Stormcaller by Chris Wraight

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I'm starting the hype train rolling!

 

Who's looking forward to this one?

 

I've pre-ordered mine. Really looking forward to it. It's been awhile since I read 'Blood Of Asaheim', but I think Njal Stormcaller was a peripheral character in that... I'm sure the presence of a rune priest will do interesting things to the pack dynamic.

 

Part of me is a little disappointed that the setting doesn't appear to be changing, but I really enjoyed the portrayal of the Death Guard in 'BoA' so I'm pleased this will carry them along as antagonists.

 

I think Wraight might be one of the best BL authors releasing books at the moment. Maybe he'll get a Heresy-era VI Legion novel...

[Perrin]

It looks like the wolf on his back is alive and trying to eat his head. I think it's the eyes...

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That would certainly be an unexpected twist.

[Candleshoes]

I really liked the first one, will be purchasing this when I am all caught up on my reading list.

 

I love the Deathwatch bits and pack interplay from the first, have high hopes for a solid sequal here.

[Chaeron]

I've not ordered yet, but love Wraight's style - so I think this will be a must have imminently.

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I really liked the first on, will be purchasing this when I am all caught up on my reading list.

 

I love the Deathwatch bits and pack interplay from the first, have high hopes for a solid sequal here.

I liked the Deathwatch bits a lot as well.

 

Depending on how you feel about ebooks, it might be worth checking out 'Onyx', which is a short story about Ingvar's first mission with his Deathwatch team. It's really good, and if you're eager for more information on his time away from the pack, it's worth a read.

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My copy arrived, it's absolutely gorgeous artwork IMO.

 

I'm re-reading 'Blood Of Asaheim' before I jump in; should have an overview post for 'Stormcaller' up within a few days if anyone's interested.

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So, not very much enthusiasm for this on the forums apparently. I'll do a summary in case anyone is lurking/still interested.

 

 

The first half of the book deals with the arrival of huge Ecclesiarchy armies on Ras Shakeh, led by Cardinal Delvaux. Arriving simultaneously is the Space Wolf Rune Priest Njal Stormcaller and a pack of around forty Grey Hunters. With these reinforcements, the Imperials manage to wipe the planet clean of corruption in a fairly short time. And to everyone's surprise, Stormcaller judges Baldr free of warp-taint and returns him to his pack, Jarnhamar, as long as he wears a null-collar; Canoness De Chatelaine is less lucky and is imprisoned in a Penitent Engine for her 'failures' in defense of the world. Based on this, and obvious cultural differences, a rift quickly grows between the Church and the Wolves. The Cardinal is revealed to be a shallow, corrupt man who is more concerned with the political maneuverings of the Ecclesiarchy and maintaining his life of luxury than doing the Right Thing. Tension also grows within the Jarnhamar pack as Ingvar resents Gunnlaugur's apparent willingness to, ahem, throw Baldr to the wolves if Stormcaller says he's corrupted. Feelings are felt.

 

The second half is a nice 'race against the clock' scenario. A colossal space hulk of Nurgle named 'Festerax' is heading for a populous hive world with the apparent intention of infecting it and recruiting the trillions of citizens into Nurgle's army. Stormcaller proposes a joint assault to the Cardinal; the Church will use their colossal capital ship to wear down the hulk's shields, then the Wolves will fight a boarding action and plant charges on its engines, destroying it. Delvaux is unimpressed and argues that they should just Exterminatus the hive world; they can't join the enemy if they're dead after all. Overcoming his urge to murder Delvaux and all his attendants, Njal agrees on a compromise: they will attempt to kill the 'Festerax' but if they can't do it within sixteen hours, the hive world will be virus-bombed. There follows a pretty great (and very long) battle with the Wolves fighting through unbelievable numbers of Nurgle mutants and some pretty nasty Plague Marines. Baldr is captured by Plague Marines and bought to their leader, the Mycelite, who tells Baldr he is becoming a new kind of psyker, a kind more powerful than any before, something caused by the walls of reality getting more thin as we approach the end of all things; these new psykers will apparently manifest in greater and greater numbers as time runs out for humanity. Worrying. He also talks about the Death Guard's wider plans to break Cadia, and that Typhus is on his way to assist the Death Guard here. Also far from reassuring.

