Characters / The Roboutian Heresy Imperium Of Man

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Imperium of Man

Leadership

The Emperor of Mankind

• Adaptational Nice Guy: The Emperor seems to be much more openly caring of his sons, with the fic detailing several heartwarming moments between him and characters such as Lorgar, Perturabo, Angron, etc., when they first meet. There is one aversion of this trope, however: when the Emperor comes to rescue Corax from the Tech-lords, he seems to view Corax as nothing more than a tool to be used (which is disturbingly similar to what the canon Emperor told Guilliman). However, it's implied the Emperor merely pretended to act coldly in order to avoid looking weak in front of the Tech-lords, who might have tried to manipulate him into an unfavorable bargain if he openly displayed affection and concern for his son. In addition, the scene is from Corax's perspective, who may be an Unreliable Narrator.
• And I Must Scream: When we finally get to see what His ascension to the Golden Throne meant. And he endured that for ten thousand years.
• Heel Realization: Why he's an Adaptational Nice Guy here. He and Ollanius Pius found a tower where a sect of Sorcerous Overlords that would later become the basis for the idea of the Tower of Babel were researching enuncia, using the souls of genuine saints so as to develop it as a weapon. While the future Emperor was interested in stealing their work, Pius called him out, pointing out that thousands of good people were destroyed to make what the sorcerers only used as an unpredictable weapon, and the Emperor moving to shush Pius reflexively caused him to have an epiphany about his own Knight Templar behavior.^note In canon, the future Emperor decides to go ahead with claiming the work on enuncia, leading to Pius destroying it and the two's acrimonious split. Unfortunately for the Imperium, the part of him that didn't care still existed in the Warp, feeding on humanity's own Absolute Xenophobe behavior to become the Yellow King.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Rather than accept godhood and ascending to become a true power in the Warp to counter the Ruinous Powers as his son Omegon had wanted and planned, the Emperor of Mankind decides to finally die and disperse his vast accumulated power and conglomerate souls across time and space, leading to the creation of every Imperial Saint throughout imperial history as well as other things, all to give the Imperium and Humanity facing the 'Time of Endings' a fighting chance to survive and prevail against the forces arrayed against them.
• Kill the God: On the receiving end of this courtesy of His Nay-Theist son Lorgar Aurelian, with His full consent as a Mercy Kill to end His ten-thousand years torment/vigil on the Golden Throne and allowing him to pull off His Heroic Sacrifice.
  • With the end of the Angel War and its revelations this is also the true nature and ramification of His act: the Warp operates on Clap Your Hands If You Believe, where 'Perception becomes Reality becomes Law'. Having been seen as or is a god whether He like it or not thanks to ten thousand years of worship, by allowing Himself to be killed by mortal hands (or close enough with his Primarch son), He made it possible for all the other powers and false gods of the Warp to be killed by mortals as well. This became apparent when at the climax of the Angel War, Lorgar and Epharel Stern was able to use the Sword That Was Promised to wound Slaanesh, forever marring hir 'perfect' visage and frightening hir into fleeing the Sol system in pain, fear and rage, the implication there being that they really could had killed hir right then and there with the Sword being powered by untold aeons of accumulated hopes and dreams of Humanity.
• Screw Destiny: The other implication of his choice to die. There are hints that the Yellow King would have become supreme Chaos God and turned the reality into unending hell by fusing Materium and Warp, but this sacrifice undid this, giving humanity a chance to succeed.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Zigzagged. On one hand, him making the choice to listen to Ollanius Pius and not callously continue the research of the Tower of Babel in the name of the greater good changed him and the future for the better, as it contributed to him becoming a nicer person and in turn led to the Imperium becoming a better place than in Canon. On the OTHER hand, the callousness and inhumanity of that his discarded choice continued existing in the Immaterium, feeding upon the Imperium's sins for ten thousand years until it grew into a nascent Warp deity the Yellow King, becoming yet another unspeakably horrific threat to menace the galaxy.

Malcador the Sigilite

• Chessmaster Sidekick: As in canon, most of the Imperium's non-Astartes institutions and institutional failsafes by extension are Malcador's legacies, including the Administratum, the Assassins (technically under the Admin's power, but worthy of its own mention), the Inquisition and (partially) the Grey Knights.
• Heroic Sacrifice: As in canon, Malcador dies again holding the Golden Throne against the tides of Chaos while the Emperor and Magnus fight Roboute and Lion El'Jonson respectively, in separate duels.
• In Spite of a Nail: While much has changed in the Roboutian Heresy, Malcador's story did not diverge much from his canon self. Justified, as Malcador himself and his role in the Imperium was not affected much by these changes.

The Martian Collective

• Ancient Conspiracy: A surprisingly young example of this trope, aged "merely" around ten thousand years during the events of the Times of Ending. They are responsible for maintaining the lie that the Imperium "won" on Mars during the Heresy by keeping traitor remnants of the Mechanicum out of sight.
• Genius Cripple: Joining the Collective means this as members are stripped of almost their entire body.
• Godzilla Threshold: The constant stream of abominations created in the Haydesian Kingdoms have forced the Collective to innovate and research just to prepare effective counters to whatever lurks in the Martian depths. The best example of this are the Itzamna Proxies and the Heliarchs: The former are nanotechnology bound by what are functionally AI without true sapience, and the later are regretful hereteks bound to the sun's essence to wield a fraction of its power.
• Secret War: The Collective is the guiding force behind the Adeptus Mechanicus' secret war against their traitor counterparts.
• The Strategist: The Collective is collectively this on the grand scale, and has individual members of military upbringing fitting this trope on the battlefield with their brains floating in coffins.

Loyalist Legions

III — Emperor's Children

General

• Arch-Enemy: Ever since the Bleeding War, they really hate Dark Eldar for what they did to the captured Astartes and particularly to Fulgrim. The only people they hate more than them are the Iron Hands — those responsible for the capture in the first place.
• Back from the Dead: Some marines display a resistance to damage beyond the limits of normal Astartes. This is known as the Mark of Lucius, after the resurrection of Lucius the Reborn during the Bleeding War.
• Berserk Button: The Dark Eldar are a rather sore topic for the Emperor's Children, for very good reason.
• Broken Ace: After being held as prisoners of the Dark Eldar for most of the Heresy, the values of the Emperor’s Children shifted from pride, nobility and the search of perfection to endurance, suffering and self-sacrifice.
• Challenge Seeker: The Emperor's Children constantly improve their skills in combat, to the point that they’re among the best duelists in the entire Imperium.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Post-Dark Eldar, the Emperor's Children have developed a not-so-odd acceptance of pain and hardship. In their eyes, you have to earn perfection, otherwise you wouldn't have the wisdom and honor that makes perfect perfect.
  "We bleed. We endure. And in enduring, we grow strong."
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After the Third Legion was nearly destroyed in the Bleeding War against the Dark Eldar, they finally had their chance at vengeance in the thirty-fifth millennium when the Alpha Legion managed to find a way into Commorragh within the Webway, allowing Primarch Fulgrim and the Emperor's Children to go there and burn it to the ground alongside the Night Lords legion and his brother Primarch Angron with his World Eaters legion. They ultimately failed to destroy the Dark Eldar and even lost Fulgrim to the Webway, but the Dark Eldar had learned to steer clear of the Emperor's Children and the worlds under their protection since then.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Relatively speaking. Despite being unable to participate in the Roboutian Heresy for nearly its entirety due to the Bleeding War, their contributions with the Night Lords at the Siege of Terra in the final hours of the Roboutian Heresy effectively turned the tide and allowed the Imperium to ultimately triumph.

Primarch Fulgrim

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• The Ace: He restored the ecology of Chemos to the point that it is still mostly perfect thousands of years after his disappearance. He took a legion of barely 300 Astartes and restored it in just a few years (there were only 300 Astartes left at the time of Fulgrim's arrival due to a genetic defect known as the blight). He endured most of the Roboutian Heresy being tortured by Dark Eldar, and even managed to save the Emperor from Guilliman at the last possible moment.
• Big Damn Heroes: Fulgrim had been unable to participate in the Siege of Terra even after his legion and the Night Lords arrived to relieve the Imperial forces due to being forced to stay aboard his flagship having all the poisons and wounds the Dark Eldar inflicted on him removed and healed, but he made his contribution count when he managed to get into his armour and teleport into the Throneroom during the final hour of the conflict, right as Arch-Traitor Gulliman was about to finish off the mortally-wounded Emperor, cutting him down with his Fireblade and giving his father the one chance He needed to smite Gulliman with his psychic powers.
• Break the Haughty: The Dark Eldar's tortures and the near-destruction of the Third Legion in the Bleeding War had, like the rest of the Emperor's Children, taught Fulgrim much needed humility with the marring and loss of his once perfect form and the realization of his and his Legion's own mortality. He still maintains his high standards for himself and his Legion, though.
• Broken Ace: His torture at the Dark Eldar permanently damaged his body and left him a shell of his once perfect self.
• A Father to His Men: During his captivity by the Dark Eldar, every time Fulgrim manages to break out of his cell the first thing he does is to try and rescue his own gene-sons in captivity, even if every time it led to him being recaptured by the Dark Eldar. The most tragic part is that most of the gene-sons he tried to rescue were often already dead from torture before he even got to them, though he had no way of knowing that.
• For Want Of A Nail: Librarians of the Emperor's Children noticed the trap in the Laer temple much earlier, alerting everyone to the Chaos corruption in a timely manner. This means Fulgrim never picked up the Blade of the Laer, so it was instead used on Vespasian, who resisted the daemon's corruption until the Thousand Sons could banish the daemon back into the Warp. Because of this, there was nothing to corrupt him and he remained loyal. Later, their encounter with the Dark Eldar, while horrific, taught him much-needed humility and reminded him of his and his Legion's mortality.
• I Was Quite a Looker: He was legendary for his handsomeness until he was captured by Dark Eldar who tortured him until he was covered in scars.
• Never Found the Body: He went missing and was presumed deceased while pursuing Fabius Bile at the climax of the 'Burning of Commorragh'. Angron always had faith he survived. At the Battle of Lupercal's Gate Sanguinius inadvertently confirms to Lucius that Fulgrim is still alive somewhere within the Webway.
• Revenge Before Reason: Fulgrim got lost in the Webway because he ignored the warnings about the imminent collapse of Commorragh's suns while pursuing Fabius Bile.
• Scars Are Forever: His body is still covered in the scars from the torture he suffered at the hands of Dark Eldar during the Bleeding War.
• The Speechless: The Dark Eldar cutting out his tongue and maiming his voice-box had pretty much left him unable to verbally communicate with his once smooth, beautiful voice ever again, though briefly subverted when he was rescued by Sevatar and the Night Lords, where he forced the undamaged muscles of his throat to produce the sounds needed for him to ask what happened to the Imperium while he and his legion were indisposed.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Relatively speaking. Despite being unable to participate in the Roboutian Heresy for nearly its entirety, with his one blow with the Fireblade against Roboute Gulliman in the Throneroom, Fulgrim had effectively won the Civil War for the Imperium and saved Humanity in its Darkest Hour.

