Space Wolves

The Space Wolves were one of the twenty First Founding Space Marine Legions, and were led by their Primarch Leman Russ. After the Horus Heresy and the resultant Second Founding reforms, the Legion was divided into two Chapters: the new Space Wolves Chapter, which was not compliant with the Codex Astartes, retained the name of their parent Legion, while the second Chapter took the name of the Wolf Brothers. The Wolf Brothers suffered from rampant mutation and were later disbanded. It is currently unknown if there are any other Successor Chapters of the Space Wolves.

Leman Russ
The Primarch of the Space Wolves, Leman Russ, grew up on the distant icy death world of Fenris, a snow-covered planet inhabited by primitive, warlike tribes of humans. He was raised by a pack of the massive Fenrisian Wolves that prowl the snowy lands of that deadly world. Russ was eventually discovered by a man named Thengir, King of the Russ, who had organized a party of hunters to clear the wolf pack from his lands. As most of the wolves were slaughtered the young man was captured and brought to Thengir who took him into his care, and given the name Leman of the Russ.

The Primarch learned the ways of man quickly, and many legends sprang up about him among the Fenrisian tribes. Upon his adopted father's death, the leadership of the Russ passed to Leman. Leman became a mighty leader, winning many victories for his adopted people, often fighting alongside packs of Fenrisian Wolves, led by two of his Wolf-brothers who had escaped Thengir's hunters.

The Allfather
The Emperor of Mankind eventually traveled to Fenris, after having heard word of the exploits of Leman Russ. The Emperor had realized that such feats could only be the work of a Primarch. At first Leman Russ refused to pay the Emperor homage, going so far as to challenge him to a series of competitions to determine who was the better man. The challenges consisted of three different contests, one being eating, the other drinking, and the third a fist-fight. Russ managed to beat the Emperor at both eating and drinking, but the third challenge was more to the Emperor's liking. Having at first seemed like a disappointment, a drunkard and a boaster, the Primarch suddenly launched a furious attack. The ferocity and skill of this assault proved to the Emperor that this was indeed one of his sons as Russ fought with superhuman speed and power. After having the disappointment lifted from his spirit by his son's ferocity, the Emperor stopped holding back and quickly found an opening in Russ' defences. The Emperor raised his Power Fist and knocked the Primarch out with a single blow that would have killed a lesser man. Leman Russ awoke later and blamed his loss on the alcohol, but in the end admitted defeat and swore fealty to the Emperor. He was put in command of the Space Marines of the VI Legion, which he soon renamed the Space Wolves and set off on his own leg of the Great Crusade to reunite all of humanity beneath the wings of the Imperium of Man.

The Great Crusade
Leman Russ fought well during the Great Crusade, gaining a reputation as a cunning and fierce, as well as slightly unstable, Imperial warrior and Astartes leader. During a pacification war to bring a world into Imperial Compliance, the Dark Angels Legion aided the Space Wolves, and the leader of this particular planet insulted Leman Russ's honour. As such, Russ wanted to defeat the leader personally for the insult. The Dark Angels and Space Wolves, both lead by their respective Primarchs, assaulted the tower where the leader was located. Leman Russ burst into the throne room just in time to see the Dark Angels' Primarch, Lion El'Jonson, beheading the world's leader. Angry that the honour was not his, Leman Russ marched up to the Lion and punched him in the jaw. This lead to a battle that lasted a week or more, until finally Russ saw how immature their squabble was and started laughing. Lion El'Jonson took this action as an insult because he mistakenly believed that Russ was mocking him and so he punched Leman Russ once more and knocked his brother Primarch into unconsciousness before leaving the planet with his Legion. This fight led to a bitter feud between the Legions (and subsequent Chapters), which lasts to this day - although recent events may finally have led to an end to the rivalry, it is still customary for selected champions from both Chapters to engage in a (usually) non-lethal duel whenever they meet.

