Space Wolves

The Space Wolves are one of the twenty First Founding Legions of Space Marines serving the Imperium of Man in the fictional future of the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000.

History

The Space Wolves Primarch Leman Russ, like all other Primarchs, mysteriously vanished from the Emperor's laboratories in his infancy. He turned up on the distant planet of Fenris, a snow-covered world inhabited by fairly primitive, warlike tribes of humans. He was raised by a pack of the massive Fenrisian Wolves that prowl the snowy lands. Among them, he grew to adulthood in only a few short years.

He was eventually discovered by a man named Thengir, King of the Russ. Thengir had organized a party of hunters to clear the wolf pack from his lands. Most of the wolves were slaughtered, and the young man was captured and brought to Thengir. Thengir took the man into his care, giving him the name Leman Russ. Leman learned the ways of man quickly, and many legends sprung up about him, such as how he could defeat a hundred men in only three minutes, or consume an entire Ox. Upon his adopted father's death, the leadership of the Russ passed to Leman. Leman became a mighty leader, winning many victories, often fighting alonside packs of Fenrisian Wolves, led by two of his Wolf-brothers who escaped Thengir's hunters.

Eventually, word of his exploits reached beyond Fenris, and to the ears of the Emperor. He traveled to Fenris, realizing that the exploits could only be the work of a Primarch. Leman Russ refused to pay him homage, boasting that he was far greater than the Emperor. He then proceeded to prove himself by consuming three whole oxen, and drained the royal cellars dry. He then boasted that he could easily defeat the Emperor in a fight.

The Emperor raised his Power Fist, and knocked him out with a single blow that would've killed a lesser man.

After coming to consciousness(and his senses), Russ admitted defeat and swore fealty to the Emperor.

He fought well during the Great Crusade, gaining the reputation as a cunning and fierce, as well as slightly unstable, warrior and leader. During a particular battle, he let his rage get the better of him, and wound up in a fist fight with the Primarch of the Dark Angels. This led to a bitter feud between the Legions (and subsequent Chapters), which lasts to this day- although recent events may finally have led to an end to the rivalry, though it is still customary for selected champions from both sides to engage in a (usually) non-lethal duel.

Just prior to the Horus Heresy, the Space Wolves came into conflict with their brother Space Marines once again. The Primarch of the Thousand Sons Space Marines, Magnus the Red, had ignored the Emperor's command to not dabble in sorcery. The Space Wolves were then ordered by the Emperor to destroy the rogue Legion. The surprise assault upon the Sons' homeworld of Prospero was furious, and rather successful; however, many of the Sons, including Magnus himself, escaped into the wild region of space known as the Eye of Terror. A blood feud still exists between the survivors of the Thousand Sons, who are now dedicated to the Chaos God Tzeentch, and the Space Wolves.

During the Horus Heresy, the Space Wolves were far from Earth, alongside the Dark Angels, and were unable to assist their loyalist brethren in the fighting at the capital world, Terra (the renamed Earth of the future). Knowledge of the imminent arrival of the two Legions, which would tip the balance in favor of the loyalists, pushed Horus into allowing the Emperor to personally attack him in a gamble to swiftly end the war. The two Legions arrived just after the battle concluded, with Horus dead and the Emperor mortally wounded.

Leman Russ was devastated by his inability to save the Emperor. After the war was fully completed, and all resistance was crushed, Russ held a great feast, at which he declared he would be leaving, and would return for the 'final battle'. He then vanished, and is said to have gone into the Eye of Terror to continue hunting down the traitorous Marines who fought against the Emperor during the Horus Heresy. A large portion of the Legion followed him, and became marooned in the Eye until only recently; this lost contingent is known as the 13th Great Company. Another tale has it that the 13th went into the Eye on their own (disobeying orders) or were sent there by Russ, and that Russ himself vanished after chasing a Kabal of Dark Eldar who had raided Fenris right into their city of Commoragh.

The 13th Company was re-introduced during the Eye of Terror global campaign as sub-army. They are an elite force of veterans, lacking any vehicles but including in their ranks the Wulfen, marines who have been transformed into ravenous werewolf-like creatures due to genetic instability

The Space Wolves are known for their fiercely anti-authority behavior. They strongly resist the central command structure of the Imperium, and refuse to follow the dictates of the Codex Astartes, which lays the structure and tactics to be used by all Space Marines. Their army has a strong Viking feel to them along with many wolf references, right down to their wolf-like teeth and heightened senses.

They are rather superstitious, and refuse to use some of the technology commonly used by other Chapters, such as teleportation. They use their own unique organization, notably in that their forces tend to be small warbands who fight under a single strong leader, and larger forces will simply be several small warbands joined together, not necessarily under any sort of central command. Their leaders come from an elite corps of troops known as the Wolf Guard. The Legion also is unique in that it was not broken into many Chapters after the Heresy, as the other loyal Legions were; they instead remained divided into many Great Companies, each led by a Wolf Lord who is elected by his peers. However, their size was reduced such that they have a similar establishment to the other chapters and therefore have at least one succesor chapter, the Wolf Brothers .

The Wolves wear blue-grey colored armor with other colors as highlights, notably red and yellow, and often adorned with tokens taken from wolves, such as furs and teeth. The Legion symbol is a silhouette of a snarling wolf.

In the tabletop game of Warhammer 40,000, to properly field a Space Wolves force, one is currently required to have the original Space Marine Codex, as well as the supplemental Space Wolves Codex. To field a Space Wolves 13th Company force, one must have both of those codices and the Eye of Terror codex.