Lucius the Reborn

• Back from the Dead: Multiple times, albeit through different circumstances and means from his canon self, which ultimately earns him the title 'The Reborn'.
  • Lucius is said to have somehow inexplicably came back to life in his cell after he died from the tortures of the Dark Eldar during the Bleeding War.
  • During the climatic hours of the Siege of Terra, guided by visions of his lost comrades (implied to be sent by the Emperor), Lucius is seen being killed multiple times while fighting across the Throneworld, saving the lives of loyal Legions' champions and leaders and felling the ones on the traitors' side, yet always brought back again and again by a mysterious golden light. Eventually he is vaporized by the detonation of a traitor Titan's fusion reactor, and was never seen again.
  • Eventually, Lucius returned again during the Angel War once more, whereupon he is revealed to have become a Perpetual, having been chosen to bear the Mantle of Perpetuity which Vulkan had lost either at ascension or the application of the Fulgurite Spear by John Grammaticus.
• Break the Haughty: Once proud and petulent like his canon self, the Dark Eldar's depredations and the loss of all his comrades during the Bleeding War had shattered whatever ego he had, leaving behind only a Death Seeker who is nevertheless still compelled to fulfill his duty for the Emperor and to avenge his brothers.
• The Chosen One: Twice, first by what is heavily implied to be the Emperor to fight and ensure the survival of multiple loyalist Legions' champions and leaders (and the death of the same of the traitor Legions) during the Siege of Terra, and then by the Mantle of Perpetuity which originally belonged to Vulkan (until it was cast off by Vulkan when he ascended to Daemonhood or by John Grammaticus' usage of the Fulgurite Spear on him during the Heresy), which inexplicably brought Lucius the Reborn back to life ten thousand years after the Siege of Terra.
• David Versus Goliath:
  • One of Lucius' most impressive victories was a case of this, having singlehandedly killed a traitor Titan at the Siege of Terra by cutting through the thin armor of the traitor war-machine by the leg, battling his way through the body until he reached the chest and destroying the controls and safety mechanisms of its fusion reactor, causing it to undergo meltdown and detonate right in the middle of traitor forces. This also happens to be his last victory as he was vaporized along with it...
  • ... At least until he was inexplicably brought back to life in time to participate in the Angel War ten thousand years later, whereupon he one ups it by challenging and battling the Keeper of Secrets Yria in the Underhives of Holy Terra, which outsized him by a considerable margin physically and also metaphorically in terms of age, experience and even skills. The duel ends with a Mutual Kill, but Lucius still wins by default as he landed the killing blow first and was brought back to life by his newly Perpetual state, while Yria was banished back into the Warp.
• Death Seeker: After losing all his squad-mates and enduring unspeakable tortures from the Dark Eldar, Lucius the Reborn had all but reduced to this, only compelled to kept going by his duty as a Space Marine and his promise to Saul Travitz. Problem is, of course, the universe just wouldn't let him die...
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Lucius the Reborn took out the Keeper of Secrets Yria in a Mutual Kill during the Angel War in the Underhives of Holy Terra. Lucius technically won this bout by landing the killing blow first and returning from death once again due to his newly Perpetual nature, while Yria is thoroughly banished back into the Warp. Downplayed somewhat in that Lucius had some help with vengeful ghosts being summoned by a Herald of Prospero of the Thousand Sons arriving at the scene with Imperial reinforcements, distracting the Keeper of Secrets just long enough to deliver the Coup de Grâce.
• Expy: Lucius the Reborn is fast fulfilling the role of being the Doomslayer of the RH-verse, strongly resembling the Scourge of Hell with being nigh-unkillable, fighting daemons and all traitors and Chaos forces with unrelenting determination and hatred, being likely the last of the Emperor's Children legion...
• Fastball Special: Taking advantage of the fact Lucius cannot die, the Thousand Sons present at the Battle of Lupercal Gate towards the climax of the Angel War got him to where he was needed by quite literally throwing him there with their telekinesis.
• Irony: HH-verse Lucius is a depraved narcissistic swordsman who wants to demonstrate his superiority but known for being a Sore Loser that caused more trouble to his faction meanwhile RH-verse Lucius is a one of the revered heroes of the Imperium but he just really wants to die permanently but a mysterious force keeps resurrecting him in the times where the Imperium is in great danger.
• Master Swordsman: Lucius remains in the RH-verse as in the HH-verse a swordsman of terrifying skill, compared at various points with the likes of Sigismund, Abaddon, Kharn, Amet and Sevatar in terms of skill, and is capable of keeping up with even a Keeper of Secrets as seen during the Angel War (and that was while using a piece of junk as an improvised weapon for most of the fight).
• The Magnificent: 'The Reborn' (instead of 'The Eternal' as with his canon HH-verse self), having apparently returned to life in his cell after dying under the tortures of the Dark Eldar, and afterwards in the climatic Battle of Terra at the climax of the Roboutian Heresy he was seen fighting and saving the lives of many loyalist Legions' champions and leaders, and was thought to have died multiple times by each of the loyal Legions, only to inexplicably reappear to fight once more. This earned him a posthumous Imperial Sainthood.
• Tranquil Fury: Lucius the Reborn is supremely pissed upon hearing Holy Terra is under attack again by the forces of Chaos when he returned ten thousand years later, and also that no only has the Emperor's Children legion been destroyed by Fabius Bile's Black Legion, but its remnants had been captured and twisted into the monstrous Tithed Ones by the servants of Slaanesh as their shock troops for the Angel War. To the frustration of the Keeper of Secrets Yria, however, Lucius doesn't break out into a berserk rage when it taunts him about that, instead sinking into a cold, focused fury which only made his sword-fighting even more superb.

Brotherhood of the Silent Scream

• The Atoner: The Brotherhood of the Silent Scream cut off their own tongues for their perceived failures, removing themselves from the broader legion structure, staying isolated on a monastery on Chemos and lending their services to inquisitors.
• The Speechless: Every Space Marine in the Brotherhood ritually removes his tongue as a punishment for perceived failures, this tradition was started by Marius Vairosean after being unable to rescue his Primarch during the Bleeding War.

IV — Iron Warriors

General

• Artificial Limbs: The mutagenic energies around the Iron Cages have induced mutations on the Iron Warriors, to counteract this they remove the mutated tissue, replacing it with prosthetics or cloned replacements.
• Bizarrchitecture: Some buildings made by the Iron Warriors are capable to defy the laws of physics, or modify themselves to a certain degree. Special mentions go to the walls of the Iron Warriors’ fortress on Hydra Cordatus and the Cavea Ferrum: A structure inside the Imperial Palace of such complexity that even a Primarch’s mind is unable to navigate it.
• Death from Above: Iron Warriors' military doctrine involves very extensive use of heavy artillery and other forms of bombardment to pound the enemy's defenses and resolve into dust, before any major assaults.
• Glory Hound: Like in canon, they used to be this, growing increasingly restless over the lack of recognition and respect for demeaning and frustrating assignments with little glory to be had. Then Perturabo, who is far more mature and humble than his canon self in this verse, took command and taught them his philosophy on war, dispelling such desires and turning them into dutiful Legionnaires as a whole. Ironically, it is subverting this and heroically and loyally defending the Imperium that finally got them the widespread recognition and respect from the rest of the Imperium during and after the Heresy.
• Hold the Line: They are the main force backing the construction and manning of the iron cages: Sector-sized complexes that surround the Eye of Terror and the Ruinstorm. And the legion has been blocking the access of most of the assaults from the forces of Chaos for ten millennia.
• Humble Hero: They care little for recognition or glory ever since Perturabo assumed command of the Legion and taught them that War Is Hell and is something that should only be pursued and ended as quickly and efficiently as possible. At present, they dutifully watch over the Imperium and see to its defense from their countless fortresses across the Galaxy, perfectly fine to let the other Loyal Legions get their share of glory and credit - their Primarch and the Emperor's approval is enough for them.
• Pragmatic Hero: Unlike other Legions, the Iron Warriors don't care for glory or honour in war, and thus are more willing to use less honourable but effective strategies to resolve it as efficiently as possible, like bombing the enemy into submission from afar or let them wear themselves down assaulting their near-impregnable fortresses until they are too weak to defend themselves. This makes for a source of tension between the Iron Warriors and other Loyalist Legions, and one of the original sources of their feud with their presently traitorous cousins the Imperial Fists.
• Tank Goodness: The Iron Warriors makes extensive use of heavy armoured vehicles to spearhead their offensives, often fielding hundreds of them on the field alongside thousands of Iron Warriors legionnaires.
• War Is Hell: A lesson Perturabo drilled into the Iron Warriors' heads upon taking command of the Legion, stopping their then-increasing thirst for recognition and glory in its tracks. For the Iron Warriors, war is considered an unfortunate but necessary evil that must be tolerated and even waged for the defense of the Imperium and all Humankind. It must therefore be treated like a mathematical equation which must be solved as efficiently and effectively as possible, spending as little resources and casualties as possible for maximum effect.

Primarch Perturabo

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• Achievements in Ignorance: When Perturabo decided to be a scholar and live a simple life, he thought the the Emperor would be disappointed in him. He was suprised that when the Emperor happily acknowledging his decision, as it turns out that Perturabo was able to succeed in what the Emperor wanted to happen also: A utopia where humanity can rule themselves and soldiers can find purpose, and the Emperor himself can at last retire with his duty done.
• Cincinnatus: He didn't stay the ruler to Olympia after uplifting the world into an utopia, instead quietly retiring into the countryside to be a scholar.
• Character Development: This is what transforms him into a different person than in canon. His foster father's death and his slaughter of corrupt nobles caused him to blame himself for the first time in his life. As a result he made the decision to better himself, turning him into a much humbler and wiser man.
• The Engineer: Unlike canon, he specialised in defensive warfare, which was one of the reasons why he became Protector of Terra instead of Dorn.
• Emergency Transformation: Perturabo's duty in the defending the Imperium (and one of the remaining active Loyalist Primarchs that time) has caused him to accumulate damage that it got to a point that he was entombed in a Dreadnought to save his life.
• For Want Of A Nail:
  • Perturabo's hated foster-father died before the Emperor showed up, and having authority and responsibility thrust on him caused him to mature and become a Humble Hero who was content with the Boring, but Practical work.
  • Slaughter of corrupt nobles taught him early on how dangerous he can be if he lets his emotions overcome him (something he'd learned in canon only when it was already too late). His lack of self-control and frequent violent outbursts were amongst his main flaws in canon.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He has build many contraptions and weapons both before and after reuniting with Emperor.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Defied; after slaughtering the corrupt nobles of Lochos, and seeing how horrible his wrath can be, he gave an oath that he wouldn't ever let his anger overcome him again.
• Human Popsicle: Due to the amount of wounds that Perturabo has taken in his battles, he now spends most of the time resting in stasis.
• Humble Hero: He took over Olympia not for his own glory, but to give power to it's people. After he had achieved his dream, he retired to a quiet, content life.
• Knight in Sour Armor: After the Heresy ended, Perturabo lost faith in the Imperium’s possible recovery, remarking that they’ll never reach the state that the Imperium had before the Heresy.
• Like Father, Like Son: The Emperor's first words to him was proclaiming him as truly being his son, right after seeing that Perturabo was very happy to let the perfect society he created rule itself.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Lochos aristocracy started causing too much problems to his attempts to bring it into prosperity, Perturabo gathered them together and just slaughtered in rage. After calming down, he became horrified: he just broke the laws of Lochos, and, worse, betrayed the very ideals he oathed to maintain. He gave another oath to himself — never let his anger overcome him again. He would follow that oath until the Siege of Terra.
• Praetorian Guard: Perturabo (instead of Rogal Dorn, like it was in canon) takes the role of defender of Terra, and fortifies the Imperial Palace before Siege of Terra.

