The most grievous wounds are those that refuse to kill, yet will not heal.
Instead they linger, deepen, and fester.
The passage of the years makes little difference nor does any form of treatment.
The wound remains.
The afflicted creature is left to suffer in agony, subjected to every kind of pain imaginable,
until it can no longer remember a time without it.
The Imperium of Man has suffered many such wounds.
It is a realm founded in war and it is war that sustains it.
Across the millennia, triumph and tragedy alike have left their mark.
Tyranid Hive fleets have consumed entire star systems.
Xenos Empires have enslaved untold billions or seized countless more with vile ideologies.
Ork warlords smash apart the ancient glories of mankind while Necron tombs awake beneath
them.
The Imperium suffers and the galaxy burns.
Yet when the final hour of mankind arrives and the Bell of Lost Souls on Holy Terra rings
out into the darkness for the last time, the Imperium will have finally succumbed to a
wound left over 10,000 years before.
The first… and the last.
Of every threat to assail itself against the crumbling bastions of the Imperium, no single
blow has struck deeper, or festered longer, than the one rent into the soul of mankind
by what were once its most favored warriors.
They were founded on Terra as the 16th Legion.
Earned their first victories as the Luna Wolves.
Were elevated to greater glories as the Sons of Horus, but in the grim darkness of the
41st Millenium, are feared and hated… as the Black Legion.
Raised on Terra in the final years of the 30th Millenium, the twenty Space Marine legions
represented the Emperor’s will to end the unification wars, strike out from the Solar
System, and reunite the lost and scattered domains of humanity.
Like its brother legions, the 16th was genetically modified, its warriors implanted with the
gene-seed of their respective Primarch.
Though the ruinous powers of Chaos would scatter the primarchs, the 16th’s included, across
the galaxy, the relationship between the two could not be severed.
Though their primarch was lost to them, through his gene-seed, they nevertheless came to express
his unique character, personality, and approach to war.
Imperial records of this era remain fragmented, but it is believed that the 16th’s first
recruits came from the hunter clans of the Jutigran Bowl and the slums of the Samsatian
sub-plate.
They were said to be ruthless and independent, swift and aggressive.
Though earning many battle honors in their early campaigns, none matched the First Pacification
of Luna.
Fortified by gene-cultists whose advanced technology was greatly desired by the Emperor,
the 16th made up the vanguard of the Imperium’s invasion and were triumphant in a matter of
hours.
It was the first off-world conquest ever achieved by the legions, and a desperate plea from
the gene-cultists, begging the Emperor to “call off his wolves” would give the 16th
Legion its name.
The victory on Luna was said to be the first battle of the Great Crusade, the enormous
campaign initiated by the Emperor to spread the rule of the Imperium across the entire
galaxy.
Millenia of myths and legends have overwhelmed this era making any complete, verifiable history
impossible, but most every source agrees that Horus, Primarch of the 16th Legion was the
first to be rediscovered.
Some accounts claim he was found on the world of Cthonia, having risen to a position of
power in much the same way as his brothers.
Others dispute this, but whatever the case it is inarguable that Horus spent many years
as the Emperor’s only recovered son, and great affinity existed between them.
Under the command of Horus and their ranks swelled by recruits taken from Cthonia, the
Luna Wolves swept across the galaxy.
Imbued with various Cthonian warrior customs and the peerless instincts of Horus, the legion
was regarded as inelegant, but undeniably effective.
As the great crusade progressed the other Space Marine Legions were reunited with their
Primarchs.
And while their own battle honors would match or even exceed those of the Luna Wolves, the
16th was always on the forefront of the Crusade, achieving many of its most spectacular and
important victories.
The eradication of the largest Ork Empire ever recorded was foremost among these and
achieved through the strategic brilliance of Horus.
So complete was this victory, that it cemented the Emperor’s decision to name Horus Warmaster:
the commander in chief of the Imperium’s armies.
The 16th Legion was renamed the Sons of Horus to mark this appointment, and to cement their
status as the first amongst equals.
The corruption of Horus and his legion to the service of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos
was the result of a long and methodical effort.
Hidden Chaos Cults, malignant artifacts and visions of a nightmarish future all played
their part, but it was Horus’s own bitterness, jealousy and resentment that made him receptive
to the offers of the Dark Gods.
He renounced his oath to the Emperor and led his legion into the worship of the ruinous
powers.
It was a victory of the 16th Legion that ushered the start of the Great Crusade and it was
another victory of the 16th that ended it.
On the world of Istvaan V, the Sons of Horus, together with the traitorous Death Guard,
Emperor’s Children, World Eaters, Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors and Night Lords legions,
massacred the loyalists mobilized against them.
What would be known as the Horus Heresy, had begun.
The death and destruction unleashed over the course of the Imperium’s civil war was without
equal in human history.
In a dark reflection of the Great Crusade, the 16th Legion again carved a bloody path
across the galaxy, but this time into the heart of the Imperium towards the throneworld
of Terra.
The Siege of the Imperial Palace saw Horus finally confront the Emperor himself and the
outcome of that clash would forever echo throughout the Warp.
Though few witnessed it directly, Horus’s psychic howl of anguish was felt by every
warrior in the 16th Legion, announcing their failure and the beginning of the end of the
Heresy.
Amidst the carnage and chaos, the Sons of Horus fled the Sol System, though not before
Ezekyle Abaddon, First Captain of the Legion, recovered his Primarch’s body.
While vengeful Imperial warfleets scoured the remaining traitors from the galaxy, they
hid within the Eye of Terror, a portal into the Realm of Chaos itself and the one place
the loyalists would never dare enter.
Within the Eye, the Legion withered and splintered.
