Black Legion

"Let the galaxy burn!"

- The Warmaster Horus

The Black Legion is a Traitor Legion of Chaos Space Marines united in the pursuit of a single purpose and opposed to the infighting that consumes so many of their Chaos Space Marine brethren, as they serve Chaos Undivided. They are always brought together in great numbers when it is the will of their Warmaster, Abaddon the Despoiler, the heir of Horus. Whenever the entire Black Legion is called to battle, it marks the beginning of another of Abaddon's Black Crusades against the Imperium of Man.

The Black Legion was one of the 9 First Founding Legions of Space Marines who turned Traitor to the Imperium during the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium to pursue the ambition of its Primarch, the Warmaster Horus, to overthrow the Emperor of Mankind and seize control of the Imperium in the name of Chaos. The XVI Legion was originally known as the Luna Wolves during the Great Crusade. In honour of Horus' great achievements during the latter years of that era after the Imperial victory over the Orks during the Ullanor Crusade, the Emperor suggested that the Legion be renamed the Sons of Horus. Horus eventually instituted this change following his conversion to the service of the Dark Gods of Chaos on the world of Davin. After Horus' treachery and final defeat at the Battle of Terra during the Horus Heresy, however, the Legion was renamed the "Black Legion".

Legion History
The Space Marines of the Luna Wolves Legion were first created on Terra from willing volunteers implanted with the gene-seed organs of their Primarch Horus like all the Astartes of the First Founding, but the Luna Wolves were also the first Legion to begin recruiting from another world. In this case the new pool of Aspirants was found amongst the adolescent human males drawn from the violent hive gangs inhabiting an ancient Mining World called Cthonia. Cthonia was located in one of Terra's closest neighbouring star systems in the Segmentum Solar and was within reach of even spacecraft that could travel at only sublight velocities before the invention of the Warp-Drive. As a result, Cthonia had been colonised, built upon, tunneled and mined since the dawn of human interstellar space travel before the start of the Dark Age of Technology. Due to this unusually long period of exploitation by Mankind, all of the world's natural resources had been stripped away and used up millennia before, and the ancient mining technology had long since been rediscovered and removed by the Tech-adepts of Mars. The planet that remained was largely useless and abandoned, completely riddled with catacombs, crumbling industrial plant and exhausted mine-workings.

Horus, the true Primarch of the Luna Wolves, was the first of the Primarchs to be recovered by the Emperor, having been cast much closer to Terra than the others by the Ruinous Powers, and was found at a much younger age. As a result, Horus was for many years the Emperor's only son, and there was a great affinity between them. The Emperor spent much time with his protege, teaching and encouraging him. Horus was soon placed in command of the XVI Legion, which he renamed the Luna Wolves -- 10,000 Astartes created from his own genetic code. With these warriors to lead, Horus accompanied the Emperor for the first thirty years of the Great Crusade, and together they forged the initial expansion of the young Imperium of Man.

Horus' own Legion had all the glory of being the greatest Primarch's personal guard, and they shared Horus' credo of fighting to be the best. Under his inspiring command, the Luna Wolves were always at the forefront of the latest campaign of the Great Crusade, pushing the boundaries of the Imperium ever wider, driving further and further into the galaxy and striving to conquer and liberate more worlds than the other Legions.

At the conclusion of the campaign to bring the world of Ullanor into Imperial Compliance by destroying the largest Ork WAAAGH! yet encountered, the Emperor declared it the greatest victory yet for his mighty Imperium and was said to bestow much praise upon the Luna Wolves and Horus for their part in the campaign. The most notable reward was the renaming of the Lunar Wolves Legion. The Emperor sent word that henceforth they would be known as the Sons of Horus, in honour of their Primarch. Horus himself was given the title Warmaster - now officially the supreme commander of the Emperor's military forces on the Great Crusade.

Before he could return to Terra to be officially invested with his new title, Horus apparently fell ill while his Legion was conquering a small feral world called Davin. During his convalescence, he took part in the induction ceremony of an aboriginal warrior lodge on the planet. This was the Primarch's well-tried practice to develop ties with local populations - feral natives were more easily recruited into the Imperial fold when the 'Warriors from the Stars' had become brothers. However, this time was different. In the days that followed, Horus' officers detected a change in his character. It is now presumed by Imperial scholars that the Davin warrior lodge was in fact a Chaos coven, which somehow managed to ensnare the Warmaster.

