Come and learn little lore about some of the most savage fighters in Warhammer 40k as we take a look at The Space Wolves.
Here’s why the Space Wolves are sometimes called the Vlka Fenryka, and why they may have the mightiest of all Chapter Monasteries!
Via: Lexicanum
The Space Wolves (also Sky Warriors of Russ, Rout or Vlka Fenryka [Wolves of Fenris in Fenrisian]) were the VI Legion of the twenty Space Marine Legions. Their primarch is Leman Russ, and during the Great Crusade they gained a reputation as the Emperor‘s executioners and instruments of punishment.[16] After the Horus Heresy and the resultant reforms, the legion was divided, its first and only time, into two chapters: the new Space Wolves chapter retained the name of their parent Legion, while the second chapter took on the name of the Wolf Brothers. The latter however suffered frommutation and was disbanded. It is currently unknown if there are any other descendant chapters of the Space Wolves at all.
The Space Wolves are notorious throughout the rest of the Imperium for their ferocity in battle and their defiance of authority, including the dictates of the Codex Astartes that govern the organization and combat doctrines of other Space Marine chapters. They are generally considered the greatest warriors of the loyalist Astartes Chapters.
Homeworld
Fenris is a death world that lies in the galactic north of Segmentum Solar. It is located relatively close to the Eye of Terror, yet indigenous life remains pure and untainted. It is also the planet where the mighty Space Wolves recruit their ranks and call home.
It is a relentless world of fire and ice, ravaged by the extremes of climate all year round. For the majority of its year the planet is blanketed by an extreme winter. The temperature of the planet drops so low that even the oceans ice over allowing its native Fenrisians to travel between its many islands without the need of a longship.
After its long elliptical journey the planet comes dangerously close to its sun. It is the short summer months when the planet is closest that the planet’s crust is broken; burning great areas with lava flows, churning the seas, and causing massive tidal waves. It is during these months, referred to as the time of fire and water, that the whole of the planet changes its form. Islands are both destroyed and created in entirety, up heaving homes made during the winter and resulting in the population becoming once again nomadic barbarian tribes.
These primitives must settle the new lands quickly before supplies and manpower are exhausted otherwise their tribe will not survive the coming winter. This results in bloody war between them for new territories. So it has always been and shall be as it was directed by Leman Russ himself to keep his descendants strong and able. It is because of this life of constant warfare and continual migration that the child-gift is always the axe. Thus upon birth the first test has begun, for the child that does not grasp it is quickly cast into the frozen seas rather than risk him being the downfall of the tribe.
At the planet’s northern pole is a single continent called Asaheim that alone is unaffected by the time of fire and water. This is the only location that a great many of planet’s unique creatures can survive. These include snow trolls, shape-shifting doppegangrels, and massive wyrms that burrow the landscape. The deadliest of all these creatures is the Fenrisian wolf, a deadly predator with wits that are as sharp as its teeth. Though lethal on its own these keep to their namesake traveling the icy wastes in packs.
This remote land also houses the Sky Warriors of Russ and the hall of the gods. The ultimate triumph of Fenrisian culture is to become one of the chosen Sons of Russ and await the final battle at the end of the universe. Although Fenris is the home of the Space Wolves the chapter only houses the island continent.
Their fortress, The Fang, lies at Asaheim’s largest peak. The peak rises above the clouds and even beyond the atmosphere where the space faring vessels of the Rout are docked.
