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, or Space Wolves as they call themselves, are chosen from the best warriors of a warrior race and the most able 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.

The Space Wolves were one of the original twenty Space Marine Legions. They were created to take part in the Great Crusade, the Emperor's conquest of the galaxy which established the Imperium as it is today. As part of the Great Crusade the Emperor created a number of genetically engineered super-humans with extraordinary powers, . which he called the Primarchs. Fearing the growing strength of the young Emperor, the powers of Chaos spirited away the Primarchs before they could reach maturity, and scattered them on different planets all across the galaxy. Only later, during the Great Crusades themselves, was the Emperor able to recover all of the Primarchs.

Before then the Emperor was unable to duplicate the long and arduous work which had created the Primarchs. Instead, from the residue genetic helices of the Primarchs the Emperor created twenty Space Marine Legions, each utilising the genetic material derived from one of the Primarchs. Thus the warriors of the First Founding Legions echoed to some degree the particular strengths and powers of the Primarch whose genes were used to develop their implants. The implants of the Space Wolves were developed from the genetic helix of the Primarch Leman Russ, and so Space Wolves to this day have some of the qualities of this great man.

As already described, the young Primarchs had been stolen by the powers of Chaos and cast to planets across the galaxy. At this time the Emperor had no idea where they were or even whether they were alive at all. By the time they were recovered during the Great Crusade, the Primarchs had grown into adulthood amongst whatever civilisations existed on the planets where they happened to be. Leman Russ was found and raised upon the planet of Fenris.

The world of Fenris was discovered early on during the Great Crusade, lying, as it does, in the north-western part of the galaxy. The youthful Leman Russ was identified by the Emperor's agents and united with the Space Marine Legion that bore his genes. Legend has it that it was the Emperor himself who finally confronted the barbaric Primarch and won his fealty by defeating him in single combat.

The Space Wolves hail from the planet of Fenris, a world of ice and fire that lies on the edge of the Imperium closest to the Eye of Terror, from which come the raiders and despoilers of the foul Chaos gods. For the most part its surface is covered with water, and its tiny land mass is made up of small islands scattered sparsely upon the mighty sea. The only sizeable continent, Asaheim, lies at the north pole.

The climate of Fenris is erratic and deadly, and any life form that survives here has to be tough in order to do so. The planet follows an elliptical orbit round its pale sun. The Great Year, the period it takes Fenris to orbit its sun, is approximately two Earth years. For much of the long year the world is bitterly cold, and when the planet reaches the furthest point from the sun all of its seas are covered with a thick mantle of ice. As the planet sweeps closer to the sun, the Wolf's Eye as it is known swells in the sky and a 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 mountain chains erupt and ash clouds black out the sun, creating the conditions of virtual nuclear winter. At other times, when the planet basks in summer, the heat is trapped and greenhouse warming sets in. As continents break apart and new lands erupt from the sea, whole populations take to their longships to settle the newly formed islands or escape 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 sea dragons lurk in the depths, surfacing to prey on the unwary. Razor-jawed ripperfish, capable of stripping the flesh from a man in seconds, dwell near the surface. From the 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 Fenrisian wolves hunt teeming herds of elk and caribou. This deadly world breeds deadly men. Here only the strong survive and the weak perish quickly. Born on such a harsh world, few places in the galaxy hold any terror for the Space Wolves.

Fenris is one of the deadliest worlds in the Imperium. Its weather is infamous: winters are cold and icy; the brief summers are almost intolerably hot. However, once every few years or so comes the season known as Helwinter. The planet's long orbit takes it far from the sun, and it becomes cold for many standard years. At the same time the planet passes through a swarm of meteors that bombard its surface like a rain of missiles. The contrails of the descending meteorites fill the night skies, and the impacts cause the earth to shake like a frightened beast.

During this period the tribes of Fenris take to their ships and search the icy seas for places of safety. Loading all their possessions onto their longships they navigate through the icebergs in search of harbour. Some make their homes on the very surface of these floating islands of ice. Others are lost to the mighty tidal waves caused by meteorite impact. Many more will die when attacked by ice whales and kraken.

Kraken are the most terrifying monsters of the deep. They come to the surface only during Helwinter, which is just as well, for full grown kraken can measure as much as five miles long with tentacles that lay a full twenty miles. Normally they dwell only in the deepest of ocean trenches but the tectonic shifts caused by the constant meteor impacts disturb them and cause them to rise.

Some have speculated that kraken are the remains of a Tyranid bio-weapon left from the invasion of the Hive Fleet Kraken, hence the name. Others say that they gnaw out the roots of continents and will one day devour all the land.

One of the most ancient tales of Russ tells of how he went fishing one day and caught the Father of Kraken, the legendary monster whose tentacles girdle the world and hold entire continents in their grip. Russ is said to have pulled the monster from the sea by lifting it by its tentacles. When his awed comrades shuddered in terror, Russ declared it was too small and threw it back, saying he would return later when the tiddler was full grown.

