40K Lore: Fulgrim's Seduction

This will be my first post on fluff, lore, and the over all back story of the Warhammer 40k universe. Since this is my first post I thought it would be appropriate to go back to the beginning and start with the events and characters of The Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. Personally, I love this time period in the fluff. The Black Library produces a great collection of books on it. The content of this post comes from the book Fulgrim, by Graham McNeill, the 5th in the Horus Heresy series: which I listened to recently. I never really cared for the primarch Fulgrim before. Now, however, I think his story is one of the most gut wrenching and epic in all of the fluff. I am going to focus on Fulgrim’s final decent into Chaos: particularly his final confrontation with Ferrus Manus during the Drop Site Massacre of Isstvaan V. I’ll provide just enough background to give context to the story and wet your appetite for more. What follows will be a condensed version of their fateful meeting with excerpts from the book.

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Fulgrim was the primarch of the Emperor’s Children: the III legion astartes. Like his brother primarchs, Fulgrim was created by the Emperor of Mankind in his gene-labs deep beneath the Himalazian (Himalayan) Mountains on Terra. He and his brothers were scattered throughout the galaxy by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos while still in their gestation capsules. Fulgrim plummeted to the surface of the planet of Chemos, a world with such scant resources that its population was employed entirely in struggling for survival. These soul-crushing circumstances sacrificed art, recreation, and culture and Fulgrim felt their absence keenly. Indeed, Fulgrim’s character seemed to be often shaped by what he lacked, desired, and therefore strived for. Above all, he strove to emulate his father, The Emperor, and obtain perfection.

Out of all his brother primarchs, Fulgrim was closest to his brother Ferrus Manus, primarch of the Iron Hands. Indeed, Fulgrim and Ferrus Manus shared the strongest bond of brotherhood and love of all the primarchs. They met for the first time under Mount Narodnya, the greatest forge of the Urals, on Terra. There they engaged in a weapon making contest, each striving to make the most perfect weapon ever crafted by man. For weeks, the superhuman primarchs toiled without rest. Ferrus Manus on the miraculous sword, Fireblade, and Fulgrim on the mighty warhammer, Forgebreaker. Both declared the other’s creation the greater and without words they exchanged weapons and cemented their friendship. They bore these weapons in countless battles.

Fulgrim’s decent into Chaos began on the planet of Laeran. The inhabitants, the xenos Laer, were worshippers of the Chaos God Slaanesh. After exterminating the Laer, Fulgrim claimed as his own a silver sword that he found in the center of their main temple. Unbeknownst to him, the silver sword of the Laer contained the essence of a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh. Over the course of time, the daemon whispered lies and deceits into Fulgrim’s mind, twisting all that he saw, and slowly dragged him down into following the Warmaster Horus into heresy.

Horus tasked Fulgrim with swaying their brother Ferrus Manus to their side in the upcoming galactic civil war. Fulgrim spoke with Ferrus Manus in Ferrus’ inner sanctum aboard his flagship the Fist of Iron. Fulgrim was sure he could convince his brother of the righteousness of Horus’ cause. He was disastrously wrong. Ferrus was furious at his brothers’ intended treachery and attacked Fulgrim with Forgebreaker. In the ensuing melee, Fulgrim swung at Ferrus with Fireblade, which Ferrus caught with his silvery hands. Enormous energies built within the blade until it exploded, knocking both primarchs back and rendering Ferrus Manus unconscious. Fulgrim could not bring himself to kill his senseless brother. Instead, he reclaimed Forgebreaker and left. At his signal, his own Phoenix Guard decapitated Ferrus Manus’ bodyguard of Morlock terminators. As Fulgrim fled the Fist of Iron he had his own flagship, Pride of the Emperor, unleash a devastating barrage upon the Iron Hands’ fleet. Fulgrim and Ferrus Manus’ great friendship was shattered. When they met again at the Drop Site Massacre of Isstvan V, they were the bitterest of enemies.

They confronted each in the midst of the bloodiest battle yet fought by Imperial forces. The loyalist legions, the Iron Hands, Raven Guard, and Salamanders were assaulting the fortified positions of the traitor Sons of Horus, Death Guard, Emperor’s Children, and World Eaters. An additional four other legions, the Night Lords, Iron Warriors, Alpha Legion, and Word Bearers, were soon to join the assault in a second loyalist wave. Ferrus Manus pushed his legion deep into the traitor lines. Everywhere, he searched for Fulgrim. Just as the four other loyalist legions arrived from orbit, and the traitors began to pull back, Ferrus spied Fulgrim waving the Emperor’s Children back. The Raven Guard and Salamanders pulled back to the now fortified drop site held by their arriving allies. Ferrus Manus and the Iron Hands pushed on intent on releasing their murderous rage upon Fulgrim and the Emperor’s Children.