The Warmaster proceeded to introduce similar "warrior lodges" into his own Legion, and then others under his command. Horus' fealty had changed; many in his Legion believed that he was actually possessed by a Daemon. Whether or not this is true, it is certain that he was now allied body and soul to the Ruinous Powers of Chaos, and he had a new vision for the Imperium with himself rather than the Emperor at its head.

The Sons of Horus, already fiercely loyal and proud of their Warmaster, had no hesitation in following their Primarch's lead. They quickly renounced their oaths to the Emperor and started to worship Horus and his new gods from the Warp. The Chaos corruption spread to every Imperial organisation with which Horus had dealings, including a division of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and from there to the Collegia Titanica and the Legio Cybernetica. The other Primarchs Horus knew like brothers, and was already well practiced at motivating them. Appealing to their pride, martial prowess, and courage, while playing upon past grudges and favours against the Emperor and the other Primarchs, the Warmaster gained the loyalty of fully half the Primarchs and their Space Marine Legions. The war that followed, called the Horus Heresy by later generations, was the most terrible in the history of the Imperium, and came close to shattering it forever. Space Marines fought Space Marines and Titans fought Titans as Terra was invaded, and the Imperial Palace itself was besieged and breached.

In the end, though, it was Horus who was slain by the power of the Emperor, and with him died the rebellion. It was a traumatic and devastating blow for the Sons of Horus. Leaderless, the remnants of the Legion fled into the Eye of Terror, where Abbadon the Despoiler eventually rose to claim the mantle of Warmaster and become Horus' heir as the foremost of the Traitor Marines of Chaos.

