Great Company
The Great Companies are the twelve primary organizational units of the Space Wolves, analagous to a Company in another Chapter. In defiance of the Codex Astartes, which dictated the reorganization of the Adeptus Astartes after the Horus Heresy, the Space Wolves Chapter has twelve companies instead of ten[1a].
Character and Organization
Each Great Company is responsible for its own recruitment, maintenance, and running, each acting as a separate force altogether, each lead by a Wolf Lord in a semi-feudal system. The Wolf Lord of the leading Great Company is also the Great Wolf, the Chapter Master of the Space Wolves[1a].
Great Companies are named and represented according to their current Wolf Lord as well as their past deeds and exploits. Some Great Companies have used dozens of sigils throughout their history, while others have maintained the same one for long periods. Some like the Spirit Wolf have not been seen for millennia, while others like the Hunger Skull of Jorghun Vor are seen as bad omens.[3]
During the Great Crusade, each Great Company nominally consisted of 10,000 Astartes.[4] In M42 however their size is unknown and varies by time or function. All that is known is that they are larger than typical Codex Space Marine Company.[5]
The current Great Company's of the Space Wolves consist of:[2]
- The Champions of Fenris under the command of Great Wolf Logan Grimnar[2]
- The Bloodmaws under Bran Redmaw[2]
- The Seawolves under Engir Krakendoom[2]
- The Sons of Morkai under Erik Morkai[2]
- The Red Moons under Gunnar Red Moon[2]
- The Deathwolves under Harald Deathwolf[2]
- The Stormwolves under Bjorn Stormwolf[2]
- The Ironwolves under Vorek Gnarlfist[2]
- The Drakeslayers under Krom Dragongaze[2]
- The Blackmanes under Ragnar Blackmane[2]
- The Firehowlers under Sven Bloodhowl[2]
- The Grimbloods under Kjarl Grimblood[2]
The 13th Company
There was once a 13th Great Company, and rumors still abound as to the reason for its disappearance[1b]. Some state that they disappeared into the Warp during the attack on Prospero, the traitorous Thousand Sons' homeworld; others claim they disappeared after the Primarch Leman Russ himself went missing. Regardless, there is currently hardly any information concerning the company in the Imperial records.[Needs Citation]
Sources
- 1: Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition)
- 2: Codex: Space Wolves (8th Edition), pg. 15
- 3: Codex Supplement: Space Wolves (9th Edition), pg. 12
- 4: The Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness Rulebook, pg. 59
- 5: First Founding (Background Book), pgs. 103-104
Uncited