 

Ultimately, the Space Wolves break through and plant the charges at great cost. But wouldn't you just know it, the Cardinal breaks his word and moves to bomb the world anyway. The Wolves desperately fight their way back to the assault rams, but Ingvar and Jorundur (who had anticipated something like this happening) do a fairly unbelievable solo assault on the Cardinal's gigantic ship and manage to take the bridge, assisted by the battle-sister Callia who Jorundur bonded with in 'BoA'. They are able to kill Delvaux with some unexpected help from De Chatelaine who somehow resists the Penitent Engine briefly; Ingvar then ends her suffering by mercy-killing her. Some more weirdness with my Mycelite happens, as he explains his plan to 'merge' Baldr with the hulk. 'Festerax' was built around an old Space Wolves vessel lost many years ago, called 'Frostaxe', so Baldr will be able to control the hulk better than any Traitor Marine. Stormcaller fights his way to the 'bridge' and confronts the Mycelite, and is almost bested, but when Stormcaller releases Baldr from his null-collar, Baldr easily destroys the Death Guard. Stormcaller then spirits them both away to the bridge of his ship, but as Baldr collapses with exhaustion, Stormcaller says he was wrong to give him a second chance, and Baldr must be killed. The charges successfully detonate, the 'Festerax' is destroyed, and the hive world is saved. Only 10-15 Wolves make it out alive, though.

 

As Stormcaller and the Ecclesiarchy make an uneasy peace (apparently, most of the Cardinal's military command were not in favour of him murdering an entire world, so the apparent heresy/assassination of a major political figure is forgiven), Ingvar refuses to accept Baldr's sentencing and convinces Gunnlaugur and his brothers to go rogue. Jarnhamar breaks Baldr out of confinement and absconds, also taking with them the Cardinal's creepy/suspicious second-in-command, who most likely knows a bit about the Inquisition's workings and may be able to point them towards the murderers of their previous leader, Hjortur. 

 

Chris Wraight's writing was good here, while not being to the level of 'Scars' or 'BoA' (which, at this point, I'd personally say are among the best BL books I've read). There are standard BL typo issues but we're all used to that by now. Of slightly more concern was one character showing up who seemed pretty definitively dead in 'BoA' (their head is described as being blasted apart by electricity) but no, apparently that didn't happen and they're fine. As you can see from how much I wrote about the second half and how little I wrote about the first half, the book really takes a while to get started. But I definitely enjoyed the Space Hulk stuff a lot.

 

The book reinforced my attitudes to Space Wolves. I like them a lot, but I don't like Rune Priests. Maybe there's some deep SW lore I've missed which gives credence to their argument that all witches and psykers are mentally weak and dangerous monsters, but the children of Fenris don't draw on the Warp so it's all good baby. From here it seems really hypocritical (and when the argument against their view is made a few times in this book, the response is just "Shut up, you don't even know! You don't know nothin' about Fenris powers!") While not likeable, Stormcaller at least well-drawn as a hard-ass Space Wolf and has some nice depth.

 

The Cardinal was a fairly one-dimensional antagonist straight out of the 'evil/lazy bureaucrat/priest' file; I even think it's implied he's into little kids at some point, I mean, talk about piling on the clichés. His second-in-command was a lot more interesting, but didn't get developed much. (That'll happen in book 3, I hope.) It was a long way from, say, 'The Emperor's Gift' where I felt the Church and Wolves were both portrayed as flawed but with redeeming features. This was more like "Hey man, look at this guy on his golden throne on his golden ship! There's people out there dying, that's not right! Space Wolves don't stand for that nonsense!" It was a lot less subtle than I'd have liked. On the flip side, the Mycelite was a very compelling and interesting portrayal of a Death Guard sorcerer - someone capable of doing awful, universe-wrecking stuff but being oddly likeable, charismatic and honest. In an odd way I felt this character had the clearest, truest perspective in the book.