Blamed for the failure of the heresy, the survivors from the other traitor legions launched
punitive attacks on the Sons of Horus, until it seemed that the 16th might simply cease
to exist.
One such attack however, a raid conducted by the remnants of the Emperor’s Children,
would serve as a rallying call for the desperate legion.
Intending to clone a new and greater Warmaster, the Emperor’s Children stole the body of
Horus.
Abaddon led the counterattack which recovered, and then destroyed the corpse of their fallen
primarch, symbolically severing them from their past failures.
The victory, such as it was, cemented Abaddon as an invigorating force within the Legion,
rebuilding its strength and pride.
The legion’s armor was painted over the colors of mourning and vengeance, and in doing
so, they earned their new name: The Black Legion.
In the 10,000 years since the Siege of Terra, the Black Legion has become unrecognizable
when compared to the Sons of Horus or Luna Wolves that preceded it.
The strict hierarchy on which the 16th was organized could not survive the death of their
Primarch, and the Black Legion is no longer a unified force, but a collection of Warbands
that have sworn fealty to Abaddon.
Many of these groups are the direct evolution of the various Chapters, Battalions and Companies
that formed the 16th Legion, which now exist as more independent entities, free to pursue
their own desires.
Others however, hold no direct lineage to the old legion.
Abaddon is clearly favored by the Chaos Gods, and his undeniable power has drawn countless
warbands of every kind to his service.
The Black Legion is increasingly more of an ideology or dark philosophy, than a direct
successor to the 16th.
This is expressed in the idea of the “Long War”, a term used to describe the ongoing
conflict against the Imperium of Man.
To the Black Legion, the Siege of Terra and the Death of Horus was merely the first engagement,
and the war has continued throughout all the centuries since.
The worship of Chaos Undivided is a central tenet of the Long War.
Rather than devoting itself to a single God of Chaos, as some of the other traitor Legions
have, the Black Legion venerates them all equally, as different expressions of the same
universal power.
Consequently, the Black Legion has the unique ability to act as a unifying force, accepting
warbands devoted to rival Chaos gods who might otherwise war against one another.
Several specialist formations exist across the Black Legion, typically under the direct
command of Abaddon.
The Aphotic Blade is composed solely of those veterans adorned in Terminator Armor and forms
the personal bodyguard of Abaddon himself.
The warband known as the Tormented is made up of those possessed by demons while those
who fail Abaddon in some way might be sentenced to join the Oath-Broken and subjected to terrible
mutations.
The Sarissan Iron Pact meanwhile utilizes the greatest number of tanks, land raiders
and assault transports across the Legion, acting as its elite Armored forces.
Many other groups have pledged themselves to a single god, while others still worship
Horus as a god or reject Abaddon entirely.
These latter warbands are known as the Thrice-Cursed Traitors, and represent the last elements
of the old Sons of Horus who refused the new tenets of Abaddon.
Maintaining control across such a wild and diverse force is critical to the success of
the Legion.
While Abaddon shares the same aptitude for diplomacy and carnage that made Horus such
an effective warmaster, he has also come to rely on an inner circle to preserve his authority
across the greater host.
These favored lieutenants are known as the Chosen of Abaddon.
Each is granted special purpose across the Black Legion and each is devoted to a different
god of Chaos.
The Lord Ravager commands the Black Legion’s invasion fleets, and is said to always be
the first to set foot on a target world.
The Lord Ravager is always a devotee of Khorne: the Blood God.
The Lord Deceiver is a powerful sorcerer, able to guide the Legion through the fickle
currents of the warp and perhaps even glimpse its possible futures.
The Lord Deceiver is always a devotee of Tzeentch: The Lord of Sorcery and Architect of Fate.
The Lord Corrupter instills fear and hatred amongst the Chaos Space Marines of the Black
Legion, adorning a trophy rack with the skulls of those who have failed Abaddon.
The Lord Corruptor is always a devotee of Nurgle: the Plague God.
The Lord Purgator ensures that the conquest or razing of worlds is never left half finished,
and that every soul left alive is dragged away in chains, and every edifice is adorned
with the markings of the ruinous powers.
The Lord Purgator is always a devotee of Slaanesh.
Though the strict hierarchy of the 16th no longer exists, through Abaddon and his Chosen,
the Black Legion had maintained a sense of coherence unusual amongst the traitor legions.
This is not always apparent, for its various warbands will often act independently and
at times even war against each other.
It is during the Black Crusades however, that the Legion again acts as one.
Many champions of Chaos have launched their own Black Crusades against the galaxy, but
the Thirteen Black Crusades of Abaddon the Despoiler are without equal.
Each has unleashed a tide of carnage across the Imperium, before ultimately retreating
back into the Eye of Terror.
Though the Imperium considers each Black Crusade to have been defeated, the truth is that collectively
they have all progressed a great plan known only to Abaddon himself.
But within the triumphs of the 13th Black Crusade, Abaddon the Despoiler's great plan
is beginning to reveal itself.
Cadia, the great fortress world that for millennia held back the Eye of Terror has finally been
destroyed.
Its fall has unleashed a new tide of warpstorms greater than any to have afflicted the galaxy
before.
The Great Rift as they are known have split the Imperium in half and repeated the disasters
of Cadia across thousands of other worlds.
For millennia Abaddon has promised to succeed where Horus failed, and his hour might have
finally arrived.
The Imperium is desperate.
For every new wound left by the Black Legion, the first and greatest festers ever more.
There is a path of blood that leads directly to Holy Terra itself and Abaddon need only
follow it to finally bring about the ultimate victory of Chaos.
He has seen his victory in the visions of the Warp.
Seen the Imperial Palace crushed beneath the weight of his armies and the body of the Emperor
cast atop the endless charnel pits overflowing with the corpses of the species he failed.
He has seen the galaxy burn.