The Brotherhood

Chaos Portal Word Bearers

The Brotherhood is an internal sect within the Word Bearers Legion. It has been formed three times, the first two at the explicit order of the Primarch Lorgar, and the third at the order of Kor Phaeron. Each time its purpose was to purge the legion's ranks. Lorgar is noted to have been mournful and acted with great reluctance every time he was forced to form the Brotherhood.^[1x]

The First Purge

The first purge occurred prior to Colchis being united with the Imperium, to purge the ranks of the Covenant of those who were swaying from the will of Lorgar. Fully a third of the population of Colchis was slaughtered.^[1a]

The Second Purge

The second purge occurred around a century after the first, following Lorgar's secret betrayal of the Emperor. The Brotherhood was reformed in order to purge the legion's ranks of all Terran Astartes, who unfortunately had become corrupted from their initial isolation from their Primarch and were too deeply infected with the lies of the False Emperor.^[1a]

The Attempted Third Purge

The third purge never actually occurred, instead it was halted in its tracks by Lord Erebus and the Dark Apostle Marduk. The Brotherhood was re-formed after the Horus Heresy, for the third time, by the Keeper of Faith, Kor Phaeron. Lorgar had been sealed away for millennia within the Templum Inficio on Sicarus and in his absence the Dark Council had ruled. Kor Phaeron believed that Erebus had swayed the council to his will and held too much power within the legion, which he was seemingly molding to his will. The Third Brotherhood was discovered by Erebus and its ringleaders were identified by Marduk, during the dark crusade against Boros Gate. The Dark Council acted swiftly and put down The Brotherhood. Kor Phaeron, however, was left unchallenged, because he severed all ties with the Brotherhood when the sect was compromised and Erebus was unwilling to challenge the Master of Faith further, explaining to Marduk that such power struggles between himself and Kor Phaeron were common but that they meant nothing.^[1b]

Sources

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• 1: Dark Creed (Novel) by Anthony Reynolds
  • 1a: ^{[Needs Citation]}, pgs. 184–185
  • 1b: ^{[Needs Citation]}, pgs. 411–413
  • 1x: ^{[Needs Citation]}