 

After the devastating portrayal of Valtyr's death and how it affected his brothers, I was secretly disappointed that none of the 'main character' pack died here, especially considering that the death rate for Njal's retinue is about 75%. But the ending really interests me; I'm hoping it's a setup for the concluding book (well, I'm assuming this is a trilogy but it could go for longer) focusing more on the core dynamics and relationships between the pack members, and exploring what it is to be a 'renegade' but loyal Space Marine. I especially missed Hafloi in this book, it seemed like that impetuous whelp barely did anything. I hope they leave the 'Typhus is coming!' subplot for someone else, a giant Stormcaller/Typhus slugfest seems more like standard SM Battles fodder than the subtle character-based stuff I'd like to see Wraight do. CZ Dunn is probably free.

 

I'm glad I read it though, and I will look forward to whatever Wraight does next (hopefully more Heresy stuff?)

 

 

[Chaeron]

My copy arrived, it's absolutely gorgeous artwork IMO.

 

I'm re-reading 'Blood Of Asaheim' before I jump in; should have an overview post for 'Stormcaller' up within a few days if anyone's interested.

 

Haven't ordered yet - worth it?

[Urauloth]

Damn it I need to finish Asaheim. I got 2/3rds of the way through and got sidetracked, which is what happens if you try to read 4 things at once. It was great, though, and I'm looking forward to finishing it and getting this one.

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Yeah, I forgot to put a non-spoiler verdict.

 

I'd say it's a solid 7.5/10, if you prefer large, pitched battle action rather than small-scale 'one squad of space marines doing their best against the hordes', you might prefer this one to 'Blood Of Asaheim'.

[Chaeron]

Took the plunge and managed to order - huzzah. Should be here in a few days (I went for "save money" over "Amazon Prime").

[Nineswords]

I finished Stormcaller and Blood of Asaheim over a day and a half. Both great books, and it's good to see Wraight continuing the tradition of making the Space Wolves believable by using genuine nordic rooted words (Járnhamar squad - 'Iron Hammer' in Icelandic). Some good battle scenes and a compelling story, you won't be disappointed.

[Archaon9]

Is it possible to like these books without being a fan of the chapter?
I've read Battle of the Fang which I wasn't fond of them in, but I didn't mind them in the Ragnar series. Is this trilogy similar to either of those?

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If you like the portrayal of Space Wolves in 'Prospero Burns', you will probably like this quite a bit, as it's consistent with that. The VIth are brooding, unapologetically violent warriors, not the mead-swilling jolly space vikings that I feel they used to be portrayed as.

 

I've not read 'Battle Of The Fang', but it's the same author, so there might be similarities.

 

Like I said in my spoilers, I really like Space Wolves (though not their Iron Priests so much) but they were never my favourite Chapter/Legion. If you actively dislike or hate them, there may not be much for you here as the Wolves are the backbone of the story and 95% of the action is focused on them.

 

But it is well written, so I would recommend it regardless of faction bias.

[Archaon9]

Cheers. Gives me some hope then.
I liked the greater detail shown of how they operate in "Prospero burns", it felt like a balanced portrayal of them.

"Battle of the Fang" seemed rather biased in their favour in how it was written even though it was an against all odds but pull through scenario. The idea that a primarch could be so easily defeated without there being overwhelming forces against him like the instances in the Horus Heresy books annoyed me. There were some interesting ideas in it but the way the siege was done disappointed me.

