Wolf Brothers Background

[Durfast Spiritwolf]

If we are going to treat part of the Battle of the Fang as valid then we must also accept the description of the formation of the Wolf Brothers on pp. 420-1.

 

Could you provide a reference for the geneseed didn't mesh with the new recruits and only they suffered degradation? As, again, this does not match the description on p.421 of Battle of the Fang. Without the references to back up your first point, the conclusion is, at present, non sequitur.

 

On point 3, if you are referring to  Wolf's Honour then it wasn't exposure to a daemon planet, but the rite conducted by Madoc that was the source of the transformation. The point of the rite was to turn the whole Chapter into Wulfen. So again, this point does not support your conclusion if I have selected the right source.

[Marshall Bretton]

one possible explanation for the mutated ones in botf is that the wolf brothers we saw were all that was left of the non fenrisian wolves that made up the chapter, all the ones that were originally space wolves were either dead or running around somewhere else as wulfen

 

that way we still have the true wolves immune to chaos (ish) and the "new" wolves where the canis didn't work properly are mutated monsters

[Durfast Spiritwolf]

Need we be so desperate to protect a particular image of our viking space soldiers!

Unfortunately, this sort of blind devotion is just what drives people at GW to play with one of their products.

If you've been around long enough to know why a certain race of short people fell out of favour then you'll understand just how GW responds to really annoying fans

It is exactly why the story about Wolves turning traitor appeared in the 4th Ed. Codex CSM.

Next up they'll invent a highly competitive, but slightly comic unit that makes a mockery of SW pomposity - oh wait, they've done that already...

[hendrik]

even though i'm in the turn-wulfen-defence-against-chaos-mechanism-camp durfast raises some good points. i'm inclined to believe that, like always, GW doesn't really care about being consistent as i said earlier and just applies the rule of cool to make things sell. in fact, you could even say the space wolves were a joke from the start. creating augmented hearing and smell just by fiddling around with genetics that works better then the most modern detecting equipment (we can already do a lot of detecting nowadays, but just look at what a space marine his helmet can do!) you could say it was a joke from the start...

 

and yet, we loved it, we embraced it fully(at least most of us did), we simply loved the image of a space wolf being beter then any other astartes in hearing and detecting things. yet, unlike with the wulfen-as-ultimate-defense-against-chaos noone bothered with this. 

 

it's been pretty much the same with the wulfen. Some really love this fact and how it's described as a defence against chaos in wolf's honour and fully accepted it while others,just like with our acute senses, think of it as nonsence and have moved on.

 

In fact, it's even the same with thunderwolf cavalry. some space wolf players absolutly love them and adore it, while others, like me, think it's a travesty and a mocking of our proud chapter

[Valerian]

Okay, here we go:

"From the residue genetic helices of the Primarchs the Emperor created twenty Space Marine Legions, each utilising the genetic material derived from one of the Primarchs....The implants of the Space Wolves were developed from the genetic helix of the Primarch Leman Russ." 5th Edition Codex Space Wolves, page 8.

"Space Wolves are chosen from the bravest and noblest youths of Fenris. In the constant tribal warfare for possession of land, each youth is given a chance to fight and die in service of his warrior gods, the Emperor and Leman Russ. Space Marines must be selected young for them to have any chance of surviving the difficult transformation from normal human to superbeing."--WD156/246

 

"The Space Wolves, the 6th Legion, were the genetic progeny of Russ and carried within them a unique gift: the Canis Helix, the Mark of the Wolf that sets the Space Wolves apart from the Space Marines of other Chapters. The Canis Helix invests the Space Wolves with the acute predatory senses of the wolves native to their home world of Fenris, but this gift comes at a price: the Curse of the Wulfen. Those brothers who succumb to the Curse degenerate into savage, malformed parodies of their brethren. In most cases, the Curse manifests during training, but in others, the effects of the Curse become apparent many years later in the heat of battle. The Space Wolves' harsh induction regime generally ensures that these individuals perish at an early stage in the process. "Children of the Night - WD 283.

"Little needs to be said of Fenris, the inhospitable, ice-bound world from which the Space Wolves come, but whether the 13th Company have found a home within the Eye of Terror is unknown. Certainly, the Canis Helix would prove a vital factor in surviving within the Eye, for it is known that the Curse of the Wulfen is want to surface as a defence against the influence of Chaos." Children of the Night - WD 283.

