History Literature / BlackLegion

--''Khayon:'' The Imperium loathes aliens with a veneer of shallow hypocrisy as rogue traders, void explorers and desperate generals have dealt with the galaxy's xenos breeds on the imperium's frontiers since our species first left Terra. But in the Empire of the Eye, inhumans are truly loathed beyond all else.

'''Telemachon:''' ''(standing before another pod in tears)'' [[spoiler:Fulgrim. My father.]]

* MassOhCrap: [[spoiler: Every member of the nascent Black Legion when they realise that not only did Fabius successfully clone Horus, he's fully grown and equipped with his old armor and Worldbreaker]].

* MeaningfulName: ''Nefertari'' means "Beautiful companion" in Prosperan. Khayon says that she called herself like that without his imput, but wonders what she meant by it. Khayon is actually a little relieved that Abaddon doesn't know her true name, as it means he isn't omniscient.

-->'''Abaddon''': "This Imperium is ''ours''. We fought for it. We built it with blood and sweat and wrath. We forged it with the worlds we took. The empire is built upon foundations of our brothers' bones...We didn't rebel out of petty spite, [[spoiler: Sigismund]]. We rebelled because our Lord and master played us false. We were useful tools to bring the galaxy to heel, but He would have cleansed us from the Imperium the way He purged the Thunder Legion before us, wiping us all from history like excrement from His golden boots."

-->'''[[spoiler:Sargon]]''': [[spoiler: I bear the Word, but it is no longer the Word of Lorgar]].

** Anamnesis doesn't like being called by her birth name, Itzara, as she claims that she is now both [[SpaceshipGirl much more]] and [[WetwareCPU much less]] than Sekhandur's sister.

* EqualOpportunityEvil: The Black Legion accepts everyone, whether they're possessed, mutants, traitors to their home Legion, sorcerers or, in case of Nefertari, a xeno. Contrast this with how the Imperium shoots on sight anyone who's not gene-pure, human and an Emperor-worshiper.

*** TheLancer: Falkus, who lobbied among others to have it done.
*** TheBigGuy: Lheor, who packs the biggest punch.

** Iskandar Khayon is also known as Sekhandur Cain, Khayon the Black, and Kingbreaker, not to mention dozens of others the Inqusition has him filed under. Among the names attributed to him but that he doesn't personally acknowledge is Ygethmor (a name mentioned to be one of Abaddon's followers). Ashur-Kai is also known as the White Seer.

* RefugeInAudacity: Khayon flat out admits that a large part of their plan to attack Harmony was essentially this. After all, who would've expected that less than two hundred warriors - 130 of which are Rubrics - would even consider taking a Chaos Space Marines' stronghold?

* SeenItAll: Lheor reminisces about the Siege of Terra, mentioning offhand that he's seen greater battles since then. Seeing as the Siege of Terra was fought by over half the Astartes in the Imperium, the largest fleets ever assembled, teeming hordes of ancillary units, and ''utterly'' wrecked the Solar System, one can only imagine what he's seen since.

* TokenMinority: Lheorvine is one of precious few black characters in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', and the only one in ''The Talon of Horus''.

* ProperlyParanoid: [[spoiler: Sigismund is implied to be the only Imperial commander who believed the Traitor Legions might have survived following their retreat into the Eye of Terror, and when the [[ObstructiveBureaucrat High Lords of Terra]] dismissed his fears as groundless, believing it impossible for anything to survive in the Eye for so long after the end of the Horus Heresy, Sigismund took it upon himself to stand vigil at the Eye's perimeter with a significant force of Black Templars in case they ever returned]].

* DoNotMakeMeDestroyYou: Abaddon invokes this when [[spoiler: confronting Sigismund aboard the ''Eternal Crusader'', [[SincerityMode trying to talk Sigismund out of fighting because Abaddon respects him too much]].]]

* NoSell: What Daravek is able to do to Khayon's psyhcic powers, much to the latter's bewilderment. Abbadon simply assumes that Khayon is just psychically outmatched and cannot admit it due to pride. Khayon has to tell him that even if Daravek was stronger than him, their powers would still clash and they would fight. Being able to utterly ignore another psyker's power isn't normally possible [[spoiler: unless you have a fragment of their soul.]]