Barban Falk, the Warsmith

• Back from the Dead: Returning just in time to participate in the Angel War on Mars alongside tens of thousands of GG/Heresy-Era long-lost Iron Warriors.
• The Cavalry: Twice - first by leading thirty thousand Iron Warriors to Mars and aid the Mechanicum loyalists retake the red planet from the Dark Mechanicum during the Schism of Mars. Then by leading those same tens of thousands of Iron Warriors who were caught up with most of him in the spacetime distortion of the Noctis Labyrinth to join in the Angel War after they were reassembled and spat back into reality.
• Literal Split Personality: It is revealed this was what happened with Barban Falk during the Martian War: Thanks to the Void Dragon fragment on Mars, the climatic Final Battle at the Noctis Labyrinth caused a catastrophic fracturing of space-time which caught most of the tens of thousand or so Iron Warriors Barban Falk led to reclaim Mars. Barban Falk was partially caught in it, and like a prism, the fracturing caused him to split into pieces, most of them lost within the fractured space-time around the Labrinyth and leaving one part with the three hundred Iron Warriors survivors who were not caught within the zone of distortion. Recognizing that he's no longer complete, the fragment who escaped the zone called himself the Warsmith from then on. With the death of Moravec by the returned Primarchs and the restoration of the normal space-time continuum around the Labyrinth, Balkan Falks and the rest of the long-lost Iron Warriors are now Back from the Dead, returning just in time to aid in the defence of Mars during the Angel War from N'Kari's forces.
• Not Too Dead to Save the Day: His ghost appears to save Magnus from the Queen during his battle against the forces of the Haydesian Kingdoms. And then the rest of him showed up with tens of thousands of long-lost Iron Warriors during the Angel War on Mars with the destruction of Moravec and the restoration of the space-time continuum which had cast them adrift until that time.
• No-Sell: Thanks to the space-time distortion which they got caught up in at the Noctis Labyrinth, Balkan Falk and his Iron Warriors now possessed a strange aura around themselves with Anti-Magic properties which allows them to resist Warp corruption and disrupt Warp powers, giving them a great advantage against the Daemonically-corrupted/empowered forces of the Keeper of Secrets N'Kari during the Angel War on Mars.
• That Man Is Dead: After returning from the Martian War, he abandoned the identity of Barban Falk, chosing to be referred only as the Warsmith. Though given the latest chapters, he has seemingly reclaimed the identity of Barban Falk once more.

Barabas Dantioch

• Colony Drop: How Barabas dealt with the Imperator-class Titan which the treacherous Imperial Fists used to finally breach Shadenhold's defences during the siege of the fortress and rendered it indefensible. Shadenhold was built into a gigantic stalactite, and to enter the even more enormous cavern it was built into the Imperator-class Titan had to emerge from a lake beneath the fortress. Before Barabas and his defenders escaped, they detonated the demolition charges at the base of the hanging fortress spire and blew it off the roof of the cavern, which promptly dropped itself right on top of the Titan and crushed it along with thousands of other enemy troops.
• Guile Hero: He killed thousands of Imperial Fists troops and an imperator Titan during the siege of Shadenhold, using only the fortress itself and a few marines and human soldiers. The battle ended up costing the traitorous Imperial Fists nearly a tenth of the entire legion before it was taken, and they were even denied that victory when Barabas escaped and his men escaped and destroyed the fortress as they went.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He died activating the Dark Glass station to allow the World Eaters and Word Bearers to escape the Ruinstorm.
• Older Than They Look: As a result of the Iron Warriors' battle with the Hrud, Barabas was prematurely aged by the Hruds' time-bending entropic powers on top of being horribly disfigured. This becomes a problem as the Roboutian Heresy dragged on, culminating in him sacrificing himself to activate the Dark Glass Station and allow both the Word Bearers and World Eaters to escape the Ruinstorm, taking an agonizing but relatively quick and meaningful death getting the two trapped loyalist Legions back to Terra rather than drag everyone else down and eventually succumbing to a prolonged and undignified death.
• Secretly Dying: Barabas was dying from entropic exposure to the Hrud, aging his body prematurely and making him weaker and weaker with each passing moment. This may have motivated him to perform his Heroic Sacrifice so he won't slow everyone down and die a much more dignified and meaningful death.
• The Strategist: Under his leadership and his ingeniously designed Shadenhold fortress, he and the few Astartes and Human soldiers he have under his command managed to hold off a significant portion of the traitorous Imperial Fists legion - which consisted of thousands of traitor Astartes, millions of Human troops and even several renegade Titans legions - for more than a standard Terran year. Even Rogal Dorn's personal leadership was not enough to break the siege, and in the end Barabas costed him a tenth of his entire Legion just to take Shadenhold, and even that victory was rendered hollow by Barabas activating the self-destruct and denying the Imperial Fists their prize, escaping with his men via teleportation.

VIII — Night Lords

General

• Arch-Enemy: They really, really hate Salamanders and their Primarch, Vulkan, for the deaths of Konrad Curze and countless other Night Lords.
• The Atoner: Those who breaks the rules particularly seriously (pursue of punishing sinners at the cost of disregarding innocent casualties; excessive cruelty; breaking the orders), can be stripped of all ranks and forced to wear red-painted gauntlets, marking them as Red Hands. Red Hands, while not outright expandable, are always the first one to get into any risky assaults, and the last ones to retreat. The only ways to get absolved are either show true acts of heroism, over and over again... or perish in battle, which guarantees that you would be forgiven.
• Berserk Button: Don't trick the Night Lords into putting down a well-intentioned rebellion, unless you want your death and humiliation to be spectacular.
• Big Damn Heroes: They rescued the Emperor's Children from their imprisonment and torture at the hands of Dark Eldar, and later were part of the imperial reinforcements at the siege of Terra.
• Combat Clairvoyance: Librarians of the legion can receive visions of the future, but this gift it's really taxing. This ability also appears on a minority of the normal battle-brothers of the legion, but it's far more dangerous, and eventually pushes the legionary suffering from the visions into a full-on Super-Power Meltdown.
• Combat Pragmatist: They're not ashamed of using "cowardly" tactics, up to and including tactical retreating, if it gets things done.
• The Confidant: 'Sin-Eaters' are essentially confidants and therapists who are recruited by the Night Lords to help them cope with the horrors of their jobs. It comes from Konrad Curze having a mother-figure who looked after him and listened to his troubles in his youth.
• Dark Is Not Evil: They are still Terror Heroes but unlike in canon, this is tempered by a strong sense of justice and compassion for the innocent.
• Fragile Speedster:
  • Their spaceships sacrifices armour in favour of more speed.
  • Their preference for mobility, stealth and Hit-and-Run Tactics made their ground forces less suitable for direct confrontations than the other Legions — of which they're aware, planning ahead of battle how to not let it happen in the first place; if face-to-face battle happens anyway, they consider it to be a failure on their part, as they didn't prepare well enough.
• Hit-and-Run Tactics: Besides striking from the shadows and wiping out key targets while scaring the enemy to the point that they're ready to give up, Night Lords also favours swift strikes at the enemy, followed by the tactical retreat, so they can hit them at another vulnerable spot right afterwards. Due to this, they have increased numbers of Assault Marines (called Raptors) in their ranks.
• Stealth Expert: They're the best legion at moving through enviroments without being noticed, using both their own abilities and cooperation from the Officio Assasinorum to maintain this effect.
• Straight for the Commander: Their tactics often involves infiltrating the enemy lines and assassinating commanders, usually in extremely brutal fashion. Often, it's enough to make the enemy surrender, especially if they know whom they're facing.
• Terror Hero: The Night Lords make use a mix of stealth, brutality and terror tactics to intimidate their foes into submission, avoiding excessive deaths. This is so efficient that the mere rumor of a fleet of Night Lords coming to a planet it's enough to stop seditious nobles from trying to rebel against the Imperium. Unlike the canon Night Lords, however, they balance this out with a code of honor, the use of 'Sin-Eaters' to help them cope with the horrors of their jobs, and their respect for human life.

Primarch Konrad Curze

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• Big Brother Mentor: He teaches the necessity of respecting the Godzilla Threshold to his youngest siblings, the twin Primarchs Alpharius and Omegon.
• Defiant to the End: He told Vulkan he would rather die a hero than live as a monster before being killed by the Salamander Primarch.
  Konrad Curze: Better to die a martyr than to live a monster.
• For Want Of A Nail:
  • Konrad Curze was raised by a human mother who cared for and loved him, preventing his rise as a psychotic Punisher expy in canon while becoming a noble Batman-like figure who valued life.
  • The Emperor actually bothered to help him with his split personality, curing him from his insanity.
  • Became one to his brothers Alpharius and Omegon when the Alpha Legion's growing ruthlessness was brought to his attention, and his influence helped set them straight to a more positive and moral path then they would had walked otherwise.
• The Good King: Was crowned King of Nostramo after fighting off the Eldar invasion. His reign saw the crime-ridden world become prosperous and stable. Unlike in canon, this change was lasting since Konrad knew to leave it in the hands of his most capable administrators while he was away crusading.
• The Heart: Konrad is one of the beloved brothers especially by the less liked ones like Fulgrim, Magnus, Mortarion, Alpharius and Omegmon. His death devastated the Forces of Imperium but Fulgrim (whom Konrad was closest) and Alpharius (along with Omegmon whom Konrad talked out of their brutal methods) was the most heartbroken when they heard of his death.
• Momma's Boy: His point of divergence was being found and raised as a child by a woman named Theresa, who did her best to reassure him he wasn't a monster.
• Morality Chain: Unlike canon, where he remained alone, against the whole word whole of evil, here, he gets the adoptive mother, whom he instinctively saves on their first meet, and who then saves him from the wounds he sustained. Because of her, he learns that not all humans are evil. And when she dies to protect him, with her last words being that he's not a monster what he sees in the future, it gives him resolve to prove her right.
• Sacrificial Lion: He is the first Primarch to die in the Heresy, at the hands of Vulkan.
• Scars Are Forever: The wound, which he got when saving the woman who would later become his adoptive mother, didn't heal in full due to him being too starved until he was taken home and fed; even after that, the scar on his stomach remained — and never vanished, remaining with him till the day of his death.
• Screw Destiny: Unlike canon, he learns that future is not set in stone, and can be changed — if one is willing to fight for it. He's determined to not only prevent the future that he foresaw for himself and his Legion, but for other Primarchs as well.
• Why Won't You Die?: Konrad killed Vulkan, who unfortunately is a Perpetual, fifteen times at the Drop Site Massacre before dying.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: He was at both ends of this situation at different points in his life.
  • He first received this encouragement from his mother who used her dying words to reassure him that he was not a monster.
  • He was on the giving end when he convinced Alpharius and Omegon that the two could become more than just ruthless killers.
• You Shall Not Pass!: During Dropsite Massacre, he stayed behind to cover for Mortarion and Alpharius escaping with survivors of their Legions; both Konrad and his brothers understood that he's likely not make it out (especially Konrad, who knew from his visions that something terrible is gonna happen). This resulted in him getting killed by Vulkan.