"That the Canis Helix is responsible for the condition of the Wulfen is known, and it has been suggested that the savage force that resides within each Space Wolf has allowed the 13th Company to survive the long millennia of contact with the power of Chaos. What is not known is whether the 13th Company's presence within the Eye of Terror has tainted its gene-seed in any way." Children of the Night - WD 283.

"Before then the Emperor was unable to duplicate the long and arduous work which had created the Primarchs. Instead, from the residue genetic helices of the Primarchs the Emperor created twenty Space Marine Legions, each utilizing the genetic material derived from one of the Primarchs. Thus the warriors of the First Founding Legions echoed to some degree the particular strengths and powers of the Primarch whose genes were used to develop their implants. The implants of the Space Wolves were developed from the genetic helix [aka the "Canis" helix] of the Primarch Leman Russ, and so Space Wolves to this day have some of the qualities of this great man." The Wolves of Fenris - WD 246.

"The Wolf Priests guard the Chapter's genetic seed, bio-culturing new implants and maintaining the vigour of the strain by weeding out any weakness or mutation. Their knowledge is deep, and for many centuries they have studied the effects of the cursed Wulfen gene helix in a search for a way to modify it and make safe the Chapter's genetic seed. However, their efforts have only succeeded in preventing the curse spreading, and it is unlikely that the damage can ever be repaired completely." The Wolves of Fenris - WD 246.
 

"Although the aspirant does not know it, the feast had a purpose. The geneseed is beginning to work on his body, rushing through it and restructuring it. Muscle mass is being added, bones are beginning to fuse together, and the very structure of his brain is beginning to alter, quickening his reactions and heightening his perceptions. Vestigial fangs are starting to emerge. The venison provides the raw protein for this, and the sacred ale was laced with the necessary trace chemicals to fuel the change.

The aspirant knows none of this. He is wracked with pain and his body stretches and grows. His mind is haunted by visions and sanity fades. He becomes wolf-like, feral, maddened by agony and hunger. Now is the worst time, he is constantly hungry because his changing body needs more and more nourishment if it is to sustain growth. Failure to provide this will be fatal as his body begins to cannibalise itself.

These first few days are the most critical. The aspirant must feed often. He is usually left near a source of food such as an elk herd. Near mindless, he must hunt them down, eat their raw flesh and drink their blood. Some aspirants, unable to meet the challenge, perish. Some, whether due to some flaw in themselves or the geneseed, never get beyond this stage. They become mindless creatures, with an animal's cunning. They continue to grow and hunger for flesh, eventually becoming Wulfen, the most feared monsters on Fenris." -WD 156/246

Also from the 5th Edition Codex (page 10) is a brand new piece of lore: "The trial is long, for the warrior is taken a thousand miles into the barren wastes beyond the fortress of the Fang. He drinks from the Cup of Wulfen, and his body absorbs the first and most deadly gene-seed of the Space Wolves - the unique Canis gene helix."

You can't separate the Canis Helix from the rest of the geneseed. "The Canis Helix is necessary, however, as without this esential part of Leman Russ' heritage the other gene helices cannot be implanted at all." 5th Edition Codex (page10).

Regards,

Valerian         

[Valerian]

And, on the Wolf Brothers, specifically, there is this, which "The Battle of the Fang" from the Black Library directly conflicts with:

 

 

The Wolf Brothers

(excerpted from the calleria M37)

...And ranging 'cross Yahals plain
The Eldar turned at bay.
They stood and fought, shed blood
And burned
A thousand men that day.

Then Wolf Brothers came
To slay them all,
Bloody swords raised, howling,
fangs gleaming
Answering the warriors' call.

No alien could stand against
So fierce a foe,
No trick would turn them aside.
On they came, unstoppable
To strike a deadly blow.

Turning, fleeing the Eldar ran
Through their portal
Beyond the reach of man.
Undaunted Wolf Brothers
Pursued them unto realms immortal

Though aliens were defeated,
Their fury tamed,
The ill-fated Wolf Brothers
Were lost, mourned
Never seen again...

 

- WD245 (June 2000)

[Grimtooth]

Was reading over Battle of the Fang last night and noticed the detail that the Wolf Brothers on Gangava numbered a little less then a Great Company.  This could lead one down the same line as I suggested and Gaius brought up as well that the Wolf Brothers present on Gangava were the ones that did not mesh with the geneseed as Fenrisian born SW.  The rest of the natural born Fenrisian SW are unaccounted for which could mean either dead, wulfen, or renegade.