The Horus Heresy
Just prior to the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, the Space Wolves came into conflict with one of their brother Space Marine Legions once again. The Primarch of the Thousand Sons Space Marines, Magnus the Red, had ignored the Imperial proscription against the use of sorcery that had been decided by the Emperor and the other Primarchs at the Council of Nikaea during the Great Crusade so that he could warn the Emperor in astral form that Horus had turned to Chaos. Magnus' psychic intrusion into the Imperial Palace on Terra had disrupted the Emperor's secret Imperial Webway Project and killed thousands of workers, adepts and Servitors. To make matters worse, the Emperor refused to believe that his favoured son Horus had betrayed him and instead he believed that it was Magnus who had been corrupted by Chaos because of his continued use of sorcery. Leman Russ and the Space Wolves were then ordered by the Emperor to bring Magnus before him on Terra to account for his actions.

Burning of Prospero
However, Warmaster Horus had other plans in mind. Ignorant in the changes in his Brother-Primarch, Russ was convinced by Horus' silver tongue to launch an all-out planetary assault on the seditious Thousand Sons rather than attempt to negotiate with them or bring their Primarch Magnus the Red back to Terra peacefully. The surprise assault upon the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Prospero was ferocious to the extreme, and brutally successful; however, many of the Thousand Sons, including Magnus himself, eventually gave themselves over to the Chaos God Tzeentch in order to save themselves and their precious collected arcane knowledge on Prospero from being destroyed by the Imperium. After agreeing to give themselves to the Changer of Ways, the Thousand Sons escaped through his assistance into the Warp rift called the Eye of Terror. The two Legions forged an ageless feud with one another, which still exists between the Space Wolves and the survivors of the Thousand Sons, who are now the Chaos Space Marines solely dedicated to Tzeentch.

Siege of Terra
During the Horus Heresy, the Space Wolves were far from Terra, fighting alongside the Dark Angels, and were unable to assist their Loyalist brethren in the defence of Terra from the attack of the Warmaster's traitorous forces of Chaos. Knowledge of the imminent arrival of the two Loyalist Legions, which would tip the balance in favour of the Loyalists, pushed Horus into allowing the Emperor to personally teleport aboard his battle-barge in orbit over Terra in a desperate gamble to bring the war to a swift conclusion. The two Legions arrived just after the battle concluded, with the Warmaster and the Blood Angels' Primarch Sanguinius (killed at the hands of Horus), already dead. The Emperor himself was mortally wounded.

Post-Heresy
The Emperor's body had breathed its last breath, and he ascended to the Golden Throne. Leman Russ was devastated by his inability to save the Emperor during the final battle of the Horus Heresy aboard the Warmaster's battle-barge. Following the conclusion of the Horus Heresy the Imperium set out to quell the uprisings throughout the galaxy and restore order to itself. As word spread of the Warmaster's defeat throughout the Imperium, widespread fighting renewed. Revitalized by the news of the death of Horus and the routing of his Traitor Legions, the Loyalists fell upon the rebels with a vengeance. The Great Scouring had begun, as Imperial forces bled the rebels dry as they desperately turned on all within their reach in a final despairing orgy of destruction. The Space Wolves Legion spearheaded the Great Scouring, continuing to wage war on the traitors for another seven years before the last rebel formation were destroyed or exiled to the isolated hell-system of warp storms known as the Eye of Terror.

The Disappearance of Russ
''“Listen closely Brother’s for my life’s breath is all but spent. There shall come a time far from now when our Chapter itself is dying, even as I am now dying, and our foes shall gather to destroy us. Then my children, I shall listen to your call in whatever realm of death holds me, and I shall, no matter no matter what the laws of life or death forbid. At the end I will be there. For the final battle. For the Wolftime.”'' - Last words of Primarch Leman Russ

Years later, at one particular “Feast of the Emperor’s Ascension" in honor of the day the Emperor defeated Horus and ascended to the Golden Throne, Leman Russ quieted the great hall to speak, but then froze in place as his eyes glazed over as if seeing a vision. The assembled Space Wolves looked on in horror as their Primarch fell to his knees and called his Wolf Guard and closest advisors to him, all save the youngest, Bjorn The Fell-Handed.  Giving his closest companions his instructions, Russ turned and left the Great Hall with his bodyguard in tow, leaving only Bjorn behind.