Jago Sevatarion, the Prince of Crows

• Boarding Party: Jago Sevatarion led one against a ship belonging to the Dark Angels in a battle following the Heresy, and was still aboard with his troops when it was pulled back into the Warp, leaving his ultimate fate unknown.
• Combat Pragmatist: While he was one of the best duelists in the legions, he got an extra edge by being willing to use every trick available to him. One example of this is his duel against Sigismund, that Jago won by headbutting Siginmund after 30 hours of duelling.
• Cruel Mercy: After defeating Alajos during Thramas Crusade, Sevatar was ready to kill him, but chose to instead leave him behind, knowing that Lion would be there soon — and wouldn't be happy at his son's failure.
• Not Quite Dead: Some believe this to be the case for Sevatar despite him disappearing after the Heresy, especially since he had not been given permission to die from his Primarch, as per Konrad Curze's final orders before his death.
• Take Up My Sword: He was designated as heir of Konrad Curze before the dropsite massacre, and assumed the title of legion master upon his Primarch's death. He is to lead the Legion until he was ordered otherwise, and until he is granted explicit permission to do so, he was forbidden to die.
• The Un-Smile: While he smiles rarely, his smiles are scary to the point of intimidating a Callidus assassin.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After leading the Night Lords during and after the Heresy following their Primarch's death, he disappeared in a battle against the Dark Angels when the traitor ship he and his troops had boarded were pulled back into the Warp with them still on it. While the Imperium assumed him dead, some among the Night Lords believe he is still alive, especially considering that by his Primarch's final command, he is forbidden to die until granted explicit permission to do so from Konrad Curze.

XII — World Eaters

General

• Adaptational Context Change: Origin of their name; in canon, it was a homage to Angron's dead rebel comrades, but here, Angron names his Legion that as a reminder that they have the power to destroy entire worlds, and must hold that power very responsibly, otherwise they would be no better than the enemies they fight.
• Allowed Internal War: Rather than purge the mutants on Nuceria outright (and there always would be mutants, as the planet is close to what was once Ultramar), they allow them to escape into desert and gather into clans — so the Legion's aspirants would always have some enemy to prove their strength, because only the strongest should join World Eaters.
• Berserk Button: Don't support slavery in front of the World Eaters, unless you want your death and humiliation to be spectacular.
• Honor Before Reason: The legion has started conflicts with many institutions of the Imperium, ranging from snobbish regiments of the Astra Militarum to the Inquisition.
• Nay-Theist: They don't consider the Emperor to be a god (in fact, they don't even believe in Him being perfect or flawless — His own greatness made Him too detached from common folk to see their problems). However, they understand that for some, faith is what keeps them afloat, and they often have to act as mediators in conflicts between (way less tolerant) Word Bearers and the Ecclesiarchy.
• Pro-Human Transhuman: The long history of fighting alongside human soldiers taught World Eaters to respect them: witnessing first-hand the great courage ordinary people can manifest convinced the sons of Angron that it's their duty to protect them, to let them fulfill that potential. It's also common practice to adopt the warcries of their allies during joint campaigns, as the sign of respect.
• Right Hand Versus Left Hand: The legion has gotten its fair share of enemies among the Imperium’s ranks:
  • The usage of obedience circuits on Skitarii has put the Adeptus Mechanicus at odds with the legion.
  • After the First War of Armageddon, they stood up against the Inquisition on the matter of the survivors of the war, similarly to the Space Wolves in canon. This has resulted in resentment coming from assorted radical elements inside the Ordos.
  • They use to feud with the more small-minded elements of the Administratum over their treatment of people from existing and newly-conquered worlds, often leading to petty indirect reprisals such as delaying shipment of munitions and various complaints aim at inconveniencing the Legion. Things came to a head when they tried to recall Shipmaster Lotara Sorrin, commander of Primarch Angron's flagship 'The Conqueror', to Terra for various breaches of protocol, leading to Primarch Angron sending Kharn and a hundred other World Eaters to 'Take care of this' at the Administratum outpost which sent the recall order. Whatever they did, the conflict died down from the Administratum's end after that, though they still rub shoulders on some issues such as indentured labour.
  • While they got along wonderfully with many Imperial Guard regiments, the World Eaters disliked if not outright hated many high-born regiments and their aristocratic commanders who look down upon the more 'common' regiments and the people of the Imperium, often to the point of violence. Some high-born leaders 'disappear' during deployment with the World Eaters, allowing their more common-born soldiers and subordinates to replace them, while in more extreme cases open warfare could result which could see entire high-born regiments wiped out, as was the case of the Jantine Patricians at Menazoid Epsilon after they turned on another regiment in the presence of the World Eaters elements which were part of the campaign.
• Slave Liberation: The World Eaters utterly despise everything related to the enslavement and abuse of humans. This has resulted in a special hatred for both the Salamanders and the worst examples of imperial nobility.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: They don't come along with Mechanicum, whom they consider to be slavers due to their usage of obedience circuits in their skitarii forces.
• True Companions: The Astartes of this Legion share the greatest bonds of brotherhood in any legion, valuing brotherhood first, discipline second and skills at arms third on their list of priorities.

Primarch Angron

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• Adaptational Context Change: "Lord of Red Sands" nickname was received not for his gladiatorial prowess (as he never became a gladiator), but for him slaughtering the slavers and liberating the slaves, and is said with respect.
• The Berserker: Defied. While many have said that Angron could be the best warrior among the Primarchs if he let himself fight without restrain, Angron has never let his wrath overcome him. As a result of this restraint, he prevents Khorne from taking him under his influence.
• For Want Of A Nail: Two key changes makes Angron one of the most heroic Primarchs, instead of berserker figure he's in canon:
  • Eldrad ordered the Eldar not to attack the baby Angron when he crash-landed, suspecting the orders came from Chaos-corrupted Farseers. As he was not injured, Angron was not captured by Slavers and given the Butcher Nails, saving him from becoming purely driven by rage and falling into Chaos; instead he was raised by peasants who taught him to despise pointless war.
  • Witnessing what Butcher Nails can do with humans convinces Angron that he must put an end to this; this also awakes his main power — empathy — which allows him to gather massive army of supporters, who shares his disgust and realises that they have to change their ways. As result, instead of starting the rebellion of Ax-Crazy gladiators, Angron creates disciplined army which is capable of fighting High-Riders on equal terms; by contrast, High-Riders, after losing more and more fights (with their warriors outright defecting to Angron, whom they see as being in right), started installing Butcher Nails into their soldiers, which made them into what Angron's rebels were in canon, with the same results as them — them ending up slaughtered. This is what convinces Angron that cold mind and discipline always beats mindless rage, something he would teach his Legion later on.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Angron talks Lorgar out of slaughtering the Five Hundred Worlds while hunting for Roboute Guilliman, as doing so would mean betraying the ideals they've swore to protect — just like Guilliman did before; what would differ them from the rebels in that case?
• I Will Find You: One day, Angron (by that moment, the last loyal Primarch still active) departed, leaving behind a letter stating that he wouldn't return until he finds all missing brothers — Lorgar, Magnus and others.
• Last-Second Chance: Before battle for Calth, Marius Gage gets a chance to surrender and spare the lives of his men; he rejects it, in such a manner which shows that he's beyond saving.
• Nice Guy: Angron had a much brighter past as a free man, leading him to becoming a noble, genial figure who pretty much everyone who saw the value of compassion got along with. His Legion follows his example. The fact that he was the one to calm and talk down Lorgar from razing their way to Ultramar speaks volumes.
• Slave Liberation: His war to unify Nuceria started with him liberating gladiators; that's the origin of the "Lord of Red Sands" title in this universe (he doesn't like it, but chose to keep it as reminder what can happen if he loses control).
• Stop Worshipping Me: The first thing that Angron did upon meeting with the War Hound's Legion Master Ibrahim Ghreer who kneeled before him him was to bring the Legion Master's up to his feet and declared that his sons must never bow down to him.
• Too Much Alike: While Angron has no quarrel or grudge against Perturabo, they rarely get along and prefers to be away from each other. The reason is they both seem themselves as mirrors of other; Men who are restraining their rage and emotions as they knew the consequences of letting it go, and being together might spark each other's restraint
• Tranquil Fury: Angron constantly restrains himself while he fights.

Kharn the Bound One

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• Bring It: In Nagrakali, the name Skalathrax means “place of ending”, “ judgement'' and “destruction”; Kharn gave this name to one of the recruitment worlds of the World Eaters. This world has seen a disproportionate amount of attacks, including the one that would kill Kharn himself centuries down the line.
• Death by Adaptation: Unlike canon, he was slain on Skalathrax, and was elevated to sainthood by the Ecclesiarchy soon afterwards.
• King in the Mountain: The World Eaters have a legend that Kharn is not dead, merely sleeping, and that he would return to lead the World Eaters in battle when they need him the most.
• Noodle Incident: An Administratum outpost sent a recall order for Lotara Sorrin, the Shipmaster of the World Eaters' flagship 'The Conqueror', citing various breaches of protocol and etiquette which they want to hold her accountable for as part of the Administratum officials' petty reprisals for various conflicts with the World Eaters which had been festering during the Great Crusade. In response, Kharn and a hundred World Eaters were sent to that outpost by Primarch Angron with specific instructions to "Take care of this". While apparently no one died or was even hurt, whatever Kharn and the World Eaters sent did resulted in the Administratum never bothering the World Eaters again. The World Eaters claim to still know the specific details of the story and recount them to new recruits to their collective amusement.

The Heirs of Regret

The order of mortal warriors included into the Legion on Angron's orders, the Heirs are the long allies of World Eaters, and one of their greatest assets and the symbols. There are always twelve of them, with new ones only joining in to replace the dead.

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• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: When World Eaters fights alongside mortal allies, the Heirs leads them into battle, inspiring them by their heroism, courage and valor, like no commissar ever would.
• The Atoner:
  • Original Heirs were the soldiers who once guarded the slaves in Desh'ea, until Angron awoke their conscience. They chose the life of hermit monks, spending their time in meditations and prayers, until Angron discovered them and offered a better way to redeem their past mistakes — by helping liberating the rest of the galaxy.
  • Whenever a Heir dies, a new one gets taken from the order's secret sanctum on Nuceria, which gathers candidates from all across Imperium; military, criminals, former Inquisitors — the order finds best of the best, who did some terrible mistakes in the past which resulted in needless bloodshed, and now wishes to atone for it with their own blood. In fact, it's one of the reasons why the order exists: they serve as the living example that even those who have lost their way can be redeemed if their will is strong enough.
• Badass Normal: The Heirs of Regret are so well-trained and equipped that they can fight on equal terms with actual Astartes, despite being normal humans; it's even more noticeable due to them sharing the Legion's preference to close combat. In battles, they fights side-by-side with the Chaplains of the Legion.

