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Chaos Space Marine

From Lexicanum

The Chaos Space Marines (aka Traitor Marines, Chaos Marines and Traitor Legionnaires) are counted among the most dedicated and powerful servants of the Powers of Chaos.

Ten thousand years ago, Horus, Warmaster of the Imperium and most trusted 'son' of the Emperor, fell under mysterious circumstances to Chaos. Besides the Space Marine Legion under his direct command, the Sons of Horus, eight of his brother-Primarchs and their legions also joined him in the Horus Heresy against the Emperor.

They were eventually defeated at the Battle of Terra, where Horus was slain, and fled to the Eye of Terror.

name	primarch	original homeworld	new homeworld	special unit	Chaos dedication
Sons of Horus/Black Legion	Horus	Cthonia	none	none	Chaos Undivided
World Eaters	Angron	unknown	none	Berzerkers	Khorne
Thousand Sons	Magnus the Red	Prospero	Planet of the Sorcerers	Sorcerers	Tzeentch
Death Guard	Mortarion	Barbarus	Plague Planet	Plague Marines	Nurgle
Emperor's Children	Fulgrim	Chemos	unclear	Noise Marines	Slaanesh
Word Bearers	Lorgar	Colchis	Sicarus	Dark Apostles	Chaos Undivided
Iron Warriors	Perturabo	Olympia	Medrengard	Vindicators	Chaos Undivided
Alpha Legion	Alpharius	unknown	unknown	none	unclear
Night Lords	Konrad Curze	Nostramo	unknown	Raptors	unclear

Since then, on very rare occasions, individual Space Marines, squads, companies, and exceptionally even whole Chapters have defected to the side of Chaos. Most of the time these traitors form their own warbands. The most infamous of the Renegade chapters (some of which do not join Chaos at all) are the Red Corsairs who recruit and accept some of these renegades within their ranks.

Hidden in the Eye of Terror the Chaos Marines wait, worship their fell Gods, recruit and turn cultists into new Chaos Marines, fight amongst themselves and other minions of Chaos, gather their strength, and on occasion, raid the galaxy killing and destroying everything in their path.

The overall leader of all Chaos Space Marines, to the extent that they have a consistent leader at all, is Abaddon the Despoiler, rumored to be a 'clone-son' of Horus, who has since led 13 Black Crusades against the hated Imperium.

There are also many 'average' humans who serve Chaos; simple traitors, criminals, renegades, heretics and mutants. This broad assortment of the renegades of the galaxy is collectively labeled The Lost and the Damned.

1 Traitor Legions
2 Chaos Space Marine Armoury
3 Notable Chaos Space Marines
4 Sources

Traitor Legions

The Legions of the Chaos Space Marines are made up in a similar way to that of the Space Marine Chapters, owing to their history, although at 10,000 or more brothers-in-arms the Legions are substantially larger. The major difference (other than their appearance) is their use of daemonic entities to further their gains. The army list of the Chaos Space Marines is located in the Chaos Space Marine Army List.