On a side note would be nice for the psyker hypocrisy to be dealt with in a book sometime. As you've said it seems they look down on others using the warp but say their spirit powers are totally different. Unless a valid reason is given I'd be amused for them to be proved wrong.Fingers crossed a Rune priest turns into a chaos spawn.

With the typos how bad does it get? Like in Fall of Macharius wrong words used like Baneblade changing to Leman Russ and back again, or just handful of words misspelled? 

If the storyline is reasonable then I'm sure I'll be reading this series at some point. Could see Death Guard vs Space Wolves as being an interesting match up. Just the worry that I'd be reading about the Space Wolves winning throughout that makes me hesitant. With the main characters all being alive but lots of the rest of the packs dying I guess that works as a balance. Thanks for the review.
 

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Well, if you don't like 'Wolves succeed against ridiculous odds' stories, you may find a few parts of these books a bit much. The Wolves are doing some pretty heroic, Lord Of The Rings stuff here. (Book 2 more than Book 1, anyway, and a lot of that is due to Stormcaller's presence.) But they don't come through completely unscathed.

 

For my money, it's a bit like the Ravenor books, you may enjoy it more for the portrayal of the characters and their relationships than the plot.

 

If you want a book where the Wolves' 'psyker hypocrisy' is dealt with, you will find a fair bit of discussion of it in 'Stormcaller', I just didn't find it to be resolved in a very satisfactory manner (though this might because deep down what I really want to see is the Wolves forced to admit their hypocrisy, really to just have their noses rubbed in it, preferably by Ahriman...)

 

In terms of typos, I picked up on a couple errors of grammar/spelling across the two books. Nothing major. As for stuff that's blatantly breaking the lore, I'm probably not familiar enough with it to pick up any but the most obvious mistakes (haven't played 40k for years, just been reading BL books) but nothing stood out.

[Chaeron]

 

In terms of typos, I picked up on a couple errors of grammar/spelling across the two books. Nothing major. As for stuff that's blatantly breaking the lore, I'm probably not familiar enough with it to pick up any but the most obvious mistakes (haven't played 40k for years, just been reading BL books) but nothing stood out.

 

Arrived this morning - lovely book. I've read about twenty pages, I found the first typo on page 12 (which is probably actually like page four haha). Alas!

 

Still, excited to read more.

[Stonerhino]

On a side note would be nice for the psyker hypocrisy to be dealt with in a book sometime. As you've said it seems they look down on others using the warp but say their spirit powers are totally different. Unless a valid reason is given I'd be amused for them to be proved wrong.Fingers crossed a Rune priest turns into a chaos spawn.

 

 

 

 

If you want a book where the Wolves' 'psyker hypocrisy' is dealt with, you will find a fair bit of discussion of it in 'Stormcaller', I just didn't find it to be resolved in a very satisfactory manner (though this might because deep down what I really want to see is the Wolves forced to admit their hypocrisy, really to just have their noses rubbed in it, preferably by Ahriman...)

 

I expect ABD to adress this in Master of Mankind since learning he will include a pack of Wolves.  In 40k I think the Wolves themselves have been tricked by their own stories and forgot what was known in 30k.  The "Our powers come from a different source" is debunct in Prospero Burns.  By a Rune Priest no less.  "I am a psyker and 'Maleficarum' can be classified as any sorcery not being used under the strict control of a psyker" ~ to paraphrase.  What they say to others doesn't matter because internally they understand that they are just like other psykers.  Even to the point of the Rune Priest comparing himself other psykers on Terra.

 

I recommend watching a movie call The Prestige.  In it *** Spoiler*** there is a non-magical magician who fakes his and his brother's whole lives to do a magic trick.  It is a very good trick by the way. 

 

The point however is that the Wolves live their lives in a way to promotes an image that they want others to see.  While trying to maintain there combat effectiveness and making others misunderstand them.  This is touched upon in Prospero Burns by Russ, Fear to Thread by Redknife and Unremembered Empire with Faffnr's actions vs Curze. 