Notable Campaigns

 * The Fall of Reillis (Unknown Date.M30) - During the first thirty years of the Great Crusade, at the fortified city of Reillis, a human settlement unwilling to accept Imperial Compliance, the defenders used secret tunnels to infiltrate behind the besieging Imperial army and hundreds of enemy shock troops swamped the command encampment. Unprepared and unarmoured, the Emperor and Horus fought back-to-back until a plasma blast stunned Horus and sent him staggering to the ground. The Emperor stood over the Primarch and refused to give ground until reinforcements arrived to drive their attackers back.
 * The Scouring of Gorro (Unknown Date.M30) - During the first thirty years of the Great Crusade, on the Ork-infested planet of Gorro, Horus repaid his debt to the Emperor for saving his life by hacking the arm from a huge, frenzied Greenskin Warlord as it struggled to choke the life out of the Master of Mankind.
 * The Keylek Genocide (927.M30) - The Luna Wolves fought against the reptilian race known as the Keylekid, ultimately wiping these xenos from the face of the galaxy. This was a long, brutal and miserable campaign that was fought long before Horus was made the Imperial Warmaster. At this time Horus was referred to simply as "The Commander" by the Astartes of his Legion.
 * The Assault on Dahinta (987.M30) -On the world of Dahinta, the Luna Wolves fought side-by-side with the Emperor's Children Legion against a race of self-aware robots called the Overseers, who were led by the foul artificial intelligence known as the Archdroid. One of the Emperor's longest-standing commands was that no sentient machines could be allowed to exist, for they had nearly caused the extinction of Mankind when they had rebelled against their human overseers during the Dark Age of Technology. Despite heavy casualties amongst both Legions, the thinking machines were wiped from the face of Dahinta by the savagery of the Astartes.
 * Ullanor Crusade (Unknown Date.M31) - The Ullanor Crusade was a vast Imperial assault on the Ork empire of the Overlord Urrlak Urruk during the Great Crusade of the early 31st Millennium. The capital world of this empire, and the site of the final assault, lay in the Ullanor System of the Ullanor Sector, which had long been under the dominion of Urrlak Urruk's Greenskin pocket empire. The Crusade included the deployment of 100,000 Space Marines, 8,000,000 Imperial Army troops, and thousands of Imperial starships and their support personnel. The Luna Wolves spearheaded the assault into the heart of Urlakk's fortress-palace. During the height of the assault Horus and a retinue of Luna Wolves Terminators from the 1st Company came face to face with the massive Ork Warlord and a retinue of 40 Ork Nobs. Horus charged into the Nobs, hacking them apart with his Lightning Claws until he finally faced the Ork Overlord himself. Urlakk was simply no match for the Primarch's skill and unnatural power. First crippling his enemy. Horus hefted Urlakk`s broken body out onto the roof and threw it screaming from the battlements to fall far below amongst the horde of Orks still assaulting the lower levels. Seeing their leader defeated sent a panic through the Greenskin forces, which started to fall back from the Terminators. But the fleeing mobs found they had nowhere to run, as the outer walls had been breached by the attacking Luna Wolves, and the day turned into a slaughter. In the Overlord's chamber, Horus found every Ork and Terminator dead, apart from the gore-drenched First Captain of the 1st Company, Abaddon, who was surrounded by crushed and broken bodies. The Ullanor Crusade marked the high point of the Great Crusade's vast effort to reunite the scattered colony worlds of humanity. The Orks of Ullanor represented the largest concentration of Orks ever defeated by the military forces of the Imperium of Man before the Third War for Armageddon began during the late 41st Millennium. Following the defeat of the Orks of Ullanor, the Emperor of Mankind returned to Terra to begin work on his vast project to open up the Eldar Webway for Mankind's use. In his place to command the vast forces of the Great Crusade he left the Primarch Horus. Horus was raised to the rank of Imperial Warmaster and given command authority over all of his fellow Primarchs and every Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Crusade. But the Primarchs never came to terms with the Emperor's absence. Their hurt feelings over his seeming abandonment of the Great Crusade to pursue a secret project whose purpose he chose not to reveal to his sons laid the seeds of corruption that would ultimately blossom into the Horus Heresy. Yet the Emperor sent word from Terra that in honour of the great victory at Ullanor, the Luna Wolves should henceforth be known as the Sons of Horus, in honour of their Primarch's singular deeds, though Horus, with typical humility, chose not to rename his Legion at this time.
 * Interex Compliance (Unknown Date.M31) - The Interex was a highly advanced civilisation of humans that maintained a close alliance with various xenos races, including the Kinebrach. In many ways their technology was even more highly advanced then the technology employed by the Imperium. They were first encountered by the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade. The Interex were devoted to fighting against the menace of Chaos (referred by them as 'Kaos') and were therefore, highly suspicious of the Imperium's intentions. While treating with the leaders of the Interex, First Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers (A corrupted Legion that were secret followers of the Chaos Gods) infiltrated the Hall of Devices, a museum that contained artefacts and weapons. His objective was to steal the highly valuable and deadly Kinebrach sword known as the Anathame. He then rigged the building to explode to make good his escape. Feeling betrayed, the Interex immediately attacked the forces of Horus, sparking a deadly confrontation. Warmaster Horus was evacuated off the planet. The Anathame would later play a pivotal role in the corruption of the Warmaster upon Davin's moon. The Interex were later destroyed by an Imperial campaign.
