Angron

"Heresy is like a tree, its roots lie in the darkness whilst its leaves wave in the sum and to those who suspect nought it has an attractive and pleasing appearance. Truly, you can prune away its branches, or even cut the tree to the ground, but it will grow up again ever the stronger and ever more comely. Yet all awhile the root grows thick and black, gnawing at the bitter soil, drawing its nourishment from the darkness, and growing even greater and more deeply entrenched."

- Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters

Angron, sometimes called the Red Angel, is the Primarch of the World Eaters Traitor Legion of Chaos Space Marines. He fell to Chaos during the Horus Heresy, afterwards earning his place as a Daemon Prince of Khorne. He was most recently banished to the Warp after he unleashed the First War of Armageddon upon the Imperium in 474.M41.

Pre-Heresy
During the scattering of the Primarchs' gestation capsules from the Emperor of Mankind's gene-laboratories deep beneath the Himalayan Mountains, Angron was cast through the Warp to a "civilised" human world far from Terra. He plummeted into the icy mountains of that planet with an echoing crash, and not long after his fall a trader found the young boy amidst a scene of bloody carnage. Surrounding the unconscious young Primarch were strewn the bodies of dozens of Eldar Aspect Warriors from the Biel-Tan Craftworld. It is said amongst the Eldar that one of their Farseers had foreseen through the Empyrean the great bloodshed across the galaxy that Angron would cause in the future and had tried unsuccessfully to stop him while he was still only a child.

The trader clasped Angron in chains and brought him to one of the great cities of the planet. There, he was forced into the techno-gladiatorial arenas, where he proved to be unbeatable and a fan-favorite. Several times he tried to lead his fellow gladiators in revolt, and each time failed. Yet with the coming of his world's largest games ever to be held, he finally succeeded. He led his rag-tag gladiator army, who had all sworn to die for him and he for they, into the mountains known as Desh'ea, where he lived for several years. The civilized cities sent armies to destroy Angron, but they were all obliterated. Nonetheless, the issue was never in doubt. His forces had little to eat in the barren mountains, and were exhausted from the constant battling.

His fate seemed sealed when seven well equipped armies surrounded Angron and his starving forces. Just as the battle was about to begin, the Emperor of Mankind's expeditionary fleet arrived in orbit over the planet. The Emperor teleported directly to Angron's point of deployment with a few trusted Adeptus Custodes. The Emperor promised Angron the command of a new legion of unsurpassed warriors gene-crafted in his own image, limitless power, and lifetimes to spend perfecting the art of conquest. But, to the Emperor's great surprise, Angron refused. He chose instead to die amongst his comrades whilst fighting his oppressors, and even went so far as to attack the Emperor, killing one of the Custodes in the process. Reluctantly, the Emperor returned to his flagship above, but he had no intention of seeing one of his precious Primarchs waste his life in pursuit of a hopeless and meaningless cause. Yet, just as the battle was about to begin, the Emperor teleported Angron against his will back up to the Imperial Expeditionary Fleet in orbit of his homeworld to be reunited with his genetic sons aboard the flagship of the XII Legion of the Space Marines. At that time, the XII Legion were known as the War Hounds. Angron could only watch in anguish as those he regarded as his brothers and comrades were quickly annihilated without his presence amongst them. What should have been a joyous reunion between father and son proved instead to be a near-disaster. Angron locked himself away within the private chambers he had been granted within the War Hounds' flagship, railing away in anger at his inability to change the outcome of what had occurred on the planet's surface. He felt that the Emperor's 'timely' intervention was a serious breach to his martial honour.

In an effort to placate their newly restored Primarch, the senior officers of the War Hounds attempted to calm him down but were summarily murdered in the most brutal fashion. Only after murdering at least seven high-ranking officers within the Legion, including the War Hounds Legion's former commander, Captain Kharn of the 8th Assault Company voluntarily went forth to Angron's private quarters to confront the enraged Primarch. Nearly beaten to death for his efforts, Kharn's unwillingness to accept defeat even at the hands of a much superior foe finally convinced Angron of his Legion's worthiness as fellow warriors, and his place as the rightful general and commander of the XII Legion. Soon after, the newly renamed World Eaters would be influenced by Angron's thirst for battle, amplified by the use of psycho surgery similar to the cerebral modifications Angron had received during his gladiator training. During the course of the Great Crusade, Angron and the World Eaters reaped many victories, although some criticised the extreme and bloodthirsty tactics the Red Angel used to ensure the destruction of his opponents.

