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Iron Warriors fluff theory


jifel

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So bear with me, because this quite a few jumps in logic, but here's a little theory I have based on the Chaos Gods and the Heresy.

 

So, the Chaos Gods wanted the Heresy to end in a stalemate, causing thousands of years of unending war to entertain and strengthen them. This isn't exactly a new idea and is pretty widely supported. So the heresy, as it ended, was a victory for Chaos as it leads into the modern setting of unending war. But, I believe that Chaos was guiding events and the Pantheon was planning to make sure that the galaxy ended in eternal war, no matter how their mortal pawns deviated from what they wanted. The Alpha Legion is (supposedly) joining horus specifically to ensure he wins and Chaos therefore ends with no war to draw power from. But if Horus had won, then the Chaos Gods would have manipulated the traitor legions into a second civil war, with Perturabo and the Iron Warriors being the opposite number to Horus and his sons, giving the Pantheon the eternal war they seek. Why do I believe this? 

 

1. Perturabo survives the events of Angel Exterminatus, where Fulgrim tries to kill him to ascend. But, he survives, and Fulgrim ascends anyways. The fact that Fulgrim ascends anyways shows to me that Slaanesh is not angry that his sacrifice of a Primarch failed, because Perturabo is part of a future plan or failsafe.

 

2. The warp suddenly parts at the battle of Phall, allowing the Imperial Fists to withdraw, and a strike on Perturabos ship to be left unsupported and to fail. This is a direct change of the warp, so I believe a warp power spared him, as he very well could have been killed yet again. Yet he owes his allegiance to no specific Chaos god, so perhaps the pantheon as a whole spared him and made sure his Legion was still at full power. 

 

3. Perturabo and the Iron Warriors had a very large disdain for the more physically corrupted Traitor marines, and it's not a large jump for him to try and destroy Fulgrim/the Emperors Children/other corrupted Chaos Marines.

 

4. Perturabo, in his vision of perfection he showed to Fulgrim, shows that he still cares for humanity as a whole, as his perfection is a perfect society, and he could perhaps be manipulated into trying to save humanity if he saw Horus corrupted by Chaos fully. He doesn't care for individual mortals by any stress, but he would still care about humanity's existence if given a chance. 

 

5. The Iron Warriors were the least physically corrupted legion, along with the Alpha Legion and Night Lords, but the Night Lords had literally no morals guiding their actions other than a murders instincts. The Alpha Legion could also perhaps fill this role, but their agenda is more uncertain. 

 

 

The Imperium secondus would need help to beat the allied traitor legions if they had overthrown Terra. If the Iron Warriors had switched sides, it may've evened the odds (especially if the Alpha Legion, or part of them, had also decided to abandon Horus). It's also possible that Curze may have decided that Horus' "justice" was even worse than the Emperors. 

 

None of this was probably intended by BL, and I doubt this was actually a "plan" of the Chaos gods, but I think it'd be a very interesting fanfiction if Horus won the heresy, and the Fists/BAngels/Scars were essentially wiped out, but several of the Traitor Legions decided that Horus was too much of a monster to be allowed to rule, and decided to help the Imperium Secondus. I could see Iron Warrors not joining the Imperium Secondus, but perhaps opposing Horus with them, and the Alpha Legion also could have split off at any time, because Alpha Legion. 

 

Ultimately there are a lot of Traitor Legions that could've suddenly decided to abandon Horus/Chaos (Mortarion is bitter that Nurgle/Typhus manipulated him and ruined his Legion, Curze has weird justice ideas, Magnus could decide to try and do what's right for humanity, etc. ) but I think the idea of a Horus victory vs Imperium Secondus, with split Traitor allegiances, could have very easily happened. 

 

Thoughts, ideas, contributions, holes to poke? Let's hear them! 

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Civil war among the traitors after a traitor victory is highly likely and I believe contemplated in one of the novels...Legion I believe

Yup, it was Legion.This is pretty much the Cabal's end game, enacted through the Alpha Legion (until they told the Cabal where to stick it).

 

Where does Perturabo ascending fall into this though? It seems that it even being a possibility might destroy the Perturabo leads anti-chaos war thing.

 

 

Perturabo ascends post-Heresy due to the Iron Cage incident, right? So if things panned out differently, he may not have even gained the favour of the Gods...

 

Nice theory jifel!

 

This exactly. I'd really love for this event to be covered more eventually, as Perturabo does ascend at some point later, but it is after the Heresy is over. It seems strange to me that the Iron Warriors would go from a stance of despising corruption and not believing in the Chaos Gods as actual dieties, to making sacrifices in their name . Even in modern 40k, most Iron Warriors are written more as using the Chaos Gods as weapons rather than worshiping them, other than a small minority. I am sure, however, that there will be/is some point where their current mid-Heresy viewpoint changes, I just hope that it is covered in a book (hopefully by an established IW author). 

 

But, during the Heresy as we have seen so far, very view of the Iron Warriors have developed Chaotic corruption, and those that have are seemingly unaware of why this has happened, and aren't worshiping them directly. Perturabo himself certainly isn't worshiping the Chaos powers, and seems to be under the impression that Horus is not nearly as corrupted by them as Fulgrim was. Although this doesn't happen, one could theorize that, seeing the one brother he trusts under the same corruption as the brother who tried to murder him, Perturabo could reject the Traitor cause. 

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