[Valerian]

Or lost in the Eldar Webway ;)

[Grimtooth]

Or lost in the Eldar Webway

I always take that passage with the same grain of salt that mentions that the 13th Co in Wolf at the Door were also known as the Wolf Brothers because when you compare it with the 13th Co WD article and this passage;

A further legend speaks of the disappearance of a Space Wolves force

through an Eldar webway portal, though in this particular case the story

relates to the so-called 'Wolf Brothers'. Little information as to the

true identity of this group survives, though what scraps of data have

been recovered suggest that the Wolf Brothers were in fact a successor

Chapter of the Space Wolves that was disbanded due to some form of

genetic instability. A passage in The Calleria cites the Wolf Brothers

as pursuing an Eldar force through a mystical portal, from which they

never returned. The similarity between this and other legends suggests

that a kerne! of truth lies at the heart of the matter, though the exact

details will likely never be known.

It just gets all mixed up again. My theory that I held long ago was the following;

The 13th Co were and are the Wolf Brothers. They were conveniently hidden due to the prevalence of the Mark of the Wulfen/Wulfen by two means; they were sent after Magnus/they became the Wolf Brothers successor with their own planet to recruit from although that did not work out so well. So what did that do for the Legion?

Well, Russ gets to hide his Wulfen brethren and complies with the post-heresy requirement of splitting the Legion. As it is, the 13th Co get to continue their fight against the traitor Legions within the Eye of Terror, minus the recruits from the failed successor world, Kaeriol.

[Rift Blade]

@ Valerian. You sir, are a Skald indeed. Your knowledge of our chapter is.....incredible. I stand in awe. I have played  Wolves on & off since 3rd Ed. & read a lot of their fluff but at least a good 3rd of your quotes don't even ring a bell. And thank you for the material references. I have some reading to do. Please have an ale on me.(passes a BIG tankard of Ale).

[Valerian]

Thanks Rift Blade. I try to help preserve and pass on the knowledge of the Rout as well as I am able.

 

V

[Durfast Spiritwolf]

 

The 13th Co were and are the Wolf Brothers. They were conveniently hidden due to the prevalence of the Mark of the Wulfen/Wulfen by two means; they were sent after Magnus/they became the Wolf Brothers successor with their own planet to recruit from although that did not work out so well. So what did that do for the Legion?

 

Well, Russ gets to hide his Wulfen brethren and complies with the post-heresy requirement of splitting the Legion. As it is, the 13th Co get to continue their fight against the traitor Legions within the Eye of Terror, minus the recruits from the failed successor world, Kaeriol.

We know from Tales of Heresy that members of the 13 GC used the title 'Wolf Brothers'. It was the name of Russ' huscarls prior to the arrival of the Alfather on Fenris. Despite being too old, all volunteered to become fully fledged Space Wolves and two thirds did not 'survive' the process. The survivors joined the 13 GC and took the name with them. If may well be that those that didn't 'survive' made up the bulk of the Wulfen, but that is speculation on my part.

 

However, there is a clear description in the Battle of the Fang of the successor chapter being formed. It is not an existing GC, but fully half of the surviving VI Legion. This put paid to my earlier idea of them being one and the same, which I described on a similar thread here in the Fang some years ago now. It all made sense at the time, but then came the Battle of the Fang ;)

 

Edit. Sorry I missed out reiterating that, prior to the formation of the successor chapter, the term 'Wolf Brother' was a generic reference to a fellow member of the VI Legion. So the Wolf Brothers mentioned in the above quote could mean any VI Legion force prior to the split.

[Grimtooth]

The 13th Co were and are the Wolf Brothers. They were conveniently hidden due to the prevalence of the Mark of the Wulfen/Wulfen by two means; they were sent after Magnus/they became the Wolf Brothers successor with their own planet to recruit from although that did not work out so well. So what did that do for the Legion?

Well, Russ gets to hide his Wulfen brethren and complies with the post-heresy requirement of splitting the Legion. As it is, the 13th Co get to continue their fight against the traitor Legions within the Eye of Terror, minus the recruits from the failed successor world, Kaeriol.