XIV — Death Guard

General

• Adaptational Context Change: The battle for Galaspar Cluster (the first major operation of the Legion under Mortarion, which served as their Establishing Character Moment) happens differently: Death Guard is noticeably less prone to just slaughter civilians (in canon, they killed even children), dedicating themselves to tracking down and killing the oppressive Order (who was controlling the population through drugs, which only they were able to provide to addicted people). Once they did this, they only leaved after Mechanicum studied the drugs and found the cure. While in canon, this accident was used to emphasis how brutal they are, here, it's used to demonstrate their role of protectors of the weak, and executors of the sinful.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: In canon, the origin of the Legion of the Damned is unknown; here, it consists of the former Death Guards who've leaved their Legion due to inability to carry the burden of their mission, but still want to protect Mankind the other way. It's believed that their supernatural qualities are manifestation of their own remorse.
• The Ageless: Unlike the other Astartes (who rarely reaches a thousand years), they seems to not age at all (and tend to recover from any wounds much easier in general); they very well may be immortal, unless killed on a battlefield.
• Anti-Magical Faction: The Death Guard are the only legion that doesn't use librarians. They have the Sisters of Silence instead, and then a number of anti-Psyker exotic weapons and Pariah mutants when the Sisters become less available.
• Acquired Poison Immunity: Besides natural resistance to toxins given by their upbringing on Barbarus, the Death Guards also constantly consumes various (frequently shuffled) poisons, including poisoning any food they eat, to make themselves even more resilient; officers are expected to consume even more lethal poisons. The Apothecaries regularly comes up with new toxins. There's also a ritual when Commander shares his poisonous drink with a warrior who performed particularly notable feat during the latest engagement. On the downside, it made them lose ability to consume slain foes to gain their memories, as well as the sense of taste and smell in general.
• Arch-Enemy: Amongst the Chaos Spacemarines they face, the most hated are Salamanders, who were amongst those who've backstabbed and slaughtered them on Isstvan V, and whose Primarch, Vulkan, is responsible for the death of Mortarion.
• Berserk Button: They have two:
  • Never try to blow up a planet if the Death Guard thinks it can be saved; Kryptman learned it the hard way, and open war between Death Guard and Inquisition was only prevented because Inquisition decided to just throw him under the bus instead.
  • Never tell a Death Guard marine they take in survivors from their purges - They don't leave survivors.
• Big Good: Averted; they're the only loyal Legion to explicitly lack the Legion Master (or his analogue) who leads the entire Legion; instead, they're divided into seven Great Companies, each led by its own Commander. That way, they can perform large-scale campaigns without employing auxiliary forces (and thus not exposing them to the horrors the Death Guards faces on regular basis: they would rather avoid purging their allies afterwards).
• Bodyguard Betrayal: Ever since Mortarion died, the Death Shroud (a group of elite Terminator bodyguards) was spread out across Legion, ensuring that each Great Company's commander is guarded by one of them. They're not just protecting them, however: they're watching to ensure that they wouldn't fall to Chaos, and are instructed to kill them if they do so anyway; then they're supposed to off themselves or let their brothers to kill them. This practice was proven very efficient, as no cases of large groups of Death Guards defecting at once were recorded.
• Creepy Good: They have very creepy, almost undead-like look, and use a lot of death-related symbolism (including using power scythes), but they're the good guys.
• Death by Adaptation: Nathaniel Garro's fate is ambiguous in canon; he's confirmed being slain in this universe.
• Dirty Business: They’re called in when entire worlds have to be purged.
• Don't Fear the Reaper: The entire legion sees death as just another part of life, and a mercy compared to what the enemies of mankind can do.
• Doomsday Device: The Death Guards have a TONNE of these in storage, exotic and dangerous weapons confiscated from Xenos and others they fought/wiped out which even the Inquisition and Mechanicus would had balked at, and often used in their extermination campaigns when even their normal weaponry isn't enough.
• Guilt-Free Extermination War: While the Death Guard often mourns having to Mercy Kill Human worlds, they by contrast positively REVELS at wars of extermination against Xeno empires, wiping out alien civilizations on the fringes of Imperial space which must be purged before they become a threat to the Imperium, since to them there is no moral ambiguity or crises of conscience which comes with having to end Human life, only the assertion of Human supremacy in the galaxy. This goes to the point that there is a rotation involved with the Death Guards' Great Companies where they would spend time killing Xenos after a period of Human exterminations, since killing aliens for them comes as stress relief for their other duties.
• I Did What I Had to Do: The Death Guard destroys planets for the greater good, though they still feel horrible about it despite knowing it must be done.
• Implacable Man: The entire legion has one of the greatest endurances among Astartes.
• Mercy Kill: The populations that they destroy usually would consider extermination by the Death Guard a mercy compare to whatever Fate Worse than Death they had received by the time the Death Guards arrived.
  Mortarion: By our blades and bolters, we guard them from death — and when it becomes necessary, when there is nothing left in this galaxy for them but torment, we grant death to them. For it is preferable to die than to live in slavery to the xenos.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: They've made multiple attempts to purify the air of Barbarus, but every time it resulted in machinery breaking up and releasing the toxins back, which increased the toxicity of the air. After the last attempt three thousand years ago, half a continent was wiped out, which made Death Guard give up, admitting that perhaps it was always a hopeless war.
• Not Worth Killing: They don't both with wiping out the Tau, despite repeated pleas, seeing them as too insignificant to warrant Death Guard's involvement: they're too weak, and the human planets under them can still be recovered.
• The Spook: Their in-universe reputation; as they're specialising in putting down the worst horrors known to the galaxy, much of their missions forever remains unknown to the general public (for a good reason, especially when it's Chaos-related), making them even more mysterious and ominous, contributing to image of them being the death incarnate.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The Death Guard use weapons of mass destruction dangerous and powerful enough to scare even the Iniquisiton and Mechanicus, and would had been completely forbidden for the rest of the Imperium to use.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: They and Thousand Sons have bonded during Siege of Terra. Despite still regarding the Thousand Sons as "suspicious", due to their active use of psychic powers, they would always agree to team-up with them when a major external threat comes.

Primarch Mortarion

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• Death by Adaptation: Unlike canon, he was killed shortly after the end of Heresy.
• Defiant to the End: Mortarion was offered the chance to join Chaos as he was dying at the hands of Vulkan, he still rejected it.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Not very popular with the other Primarchs or the Imperium as a whole though both Horus and Curze respected him.
• For Want Of A Nail: Mortarion escaped from the Witch-Lord earlier and chose to live among normal humans peacefully for a time, causing him to value life more. More importantly, unlike in the HH timeline, the Witch-Lord actively attacked and killed everyone in Mortarion's village that he had grown close to. His need to avenge his family gave him a resolve and motivation that he lacked in the original timeline, and allowed him to kill the Witch-Lord himself where he would have failed in the canon timeline. As a result, the Emperor never took the kill from him, and there was no resentment between him and his father, even when the Emperor later ruled in favor of the Librarius at the Council of Nikaea, a decision that Mortarion was adamantly opposed to but ultimately respected (it helped that he was given the Sisters of Silence to compensate for a lack of a Librarius).
• Mercy Kill: He was forced to put down survivors from his village, as they were beyond saving after all the tortures inflicted on them, along with any who reanimated as undead. This incident deeply affected Mortarion, and is directly behind his Legion's philosophy of bringing retribution to the enemies, and last peace to the allies who're beyond saving.
• Mutual Kill: While he was mortally wounded by Vulkan (a Daemon Prince by then), he still managed to inflict enough damage to banish him.
• My Greatest Failure: Mortarion was forced to leave Konrad in the Dropsite Massacre despite his insistence to stay and die with his brother. Konrad rejected his offer and instead told him to warn the Emperor and the Loyalist. This in turn made Mortarion determined to fight harder in Terra especially facing Jaghatai Khan or rather the demon possessing his brother.
• Not Quite Dead: It is implied he's become a leader of the Legion of Damned.
• Only Friend: The closest thing as friend for Mortarion is Konrad as they both share methods for using extreme use of force to protect the citizens of the Imperium despite the tarnish of their reputation. Thats why Konrad's death weighed heavily on Mortarion.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The incident that triggered the campaigns of extermination against the Witch Lords of Barbarus was the extermination of the village that had accepted Mortarion.
• Staking the Loved One:
  • When his village was wiped out, he was forced to put down the reanimated corpses of the villagers whom he grew to view as family; the scene even calls some of them by name, describing bonding moments Mortarion had with them.
  • He spent the entirety of the Siege of Terra making sure that Jagathai Khan was permanently dead, and that the Khagan wouldn't be able to ever use his body again.

XV — Thousand Sons

General

• Animated Armor: Those Astartes that are unable to survive the Rubric are reduced to dust, with their souls trapped inside their armor.
• Arch-Enemy: With the Space Wolves. Even before the Heresy began.
• Body Horror: As in canon, the Thousand Sons suffered from a high mutation rate that exploded after the heresy (here the explosion blamed on Tzeentch's wrath). Ahriman's Rubric put a stop to it...at the cost of killing most of the legion and trapping their souls in their armor as Rubrics. In-universe, this is treated as the right decision as it at least ended up saving who could be saved.
• Cursed with Awesome: The Rubric of Ahriman shields every marine from direct corruption by Chaos and increases their psychic abilities beyond ordinary librarians. However, only a minority of the aspirants actually survive the process, the rest become Rubric Marines.
• Inverse Ninja Law: Justified. Besides the fact that Magnus' geneseed only works with psykers, the Thousand Sons have to combine the implantation with the incredibly dangerous Rubric of Ahriman to stabilize the implantation. The very few who survive were already the toughest psykers around, and Magnus' power makes them even more so. Also averted, as the Sons usually fight with their personal detachment of the Imperial Guard, the Spireguard, backing them up.
• Magic Knight: Every single legionnaire of the Thousand Sons is a psyker, and they're just as talented at fighting as other Astartes. However, a combination of their lack of numbers and their specialized skill set forces them to use human reinforcements known as the Spireguard to be able to operate at their fullest.
• Remember the Alamo: When they fight against the Space Wolves, their battlecries are in remembrance of the burning of Prospero, along with promises of revenge.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: They and Death Guard have bonded during Siege of Terra. Despite still regarding the Death Guard as paranoiacs, due to their distrust to psychic powers, they would always agree to team-up with them when a major external threat comes.

