Cup of Wulfen
The Cup of Wulfen is a sacred relic of the Space Wolves, used to deliver the first component of the chapter's gene-seed to aspiring initiates to the Wolves[1].
History and Use
Legend says that the cup originally belonged to Leman Russ, the Primarch of the Space Wolves, who gave it to his original followers to drink from. The first man, Wulfen, who was secretly jealous of Russ, drank, and became the first Wulfen, a monstrous hybrid of man and wolf. He leapt to attack Russ, who throttled him with one hand. Russ then declared that all those who were unworthy would become a Wulfen. He would allow any of those who had come to turn back, but none did. Those who drank and survived became the first Space Wolves. Since then, the cup has been kept in The Fang on Fenris, in the care of the Wolf Priests[2].
As part of their Test of Morkai - the final ordeal before joining the Wolves - aspirants must drink from the Cup, absorbing the first and most deadly component of the Wolves' gene-seed, the Canis Helix. While suffering the effects of transformation by the Helix, the Aspirants are then cast outside the Fang, to make their way back to the Fang through the lethal Fenrisian wilderness. Those that fail to overcome the bestial effects of the Helix become Wulfen themselves[1].
Sources
- 1: Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition), pg. 10
- 2: Space Wolf (Novel) - The Space Wolf Omnibus, Chapter Ten, pgs. 155-156
