Sons of the Eye

The Sons of the Eye were a large warband of Chaos Space Marines dedicated to Chaos Undivided. The Sons of the Eye were a splinter warband of the Black Legion Traitor Legion that founded and commanded by the infamous Drecarth the Sightless, the blind butcher of Irridous VII, a former battle-brother that had fought alongside Abaddon during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy that followed. Always jealous of Primarch Horus' favour for the Despoiler, the Sons of the Eye considered Abaddon a usurper. During the Sixth Black Crusade launched in 901.M36, the Warmaster visits his wrath upon Drecarth the Sightless and his treacherous warband. Abaddon aids the Sons of the Eye in an assault on the Forge World of Arkreach, fighting side-by-side until the defenders are finally crushed. The triumphant Abaddon then slowly kills Drecarth, even as he makes him watch every member of the Sons of the Eye bow before their new master.

Warband History
Following the dire events of the Horus Heresy during the final epic Battle of Terra and the death of Warmaster Horus aboard his capital ship, the Vengeful Spirit, Abaddon and the Sons of Horus broke orbit and fought their way free of the battle and escaped into the void. A time of reprisal and retribution known as the Scouring followed, and countless worlds were put to death by the loyalists for siding with Horus, their corpses left as a warning to others. Those Traitor Legions that remained in the Imperium were hunted mercilessly and hounded across the stars by pitiless loyalists. Abaddon and the remaining Sons of Horus took refuge in the Eye of Terror, choosing to plunge into the maelstrom of madness rather than face extinction at the hands of the Emperor's vengeful warriors.

The Sons of Horus managed to reach the Eye of Terror with the bloodied survivors of the Scouring, but the once might Legion was reduced to a fraction of its former size. Led by only a few remaining captains, the Legion struggled with its loyalty to their fallen Primarch and the cold reality of their defeat at the hands of the Emperor and his lackeys. Bereft of their glorious Primarch, the Legion floundered, and in desperation turned to each of the Chaos Gods in turn in their search for renewed power, inviting possession and the ever more costly blessings of the warp. All the while, the Legion suffered the jealous attacks of their former allies. As the Traitor Legions turned upon one another, the Dark Gods subverted and manipulated their new playthings, reshaping the Legions for their own ends and the never-ending war between the gods.

Abaddon abandoned the Legion; broken by the death of Horus and sick of war, he wandered alone into the Eye of Teror. Meanwhile the Sons of Horus carried the body of their Primarch, preserved in stasis, further into the Eye, ignoring the wars that raged around them. On the world of Maeleum, a graveyard world of steel and rust, the Sons of Horus raised a fortress, fashioning a mighty citadel from the wrecks of decaying vessels lost to the Warp. The Legion interred Horus' body within a great tomb, where many fell into worship of their fallen demigod. With their Primarch dead and their Legion on the verge of extinction, the Sons of Horus stagnated. Some captains suspected that it would be but a matter of time before they and their battle-brothers were drawn into the wars between the Legions, and so they pushed for the Sons of Horus to replace its losses by increasing the Legion's gene-seed stocks. These same captains knew that any fortress, no matter how grand, could not hope to hold back a determined Space Marine assault, and called for more warriors to be found. Unfortunately, the majority of surviving captains were convinced that the Warp would provide all the power they needed, if only they could master the methods of merging Daemon and Space Marine.

The Legion War
The wars between the other Legions who had sided with Horus during the Horus Heresy continued to rage, the Sons of Horus continuing to ignore the events happening around them, as they continued to raise their fortress ever higher and worshipping the corpse of their Primarch. The Sons of Horus had remained largely apart from these conflicts; however, jealous eyes now turned their way. Traitorous forces gathered against them and conspired to rob them of the remains of Horus to further vile and selfish ambitions. The Primarch's body, with its potent genetic information and biological secrets, was a great prize indeed. In a sudden assault, the remnants of the debased Emperor's Children, having grown vastly in power after firmly cementing their terrible pacts with Slaanesh, easily smashed their way through the defences and into the central chambers of the stronghold. They stole the body of the slain Primarch from the heart of its tomb and spirited it away, some say with the purpose of cloning it in order to create a new and still greater Warmaster.

