Fulgrim

Overview

The perfectionist Primarch whose pursuit of excellence was corrupted into Slaanesh's excess. He murdered his dearest brother Ferrus Manus and later ascended as a serpentine daemon prince.

Before his fall he wielded the sword Fireblade, a gift from Ferrus Manus, but he later took up a daemon-possessed blade found on Laeran. He led the Emperor's Children into decadence and excess, and his betrayal at Isstvan V shattered the loyalist Legions. He ascended to daemonhood during the Heresy, and accounts of the Era Indomitus place him once more at the head of his sons. Fulgrim, the Phoenician, was primarch of the Emperor's Children and the champion of perfection. He grew up on the harsh mining world of Chemos, where he gave his people hope. That pursuit of perfection made him vulnerable to the Laer blade he took on Laeran and the daemon of Slaanesh bound in it. After betraying his closest brother, he ascended to daemonhood and now leads the Emperor's Children in endless excess.

Origins

He came of age in the brutal industrial world of Chemos and transformed its society before taking command of the III Legion.

On Chemos, he grew up in a grim factory world where art and beauty were nearly forgotten. He led its people to prosperity and rekindled their culture. When the Emperor found him, Fulgrim took command of the III Legion, which had nearly been wiped out by a gene-seed failure, and rebuilt it in his image.

Key events

1. Was found on the mining world Chemos, where he rose from labourer to ruler and pulled his world out of decline.
2. His Legion earned the right to bear the Emperor's own Palatine Aquila, and took the name Emperor's Children.
3. Took up a daemon-possessed sword on Laeran, which slowly corrupted him.
4. Beheaded Ferrus Manus at the Isstvan V Dropsite Massacre.
5. Ascended to daemonhood, on the world later called Iydris, as Slaanesh's champion.
6. After the Heresy he wounded Roboute Guilliman with a poisoned blade, leaving him in stasis for ten thousand years.

The Phoenician was warned before his fall. On the maiden world Tarsus, Eldrad Ulthran told him that Horus had been wounded by the Anathame and that the Warmaster's corruption was coming, but the meeting did not turn him. Much later, after the Iron Warriors and Emperor's Children crossed the Eye of Terror to the crone world Iydris and entered the Sepulchre of Isha's Doom in Amon ny-shak Kaelis, Fulgrim disappeared. When Horus called the Traitor Primarchs to Ullanor, Lorgar volunteered to find him. Once freed, Fulgrim urged Horus to kill Lorgar. Horus beat Lorgar and banished him instead, and Fulgrim licked the blood from his wounds. During the Siege, Eidolon persuaded him at Abaddon's urging to throw the Legion at the Saturnine Gate as a diversion while Abaddon looked for a secret passage beneath the Ultimate Wall. Fulgrim chose to fight there in his old mortal form rather than as a daemon.

Battles & campaigns

• Laeran: The Emperor's Children wiped out the alien Laer, and Fulgrim claimed the daemon-possessed sword from their temple.
• Isstvan V: He beheaded his friend Ferrus Manus during the Drop Site Massacre.
• Iydris: He ascended as a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh, with Perturabo's Iron Warriors drawn into his schemes.
• Thessala: He returned in the 41st millennium and poisoned Roboute Guilliman with a blade.

Personality

Artistic, vain and hungry for sensation; he became cruel and capricious after his fall.

He was a perfectionist who sought excellence in all things, but his pride made him vulnerable to Slaanesh's temptations. After his fall he became cruel and decadent, seeking ever greater sensations.

Weapons & Vehicles

Blade of the LaerRelic Weapon

The cursed silver-and-amethyst alien sword taken from the Temple of the Laer that corrupted Primarch Fulgrim to Slaanesh, later bestowe…

Power SwordMelee Weapon

A master-crafted blade sheathed in a crackling molecular disruption field that parts ceramite, bone and steel with effortless lethality…

Sonic Blaster & BlastmasterRanged Weapon

The psycho-acoustic sonic weapons of the Emperor's Children Noise Marines, firing screaming waves of warp-charged sound that Liquefy or…

Plasma Gun & Plasma IncineratorRanged Weapon

A volatile directed-energy rifle that hurls bolts of miniature sun-hot plasma capable of vaporising Terminator plate and tank armour—at…

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (7)

• 
  The Emperor of Mankind creator · Imperium of Man

  Fulgrim once strove for perfection in the Emperor's service before falling to Slaanesh.

• 
  Ferrus Manus killed · Iron Hands

  Fulgrim killed his former closest brother Ferrus at Isstvan V.

• 
  Roboute Guilliman enemy · Ultramarines

  Fulgrim wounded Guilliman with a poisoned blade, the injury that left him in stasis for ten thousand years.

• 
  Sigismund enemy · Black Templars

  The daemon Fulgrim nearly killed Sigismund at the Saturnine Gate before Dorn intervened.

• 
  Fabius Bile commander · Emperor's Children

  Fabius served as Chief Apothecary of Fulgrim's Legion.

• 
  Lucius the Eternal commander · Emperor's Children

  Lucius was one of the Emperor's Children's finest swordsmen under Fulgrim.

• 
  Slaanesh patron · Chaos Daemons

  Fulgrim was seduced through the daemon in the Laer blade and later ascended as a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh.

Factions

• Emperor's Children primary faction
• Chaos Daemons also affiliated

Also in this faction

Be'lakorGrandfather NurgleKairos FateweaverKhorneKu'gath PlaguefatherSkarbrandTzeentch

Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.

Legacy

Fulgrim's fall turned the Emperor's Children from proud perfectionists into Slaanesh's legion of excess. His murder of Ferrus Manus fixed the Iron Hands' hatred of his sons forever. His Legion has since splintered into warbands chasing ever more extreme sensations. The Emperor's Children remain the most infamous Slaaneshi Legion, and Fulgrim's daemonic return has made him one of the most direct threats to the reborn Guilliman.

His reappearances in M41 are rumoured more than confirmed. During the 13th Black Crusade he is thought to have been present at the Cacophony of Extremis Six. On Lucius's orders, the Riotous Host Titan Legion levelled the world's starscrapers with sonic weapons and killed billions. Elysian, Harakoni and Etharic air-landing regiments with Tempestus Scions were sent to retake it.

Appearances & sources

• The Horus Heresy novels Fulgrim and Angel Exterminatus (Graham McNeill)
• Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix (Josh Reynolds)
• Codex: Chaos Space Marines (Emperor's Children background)