Primarch Magnus the Red

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• Barrier Maiden: To defend his sons from the flash-change, Magnus shielded them with his own power during the Great Crusade. When he’s cast down by Sarthorael, the flesh-change comes back.
• Fatal Flaw: Wrath. Unlike Rogal Dorn, however, Magnus reigns himself in to be the leader his men and the Imperium as a whole need after coming back from his absence.
• For Want Of A Nail: When Magnus was purging Prospero of the Psychneunn, he encountered a "Psychneunn Prime", which could nullify his psychic powers and nearly killed him. The creature also wounded him, destroying his right eye, and Magnus only managed to kill it by body-slamming it to the ground and pummeling it to a pulp. This implicitly taught him that psychic powers and the Warp weren't everything, and that things are more than they seem (the Psychneunn Prime was frail physically, but it certainly didn't stop it from briefly dominating Magnus). This would later allow Magnus to see Tzeentch for what he was (the Lie), and by literally turning his back on Tzeentch in the Warp, broke his hold over the legion (the Flesh Change). Much later, in the Council of Nikaea, Magnus remained silent throughout the proceedings rather than join the pro-psyker camp as expected, which is implied to have been a factor in the Emperor's final decision being to not ban the use of psyker powers, ensuring that psykers, while still feared, are treated with more respect than in canon.
• Freak Out: Immediately after stumbling upon and rejecting Tzeentch, a hysterical Magnus ran to the Emperor, babbling about abominations hiding in the Warp, and only calmed with the assurances that the Emperor planned to destroy said abominations.
• Genius Bruiser: Due to his battle with the Psychneuein Prime (the biggest specimen of a species that feeds off psychic energy), Magnus learns that physical strength can have as much use as psychic might in battle. He later transmitted this lesson to his legion.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Subverted. After he confronted and rejected Tzeentch in the Warp, Magnus rushed to see the Emperor at once, extremely distraught by what he had learned. Fortunately, the Emperor personally checked Magnus for taint, and after swearing Magnus to secrecy, he reassured Magnus by telling him that he had a plan to deal with it.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Right after reuniting his soul and his body, Magnus decides to replace his father on the Golden Throne as the main tool directing the Astronomican.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: After looking into the heart of Tzeentch, Magnus denounces him as a lie and rejects him and Chaos entirely.
• The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: While Mortarion hates Magnus for his use of the Warp and sorceries, the former was actually suprised and commends Magnus for being silent on the whole duration of the Nikaea Council and let the other pro-psyker camp defend the usage of the Librarians. While it isn't enough for them to see each other eye to eye, its more than enough to be at least cordial to each other, which greatly helped on the Heresy itself.
• Worf Had the Flu: During his first battle with Sarthorael the Ever-Watcher, Magnus was weakened by warding his entire legion against the Flesh-Change, to the point where Sarthorael was able to curse him and trap his soul into the warp.

The Heralds of Prospero

• I See Dead People: The first signal an Astartes of the fifteenth legion receives of his transition into a full-fledged Herald is the ability to see the ghosts of the wrongfully slain.
• That Man Is Dead: When a Herald starts his pilgrimage to Prospero, his brothers mark him as dead on the legion's rolls of honor.
• Vengeful Ghost: After the awakening of Vindicta, the Heralds of Prospero that die remain as spirits and conduits of Vindicta. They’re known as The Vengeful Ones.

Ahzek Ahriman

• The Atoner: He has been looking for a cure to the adverse effects of the Rubric for thousands of years.
• Back from the Dead: After sacrificing himself to rip away Sanguinius' glamour, he works with Lady Morgana to resurrect himself as a Rubric Marine. This is both to administer justice upon himself for consigning so many of his brothers to the fate of being Rubric Marines, and also so that he can continue his duties even beyond death.
• Dying Curse: To Sanguinius, ripping apart his Glamour.
  Ahriman: You are no Angel. May they all see you for what you really are.
• The Magnificent: Known as "Keeper of the Lore".
• Heroic Sacrifice: Tricks Sanguinius into stabbing him with his sword, allowing Ahriman to use the connection to shred the Angel's own Glamour and singlehandedly break his forces by forcing them to confront the Humanoid Abomination he really is.

Iskandar Khayon

• Dented Iron: Ten millennia of constant battle against the enemies of mankind has left Khayon’s face a scarred mess.
• The Magnificent: Known as "the Black".
• Red Baron: His alternative title is "Scourge of the Wolves", gained from being a staunch enemy of Leman Russ and the Sixth Legion, the Thousand Sons' collective Arch-Enemy.

XVI — Sons of Horus

General

• Arch-Enemy: By the Warmaster, do they have a long list of them...
  • The Black Legion, which they share with the Emperor's Children on account of it being created by the Arch-Renegade Fabius Bile, the Clone Lord in this universe. The Sons of Horus is especially pissed at Bile for daring to desecrate Horus' corpse and memory by creating clones of him (and Fulgrim) from their genetic materials during the Clone Wars. And that's not counting that time Bile planted a gene-infiltrator among their ranks who would kick-start the 'War of the False King' which decimated their Legion...
  • The Blood Angels and their Primarch Sanguinius. It was Sanguinius who killed Horus at the gates of the Imperial Palace towards the climax of the Siege of Terra, drinking his blood and transforming into the Daemon Prince of Slaanesh. After Sanguinius was defeated and banished by the Mournival, it was the Blood Angels who made off with the Warmaster's desiccated corpse, allowing it to be desecrated by Fabius Bile for his blasphemous research and cloning projects.
• Born Unlucky: For some reason, they keep on ending up in incredibly bad situations that continues to tarnish their reputation. That reason is the spite of the Dark Gods; Horus was originally slated for corruption, as he was in canon, but him breaking free of their influence brought the full ire of the Ruinous Powers upon him and his lineage. As a result, when the Sons are in conflict with Chaos, everything that can go wrong will go wrong, which combined with how their luck is not inherently better anywhere else, leads to their constant misfortunes.
• Broken Ace: The Sons of Horus were and are still acclaimed across the galaxy as the greatest of all Space Marines, their glories innumerable and victories unrivalled by all other Legions. Unfortunately, they are still haunted by the loss of their Primarch Horus ten thousand years on, and constantly afflicted with terrible misfortunes which blemishes that record and fills them with grief and shame, along with an ever-growing list of grudges and oaths of vengeance that remains unfulfilled against a large gallery of arch-enemies.
• Demonic Possession: Invoked with their Exorcist Marines, who had endured a Daemonic possession and then fought it off (often at their own volition with the aid of Radical Inquisitors in hopes of replicating the experiences of their Primarch and emerge from it with the same revelations as he had). Those who survive with their souls and bodies intact become practically immune to daemonic influence, filled with absolute loathing for Chaos, and become some of the most skilled warriors in the Imperium available to fight them even among Astartes (short of the Grey Knights and the Thousand Sons' sorcerers).
• Fatal Flaw: Their passion is their greatest strength, but it is also their greatest weakness, causing them to poison their minds and souls holding onto and brooding over millennia-long grudges and shames, as well as leading some of them astray into the arms of Chaos or at least into internecine conflict with each other and other Legions and Imperial authorities.
• For Want Of A Nail: As they were no Poor Communication Kills between them, The Sons of Horus did not exterminate the Interex after both sides were able to clear up any confusion between them with the latter helping the former prevent Horus from being corrupted. Sadly, the Interex are still killed off by an unknown force after the Sons of Horus were forced to leave their new allies when the Roboutian Heresy began.
• Shocking Defeat Legacy: The Sons of Horus never truly recovered from Horus' death at Sanginius' fangs, with the fallout apparently going down to the metaphysical level. While they stayed the greatest of all loyal Space Marines, they also ended up receiving almost as much bad luck and misfortune as the freaking Lamenters.

Primarch Horus Lupercal

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• For Want Of A Nail: Horus developed a slightly more positive and grounded view on his father as a result of how their first meeting went, allowing him to see that beneath the glamour and power the Emperor is just a very old and very tired man who truly want the best for Humankind. The Emperor was also less blunt and a much nicer person than in Canon, so he was able to put his son's concerns and questions at ease when he withdrew from the Great Crusade and made Horus the Warmaster. Horus was also helped by his more compassionate and diplomatic brothers in shouldering his duties as Warmaster so he was not overwhelmed by the burdens of his position, and was encouraged to soften his approach to make things easier, leaving him less doubtful of himself and less obsessed with his achievements. Last but not least, when he was incapacitated by the Kinebrach blade, Ahzek Ahriman from the Thousand Sons contingent attached to the Sons of Horus was able to help the Mournival rescue their father from the spiritual attacks and corruption of the Chaos Gods.
• Moment of Weakness: Not one, but two such moments ended up killing him.
  • Despite the fact as Warmaster he was supposed to stay at the back and command the war effort, seeing the horrors and depravities being inflicted by the Blood Angels legion upon the populace of Terra as the Siege dragged on proved too much for him to ignore, and in a rage he left the command post and go up to the ramparts personally to slay traitors personally, calling for Sanguinius to come and face him.
  • When Sanginius did answer him and Horus had him on the ropes in their subsequent duel at (the future) Lupercal Gate, seeing Sanginius' look of horror and despair as he raised his Worldbreaker for the Coup de Grâce stayed his hand for a fraction of a second as he remembered his brother for who he was. This proved to be a fatal mistake as Sanginius completely gave in to despair and Slaanesh in that moment, pouncing on and killing Horus by biting his neck and drinking his blood, transforming into a Daemon Primarch in the process.
• The Paragon: He was considered the greatest of the Primarchs, was loved by virtually all of his brothers (even the more Jerkass ones), and was the Emperor's favorite, just like in canon before the Horus Heresy. And unlike the HH timeline, he stayed loyal and true up until the very end.
• Undying Loyalty: To his father and to the Imperium, as unlike in Canon he never developed the reasons nor had the circumstances ever pushed him towards treachery.

XVII — Word Bearers

General

• Berserk Button: Like their Primarch, ANYTHING to do with Chaos and Religion in general is one for them.
  "Burn their idols, lay down their tainted temples, slay their fell priests. We will not leave this world until every single Chaos worshipper is dead!"
  — Chapter Master Harzhan of the Word Bearers Legion, before the 'Purge of Oceania'.
• Death by Adaptation: Due to different upbringing, Lorgar and Kor Phaeron ended up on the different sides; Kor Phaeron did not survive the conflict, and was completely forgotten. In canon, he was Lorgar's second-in-command.
• The Hermit: Once the Word Bearers were acclaimed by the Imperium for their dedication to the Imperial Truth during the Great Crusade. After the Heresy, however, this dedication led to them willingly separating themselves from the rest of the Imperium, fighting against the enemies of Humanity on the fringes of Imperial space, in order to avoid conflict with other Imperial authorities and populations which might result from their adamant refusal to accept the Imperial Creed and the faith in the God-Emperor which had grown in the aftermath of the galactic civil war.
• Nay-Theist: Despite the Heresy and the rise of the Imperial Creed and faith in the God-Emperor, the Word Bearers still adamantly dedicate themselves to the Imperial Truth, refusing to acknowledge the Emperor as a god just as they refuse to acknowledge the Ruinous Powers as anything more than Warpborne reality-cancers masquerading as false gods.
• Tranquil Fury: The Word Bearers are known for a mutation in their geneseed, which when triggered - such as by the presence of Chaos or sufficiently horrific atrocities committed against Humanity - would cause them to sink into a trance-like state of absolute cold fury, whereupon they are driven to cold, ruthless and merciless annihilation of their foes by any means possible. Some never leave this state after sinking into it and become 'Iconoclast Marines', still intelligent but becoming little more than automatons turning on hatred, who would for example think nothing of killing a thousand civilians just to get one Chaos-worshipping priest among them or dying horribly if it means destroying the enemy. These 'Iconoclasts' are placed in special units separated from the rest of the their Chapters in the Word Bearers Legion, considered effectively good as dead by the rest of their battle-brothers, and are often sent either to conduct purges where it is vital absolutely nothing of who/what needs to be purged escapes, or suicide missions where their survival is slim - none of which they ever objected to.

