The Most mutated Chaosy Legion?

[Captain Tezdal]

Well oft times I read on forums about how Night Lords, or Iron Warriors etc are the most "Unchaosy" legions, without possessed, and tentacle types, but whom would be the most Chaosy legion? The most posessed, the most mutated, the most "unstable"? Personally I see Death Guard, as fairly warped, the Emperors Children up there too? What about the Word Bearers, they seem pretty tight with the Chaos, would they have more mutants and claw handed fellers?

[Brother-Chaplain Gaius]

No, the word bearers while not totally absent of mutation tend to shy away from it, only because they follow the written word so zealously.

Thats how I understand it anyway as a loyalist

 

And my vote for most mutated goes to the death guard.

[PhantomPhoenix]

If you're thinking only Chaos Legions, I'd have to go with Emperor's Children, both because Slaanesh is big time into mutations, and their primarch, Fulgrim, was obsessed with perfection which, as I understand it, is what Slaanesh is going for with his mutations. However a few of the Warbands specialize in possession and the like, though there's not much fluff surrounding them. Only one that really comes to mind at the moment are the Beasts of Annihilation, says in the Codex they specialize in use of possessed marines or something like that, not sure where my book is at the moment... That said I'd also imagine The Flawless Host are pretty Mutation ridden.

[Legatus]

The Death Guard and the World Eaters have very specific mutations. Where mutations usually tend to be random, in the Death Guard it takes the form of bloated and rotting bodies, while the World Eaters often tend to fuse with their armour. That is how the increased toughness of the Plague Marines is explained, and why Berserkers had an increased armour save in 2nd Edition.

The Legions with the most "generic" mutations will probably be the Black Legion, the Word Bearers and the Emperor's Children, as they are very open about their devotion to the dark gods and see mutations more as blessings than as burdens. The Night Lords, Iron Warriors and Thousand Sons do not like Mutations that much, and all have their ways to deal with them. The Alpha Legion is not as heavily mutated as the devout Legions, and they are not under a lot of deistic influence, but they don't seem to mind mutations much either. Their Index Astartes mentions how they made use of their mutated Legionnaires for their sheer shock value.

[Imperialis_Dominatus]

The Thousand Sons should be mostly free of mutation, unless new recruits (willing or otherwise) are Rubricked. Otherwise it could be a different story. Night Lords and Iron Warriors, by and large, do not covet the gifts of the Gods (Acerbus, Periclitor, nameless Warsmith et al notwithstanding), though undoubtedly should They get a chance the Gods will grant them at Their fickle whims. Alpha Legion don't mind but don't put themselves in a position to attain a lot of mutations either, what with operating outside the Eye or the Maelstrom and all.

 

Death Guard and World Eaters have their obvious mutations, as Legatus cited.

 

Black Legion would be pretty rife with mutations and Spawndom, what with shifting God loyalties, use of Possession, and being based in the Eye.

 

I see no reason why Word Bearers would be pure. Their faith is in the Dark Gods and they are in the Eye and the Maelstrom for the most part.

 

Emperor's Children could rank up there with Black Legion. They're in the Eye a lot and worship a Dark God to the exclusion of all others. And if Fabius Bile's work has been continued since the Heresy (see no reason why not), they will have gained further physiological divergence from other Astartes.

[TheDarkApostle]

The Thousand Sons should be mostly free of mutation, unless new recruits (willing or otherwise) are Rubricked. Otherwise it could be a different story. Night Lords and Iron Warriors, by and large, do not covet the gifts of the Gods (Acerbus, Periclitor, nameless Warsmith et al notwithstanding), though undoubtedly should They get a chance the Gods will grant them at Their fickle whims. Alpha Legion don't mind but don't put themselves in a position to attain a lot of mutations either, what with operating outside the Eye or the Maelstrom and all.

 

Black Legion would be pretty rife with mutations and Spawndom, what with shifting God loyalties, use of Possession, and being based in the Eye.

 

I see no reason why Word Bearers would be pure. Their faith is in the Dark Gods and they are in the Eye and the Maelstrom for the most part.

Technically just being a Psyker counts you as a mutant so all Psykers would be mutated. And pre-Rubric the Thousand Sons were almost wiped out because of rampant mutation within the Legion.

 

The Black Legion is pretty rife with mutation as the large-scale possession that was conducted after the Heresy destabilized their gene-seed alot, resulting in more mutations from the very geneseed as well as mutations received as gifts.

 

According to their IAs the Night Lords and Word Bearers actually have the most stable gene-seed of them all, some would argue even more stable and pure than most loyal Legions(!), with actual mutation being very rare considering being in the Warp all the time.

