# Before the Primarchs



## Zooey72 (Mar 25, 2008)

I am loving the HH series. With a few exceptions the books have been great and have kept me looking forward to the next one. But inevitably they will come to an end and will have us all begging for more.

With the exception of Lion'el Johnson, none of the Primarchs have had their story told as far as how they met the Emperor, much less what it was like for the legionares were like before they found their Primarch. There are a couple of short stories like when Angron was found, and how Kharn dealt with him. "The Last Church" where the Emp. stomped out the last bit of religion on Terra. But in general it really has not been covered. How did the 20 Legions view the Emp. before they found their Primarch?

It would be easy to say they saw the Emperor as god, but he_ says _he never wanted that. Instead it seems like he put the search for his missing sons as a "Holy Grail" type of quest to fill the need of his followers to worship him, and once they did find their Primarch most put their Primach above the Emperor. With the exception of the Dark Angels, where the Primarch went, the Legion went. You do have your Lokens and other assorted loyalist from traitor legions, but in general that is the way it went down.

With that in mind, what were the legions before they found their Primarchs? How did the Word Bearers Legion view the Emperor? Were the Space Wolves pacifists? Were the War Hounds the most 'diplomatic' of all the legions?

I do think Primarch genetics give them a certain disposition. But other than "A 1000 sons" they really do not cover any of the pre-primarch story. And even with that it was not that in depth. Although the name "1000 sons" is one of the best mind screws that BL has come up with.

In "the First Heretic" it says that Lorgar's other 4 fathers paid him the most attention. They kept him in the warp longer than his brothers. He told Magnus "I never knew that people had good dreams". (point being he was damaged goods right out of the pod). His original Terra 'made' children were not exposed to him after his corruption. I would love a book that would show the Word Bearer purge. I am betting that whatever loyalist Word Bearers there were almost all came from Terra.


----------



## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Zooey72 said:


> With the exception of Lion'el Johnson, none of the Primarchs have had their story told as far as how they met the Emperor


Brief accounts of most of them can be found in the IA articles.



Zooey72 said:


> How did the 20 Legions view the Emp. before they found their Primarch?


In a similar manner to how they viewed him after they discovered their Primarchs I imagine (with a few exceptions). 



Zooey72 said:


> It would be easy to say they saw the Emperor as god, but he_ says _he never wanted that.


No. In general, the Legiones Astartes did not view the Emperor as a god, and neither did the wider Imperium in general. At least not until the Lectitio Divinitatus cult began to spread anyway, and then not properly until after the Emperor's ascension.



Zooey72 said:


> and once they did find their Primarch most put their Primach above the Emperor.


Although that may not have been consciously recognised, after all loyalty to the Primarchs was thought to be, by extension, loyalty to the Emperor.



Zooey72 said:


> With that in mind, what were the legions before they found their Primarchs?


Probably quite similar in the sense that the majority of them were Terrans and none of the Primarchs had shaped their ideologies yet. Although the notable differences would have arisen from the differences in their geneseed.



Zooey72 said:


> How did the Word Bearers Legion view the Emperor?


Probably the same as every other Legion did. There is no reason to believe that the XVII worshipped the Emperor as a god prior to the rediscovery of Colchis.



Zooey72 said:


> Were the Space Wolves pacifists?


I can safely say, no.



Zooey72 said:


> Were the War Hounds the most 'diplomatic' of all the legions?


Most likely not.



Zooey72 said:


> I am betting that whatever loyalist Word Bearers there were almost all came from Terra.


Well the _Second Purge of the Brotherhood_ purged all Terran Word Bearers from the Legion, so that can't be far from the truth.


----------



## Zooey72 (Mar 25, 2008)

Every time the Emperor is described in the HH novels it is hard to see how he could not be looked on as a god. The only time his presence is not overwhelming is in "The Last Church" because he willed it not to be so.

I would think that most anyone who saw a figure who had light radiating from them, and their presence instantly made them want to drop to their knees could be easily seen as a god - Secular truth be damned.

An interesting question comes out of "The Last Church". If the Emperor is capable of lowering his power (or hide) to the point that he comes across as a normal human than why doesn't he do it all the time? How can he push for a secular truth when he willingly encourages worship by radiating godhood?


----------



## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Zooey72 said:


> Every time the Emperor is described in the HH novels it is hard to see how he could not be looked on as a god. The only time his presence is not overwhelming is in "The Last Church" because he willed it not to be so.
> 
> I would think that most anyone who saw a figure who had light radiating from them, and their presence instantly made them want to drop to their knees could be easily seen as a god - Secular truth be damned.


Even so, the Legiones Astartes did not consider him a god (bar the XVII), and the First Founding Chapters still do not consider him a god. Remember, the Emperor flat-out denied he was a god and was vehement in spreading his Imperial Truth - he's not the kind of person you could disagree with. 



Zooey72 said:


> An interesting question comes out of "The Last Church". If the Emperor is capable of lowering his power (or hide) to the point that he comes across as a normal human than why doesn't he do it all the time?


Who says he didn't? Who knows what his _true_ form was?


----------



## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Zooey72 said:


> Were the War Hounds the most 'diplomatic' of all the legions?


At one point the Emperor had to censure the War Hounds because of a Legion practice where they would kill allied forces who had failed to meet their standards on the battlefield. So no they've pretty much always been bloodthirsty madmen.


LotN


----------



## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

Where can I find that tidbit?


----------