 * Destruction of the Auretian Technocracy (Unknown Date.M31) - Shortly after the Warmaster's miraculous recovery on the Feral World of Davin, the newly renamed Sons of Horus encountered the human civilisation of the Auretian Technocracy during the Great Crusade. This human world developed during the Mankind's early exploration into the stars during the Dark Age of Technology. Horus and a contingent of Sons of Horus Legionnaires met with the Fabricator Consul that represented the human government. During their initial discussion, the Warmaster learned that the Auretian Technocracy made use of highly coveted, lost Standard Template Construct (STC) technology. Upon learning this, the Warmaster turned his Bolt Pistol upon the Fabricator Consul and summarily executed him. He then ordered his men to annihilate the Fabricator Consul's personal guard known as the Brotherhood. Unknown to most of the Astartes within the Legion, the rot of corruption had begun to spread throughout the Legion shortly after Horus made his dark bargain with the Ruinous Powers. The official explanation for the Sons of Horus Legion's grievous actions against the Technocracy stated that the staff of the Fabricator Consul possessed a weapon which they planned to use to assassinate the Warmaster. This prompted the conflict with the Auretian Technocracy. The campaign was a brutal one, as the Brotherhood made use of highly advanced power armoured suits similar to those employed by Legiones Astartes, but they were eventually defeated and their technology was requisitioned by the XVI Legion.
 * 1st Black Crusade (ca. 781.M31) - Abaddon the Despoiler, the self-appointed heir of Horus and the new Warmaster of Chaos Undivided after Horus' death, makes his first attempt to launch a new offensive against the Imperium of Man following the Horus Heresy and initiates the First Battle of Cadia. This attempt fails and the Forces of Chaos are unable to penetrated the Cadian Gate. For the next 10,000 standard years, Abaddon will bend all of his efforts to finding a way to complete what Horus began and launch a Chaotic assault that will conquer Terra and eliminate the Corpse Emperor. These massive assaults become known as "Black Crusades" to the people of the Imperium.
 * 2nd Black Crusade (597.M32) - The 2nd Black Crusade saw another failed assault by the Forces of Chaos from the Eye of Terror upon the defences of Cadia.
 * 3rd Black Crusade (909.M32) - The 3rd Black Crusade was carried out by the great Chaotic force known as The Host of Tallomine. The Host was lead by the Daemon Prince Tallomin but the assault was crushed by Imperial forces lead by the Space Wolves Space Marines.
 * 4th Black Crusade (circa 001.M34) - Abaddon's forces succeed at carrying out the destruction of the Citadel of Kromarch on the world of El'Phanor before the Forces of Chaos are crushed once more by the Imperium's stalwart defenders.
 * 6th Black Crusade (901.M36) - No information about this conflict is currently known in Imperial records. The Black Legion may have taken part in this conflict.
 * 7th Black Crusade (811.M37) - The 7th Black Crusade is also known in Imperial records as the Ghost War. It is during this conflict that the Forces of Chaos slaughter a large portion of the Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter at the Battle of Mackan.
 * 8th Black Crusade (999.M37) - No information about this conflict is currently known in Imperial records. The Black Legion may have taken part in this conflict.
 * 9th Black Crusade (537.M38) - No information about this conflict is currently known in Imperial records. The Black Legion may have taken part in this conflict.
 * 11th Black Crusade (301.M39) - No information about this conflict is currently known in Imperial records. The Black Legion may have taken part in this conflict.
 * 12th Black Cruade (139.M41) - Better known as the Gothic War, the 12th Black Crusade was fought for control of the Gothic Sector in the Segmentum Obscurus between the Forces of Chaos of Abaddon the Despoiler and the defenders of the Imperium.
 * Raid on Cadia (777.M41) - A sizable Black Legion warband exits the Eye of Terror. Cadian Imperial Guard forces slow the onslaught, but it takes a determined counter-attack from the Imperial Fists to throw the Chaos Space Marines into the Warp.
 * Raid on the Moons of Drathorian, Acteron Sector (998.M41) - Chaos Space Marines belonging to the Black Legion attack and pillage a space refinery used to extract Promethium from ore mined on the Moons of Drathorian. The refinery is completely destroyed in the attack. How the Black Legion came to be so far from the Eye of Terror and the purpose of the raid continues to be the subject of Inquisitorial investigation.
 * 13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - Abaddon the Despoiler, the Lord of the Black Legion, managed to unite all the Forces of Chaos that exist within the Eye of Terror under his leadership as the Warmaster of Chaos Undivided in 999.M41 after decades of preparation to unleash the greatest Chaotic assault upon the Imperium of Man since the Horus Heresy, more than 10,000 standard years ago. This great campaign, Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade against the realms of the Emperor of Mankind, focused its assaults upon the sectors of the Segmentum Obscurus surrounding the Fortress World of Cadia and the Cadian Gate it protected. The Cadian Gate is the only known free passage through the roiling Warp Storms of the Eye of Terror into Imperial space, and the capture of Cadia would allow the Forces of Chaos their first uninterrupted chance to assault Imperial space in millennia. In the end, after months of truly titanic fighting that spread across hundreds of worlds and tested the resources of the Imperial military as never before, the campaign wound down in a stalemate. Though Abaddon's Chaotic forces were able to gain a territorial foothold upon Cadia itself, the Imperial Navy's Battlefleets proved to be the victors in the massive space battles that were waged high above the world. The Forces of Chaos are currently trapped on Cadia and have lost air and space superiority to the Imperial forces, who daily bombard the Ruinous Powers' servants from the air. However, should Abaddon and his Chaotic allies discover a way to defeat the massive Imperial fleet in orbit over Cadia, the Forces of Chaos would have an open path to drive on the heart of the Imperium and perhaps assault Terra for the second time in its history. As the various Tyranid Hive Fleets are also inexorbaly moving towards the shining Astronomican beacon of the Emperor's mind that shines out like a light in the darkness from Terra, and the Adeptus Mechanicus reports that the Golden Throne is finally failing, it may well be that the current era of the Age of the Imperium, the Time of Ending, is well-named. In the face of the terrible threat presented by Abaddon the Despoiler and the other enemies of the Imperium, only one true hope may remain for the salvation of Mankind, drawn from the most ancient litany of the Imperial Creed.

