Word Bearers
The Word Bearers are one of the nine Space Marine Legions which betrayed the Emperor during the Horus Heresy, becoming Chaos Space Marines, their alliegance pledged to their Primarch Lorgar and to Chaos as a whole. Also noted to have been the first legion to be corrupted by chaos and brought about the Horus Heresy in its entirety.
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Summary
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Their armor is painted a dark crimson with gunmetal trim. The Legion symbol is a horned daemon skull occasionally with a burst of flames behind or below it.
History
Pre-Heresy
The Primarch of the Word Bearers, Lorgar, vanished while still an infant, just like all of the other Primarchs. He was discovered on a Feudal World named Colchis, which he had eventually unified in a series of brutal religious wars in response to his visions of the Emperor's coming arrival. When the Emperor did arrive, as Lorgar had foreseen, the Primarch dropped to his knee, leading the population of his world in rejoicing and worship of the Emperor as a god. At the conclusion of these festivities, the Emperor bade Lorgar take his best warriors and induct them into his Space Marine Legion and join him on the Great Crusade. Lorgar appointed trustworthy regents to rule over Colchis and devoutly complied with his father's direction.
Lorgar was an unusually pious Primarch. While other Legions were rapidly conquering planet after planet, the Word Bearers proceeded much more slowly, as they would build temples and shrines in veneration of the Emperor, who was also deemed the God of the Imperium by Lorgar, on each newly conquered planet. All forms of blasphemy and heresy that threatened the Emperor's realm, all manner of ancient scrolls, books, artworks and icons were burned and smashed before the advancing ranks of the Legion. In their place, vast monuments and cathedrals, all dedicated to the Emperor, were erected upon the mounds of dead of those who had resisted conversion. The greatest Chaplains of the Legion produced enormous works on the divinity and righteousness of the Emperor, and Lorgar himself delivered countless speeches and sermons, converting millions to the Emperor with his words alone.
However, the Emperor became impatient with the Word Bearers, and ordered them to cease this activity, as their mission was to reunify the galaxy under the Imperial banner, not preach of the Emperor's personal divinity. Lorgar is said to have been stunned by this reproach, and to have fallen into a melancholic state. Feeling betrayed, he refused audience to all but Kor Phaeron, his lieutenant and ally since Colchis. Kor Phaeron sympathised with Lorgar, and felt that the Word Bearers should serve Gods truly worthy of worship. What's more, he knew of such gods, and thus, Lorgar discovered the Chaos Gods, who not only accepted zealous worship, but in fact demanded it. Thus the seeds of heresy were sown, and when Horus turned against the Emperor in the name of Chaos, the Word Bearers quickly joined the rebellion, and the worlds they had conquered since their conversion also joined, having been secretly corrupted by the Word Bearers.
The Horus Heresy
As the Heresy unfolded, the Word Bearer ship Furious Abyss set off for Ultramar right after its construction was completed on the Jovian moon of Thule. The Furious Abyss's first kill was the Ultramarines ship Fist of Macragge as it was heading in for repairs in the Vangelis space port. The astropaths of the Fist of Macragge managed to send out a warning, ultimately received as a very powerful psychic scream at the Vangelis space port. Seeing visions of Macragge and the impending terror, Captain Cestus, Fleet Commander of the Ultramarines, quickly gathered a force of ships at the main Vangelis hub of Coralis. He managed to find seven ships: the Wrathful (which Cestus commandeered and commanded from) and her escorts, the Fearless, the Ferox, the Ferocious, the Fireblade, along with the Thousand Sons ship Waning Moon. Captain Vorlov of the ship Bounless also requested to join Captain Cestus, and was accepted. The fleet pursued the Furious Abyss and battled with it, suffering heavy casualties (all ships but the Wrathful and Fireblade were destroyed), ending when the Furious Abyss entered the warp to continue its journey to Ultramar. The Wrathful and Fireblade made the transition as well, but the Furious Abyss deployed a psionic mine which disturbed the warp, causing the Fireblade's Gellar Field to fail, and the ship was torn apart by the forces of the Immaterium.5
When the Word Bearers launched their attack against the Ultramarines, the strike against Calth was led by Lorgar's greatest champion, the former Master of the Faith, Kor Phaeron. He swore to utterly destroy the planet, and was very nearly successful. From his personal battle barge, now renamed Infidus Imperator, Kor Phaeron directed a full-scale invasion of the Calth System. Calth's three sister planets were all destroyed, massive geo-nuclear strikes ripping them apart at the core. Its once gentle sun was laced with deadly metals and substances that increased the star's radiation output tenfold; within a century after the Heresy's end, the final elements of Calth's atmosphere were burned off and the world left airless, its populace forced to live in gigantic underground caverns.
The war on Calth was devastating and horrific. The Ultramarines were shocked by the millions of cultists the Word Bearers used as human shields and disgusted by the hordes of daemons they unleashed. The Word Bearers, in turn, had underestimated the tenacity and resolve of their foe. In the end, Lord Kor Phaeron was defeated when reinforcements from Macragge drove the Word Bearers from the surface of Calth. Kor Phaeron retreated all the way to the Maelstrom, a turbulent region of the galaxy where the Immaterium of Chaos seeps through into the material realm of the universe.
Lorgar himself lead the rest of his Legion against Terra, where he helped smash down the realm of the master he had once served with the fanaticism of a zealot. In the end, Horus was defeated, and the legions of Chaos were forced to flee. The Word Bearers were also forced to retreat to the Eye of Terror, and there they have remained, returning to the Imperium to raid, pillage, and destroy.
