Legionary Datasheet

[Kerby Reynolds]

The HERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTES keyword is used in the following Chaos Space Marines datasheets:

The HERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTES and INFANTRY keywords are used in the following Chaos Space Marines datasheets:

The HERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTES and MOUNTED keywords are used in the following Chaos Space Marines datasheets:

The HERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTESHERETIC ASTARTES and CHAOS UNDIVIDED keywords are used in the following Chaos Space Marines datasheets:

Chaos Space Marines (also known as Heretic Astartes and Astartes Traitoris) are, simply enough, Space Marines that have fallen to, or were inducted to, Chaos. They are also one of the main factions in Warhammer 40,000. The first Chaos Marines were born during the Horus Heresy from the nine Traitor Legions. Since then, many Space Marines (and even a few full Chapters) have gone rogue, becoming Renegades. However, this is mostly a fluff distinction, as the Codex (or the models for that matter) does not differentiate between the two.

CSM supplement their lack of more easily available loyalist resources (recruits, tech, supplies, etc.) by way of daemons and Warp energy from the dark Gods, plundered weapons from whoever is unlucky enough to lose an engagement to them, and renegades from the Imperium, which are always available because the Imperium treats its subjects like steampunk condoms.

Chaos Space Marines are basically Imperial Space Marines who have forsaken their oath to the Imperium of Man to serve the Ruinous Powers, which is Heresy. Marines do this for a number of reasons, although the cause of this is usually finding that the ways of Chaos suit them more than the Imperium, or the classic case of the Imperium dicking them over (largely the case for post-heresy chapters).

The origins of Chaos Space Marines go back to Erebus of the Word Bearers, the first Chaos Marine, who then corrupted the recently-emotionally-discouraged Primarch Lorgar to Chaos. Erebus would then set into motion the events that would lead to Warmaster Horus being wounded on Davin's moon, where he would fall to the corruptions of Chaos. Horus, supreme Warmaster of the Imperium, would then gather 7 8 more of his distraught brother Primarchs to his cause, along with a good fraction of Imperial forces and the Adeptus Mechanicus in full-scale rebellion, resulting in the Horus Heresy. That didn't go so well. When Horus got roflstomped by the Emprah during their duel (at which point he was the only remaining traitor primarch that hadn't been banished into the warp or else simply fucked off and went AWOL), most of the Traitors fled to the Eye of Terror because of the loss of leadership, resulting in what would be known as "Chaos Space Marines".

Naturally, they fight just like Space Marines except on average they are stronger, more experienced, and older, given that the majority stood with their Primarchs during the Great Crusade only worse because Mary Sues need punching bags. They keep using shit they were equipped with prior to the Horus Heresy such as bolters and the ever useful Space Marine plot armor, which would explain why they didn't fistfuck each other to death before reaching the Eye of Terror, or why they would follow the lead of a particular Saturday morning cartoon villain.

Chaos Marines are also commonly known to compensate their aging weapons (which didn't really age much, considering how fucktarded Imperium tech support is) by using demon magic for that extra edge in combat. Naturally they lack some of the weapons and equipment Imperium "invented" (or rather dug up) for the last 10,000 years, such as Razorbacks, Centurion suits, assault cannons or grav guns, and although they often get their hands on such pieces of tech (mostly by killing corpse-worshipers who own them), their Dark Mechanicum allies have few to zero spare parts and/or ammo for them, those trophies rarely last in use for a long time. The latter reason is also why Chaos Marines no longer use some of them more delicate and advanced tech like Land Speeder variants or Whirlwinds, which they definitely HAD before the Heresy - those things require just too much maintenance to fit into their more independent and chaotic combat doctrines.

For all their powers from Chaos, however, most of them are nowhere nearly as organized as their loyalist counterparts. Turning to Chaos tends to drive Marines insane, usually causing them to lose much of the tactical prowess they had as loyalists. That said, organized legions like the Word Bearers, Thousand Sons, Iron Warriors, Death Guard (once they got their shit together), and Black Legion still remain much more of a competent military force than one might think. This is emphasized in the Black Legion novels, where the narrator has to explain to the freaking Inquisition, of all people, that the Chaos Legions don't have any dedicated supply lines, logistics, infrastructure, shipyards, independent manufacturing, or even the ability to feed their own forces. And since the Imperium can't effectively garrison every world (at least not without sacrificing the initiative on all fronts) the Chaos Space Marines still remain a great threat despite their shortcomings...

...though many of those problems were eventually solved as the Traitor Legions regained their Heresy-era numbers (or even more in some cases), and various industries were built or captured from the Imperium; the Idolator ship and two Planet Killers were made 100% from Chaos factories.