Primarch Lorgar Aurelian

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• Awesome Moment of Crowning: At the prompting of Lucius of Reborn, the victorious survivors of Holy Terra at the end of the Angel War acclaimed Lorgar Aurelian as Warmaster of the Imperium.
• Berserk Button: Religion in general, but especially ANYTHING to do with Chaos, after his experiences on Colchis and the 'Wars of the False Priests'. When he found the Covenant had taken root on Khur, he forego negotiations that his brother Roboute Guilliman wanted and immediately invaded with his Legion to wipe them out. When he heard Roboute Guilliman and some of his brothers had turned against the Emperor and threw their lot with Chaos, he was so enraged that he unleashed enough psychic powers to cripple a starship had he been on it, and were it not for orders from Warmaster Horus to help the World Eaters Legion subdue Ultramar he would had taken his entire Legion to Isstvan to fight the traitors, determined to kill his brother with his bare hands if he had to.
• Big Good: While all of the returning Loyalist Primarchs could arguably qualify as this in their own ways following the Emperor's death, Lorgar is arguably the biggest or at the very least most prevalent example to the Imperium as a whole thanks to his crowning as Warmaster following the Angel War.
• Cool Sword: He is the current owner of The Sword That Was Promised. Yes, that's an expy of Excalibur. It is the incarnation of the greatest ideals of mankind. It has such power that it's capable of perma-killing daemons, such as Daemon Primarch Sanguinius, and at full-power it can even scare and injure freaking SLAANESH.
• For Want Of A Nail: On Colchis, Lorgar grew up as part of a family in Colchis that directly suffered under the Covenant's oppression. Instead of becoming a religious zealot, when he grew up he became the Covenant's worst enemy and the most ardent supporter of the Imperial Truth, as well one of the most anti-Chaos Primarchs in the entire Imperium.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Multiple times across the Roboutian Heresy, and a specialty of his between his absolute abhorrence of the Ruinous Powers and his unique psychic powers allowing him to harm and banish Daemons.
  • At the second Battle of Khur where he disappeared, he singlehandedly took on four Greater Daemons (each from one of the Dark Gods in a rare display of unity between the fractious Ruinous Powers) and banished them back into the Warp, stopping their Daemonic invasion in its tracks. Unfortunately it resulted in him being dragged into the Warp, where he would be locked in battle against the forces of Chaos for the next ten thousand years.
  • At the climatic end of the Battle of Lupercal Gate and the Angel War, wielding the Sword That Was Promised together with Ephrael Stern, Lorgar managed to do what should be impossible: brought into and confronted by Slaanesh hirself in an interstice between the Materium and Immaterium at the moment they cut off Daemon Primarch Sanguinius' head, they swung the sword at its full power at hir and managed to not only frighten Slaanesh into retreating from the Sol system, but inflict a small wound upon one of hir hands/claws, marring hir 'perfect' visage forever and leaving Slaanesh unable to do anything but howling in pain and apopleptic fury.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Subverted. Lorgar's reaction to the 'Primordial Truth' is to put everything he has to its destruction.
  "No god worthy of worship would demand such horror committed in his name."
  — Lorgar Aurelian, upon discovering the sacrificial pits of Vharadesh
• Kill the God:
  • Lorgar vowed to destroy the Ruinous Powers and everything related to it, having seen the horrors and evils they and their worshippers wrought on Colchis.
  • To put his father out of his misery, Lorgar used The Sword That Was Promised to euthanize the Emperor of Mankind on the Golden Throne and allow him to pull his final gambit against Chaos, effectively killing the very god the Imperium had come to worship.
  • It's implied thanks to his father's Heroic Sacrifice, the Sword That Was Promised and a 'catalyst' in the form of Ephrael Stern's unique soul, Lorgar and his allies can now actually pull it off agains the Dark Gods themselves.
• Nay-Theist: Lorgar Aurelian is a very fervent defender of the Imperial Truth, not because the supernatural don't exist, but because they DO exist in a fashion and are such deceitful and monstrous ancient evils they needed to be cast down and destroyed.
• The Paragon: Unlike his canon self, who was the first traitor Primarch, Lorgar of the RH-Verse became the ultimate embodiment of his father's ideals and a living, breathing avatar of the Imperial Truth, dedicated to lifting Humankind from the darkness of superstition and ignorance as well as battling the monstrous false-gods of the Warp which prey upon Humankind and other races' superstition and ignorance. This led to him being acclaimed Warmaster of the Imperium at the end of the Angel War, inheriting the place of his brother Horus, who was also this trope.
• Psychic Powers: All Primarchs are Psykers to a degree, and in Lorgar's case he can unleash an aura of golden light which could banish daemons back into the Warp, drag his gene-sons out of their trance-like fury and heal grievous wounds. In this sense, he is like a D&D Cleric (Except he is not and would vehemently deny being one). His erratic psychic abilities were honed with help of his brother Magnus the Red, and is noted to be potent enough that had he unleashed his full might aboard a ship in orbit he would had crippled it beyond repair.
• Replacement Goldfish: He was adopted by a couple who lost their biological children to the depraved priests. Hearing about his elder siblings' fate - misled and being sacrificed in the petty wars of the Arch-Priests of the Covenant - led to Lorgar spotting the Covenant for the lying monsters they really are and starting the Wars of the False Priest to cast them down in a righteous rage.
• Secret-Keeper: Lorgar was one of the few Primarchs who know about the threat of Chaos and wanted to spread knowledge of it to his siblings and the entire Imperium in order to better fight against it. His father told him to wait, however, as he has plans against Chaos that would be ruined if the truth was revealed too soon. Lorgar would agree to keep it a secret, though still told his most trusted gene-sons and confidants about them just in case. This secret-keeping however would be turned against both him and his father at Khur, when he was forced not to explain that he attacked the planet that Roboute wanted to negotiate a peaceful annexation with because survivors of the Covenant had fled there and taken root upon the civilizations there.

XX — Alpha Legion

General

• The Chessmaster: The Alpha Legion are infamous for being this, being meticulous planners and unconventional strategists of the highest caliber. To wit, they are likely the only loyal Legion to be an even match with the Tzeentch-aligned Dark Angels.
• Epic Fail: Being supreme planners and strategists, their plans rarely falters, but it's noted on the rare occasions they do, they fail spectacularly.
• Hero-Worshipper: The Alpha Legion practically idolized the Ultramarine Aeonid Thiel, an unconventional strategist censured by his own superiors who in the RH-verse became the leader of the Red-Marked Space Marines which survived the betrayal at Isstvan and even managed to escape, organizing a guerilla force which fought against and caused untold amounts of damage to the Traitor Legions across the galaxy. When the Alpha Legionnaires found his armour in his abandoned ship towards the end of the Heresy, upon which Thiel inscribed all the strategems and tactics he developed and used against the traitors, one of the Alpha Legion team which found it commented that if even a fraction of his wisdom is recorded on it, the armour alone is a prize equaling that of a Primarch.
• Properly Paranoid: The Alpha Legion, like their Primarch, are paranoid to the extreme and make preparations and plans for virtually any kind of situations - to wit, resentment between the Primarchs aside, they were already suspicious of the Ultramarines and had established secret outposts around their Realm of Ultramar to keep an eye on them. Given the Roboutian Heresy and all the threats and horrors the Imperium would end up facing, this paranoia proved more often than not justified.

Primarch Alpharius Omegon

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• Angsty Surviving Twin: Losing Alpharius was such a trauma to Omegon that he sunk into a week-long Heroic BSoD and only roused himself to help after being commanded by the Emperor.
• For Want Of A Nail: While Alpharius and Omegon don't have enough of a canon backstory to to state where the divergence was, Curze gave them both a What the Hell, Hero? moment that reminded them there's a point where I Did What I Had to Do stops being a justification for the means. One thing that change with canon was their relationship with the Cabal. Unlike their canon counterparts, the Alpha Legion didn't join the Cabal but destroyed them as both the Chapter and ex-Cabal members like Eldrad Ulthran learned the organization was infiltrated by Chaos agents and unknowingly serving for Chaos.
• Handicapped Badass: In spite of Omegon being physically and psychologically weakened after the loss of his twin, he nevertheless avoids dying or going missing like all the other loyalist Primarchs, staying active for ten thousand years and having many an Offscreen Moment of Awesome between uncredited victories over hidden threats to the Imperium.
• Manly Tears: Omegon breaks down and sobs into Lorgar's shoulder when the Emperor passes on.
• Single-Minded Twins: They were suspected to be one mind that happened to have two bodies, and one dying permanently weakened the other.
• Twin Switch: Even their gene-sons didn't know how to differentiate them.

Other Astartes

Cypher, Lord of the Fallen, Zahariel El´Zurias

• The Atoner: His current mission of carrying Luther’s sword to Terra was undertaken after a previous failure. He was supposed to be on Caliban and help Luther in the battle against Lion El’Jonson, however. He was baited by the Tuchulcha Engine into searching for his cousin aboard the Dark Angel’s flagship, and by the time he snapped out of it and rushed back to Caliban, it was too late.
• Barrier Maiden: As the last of the original Fallen, his life is the only thing stopping Lion El'Jonson from recovering his full power. With his death, this position goes to Luther's daughter Morgana.
• Bond One-Liner: Gave one after he blows Asmodai's head off while he was still announcing himself.
  Cypher: I don't care who you are.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He and Luther went to the core of Caliban and killed - not banish, KILLED - the Ouroboros, the closest thing the RH-verse has for the Devil (as its presence and actions screwed up the Warp and causing the birth of Chaos) However, a fragment of it survived, which was embedded into Cypher and granting him Resurrective Immortality up until it was destroyed at the end of the Terran Crucible (Part 1).
• For Want Of A Nail: If Cypher made it back to Caliban as he was supposed to after destroying the Tuchulcha, instead of raging and rampaging for a time onboard Invincible Reason after being baited by the daemon over his cousin's fate, he would had been able to help Luther in his battle against Daemon Prince Lion El'Jonson as planned. Luther might had survived, and Lion might had been killed. Cypher would spend the rest of his existence making amends for his failure to do so, on top of everything else he's burdened with.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The Sword that was Promised is anathema to all Daemons. By passing it to Lorgar, he purges the Ouroboros's shard from his body, dying in the process.
• The Magnificent: Known as "Lord of the Fallen".
• Resurrective Immortality: The Ouroboros heals Cypher's wounds every time he dies.
• That Man Is Dead: As far as he cares, Zahariel died fighting against Luther.

