Thousand Sons

Chapter Overview
The Thousand Sons are one of the Legions of Chaos Space Marines. The main feature that distinguishes them from other legions is the number of psyker mutations inside their Legion. They prefer to use Sorcerers and guile in combat, relying on their abilities and knowledge.

Primarch
The Legions' Primarch is Magnus the Red a red-haired, red-skinned giant with an eye sunk deep into his forehead, known as the Cyclopean Eye which allowed him to look into the warp. Magnus was perhaps the most mutated of the Primarchs and was gifted with great Psychic power, perhaps the greatest in all the known universe after the Emperor himself.

Thousand Son's Colors and Information


The Thousand Sons' pre-Heresy color scheme was red, in recognition of their primarch Magnus The Red. The symbol that Thousand Sons marines bear upon their shoulder pads is the ouroboros, but used to be a red 'M', for Magnus. 'M' is also the roman numeral for one thousand, and this is what they draw their chapter name from. This does not mean however that after the Original thousand marines were created as sons of Magnus, that others were not made during the concourse of the Great Crusade. Often Legions were comprised of ten thousand standing Marines.

Their colors later became Royal Blue with Gold trim after changed by Tzeentch and many Thousand Sons marines began wearing ornate crests on their helmets similar to the Burial mask of Tutankhamen. Perhaps this is a sign of those effected by the Rubric.

Their battlecry is a ghostly whisper, "All is Dust".

The Great Crusade
In the Great Crusade they would use Sorcerers, their powers and leave whole populations thrall to their will instead of a frontal assault. This inflicted the ire of Leman Russ who saw anything less then a frontal assault as dishonorable.

While fighting in the Great Crusade the Thousand Sons would gather the sacred texts and forbidden research of a few thousand worlds and compile them into the Book of Magnus.

The Council of Nikaea
After much debate in the Imperium over the use of psykers the Emperor called a Conclave at the remote and volatile planet of Nikaea to deal with the issue once and for all. The highest authorities in the young Imperium were present or were represented, including the Emperor and his Sigillite Malcador, who officiated the Conclave. At the fore front was Magnus who argued very passionately for his cause. The main opponents were the Space Wolves and the Death Guard, whose primarch Mortarion testified in person.


 * Note: Due to the recent Art books written by Alan Merrit some of the back story here is under debate and not known to be offical. See also the Graham McNeill novel A Thousand Sons.

What ever the case, the Emperor's edicts were:

1. In the interest of Unity, no one was to be censured.

2. Use of psychic abilities by the Imperium's forces was banned (except the use of Astropaths, Navigators, and very strictly sanctioned and controlled Psykers).

3. All Legion Librarian departments were to be disbanded, and their members returned to conventional combat duty.

In effect Magnus and the Thousand Sons were thus banned from practicing 'Sorcery'.

The Fall of Prospero
The Space Wolves attack on the Thousand Sons' homeworld Prospero came as a complete surprise. Their defenses were left mostly unmanned, because the Thousand Sons were not expecting an attack by their Astartes brethren. The Space Wolves began slaughtering and burning everything in sight.

Magnus's Vengence on the Space Wolves
Revenge against the Space Wolves finally came in M32. Even though most of those that had originally fought against them had died and passed on. The Thousand Sons began raiding worlds around Fenris, attempting to bait Great Wolf Harek Ironhelm away from Fenris who wanted nothing more than to bring the Thousand Sons to battle. Magnus even taunted him in his dreams, showing Harek the smoldering remains of conquered cities which Magnus was walking through. Eventually Harek found what he believed to be the Thousand Sons’ secret base on Gangava and launched a full scale attack against it. This opened the Thousand Sons to in turn assault Fenris itself. For forty days and nights the Thousand Sons assaulted the Fang Citadel, who were forced to awaken Bjorn the Fell Handed, now a dreadnought. The remaining troops retreated deep into the Fang, while sending scouts out to escape and inform Harek. Harek shammed, returned to Fenris and brought battle to Magnus. Magnus was too powerful for Harek however and slew him on the slopes of the Fang but not before taking a wound himself. With the now furious space wolf fleets returned, the Thousand Sons withdrew.

The Rubric of Ahriman
Some time later the forces began to suffer severely from mutations from their time spent in the Eye of Terror and their patron who was the very master of change, 'gifts' from the chaos they now served. Several of the brethren were mutating out of control into mindless spawn. All their efforts were being wasted. They were losing the one thing they had left: their humanity.

The Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons, Ahriman, devised a way to prevent further mutation, a powerful spell known as the Rubric of Ahriman. However the rest of the Sorcerer Librarians of the Thousand Sons did not agree or see eye to eye on the matter. It was only as Magnus was finally elevated to the status of Daemon Prince that the Sorcerers banded together to create a Cabal. They agreed to cooperate and unleash the Rubric. The following cataclysm unleashed lightning strikes that hit each and every Thousand Son. Those that had little or no power were disintegrated, their bodies turning to ash in their armor. Those that had some power were greatly augmented becoming the most powerful sorcerers in the Galaxy.


 * Note: This is contested by the most recent Eldar codex (4th Ed), which states the Eldar are the most powerful psykers in the Galaxy, compared to older versions of the Chaos codices which states its the Sorcerers of the Thousand Sons. Whether this is just part of the difference between Sorcery and Psyker powers is unclear.

The Cabal of Ahriman
Magnus was about to destroy Ahriman and his Cabal, but just as he was about to strike, the Cabal was saved by Tzeentch who revealed: "You destroy my pawns too easily." Ahriman's Cabal were instead exiled from the Planet of Sorcery for his action by the Legion's Primarch, the now Daemon Prince Magnus the Red. Magnus cursed Ahriman to 'wander the galaxy in search of the true meaning of Chaos'. Instead, Ahriman now seeks out magical artifacts and talented psykers; their threat is so great that the Inquisition will sooner destroy a precious artifact than allow it to fall into Ahriman's hands. Despite attempts to the contrary Ahriman has rather successfully wandered the Galaxy gathering up promising cult members, artifacts on thousands of worlds for the last several millennia.

Ahriman's Current dealings
Ahriman now is seeking entry into the Black Library and during Abaddon's13th Black Crusade was able to gain access to the Webway using the captured Inquisitor Czevak and a long forgotten webway portal on Etiamnum III. It is rumored that if he obtains the Black Library, he could use the information inside to become a new and powerful Chaos God.

However despite summoning 'Leviathan', a giant flying Warp Beast wreathed in flame, a cyclopean daemonic monstrosity with Screamers that follow in it's wake, disrupting not only the Warp but the Webway as well, and Ahriman causing horrendous casualties on both sides of the conflict, he was ejected from the Webway his goal unattained, Inquistor Czevak captured by harlequins and believed held in the webway, the webway Gate he used was sealed, never to be opened again. The final results of the Campaign state that his 'star is on the rise' with Magnus once again, mostly due to the great chaos caused by his battles in the Webway, prowess in capturing Inquistor Czevak, and ability to come close to entering the Black Library.

Ahriman himself believes to this day that Chaos can be controlled and used with Cabalist strength and a powerful mind. While often portrayed as the 'Hero' of Tzeentch, he instead believes he is searching out his own goals, despite being just a pawn. He does not openly recognize Tzeentch as his Master though all his machinations by definition empower Tzeentch.