Magnus
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Magnus the Red (Also known as the Crimson King, the Sorcerer-King, Cyclopean Magnus or the Red Cyclops) is the Primarch of the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marine legion. A giant in both physical and mental terms whilst a mortal inhabitant of the materium, Magnus long tried to understand and control the warp, becoming a sorcerer of formidable power. Magnus would eventually fall from favour with his father, the Emperor, and with the majority of his brother-primarchs due to his zealous advocacy and use of such power. Indeed it would prove to be his mortal undoing, as, forewarned of Horus' fall to Chaos, his attempt to use his own warp-touched abilities to alert the Emperor to the situation brought about his own damnation and servitude to the Chaos God Tzeentch. Magnus led his own troops to the banner of Horus and fought on his side during the Great Betrayal, surviving the events and being elevated to the position of Daemon Prince. He has spent the majority of the millennia since ensconced atop his tower upon the Planet of the Sorcerers, planning the destruction of the Imperium.[1][3a]
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History
Early Life
Magnus, as an infant, was dropped onto the remote colony world of Prospero. He was incredibly fortunate to land here, as anywhere else his cyclopean eye (see Notes) would have made him an outcast, shunned and hunted. Prospero was a world of outcast human psykers, making him nothing special in the eyes of the colonists. They had chosen Prospero for its remoteness from Terra. When Magnus fell from the skies, it was like a portentous comet. His pod landed in the central plaza of all the places on the planet[Needs Citation].
He became a ward of the scholars and quickly gained their powers, surpassing them in many ways. Magnus mastered every psychic training program and soon surpassed the greatest adepts of the commune. By that time he had so much control of his psychic powers, he was by far the greatest person on the planet. One day, Magnus performed something to change the world forever. Instead of channelling Warp energy from the Warp to the Materium universe, he looked into the Warp with his cyclopean eye, going from the student to absolute master instantly.[1]
Discovery by The Emperor
With such a mind in the Warp, it was not long until the Emperor noticed him. When his fleet arrived and the Emperor stepped foot upon the planet, he and Magnus immediately embraced and conversed as if the two had known each other for years; as indeed they may have done, in the mind if not in the flesh[Needs Citation].
The Thousand Sons Magnus inherited were rife with psychic mutations, being based on Magnus's genes. He took them in as his own and began training them in the ways of the psyker. Individuals from within the Imperium who were fearful of these rampant mutations began to voice their opinions openly, but Magnus silenced them[Needs Citation].
Magnus fought bravely and successfully during the Great Crusade, but he was always a wild and impetuous commander. Due to his early brush with Chaos during his abduction, Magnus had an inherent affinity for the Warp and the secrets within its fabric. Throughout the Crusade he came into contact with long isolated cultures where psychics had been allowed to flourish. Although warned by the Emperor to shun such matters, Magnus began to gather arcane lore from across the galaxy. From this material he compiled the monumental tome of sorcery that would come to be called the Book of Magnus.[3a]
The further from Terra the crusade went, the more strange warp-influenced creatures they came across. This naturally made Magnus look bad, his control of the Warp being similar to these creatures. Leman Russ and Mortarion both distrusted Magnus due to his use of the Warp and because of his use of deceit where they would have used more straightforward physical strength[Needs Citation].
To solve this dispute, the Emperor called for a debate on the use of psychic powers. They gathered on Nikaea and the Emperor presided over the debate. The results meant that sorcery was illegal, but psykers were to be trained for the benefit of the Imperium. Magnus was not happy, but was forced to comply, which he did. It would be the last time Magnus and the Emperor would meet, however.[1]
The Horus Heresy
The events on Davin were eclipsed by this debate, but when Magnus returned to Prospero and looked into the Warp, he saw the entire event unfold in front of him, seeing the roles of all the legions, except his own. He contacted the Emperor, certain that this would prove his psychic methods correct. Unfortunately, the Emperor denounced him, saying he had fallen to the side of Chaos by breaking his oath not to use sorcery.[1]
The Emperor, fuming at what he considered his own personal failure, ordered the Space Wolves to apprehend Magnus and bring him to Terra. But Horus, knowing of these events, contacted Leman Russ and ordered him to destroy Magnus's legion instead; Horus, as Warmaster, carried the authority of the Emperor himself, and was therefore able to fool Russ into believing this was the Emperor's will.[2] Magnus and Leman Russ clashed in combat, but just as Leman Russ was about to strike the final blow, Magnus disappeared into the Warp. There, Magnus saw what he had wanted: unrestricted psychic powers. It was at this point that he changed his allegiance to the forces of Chaos[Needs Citation].
