Wolf Brothers Background

[The Sandman]

I was toying with the idea of using my as yet unpainted wolves to represent a renege faction, and I found it referenced that the above successor chapter was at some point abandoned with a substantial number turning to Tzeentch worship. Now I ask can anyone clarify this for me or perhaps point me in the direction of some sources?

[Vash113]

The Wolf Brothers story is fragmented and in various sources. Most recently in Battle for the Fang the Space Wolves encounter roughly a Great Company worth of Wolf Brothers mutated into horrible abominations by Magnus and thus most likely the powers of Tzeentch. The Chapter on a whole suffered from significant abnormalities resulting in dispanding before M32. The fate of the rest of the survivors is unknown at this time.

[The Sandman]

Thanks a lot for the quick reply, I'm trying to put a different slant on my own sons of Russ to keep games amongst my friends more varied. Does Battle for the Fang also happen to mention any particular colour scheme the Brothers feature?

[Wulfebane]

Thanks a lot for the quick reply, I'm trying to put a different slant on my own sons of Russ to keep games amongst my friends more varied. Does Battle for the Fang also happen to mention any particular colour scheme the Brothers feature?

Think mutant zombies. They barely had any personality, if any, from what I remember (in BotF). They were sort of presented like , "And here's what awaits you behind curtain #1!" /throws back curtain... "Grr.. argh..."

 

The only true SW-gone-renegade company established in canon (eg via C:SM 5e) is Skyrar's Dark Wolves... atleast to my knowledge. Their color scheme is black/dark grey with blue trim.

 

The one thing that most fandom maintains to be true/canon is that the Wolves cannot fall to Chaos. Turn renegade on principles or opposition to the Imperium (Inquisition, Ecclesiarchy, etc) is another story - and giving us plenty of Lost Companies as well, but most are adamant that SW are immune to the taint of the chaotic powers, as evidenced by the 13th Company. The proposed theory is that the canis helix gets in the way and turns the SW to Wulfen rather than allow them to become tainted.

 

This is contradicted by the Wolf Brothers presented in the BotF, though it's never specified afaik that they were corrupted by chaos.. just simply mutated/degenerated. And in all other sources (and in fact, canon sources), it is left as vague as humanly possible in that they're "ill-fated" and left to rot in the void of GW's Vault of Fallacies. My belief is that the Wolf Brothers are the remnants of the Terran marines of the VI Legion prior to finding Russ. When the time came to split the legion, imo the Terran portion became Wolf Brothers and the Wolves we have now are Fenrisian-borne. Hence why they suffered from whatever taint/ill-fate that the current Wolves do not.

[Valerian]

 

Thanks a lot for the quick reply, I'm trying to put a different slant on my own sons of Russ to keep games amongst my friends more varied. Does Battle for the Fang also happen to mention any particular colour scheme the Brothers feature?

 

Think mutant zombies. They barely had any personality, if any, from what I remember (in BotF). They were sort of presented like , "And here's what awaits you behind curtain #1!" /throws back curtain...  "Grr.. argh..."

 

The only true SW-gone-renegade company established in canon (eg via C:SM 5e) is Skyrar's Dark Wolves.

Not quite - there is also the Great Company of Sven Ironhand.

 

Valerian

[Wulfebane]

Amended. I'll need to look that company up.

[Durfast Spiritwolf]

My belief is that the Wolf Brothers are the remnants of the Terran marines of the VI Legion prior to finding Russ. When the time came to split the legion, imo the Terran portion became Wolf Brothers and the Wolves we have now are Fenrisian-borne. Hence why they suffered from whatever taint/ill-fate that the current Wolves do not.

Yet the Terran and Fenrisian marines of the VI Legion are described as particularly well integrated in Visions of Heresy. Of course, the Terrans mostly seem to have died off by the time of Prospero Burns, but that probably just another Dan Abnett mistake ;)

[Vash113]

Also according to Prospero Burns the Rune Priest Longfang is supposedly one of only a handful of Terran legionaries left, so I doubt there would be anything like enough for even a Great Company, let alone a Chapter.

[Wulfebane]

 

Also according to Prospero Burns the Rune Priest Longfang is supposedly one of only a handful of Terran legionaries left, so I doubt there would be anything like enough for even a Great Company, let alone a Chapter.

Yes, but the Black Library novels aren't canon, so everything is still open to interpretation. I'm offering mine, which contradicts Prospero Burns, which contradicts GW, which contradicts itself on a daily basis. Its atleast plausible.. especially in the 40k universe. Take it or leave it.

[Wulfebane]

I'm mingling the novels in my head.. Which one presented the mutated Wolf Brothers? Prospero or BotF? I'd look it up but I'm off to sleep.

