Primarch Angron
Angron, once known as Angronius of Nuceria, the "Lord of the Red Sands," was the savage primarch of the World Eaters Legion. The most bloodthirsty and violent of his brothers, he bore a deep grudge against the Emperor for abandoning his gladiator comrades to die on Nuceria. When Horus rose in rebellion, Angron eagerly joined, driven not only by his hatred for the Emperor but by the endless rage within him.
Opening
Welcome, lore-lovers, to Liandrug! Join me as we explore Angron's early years, his struggles, and the tragic events that shaped him into the warrior he was destined to become. Let's step into the past and uncover Angron's story before the fall.
The Chronicle
Angron, once known as Angron Thal'kyr, the "Lord of the Red Sands," was raised as a gladiator on Nuceria, after the primarch's gestation capsule was stolen away from the Emperor by the Chaos forces. Raised in the brutal pits of the planet, he was discovered by a slaver after a bloody battle with alien corpses, possibly Aeldari. Wounded and enslaved, he was sold to House Thal'kr and forced into combat, where he quickly gained renown as a fighter.
In the gladiatorial arenas, Angron rose to prominence, killing many but sparing those who fought valiantly. Despite the fame, he loathed his slavery and constantly sought to escape. Mentored by Oenomaus, an older gladiator, the two became a fearsome pair, eventually defeating cybernetically-enhanced Ogryn in battle.
However, the High-Riders, the ruling elite, forced Angron to fight Oenomaus in a duel. When Angron refused, they punished him by implanting the Butcher's Nails, devices that amplified his rage and aggression, stripping him of reason. In a berserk frenzy, Angron killed Oenomaus, an act that drove him into deep despair. Swearing vengeance on his captors, he vowed one day to escape and make them pay.
Angron's fame spread rapidly across Nuceria, and under his leadership, the gladiators of his arena became unmatched. His strength and code of honor made him a respected figure, but after a failed escape, Angron realized he could not escape alone. When the largest death games were announced, he saw an opportunity. During the combat, Angron and his gladiators turned on their captors, cutting down the guards and escaping into the streets of Desh'ea, then fleeing into the mountains.
For years, the rebels, known as the "Eaters of Cities," fought back against Nuceria's forces under Angron's leadership. Despite suffering heavy losses, they held their ground until they were eventually surrounded on Desh'elika Ridge by seven Nucerian armies. At this moment, the Emperor arrived, having secretly observed his son's rise. The Emperor offered Angron the command of the XIIth Legion, but Angron refused, choosing to stay with his people.
Seeing his son's determination but recognizing his imminent death, the Emperor forcibly teleported Angron from the battlefield. Angron watched helplessly as his followers were slaughtered in his absence. In a rage, he attacked a Custodian, but the Emperor subdued him with his psychic power, breaking the primarch's spirit.
Angron's rage only deepened after the Emperor's intervention, questioning why His father had not saved his comrades. The Emperor dismissed his anger, explaining that His vision for humanity was far greater than the fate of a few slaves on a backwater world. Angron, however, felt betrayed and believed he was meant to die with his people. The Emperor's cold response, that a "ghost" would suffice for what He had planned, left a wound in Angron's soul that would never heal.
In the aftermath of the battle, Angron's fury turned inward. When he was brought aboard the War Hounds' flagship, he reacted with violent rage, slaughtering any who approached him. It took Captain Khrn of the 8th Assault Company, who, despite near-death, stood his ground and convinced Angron of the Legion's worth. Through Khrn's efforts, Angron accepted his role as the leader of the War Hounds, renaming them the World Eaters in honor of his past and the gladiators who had fought under his command.
Soon after, Angron's thirst for battle influenced the Legion's tactics, becoming as brutal and bloodthirsty as he was. But the Emperor's secret regarding Angron's condition weighed heavily. The Butcher's Nails, implants that had been driven into Angron's skull, altered his brain's function. These devices heightened his aggression, stripping him of any emotional responses other than rage. Unfortunately, removing them would mean his death, and they slowly deteriorated his mental faculties.
When the truth of Angron's condition was discovered, the Emperor kept it hidden to avoid destroying the morale of the War Hounds. Angron's neurophysiology was compromised beyond repair, but he remained a primarch, capable of leading his Legion into battle. The Emperor, despite the cost, returned Angron to his Legion, believing he could still serve His purpose. This decision, like many others, would prove to be a grave mistake in the Emperor's quest for the galaxy's unification.
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Upon his return to the Great Crusade, Angron took charge of the War Hounds with unrestrained vigor on their garrison world of Bodt. Rather than being guided by another primarch or his gene-father, the Emperor, Angron was granted full autonomy to reform his Legion. His reign brought immediate, brutal changes to the XIIth Legion, with training now measured only by the harshest of trials--combat was the sole judge of a warrior's worth.
