Primarch Perturabo
Perturabo, the "Lord of Iron," is the primarch of the Iron Warriors. A master strategist from the war-torn world of Olympia, he was known for his brutal, efficient methods and cold loyalty to the Emperor. His descent into betrayal began after the pacification of Olympia, leading him to join Horus during the Drop Site Massacre. After the Heresy, Perturabo became a Daemon Prince, ruling from Medrengard in the Eye of Terror.
Opening
Welcome, lore-lovers, to Liandrug! Today, we're diving deep into the story of one of Warhammer 40k's most tragic and complex figures--Perturabo, the Primarch of the Iron Warriors. From his mysterious origins on Olympia to his eventual fall into the chaos of the Heresy, we'll explore the twists and turns that shaped him into the Daemon Prince he is today. Grab your favorite drink, settle in, and let's unravel the story together.
The Chronicle
When the Chaos Gods cast the primarchs across the galaxy, Perturabo landed on Olympia, a Civilised World, far from the Emperor's laboratory beneath the Himalazian Mountains on Terra. His early years remain shrouded in mystery, with only fragmentary accounts from Imperial Iterators hinting at his beginnings. The most reliable story claims he was discovered by Tyrant Dammekos' guards near Lochos, wandering between settlements as a fighter and artisan of unmatched skill for his young age. Intrigued by tales of the strange boy, Dammekos ordered his capture.
Found scaling cliffs beneath Lochos' walls, Perturabo astonished the Tyrant. He defeated warriors twice his size and solved puzzles that confounded scholars. Impressed, Dammekos offered him a place at court in exchange for loyalty and service, promising protection and education in military and scholarly arts.
Perturabo excelled, immersing himself in Olympia's knowledge and warfare. Yet, he remained cold and distant, never returning the affection of his adoptive father. This distrust may have stemmed from an unsettling sight: a celestial maelstrom visible only to him, its gaze haunting him throughout his life. This phenomenon, later known as the Eye of Terror, seemed to judge his every action, deepening his brooding nature.
Despite his aloofness, Perturabo mastered siege warfare, a skill honed amid Olympia's warring city-states. Upon reaching adulthood, he rejected familial naming traditions, choosing "Perturabo," an ancient name whose origins he kept secret. With his name and unmatched skill, he rose through Dammekos' ranks, leading armies to victory after victory. His genius extended beyond the battlefield to inventions, architecture, and even medicine, earning him renown as the "Hammer of Olympia."
Yet, his triumphs brought no peace. Enemies within and without sought his death, jealous of his power. Despite his ability to overthrow Dammekos, Perturabo honored his oath, serving loyally until the Emperor arrived. The Great Crusade offered Perturabo a larger purpose. Accepting his place without hesitation, he joined the Emperor, who recognized his tactical brilliance and insatiable intellect.
On Terra, Perturabo delved into ancient knowledge, forging a bond with Magnus the Red over shared curiosity. Yet, his aloofness persisted, even among his newfound brothers. To the Emperor, this mattered little; Perturabo was a weapon of unparalleled intellect and ruthlessness, his mind a tool for conquest. Each battle became a puzzle, each victory a testament to his deadly precision, marking him as one of the most formidable primarchs of the Great Crusade.
The Emperor, having prepared Perturabo for a life of conquest, sent him to aid in the Great Crusade, the grand campaign to unify humanity under the newborn Imperium. Like his brother primarchs, Perturabo ascended the Astartes Tower of the Imperial Palace to swear his Oath of Moment, pledging allegiance to the Imperium. This ascent was no ordinary task--it was both a physical and spiritual trial that tested his resolve and forged a bond with the Emperor.
Assuming command of the IVth Legion, Perturabo renamed them the Iron Warriors and deposed the Tyrant of Lochus, his adoptive father, to establish Imperial rule on Olympia. He began recruiting warriors from Olympia, but Dammekos, the deposed tyrant, attempted to reclaim his power. Though his rebellion failed, the seeds of unrest sown during this time would later haunt Perturabo and his warriors.
Once fully vested with command, Perturabo subjected the Iron Warriors to a brutal transformation. Reviewing their records, he judged them lacking and instituted decimation: one in ten warriors, selected by lottery, was executed by their comrades. Critics in the Imperial Court, particularly Roboute Guilliman, decried this as the act of a madman. Yet the Emperor silenced dissent, allowing Perturabo to shape his Legion into a relentless war machine.
Perturabo's vision for the Iron Warriors was clear: they would become a peerless force of destruction. They quickly proved their worth, conquering the Meratara Cluster. They dismantled the Black Judges, purged the xenos Ecto-Saurids, and subdued the renegade Knight-fiefdom of Lyxos. These victories solidified their reputation and earned them favor with the Mechanicum.
The Legion, reshaped in Perturabo's ruthless image, became a weapon of uncompromising precision and ferocity. Their campaigns were marked by calculated efficiency, their war doctrine devoid of mercy or hesitation. Their reputation grew as they smashed fortresses, stormed strongholds, and obliterated armies with unmatched mastery of artillery and siegecraft.