 

It is far worse for the Wolves of 40k that they have fallen for their own trick and became what they only pretended to be in 30k vs of some imagined "hypocrisy" .  They have paid for it several times in their history and suffer a much higher casualty rate because of it.  Consider that Fenris was able to support a Legion of 10s of tousands in 30k but can only support a chapter of a few thousand now.

 

Note:

That it is still entirely possible that the Rune Priest were exempt by the wording of edict of Nikaea.  There are arguments for both sides however.  It would be better for the thread if we don't delve into those arguments now though.

[Archaon9]

Well, if you don't like 'Wolves succeed against ridiculous odds' stories, you may find a few parts of these books a bit much. The Wolves are doing some pretty heroic, Lord Of The Rings stuff here. (Book 2 more than Book 1, anyway, and a lot of that is due to Stormcaller's presence.) But they don't come through completely unscathed.

 

If you want a book where the Wolves' 'psyker hypocrisy' is dealt with, you will find a fair bit of discussion of it in 'Stormcaller', I just didn't find it to be resolved in a very satisfactory manner (though this might because deep down what I really want to see is the Wolves forced to admit their hypocrisy, really to just have their noses rubbed in it, preferably by Ahriman...)

 

In terms of typos, I picked up on a couple errors of grammar/spelling across the two books. Nothing major. As for stuff that's blatantly breaking the lore, I'm probably not familiar enough with it to pick up any but the most obvious mistakes (haven't played 40k for years, just been reading BL books) but nothing stood out.

 

With the references to Ravenor and Prospero Burns we can safely say I'll be buying them at some point though I'm more of a Thousand Son supporter at heart. 

 

I'm sure typos get slowly getting worse in newer releases. Don't remember having these issues in the earlier books.

With lore I'm the same. Only reading the books so I'd only notice if it conflicted with another book rather than going against the rulebook.

 

 

 

 

I expect ABD to adress this in Master of Mankind since learning he will include a pack of Wolves.  In 40k I think the Wolves themselves have been tricked by their own stories and forgot what was known in 30k.  The "Our powers come from a different source" is debunct in Prospero Burns.  By a Rune Priest no less.  "I am a psyker and 'Maleficarum' can be classified as any sorcery not being used under the strict control of a psyker" ~ to paraphrase.  What they say to others doesn't matter because internally they understand that they are just like other psykers.  Even to the point of the Rune Priest comparing himself other psykers on Terra.

 

 

It is far worse for the Wolves of 40k that they have fallen for their own trick and became what they only pretended to be in 30k vs of some imagined "hypocrisy" .  They have paid for it several times in their history and suffer a much higher casualty rate because of it.  Consider that Fenris was able to support a Legion of 10s of tousands in 30k but can only support a chapter of a few thousand now.

 

Note:

That it is still entirely possible that the Rune Priest were exempt by the wording of edict of Nikaea.  There are arguments for both sides however.  It would be better for the thread if we don't delve into those arguments now though.

 

Warp powers are partly down to strength of willpower I'm thinking so maybe Space Wolf self belief is why they're less likely to be corrupted, purely because they don't think they can be (in 40K rather than 30K at least).

The blight of Space Wolf successor chapters (there were only a handful) is covered slightly in Battle of the Fang. Seems there are issues/mutations when they leave Fenris but the cause isn't explained much. Just down to the canis helix somehow.

 

If I were cynical I'd wonder if maybe them annoying the Inquisition was partly to blame for there lack of numbers (covered in The Emperor's Gift).

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If I were cynical I'd wonder if maybe them annoying the Inquisition was partly to blame for there lack of numbers (covered in The Emperor's Gift).

