Sekhmet Terminator, bodyguard to Primarch Magnus the Red
The Sekhmet or Magnus' Veterans were the elite Space Marine Battle-Brothers that served as the Thousand Sons Primarch Magnus the Red's personal bodyguard. They were made up of the best and brightest of the the Thousand Sons Legion and equipped with crimson and ivory Tactical Dreadnought Armour, jade scarabs gleaming on breastplates, golden crests rearing from the atef helmets of the Scarab Occult, their visors marred by a single vertical slash that obscured the right eye lenses of their helmets. This was in honour of their Primarch, nicknamed the Cyclops, due to the loss of his right eye from peering too deeply in the realms of the Warp.
The Sekhmet were active throughout the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. The Sekhmet were all veteran members of the Scarab Occult of the elite 1st Fellowship, under the command of 1st Fellowship Captain Ahzek Ahriman. These proud and extremely devoted warriors were both combat Veterans and highly-ranked members of the psychic mastery cult system of the Thousand Sons. The Sekhmet were powerful warrior-mages, and could call forth powers mortal men could never dream of wielding. On his own, each warrior was capable of subduing worlds. In battle, the Scarab Occult could simply will their Tutelaries into their enemies’ hiding places, and burn them out with invisible fires or crush them with psychic hammer blows. Methodical and swift, Ahriman’s First Fellowship would push onwards like autonomus engines of destruction.
None of the Sekhmet were below the Cult grade of Philosophus, the final Cult rank a warrior could hold before facing the Dominus Liminus. Each warrior was able to mentally transcend their physical and emotional weaknesses; achieving a form of emotional purity that resulted in warriors who were both fearless and willing to follow orders immediately and unquestioningly. This extraordinary level of discipline was commented on by some of the other Primarchs who witnessed the Sekhmet in action during the Great Crusade. The Jaghatai Khan of the White Scars Legion, commented that they were no better than automata, whilst, in a similar vein, Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands Legion likened them to robots, though some within the Thousand Sons suspected that knowing the Iron Hands' affinity for technology, this comment may have been meant as a form of compliment. Leman Russ, the Great Wolf of the Space Wolves Legion, showed disdain for what he perceived as the Sekhmet's perceived "lack" of fighting spirit and espirit d'corps due to their taciturn natures. The Sekhmet's status following the Thousand Sons Legion's transformation into a Chaotic Traitor Legion devoted to Tzeentch and the enactment of the Rubric of Ahriman is unknown.
Sources
- Horus Heresy: Collected Visions
- A Thousand Sons (Novel) by Graham McNeill, pp. 11, 14, 26, 48, 57, 98, 101-105, 108, 215, 219, 230-231, 248, 251, 254