The Rise of Abaddon
Their fortress in ruins and their Legion decimated, the Sons of Horus stood on the brink of vanishing forever from the galaxy and fading into cursed memory. The Legion devolved into in-fighting amongst themselves, giving in to dark despair or uncontrolled rage. The divisions between the Legion's captains turned into bitter bloodshed and murder, as order completely collapsed. The salvation of the Sons of Horus came when one of its greatest captains, Abaddon, returned from his Dark Pilgrimage in time to watch the battle from afar. It was in that moment that he saw, with cold clarity, that it was the Warmaster's failure that had led the Legion here, to them tearing each other apart in the blood-soaked ruins of Maeleum. Finally, sickened by how far the Legion had fallen, he stalked through the ruins hunting down his fellow captains, cooling his rage with their final screams. In the end, Abaddon alone remained of the Legion's leadcers, demanding obedience from his brothers.

Some saw Abaddon as Horus' rightful successor and fell at his feet willingly, while others recognised his raw strength and bowed their heads to his might. A few turned their back on Abadodn, and were either cut down by their brothers or managed to escape into the Warp. With his Legion brought to heel, Abaddon turned his attention to the clones of Horus; he commanded his warriors to extinguish all trace of their former Primarch and free themselves from his shadow. He then personally led an attack on the Emperor's Children that destroyed the body of the Primarch and all its clone, and in so doing, ushered in a new age for the Legion. The Traitors changed their name once more, this time in reference to the fact that their armour was now adorned black, calling themselves the Black Legion. Through his actions, Abaddon re-invigorated the Legion, reviving the old notion that none could stand in their way and that they would one day inherit the galaxy itself.

Drecarth's Folly
When Abaddon ascended to command of the Sons of Horus, not every warrior of the Legion swore allegiance to him. Many of the Traitors clung to their worship of Horus as a god, believing that he would one day return to lead them and punish those who had forsaken their oaths. Others considered the Heresy to be the end of their subservience to gods and masters; the Emperor and their Primarch were the last overlords they would every bow down to and they saw no reason to make an exception for Abaddon. Most of these renegades were gradually lost to the Warp, disappearing into the Eye and vanishing from record, though some prospered and would return to be a thorn in the side of the Warmaster.

One of these splinter warbands was the Sons of the Eye, led by Drecarth the Sightless. A former battle-brother of Abaddon's, Drecarth had been one of Horus' captains, escaping in the chaos after Maeleum fell. Abaddon had heard whispers of Drecarth's escape and treachery from his cabal of Chaos Sorcerers, who also claimed that an old ally would one day rise to subert the Black Legion, twisting its loyalty with the memory of the dead Primarch. So, under the guise of truce, Abaddon made a pact with the Sons of the Eye and allied with them during the Sixth Black Crusade in 901.M36. The Warmaster wanted to make an example of the Sons of the Eye, a dire warning to any that would consider challenging his power, but he needed to set the stage for his vengeance just right so that none would ever doubt his resolve.

Abaddon besieged the forge world of Arkreach, offering Drecarth and his Sons of the Eye an equal share of plunder. For months, the Legions fought side-by-side against the defences of the Adeptus Mechanicus, bombarding their great cities from space. Finally, the Traitors stood triumphant in the smouldering ruins of the great manufactorums, dead littering the ground. As Drecarth extended his hand in greeting, Abaddon grasped it with his own, only to thrust his claws of the Talon of Horus into the Chaos Space Marine's gut. Drecarth lived long enough to see the Sons of the Eye bow to Abaddon before the Warmaster tore out his skull and spine. A dire warning to anyone that dared challenge his power.

Warband Colours
The Sons of the Eye still wore the dark and murky verdigris green-black colours of their former Legion. Their armour also still displayed the Cthonian gang-sigils graven into their armour that recorded their notable kills and deeds.

Warband Badge
When Drecarth broke with Abaddon he had his warriors make a cut across the eye they wore on their armour, a symbol of the blindness of Horus that had led his Legion to destruction.