. In this instance, Ragnar Blackmane defeated Madox and cast the Spear into a partially manifested Magnus, losing the Spear but banishing Magnus back to the Warp.

Magnus' Vengeance on the Space Wolves
Revenge for the Thousand Sons finally came against the Space Wolves in the 32nd Millennium, even though most of those Loyalist Astartes of that Chapter who had originally fought against them had died and passed on long centuries before. The Thousand Sons began raiding worlds around Fenris, attempting to bait Great Wolf Harek Ironhelm away from his homeworld, because he wanted nothing more than to bring the Thousand Sons to battle. Magnus even taunted him in his dreams, showing Harek the smoldering remains of conquered cities which Magnus was walking through. Eventually Harek found what he believed to be the Thousand Sons’ secret base on Gangava and launched a full scale attack against it. This allowed the Thousand Sons to assault Fenris itself. For forty days and nights, the Thousand Sons assaulted the Fang Citadel, and the defending Space Wolves were forced to awaken Bjorn the Fell Handed, now a Venerable Dreadnought. The remaining Space Wolves troops retreated deep into the Fang, while sending scouts out to escape and inform Harek. Harek returned to Fenris and brought the battle to Magnus. Magnus, now a Daemon Prince, was too powerful for Harek however, and slew him on the slopes of the Fang but not before taking a terrible wound himself. When the Space Wolf Chapter fleet returned, the Thousand Sons withdrew from Fenris back into the Warp, but were pleased at the death of the Space Wolves' Chapter Master.

The Rubric of Ahriman
Some time later, the survivng Thousand Sons Marines began to suffer severely once more from the constant mutations of their genomes that were always a result of time exposed to th Chaos energies of the Eye of Terror. In addition, the Thousand Sons' patron Chaos power Tzeentch was the very embodiment of Change, and he often gave mutational "gifts" to those who served him. Soon after their arrival in the Eye of Terror, several of the Thousand Sons' Battle-Brothers were mutating out of control into mindless Chaos Spawn. All their medical efforts to staunch the spread of mutation were for naught. The Thousand Sons were losing the only thing they had left after the Horus Heresy and the destruction of Prospero, their humanity.

The Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons and long Magnus' closest friend and adviser within the Legion, a powerful Chaos Sorcerer named Azhek Ahriman, devised a way to prevent further mutation in the form of a powerful spell known as the Rubric of Ahriman. However, the rest of the Sorcerer Librarians of the Thousand Sons did not agree or see eye-to-eye on the matter. It was only when Magnus was finally elevated to the status of Daemon Prince of Tzeentch that the Sorcerers banded together to create a Cabal. They agreed to cooperate and unleash the Rubric. The following sorcerous cataclysm unleashed lightning strikes that hit each and every Thousand Sons Chaos Marine. Those that had little or no psychic power were disintegrated outright, their bodies turning to ash within their armour. Those that possessed psychic power found those abilities greatly augmented, becoming among the most powerful sorcerers in the galaxy, yet their souls were fused with the very essence of their Power Armour as a result, creating a horrific hybrid of man and machine.

The Cabal of Ahriman
Magnus was about to destroy Ahriman and his Cabal for what they had done to his Legion, but just as he was about to strike, the Cabal was saved by Tzeentch who revealed: "You destroy my pawns too easily." Ahriman's Cabal were instead exiled from the Thousand Sons' Planet of Sorcery for their actions by the Daemon Prince Magnus the Red. Magnus cursed Ahriman to 'wander the galaxy in search of the true meaning of Chaos. Instead, Ahriman now seeks out sacred artefacts and talented psykers to corrupt them to Chaos and add them to the arsenal of the Ruinous Powers; the threat presented to the Imperium by the Cabal of Ahriman is so great that the Inquisition will sooner destroy a precious artefact than allow it to fall into Ahriman's hands. Despite the Inquisition's opposition, Ahriman has successfully wandered the galaxy gathering up promising new cult members and artefacts on thousands of worlds for the last several millennia.