Imperial scholars think that this story is mere legend but with a core of truth. Russ may have encountered a kraken and killed one. It would not have been beyond the power of a Primarch such as he. Indeed, this kraken may be the source of the so called kraken's egg, a giant leathery piece of flesh more than fifty foot across that lies within the trophy room of the Fang.

The relationship between the many Space Marine Chapters have not always been cordial despite their common loyalties to the Emperor and the Imperium. Ancient rivalries, territorial conflicts and all manner of other circumstances exist to create discord amongst them. Few rivalries, however, are as deep-rooted or as well known as that between the Dark Angels and the Space Wolves.

The Space Wolves maintain that it was Lion El'Jonson, Primarch of the Dark Angels, who began the feud with the Space Wolves. Supposedly the Space Wolves and Dark Angels were fighting alongside each other when, suddenly and without orders, El'Jonson broke ranks and led the Dark Angels into the attack. The Space Wolves found their flank unprotected, and many warriors were slain when the enemy counterattacked. More galling to the proud Leman Russ was the fact that the Dark Angels swept all before them and easily won the battle.

After the conflict, hot-tempered and fearless, Russ stormed after El'Jonson and set about the Dark Angels leader. After a long and close fought battle the two Primarchs collapsed with exhaustion, each swearing vengeance upon the other. Thus began the long and bitter feud between the two Primarchs, which never really ended and which continues to this day, after a fashion. Though the two Chapters have fought alongside each other since, and won many battles together, their mutual loyalties have done little to dispel their enmity. More than once they have fought each other, and suffered greatly as a result. Yet neither is prepared to forget the vows of vengeance made by their progenitors so many years ago.

The rebellion of Warmaster Horus tore the Imperium apart at its very birth. Horus was the Emperor's most trusted General and commanded almost a third of the forces of the Imperium at the time he rebelled. The conflict set Space Marine against Space Marine as Legions (as the Chapters were then known) sided both for and against Horus. At first, few suspected the heinous evil that was to be revealed as the Horus Heresy, and some Legions stood aside from the conflict unsure of what to do. Some of the Legions that sided with Horus did so out of a sense of loyalty to their old Warmaster. Legend has it that Horus denounced the Emperor and convinced his followers that the leader of humanity had been stricken with a murderous insanity spawned of warp-contagion or worse still, daemonic possession. His loyal troops had no reason to suspect Horus at the time. It was only later that they had cause to regret their decision, for it was Horus who had pledged allegiance to the Chaos gods in return for powers unimaginable to mortals, even such mortals as the Primarchs.

The Space Wolves remained loyal to the Emperor throughout the Heresy and took part in some of its most renowned actions. From those times, ten thousand years ago, come few details of any certainty. It was a time of legends. It was an age of war. Such records as made have not survived, and only later did chroniclers of the Administratum describe the bloody events of those days. According to their own tradition, the Space Wolves were pivotal in one of the early campaigns of the war, when the entire Legion attacked and devastated the Thousand Sons Space Marines on their home world of Prospero. The Primarch of the Thousand Sons, the cyclopean giant Magnus the Red, is said to have fought Leman Russ whilst all around the rival Space Marines battled for supremacy. Eventually the Thousand Sons gave way and Magnus the Red fled with what remained of his forces. It was while pursuing the Thousand Sons that the Space Wolves lost the Thirteenth Company, the Wulfen. Since then the Space Wolves have never had a thirteenth Company nor has any Wolf Lord born the badge of the Wulfen.

The Space Wolves were not present during the final battle for Earth which ended the Heresy and doomed the Emperor to a living death in the stasis field of his Golden Throne. Afterwards, Leman Russ was to rage against events that kept him from his beloved Emperor. He led the Space Wolves deep into the Eye of Terror in pursuit of the renegade Space Marine Legions of Chaos.

With the enthronement of the Emperor came a different age, and the rule of the Imperium passed into the hands of the High Lords of Terra. Both the High Lords and the Primarchs feared the resurgence of Chaos. Many worlds were purged. On many planets the tainted were sought out and destroyed. Everywhere the rapidly expanding ranks of the Inquisition prospered.

Never again would the Imperium tolerate the possibility of Space Marine armies falling under the influence of the great enemy. The original Space Marine Legions were broken up into smaller Chapters and a code was drawn up to redefine their role and jurisdiction within the Imperium. The new Chapters that were created became known as the Second Founding. The Space Wolves were never a very large Legion and so were divided only once, creating the ill-fated Wolfbrothers Chapter.

No one knows what happened to Leman Russ. Some say he disappeared in the Eye of Terror while searching for his old friend and rival, the Primarch of the Dark Angels. Some say that he was on a secret mission from the Emperor when he was slain in battle by a Greater Daemon of Chaos, and that his spirit is lost in the warp. Others say that, to this day, he walks disguised among mankind, watching over the people of his Emperor and guarding them from the Power of Chaos.