For seven years the Space Wolves waited for their lost lord to return, but when he failed to do so, Bjorn was elected the first Great Wolf and led the Chapter on their first Great Hunt to search for Russ. The Great Companies dispersed among the stars searching for their lord and Bjorn took his search to the Eye of Terror itself. There Bjorn was mortally wounded and entombed in a Dreadnaught as the Space Wolves returned. Over the various Great Hunts many glorious victories have been won, each hunt beginning when Russ speaks through visions into the minds of the Rune Priests, granting his sons his wisdom from time to time and sending them on new Great Hunts. None have succeeded in their final goal, but Russ has assured his sons with his final words that he will return to them for the final battle, for the 'Wolftime'.

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Revenge of the Thousand Sons
Harek Ironhelm was the Chapter's Great Wolf during the 32nd Millennium. Ironhelm sought for many years to bring the Thousand Sons' Primarch Magnus the Red to battle. Several times Magnus appeared to him in visions among the ruins of devastated cities and taunted the Great Wolf for his inability to stop him. After many fruitless efforts to catch up with the raiders Harek became obsessed, and took to searching worlds along the edge of the Eye of Terror itself. Eventually he found what he believed to be the Thousand Sons' secret base on the world of Gangava and launched a full-scale attack against it. This was a deception to draw the bulk of the Space Wolves' forces from their homeworld, leaving it undefended; Gangava was held by a Chaos force allied to Magnus but it served only as a distraction, allowing a massive Thousand Sons' fleet to besiege Fenris itself.

The Space Wolves' fortress-monastery, the Fang, was held by only a small force of Space Wolves and their Servitor-thralls. For forty days and forty nights the Thousand Sons assaulted the citadel. Bjorn the Fell-handed, most ancient of the Space Wolves' Dreadnoughts, was woken from his long sleep and took charge of the defence. The assault was held at bay as a force of scouts under Haakon Blackwing escaped to Gangava to locate Harek. Shamed and furious, Harek Ironhelm returned to meet Magnus in battle on the slopes of the Fang itself. Although Magnus was terribly wounded, Harek, a regular Space Marine, couldn't stand against a Primarch who had been exalted to daemonhood. Harek was slain, but the Thousand Sons were defeated and scattered.

Notable Campaigns

 * First War for Armageddon - Logan Grimnar led 300 Space Wolves alongside 100 Grey Knights against Angron and a diabolic horde of Khorne.
 * Third War for Armageddon - The Space Wolves fielded 5 Great Companies in the defence of the hive world of Armageddon.
 * 13th Black Crusade - The Space Wolves committed 12 Great Companies against this Black Crusade.The Space Wolves are 1 of only 4 Space Marine Chapters to have fought in both the Third War for Armageddon and against the 13th Black Crusade.
 * Deployed Land Raider Helios against Orks on Centius Prime.
 * Saw action against the forces of the Draxian Incursion on Medes 841.
 * Saw action against Chaos at Hesperida. Forces included elements of Ragnar Blackmane's Great Company.
 * Ragnar Blackmane's Great Company was despatched to aid the Imperial Guard forces fighting the Forces of Chaos on Corinthus V.
 * Fielded Vindicators during the Magdelon Confrontation.
 * Fielded all but one Great Company to the world of Garm to recover the Spear of Russ. After securing the temple, they tried to recover the Spear of Russ, but it was lost to the Warp in order to close a portal being formed by Chaos Space Marines of the Thousand Sons.