Under Perturabo's leadership, the Iron Warriors became the Imperium's ultimate engine of war, a force driven to solve the deadly equation of conflict with steel and fire.
The divide between the Iron Warriors and other Space Marine Legions deepened over time, fueled by resentment, paranoia, and a grim determination instilled by their Primarch, Perturabo. His brutal leadership reflected his own darkness, embedding distrust and callousness within his warriors. Though their skill in siege warfare and resilience were unmatched, the Iron Warriors suffered immense casualties during the Great Crusade, enduring more losses than any other Legion. This relentless exposure to death and destruction corroded their psyche over time.
The Iron Warriors became infamous for their ruthlessness, particularly their willingness to use human auxiliaries as expendable resources. This practice earned them the grim moniker "Corpse Grinders" among the Imperial Army. Mutinies among their forces grew common, necessitating reforms such as assigning penal troops to their command. Meanwhile, strained relations with other Legions, such as the Imperial Fists and Raven Guard, fueled rivalries that further isolated them. Despite their unmatched siegecraft, their contributions were often met with indifference or disdain.
As the Great Crusade advanced, the Iron Warriors were increasingly deployed to distant, unforgiving fronts, often with minimal support. Perturabo, despite his growing bitterness, obeyed without question. Their reputation as siege specialists led to their designation as a garrison Legion, scattering their forces across the Imperium. This relentless duty wore down their morale and loyalty, particularly that of Perturabo, who grew resentful of the Emperor's demands.
The rebellion on their homeworld of Olympia marked a turning point. Returning from a grueling campaign against the xenos Hrud, the Iron Warriors crushed the uprising with ruthless efficiency, killing millions and enslaving the survivors. Perturabo, wracked by guilt and bitterness, realized the irreparable damage this act had inflicted on his Legion's soul. His allegiance began to shift, and Horus exploited this vulnerability, praising the massacre and offering Perturabo forgiveness.
When the Horus Heresy erupted, Perturabo joined Horus, aligning the Iron Warriors with the Traitors. At the infamous Drop Site Massacre, the Iron Warriors betrayed the Loyalist Legions, cementing their place in the Warmaster's ranks. To symbolize their allegiance, Horus gifted Perturabo the power hammer Forgebreaker, a weapon taken from the fallen Primarch Ferrus Manus. Yet, it was not the weapon but Horus' acceptance of Perturabo's flaws that truly bound the Iron Warriors to his cause, setting them on a path of destruction and infamy.
As Horus' rebellion raged on, the Iron Warriors focused on humbling the Imperial Fists. The isolated world of Hydra Cordatus, recently brought into Imperial compliance by the Fists, became the battleground. The Iron Warriors initiated a devastating bombardment, reducing the fertile valleys and settlements to ash. Despite the massive destruction, the Cadmean Citadel, a fortress of great strategic significance, stood intact. Its garrison of Imperial Fists was shocked by the precision of the bombardment, yet the Iron Warriors' goal was clear: to show their superiority.
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For nearly three months, the Imperial Fists, aided by their formidable defenses and courage, managed to hold off the Iron Warriors, preventing them from redeploying. But eventually, the Citadel's defenses were breached, and the Iron Warriors overran it, slaughtering the remaining Imperial Fists and the refugees who had sought shelter there. In the final assault, Perturabo himself led the charge, massacring dozens of Imperial Fists in mere minutes. Hydra Cordatus was left a barren wasteland, and the survivors were enslaved.
After the victory, Perturabo received word that Fulgrim, primarch of the Emperor's Children, wished to meet him. Though Perturabo was wary, he had once shared a bond with Fulgrim based on their mutual desire for perfection. Fulgrim's visit, however, seemed to herald a dramatic change within the Emperor's Children. When Fulgrim arrived on Hydra Cordatus, the once-proud warriors of the IIIrd Legion were now unrecognizable, adorned with grotesque disfigurements.
Fulgrim's purpose was revealed: he sought Perturabo's aid in recovering the Angel Exterminatus, an ancient xenos weapon hidden within the Warp Storm that had long haunted Perturabo's dreams. The weapon was said to be so powerful that the very stars rejected its existence. Together, they would venture into the Eye of Terror to retrieve it.
Perturabo, haunted by his connection to the Warp Storm, knew that the journey would be perilous. As they prepared to enter the depths of the maelstrom, Perturabo reflected on the name given to this phenomenon: Cygnus X-1. Feeling that the name was inadequate for something so terrifying, he decided to rename it--the Eye of Terror, a name that would echo throughout the universe and resonate in the hearts of all who encountered it. The Eye of Terror would forever be associated with the forces of chaos and the horrors that lurked within.
The Sisypheum, a ship of Loyalist Space Marines who survived the Drop Site Massacre at Istvaan V, became a symbol of defiance against the Traitors. The survivors, mostly Iron Hands, along with a few from the Salamanders and a lone Raven Guard, escaped the doomed system through a series of desperate, narrow maneuvers. Their escape, under constant fire and evading Traitor patrols, led them to the edge of the gravipause, the critical boundary for a successful Warp jump. After this harrowing journey, the Sisypheum's crew carried out relentless hit-and-run strikes against the Traitors on the northern frontier of the galaxy.
This guerrilla warfare disrupted Traitor plans, focusing on weak targets like slow-moving supply ships. Soon, the crew made contact with other Loyalist survivors and devised a plan to be a thorn in the side of the larger enemy forces, taking advantage of their fragmented and scattered ranks. The tide shifted when the crew captured a Kryptos, a hybrid creature of the Dark Mechanicum that had previously encrypted Traitor communications. With this, they cracked the Traitor code, enabling them to decipher enemy plans.
The Sisypheum's journey led them to Hydra Cordatus, where they learned of the Traitors' plan to retrieve the Angel Exterminatus. In their attempt to stop this plot, the Loyalists were aided by a mysterious Asuryani guide and set their course toward the Warp Rift, determined to thwart the acquisition of the unknown xenos weapon.
Their destination, the Crone World of Iydris, was located in the heart of the Eye of Terror, a galaxy-spanning anomaly where gravity bent and twisted time and space. Once a world of great significance to the Aeldari, it now lay at the center of a chaotic storm, its fate sealed by the Warp's infinite tides. Iydris was home to the Sepulchre of Isha's Doom, a citadel holding the prison tomb of the Angel Exterminatus. Before the invasion began, the Iron Warriors conducted a ruthless orbital bombardment, laying waste to Iydris' surface to prepare for their assault.
At the heart of the citadel, Perturabo and Fulgrim led the charge, their armies of Iron Warriors and Emperor's Children cutting through the desolate world's defenses. But inside the Sepulchre, unknown to them, a hidden Loyalist force aboard the Sisypheum observed, waiting for an opportunity. The Loyalists, vastly outnumbered, devised a way to infiltrate the citadel and disrupt the Traitor's plans.
As Perturabo and Fulgrim advanced, the latter displayed strange symptoms, an unnatural glow emanating from his being. He struggled, but kept pushing forward, while Perturabo scrutinized his brother's condition, suspecting betrayal. As they entered the heart of the citadel, the power within Iydris stirred, waking its ancient guardians--Eldar revenants, the dead risen to defend their sacred ground. A battle ensued, and in the chaos, Fulgrim made a shocking revelation: there was no Angel Exterminatus. He, himself, was the true Angel Exterminatus, destined for ascension.
As the two brothers faced each other in the heart of the Sepulchre, Perturabo realized that Fulgrim's desire for power had eclipsed his loyalty. In a violent moment, the Lord of Iron struck his brother down, but not before Fulgrim's power had already begun to manifest. With Fulgrim's death, a violent explosion of energy consumed the chamber, signaling the birth of a new Daemon Prince of Slaanesh.
The destruction of Fulgrim's mortal form marked his apotheosis, transforming him into a being of pure Chaos. Perturabo, devastated by his brother's transformation, was left to confront the tragic reality that the sibling he once knew was no more, consumed entirely by his insatiable thirst for power and self-glorification.
After fleeing Terra with the other Heretic Astartes Traitor Legions after Horus' death, Perturabo seized the opportunity to exact revenge on the Imperial Fists. He devised a trap on the world of Sebastus IV, known as the Eternal Fortress. This colossal fortress, spanning twenty square miles, was surrounded by bunkers, towers, minefields, and trenches, all designed in the shape of an 8-pointed Star of Chaos. Upon hearing of this seemingly impregnable redoubt, Rogal Dorn vowed to "dig Perturabo out of his hole and bring him back to Terra in an iron cage."
Expecting an honourable battle, Dorn was met with a ruthless strategy. Perturabo began by isolating the four Imperial Fists companies sent to assault the fortress, cutting them off from orbital support. The Iron Warriors then systematically destroyed them, picking off the Imperial Fists one by one. Those who penetrated the defences found no central keep--only an open space surrounded by more traps. The Eternal Fortress was a decoy, an empty shell surrounded by twenty miles of deadly terrain.
By the sixth day, the Imperial Fists were fighting alone, using the bodies of their fallen comrades for cover. The siege dragged on for three weeks, known later as the Battle of the Iron Cage. The Imperial Fists were finally relieved by Roboute Guilliman and his Ultramarines, who drove off the Iron Warriors. However, the battle left Rogal Dorn broken, and the Imperial Fists were crippled for nearly two decades as they rebuilt their forces. Over 400 Imperial Fists gene-seeds were taken and sacrificed to the Dark Gods, a significant achievement that led to Perturabo's ascension to Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.
Following this victory, the Iron Warriors fled to the Eye of Terror, where they secured the Daemon World of Medrengard. Here, Perturabo and his sons ruled from vast citadels of iron and stone, enslaving a miserable population. Today, the Iron Warriors remain fiercely loyal to Perturabo, who they see as their savior, having spared them from the False Emperor's tyranny.
Closing Words
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