Legion Homeworld
The Legion's homeworld, the ancient Mining World of Cthonia, no longer exists, having apparently lost geo-structural integrity and broken apart into asteroids and debris during the centuries following the Horus Heresy. Certainly the once ore-rich planet was riddled with mine workings right through to its dead core as the numerous gangers that formed the majority of the world's population may originally have been imported as work teams to maintain the crumbling tunnels. However there is some conjecture amongst Imperial savants that Cthonia was destroyed deliberately by the Imperium following the end of the Horus Heresy, when the Loyalist Astartes Legions acted to purge the homeworlds of each of the Traitor Legions to remove their Chaos corruption. Since the destruction of their fortress in the Eye of Terror by an alliance of Chaos Space Marines seeking to capture the body of the Warmaster Horus at the insistence of the former Emperor's Children Apothecary Fabius Bile, the Black Legion is no longer based on any particular planet, and is instead stationed permanently on various spacecraft within their large Legion fleet. They possess a single ancient Battle Barge from their original fleet, as well as other vessels commandeered or captured from the Imperium over the millennia. In particular, many of the oldest Imperial Army starships that rebelled against the Imperium during the Horus Heresy now seem to be under Abaddon's command, along with newer vessels he has ordered constructed within the Eye of Terror.

Legion Organisation
The Black Legion is a flexible fighting force that can perform well and adapt quickly to any combat situation. It was trained to respond sharply and decisively to the tactical orders of its Warmaster and consequently the chain of command within the Legion was very efficient. This suffered significantly during the early years of exile in the Eye of Terror when the Legion was leaderless, but Abaddon has done much to restore discipline, mainly through fear and horrendous violence inflicted on those that displease him. Horus' favoured doctrine of 'tearing the throat out of the enemy' by eliminating their high command in a swift strike remains a well-used tactic.

Before the events of the Heresy, the Luna Wolves were organised like any other Space Marine Legion, with companies led by individual leaders. There were twenty-five companies of Luna Wolves following the Ullanor Crusade. Each company consisted of six hundred Space Marines according to Horus Rising when Loken's Company embarked on securing Sixty-Three Nineteen. If this is accurate then the number of total Astartes throughout the Sons of Horus must come to about fifteen thousand Space Marines, an above average number for a Legion as most Legions numbered around ten thousand strong. Several company captains also served as the Legion's Mournival; before the Heresy this included Garviel Loken, 'Little' Horus Aximand, Tarik Torgaddon and Ezekyle Abaddon. The Mournival served as an advisory body to Horus, but in truth held no extra power above that of the other company captains.

After the death of Horus, proper structure within the squads and companies disintegrated. The survivors formed into warbands of varying size and composition, led by individuals known as Chaos Champions. These Champions were either ranking officers from the Horus Heresy, or newly emerged leaders who had won favour with the Ruinous Powers through their violent deeds. When circumstances dictated, several warbands would rally together under the banner of a greater Chaos Champion, or even Abaddon himself, usually in preparation for a major raid or incursion into the Imperium.

The overriding belief of the Legion prior to the Warmaster's demise was in the ultimate superiority of Warmaster Horus and, by association, themselves. In continually seeking to prove themselves as the greatest Legion, they did indeed achieve most in terms of sheer numbers of worlds brought into the Imperial fold prior to the Heresy, although much effort had to be expended by other forces to completely pacify these new worlds.

Their defeat and exile dealt a crushing blow to the collective ego of the Legion.