 

TDA

[Legatus]

According to their IAs the Night Lords and Word Bearers actually have the most stable gene-seed of them all, some would argue even more stable and pure than most loyal Legions(!), with actual mutation being very rare considering being in the Warp all the time.

Your Word Bearers Index Astartes seems to be quite different from mine. :lol: Mine speaks of gene-seed being "corrupted beyond redemption", and "no particular tendency towards mutation", which to me says "the usual amount", and not "hardly any".

[ShinyRhino]

Wouldn't followers of Tzeentch be the most prone to mutation, as the Lord of Change like to "bless" his disciples with altered forms?

[the jeske]

he did and then ahriman did rubric and 1ksons have 0 mutations now.

[Legatus]

They would be, but that's where the Rubic of Ahriman comes in. That's the whole reason why the Thousand Sons of today are mainly souls in suits of armour. After associating themselves openly with Tzeentch, the Thousand Sons started displaying more and more mutations, as you would expect from followers of Tzeentch. Magnus was ok with that, but Ahriman would not have any of it. He devised a ritual that would stop the Thousand Sons from randomly mutating. I cannot remember if something went wrong or not as he had planned, but when the magic energies from his ritual flooded across the Legion, those with a certain amount of Psychic talent were empowered by it, while those with only minor or no psychic powers were reduced to dust (thus indeed spared forever from physical mutation). That is why the Thousand Sons now are either Sorcerers or souls in empty suits of armour. Magnus was outraged about this and exiled Ahriman as punishment for it.

[ShinyRhino]

But, are the Thousand Sons the only Chaos Marines who are devoted to Tzeentch?

[Lay]

According to the Index Astartes article, the Thousand Sons sorcerers are indeed mutated:

"Early in the Legion's history a small, but significant percentage were prone to physical mutation, but in the wake of falling thrall to Tzeentch that percentage escalated wildly. The Rubric ended that forever for the battle-brothers of the Thousand Sons, but the sorcerers who command those armoured shells still carry the geneseed of their Daemon Prince, and wear their grotesque mutations proudly as tokens of their mercurial patron's favor."

 

But, are the Thousand Sons the only Chaos Marines who are devoted to Tzeentch?

Well, the 4th edition CSM Codex introduced a Tzeentchian warband called the Scourged, who are cursed with the ability to hear every lie spoken by man. Then there's also the Oracles of Change, whose name implies Tzeentch worship.

[Legatus]

But, are the Thousand Sons the only Chaos Marines who are devoted to Tzeentch?

The Black Legion has a few who worship Tzeentch, and the Word bearers worship him as they do all the other Chaos Gods. There may be the occasional NL, IW or AL that calls to Tzeentch for additional powers.

[Vodunius]

Well, the 4th edition CSM Codex introduced a Tzeentchian warband called the Scourged, who are cursed with the ability to hear every lie spoken by man. Then there's also the Oracles of Change, whose name implies Tzeentch worship.

 

I've always assumed the Dragon Warriors are too, as their 'chapter' badge is actually a variant Tzeentchian symbol from Realms of Chaos: the Lost and the Damned.

[Skirax]

Most debased and twisted? Emperor's Children.

 

Legion with most Possessed? Word Bearers.

[Imperialis_Dominatus]

Technically just being a Psyker counts you as a mutant so all Psykers would be mutated. And pre-Rubric the Thousand Sons were almost wiped out because of rampant mutation within the Legion.

 

Yeah. I was thinking physical mutations but yeah. And their Sorcerers are all mutated. Due to the Rubric, though, the actual proportion of mutations is going to be pretty low. Unless they have new recruits they don't feel like Rubricking. Which is a possibility.

 

But, are the Thousand Sons the only Chaos Marines who are devoted to Tzeentch?

 

The only one explicitly and wholly devoted to the Changer of the Ways, as far as I know, yeah. Some hints as above (Scourged seem Tzeentchian, and Dragon Warriors' symbol, though according to Salamanders series they are either Salamanders fallen to Chaos or led by one).

[nightlordsrock3564]

i read in the librarium here that the black legion is the only legion that openly accepts possession and mutation

[Imperialis_Dominatus]

I cannot remember if something went wrong or not as he had planned, but when the magic energies from his ritual flooded across the Legion, those with a certain amount of Psychic talent were empowered by it, while those with only minor or no psychic powers were reduced to dust (thus indeed spared forever from physical mutation).

 

I interpreted that it's more that the Rubric went right as rain, and did what it was meant to do, but not in the way the caster bargained for. At least, it would be very thematic for it to be that way and very, very Tzeentchian. YMMV though.