THE SPACE WOLVES

Ranged against the enemies of humanity are the millions-strong armies of the Imperial Guard, the towering war-machines of the Titan Legions and, most formidable of all, the mighty Space Marines. These legendary warriors are divided into more than a thousand Chapters scattered throughout the worlds of the Imperium, ready to strike against any foe when the need arises. Each Space Marine is a super-human champion, bio-engineered to be many times faster, stronger and tougher than a normal man. He is armed and equipped with the best weapons and armour that the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus can devise. His spirit has been purified by battle and devotion to his Chapter.

Space Marines date from a time ten millennia past when the Emperor walked among men, and the Imperium was forged in the crucible of ancient wars. The original Space Marines were drawn from the geneseed of the twenty Primarchs, god-like beings created by the Emperor to aid him in his war to save humanity. Genetic material from the Primarchs was grafted into the bodies of chosen warriors transforming them into towering, steel-muscled heroes with vastly enhanced reflexes and senses. These Space Marines were organised into Chapters, each of which followed the Primarch whose geneseed they had been granted.

The Space Marines spearheaded the great crusade to reclaim the human worlds from darkness. The Chapters served loyally until the time of the Horus Heresy, when Warmaster Horus, the Emperor's most trusted Primarch, turned to the Gods of Chaos and raised his standard against all mankind. Many Space Marine Chapters went over to him and a bitter civil war raged, ending in the death of the Warmaster at the Emperor's hands.

During this struggle the Emperor was so grievously wounded that he was placed within the life-support systems of the Golden Throne in order to preserve his life. The surviving followers of Horus fled to the dreadful area of the galaxy known as the Eye of Terror.

Each Chapter of Space Marines forms an independent fighting force with its own vehicles, spacecraft and support personnel. They are independent armies possessing everything they need to wage war across the galaxy at a moment's notice. Each Chapter lives on its own world and rules over its inhabitants, often only recruiting its warriors from the people living there. These worlds are scattered among the Imperium so that no matter where the enemies of mankind strike there will always be a force of Space Marines ready to intercept them.

In theory, the organisation and equipment of all the Space Marine Chapters is laid down in the Codex Astartes, the great book of regulations, but in practice every Chapter is different, ranging from the orthodox, highly doctrinaire legionaries of the Ultramarines to the flawed, warrior-aesthetes of the Blood Angels and the grim devout soldier-monks of the Dark Angels. The Space Wolves are one of the most highly individualistic of all the many Chapters. Bred for battle on the deadly world of Fenris, they are a savage warrior brethren of awesome ferocity.

CHAPTER HISTORY

FENRIS

For much of its long year the world is cold. As the planet sweeps closer to the sun, the Wolf's Eye swells in the sky and brief summer blazes.

The sky burns as great tectonic plates clash. Blazing islands rise from the sea, lava streaming down their slopes. Volcanoes erupt and churn the oceans. Mighty tidal waves scour the coasts and lands sink as quickly as they rise. Sometimes entire chains of mountains erupt and ash clouds black out the sun, creating a condition of virtual nuclear winter. At other times, when the planet basks in summer, the heat is trapped and ultra-quick greenhouse warming sets in. When the world passes through asteroid clouds the planet is bombarded with meteors. A direct hit wipes out entire populations. The climate is erratic and deadly and any life form that survives here must be tough to survive.

As continents break apart and new lands erupt from the sea, whole populations take to their longships to settle on the newly formed islands or to escape from the scorched remains of their previously fertile homelands. This continual migration results in constant, bitter warfare as each tribe attempts to take possession of, and establish supremacy on the newly formed lands.

Kraken and seadragon lurk in the depths surfacing to prey on the unwary. Razor-jawed ripperfish, capable of stripping a man to the bone in seconds, dwell near the surface. From warm caves in the islands mighty dragons emerge to soar on the thermals. In the cold lands of the uttermost North, packs of iron-furred wolves hunt the teeming herds of elk and caribou. This deadly world breeds deadly men. Here only the strong survive and the weak perish quickly.