Magnus took all that he had from Prospero, from the Imperium, into the Warp forever. The next time Magnus was seen, he had gained the status of Daemon Prince of Tzeentch. Tzeentch was the Changer of the Ways, and thus mutation became rife among the Thousand Sons. Some of the older veterans were horrified by this and joined together to form a new commune.[1]
After the Horus Heresy
After the failure of the Horus Heresy, the newly-formed commune joined together with Ahriman to find a way to stop the mutation. They cast a mighty spell to counter the corruption. The Planet of Sorcerers, the new world of the Thousand Sons, was arcing with violent blue and yellow streaks of lightning. They would strike down every Marine until Magnus had to intervene. Their mutations had been halted, but at a terrible cost: their bodies turned to dust and their armour sealed tightly shut[Needs Citation].
Magnus summoned Ahriman and his council, and railed at them for what they had done. When Ahriman protested, Magnus fought and gained the upper hand. Ahriman, no match for his Primarch, was struck down. But just as Magnus raised his fist to kill him, Tzeentch itself spoke: "Magnus, you would destroy my pawns so readily?" then Magnus knew that his master had planned for all of this. So he spared Ahriman and banished him and his council on an eternal quest to understand Tzeentch. They still wander the galaxy, looking for relics of a former time of psychic prowess and control. It is said that Ahriman even attempted to access the Eldar webways, although this is unconfirmed[Needs Citation].
Despite knowing Tzeentch's plans had led to this fate, Magnus was beyond enraged to see that the Legion he had sacrificed so much for, his legion of scholars, had been reduced to automatons who could no longer even think. With his homeworld lost and his legion in ruin, Magnus ascended to the top of his tower and vowed, as Horus had, that he would see the galaxy burn.[1]
Later, seeking revenge against the Space Wolves for the Burning of Prospero, Magnus would lead his Thousand Sons in an assault against the Space Wolves homeworld of Fenris in what became known as the Battle of the Fang.[5]
Additional Material
Notes
Older material describes the pre-daemonic Magnus as actually akin to a mythological Cyclops - naturally possessed of only one eye, set in the middle of his forehead.[3a] Later visits to the character have established that he once possessed two normal eyes and lost the right one as part of his dealings with Tzeentch.[6n]
Trivia
Magnus giving up his eye in order to gain knowledge of the Warp is reminiscent of how Odin gave up one of his eyes in order to gain the Wisdom of the Ages.
Images
Epic Scale Magnus miniature[4]
John Blanche study[Needs Citation].
Related Articles
| I - Lion El'Jonson · II - Unknown · III - Fulgrim · IV - Perturabo · V - Jaghatai Khan · VI - Leman Russ · VII - Rogal Dorn · VIII - Konrad Curze · IX - Sanguinius · X - Ferrus Manus · XI - Unknown · XII - Angron · XIII - Roboute Guilliman · XIV - Mortarion · XV - Magnus · XVI - Horus · XVII - Lorgar · XVIII - Vulkan · XIX - Corvus Corax · XX - Alpharius Omegon |
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Sources
- 1: Index Astartes III
- 2: False Gods (Novel) by Graham McNeill
- 3: Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned
- 3a: pp.267-8
- 4: White Dwarf 150
- 5: Battle of the Fang (Novel) by Chris Wraight
- 6: A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeill
