How corrupted were the Word Bearers?

[Hellrender]

We know that the Word Bearers, and mainly the higher echelon were pretty corrupt at the time of Istvaan V and Calth. We know that the Gal Vorbak were honoured members of the Legion, and that Lorgar became much more powerful as a psyker as a result of his devotion to the chaos gods.

 

What i wonder though, is in what manner did that show on the rest of the legion? We know from angel exterminatus, that the Emperor's Children were very corrupt, and that the Iron Warriors were disgusted by their brothers. But how about the Word Bearers?

 

To what extend do you think the chaotic influences can be seen on the average Word Bearers? They most likely have their litanies and runes on their armour, but what about chaotic symbols, spikes, flayed skin, etc. What about warped armour, akin to the Crimson Slaughter depictions? And if all that is visible, what then are the main differences between a 40k Word Bearer and a Word Bearer at the time of Istvaan V, Calth and the Battle for Terra?

[Kol Saresk]

Well, let's put it this way. The legion was corrupted enough that when the Gal Vorbak went all beast-mode and the Dark Apostles began blood sacrifices and what not, only one person so far has been recorded as being surprised and that was Naruk(sp?), who would leave the Legion and be captured by the Ultramarines at Macragge. So out of an entire Legion that supposedly is on par with the XIII in terms of numbers, only person who survived the original purge had a problem with the way the Legion was going.

 

Not exactly good odds. However, it does provide precedent for there being "malcontents" as nothing says he was the only one. Just the only one published.

[Marshal Rohr]

If you mean physically corrupted there were a handful by 10.M31.

[Terkael]

By the time of Calth the majority(maybe a few that avoided the purges) of the Legion was fully devoted to Chaos. Their chaplains turned dark apostles were very involved in the legionaries day to day. I was under the impression that even the lowliest marine was capable and encouraged to participate in rituals and prayer to the pantheon.

[God-Potato of Mankind]

Most of the Terrans were purged. In the Sol Targon short he mentioned the Legion was recruiting more impressionable kids and focused on fostering the need for religion,so I imagine they were corrupt to a man.

[Hellrender]

But did that also translate to a visibile chaos influence? If you would look at a word bearer from 40k and a word bearer from 30k what are the differences?

[Spinsanity]

I don't have books with me, but in Betrayer Khârn is surprised by how debased and, IIRC, ridiculously adorned (with horns and all kinds of armour ornamentation) some of the WBs are...

 

So I'd have to say that pretty early on the whole chaosification had already catched on (if one wants to model their WBs that way).

[Canadian_F_H]

Probably varied in extremity from company to company.

[Sandlemad]

From Betrayer, as Player 404 pointed out:

 

 

 

Warriors of the XVII wrote parchment transcriptions of the Book of Lorgar in the blood of captured enemies. They decorated their armour with trinkets of scrimshawed bone and flayed skin. Cloaks of human leather were commonplace, many of which also served as fine tableaus for illuminated scripture. Horns of brass, bronze and ivory rose from the legionaries’ helms, cutting stark shadows against the candlelit walls aboard their voidships.

 

The WB in Fear to Tread were visibly mutated under their helms but they still wore grey and their outward appearance didn't set off alarm bells with the BA. Where we see initial references to what the WB looked like in Know No Fear, they're wearing red. Their appearance is described as unfamiliar, with indecipherable squad and rank markings, but seemingly not enough to make the Ultramarines freak out. It may be that if you've campaigned alongside the Space Wolves or Night Lords before, it takes a lot to appear 'non-imperial'. Guilliman looks at the officer cadre alongside Lorgar and thinks they look "coarsely barbaric".

You see the same thing with the Calth militia looking at the WB human auxiliaries, they don't think 'warp corruption', they think these guys have gone savage and hardened from fighting in the at the edges of the great crusade.

 

That said, FW's Tempest says that the weirder elements in the WB (dark apostles, gal vorbak, mhara gal dreadnoughts, daemon summoners, etc) who were probably more visibly chaotic or warp-touched were essentially hidden in plain sight in the WB musters. This makes me think that there were enough WB who looked vaguely imperial, even in their new crimson, to obscure their fellows. Runes and weird iconography, yes; horns and skin cloaks, not everywhere.

 

The art in Tempest definitely shows a push towards something like 40k-style CSM, even from the handful of warriors depicted. There are a lot more leering daemon faces, skulls, runes, bladed armorial decoration and spikes.