Every Space Marine Chapter reflects the world on which it was raised and the character of its founder. The Space Wolves reflect the world of Fenris and the personality of their Primarch, Leman Russ. The cold, deadly world of Fenris schools its people in survival and constant warfare. The Space Marines are chosen from the best warriors of a warrior race and the ablest survivors of a folk for whom each day is a struggle to stay alive. They are hunters and trackers without peer and fearless warriors for whom dying in battle is the noblest of achievements. They learn early in life that loyalty to their clan and their leader is the highest virtue and carry this loyalty over to their Chapter. Born on such a hostile world, few places in the universe hold any terror for the Space Wolves.

Leman Russ was the most ferocious of the Primarchs who remained loyal to the Emperor, a giant even among the Emperor's chosen, a great brawling roisterer of a man, fiercely loyal to his friends, and a terror to his enemies. In his youth he was the most headstrong of the Primarchs but matured into the one of the most brilliant military commanders of an age of great generals. He vanished ten thousand years ago, no-one knows to where. It is said that he will return in the Last Days to lead his people into the final battle when Horus, the Great Evil One, returns and the forces of darkness threaten to overwhelm the universe. His chosen ones - the Space Wolves - inhabit the Northlands of Fenris and wait for the final days.

THE MAKING OF A SPACE WOLF

On Fenris strangers stalk the lands of men. They are a frightening sight - huge, burly warriors with burning eyes, cloaked in the pelts of wolves. In the long halls, tales are told round the fires of mysterious strangers who arrive in the depths of winter and challenge the strongest and most boastful warriors to tests of strength and drinking. The strangers always outwrestle the strongest Wolfbrothers and outdrink the staunchest. They pick the worthy and take them away into the dark never to be seen again by friends and kin. No-one can stop them either by pleading or force of arms; few would dare even try.

These same mysterious strangers can often be seen standing on the high ground above the field of battle. Sometimes, when the longships come ashore for battle and plunder, they will be watching, and woe betide any warrior foolish enough to try and strike them. Sometimes the strangers descend after the battle and choose the bravest of the combatant Wolfbrothers. Often the chosen ones are on the point of death, but as long as their wounds are to the fore, the strangers do not care. They take the youths away, brooking no interference. Some say that they vanish into the lightning, others that a great flying ship comes down to collect them. All know that the warriors have gone to join the gods.

At times a Wolfbrother will perform a feat of tremendous bravery such as harpooning a white whale or slaying a dragon. Then the strangers will appear as if drawn by the rumour of courage. They talk to the youths and assess them, and if they measure up to their deeds these youths too disappear.

These mysterious strangers are the Wolf Priests of the Space Wolves: the Choosers of the Valiant. The youths they pick will be tested to become Space Wolves: these are known as aspirants. If they succeed, the geneseed of Leman Russ will be implanted in their bodies.

THE QUESTIONING

The questioning becomes ever more robust and insulting and the candidate is expected to rise to the challenge, to give as good as he gets. If he does not then once more he has failed. After the questioning he is dismissed to a cold bare chamber, there to meditate upon his fate.

The assembled Space Wolves will, meanwhile, discuss the aspirant. If they decide he is worthy then he will be given the chance to become a Space Marine. If not, then he becomes a thrall. Only about one aspirant in ten is given the chance to become a Space Marine.

THE FEASTING

THE BLOODING

Although the aspirant did 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 reflexes and heightening his perceptions. Vestigial fangs are beginning to emerge. The venison provides the raw protein needed 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 as 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 its 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 has usually been 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 animals, with an animal's cunning. They continue to grow and hunger for flesh, eventually becoming Wulfen, the most feared monsters on Fenris, creatures that are hunted down by all sane men.

THE RETURNING

He is almost immune to the biting chill. He recalls who he is and how he came to be where he is, which is just as well, for he will need all a man's intelligence as well as the superhuman powers of a Space Marine to cover the distance to the Fang. The land is full of danger from wild beasts, awful weather, and the constant threat of landslide and avalanche.

The elk of Fenris are huge beasts, standing nearly twelve soot at the shoulder, with razor sharp antlers ten foot across. They can easily trample a hunter to death and one sweep of their horns can disembowel a man. There are huge white bears, savage engines of death twenty foot tail, weighing many tons. Psychic super-intelligent foxes, large as dogs, lure prey into deadfalls with illusions and mental commands.

Most feared of all are the packs of Fenrisian Wolves, one of the most vicious predators in the known universe. The smallest of these great grey wolves are the size of ponies, and the oldest can attain the size of a Rhino armoured personnel carrier. They are amazingly intelligent and always voraciously hungry. Their pack tactics make them the most efficient hunters on the surface of the world. Working together they isolate and run down even the largest of prey.

It is these wolves that make Asaheim virtually uninhabitable by man, and the tale of these red-eyed, howling monsters is used to quiet unruly children in the Islands. The legend goes that in ancient times mankind lived in Asaheim and grew weak and decadent. Russ saw this and was most displeased, and in his anger he unleashed his wolves and they drove man out of his ancestral home. Only when the folk are worthy enough to drive out the wolves will they be able to reclaim the land that was once theirs.

To combat the cold the aspirants make themselves clothing from the hides of their prey and attach their ceremonial knives to branches to make spears. Then they begin to cross the land, passing through wolf-haunted forests and over freezing plains. Slowly the land rises before them and the Fang comes into view, visible hundreds of miles away. To reach their destination the aspirants must now climb cliffs and traverse glaciers.

In the mountains the aspirants encounter dragons and blood eagles. Food becomes scarce. Many aspirants die on this pilgrimage. Those that do not will eventually find themselves before one of the Fang's many gates. Here, at the heart of the northern continent, where the mountains meet over the pole, they will see the Fang in all its glory for the first time.

The foothills of this huge artificial mountain cover hundreds of miles, and the Fang itself rises up twenty five miles, a dagger driven into the belly of the sky, towering out of the planet's atmosphere. It is one of the mightiest citadels in the Imperium outside the fortified world of Earth.

The citadel is clad in resistant armour and cloaked with void screens more powerful than any starship's. Great weapon bays point defence lasers at the distant stars. A huge geo-thermal spike runs down the core of the mountain and provides power for the Chapter's weapons and factories. The mountain is crowned with a spaceport large enough for entire space fleets to be re-fitted. Thousands of miles of corridor wind down into the mountain's dark heart where Iron Priests and their servitors craft weapons forged in fire from the planet's molten heart.

Warriors are assembled at the gate to greet the aspirants. This time their applause has no irony. They are welcomed as brothers. The Great Wolf takes their oath of fealty and they are invited anew to another feast. After this their real training begins. New organs are implanted, transforming them even more.

CHAPTER ORGANISATION

There are a dozen Great Companies, all of whom owe allegiance to the Chapter's commander, the Great Wolf. Each company is led by a Wolf Lord and his circle of advisors. Each company has its own Lair within the Fang and its own allocation of starships and weapons. A Great Company takes as its totem and insignia one of the legendary wolves of Fenris tamed by Leman Russ in ancient times. One company is named after the Blackmane wolf, the Howler in the Night. Another company takes as its insignia the Thunderwolf who it is said still flees in terror from Russ around the world, the sound of its paws being the thunder, the glint of its teeth the lightning. Still another takes the two-headed wolf as its emblem, this being the symbol of both the monster that guards death's gate and the sign of Russ's two wolves, Freki and Geri.

Tales are told of a thirteenth Great Company that took as its sign the pelt of the Wulfen, the legendary spirit of evil whose curse can still turn Space Wolves into the monsters of that name. This was a bad choice for a banner; the Great Company vanished into the Eye of Terror during the Horus Heresy, and none know its fate. Since then the Space Wolves have traditionally considered the number thirteen unlucky.

In addition to the Great Companies there is the household of the Great Wolf himself, within whose walls dwell the Wolf Priests and the Chapter's dreadnoughts. The emblem of the Great Wolf s company is the wolf rampant, the wolf that stalks between stars - the emblem of Russ himself. The current Great Wolf, Logan Grimnar, is one of the Imperium's longest serving warriors. This cunning and fierce old man has led the Space Wolves for over five centuries.

Each Great Company is made up of various elements. The company is led by its Wolf Lord, who has a personal retinue of picked warriors, the Wolf Guard. It is from the Chapter's Wolf Lords that a new Great Wolf is selected on the passing of the old one. The majority of troops in the company are Grey Hunters, proven warriors of ability. Also present are packs of youthful and glory-hungry Blood Claws as well as the wiser, older Long Fangs.

Warriors of the Great Companies fight in squads known as packs. In battle Space Wolves risk their lives for their pack-brothers without a second's thought. This creates debts of honour and friendship that may take centuries to repay. Even after pack-brothers have moved on through promotion or being assigned to other duties, these bonds remain. Thus Great Companies are bound together by chains of honour and loyalty stronger than tempered steel.

It is easy to tell a Space Wolf s role in his company by his appearance, for age plays a great part in the the assignment of tasks. Space Wolves grow progressively more grey-haired as they become older: their fangs become longer and their skins become ever more tanned and leathery. The veterans, called Long Fangs, are the company's long range support troops. The mature warriors are Grey Hunters, who are used in a variety of roles. The least experienced troops are the Blood Claws, whose role is to act as assault troops.

The Wolf Lord is the company's finest leader, chosen by acclamation of the company from the ranks of the Wolf Guard. He is a man who has proven himself time and again in battle, who has performed many exceptional feats of heroism and who has also shown wisdom and cunning in battle. The warriors who follow him have total faith in his honour and courage.

WOLF GUARD

They have access to the sacred Terminator suits as well as many personalised weapons. Used only for the most dangerous of missions, the Terminator suits are ancient artefacts, giant sets of the mightiest power armour, forged by the ancients and handed down from generation to generation. The honour of wearing one is much sought after by the warriors.

The Wolf Guard fight alongside the Wolf Lord in the thick of battle, ready to give their lives to protect their leader. A Space Wolf can only become a Wolf Guard by performing an exceptional feat of heroism such as defeating overwhelming odds in hand-to-hand combat, storming an enemy position single-handed or slaying a particularly mighty foe. They must have proved themselves to be the bravest of the brave since to become a Wolf Guard is the highest honour the Chapter can bestow.

LONG FANGS

Long Fangs see it as their duty to pass on their lore and to temper the headstrong battlelust of their younger battle brothers. Their cool under fire is legendary. Often Long Fangs have held the battlefield and triumphed after all others have fled.

Long Fang units carry more heavy weapons and squad support weapons than any other type of Space Wolf unit. They are always at the forefront of the assault, smashing the enemy's defences with their devastating firepower.

GREY HUNTERS

BLOOD CLAWS

Blood Claws form the assault squads whose jump packs and close combat weapons will get them among the enemy as quickly as possible. They can be found in the thick of any battle, howling their blood-freezing battlecries. They are also found acting as a mobile strike force, mounted on landspeeders and bikes - anything to get closer to where the action is. They are particularly noted for their blood-mad, howling charges. Many a foe has been overwhelmed by these crazed rushes.

WOLF LORDS

WOLF PRIESTS

Wolf Priests are chosen from the ranks of the Long Fangs. Becoming a Priest means severing all ties with their former Great Company. To symbolise this they take on a new name when they don the sacred skull-embossed armour. They must be seen to be impartial for they arbitrate in any dispute among the companies. A convocation of Wolf Priests advises the Great Wolf on matters of Chapter law and discipline.