-->'''Lheor''': She ''does'' talk like a Primarch. Though she drools less than Angron ever did, [[DamnedWithFaintPraise I'll give her that]].

* BFG: Lheor takes a heavy bolter into pretty much every battle he fights.

** [[spoiler: Sargon declares himself to be one, stating he no longer believes nor spreads the Word of Lorgar. Khayon views this as [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness highly unusual]], since even post-Heresy, very few Word Bearers have willingly abandoned their Primarch's teachings]].

* NotSoDifferent: Despite his hatred of Ahriman for destroying and enslaving his legion, Khayon acts in a similar way by binding Telemachon to him and removing all his ability to feel. Abbadon calls him out on this, and Khayon is self-aware enough to realize that not only would Ahriman point out the hypocrisy, but that the most galling thing is that Ahriman would be right. Khayon does reverse the process despite being aware Telemachon may try to murder him.

* RealityEnsues: Lampshaded and deconstructed as part of Khayon's explanation of Chaos Legions to the Inquisition. Despite the enormous power given by sorcery, god-blessings, daemonic allies, experience, and corrupted technology, Chaos Astartes are... well, chaotic and this has huge disadvantages - they have no formal supply lines, no dedicated manufacturing ability save for Dark Mechanicus forge-worlds that tend to serve single patrons or themselves, and very little ability to build, repair, or rearm their fleets within the Eye. This is all before you take into account that practically all Chaos warbands in the Eye of Terror have longstanding grudges or feuds with each other, and are usually fighting and stealing from each other. Khayon emphasises this by saying that the Chaos Legions can't even feed their forces because they don't have any real agriculture or food production.
** Although Space Marines age more slowly and feel the effects of aging less than normal humans, [[spoiler: Sigismund is nearly a thousand years old, is no longer in his physical prime and has already been in the thick of battle defending his flagship when Abaddon confronts him. Although he's able to hold his own for a time against Abaddon, without the latter's Chaos-enhanced physiology, Sigismund soon begins to tire and is ultimately forced into a last desperate gambit to try and kill Abaddon, [[TakingYouWithMe knowing full well it will cost him his own life]]. Khayon also notes that this trope would have played out regardless of how the duel ended; either Abaddon would have slain Sigismund or the Black Legion forces in attendance would have gunned Sigismund down even had he managed to win]].

-->'''Khayon''': He burned with life...and I realised then just how it was that Sigismund still lived after all this time.[[TheDeterminator He had survived for a thousand years because he refused to die]]. He hated us too much to sleep in his grave with his duty undone.

* RealityEnsues: Lampshaded and deconstructed as part of Khayon's explanation of Chaos Legions to the Inquisition. Despite the enormous power given by sorcery, god-blessings, deamonic allies, experience, and corrupted technology, Chaos Astartes are..well..chaotic and this has huge disadvantages - they have no formal supply lines, no dedicated manufacturing ability save for Dark Mechanicus forge-worlds that tend to serve single patrons or themselves, and very little ability to build, repair, or rearm their fleets within the Eye. Khayon emphasises this by saying that the Chaos Legions can't even feed their forces because they don't have any real agriculture or food production.

** Lheor being called "[[EmbarrassingNickname Firefist]]" and telling people that he hates it. Becomes somewhat less funny once you learn where does the nickname come from.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere; [[spoiler: During the First Battle of Cadia, Khayon notes that, once the Legion Host follows the Black Legion out of the Eye of Terror, a large number of its forces decide they'd rather start settling their own scores with the Imperium than waste any more time on aiding Thagus Daravek in his personal vendetta against Abaddon and promptly abscond]].

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Khayon and Telamachon, considering they hate each other. Telamachon is initially only going along with Khayon because being near him is the only way that he can feel any emotions. He later joins the Black Legion cause wholeheartedly, although Khayon mentions (in the ''Abbadon: Chosen of Chaos'' short story) that they have both subsequently tried to kill each-other several times.