Specialist Units

 * The Mournival - An unofficial counsel of advisers to the Primarch Horus, made up of four senior Captains of the Legion selected for their leadership capabilities and tactical minds. Found only in the Luna Wolves Legion, the Mournival were considered outside the official chain-of-command and carried no official weight, yet their counsel was considered extremely valuable to the Primarch. They had many responsibilities which included watching over the Legion's moral core and help guide its philosophy in prosecuting its obligated duties. They would on occasion even provide Horus the means to posturise politically, as a means to save face or present a certain front when in the presence of their allies and enemies alike. Each member of the Mournival was singled-out by the ornamentation of their helms with the brand of the various phases of the moon above the right eyepiece; the last members of the Mournival before the Legion fell to Chaos included Captain "Little Horus" Aximand (Half Moon), First Captain Ezekyle Abaddon (Full Moon), Captain Garviel Loken (New Moon) and Captain Tarik Torgaddon (Gibbous Moon).

Legion Combat Doctrine
The Legion was a flexible fighting force, able to adapt to almost any combat situation. The Legion possessed an efficient chain of command, which fell into disarray after the head, Horus, was killed over Terra. Abaddon managed to restore a measure of discipline, mainly through fear and violence.

The Black Legion generally favours close combat over ranged firefights, and Horus' tactic of "ripping the throat out of the enemy," the annihilation of the enemy's command center through the use of a small force referred to as the speartip, is still a favoured method of attack. Black Legion commanders seek to apply constant pressure on the enemy in a number of lightning fast strikes. These sharp but limited assaults are meant to disrupt the enemy and secure positions that can be used for fire support. This in turn keeps the pressure on while new attacks are being prepared. The time-lapse between each assault decreases with each advance, and the commander will usually wait until the pressure reaches its highest point. When this occurs, the commander will lead his Chosen in a final, devastating assault; an attack in which teleport-capable Terminators often feature. Hordes of daemons are also used for frontal assaults, and to pin the enemy while the Legion whittles them down.

Legion Beliefs
The overriding belief of the Legion prior to the Warmaster's demise was in the ultimate superiority of Horus and themselves. In continually seeking to prove themselves as the greatest Legion, they did indeed achieve most in terms of sheer numbers of worlds brought into the Imperial fold prior to the Heresy. Their defeat and exile was a crushing blow to the collective ego of the Legion. It has taken all the strength of character of their new commander, Abaddon, to restore the Legion's sense of pride and refocus on their ultimate goal - to overthrow everything which the false Emperor of Mankind created.

Legion Gene-Seed
The Black Legion's gene-seed, prior to the incident on the Feral World of Davin where Horus was brought back from the brink of death through the power of the the Serpent Temple's Chaos Sorcerers and the corruptive touch of the Ruinous Powers, was perfectly pure and unusually potent, since it was derived from Horus' genome. However, following their corruption by Chaos, the Black Legion's Space Marines started to exhibit random mutations, and it is likely that this taint now goes down to the gene-seed level. The regular practice among the Legion's Astartes of seeking daemonic possession may also have accelerated the effect. However, such mutations are seen as a mark of favour from the Chaos deities and are generally displayed with pride, though it also means that the Legion can no longer produce new Astartes from its gene-seed since the Astartes organs will not properly cultivate or will be so warped as to kill any human male they are implanted within. This inability to replace their losses is a problem that afflicts all of the Traitor Legions and drives them to seek out uncorrupted Imperial Astartes gene-seed stores whenever possible.

