Angron

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 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 their former Legion commander, Captain Kharn of the 8th Assault Company voluntarily went forth to confront their angry Primarch. Nearly beaten to death for his efforts, Kharn finally convinced Angron of his Legion's worthiness as fellow warriors, and his pre-ordainment as their 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 that Angron had received during his gladiator training. During the course of the Great Crusade, he reaped many victories, although some criticized the extreme and bloodthirsty tactics he 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
After the end of the Horus Heresy, the Daemon Primarch of the World Eaters did not reenter Imperial history until he unleashed the massive assault recorded as the "Dominion of Fire" in the mid-38th Millennium. At that time, 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 centuries. They took control of over 70 sectors and 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 lost was eventually recovered by the forces of Mankind. Angron also initiated the First War for Armageddon in 474.M41. After fierce fighting against the stoic defenders of that strategically-located Hive World in the Segmentum Solar, Angron and his daemonic entourage were cast back into the Warp by an elite force of a hundred Grey Knights Terminators who were deployed to Armageddon to aid its Imperial Guard, Planetary Defence Forces and Space Wolves defenders. Since his banishment, Angron has not taken part in any further actions against Imperial forces.