We know from Tales of Heresy that members of the 13 GC used the title 'Wolf Brothers'. It was the name of Russ' huscarls prior to the arrival of the Alfather on Fenris. Despite being too old, all volunteered to become fully fledged Space Wolves and two thirds did not 'survive' the process. The survivors joined the 13 GC and took the name with them. If may well be that those that didn't 'survive' made up the bulk of the Wulfen, but that is speculation on my part.

However, there is a clear description in the Battle of the Fang of the successor chapter being formed. It is not an existing GC, but fully half of the surviving VI Legion. This put paid to my earlier idea of them being one and the same, which I described on a similar thread here in the Fang some years ago now. It all made sense at the time, but then came the Battle of the Fang

Edit. Sorry I missed out reiterating that, prior to the formation of the successor chapter, the term 'Wolf Brother' was a generic reference to a fellow member of the VI Legion. So the Wolf Brothers mentioned in the above quote could mean any VI Legion force prior to the split.

Actually, the reference in Battle of the Fang to creation of the successor chapter was specifically,

"They took half our fleet, half our priests, and half our armouries."

This goes against the previously held belief that half of the VI legion just up and left Fenris for Kaeriol. This leads more to possibility of a headquarters and training element being dispatched, with possibly the bare bones unit structure in place. In otherwords, the Wolf Brothers were not mission ready the moment they were created, but did have to recruit/create aspirants from the planet Kaeriol.

[Grimtooth]

Just had a thought;

 

13th Co is what was used to create the Wolf Brothers.  They are bolstered by recruits from Kaeriol.  When the 13th Co, now known as the Wolf Brothers successor either follow the Eldar into the webway/chase Thousand Sons into the Warp, the 13th Co being Fenris born are fine with a little bit of wulfeness while the recruits from Kaeriol get mutated by the warp/Chaos.

 

Wraps up everything for me.  Peace!

[Jarl Deathwolf]

Could the 13th Co simply be any and all Space Wolves who get lost in the Warp but don't fall to Chaos?

 

That is what the normal Wolves use the 13th Co as anyway: A catch-all term for any Great Companies that are lost, destroyed or fall. 

[Valerian]

The problem with those theories is that they go directly against what GW has provided in the (sometimes limited) information that they have provided on both the Wolf Brothers (2nd founding successor chapter) and the 13th Company (part of the original Legion that separated during the Heresy).  We know that these two organizations are/were distinct from one another.  We know that the Wolf Brothers Chapter isn't around anymore (because we're told in multiple sources), and we know that the 13th Company is (because we are also told in multiple sources, including the Eye of Terror campaign information from a decade ago, that puts them as a modern/contemporary organization.

 

The only things we don't know for sure are 1) exactly what happened to the 13th Company (whether sent after Magnus following assault on Prospero, or sent after Abaddon after the fall of Horus) - different answer depending on the source.  But we do know that they "recently" reappeared after the emergence of the 13th Black Crusade.

 

and 2) exactly what happened to the "ill-fated" Wolf Brothers (either lost in Eldar Webway, or disbanded due to genetic instability) - again, a different answer depending on the source.

 

Despite what we don't know, we have good information on what we do know.  Wolf Brothers are long gone, and nobody tried to create additional successor chapters from the Space Wolves, and the 13th Company is still around, mostly in the Eye of Terror, trying to complete the original mission that they were given 10,000 years ago.

 

Valerian

[Grimtooth]

The catch-all was barely introduced in the new codex it appears.  The 13th Co was established in codex Eye of Terror as being who they are and how they fight.

[Grimtooth]

The problem with those theories is that they go directly against what GW has provided in the (sometimes limited) information that they have provided on both the Wolf Brothers (2nd founding successor chapter) and the 13th Company (part of the original Legion that separated during the Heresy).  We know that these two organizations are/were distinct from one another.  We know that the Wolf Brothers Chapter isn't around anymore (because we're told in multiple sources), and we know that the 13th Company is (because we are also told in multiple sources, including the Eye of Terror campaign information from a decade ago, that puts them as a modern/contemporary organization.

 

The only things we don't know for sure are 1) exactly what happened to the 13th Company (whether sent after Magnus following assault on Prospero, or sent after Abaddon after the fall of Horus) - different answer depending on the source.  But we do know that they "recently" reappeared after the emergence of the 13th Black Crusade.