[Blacksad]

Battle of the Fang featured mutants wearing scraps of armour that was painted to resemble the Wolf Brothers.

[Marshall Bretton]

iv never seen anything to say wolves are immune to chaos, would be really cool though, if someone could find a quote that would be great.

 

ironically it would probably make them the best ally for the grey knights and the inquisition

[hendrik]

it's hinted in wolf's honour. rather then falling to chaos a space wolf will turn into a wulfen, which is bad!!!!

[Blacksad]

there's several instances where "the beast within" responds strongly to sorcery and general warpyness. can't give any direct quotes cause I'm at work, and cause I'm way to lazy to start leafing through books to find them, but it is alluded that the canis Helix is a kind of fail safe mechanism installed into the Space Wolf geneseed that overrides the influence of the warp on the body and mind of a space wolf and pushes him towards Wulfen rather than chaos spawn. Others on this board will have more direct information, this is how I've understood it.

 

also: there's been several threads on this subject. you might try using the search option on these boards.

[Durfast Spiritwolf]

Battle of the Fang featured mutants wearing scraps of armour that was painted to resemble the Wolf Brothers.

 

Nope, it's pretty clear if you read Battle of the Fang, pp. 353-55 that they really were Wolf Brothers.

 

Whilst BL are arguably not canon, this one nailed the whole canis helix debate for me.

 

Regards,

[Valerian]

iv never seen anything to say wolves are immune to chaos, would be really cool though, if someone could find a quote that would be great.

 

ironically it would probably make them the best ally for the grey knights and the inquisition

Check out the Children of Night article, in WD 283.

 

V

[Blacksad]

 

Battle of the Fang featured mutants wearing scraps of armour that was painted to resemble the Wolf Brothers.

 

Nope, it's pretty clear if you read Battle of the Fang, pp. 353-55 that they really were Wolf Brothers.

 

Whilst BL are arguably not canon, this one nailed the whole canis helix debate for me.

 

Regards,

nope, it's pretty clear the Thousand Sons want the SW to think they are the Wolf Brothers. Wether or not they truly are is still up for debate.

[Marshall Bretton]

i think its pretty clear cut that they are, but thats just my opinion

[maverik_girl]

 

 

Battle of the Fang featured mutants wearing scraps of armour that was painted to resemble the Wolf Brothers.

 

Nope, it's pretty clear if you read Battle of the Fang, pp. 353-55 that they really were Wolf Brothers.

 

Whilst BL are arguably not canon, this one nailed the whole canis helix debate for me.

 

Regards,

nope, it's pretty clear the Thousand Sons want the SW to think they are the Wolf Brothers. Wether or not they truly are is still up for debate.

The only thing I find odd with all of this is, because of our gene seed, the sons of Russ do not and have not devolve into mutants. Instead we turn into a wulfen. That's what is certain and what is known throughout our fluff, from the black libraray books and previous codexs. Now in the book Battle of the Fang, those Wolf Brothers were mutated.... now it could be due to sorcery?! who knows but it's a high posibility. What is also known in previous stories, is that even when turned into a wulfen, the beast within us still end up fighting chaos.

[Durfast Spiritwolf]

Battle of the Fang featured mutants wearing scraps of armour that was painted to resemble the Wolf Brothers.

Nope, it's pretty clear if you read Battle of the Fang, pp. 353-55 that they really were Wolf Brothers.

Whilst BL are arguably not canon, this one nailed the whole canis helix debate for me.

Regards,

nope, it's pretty clear the Thousand Sons want the SW to think they are the Wolf Brothers. Wether or not they truly are is still up for debate.

There is nothing to indicate that it was a ploy:

It is stated that they carried the same geneseed (p.354).

They were 'brothers in more than name. They were they only successors the Space Wolves had ever permitted to be made' (p.354).

'They shared blood. They shared gene-memory.' (p.354 again)

'These are no longer Wolf Brothers. Kill them.'(pp.354-5).

Sorry little brother, but the English script is clear and cannot be read in any other way. I've done my fair share of textual analysis, CDA etc. and this is unambiguous stuff.

