Sons of Horus Successors
Ever since the Blood Ravens popped up as potential loyalist successors to the Thousand Sons (and there is a fair bit of evidence to support this), other traitor legion Space Marine chapters have been postulated and speculated over.
Mostly this is due to the lore having a severe credibility problem in 40K. It's intentionally kept loose and flexible, to allow for new twists and the all important concept of Your Dudes. In Warhammer, the word fluff is really apt, as nothing is certain or a hard truth.
Since I haven't been able to get to my work laptop today, and thus can't get to my lovely spread sheets on the Rubric Marines, I'm going to float this as an option for the Lunar Wolves loyalist successor.
First, what do we know of the Lunar Wolves/Sons of Horus/Black Legion.
Thus I present to you the Space Marine chapter that holds closest to these values: The Carcharadons Astra, or Space Sharks.
The Sharks have a reputation for bloody close combat, and whilst being calm and reserved most of the time, tend to enact assaults with a great deal of ferocity. They untilise scouts to find where the enemy is weakest, and will strike hard and fast to those areas.
So their preferred combat tactics are similar to the Sons of Horus... it's just that they replace Horus' tactical genius and savvy with more mundane scout work and infiltration. Furthermore, they make liberal use of terminator armour, instead putting them as squad leads as opposed to having spear tip units to pummel key locations.
The Space Sharks recently acquired a more tribal flavour, using Maori markings and symbols on their armour. This latest connection was probably unintentional, but these Polynesian style tribal markings could be a natural evolution of the Cthonian gang symbols of the Lunar Wolves. Gang stuctures tend to be tribalistic in nature, and what we are interpreting as tribal in the Space Sharks could just be the strong personality based leadership of the Sons of Horus.
What's interesting is that the Legion tactics of the Lunar Wolves and Chapter tactics of the Carcharadon Astra are somewhat similar. The Space Sharks will receive Rage, and thus more attacks after wiping out a unit in melee. The Lunar Wolves will receive extra attacks after combat is complete, provided they outnumber their opponent. Of course, that is just a general similarity in two close combat based armies, but it's another connection nonetheless.
Speaking of rules similarity, only the Space Sharks and Black Legion are known for having Troops choice Terminators. Deathwing, Wolf Guard and Grey Knights are specialist organisations, whereas in the Sharks and BLegion they come troops as standard.
We also have to consider the naming culture of the Space Sharks and the Lunar Wolves. Both have some celestial feature followed by an animal from Terra's antiquity. I doubt the shark species have done any better on Terra's rad saturated wasteland past than the wolves did.
Finally, there is armour to consider. The Space Sharks are grey, and the Lunar Wolves were pale green before going black after the Heresy failed. But that's not true. The Sons of Horus were green, and painted themselves that after Horus renamed the legion. The Lunar Wolves had the standard grey armour of any Space Marine legion at the time. It's not inconceivable the Space Sharks went back to the original colour scheme to break with any connection to Horus.
There is, however, the issue of the grey skin. The Lunar Wolves were said to have very pure gene-seed, and it's unlikely that the mutation of grey skin and black, shark like eyes would occur in them. However, despite their mutation, the Space Sharks are also said to have pure and stable gene-seed. It's not too much of a stretch to say that maybe the gene-seed was altered to avoid any visual similarities to Horus popping up, thus outing the Legion as coming from traitor stock.
We're in wild conjecture and fantasy land at this point, so I'll stop there. The prevailing wisdom is that the Space Sharks are scions of the Ravenguard, but I find very little to link these two beyond having a weird skin colour. Maybe this little piece here will make you look at the Carcharadons Astra with new eyes.
... and explain why they can't be Battle Brothers with other Imperial forces. Come on... even Fleshtearers get a free pass, and I think they literally eat people.
Thanks for reading.
If you liked what you saw, and you want to help out, please leave a comment. Sharing this with your friends, and following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ would also be hugely appreciated.
If you really love what I do here, please visit and donate at my Patreon. Every Little helps!