It's not quite 40k style though. There's a conspicuous absence of the eight-pointed star (except on the diabolist) and arrow signs in favour of Colchisian runes and astrological sigils. The text notes that these were beginning to be supplemented with other occult (but maybe not obviously chaotic) symbology, though Mark of Calth refers to some warriors wearing the octed. They also haven't had 10k years of honours, battering, repairs, battering again, mutation, etc. So it looks like a period of transition. Visible mutations were rare but the signs of chaotic influence were there, just perhaps not quite fully in bloom.

 

As ever variety should probably be your watchword here. Not every company or even every squad is going to be as clearly chaotic.

[Joe]

^ what Canadian_F_H has said. Keep in mind that it's entirely up to you just how 'corrupt' your armies appearance is. Personally, my Word Bearers won't be as outrageously corrupted as the 40k Chaos Space Marines, however you'll see the hallmarks of what they'll become; tainted weaponry, a predilection towards spiked armour and trophies, geometric runes and scrolls, those gorgeous Anvilus power packs, etc.

 

It's all about power to the collector at the end of the day.

[drakarth]

In the Unremembered Empire the Word Bearers that bring Narek through the portal are described as mutated with horns and are not able to get their helmets on.

[DuskRaider]

I see it more as a case to case basis. It would depend on the devotion of said Legionnaire, and I see that showing itself in details such as baroque armour, fetishes devoted to the Eigthfold Path, and finally repainting the armour from grey to red, which I also see as a slower transition... almost as if each piece painted were to celebrate another step on the path to damnation. I see using bits like Night Raptors and other clearly Chaotic parts as perhaps a Forge World devoted strictly to the Word Bearers, which is now pumping out more appropriate armour for their new devotion.

[Kol Saresk]

I see it more as a case to case basis. It would depend on the devotion of said Legionnaire, and I see that showing itself in details such as baroque armour, fetishes devoted to the Eigthfold Path, and finally repainting the armour from grey to red, which I also see as a slower transition... almost as if each piece painted were to celebrate another step on the path to damnation. I see using bits like Night Raptors and other clearly Chaotic parts as perhaps a Forge World devoted strictly to the Word Bearers, which is now pumping out more appropriate armour for their new devotion.

This. Times a million. IIRC, comcurrent to Calth, Sor Talgron is still wearing grey armor. Meanwhile, for the past forty years, Zardu Layak has not only been corrupted by Chaos, but is heavily mutated and has spread the corruption so deep into the Chapter of the Unspeaking that they had to land far away from any of the Ultramarines in order to maintain the ambush.

 

Heck, there's even a picture in Retribution which describes one of the Ashen Circle from that Chapter and how his armor radiates heat like a furnace and glows from within as though it were filled with fire.

 

And then of course you get the Possessed, like the Gal Vorbak, both first and second generation, and the Unburdened, like the two who transported Narek to Macragge.

 

Basically, if you're just wanting to know how far you can take the corruption as early as possible in the Heresy, you can basically go full throttle. The only real difference between the 30K Word Bearers and the 40K Word Bearers is that Lorgar was active in 30K. Because even in 30K, the Legion was already beginning to fracture into warbands as all of the original Gal Vorbak who survived Istvaan parted ways and began creating their own unique commands and with events like Calth where entire Chapters were wiped out and the remnants had to band together in new ways.

 

Heck, we're already starting to see divided loyalties between Lorgar, Kor Phaeron, and Erebus amongst the Legion.

 

Basically, the Legion spent the forty years following the Pilgrimage becoming corrupted, at least spiritually and mentally. The only elements that resisted physical corruption where either those who were unsure of the path the Legion was taking, but were still loyal(Sor Talgron, Narek) and/or were under Imperial supervision(Sor Talgron, Argel Tal, and the other Expedition Fleets with Custodes detachments).

[Brother Captain Kezef]

Chaos is chaotic, no real ryme or reason. A warrior could show devotion with runes, flayed skin and prayers and recieve nothing while another merely embraces the joy of battle and the slaughter of enemies and recieve mutations and gifts.

 

I think with WB pre-siege of Terra, they are as corrupt as you want them to be.

[Hellrender]

Thanks for the replies!