Chapter Organisation
The Space Wolves are known for their fiercely anti-authoritarian behaviour. They strongly resist the central command structure of the Imperium, (organising themselves into packs instead of the normal Tactical Squad) and refuse the dictates of the Codex Astartes, the standardised guide to Space Marine and Imperial Guard tactics created by the Ultramarines' Primarch Roboute Guilliman. The Space Wolves only accept some standard Imperial tactics that were considered useful for their own preferred style of warfare. As such, they have a reputation for being as ill-disciplined as they are fearless. It is often said that the best way to get a Space Wolf to do something is to tell him not to do it.

The Great Companies
Instead of dividing into Successor Chapters as per the requirements of the Codex Astartes, the Space Wolves Legion continued to split itself into twelve Great Companies (a Great Company being closer in size to an entire Space Marine Chapter than a company of 100 fighting men), with a Thirteenth Company named in honour of a large group of Space Wolves who had disappeared after the Great Crusade. This thirteenth Great Company came to represent all the Great Companies in the Space Wolves' history that had been destroyed, lost on campaign or had recanted their oath of loyalty to the Great Wolf. Each of these was led by a Wolf Lord, who answered to the Chapter Master, the Great Wolf. Each Great Company is a free-standing body of troops in almost all respects; occupying its own territory in the massive fortress-monastery built inside a huge mountain known as The Fang, possessing its own equipment, forges and spacecraft, and following its own customs and heroes. Each Great Company takes its name from its current Wolf Lord, and also take the mythological Fenrisian symbol the new Lord associates with. When a Wolf Lord dies, another is chosen to replace him from the slain leader's Wolf Guard, causing the Great Company to reinvent itself. Thus unlike Companies in other Space Marine Chapters, the Great Companies of the Space Wolves do not have fixed heraldry, but change through the ages.



The Great Wolf
The current Great Wolf (Chapter Master) of the Space Wolves is Logan Grimnar. He is one of humanity's greatest warriors. It is claimed his hunger for battle is as fierce as Leman Russ’. Along with his own Great Company, the Great Wolf has direct command of the Chapter’s most venerable heroes: the Rune Priests (psychic shamans and seers similar to other Chapters' Librarians), Iron Priests (engineers or Techmarines), Wolf Priests (medics and religious leaders whoo would be the combined Apothecary/Chaplain of other Chapters), Wolf Scouts, and Venerable Dreadnoughts. The Great Wolf also has overall control of the Chapter's Thralls, its fleet and the fortress-monastery of the Fang.

Progression of a Space Wolf
Space Wolves are recruited, like other Space Marines, at a young age, selected from the most able youths of the feral tribes of their homeworld of Fenris. Uniquely enough, only the fiercest and most skilled young warriors are chosen after their heroism (or death in the heat of battle) is witnessed by a "Watcher" or a Wolf Priest. Shortly after, aspirants are taken to camps farther north where they are sorted into groups called Claws. For an indefinite amount of time or until their death, they endure fierce physical training and almost fatal missions in the frozen wastes of the Asaheim Mountains of Fenris.

When they are finally deemed worthy, they partake in a ceremony where they receive the Canis Helix, the spirit of the Wolf, which is actually a genetic cocktail drawn from the genome of Leman Russ. Then, they are taken to pass the Gate of Morkai, a mystic gate deep within the Fang, the Space Wolves' fortress-monastery, where every aspirant's mind is picked and probed by the Chapter's psychic Rune Priests. When and if they pass this test, they are finally augmented with the gene-seed of Leman Russ as well as the anatomical gifts found within everyone of the Emperor's Chosen.The next phase of their transformation into a full-fledged Space Wolf is a trial period in which the Canis Helix begins to manifest itself. Many will continue to grow into their newly received genetic implants while others succumb completely to the Wolf and become blood-thirsty mutant creatures known as Wulfen. If the aspirant is fortunate enough to survive the transformation, he must endure his final test. Equipped with nothing but a spear and dagger, he must brave the wastes of Fenris and find his way back to the Fang alone. As if left for dead, they must use whatever means necessary to survive in the arctic tundra of Fenris. When they return, they are gifted with the ancient Power Armour of a fallen Wolf-Brother and often sent to be welcomed into one of the twelve Great Companies.