Mostly this is due to the lore having a severe credibility problem in 40K. It's intentionally kept loose and flexible, to allow for new twists and the all important concept of Your Dudes. In Warhammer, the word fluff is really apt, as nothing is certain or a hard truth.
Since I haven't been able to get to my work laptop today, and thus can't get to my lovely spread sheets on the Rubric Marines, I'm going to float this as an option for the Lunar Wolves loyalist successor.
First, what do we know of the Lunar Wolves/Sons of Horus/Black Legion.
- They have a thing for sudden, overwhelming assaults
- They prefer brutal close combat
- They are not frothing beserkers, but simply ferocious fighters
- They have a gang culture, with gang markings being the norm
- They really like terminator armour
Thus I present to you the Space Marine chapter that holds closest to these values: The Carcharadons Astra, or Space Sharks.
The Sharks have a reputation for bloody close combat, and whilst being calm and reserved most of the time, tend to enact assaults with a great deal of ferocity. They untilise scouts to find where the enemy is weakest, and will strike hard and fast to those areas.
So their preferred combat tactics are similar to the Sons of Horus... it's just that they replace Horus' tactical genius and savvy with more mundane scout work and infiltration. Furthermore, they make liberal use of terminator armour, instead putting them as squad leads as opposed to having spear tip units to pummel key locations.
The Space Sharks recently acquired a more tribal flavour, using Maori markings and symbols on their armour. This latest connection was probably unintentional, but these Polynesian style tribal markings could be a natural evolution of the Cthonian gang symbols of the Lunar Wolves. Gang stuctures tend to be tribalistic in nature, and what we are interpreting as tribal in the Space Sharks could just be the strong personality based leadership of the Sons of Horus.
What's interesting is that the Legion tactics of the Lunar Wolves and Chapter tactics of the Carcharadon Astra are somewhat similar. The Space Sharks will receive Rage, and thus more attacks after wiping out a unit in melee. The Lunar Wolves will receive extra attacks after combat is complete, provided they outnumber their opponent. Of course, that is just a general similarity in two close combat based armies, but it's another connection nonetheless.
Speaking of rules similarity, only the Space Sharks and Black Legion are known for having Troops choice Terminators. Deathwing, Wolf Guard and Grey Knights are specialist organisations, whereas in the Sharks and BLegion they come troops as standard.
We also have to consider the naming culture of the Space Sharks and the Lunar Wolves. Both have some celestial feature followed by an animal from Terra's antiquity. I doubt the shark species have done any better on Terra's rad saturated wasteland past than the wolves did.
Finally, there is armour to consider. The Space Sharks are grey, and the Lunar Wolves were pale green before going black after the Heresy failed. But that's not true. The Sons of Horus were green, and painted themselves that after Horus renamed the legion. The Lunar Wolves had the standard grey armour of any Space Marine legion at the time. It's not inconceivable the Space Sharks went back to the original colour scheme to break with any connection to Horus.
There is, however, the issue of the grey skin. The Lunar Wolves were said to have very pure gene-seed, and it's unlikely that the mutation of grey skin and black, shark like eyes would occur in them. However, despite their mutation, the Space Sharks are also said to have pure and stable gene-seed. It's not too much of a stretch to say that maybe the gene-seed was altered to avoid any visual similarities to Horus popping up, thus outing the Legion as coming from traitor stock.
We're in wild conjecture and fantasy land at this point, so I'll stop there. The prevailing wisdom is that the Space Sharks are scions of the Ravenguard, but I find very little to link these two beyond having a weird skin colour. Maybe this little piece here will make you look at the Carcharadons Astra with new eyes.
... and explain why they can't be Battle Brothers with other Imperial forces. Come on... even Fleshtearers get a free pass, and I think they literally eat people.
Thanks for reading.
If you liked what you saw, and you want to help out, please leave a comment. Sharing this with your friends, and following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ would also be hugely appreciated.
If you really love what I do here, please visit and donate at my Patreon. Every Little helps!
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