Discipline shifted from traditional methods to violent tests, including gladiatorial battles, blood-filled training exercises, and live rounds. The Legion's new training grounds were brutal, and those who failed to endure the fierce trials did not live to try again. Angron, determined to make his warriors as savage as possible, decided to implant the Butcher's Nails, the very devices that fueled his own rage, into every Astartes of the World Eaters. These implants heightened aggression and pain tolerance, transforming them into relentless killing machines.
However, the implants had a dark cost--the warriors lost all ability to experience joy or peace, their only solace coming from battle, much like their primarch. Angron's obsession with improving the implants led to a frustrating effort by the Techmarines and Apothecaries to replicate the technology. Despite early failures, including a 100% mortality rate during trials, Angron demanded that all his warriors bear the same cruel implants, regardless of the cost.
In the early days of Angron's rule over the XIIth Legion, he rejected most of his gene-sons, as none were strong enough to endure the Butcher's Nails implantation. His frustration led to a dramatic disappearance; Angron hijacked a frigate and vanished for two Terran years. He was eventually found by Centurion Khrn on a remote Feral World, where Angron lived like a savage, seeking death in battle. Khrn's words about his fallen comrades and his own nature convinced Angron to return to the Legion, vowing to rid them of weakness.
In the years that followed, the World Eaters' bloody reputation grew. Whole star systems surrendered at the mere sight of their fleet, as tales of unspeakable atrocities spread across the galaxy. Roboute Guilliman, disgusted by their methods, witnessed the aftermath of the World Eaters' slaughter on the Basalt Citadel during the Cleansing of Arigatta. Angron's Legion earned the nickname "Red Angel," a title the primarch loathed, as he despised being compared to Sanguinius, the true Angel of the Imperium.
Despite their victories, the cost was immense. Angron demanded his warriors conquer worlds in an impossible 31-hour timeframe, the length of a local day on his homeworld, Nuceria. Failure to meet this deadline resulted in "decimation," a brutal punishment in which one out of every ten World Eaters was killed by their brothers. This harsh discipline pushed the Legion to the brink, and during the Second Compliance of Ghenna, it came to a head.
Ghenna, a world plagued by genetic disease and artificial intelligence, became the site of a catastrophic failure for the World Eaters. After a failed invasion, Angron demanded decimation. When Centurion Mago refused, Angron's rage unleashed a massacre among his own warriors. Only the Librarians of the Legion managed to subdue Angron, though it left the Legion in turmoil.
Amid the chaos, Apothecary Gahlan Surlak successfully reverse-engineered the Ghennan neurocybernetic technology, allowing for the mass implantation of the Butcher's Nails. Mago, horrified by this, tried to prevent the implants' spread, but was overruled. The first to undergo the procedure was Khrn, and soon, over a thousand World Eaters were enhanced by the rage-inducing devices.
Angron awoke from his slumber, leading the newly implanted warriors in a bloody counterattack against the Ghennans. The simulacrums, artificial beings made to resemble humans, were massacred as the World Eaters traced the control signal to the last surviving Ghennans, who begged for mercy. Khrn, however, declared the Imperium's dominion over the galaxy and oversaw their slaughter.
Mago and his fellow rebels, horrified by the path the Legion was taking, attempted to bring Angron before the Emperor. They were met with resistance from Khrn, and Mago was killed in a final confrontation. His last words, foretelling the Legion's doom, proved prophetic as Angron and his followers purged the planet, leaving no life behind. The massacre's psychic echoes reached Imperial astropaths, and soon, the Terran Council sent Primarch Leman Russ and the Space Wolves to stop Angron and the Butcher's Nails' spread.
After the Ghenna Massacre, Angron's World Eaters were reprimanded by the Emperor for their brutal tactics, particularly their use of cortical implants, the Butcher's Nails. Two primarchs were dispatched by the Emperor to convince Angron to cease the dangerous practice, but the second did not arrive until almost a century later--too late to stop the tragedy.
The "Night of the Wolf" occurred after Ghenna's devastation, when Leman Russ was sent by the Emperor to confront Angron. The two legions met at Malkoya, the battlefield littered with the blood of the Ghennan populace. Angron, covered in wounds, stood before Russ, who was clad in battle-plate, wielding Krakenmaw. Angron refused to comply with the Emperor's orders to end the implants, and when Russ insisted, a confrontation ignited. Neither side could claim to have started the conflict, but both legions claimed victory. Ultimately, Angron's refusal to end the Butcher's Nails meant the World Eaters remained violent, their brutal rituals growing in importance. While their performance on the battlefield remained effective, the Emperor's leniency toward their practices would prove disastrous as the World Eaters fell further under Khorne's influence, leading them to join Horus in his betrayal.
Closing Words
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