Most Space Wolves start out as Blood Claws, hot-headed warriors who cannot wait to prove themselves, and are still struggling to control the beast within which is unleashed by the Canis Helix. Blood Claws serve as the close combat Assault Squads of the Space Wolves, spearheading the majority of assaults with a joyous ferocity. They are usually equipped with bolt pistols and chainswords, similar to the Assault Marines of other standard Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters, though Blood Claws do not necessarily have jump packs as standard equipment. Blood Claws also take to battle upon Marine bikes, usually wielding close combat weapons. If they survive long enough to mature, they are promoted to the ranks of the Grey Hunters, tempered by battle, but always ready to do what is necessary for the Chapter and the Imperium of Man. Grey Hunters serve as the tactical backbone of a Space Wolf force, as they are equipped to serve in a variety of battle scenarios and thus serve primarily as the Space Wolves' Tactical Squads.

When a Space Wolf is fully mature, "their hair grey and canines pronounced", they are inducted into the Long Fangs, Veteran Space Marines with a reputation for being disciplined and cool-headed in the heat of battle. They are entrusted with the heavy weaponry possessed by their Great Company and so serve as that company's Devastator Squads, watching over and providing fire support for their younger brethren. Long Fang squad members are the only Space Wolves disciplined enough to choose their own targets individually (they are one of the only units that can shoot at multiple targets).

Some Space Wolves, having achieved feats of exceptional valour and martial prowess, may become Wolf Guards. These mighty warriors lead small forces of Space Wolves, provide a retinue for the most experienced warrior in the force or lead squads. Besides the standard Power Armour, Wolf Guards also earn the right to don Tactical Dreadnought (Terminator) Armour. From here, one may rise to the position of Wolf Lord, mighty leaders who command one of the twelve Great Companies that comprise the full Space Wolf military force. A Wolf Lord may be accompanied by the huge Fenrisian wolves.

For some, the close knit and boisterous brotherhood of the pack (squad) is not well suited to their personality, yearning for open spaces and isolation. These Marines are selected to become part of a Great Company's Wolf Scout force, providing reconnaissance and disrupting enemy movements. These Space Marines are often already veterans, as opposed to the raw recruits used in other Chapters' Scout Companies.

Furthermore, some Space Wolves are sent to Terra to become Wolfblades. Wolfblades are an honour guard that protect the ancient Navigator House of Belisarius, long-time allies of the Chapter. This pact's origins are lost to legend, but the most commonly accepted version of the story dates it from the Great Crusade and the friendship between Leman Russ and Alexander Belisarius. Belisarius was a Navigator of genius, who aided Russ on many of his adventures. On the day of the Feast of the Founding they are said to have sworn a pact of eternal friendship. As a sign of this friendship, the Belisarians agreed to provide Navigators for the Chapter in perpetuam, in return for the Space Wolves' martial aid. An entire pack of Space Wolves would accompany the Celestarch as his bodyguard. Given the fractious nature of the Navigator Houses of the Navis Nobilitae, and a commercial rivalry which, at that time, could result in conflicts as large as wars, this was an alliance of vast importance for the Navigators.

The Space Wolves still enjoy a close bond to House Belisarius, a trait shared only by the Blood Ravens, White Scars, and Blood Angels Chapters.

The Thirteenth Company
Space Wolf legend states that the group that came to be known as the Thirteenth Company was sent by their Primarch Leman Russ to pursue the Thousand Sons Legion into the Warp, after the failed attempt to eliminate that Traitor Legion on their homeworld of Prospero at the very start of the Horus Heresy. The 13th Company vanished from Imperial records, and their loss is honoured by a black stone in the Grand Annulus (the record of Space Wolf Great Companies).