Notable Legion Members

 * Horus - Primarch of the Legion and Imperial Warmaster.
 * Maloghurst "The Twisted" - Warmaster's Equerry and public voice, Maloghurst was known as 'The Twisted' for being a shrewd manipulator and the way in which his brilliant mind schemed up complex machinations. Known as a formidable warrior within the Legion there was some speculation that he was a serious contender for the First Captaincy which was held by Ezekyled Abaddon before the Warmaster made him his equerry. During the compliance of the world designated as Sixty-Three-Nineteen, Maloghurst was dispatched by the Warmaster to the planet's surface to parlay with the false leader of this world known as the 'Emperor of Mankind'. Unfortunately, Maloghurst met his fate when his Stormbird was shot down and he was horribly wounded after crash landing on the planet's surface. His body was mangled and his spine horribly twisted. His body was now as physically twisted as his foul mind. Though physically unable to serve on active status, when selected by his Primarch to serve as his trusted advisor, Maloghurst was more than willing. After Horus' corruption on Davin, he conspired to overthrow the Emperor and install himself as the new Emperor of Mankind. It was Maloghurst's job to ensure that the Warmaster's orders were carried out, in the capacity as the chief enforcer of Horus' will. During the initial phases to rid Loyalist elements within the various Legions on Istvaan III, the Loyalist Captain Nathaniel Garro seized the frigate Eisenstein to warn the Emperor of the Warmaster's treahcery. It was Maloghurst who directed Death Guard First Captain Calas Typhon aboard his ship, the Terminus Est to intercept and prevent the Eisenstein from escaping.
 * Ezekyle Abaddon - First Captain of the elite 1st Company, leader of the Mournival.
 * Kalus Ekaddon - Captain of the Catulan Reaver Squad of the elite 1st Company.
 * Falkus Kibre - Captain of the Justaerin Terminator Squad ("Widowmakers") of the elite 1st Company.
 * Tarik Torgaddon - Captain of the 2nd Company who remained loyal. Killed at Istvaan III. (Deceased)
 * Iacton Qruze "The Half-Heard" - Captain of the 3rd Company. Born on Cthonia. A Captain of the Luna Wolves since the Legion's inception and a veteran of the Unification Wars on Terra. Considered ancient by dint of his length of service to the Legion as well as die-hard habits of the old-Legion he couldn't seem to break. Remained loyal when his Primarch Horus betrayed his oath to the Emperor. Fled on the frigate Eisenstein during the bombing of Istvaan III.
 * Hastur Sejanus - Captain of the 4th Company and member of the Mournival. Sejanus was sent as an ambassador to greet the leader of the world of Sixty-Three-Nineteen who styled himself the "Emperor of Mankind" and whose planet had not yet been brought into Imperial Compliance, and was brutally murdered. Horus loved Sejanus like a son. (Deceased)
 * Horus Aximand "Little Horus" - Captain of the 5th Company and also a member of the Mournival. Aximand was originally very loyal, but reluctantly turned to the Ruinous Powers when the Warmaster took ill on the feral world of Davin and was seeking a way to be cured by the Chaos Cult known as the Temple of the Serpent Lodge. Killed Tarik Torgaddon during the fighting on Istvaan III, but is overcome with regret for his actions. Both Horus and First Captain Abaddon take notice of this, but take no actions against him.
 * Serghar Targost - Captain of the 7th Company and Sons of Horus Lodge Master.
 * Garviel Loken - Captain of the 10th Company and a member of the Mournival after the death of Hastur Sejanus. Possesses one of the most analytical and perceptive minds of the Legion. Loken anticipates the betrayal and strife that ultimately results in a way none of the other Sons of Horus ever foresaw. Loken, along with his friends Captain Torgaddon and Sergeant Nero Vipus, are selected to subjugate the world of Istvaan III, which had recently declared itself an independent principality. However, shortly after the planet's liberation, Horus betrays the Loyalist Astartes on the planet below, releasing an ordnance of life-eater virus bombs. However, because of Captain Saul Tarvitz of the Emperor's Children, many of the Loyalists manage to survive the initial bombardment. Captains Loken, Torgaddon, and Tarvitz take command of the Loyalist elements that remain. Their traitor Mournival brothers, Ezekyle Abaddon and Horus Aximand, land on the planet's surface to kill Loken and Torgaddon. In the ensuing fight, Torgaddon is killed, but before Loken can be killed, the building is crushed by the Imperator-class Titan Dies Irae. Loken somehow manages to survive, and is left badly wounded. He is then presumed killed following the final bombardment. He is later found alive and partially insane by the former Death Guard Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro to become one of the first Grey Knights Grand Masters.
 * Nero Vipus - Locasta Tactical Squad Sergeant assigned to the 10th Company
 * Xavyer Jubal - Hellebore Tactical Squad Sergeant assigned to the 10th Company.
 * Talonus – Pithraes Tactical Squad Sergeant assigned to the 10th Company.
 * Rassek – Terminator Squad Sergeant attached to 10th Company. Possibly a member of the elite Justaerin Terminator Squad.
 * Kairus – Walkure Tactical Squad Sergeant assigned to the 10th Company
 * Luc Sedirae - Captain of the 13th Company. An exceptional warrior, Sedirae's martial exploits were considered not far behind those of First Captain ]Abaddon. Sedirae was even considered at one point for elevation into the esteemed ranks of the Mournival brotherhood, but was passed over in favour of Garviel Loken. The rumoured reason for this was that he was considered too ruthless in battle and too eager an advocate of warfare. Sedirae was later present on the planet Dagonet in the Segmentum Ultima during the opening days of the Horus Heresy. This world had been the site of one of Horus' first conquests, in which he claimed the planet for the Imperium with only a single bolter shot. A lengthy civil war ensued with the pro-Horus aristocracy emerging as the dominant rulers of the planet. At the beginning of the Horus Heresy, Dagonet declared their allegiance to the Warmaster and invited him to attend a ceremony in his honour. But recently there had been a number of assassination attempts on his life. Therefore, Sedirae, acting as a body-double, wore Horus' armour and descended to the planet's surface in the Warmaster's place. Upon removing his helm, a team of Imperial assassins (unbeknownst to them) killed the false 'Horus'. The Sons of Horus were roused to murderous rage and killed Dagonet's entire aristocracy, and then vented its anger against the entire world, massacring the entire planet's population.
 * Tybalt Marr, "The Either" & Verulam Moy, "The Or" - Captains of the 18th and 19th Companies, respectively, both had an unusually close friendship with one another. They were amongst those Luna Wolves battle-brother who looked very similar in physical appearance to that of their Primarch Horus, and were colloquially known as 'Sons of Horus'. Though notable for their striking resemblance to their Primarch, the similarities between the two were such (Both physical and in the way in which they interacted with one another, and the similar styles in which they led their respective companies) that most within the Legion considered them almost as identical twins. Therefore, they were respectively referred to as the 'The Either' and 'The Or'. Their companies often fought together in concert when circumstances permitted. It is interesting to note that Captain Moy was often placed in a speartip (a term used by the original Luna Wolves Legion as the initial assault element), while Captain Marr was not. It would be on Davin's moon that Captain Moy would meet his fate. Already a member of the warrior-lodge capable file officer, Moy still hungered for the opportunity to distinguish himself as one of the elite of their Legion. When he was selected by the Warmaster to lead a speartip into the crashed flagship of the renegade Eugen Temba, it appeared his opportunity for glory had finally arrived. Unfortunately, he was killed when he encountered the now Chaos-corrupted Temba after refusing his offer to submit to the corrupting influence of Father Nurgle. The death of Moy affected Marr greatly, as he became sullen and withdrawn after visiting the scene of his friend's death. With Moy's death, Marr changed his mind about joining the Legion's warrior-lodge and so, on the eve of the Horus Heresy, he was inducted by Horus himself and followed his Legion to its eventual path of damnation.
 * Grael Noctua - Warlocked Tactical Squad Sergeant assigned to the 25th Company. Recommended by Aximand as a member of the Mournival following the Battle of the Mausolytic Precinct on the planet Dwell.
 * Lev Goshen - Captain of the 25th Company.