Post-Heresy
From the Daemon World of Sicarus, Lorgar watches over his Legion and orchestrates the vast corruption from within that the Imperium suffers at the hands of his cults and covens. Unlike many of the other Traitor Legions, the Word Bearers have remained a unified, if loosely organised, military force.
From the two primary bases of the Legion, Sicarus and the factory-world of Ghalmek, located within the Maelstrom, the Word Bearers launch twisted wars of faith against the Imperium. On each world they attack, they incubate a seed of heresy that will one day contribute to their ever-expanding web of cults. Sometimes however, this brings them into competition with the efforts of the Alpha Legion. Though the Alpha Legion and the Word Bearers have united several times to take part in the Black Crusades of Abaddon, they are more usually in states of bitter division and rivalry. However, these things are but distractions as their war against the Imperium of Man is total, and they do not intend for it to end until every icon of the Emperor lies shattered at their feet.
Organization
Word Bearers do not worship Chaos Gods individually. Instead, they are venerated and regarded as a Dark Pantheon of Chaos Gods. Word Bearers rely on Daemons as shock troops, meatshields, and as the bulk of their armies. Their elite Chaos Space Marines are used to accomplish vital tasks. The Word Bearers have been known to have a massive cultist base, and have used cultists and insurgents since the Great Crusade. However, unlike the Alpha Legion, they use cultists as cannon fodder and distractions, not as spies, infiltrators, saboteurs, or political tools.
The Word Bearers are notable for being the only Traitor Legion who still have a corps of Chaplains, now known as Dark Apostles. The Word Bearers follow the words of their Dark Apostles with total faith in battle. The Dark Apostles divine through many ways how a battle is to be fought and won, and the warriors of the Host obey unquestioningly. Before battle, the Word Bearers gather in ritual prayer, chanting hymns and cult doctrine to affirm their faith in the power of Chaos. Often these chants will be answered and it is common for the Word Bearers to fight alongside daemonic entities.
This evil priesthood enforces a strict regime of worship of the Chaos pantheon upon their fellow Word Bearers and are also highly likely to be found leading the Legion in battle. Each is gifted an army of their own, known as a Host. The numbers vary, with the smallest typical size roughly analogous to that of a Space Marine Company, and the largest exceeding the manpower of a Space Marine Chapter.
The organizational make-up of each Host differs wildly as well, and can change depending on the whims of the Dark Apostle that leads it. Often they will suddenly alter the hierarchy of their Host for reasons known only to themselves. These changes often result in seemingly unwieldy or tactically inflexible formations. The Word Bearers themselves accept these changes without question.1
The largest known Host numbered over two thousand Chaos Marines at its peak. The size of this force required that the Dark Apostle be served by two chief lieutenants, his First Acolyte and a champion, entitled as the Coryphaus. Additionally, the Host possessed an Icon Bearer and an elite unit of over two hundred Terminators known as the Annointed.4
The most commonly occurring structure is that roughly equating to a Space Marine company, with the Host broken down into units of about twelve warriors. Each is commanded by a champion of the Word Bearers who strives to become as devout a war leader as the Dark Apostle in the hope of one day being chosen to succeed him on the occasion of his death.
The Word Bearers then march into battle beneath their standards, bellowing catechisms of hatred at their foe as drums beat out a dolorous thunder. The relentless advance of the Word Bearers is a terrifying sight, as the monotonous chant and beat of drums can break even the strongest will. The unshakable belief of the Word Bearers in the truth of their cause has seen them marching into certain death, yet unwilling to take a single step backwards. A battle ends either in victory or the utter destruction of the Word Bearer host.1
Pre-heresy, the legion was split into Chapters of 1000 Word Bearers each, made up of 10 Companies of a hundred Word Bearers5. They each with their own iconography. Four of these chapters are known, bearing these logos:
- A quill with a drop of blood at the nib
- An open hand with an eye in the palm
- A burning book
- A sceptre crowned with a skull
Each of these chapters represented a different aspect of the Word of Lorgar.5
Notable Word Bearers
- Lorgar - Primarch of the Word Bearers.1
- Kor Phaeron - Black Cardinal of the Word Bearers.1
- Erebus - First Chaplain of the Word Bearers.1
- Jarulek - Dark Apostle. (Dec.) 4
- Marduk - Dark Apostle, former First Acolyte of Jarulek. 4
- Kol Badar - Coryphaus of Jarulek and then Marduk. 4
- Eliphas The Inheritor - Dark Apostle, leader of the Dark Crusade on Kronus. (Dec.) 3
- Zadkiel - Fleet Captain of the Furious Abyss.5
- Baelanos - Assault-captain of the Furious Abyss.5
- Ikthalon - Brother-Chaplain of the Furious Abyss.5
- Reskiel - Sergeant-commander of the Furious Abyss.5
- Malforian - Weapon Master of the Furious Abyss.5
Fleet
During the Horus Heresy the Word Bearers are known to have possessed the following vessels:2
- Kamiel - Battleship
- Lorgar's Spite - Battleship
- Destiny's Hand - Battle Barge. Commanded by First Chaplain Erebus.
- Infidus Imperator - Battle Barge. Commanded by Lord Kor Phaeron.1
- Infidus Diabolus - Strike Cruiser. Commanded by Dark Apostle Jarulek. 4
- Furious Abyss - Specially-built Battleship. Commanded by Fleet Captain Zadkiel.5