* TheHedonist: Telemachon, like all Emperor's Children, is addicted to pleasure and sensation, to the point that he nearly breaks down when Nefertari teases him by refusing to touch him. [[spoiler:He gets better after Khayon strips him of emotions and then gives them back to him.]]

* AFatherToHisMen: Played surprisingly straight by Abaddon. Gone is the bellicose gloryhound of the Horus Heresy novels and far distant is the megalomaniac BadBoss of the 41st millennium. He's shown to be charismatic and empathic to the needs of his soldiers (whilst still asserting his will to achieve his goals). Khayon is especially impressed / disturbed that he knows the name and notable deeds of every single soldier he meets aboard the ''Tlaloc''. He even manages to elicit a vague reaction from the usually unresponsive Rubricae.

** Fabius's own novel - "Primogenitor" refers to the events of the book a few times. It's noted as being the last time that Fabius took any authority role in the Emperor's Children and left them in disgust (whilst conspicuously not mentioning how he got out of Abaddon's custody after the battle with [[spoiler: the clone of Horus.]]. The sequel - ''Clonelord'' - shows that Harmony is still around afterwards and that not every clone was destroyed in the battle, as well as indicating Fabius still holds a grudge against Abaddon for destroying his life's work and that despite destroying his facilities, [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou the Black Legion are more than happy to take advantage of his services]], though Abaddon is said to [[FantasticRacism despise Fabius's "New Men" superhumans to the point of ordering them killed on sight]], and plenty within the Black Legion are said to be urging Abaddon to eliminate Fabius for good. Fabius also notes that Abaddon's ascendancy is rapidly threatening the balance of power within the Eye and leaving Fabius few neutral places to practice his craft in peace.

* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler: Although they use it to send their declaration of war to the High Lords of Terra, the Black Legion do not desecrate Sigismund's body for trophies, instead according him the respect due to a WorthyOpponent and fellow veteran of the Great Crusade]].

* Hypocrite: Khayon considers the Emperor's Children this; when addressing a Third Legion commander trying to exterminate Falkus and the Sons of Horus with him, Khayon points out the Emperor's Children are in no position to take the moral high ground over the Sons for fleeing with Horus's body, when theThird Legion's main action in the siege of Terra was to abandon those fighting to capture the Imperial Palace so they could indulge themselves in massacring Terra's civilian population.

* HorrifyingTheHorror: As the nascent Black Legion rampages through Fabius's flagship, they encounter horrors of all sorts. Being Chaos Space Marines, a Dark Eldar Scourge, and a Daemon, none of it fazes them until they see what is in Fabius's laboratory: [[spoiler:Fabius hadn't just succeeded in cloning Horus, he was starting to clone the ''other'' Traitor Primarchs]]. A couple of the Marines are temporarily struck by instinctive fear and awe. Nefertari is the only one that isn't horrified by this; ([[FalseReassurance She saw worse in Commorragh]]). When coming across a pod:

'''Khayon:''' ''(horrified)'' [[spoiler:Lorgar. That is ''Lorgar''.]]

* EvilAlbino: Ashur-Kai Qezremah, the White Seer, although he is no more evil than any other character in the series.

* SupernaturalEyesOfGold: Abaddon's eyes are colored gold, which he claims is a result of staring into the light of the Astronomicon.

* Khayon also makes mention [[spoiler: that he and Telemachon become mortal enemies at some point, and their internecine conflict nearly causes a civil war within the Black Legion]].

** A more conventional example is used on the leaders of traitor legion factions who refused to join Abbadon. One notable example is crucified and then has their circulation system filtered through with the bodily waste of the Black Legion slaves. Their robust Astartes biology means that they stay alive in degrading agony for months..

* LaughingMad=/=GoMadFromTheRevelation: After Moriana reveals to Khayon, Telemachon and Amurael that in their absence, the Imperium now worships the Emperor as a god, Telemachon bursts into hysterical laughter at the fact [[TheExtremistWasRight the Word Bearers have gotten the last laugh for Monarchia]].

** Khayon also claims that this is Abbadon's underlying purpose - to break the control the Chaos Gods have over the lives of mortals, so they can forge their own path. Given what his true purpose is though.