Chapter Fleet

 * Vengeful Spirit (Flagship) - Warmaster Horus' flagship of the Sons of Horus.

Legion Appearance
The first version of Power Armour colours used by the XVI Legion was predominantly off-white, with black trim. The two renowned squads of the elite 1st Company, and possibly the entire company, wore predominately black coloured power armour, in sharp contrast to the white and later pale green of the rest of the Legion. The Legion's badge was a wolf's head imposed over an inverted crescent moon.

After the Ullanor Crusade and the Interex incident, the Legion's change in name to the Sons of Horus accompanied a change in colouring. The Legion's Power Armour was decorated predominantly a pale green, with black or gold trim, while some Space Marines' gauntlets were coloured dark red. The Legion badge changed to become a stylised eye over a cross - the Eye of Terra, which would later be known as the infamous Eye of Horus.

This colour scheme was retained until Abaddon the Despoiler took command of the Legion's remnants. The Black Legion, as the name suggests, wears black Power Armour. The armour is decorated with gold trim and Chaotic iconography. The symbol of the Eye was retained, however it was now superimposed over the eight-pointed Star of Chaos, now known as the Eye of Horus.

The shift of the Legion's colour scheme from white to its current black was ordered by Abaddon to mark the Legion's shame after their failure to overthrow the Emperor of Mankind's rule in the Horus Heresy.

Gallery
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