Just before the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, the Primarch of the Thousand Sons Legion, Magnus the Red, sent his astral body through the Warp using the Eldar Webway to reach Terra and warn his father the Emperor of Mannkind of the Warmaster Horus' turn to Chaos and his betrayal of the Imperium. Magnus had by then already been unwittingly corrupted by the Chaos God Tzeentch and his psychic intrusion destroyed the psychic barriers around Terra and the Golden Throne. Magnus' arrival on Terra killed all of the human cult members on Prospero who had initiated the spell that allowed Magnus to enter the Webway, drove thousands of people involved in the Emperor's Webway Projecy on Terra insane because of the phenomenal energies released upon his arrival, killed all of the workers, adepts and Servitors working on the Golden Throne and opened dangerous portals through the Warp to Terra.

Unfortunately, Magnus' continued use of sorcery was a direct violation on the ban of its use within the Imperium imposed at the Council of Nikaea during the Great Crusade. The Emperor also refusd to believe that his beloved son Horus could possibly betray him and mistakenly believed that it was Magnus, not Horus, who had truly betrayed him. The Emperor ordered Leman Russ and his Space Wolves to bring Magnus to Terra to face judgement for his defiance of the Council of Nikaea's ban on the use of sorcery. Horus convinced Leman Russ that it would be a waste of time bringing Magnus to Terra that he should be killed on Prospero for his defiance of the Emperor's will. The Space Wolves were accompanied by the Sisters of Silence and the Adeptus Custodes and their attack on Prospero proceeded smoothly largely because Magnus refused at first to join the fray, believing that his world and legion should fall because he had inadvertently allowed himself to become a pawn of the Chaos Gods.

In the final moments of the Battle of Prospero, the Thousands Sons were already reduced to a force only about 1,000 Space Marines strong and the Space Wolves, Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence to possessed approximately 3,000 warriors combined. The Thousand Sons took shelter in the Pyramind of Photep, the Sanctum of Magnus on Prospero, while their Primarch duelled with Leman Russ outside. The battle between Leman Russ and Magnus was quick and brutal. Magnus drove his fist into Russ’ chest, the icy breastplate cracking open with a sound like planets colliding, and shards of ceramite stabbed the Wolf King’s heart. In return, Russ snapped Magnus’ arm back, and the Thousand Sons sorcerer Ahriman heard it shatter into a thousand pieces. A blade composed of pure psychic energy unsheathed from Magnus’ other arm, and he drove it deep into Russ’ chest through his shattered Power Armour.The blade burst from Russ’ back and the Wolf King loosed a deafening bellow of pain.

Magnus and Leman Russ found themselves locked in battle high above the causeway, the furious horror of their struggle obscured by ethereal fire and bursts of lightning. A flare of black light erupted and Russ cried out in agony. His blade lashed out blindly and struck a fateful blow against his foe’s most dreaded weapon: his eye. In an instant, the pyrotechnic cascade of light and fire was extinguished and a stunning silence swept outwards. All motion ceased, and the titans battling on the causeway were no more, each primarch now restored to his customary stature. Magnus reel back from the Wolf King, one hand clutched to his eye as his shattered arm crackled with regenerative energies. As broken and bloodied as Leman Russ was, he was warrior enough to seize his opportunity. He barrelled into Magnus and gripped him around the waist like a wrestler, roaring as he lifted his brother’s body high above his head. All eyes turned to Russ as he brought Magnus down across his knee, and the sound of the Crimson King’s back breaking tore through every Thousand Sons’ heart. With the last of his strength, Magnus turned his head, and his ravaged eye found Ahriman. Leman Russ’ blade swept down, but before its lethal edge struck, Magnus whispered unnatural syllables. Magnus’ body underwent an instantaneous dissolution, its entire structure unmade with a word, and Ahriman gasped as vast and depthless power surged into his body. Then the Thousands Sons, each carrying a crystal from the refracting caves on Prospero, vanished into the Warp at Ahriman's word and were transported to the Planet of Sorcerers, a Daemon World prepared for them by Tzeentch. Leman Russ then ordered the 13th Company of the Space Wolves to be sent into the Eye of Terror to pursue the Thousand Sons and put an end to their threat to the Imperium once and for all.