Different warbands of Chaos Space Marines are every bit as prone to fighting each other as they are anything else for any number of reasons; evil doesn't get along with evil, they're all nuts and just want to fight something, or the other warband worships a different Chaos god. Yeah, these guys are nuts. The phrase "the devil is not mocked", comes to mind, as was aptly conveyed by Alpharius during the height of the Horus Heresy. Infighting inside individual warbands is not unheard of, and their leaders always have to watch their back because every single Marine has hopes of killing their superiors and taking over. So yeah, if they didn't have the Eye of Terror to hide in and the Imperium wasn't so idiot-ball prone, it probably would have killed them by now. However, when they DO get their shit together, they fuck up the Imperium on a scale undreamed of by almost every other race in Warhammer. See the Dominion of Fire or the Cholercaust Blood Crusade. GODDAMN IT, KHORNATE BERZERKERS ARE AWESOME.

They were the oldest fogies (or at least the ones from traitor legions are anyway) in the setting, barring the space elves, that one angry viking dreadnought (who's about their age), the Tomb King expys and maybe a few of the Omnivorous Space Bug Lizards things but now they've been retconned. CSM today may be some of the veterans from the Heresy or they could just be newfags that decided they were too cool for the Imperium. Fucking hell this is depressing.

Many Chaos Marines eventually dedicate themselves to one of the four Chaos Gods, becoming little more than an extension of the god's will. This path has great risk and great reward, as the Chaos Gods are quite capricious; between two equally-dedicated champions, one will become a horrific beast that should not be named, whereas the other will achieve apotheosis and become a Daemon Prince.

Note that many bands of Undivided Marines exploit Chaos for their own gain and feel little devotion to the Ruinous Powers, seeing it as no more than a tool for their goals. The Alpha Legion, for instance, are closet loyalists (or double heretics, or triple heretics, or brothas doin' it for themselves, nobody knows), whereas the Night Lords Legion only cares about spreading terror, which Chaos is undoubtedly useful for, but they look down upon the religious. Similarly, the Soul Drinkers, a Renegade Chapter with an entire book series, are enemies of both Chaos and the Imperium of Man (though they fight for the Emperor's ideals; it's complicated, but likely has roots in the current Imperium being the antithesis or something akin to the Imperial Truth), although most in the Imperium would consider them "Chaos Marines".

When the Horus Heresy struck, nine of the original twenty Legions turned against the Emprah. These guys are basically the original and the best. All of these survived the Siege of Terra and escaped into the Eye of Terror with a very large number of bodies (Space Marine legions frequently numbered up to 100,000 members by the time of the Heresy). Over time, they have become widely scattered, generally working in mixed warbands combining a variety of Traitor Legionnaires, Renegade Marines, and lesser humans (frequently rebellious Imperial Guard). However, it should be noted that quite a few Chaos Marines still fight as a Legion (generally drastically reduced in size) led by their original (now-Daemon) Primarch (if they're still alive, anyway). It's very rare to see more than a Grand Company (roughly equal in size to a Chapter of loyalist Marines) in any given battle unless it's an organized invasion (of which the most notable examples are the Black Crusades led by a certain armless failure), the Legion's Primarch himself calls them to fuck some shit up, or you're dealing with the Word Bearers or Iron Warriors, who are generally more organized than anybody else. The following are the nine Traitor Legions:

The legions of old are not the only source of Chaos Space Marines, with the fluff no longer being clear on whether they even are the largest source anymore. It's either the traitor legions or the Ultramarines who have produced the most Chaos Marines and renegade Chapters. Loyalist marines get turned to Chaos like all the time (well, okay, it's actually pretty rare considering the limited numbers of Space Marines, but significant enough). Most often it's just a few individual Marines or squads, sometimes going as far as entire companies, and rarely (but not rarely enough) entire chapters turn to Chaos. Sometimes it's the Imperium's own fault for turning initially loyal Marines against the system due to a misunderstanding or an overzealous Inquisitor declaring them heretics and the new 'renegades' then realize that since no matter what they do they'll be viewed as traitors by the Imperium, they may as well become traitors in reality. Sometimes, like with the Abyssal Crusade, it's a case of just as planned succeeding so hard Tzeentch isn't even miffed that particular plot gets tied up. Other times, Marines "caught" some Chaos taint due to fighting Chaos too much without proper Librarian control (bonus points if Librarians themselves get corrupted), committing terrible crimes in their fights against the Ruinous Powers, or trying to fight Chaos with Chaos, like the Relictors. And finally, a Chapters' own flaws in temperament may leave them all too easily manipulated into bringing their damnation upon themselves, or Crimson Slaughter's case, the loyalist elements of Fourth Company broke away when they fell.

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