Horus Heresy · atlas

Legion XVI · traitors

Sons of Horus

Primarch: Horus Lupercal

Homeworld: Cthonia · Segmentum Solar

The XVI Legion, formerly the Luna Wolves, was the first to be reunited and the best loved — its primarch Horus Lupercal was the first to gain the title and the only one to become Warmaster. His fall on Davin unleashed the entire Heresy: wounded by the blade of the Anathame, he beheld a distorted future in visions and rose in revolt. With the Isstvan III Atrocity he opened the war and led the traitors to Terra. In the finale he killed Sanguinius and all but finished the Emperor, but the latter destroyed his soul. Horus’s body was later taken by his First Captain, Abaddon.

Side in the Heresy: traitors The Legion of the Warmaster himself and the wellspring of the entire Heresy. Horus was mortally wounded on the moon of Davin by the blade of the Anathame (Erebus’s intrigue) and seduced by Chaos in a false healing temple (~005.M31). He unleashed open war with the Isstvan III Atrocity (005.M31).

Number
XVI (16)
Side
Traitors
Events in the chronicle
54 events
Strength
A large Legion — no fewer than 25 companies at one moment of the Great Crusade; often put at 130,000–170,000. An estimate, disputed.

Fate

Horus was killed by the Emperor aboard the Vengeful Spirit at the climax of the Siege of Terra (014.M31); the Emperor was mortally wounded and confined to the Golden Throne. The Legion, left headless, fell into decline; later Abaddon destroyed a clone of Horus, repainted the armour black and renamed the Legion the Black Legion, rejecting the name of Horus.

Speciality

“Speartip”: the most flexible and effective Legion, which brought more worlds to compliance than any other; lightning decapitation strikes under the personal command of the Warmaster.

Tactics

The “Speartip” — a swift strike at the enemy’s heart; mixed squads for flexibility; the elite 1st Company — the Justaerin Terminators (black armour) and the Catulan Reavers. The Mournival council and the secret warrior lodges.

What the Legion is known for

Horus’s own Legion (formerly the Luna Wolves), the best loved and the first reunited; Ullanor; the Mournival; the Vengeful Spirit; the wellspring of the entire Heresy; later — Abaddon’s Black Legion.

Wargear

Justaerin Terminators and Catulan Reavers, Banestrike bolts, the Luperci; Horus’s mace Worldbreaker; Cthonian tunnel tactics.

Notable warriors

Events involving the Legion

Eve of the Storm

The Fall

The Isstvan Massacre

Shadow of War

The Road to Terra

The Siege of Terra

Characters of the Legion

Sources

  1. FW Black Book I: Betrayal
  2. Lexicanum: Sons of Horus
  3. WH40k Fandom: Horus
  4. Horus Rising (D. Abnett)
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