The 13th Company's reappearance at the beginning of Abaddon the Despoiler’s Thirteenth Black Crusade returned them to realspace for the first time in over 10,000 years. They appear to still be in pursuit of the goal Leman Russ set for them and still desire the destruction of the Thousand Sons at all costs and possess an abiding hatred for sorcery and all psychic powers.

The Thirteenth Company's organization departs heavily even from the already independent Space Wolf norms, due to their lack of reinforcements and new recruits, the inability to train members in specialist roles, the lack of heavy equipment, and the effect of having to exist within the Eye of Terror for ten thousand years. The core of a 13th Company warband are the Grey Slayers. Similar to Grey Hunters but far beyond them in skill, they fulfil the same roles in battle. Because of the impossibility of recruiting new brethren, there are no Blood Claws in the 13th Company. Each and every Blood Claw has long since advanced to a higher stage. The Company's assault specialists are the Storm Claws. They are equally experienced, but still more hot-headed and aggressive than the Grey Slayers. The key to the 13th Company's movement through the Warp were the Rune Priests. Because the Eye of Terror unlocked hidden psychic powers in many recruits, the Company had no shortage of these highly gifted individuals.

The Wulfen
The Space Wolves suffer from a flaw in their gene-seed, the Canis Helix of Leman Russ, that often leads them to take on many canine traits as they age, such as enlarged canine teeth, yellow eyes and abnormal growths of hair. Unfortunately, in some Space Wolves the mutation proceeds too far and transforms them during the heat and passion of battle into more bestial wolf-like humanoids. These Marines are said to bear the "Mark of the Wulfen" by the other members of the Chapter because they grow elongated canine teeth and bestial claws. The only time that the Space Wolves turn into fully wolf-like humanoid mutants called the Wulfen is when they are exposed to large amounts of Warp Energy (such as the Space Wolves' 13th Company in the Eye of Terror). In this case, it is not a Chaotic mutation, but rather a defensive mechanism induced when their altered DNA is flooded by the power of Chaos, for such bestial mutants actually possess more resistance to the corruption of Chaos.

The Space Marines who mutate into Wulfen bear a dim resemblance to the werewolves of ancient human myth in much the same way as that certain members of the Blood Angels Chapter who suffer from the Red Thirst desire to ingest blood like the legendary vampire. Space Marines who fully mutate into Wulfen usually escape to the hinterlands of Fenris, or are locked up or sorrowfully put down by their Battle-Brothers. The Mark of the Wulfen normally manifests itself at the Neophyte stage of Space Marine development and thus new Space Wolves must spend time during their training in scenarios designed to determine which of their number will suffer from the change.

Though the Space Wolves sometimes use individual Wulfen in battle, the legendary 13th Company use entire packs of the mutants. Each and every member of the 13th Company carries this flaw, and it manifests itself in these Space Wolves at different times. The flaw has manifested itself so strongly in the 13th Company because it reacts to the influence of Chaos which was rampant in the Warp where the 13th Company was trapped for the last ten millennia. Yet, as noted above, this flaw can also serve as a form of spiritual and biological defence mechanism since beings whose sentience has been compromised tend to be corrupted far less easily by Chaos. As a result, the Space Wolves are exceptionally resistant to the malign influence of Chaos compared even to other Space Marines. It is believed by members of the Adeptus Mechanicus that the 13th Company were only able to remain uncorrupted during their 10,000 year sojourn in the Eye of Terror precisely because they all carried this flaw.