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 As the Phoenix Guard and Morlocks engaged in furious combat, Fulgrim and Ferrus strode towards one another giving no heed to the fury of death unfolding around them. Ferrus drew a reforged Fireblade and Fulgrim hefted Forgebreaker. “It is fitting, we face one another with the weapons we forged long ago, said Fulgrim. I have long waited for this moment, Fulgrim, replied Ferrus, ever since you came to me with betrayal in your heart. For months I have dreamt of this reckoning…you betrayed The Emperor, and you betrayed me, said Ferrus and Fulgrim was surprised to hear genuine emotion in his voice. I came to you because of our friendship, not despite it, answered Fulgrim. The universe is changing. The old order upset and a new dawn approaching. I offered you a chance to be part of the new order, but you threw it back at me. You sought to make me a traitor, snarled Ferris. Horus is mad. Look at all this death. How can this be right? You will hang from traitors’ gibbet for this sedition, for I am The Emperor’s loyal servant and through me his will and vengeance will be done…It’s over, you and the Warmaster are beaten, your forces are routed, and the power of another four legions will soon crush your attempt at rebellion utterly.” Fulgrim could barely contain the sensation he felt as he explained to Ferrus that it was he, who was undone. With ecstasy he directed his brother’s gaze to the north where the withdrawing Raven Guard and Salamanders were nearing the fortified drop zone.

Without warning or mercy, the Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors, Night Lords, and Word Bearers opened fire upon the unprepared and stunned loyalist legions. Hundreds were cut down in the first few seconds and hundreds more in the moments after. The full extent of Horus’ rebellion was instantly made clear and the loyalists were undone. Those who were their allies cut them down like sheep, while the World Eaters, Emperor’s Children, Death Guard, and Sons of Horus turned again and rejoined the slaughter. Pockets of resistance held out here and there, but were swiftly overrun. Ferrus watched in astonished outrage as the Salamander’s primarch, Vulcan, disappeared in the titanic explosion from an enormous Iron Warriors bombardment and Corax of the Raven Guard was engulfed in a storm of fire.  Fulgrim told Ferrus that there was no escape and demanded that he throw down his arms and surrender. “Maybe not, traitor, but only dishonor holds any terror for me, spat Ferrus. The Emperor’s loyal warriors will not surrender to you. Not now. Not ever. You will have to kill every last one of us! So be it,” roared Fulgrim as he launched himself at his former brother.

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The two primarchs traded monstrous blows that could level mountains and crush armies. They fought like gods forced to settle their disputes on the mortal plane. Fulgrim relished in the sensation of dueling such a worthy foe and in the pain from each fiery line Fireblade left in his flesh. He swung a massive blow aimed at Ferrus’ head. Ferrus strode into the blow, dropping to one knee and lashing out with Fireblade across Fulgrim’s stomach, as blood streamed from his cracked skull. Gasping in pain, Fulgrim dropped Forgebreaker and tried to keep his insides from spilling out. The indescribably intense pain cleared the fog that had slowly been clouding Fulgrim’s mind since the day he drew forth the silver sword from the Laer temple. For the first time in months he saw clearly. “My brother. My friend” whispered Fulgrim. “You have long since lost the right to call me friend, snarled Ferrus, pushing himself to his feet and staggering towards Fulgrim with Fireblade raised to smite him. Fulgrim cried out and his hand leapt unbidden towards his waist as the flaming blade carved a path towards his neck. Silver steel flashed as he drew the sword he had taken from the Laer temple and blocked the descending weapon.” Ferrus pushed Fireblade down with all his god-like might but was stunned as daemonic strength poured into Fulgrim’s arms and pushed him inch by inch up.  Fulgrim surged to his feet, spinning and lashing at Ferrus. His sword cut deep, past Ferrus’ armor and into his vital organs. Ferrus staggered back and dropped Fireblade, and fell to his knees. “Fulgrim stood above Ferrus Manus, his chest heaving convulsively as his entire body shook with the violence of the power that sought to claim him.”

“He must die! Otherwise he will kill you! Fulgrim looked down at his defeated opponent and saw his own reflection in the mirror of Ferrus’ eyes. In an instant that stretched for an eternity, he saw what he had become, and what monstrous betrayal he had allowed himself to be party to. He knew in that terrible moment that he had made a terrible mistake in drawing the sword from the Laer temple and he fought to release his hold upon the damnable blade that had brought him so low. His grip was locked upon the weapon and even as he recognized how far he had fallen he knew that he had come to far to stop.” Ferrus reached down for his fallen sword and fire leaped up along the length of its blade. Fulgrim swung but desperately tried to pull the blow. Daemonic steel cut through the flesh of one of the Emperor’s sons. Ferrus’ headless body collapsed. Fulgrim’s dearest brother was dead, by his own hand.

“What have I done!? Howled Fulgrim. “What needed to be done,” whispered a soft voice into his ear. “He is dead, whispered Fulgrim, the aching loss and guilt of his crime too monstrous to believe. I killed him. Yes, you did. With your own hands you struck down your brother. He who had only thought well of you and fought faithfully with you through all the long years. He, he was my brother. He was, and all he ever did was honor you,” said the voice.

There you have it. If you want the rest of the story you’ll have to read the book. You can also check out other sites like Warhammer 40k Wiki. There is a lot more that I would love to share, but it would make for an enormous post and honestly the book is worth reading. Graham McNeil does a fantastic job. If you didn’t notice the quotation marks, most of the good writing in the post was his. Thanks for your patience. It took me awhile to get this up. Can’t wait to do another. As always, thanks for reading.