Ahriman's current dealings
Ahriman is currently seeking entry into the Eldar's Black Library in a hidden branch of the Webway and during Abaddon's13th Black Crusade was able to gain access to the Webway using the captured Inquisitor Czevak and a long-forgotten Webway portal on Etiamnum III. It is rumored that if Ahriman secures entry to the Black Library, he could use the information inside to become a new and powerful Chaos God.

Despite summoning 'Leviathan', a giant flying Warp Beast wreathed in flame, a cyclopean daemonic monstrosity with Screamers that follow in its wake, disrupting not only the Warp but the Webway as well, and causing horrendous casualties on both sides of the conflict, Ahriman was ejected from the Webway with his goal unattained. Inquisitor Czevak was captured by the Eldar's Harlequins and is believed to be still held in the Webway. The Webway gate Ahriman used was later sealed by the Eldar, never to be opened again. The final results of the13th Black Crusade indicated that Ahriman's 'star is on the rise' with Magnus once again, mostly due to the great chaos caused by his battles in the Webway, the prowess he displayed in capturing Inquistor Czevak, and the ability he displayed to come close to entering the fabled Black Library.

Ahriman himself believes to this day that Chaos can be controlled and used effectively with enough strength of will to master its willful eddies and a powerful mind to focus its demands. While often portrayed as the Hero of Tzeentch, he instead believes he is serving his own goals, despite being just a pawn. He does not openly recognize Tzeentch as his master, though all his machinations by definition empower Tzeentch.=== Primarch === The Thousand Sons Legion's Primarch is Magnus the Red, a red-haired, red-skinned giant with an eye sunk deep into his forehead, known as the Cyclopean Eye which allowed him to look into the Warp, much like the far less powerful sanctioned mutants of the Imperium called Navigators. Magnus was perhaps the most mutated of the Primarchs from birth and was gifted with great psychic power, perhaps the greatest among all of Mankind after the Emperor himself.

Legion Appearance
The Thousand Sons' pre-Heresy Power Armour color scheme was red, in recognition of their Primarch Magnus the Red. The badge that Thousand Sons Chaos Marines bear upon their shoulder pads is the ouroboros, but used to be a red 'M', for Magnus. 'M' is also the Roman numeral that stands for one thousand, and this is the source of their Legion's name. Just before the Heresy, this badge was altered into a red flaming circle, which became the precursor to the Post-Heresy badge. This does not mean that after the original thousand Marines were created as gene-sons of Magnus by the Emperor, that others were not made during the course of the Great Crusade. Often Legions were usually comprised of ten thousand standing Space Marines and the Thousand Sons were no different at the height of the Imperium's expansion before the Horus Heresy.

The Thousand Sons' colors later became Royal Blue with Gold trim after they were converted to the service of Tzeentch and many Thousand Sons Marines began wearing ornate crests on their helmets similar to the striped cloth crowns of the Egyptian pharaohs. Perhaps this is a symbol of those affected by the Rubric.

The Thousand Sons' battlecry is a ghostly whisper, "All is Dust".

Legion Combat Doctrine
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 he had taught his officers well enough for them to act independently and indeed the legion could function very efficiently without the presence of their Primarch. Following the casting of the Rubric of Ahriman, the Thousand Sons' tactics have changed somewhat to compensate for the effects of the spell, and as a result they now make extensive use of Sorcerers and Aspiring Sorcerers leading squads of slow yet unrelenting Rubric Marines into battle.4

Notable Legion Members

 * Magnus the Red - Primarch of the Thousand Sons1.
 * Ahriman - Former Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons1.
 * Madox - Chaos Sorcerer3.
 * Mhotep - Fleet Captain of the Thousand Sons' Strike Cruiser Waning Moon (Pre-Heresy) KIA before the fall of the Thousand Sons 2.

Legion Fleet
During the Horus Heresy the Thousand Sons are known to have possessed the following vessels:2
 * Waning Moon - Strike Cruiser. Commanded by Fleet Captain Mhotep.