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Imperial history records that the Thunder Warriors had all died in the final battle of the Unification Wars, the Battle of Mount Ararat, and the [[Legiones Astartes]] were created to replace them.{{Fn|2}} However, according to a surviving Thunder Warrior, [[Arik Taranis]], the Emperor didn't replenish their numbers, or may have in fact massacred the hyper-violent and short-lived Thunder Warriors to make way for his stable, mass produced Astartes warriors, fabricating the tale of Mount Ararat as a cover-up, or using the battle to expend the last of the Thunder Warriors. The Thunder Warriors were suitable for conquering Terra, but did not fit the Emperor's vision of warriors who would take the entire Galaxy.{{Fn|2}} It is implied that the purges were carried out by the [[Custodian Guard]].{{Fn|7}}
Early in the [[Great Crusade]], a small group of surviving Thunder Warriors calling themselves the Dait'Tar were among the renegades of the [[Cerberus Insurrection]]. The Emperor dispatched the [[XII Legion]] (later known as the [[World Eaters]]) to quell the uprising and punish the traitors. Despite their physical decline, and being severely outnumbered by one of the greatest Space Marine Legions, the Thunder Warriors managed to slaughter four to five times their number in Astartes. The Insurrection was eventually stopped, however, after several hours of intense fighting.{{Fn|5b}}
At least one Thunder Warrior survived to the time of the [[Horus Heresy]], [[Arik Taranis]], who had taken many names in the interim, including Babu Dhakal. Taranis had learned some of the techniques the Emperor had used to create him and tried to make his own army.{{Fn|2}} He suspected that the Emperor had deliberately engineered his kind with a limited lifespan, though he personally hoped it was simply a defect; Thunder Warriors that did not die in battle suffered from cellular degeneration or mental instability, and often had relatively short lifespans.{{Fn|5a}}
Eventually, after an encounter with a group of traitor Space Marines known as the [[Outcast Dead]] in which another Thunder Warrior, [[Ghota]], killed one of its members, Taranis was able to cure the genetic instability of the Thunder Warriors, though not before suffering considerable degeneration himself.{{Fn|2}} This along with his knowledge of creating Thunder Warriors means that some of these elite and ancient warriors of the Imperium, may still exist in the current age.{{cite this}}
4 of the Thunder Warriors survived on Terra to serve as gladiators in depths of The Maw near slums known as the Swathe, despite their physical degradation deterioration they were still mighty warriors. One of them (Kabe) eventually died in a gladiator battle, two (Vezulah Vult and Gairok) died fighting a demonically possessed [[Alpha Legion]] warrior, and the last (Dahren Heruk) was given an honoured death by a Custodian after he defeated the possessed legionary. They were kept alive by '''Tarrigata''', a former [[astropath]], who served as their master and helped keep them alive through transplanting the organs of the deceased Thunder Warriors.{{fnFn|8}}
===Historic Thunder Warriors===