Wolf Priests are the first Space Marine any new recruit has dealings with, and they sternly supervise the training of aspirants. During training Space Wolves learn an almost religious respect for these grim old men that never leaves them. A brawl between drunken Grey Hunters can be broken up with a single word from a Wolf Priest. It is said that the Wolf Priest's is the first and last face a Space Wolf ever sees. He looks on it for the first time when he is recruited and for the final time when the Wolf Priest performs the last rites.

RUNE PRIESTS

The Rune Priests have the gift of the Sight granted to the Emperor's chosen. By their gift of divination they chart the Chapter's future, and by their knowledge of the sagas they fix the Chapter's past. The Space Wolves keep no written history; their records are committed to the memories of the Rune Priests who learn all the sagas of Elder Days. These are recited on the Chapter's feast days and during the Festival of the Wolf Time that commemorates the Chapter's founding. This is held every twelve Great Years.

The cult of Russ is old, dating to the time of the First Founding and pre-dating the establishment of the Adeptus Terra. To outsiders its rituals seem primitive and almost heretical. They stress the power of Russ almost as much as the divinity of the Emperor. At the core of the faith are many prophesies concerning the Space Wolves and the natives of Fenris. Central to its tenants is the belief that the forces of Evil will gather and return in the end to destroy mankind under the leadership of a resurrected Horns. It is the duty of the Space Wolves to prepare for this last day, to be ready for the final battle. The Cult of Russ teaches that the spirit of every Space Wolf who dies bravely in battle joins the Emperor and strengthens him to fight this final battle. This is a grim, savage religion with the power to stir warriors to feats of great heroism.

A Rune Priest begins as a skald, the lowest apprentice to a Great Company's Priest. He is expected to learn the tale of the company's history, starting from its earliest days to the present. Every Great Year he will be assigned to a new company to learn its sagas. Once he has learned the tale of each company he will be sent to whichever Rune Priest needs an apprentice and his training in the deeper mysteries begins.

The Rune Priest is taught how to cast the Runes of Divination and to focus his psychic powers in combat. As he progresses he learns the sagas that tell the tales of the Chapter's great heroes right back to the time of the First Founding. He will grow in strength and power until eventually he may replace the old and failing Rune Priest. Great contests of saga-telling and psychic duelling are held to determine this every Wolf Time festival.

At this time the High Wolf Priest is also chosen. He is the leader of the Chapter's Rune Priests and advisor to the Great Wolf. The Rune Priests preside over many rituals of the Cult of Russ, invoking the spirits of the honourable dead to watch over their battle-brothers.

Many Rune Priests are psyberlinked to ravens and wolves. This enables the Rune Priest to see with the animals' eyes and control their actions. The ravens are freed to gather news from all corners of Fenris, and they are also used as messengers to the tribes. The birds have voders linked to long range comm-systems that allow them to speak with the Rune Priest's voice. These ravens are used to observe aspirants as they wander the land of Asaheim during the Blooding. These animals are fearsome sights, each one having been specially modified. Some birds have steel beaks and cyborg eyes, while the wolves have bionic limbs and steeltrap jaws.

A full Rune Priest is an awesome sight. They are giant weatherbeaten men, about whom hangs an aura of mystery and mystical power. They are cowled with the hide of a great white wolf and lean on the mighty oak runestaves that are their badge of office. Their armour is covered in the old runes first carved by Russ himself. As their powers are used these runes glow with balefire, focusing the Rune Priest's psychic energy.

IRON PRIESTS

To prove their courage they must place their hand into the blazing mouth of a great forge cast in the shape of a grinning Wolf's Head. This is the ultimate test where the aspirant must sacrifice part of his own flesh to achieve unity with the Machine-God. When the blackened stump is removed it is replaced with a servo-gauntlet grafted directly onto the aspirant's hand and linked to his central nervous system. The Machine-God has entered the aspirant's body and he has begun a lifelong journey towards understanding its mysteries.