Horus Heresy
Like all other gladiators on his homeworld, Angron had received special cybernetic neural implants that tremendously heightened his aggressiveness, but also had the side-effect of producing uncontrollable berserker rages even outside of battle. Angron ordered his Techmarines to duplicate the technology and that all recruits undergo the process that would turn them into aggressive and fearless warriors. The Emperor himself criticised Angron for the changes he had made to his Astartes. Despite the obvious advantages, the Emperor was displeased, and ordered him to stop. Angron paid him no heed and continued the unsavory practice secretly. This led to the World Eaters being criticised for their general bloodlust and barbarity by their fellow Astartes. They were known for blood rituals when not in combat, and competed with each other for the number of enemy heads they could take in battle.

The Emperor despatched the Primarch Horus, his most favoured son, to bring Angron back in line -- a fatal error, for Horus had already been corrupted by the Chaos Gods. A master psychologist, he told Angron exactly what he wanted to hear: that the Emperor was a weakling devoid of honor and that there was a place for him in a new order, along with revenge against the brother Primarchs that had criticized his legion. Angron needed no further convincing, throwing his legion on Horus' side when the Horus Heresy broke out.

Already savage and brutal, the World Eaters quickly found a new master in the form of the Blood God Khorne, eternally demanding sacrifice and skulls. Angron led his legion into their bloody worship - his form mutated to a twisted red monstrosity wielding his great battle-axe Gorefather. Following their arrival in the Eye of Terror, Khorne elevated Angron to the role of Daemon Prince and gave him command of a Daemon world.

Post-Heresy
Angron's sighting in the Materium have been mercifully rare in the millennia after the Horus Heresy, since it appears that the Daemon Primarch is busy either prosecuting his patron's wars with the other Forces of Chaos or ruling his personal Daemon World within the Eye of Terror. There are, however, two well-documented occasions after the end of the Horus Heresy where Angron himself led the Blood God's forces against the Imperium.

The Dominion of Fire
In the mid-38th Millennium, Angron and 50,000 Chaos Space Marines and troops drawn from the other Forces of Chaos slaughtered their way through a large swathe of Imperial space for over two standard centuries. They took control of over 70 Sectors. In response, a combined force of 4 Space Marine Chapters, 2 Titan Legions and more than 30 Imperial Guard regiments participated as part of a massive Imperial Crusade to retake what the Imperium had lost to the Red Angel's assault. Ninety percent of the territory that had been lost to Angron's forces was eventually recovered by the Imperium's defenders. This protracted campaign is know in Imperial archives as the Dominion of Fire.

First War for Armageddon
The conflict later known as the First War for Armageddon began within the great Warp rift known as the Eye of Terror. The forces within, being devoted to the service of Chaos and the Ruinous Powers, usually fought against each other as was their fractious nature, but occasionally and inexplicably they put aside their rivalries to launch an assault on their common enemy, the Imperium of Man. In this case, the unity of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos was triggered by the arrival of the Space Hulk Devourer of Stars around a Daemon World within the Eye of Terror that was controlled by the Daemon Prince Angron and his World Eaters Traitor Legion. Angron had spent much of the 10 millennia following the Horus Heresy attempting to restore some level of unity amongst the divided warbands of what had once been his XII Legion of Space Marines. The World Eaters' dedication to the Blood God Khorne during the Horus Heresy had reduced them for much of that time into a fractious force of Khornate Berserkers just as likely to kill each other as their true foes. The emergence of the Devourer of Stars into orbit around Angron's Daemon World provided just the opportunity he had been looking for to recreate some semblance of common purpose for his scattered Legion. The Space Hulk proved sufficiently large enough to carry large numbers of Chaotic troops but only on an erratic course into realspace. This is how the Forces of Chaos unexpectedly emerged from the Warp aboard the Space Hulk in the Armageddon System in 444.M41. The arrival of Angron at Armageddon probably had nothing to do with Angron's own desires, rather the location was determined by the chaotic currents of the Warp which sent his Space Hulk to Armageddon, possibly at the whim of one of the Gods of Chaos, probably Khorne, if there was any intent behind the Devourer of Stars'course at all. Meanwhile, on Armageddon, a series of strange events culminated in an armed rebellion breaking out in half a dozen of the world's large hive cities against the Imperium's authority at the same time that massive Warp Storms cut off the world from Imperial communications and commerce. The revolts, largely initiated by Chaos Cultists taking advantage of food shortages caused by the Warp Storms to stir up trouble, were quickly put down in the eastern region of the world's southern continent of Armageddon Secundus, but amongst the more widely scattered hives of the western region of the northern continent of Armageddon Prime the rebels proved more difficult to eradicate. As Armageddon's Planetary Defence Forces (PDF) and the few regiments of the Imperial Guard's Armageddon Steel Legion present on the world seemed capable of dealing with the revolt, no additional units were sent by the Imperium to handle the problem once the Warp Storms cleared. Armageddon was a very long way from the Eye of Terror in the galaxy's Segmentum Obscurus, and no one in the Imperium suspected any more sinister cause for the revolts than simple civil unrest.

Busy containing the rebellion, the Imperial forces were caught by surprise when the Space Hulk Devourer of Stars suddenly emerged from the Warp in the Armageddon System. On board the Devourer of Stars was an enormous Chaos army led by the Daemon Primarch Angron, including millions of Chaos Cultists known as the Children of Sanguinary Unholiness and the Twelve -- the Cruor Praetoria, the twelve strongest daemons of Khorne whose lives and deeds most pleased their wretched Blood God. Chaos Space Marines from the World Eaters Legion and hordes of other daemonic creatures dedicated to the Blood God also poured from the Space Hulk onto the surface of Armageddon and swept across the land.

The insidious effects of Chaos were quickly felt as nearly half the Planetary Defence Force of Armageddon unexpectedly went over to the invaders, declaring their loyalty to the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. The few remaining Loyalist defenders were quickly routed from the continent of Armageddon Prime. Falling back through the equatorial jungles in the south, the survivors joined up with the Imperial PDF units that had been left on the continent of Armageddon Secundus and prepared to make a last ditch defence along the banks of the Rivers Styx and Chaeron.

But the expected attack did not manifest itself. The Warp Storm that had carried the Devourer of Stars to Armageddon had started dying out, cutting off the vital supply of Warp energy that allowed Angron and the other daemons to remain in the Materium. Angron then reluctantly stopped his advance on Armageddon Secundus and ordered his forces to build monuments to the Blood God in the equatorial jungles separating both continents. The Chaotic army then spent the following weeks erecting colossal piles out of the skulls of the fallen defenders, anointing them with the blood of sacrificed prisoners and slaves, as well as their own.

The Imperial defenders gained valuable time while Angron raised bloody monuments to the Blood God from the wreckage of the dead instead of pressing his advantage. Many wondered why the monstrous Primarch halted with victory in his grasp, but in truth, Angron had no choice: without the supply of raw Warp energy generated by the construction of the monuments, the daemonic components of his army would soon start to dissolve back into the Warp, unable to maintain their presence in the Materium. When his "supply lines" were finally secured, and his army emerged from the equatorial jungles that separated Armageddon Prime from Armageddon Secundus, Angron found the Imperial defenders ready and waiting -- and reinforced by the Space Wolves. Unknown to the Forces of Chaos, the Great Company of Space Wolves Astartes led by the Chapter's Great Wolf (Chapter Master) Logan Grimnar had been assigned to the defence of this sector of the Imperium, and they moved quickly to provide aid to the beleaguered defenders as soon as they received the astropathic distress messages from Armageddon describing the Chaotic invasion of the Hive World.

Huge battles erupted along the entire front. In the east, along the Chaeron River, the Imperial forces held, but towards the west on the Styx River Angron led the way himself. He smashed through the Imperial lines and led his forces towards Hive Infernus and Hive Helsreach. But there Logan Grimnar unleashed his secret weapon. He had called for the assistance of the Grey Knights, the psychic Space Marine Chapter that served the Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition as its Chamber Militant, as soon as he had heard of the daemonic nature of the attacking forces. Only the Grey Knights had the ability to truly defeat a daemonic entity of such malevolent power as Angron. As the very existence of Chaos was one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Imperium of Man, few amongst even the Space Marines knew of the existence of the Grey Knights, the most elite Chapter of Astartes ever formed who were tasked specifically with combat against daemons. But Grimnar had seen them in action on more than one occasion and as the lord of an Astartes Chapter he had never been forced to submit to the Inquisitorial mind-wipe that was required of nearly all witnesses to the Grey Knights in action.

Amongst the Grey Knights units deployed for action on Armageddon was Squad Castian, which joined an ad hoc "Ragged Brotherhood" of Grey Knights under the command of Taremar Aurellian, the Brother-Captain of the 3rd Brotherhood. When the call came, the Grey Knights teleported directly into the midst of the advancing Chaos horde, surrounding the gigantic Daemon Primarch. Taking heavy losses from Angron's battle prowess, the Grey Knights inflicted their own punishment, and eventually Squad Castian engaged in melee with the Daemon Primarch. After Angron mangled the squad, the only Grey Knight left standing was the Pyrokine (master of psychic flame) Hyperion. Trying to protect a still-surviving squad mate, in a tremendous display of faith, power, and effort, Hyperion used his psyker abilities to shatter the Primarch's daemonic sword, the hideous Khornate relic known as the Black Blade -- while he collapsed into unconsciousness from the sheer effort. Captain Aurellian then confronted the bladeless Daemon Prince of Khorne and managed to banish him back to the Warp, though at the cost of his own life.

Hyperion was one of only 13 Grey Knights to survive the battle, out of the 109 Astartes of the 3rd Brotherhood who had been deployed for the campaign. Found alive but in terrible shape by the Space Wolves on the hellish field after the battle, Hyperion soon acquired the honorific "Bladebreaker" for his feat. He had to be put in temporary stasis in order to survive, and underwent surgery that replaced half his face and skull with augmetics. He eventually reported back to duty more than 4 months later.

The Grey Knights had defeated the Daemon Prince, hurling his spirit back into the Warp from where he could not return for over one hundred Terran years. At the same time as the Grey Knights were teleporting directly into the centre of the daemonic force to launch their attack on the Daemon Primarch, the Space Wolves launched their own massive counter-offensive all along the Imperial lines. The Forces of Chaos were routed after they watched their leader defeated and only the World Eaters managed to retreat back to the Space Hulk and escape into the safety of the Warp. The Imperial victory was complete and overwhelming -- though it had come at a great and terrible cost.

Wargear

 * Armour of Mars - Angron wears artificer armour that is modified from the gladiatorial armour in which he fought as a slave.
 * Black Blade of Angron - Primarch Angron's personal daemonic sword, this gigantic black blade can cleave anything in two. This weapon was destroyed by the powerful psychic defence of the Grey Knights Space Marine Chapter during the First War for Armageddon.
 * Brazentooth - Brazentooth was a massive two-handed Chainaxe that served as Angron's primary personal weapon before he acquired Gorefather and Gorechild. The weapon was so heavy that no other World Eaters Astartes could even lift it.
 * Gorefather and Gorechild - These archaic matched Chainaxes are amongst the most potent weapons known among the relics of the Primarchs, and are made all the more deadly by Angron's consummate skill as a fighter.
 * The Spite Furnace - Angron also carries a master-crafted Plasma Pistol known as the Spite Furnace.
 * The Butcher's Nails - The Butcher's Nails are bio-neural cybernetic implants which were surgically grafted directly into Angron's cerebral cortex. A relic device from the Dark Age of Technology, these implants would boost a warrior's adrenaline, resulting in greater strength and aggression in battle, making him nigh unstoppable.