Luther, Master of Caliban

• Charles Atlas Superpower: While Luther wasn't even a full Astartes, by the time of Lion's arrival on Caliban he was strong enough to match the Daemon Primarch's might, while suffering from previous wounds and without Cypher's help.
• Death by Adaptation: He was killed by Lion; in canon, he survived the events of Heresy.
• The Magnificent: Known as the "Master of Caliban". His alternative title is "the Arch-Betrayer".
• Worf Had the Flu: The damage that Luther sustained during the battle with the Ouroboros resulted wounds that hadn’t fully healed by the time of Lion’s arrival to Caliban. Cypher speculates that, had Luther been at his full might during his battle, he would have been able to kill Lion El'Jonson permanently.

Aeonid Thiel, the Lord of the Red-Marked

• Beyond Redemption: For Aeonid Thiel, seeing Guilliman turning down his adoptive parents' pleas to turn away from the Dark Gods and banishing their mournful spirits finally proved that the Dark Gods had corrupted him too deeply and that Guilliman was beyond saving.
  Aeonid Thiel: "You actually did it. I thought … some part of me thought that maybe, just maybe, there was something left in you of the man I admired. But I guess I was wrong. That was your parents, you bastard. Your last chance to turn back from the path you were set upon by their lies … your last chance to choose, Roboute. But … there is nothing left, is there? The Dark Gods have taken everything. You really are just a monster now."
• Booby Trap: Before he vanished from history, he rigged one to his own Space Marine power armour, upon which he inscribed every tactic and strategem he developed and used against the Traitor Legions during his and his Red-Marked's guerilla war against the Traitor Legions, with grenades wired to blow if the armour is improperly moved which are neatly hidden behind the legs. It is implied Thiel did this to ensure that if the armour is ever found and recovered, it would only be by those who are loyal to the Throne and clever enough to spot the trick - which just so happens to be the loyalist Alpha Legion. Suffice to say, the Alpha Legionnaires sent to find and recover him were impressed to no end.
• The Determinator: Lampshaded by Aeonid Thiel himself as one thing he shares with his gene-father - no matter the odds or their circumstances, both of them never, ever give up.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: His final and greatest blow against his gene-father and the forces of Chaos - detonating a Warp-powered super-bomb based on the device Titus, the Wrath of Khorne found on Graia and BLOW UP MACRAGGE. While that failed to stop the resurrection of Guilliman or kill him, he still managed to take out all the assets the Dark Master of Chaos had accumulated over ten thousand years and completely screw up all of the Arch-Traitor's plans post-resurrection, which is implied to have even changed fate and give the Imperium a fighting chance to win the Final Battle.
• Hero-Worshipper: On the receiving end of this from the Alpha Legion, who consider him one of the greatest strategists/tacticians to ever live and consider his armour alone - upon which Thiel had recorded all the strategems and tricks he ever used against his foes - to be a prize worthy of a Primarch. Given that the Alpha Legion hated the Ultramarines with a passion, that speaks volumes of just how much respect they have for him.
• The Strategist: Aeonid Thiel was an unconventional tactical genius of the high caliber, perhaps short of the Primarchs themselves. He was censured for running simulations on how to fight and kill Astartes, and during the Isstvan Atrocity he and his loyalist holdouts used cunning strategems and daring tricks to achieve kill-ratios unheard of during the Great Crusade and even during the Roboutian Heresy. After escaping Isstvan, he reorganized both his fellow Astartes survivors and others from both loyal and traitor Legions which later joined up into a potent fighting force, the Red-Marked, who waged a guerilla war against the Traitor Legions for the rest of the Roboutian Heresy, causing immense damage and casualties to the Traitor war effort.
• Token Good Teammate: One of the betrayed Ultramarines at Isstvan and the last one standing, remaining loyal to the Emperor and the Imperium, and one of the few to actually survive well into the 41st millennium, until the Battle of Macragge.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In-universe, the fate of Aeonid Thiel following the Heresy is unknown, having disappeared from history after he and his Red-Marked fought a Final Battle in space against an Ultramarine force sent to destroy them to mutual annihilation, leaving only his empty suit of power-armour for the Alpha Legion to find and recover, upon which he inscribed every single strategem he ever used against his foes. We finally find out in the Battle of Macragge arc, where it was revealed at the climax that Marius Gage, the Sacrificed Son, was none other than a mysteriously-empowered Aeonid Thiel in disguise, having engineered the whole Black Crusade against Macragge to try and kill Guilliman before he resurrected, and failing that, destroy Macragge with a specially-designed Warp-bomb to completely screw up the returned Arch-Traitor's plans and give the Imperium a fighting chance in the Final Battle to come.

The Inquisition

Ramius Steele

• Living MacGuffin: Like his canon self, Ramius only matters because he has information leading to Sanguinius' lost legendary weapon, the Spear of Telesto, and...
• The Man Behind the Man: Like his canon self, Ramius set up a plot against the Blood Angels while being possessed by a daemon. At least this time around he does not need to corrupt them.

Bronislaw Czevak

• MacGuffin Escort Mission: Almost all of Czevak's screentime is devoted to his mission transporting the Atlas Infernal, a map of the Webway, to Cypher.

Morgana

Daughter of Luther, adoptive sister to Lion El'Jonson, Lady Inquisitor

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• The Ageless: Has lived for over ten thousand years, being born to Luther, trained by the Watchers in the Dark, fought on Caliban, been one of the founding members of the Inquisition and serving the organization to this day facing some of the galaxy's darkest facets. Has been wounded during the War of Unmaking on Caliban.
• Ascended Extra: Morgana's canon counterpart died sometime before Luther found Lion. She gets an entire storyline in this alternate universe.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Arthurian Legend.

The Imperial Guard

Commissar-Castellan Ciaphas Cain. Hero of the Imperium

• Adaptational Badass: From his introduction to in the Cadian Apocalypse Part III we can glean that his life up to at least Cain's Last Stand has gone in a mostly similar way. But on top of his exploits he also: Became an operative of the Alpha Legion, survived the political intrigues of Holy Terra and the High Lords themselves, and is trusted enough to be shipped straight to Cadia to strenghten it against Fabius Bile's black crusade. During the events of The Cadian Apocalypse he has also foiled the plans of an Archduke of Cysgorog to ruin Cadia's defenses, was proclaimed as Comissar-Castellan of the entire planet, fought to destroy cults of Tzeentch all across Cadia with members of the Alpha Legion and the Grey Knights, renewed the resolution of several Custodes sent to him in the wake of the Emperor's death, ran a mostly succesful evacuation from Kasr Tyrok to the Elysion fields and Kasr Kraf, and become a LIVING SAINT!
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the canon HH-verse, Ciaphas Cain died naturally of old age. Which was not only a rarity but almost an impossible achievement in the Grimdark world of 40k (when you're part of the Astra Militarum of course). Here he dies at the hands of the Lord of Wraiths but is brought back to life as a Living Saint.
• Man of Kryptonite: Word of God is that he's an Anathema against Khorne after becoming a Living Saint; as a Cowardly Lion Combat Pragmatist who is A Father to His Men and a Humble Hero who absolutely despises all forms of violence despite his skill in it, his very existence is a refutation to the Proud Warrior Race Guy rhetoric Khorne uses to justify himself, and the Blood Knight insanity he actually is. Because of that, he's able to banish Sigsimund back to the Warp, and very thoroughly.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Despite Cain's self-proclaimed annoyance at so-called "Emperor-botherers", his introduction in The Cadian Apocalypse pat III is a prayer to the Emperor for clarity and guidance.
  • Amberley Vail notes that after Jurgen's death, Cain acted with absolute anger, Cain himself notes that he was extremely close to falling into Khorne's embrace at the moment.
• Seen It All: According to Word of God, differences between Cain's usual behavior and what is seen here are due to having plenty more of experience, with an age to match.
• Tempting Fate: According to The Cadian Apocalypse Part Three, the moment when he dealt hope about making it through the Black Crusade was the exact same moment when Lorgar struck the Emperor with The Sword that Was Promised and Light's End began.
• What You Are in the Dark: After his death at the hands of the Lord of Wraiths he realizes that one of the Emperor's shards is ready to bond with him, either to protect his soul from the daemons that want revenge on him or to become a Living Saint. Hearing all of the people he led shouting his name in defiance is enough for him to choose the latter.

Lord Castellan Ursakar E. Creed Korahael. Archduke of Cysgorog

• Adaptational Villainy: This time he survived the Chaos Assault in Kasr Gallan because he was actually possesed by an Archduke of Cysgorog, allowing him to rise to the position of Castellan and be the one left in charge after the Tyrok infamy.
• Mole in Charge: After Chaos Cults attacked the mustering of Imperial command in Kasr Tyrok he was placed in charge of Cadia's defenses, allowing him to subtly sabotage the placement of units to make weaknesses for the black crusade to exploit. If Ciaphas Cain hadn't noticed and stopped him the planet would have fallen in days.
• Motivational Lie: After Korahael's vanishment the official story as that Creed had been wounded by a poisoned blade, eventually developing a Warp-born sickness that he accidentally spread to his command staff and the Cadian 8th, resulting in their purge.

Ibram Gaunt

• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Driven to a berserk madness as the Lord of Wraiths by the Dark Angels. Subverted once Cain becomes a Living Saint, however, as Vindicta's power was able to destroy the sorcery that kept him in pain, and he promptly regains his living personality and loyalties.
• The Dog Bites Back: Thanks to Cain's efforts he is turned into an avatar of Vindicta, allowing him and the rest of the Ghosts to turn against the remaining Dark Angels in the Elysion Fields.
• Killed Offscreen: Since the one who attacked Tanith in this timeline is an Imperial Fist voidmaster, all means of escaping the planet were lost before anyone could escape. Meaning that all three regiments on the planet were forced to fight to the end, and the Tanith First-and-Only were never created. According to the Alpha Legion's intel he is presumed dead, but his body was never seen as a trophy among the Chaos troops. This is because he was captured.
• Undead Abomination: As the Lord of the Wraiths he was ritually bonded to the spirits of Tanith's guardsmen, allowing him to command the tortured Ghosts into battle.

Others

Khalida the Watchful Daugther

• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Khalida was found by the Thousand Sons on a planet within a Chaos-tainted supernova, which is an event of repurposed canon infamy.
• Living MacGuffin: As an alpha-plus psyker, Khalida is so powerful even Khorne wants her. Tzeentch refers to her as the Emperor's "pawn" outright.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Single-handedly turns the tide of battle during the siege of Terathalion's most important city, Ahat-iakby.
• Shout-Out: Following Zahariel's tradition of employing the trope for original characters, Khalida appears to be one for Khalida the Tomb Queen.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: In the middle of turning the tide, Khalida was suddenly assassinated by a Tzeentch-cloaked Azrael. However, in a universe where souls exist, she is Not Quite Dead at this point. Two chapters later she reveals that she was Not Too Dead to Save the Day.

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