 

I really like the idea of having the more corrupted dispersed throughout the chapter. Maybe 1-2 per squad that are more visibly under the influence of chaos, while others are just covered in the words and runes from the Book of Lorgar. That way i can field them as practically anything post-Monarchia.

[SalvationOfReason]

Another big factor is that in 30k, they won't have lived in the Eye of Terror for 10,000+ years (give or take due to warp shenanigans). So there's also a distinct lack of Chaos via exposure, versus rituals and worship. There's still enough of that going on to merit some mutation, but not a whole slew of it, especially in regards to more 'extreme' mutations.

[Hellrender]

Another question.

 

I see a lot of (awesome) 40k word bearers with plenty of candles, robes, and other occult accessories. How much of those (if any) did the 30k Word Bearers use? Would they have candles on their tanks, robes on a few (not all at all) legionaires, etc?

[DuskRaider]

Yeah, they'd have it all. They're extremely ritualistic, even early on in the Heresy. At Armatura they were conducting mass sacrifices, black masses (of sorts), and all sorts of whacky Chaos antics.

[Thedarkprincesnun]

Mine are going to look like a cross between 30k era and 40k era bearers. Not exactly 100% sure how im going to do it yet tho

[Joe]

I'd use the Tactical Marine and Diabolist from Book V - Tempest as an example of how they ought to look, at least in the immediate period surrounding Calth.

 

Parchment pinned to the armour, geometric symbols, Colchisian runes, censers, candles, etcetera. I'd keep of the eight-pointed star, though, as that comes a bit later on last I checked.

[Ascanius]

Heck, there's even a picture in Retribution which describes one of the Ashen Circle from that Chapter and how his armor radiates heat like a furnace and glows from within as though it were filled with fire.

 

In Tempest there's a picture of Iconoclast Nûl Vaber, an Ashen Circle Legionary attached to Zardu Layak's Unspeaking Chapter, whose armour really does look like it's lit from within by a forge fire - but there's no mention of that in his actual description, oddly enough.

 

The Mhara Gal tainted dreadnought is elsewhere described as burning with an internal black flame and pouring blood from its blackened and twisted armour.

 

I don't believe any Word Bearers are depicted in Retribution, though, unless my brain is really not working right now as I look through it.

 

What is interesting is that Tempest also describes how the Word Bearers' auxiliary forces included both "normal" Imperial-pattern auxiliaries, such as the Calaq War Hosts, as well as "cultic groups" such as the Tzenvar Kaul, or Recursive Kin (fancy way of saying "inbred," I think!), which were notable for having very mutated elements mixed in with the rest - we're talking horns, tentacles, and too many eyes. There's also the Mandari, who when killed would transform into daemons after a time.

 

If you didn't want to have your Word Bearers Legionaries themselves looking too outlandish, you could always add some of that Chaos flavour with cultist allies. Mutant Spawn special heavy support!

[Ascanius]

I'd use the Tactical Marine and Diabolist from Book V - Tempest as an example of how they ought to look, at least in the immediate period surrounding Calth.

 

Parchment pinned to the armour, geometric symbols, Colchisian runes, censers, candles, etcetera. I'd keep of the eight-pointed star, though, as that comes a bit later on last I checked.

 

That said, the halo behind the Diabolist's head is clearly pointing towards the eight-pointed star (no pun intended). I think the more "religious" the character, the more overtly Chaotic influences are appropriate, at least in terms of adding in the more familiar elements alongside the Colchisian runes and script from the Book of Lorgar. Definitely a Diabolist Consul, like the image above, should have something more traditionally representative of Chaos.

 

I do note, though:

 

The Graven Star chapter's icon is clearly hinting at the eight-pointed star, since it literally has seven of the eight points represented, with an open daemonic mouth in profile replacing the eighth in the "south-east" position.

 

The Twisting Rune also has an eight-pointed flaming sun as the background for its symbol, which itself looks like a primitive version of Tzeenth's icon.

 

The Serrated Sun uses something similar, with three smaller flames at the diagonal positions rather than one.

 

The Star of Judgement's symbol is a spiky mace which also mimics the eight-pointed star.

 

The Tri-Fold Crown's symbol is reminiscent of Nurgle, in the way that any skull with two hollow eyes and an empty nasal aperture looks like Nurgle's three holes.

 

The Osseus Throne is literally a skull throne - it's almost too on the nose!