 

and 2) exactly what happened to the "ill-fated" Wolf Brothers (either lost in Eldar Webway, or disbanded due to genetic instability) - again, a different answer depending on the source.

 

Despite what we don't know, we have good information on what we do know.  Wolf Brothers are long gone, and nobody tried to create additional successor chapters from the Space Wolves, and the 13th Company is still around, mostly in the Eye of Terror, trying to complete the original mission that they were given 10,000 years ago.

 

Valerian

I am just going by the 13th Co WD article that is just as vague and mentions that each version has some kernel of truth in it, especially in regard to it mentioning the Wolf Brothers in the 13th Co WD article.

 

So rather then trying to pick and choose which to believe, I would rather just throw them all in the blender with some ice and make a 13th/Wolf Brothers smoothie.

[Godhead]

So let me see if I have this straight?

 

The Wolf Brothers were disbanded due to genetic instability. (although what this instability actually was doesn't seem to be detailed, so rampant wulfen could be possible?)

 

The geneseed/canis helix only works with fenrisians, however it seemed like the terran SW's were just fine. I've not read anything indicating that the heresy era SW's had problems with wulfen or mutation, unlike 1000 son's.

 

13th Companies have been mentioned to be able to recruit from elsewhere to replenish their numbers.

 

Any other information, really doesn't seem to do more than just restate the points above.

 

So, would it have been possible that the Wolf Brothers geneseed wasn't as jacked as everyone seems to think, but instead perhaps their homeworld was at a location where the barrier between real space and the warp was thinner, thus causing the wolf brothers to manifest more incidents of wulfen kind?  This could lead to the perception of too much genetic instability and causing the =I= to say oh no... MUTANTS... HERETIC....BLASPHEMY!!!! and put an end to the chapter?  As far as the mutant wolf brothers in BftF.....I don't know what to say other than nothing gives proper Space Wolves immunity to chaos abilities against being turned into chaos spawn on the table top. So perhaps those willing converts to chaos, like those who submitted to Huron, could actually invite chaos in to do its work?

 

 

Also i know it was asked in the OP, but does anyone have any idea of the WB's color scheme or emblem?

[DarthMarko]

I'm gonna be the biggest fanboy and post this for my fang brothers and YELL "In your face GK"

 

‘They
are desperate, and as savage as beasts.’

 

            Magnus lost his smile.

                                     

  ‘I no longer think of them as
animals, Ahmuz, though I once did. I now think of them as the purest of us all.
Incorruptible. Single-minded. The perfection of my father’s vision.’

 

 

[Gondlir the Wandbearer]

Just to interject, as I understand it the Canis Helix doesn't make the Wolves immune to Chaos, merely more resistant than other Astartes.

AFAIK, only Grey Knights are fully immune.

I

[Grimtooth]

I wouldn't say permanently transforming into a slavering, kill driven wulfen would be saying that you are immune.

 

The Grey Knights are immune. Chaos touches them, they are still Grey Knights. Wolves have a defense mechanism. Chaos touches them, they wig out into a wulfen and try to kill it as well as anything else around.

[Blacksad]

Grey Knights are not immune to Chaos. Proof? count the amount of Chaos players using the Grey Knights codex.

 

\0/

[Durfast Spiritwolf]

I wouldn't say permanently transforming into a slavering, kill driven wulfen would be saying that you are immune.

The Grey Knights are immune. Chaos touches them, they are still Grey Knights. Wolves have a defense mechanism. Chaos touches them, they wig out into a wulfen and try to kill it as well as anything else around.

However, this is not backed up by the fluff.

Children of the Night - WD 283, only mentions that the flaw is 'want to surface', i.e. it might or is likely to happen as a defence against chaos. This means that it might not, so cannot make the SW immune to chaos. In fact the description of the degenerated Wolf Brothers demonstrates that they were not immune.

Still, I've yet to read the latest batch of BL ebooks

[Marshall Bretton]

well i recently finished blood as heck asaheim and in that

when baldyr (a wolf with latent psychic power) was attacked by a nurgle sorceror he basically became posessed by chaos for a while, ran around shooting green corrupted warpfire aroundm blew loads of crap up, killed some imps, nearly killed one of his battle brothers and then went back to normal after ingvar reminded him who he was and gave him a soul totem thingy.
this is a case where no wulfen defence thing occurred, and as it is the latest bit of fluff it seems relevant