You might also want to read the Wraight Space Wolves books as there may be further information on this theory

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I expect ABD to adress this in Master of Mankind since learning he will include a pack of Wolves.  In 40k I think the Wolves themselves have been tricked by their own stories and forgot what was known in 30k.  The "Our powers come from a different source" is debunct in Prospero Burns.  By a Rune Priest no less.  "I am a psyker and 'Maleficarum' can be classified as any sorcery not being used under the strict control of a psyker" ~ to paraphrase.  What they say to others doesn't matter because internally they understand that they are just like other psykers.  Even to the point of the Rune Priest comparing himself other psykers on Terra.

 

I recommend watching a movie call The Prestige.  In it *** Spoiler*** there is a non-magical magician who fakes his and his brother's whole lives to do a magic trick.  It is a very good trick by the way. 

 

The point however is that the Wolves live their lives in a way to promotes an image that they want others to see.  While trying to maintain there combat effectiveness and making others misunderstand them.  This is touched upon in Prospero Burns by Russ, Fear to Thread by Redknife and Unremembered Empire with Faffnr's actions vs Curze. 

 

It is far worse for the Wolves of 40k that they have fallen for their own trick and became what they only pretended to be in 30k vs of some imagined "hypocrisy" .  They have paid for it several times in their history and suffer a much higher casualty rate because of it.  Consider that Fenris was able to support a Legion of 10s of tousands in 30k but can only support a chapter of a few thousand now.

 

Note:

That it is still entirely possible that the Rune Priest were exempt by the wording of edict of Nikaea.  There are arguments for both sides however.  It would be better for the thread if we don't delve into those arguments now though.

The hypocrisy isn't imagined. It's explicit in your post. It does matter what they say to others, especially if "what they say to others" includes giving key testimony at Nikaea that contributes towards many Legions turning their back on their psyker abilities. And I agree, we shouldn't get into Rune Priests being exempt from the Edict, that would just derail the thread.

 

I see why they did it; their misleading other Legions about their nature so they will be feared/underestimated is one of my favourite things about the Wolves, and like I said before I like the Wolves a lot. I just also think that, on the subject of psykers, their conduct is misguided in 40K and straight up unforgiveable in 30k. Just my opinion though.

[Stonerhino]

The hypcrisy is imagined because the Wolves' argument is not "No psychic powers" but instead "Psyker's powers should be limited". To the Wolves the Librarius program had gone to far and despite Arhiman statements to the contrary. We still see several Thousand Sons psykers pushing themselves beyond what they can control.

There is no hypocrisy in saying "Our powers come from Fenris" because they know that they are warp powered. Like I said it is a mask worn to trick others.

There is no hypocrisy in saying "Psyker's powers should be limited" when you are using psykers that are trained to be self limiting.

If I were cynical I'd wonder if maybe them annoying the Inquisition was partly to blame for there lack of numbers (covered in The Emperor's Gift).

You might also want to read the Wraight Space Wolves books as there may be further information on this theory

Which is understandable untill you consider that 1,000 years after the Horus Heresy The Wolves only numbered around 2,000 after the Battle of the Fang. So their numbers were already greatly reduced long long long before the events in The Emperor's Gift. In Scars Bjorn laments how the Wolves are a smaller Legion because of their reliance on Fenris for recuits. But at that time they still are a completely different scale of force vs the chapter they are, even as early as 1,000 years later.

[Chaeron]

 

I expect ABD to adress this in Master of Mankind since learning he will include a pack of Wolves.  In 40k I think the Wolves themselves have been tricked by their own stories and forgot what was known in 30k.  The "Our powers come from a different source" is debunct in Prospero Burns.  By a Rune Priest no less.  "I am a psyker and 'Maleficarum' can be classified as any sorcery not being used under the strict control of a psyker" ~ to paraphrase.  What they say to others doesn't matter because internally they understand that they are just like other psykers.  Even to the point of the Rune Priest comparing himself other psykers on Terra.

 

I recommend watching a movie call The Prestige.  In it *** Spoiler*** there is a non-magical magician who fakes his and his brother's whole lives to do a magic trick.  It is a very good trick by the way. 