Physical Appearance
Due to an unusual mutation in the gene-seed inherited from their Primarch Leman Russ, as a Space Wolf warrior grows older his hair turns a particular shade of grey and his canines lengthen into true, wolf-like fangs. Even his skin becomes thicker and more leathery like a wolf pelt and all Space Wolf Marines are usually quite hirsuite. These traits in their fully matured form are usually emblematic of a Space Wolf who has become a Grey Hunter, the name given to the Veteran Marines of this unusual Chapter. Of course, in a few Space Wolves this mutation proceeds too far and results in the ultimate transformation of the individual into a feral Wulfen mutant, as noted above.

Notable Members

 * Logan Grimnar - Great Wolf (Chapter Master) for the better part of the 41st Millennium.
 * Ragnar Blackmane - Youngest Wolf Lord in the Space Wolves' history and protagonist of the Space Wolf novel series. He is the only Space Wolf to become a Wolf Lord without first becoming a Grey Hunter. Current champion of the Chapter and bearer of the Wolf Helm of Russ, which he presented to Ulrik the Slayer as a sign of respect. Prevented the return of the Thousand Sons Legion by casting the Spear of Russ into a Warp gate.
 * Ulrik the Slayer -The Space Wolves' oldest Wolf Priest, and mentor to many of their greatest heroes. Ulrik has had a hand in training both Ragnar Blackmane and (allegedly) Logan Grimnar; however the chronology of the Warhammer 40,000 universe actually makes this impossible with regards to Logan, not least because Logan reached the position of Great Wolf (leader of the Space Wolves Chapter) before Ulrik was even promoted to Wolf Priest. This could be explained by the mention of a different Ulric (spelt differently to that of Ulrik the Slayer) though so far Games Workshop has not commented on this.
 * Bjorn the Fell-Handed - The oldest Venerable Dreadnought in the Imperium. He fought alongside Leman Russ during the Horus Heresy and was the only member of Russ' retinue left behind by the Primarch. He predicted that Russ will come again.
 * Njal Stormcaller - The Space Wolves' greatest Rune Priest, accompanied by Nightwing the psyker raven.
 * Lukas the Trickster - Lukas the Trickster is a notorious character amidst the ranks of the Space Wolves, a raucous and ebullient figure who defies authority just as willingly as he defies the enemies of the Chapter. He is a Blood Claw, and will forever be.
 * Canis Wolfborn - Canis Wolfborn is a loner, a warrior who is more at home in the company of wolves than men. Though he is a member of the Wolf Guard of Harald Deathwolf, Canis Wolfborn's story is utterly different from those of his peers, and his prowess in combat is unmatched.

Chapter Colours
Prior to the Horus Heresy, the Space Wolves Legion wore grey Power Armour, with a red snarling wolf as the Legion's badge. In the 41st Millennium, the Space Wolves' Power Armour is a blue-grey, with other colours as highlights, most commonly red and yellow. The armour is often adorned with tokens taken from Fenrisian wolves, such as pelts, tails and teeth. Great Company symbols vary, but are taken from Fenrisian mythology and are always related in some way to the Twelve Wolves of Fenris. The 13th Company Space Wolves Marines retain the old, darker grey and red Legion symbols, although the different warbands vary their precise markings along (albeit similar) red wolf themes.

Background Inspiration
The most recent incarnation of the Space Wolves is described as "a fantasy-style army in a science fiction universe". The backstory and "character" of the army is inspired by Germanic and Celtic barbarian mythology with a strong focus on the mythology of the Norse Vikings. The Space Wolves are reluctant to use some forms of 'advanced' technology in a desire to fight in the style of their Primarch and feral homeworld. This is, of course, reflected in the army list and specialist rules used by Space Wolf players. They are often (mistakenly) perceived to be an all-out assault army, like Blood Angels or Black Templars; this is, however, erroneous, for they have a much more flexible and balanced play style and a greater behavioural reliability than either of the above mentioned Chapters. They do favour shorter-ranged confrontation than the traditional 'shooty' Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters, however.