We could continue to debate this, but if I were to agree with you then we would both be wrong

Edit - spoilers now hidden

[hendrik]

i'm with skadi and durfast on this. there's no doubt the wolf brothers in BotF were wolf brothers. however, like skadi said, there must be some way how (some of) the wolf brothers got mutated. i've done my fair bit of research, even starting an effort to gather all available fluff about the curse of the wulfen and the truth is, GW/black library messed up with it. some portray the wulfen transformation into the beast known from the 13th company artwork in the eye of terror dex. others make them turn in "ordinary" gaint wolves while yet others make them turn into van helsing like werewolves. It is only really in the older ragnar series that it is mentioned that the curse of the wulfen prevents a space wolf from falling to the taint of chaos. it is also made clear in that same book that when struck with blasphemous magics (that don't right kill them) the wulfen-failsafe mechanism will still kick in, even when the space wolf hasn't lost the battle to the wolf within yet. and because of this i'm disagreeing with skadi on the possibilty that sorcery could be the reason for those mutations. the way i understand it chaos sorcery would still have triggered the wulfen to appear. to me the mutations of the wolf brothers imply something differently, perhaps even more sinister, something that made it so their geneseed didn't work (anymore) like it works on the space wolves. the answer what this could be we don't know, although we do know that they were disbanded due to genetic instability....

[Jarl Deathwolf]

Wasn't there also mention in Prospero Burns that the Vlka Fenyrka were designed by the Emperor to fight the wars that other Astartes would balk at? It is said by the Wolves that the skjald (forgot his name) follows that each of the original legions were made for a specific task: The Space Wolves purpose was in winning the worst, most terrible wars. So the Emperor, knowing about Chaos (The most potent and vile enemy of all humanity and all who live), made sure that the Space Wolves were not only loyal (we were one of only nine who didn't turn, after all, and no one came knocking on Russ's door to tell us about the wonders of our Lord Khorne), but immune to the warping powers of Chaos (which Fenrisians kinda knew about, aka the Malifacarium). The 13th Company reinforces this.

 

However, I imagine if a sorcerer were to shoot a magical bolt of tzeentch at a poor Space Wolf, he could still turn into a mutant or Spawn or what-have-you. We are passively resistant to Chaos's effects and presence, but we are not immune to concentrated Chaos. If we were, I'd have a much easier time fighting Chaos Daemons.

[Grimtooth]

I want to just make a couple of points,

 

The rune priest in Prospero Burns that is touched by the maleficarum is "skinwrought" and basically turned into a werewolf that attacks his brethren and the skjald. It is my opinion that this is the true defense mechanism of the Canis Helix.

 

Now in Battle of the Fang, the Wolf Brothers are seen to be corrupted by Tzneetch. However, prior to seeing the Wolf Brothers the reader already knows that the creation of the successor chapter did not work because the geneseed did not properly take within the inhabitants of the chosen planet. This would be evidence of a faulty defense mechanism.

 

So those of you that keep saying that Battle of the Fang proves that there is no defense mechanism need to realize that the integration of the Wolves geneseed, including the Canis Helix did not work with the Wolf Brothers. The true example of how the Canis Helix is supposed to work is displayed in Prospero Burns, from a full fledged SW, not a defective member of the succesor chapter.

[Durfast Spiritwolf]

There a big difference between stating that there is no defence mechanism and arguing that the defence mechanism is not infallible.

 

Space Marines were created to be resistant to the dangers of Warp based entities, the Vlka Fenryka even more so. However, unequiviqual statements that members of the Vl Legion can never fall are just the sort of thing that gives Space Wolves players a bad name.

 

The VI Legion was split in two to create the Wolf Brothers. Brothers of the Successor Chapter were fully fledged and battle hardened members of the Rout whose Great Companies were transferred to the new formation.

 

There is certainly nothing to indicate that they were a Chapter of Blood Claws with dodgy geneseed.

[Grimtooth]

Battle of the Fang is what tells us how the Wolf Brothers successor was created and why it failed.

 

Nothing tells us what happened to the supposed half of the Wolves split off to form the successor. When the genetic instability started to manifest itself, were the donor Wolves from the legion pulled back? Was the genetic defect contagious somehow and spread to the donor Wolves from the legion? Did the Fenrisian born Wolf Brothers turn wulfen when exposed to the Tzneetch power that mutated their non-Fenrisian brethren? We don't know.

 

What we do know is that the geneseed did NOT mesh with the recruits from the chosen planet. What we do know is that when a full fledged rune priest of Fenris was touched by maleficarum, he was skinwrought. What we do know is that when full fledged Blood Claws of Fenris were exposed to a daemonic planet, they turned Wulfen.

 

So we have three instances here;

 

1. A successor chapter who has non-Fenrisian that have been documented of not meshing with the Canis Helix, has members that are mutated by Chaos.

 

2. A rune priest of Fenrisian origin, in which the Canis Helix meshed completely, is touched by maleficarum and goes wulfen.

 

3. A group of Blood Claws of Fenrisian origin, in which the Canis Helix has been newly meshed, are exposed to a daemon planet and go wulfen.

 

The evidence of what happens to a Space Wolf in which the Canis Helix has successfully meshed has shown to create a wulfen. The evidence of what happens to individuals where the Canis Helix has not meshed has been shown as well now with Battle of the Fang.