 

The point however is that the Wolves live their lives in a way to promotes an image that they want others to see.  While trying to maintain there combat effectiveness and making others misunderstand them.  This is touched upon in Prospero Burns by Russ, Fear to Thread by Redknife and Unremembered Empire with Faffnr's actions vs Curze. 

 

It is far worse for the Wolves of 40k that they have fallen for their own trick and became what they only pretended to be in 30k vs of some imagined "hypocrisy" .  They have paid for it several times in their history and suffer a much higher casualty rate because of it.  Consider that Fenris was able to support a Legion of 10s of tousands in 30k but can only support a chapter of a few thousand now.

 

Note:

That it is still entirely possible that the Rune Priest were exempt by the wording of edict of Nikaea.  There are arguments for both sides however.  It would be better for the thread if we don't delve into those arguments now though.

The hypocrisy isn't imagined. It's explicit in your post. It does matter what they say to others, especially if "what they say to others" includes giving key testimony at Nikaea that contributes towards many Legions turning their back on their psyker abilities. And I agree, we shouldn't get into Rune Priests being exempt from the Edict, that would just derail the thread.

 

Although, from memory, that's what they claimed - that RP's weren't using that power...

 

...but we know better as informed readers!

[Archaon9]

If I were cynical I'd wonder if maybe them annoying the Inquisition was partly to blame for there lack of numbers (covered in The Emperor's Gift).

You might also want to read the Wraight Space Wolves books as there may be further information on this theory

I've heard there's something relating to this slightly with gene seed. I forget how much history is general knowledge for Inquisitors. I think the Blood Angels black rage is known by some, but Space Wolves Wulfen I'm not sure. They've got satieties over Fenris though.

The hypcrisy is imagined because the Wolves' argument is not "No psychic powers" but instead "Psyker's powers should be limited". To the Wolves the Librarius program had gone to far and despite Arhiman statements to the contrary. We still see several Thousand Sons psykers pushing themselves beyond what they can control.

There is no hypocrisy in saying "Our powers come from Fenris" because they know that they are warp powered. Like I said it is a mask worn to trick others.

There is no hypocrisy in saying "Psyker's powers should be limited" when you are using psykers that are trained to be self limiting.

If I were cynical I'd wonder if maybe them annoying the Inquisition was partly to blame for there lack of numbers (covered in The Emperor's Gift).

Which is understandable untill you consider that 1,000 years after the Horus Heresy The Wolves only numbered around 2,000 after the Battle of the Fang. So their numbers were already greatly reduced long long long before the events in The Emperor's Gift. In Scars Bjorn laments how the Wolves are a smaller Legion because of their reliance on Fenris for recuits. But at that time they still are a completely different scale of force vs the chapter they are, even as early as 1,000 years later.

I'm not sure about the psykers are limited rather than no psyker powers. Nikea banned the librarians for the legions outright bar the Space Wolves. Some special cases for some Imperial institutions were made. Those against were going for a total ban rather than saying a limit should be agreed.

I guess maybe the idea is in a combat situation there's a high chance you'll go too far with your powers in tough scenarios so it's better to ban them. In hindsight you'd think maybe just having an investigation into the Thousand Sons would have been more sensible as can't think of any references to other legions going wild with warp powers.

So far in the Horus Heresy legions are starting to go against that ruling. The Ultramarines, Dark Angels etc as they're too effective vs daemons. By the end either the Emperor changes his mind or being in stasis everyone decides we'll get rid of the ban.

In 40K maybe the limiting idea is true. I don't know/remember enough to be sure one way or another.

Don't get me wrong, I only think the Inquisition thing might be slightly to blame. I'm assuming lots of Space Wolves die in the Horus Heresy, the Scouring, and the following centuries. Some get lost in the Eye of Terror I think. Could be the Wulfen issue gets worse.