Horus Heresy · atlas

Legion XVII · traitors

Word Bearers

Primarch: Lorgar Aurelian

Homeworld: Colchis · Segmentum Pacificus

The XVII Legion, formerly the Imperial Heralds, was the first to fall to Chaos — the first Chaos Space Marines. Their primarch Lorgar, “Urizen”, was the first to worship his father as a god, and when this faith was rejected, the first to turn to Chaos. Humiliated over Monarchia, he, with his mentors Kor Phaeron and Erebus, discovered the Ruinous Powers and dedicated the entire Legion to them long before the others. It was the Word Bearers who, through Erebus, seduced Horus on Davin, and then in the Battle of Calth summoned the Ruinstorm and in the Shadow Crusade scorched the worlds of Ultramar.

Side in the Heresy: traitors The FIRST traitors — the Legion was seduced by Chaos decades before all the others. Humiliated by the Emperor over Monarchia (~43 years before Isstvan V), Lorgar discovered the “true gods” and turned the Legion to Chaos; through Erebus he also seduced Horus himself.

Number
XVII (17)
Side
Traitors
Events in the chronicle
36 events
Strength
A very large Legion — ~150,000 by the start of the events of “The First Heretic”, reputedly rivalling the Ultramarines. An estimate, disputed.

Fate

Lorgar judged Horus weak for resisting the full embrace of the gods and secretly plotted to usurp him. He did not come to the final Siege of Terra, departing with Zardu Layak into the Webway. He became a daemon prince of Chaos Undivided and withdrew for millennia of meditation on the daemon world of Sicarus.

Speciality

Religious zeal and a faith turned to Chaos: ritual warfare, the summoning of daemons and possessed legionaries; vast numbers (~150,000).

Tactics

Preaching and indoctrination, rituals and summoning; the possessed Gal Vorbak, the iconoclasts of the Ashen Circle (who burn culture and temples), the Anakatis Kul daemon-engines, the possessed Dreadnought Mhara Gal. Led by Dark Apostles.

What the Legion is known for

The first Legion to fall to Chaos — the first Chaos Space Marines; the humiliation over Monarchia; the seduction of Horus through Erebus; Calth and the Ruinstorm; the Gal Vorbak.

Wargear

The crozius arcanum, the fire axes of the Ashen Circle, athame daemon-blades; the possessed Gal Vorbak, the Anakatis Kul daemon-engines and the possessed Dreadnought Mhara Gal.

Notable warriors

  • ErebusFirst Chaplain, Dark Apostle

    The chief schemer of the Heresy: corrupted Lorgar, Horus and Typhon, stole the blade of the Anathame and engineered Horus’s wounding on Davin; planned the Isstvan III Atrocity.

    Events: Battle of Davin’s Moon, Isstvan III Atrocity, Battle of Nuceria · ascension of Angron
  • Kor PhaeronFirst Captain, “Black Cardinal”

    Lorgar’s foster father and mentor from Colchis, who turned the Legion to Chaos; commanded the treacherous attack on Calth.

    Events: Battle of Calth
  • Argel TalCrimson Lord of the Gal Vorbak

    Chieftain of the Gal Vorbak — the first legionaries possessed by daemons; Khârn’s “brother in honour”, killed by Erebus on Nuceria.

    Events: Shadow Crusade, Battle of Nuceria · ascension of Angron
  • Zardu LayakCrimson Apostle

    Dark Apostle and commander of the “Silent”, “the left hand of Horus”; at Calth perpetrated massacres of the civilian population, wielded the Anakatis daemon-blades.

    Events: Battle of Calth
  • Sor TalgronDark Apostle

    Dark Apostle of the “Serrated Sun”, who was present at the burning of Monarchia and carried Lorgar’s word across the worlds of the Imperium.

    Events: Razing of Monarchia

Events involving the Legion

Eve of the Storm

The Isstvan Massacre

Shadow of War

The Road to Terra

The Siege of Terra

Characters of the Legion

Sources

  1. FW Black Book V: Tempest
  2. Lexicanum: Word Bearers
  3. WH40k Fandom: Lorgar
  4. The First Heretic (A. Dembski-Bowden)
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