Iron Priests must undergo the ritual of the Blooding exactly like any other aspirant, and they then spend a period of training under the supervision of the Wolf Priests where they learn the use of weapons. At the end of this time they are sent on a pilgrimage to the Forge World of Mars, where they undergo training with the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Here they learn many of the secrets of the Machine-Cult.

During this time they may also acquire many bionic enhancements, symbolic of their unity with the Machine-God, and useful to any artificer. When they return to the Chapter they take their place among the ranks of the Iron Priests, supervising the munitions factories and workshops of the Fang. They create the cyborg Wolves and Ravens for the Rune Priests.

The Iron Priests are mysterious figures to their battle-brothers. They possess strange skills and obscure knowledge from the elder days and their concerns seem remote and unworldly. They do not take part in any of the great contests and many of their rituals are secret even from their fellow Space Wolves. They are outsiders, even as the smiths are on the world of Fenris. Perhaps because of this they are not resented. Their brother Space Marines see them as occupying the same position as the mysterious weapon makers did in their old society.

DREADNOUGHTS

Deep within the Fang dwells the legendary Bjorn the Fell-Handed, who served with Russ during the Horus Heresy.

This old man-machine spends most of his time in dormancy, all systems shut down save those necessary to maintain life. He has distinguished himself in countless frays and waits now for the time of prophesy when Horus returns, for he is convinced that on that day Russ will also come back to lead his sons, and he intends to be there to greet him.

Bjorn wakes every thousand years to check on the well-being of the Chapter and to enthral the battle-brothers with the tale of ancient days. He quizzes the Rune Priests on the sagas and ensures that no errors have crept into their recitals. He also asks them to recount the deeds of the Chapter since last he awoke. With his powers augmented by the dreadnought's databanks he can memorise all the new sagas at a single hearing.

Sometimes it is said the Great Wolf wakes Bjorn to consult him on some particularly important matter, but otherwise this old and honoured warrior is left undisturbed to wait for his destiny.

The other dreadnoughts are not so ancient but they are nearly as revered. They dwell apart from the Great Companies in a chamber within the Hall of the Great Wolf where they can be available to him at an instant's notice.

THRALLS

Thralls are adopted by the Great Companies and have the position of privileged retainers. Certain thralls with mechanical aptitude are chosen to become servitors of the Iron Priests. Their bodies are implanted with bionic systems and psyberlink feeds that enable them to interface directly with the Chapter's machines.

During a campaign the structure of a Great Company is less formalised than many other Chapters' units. Forces are organised on a temporary basis with whatever troops seem necessary for the job assigned to the task. If any man has the specialised skill needed to do the job he will be listened to regardless of his rank. The Space Wolves are a band of brothers and their leaders are first among equals; they hold their position because they have the respect and trust of their comrades. It is true that many of the Great Wolves are held in awe by their men but the forces of this Chapter resemble a warrior band more than a formalised army. On a battlefield leadership falls to whichever senior warrior is present. Thus, depending on circumstance, Space Wolves can be led Wolf Priests, Wolf Guard. Rune Priests, squad sergeants or simply the most respected warrior in the band.

The Space Wolves are sometimes seen by outsiders as being less disciplined than other warriors of the Imperium but this is not true. Every man knows his task and knows that the honour of his unit depends on him performing it well. They do have a flexibility that suits them well for lightning attacks and warfare deep behind enemy lines. They are commandos and raiders without peer. The self-reliance of the troops suits them well to operating independently in small units far from their commanding officers.

When war blazes across the Imperium. the Space Wolves are always found in the forefront of the battle, keen to get to grips with the foe, chainswords at the ready, mighty howling war-cries drowning out the screams of their foes. In battle they always follow Russ's maxim: conquer or die.

'Eavy Metal: Space Wolves

• Great Companies
• Grey Hunters
• Blood Claws
• Long Fangs
• Honour Badges

Return to Kalidus: Campaign for The Wolf Guard, Space Wolf Terminators

• Mission 1: A Quest for Power
• Mission 2: Honour Bound
• Mission 3: Terminus