All that is known is that he vanished on the Feast of the Emperor's Ascension in the year 197 after the Emperor was incarcerated within his Golden Throne. It is said that his eyes glazed over and that he had the look of a man who was overcome with a vision. He rose from the great table, put down his drinking horn, and summoned his most favoured retainers. Of these, only Bjorn the Fell-handed, the youngest, was left behind when he departed.

No one knew where Russ had gone. The Space Wolves waited for his return. Every year his place was laid at the feast table, and every year his great drinking horn was filled in case he should return. Seven years passed and still he did not come.

After seven years the surviving Wolf Lords gathered and elected Bjorn their leader, awarding him the title Great Wolf. Bjorn gathered all of the warriors together in the Great Hall of the Fang, and announced the Great Hunt. Russ's people would seek their master. The Companies took to their ships and sailed in separate directions across the Sea of Stars. They sought him in many worlds and many places. They fought battles and overcame monsters and the tale of their deeds is too long to recount, save on Allwinter's Eve when the Rune Priests gather to chant the sages. They sought and they sought but of Russ they found no sign till eventually they were recalled to Fenris bearing nought but a few dismal prophecies and the tale of their adventure. Thus the first Great Hunt ended in failure and sadness.

Since that day there have been other Great Hunts. Sometimes Russ appears to a Great Wolf in a vision and tells him it is time. Sometimes he haunts the dreams of the Chapter's Rune Priests and their words cause the Great Wolf to declare another Great Hunt. These are times of daring deeds and high adventure when the Chapter takes to the Sea of Stars and seeks their lost leader. They have never been successful but each Great Hunt has achieved some great good.

The second Great Hunt led to the recovery of the Russ's armour from the Temple of Horus on Rudra on the edge of the Eye of Terror. The fourth Great Hunt uncovered the Corellian Conspiracy and foiled its efforts to overthrow the Administration in a bloody coup. The ninth Great Hunt led to the destruction of the Genestealer infested worlds of the Gehenna systems.

It would seem that whenever the ghost of Russ appears to his people he has some mighty task in mind for them. Who knows what the next one will be.

Space Wolves are chosen from the bravest and noblest youths of Fenris. In the constant tribal warfare for possession of land, each youth is given a chance to fight and die in service of his warrior gods, the Emperor and Leman Russ. Space Marines must be selected young for them to have any chance of surviving the difficult transformation from normal human to superbeing. Unwittingly, the tribes aid this process by organising all their young warriors into packs of Wolfbrothers. These packs are always at the forefront of battle, keen to win the honour and respect of their elders. Another more powerful drive also motivates them; the knowledge that while they are Wolfbrothers, the eyes of the gods are upon them and they may be chosen to join the Sons of Russ.

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 out-wrestle the strongest Wolfbrothers and out-drink 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 to 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 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 youth and assess him, and if he measures up to their deeds the youth too will 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.

When the aspirants next awake they find themselves in the Halls of the Fang. This is the titanic citadel of the Space Wolves, located at the heart of the northern continent of Asaheim, the one geologically stable area on the planet. They are met by the massed ranks of the Space Wolves, and the Wolf Priest who brought them is nowhere to be seen. The assembled warriors ask them why they think they are worthy to join the Emperor's chosen. The aspirants must respond favourably to this first and gentlest of tests. If they are suitably proud and their bearing is noble, the Space Wolves will continue to ask more and more questions. If the candidate quails before the massed ranks of wolf-fanged giants then he has already failed. He will be taken aside and led into the mountain depths to be given a place among the Chapter's thralls. Having looked upon the interior of the Fang, he can never return to his folk.

The questioning becomes ever more robust and insulting and the aspirant is expected to rise to the challenge, to give as good as he gets. If he does not then once more he has failed. If he does well, then 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 member of the Space Wolves. If not, then he becomes a thrall. Only one aspirant in ten is given the chance to become a Son of Russ.

If the aspirant is chosen he is led into a darkened chamber and laid down upon a blood-stained slab. The Wolf Priest re-enters and the operation to implant the geneseed and the extra organs that go to make a Space Marine begin. When the aspirant awakens he finds himself once again in the Great Hall. He is welcomed with a roar and applause and settles down to the feasting table. He is told that he must eat a whole elk and drink a barrel of ale, as Russ once did. The aspirant is given no choice, and must keep eating and drinking. Plate after plate of steaming meat is brought to him; tankard after tankard of foaming ale is raised to his lips. He must keep eating for his new brothers will give him no respite. Eventually the young aspirant will pass out, drunk on strong ale and gorged on venison, his stomach full to the point of being distended. His last memory is usually being put to sleep in a soft bed. This is truly a warrior's paradise, he thinks.

When the aspirant awakens he is freezing cold. He lies naked in the snow with a knife of meteoric iron close at hand. He is feverish and distressed. His head throbs and his muscles ache. His gums bleed and his mouth burns. Near him stands the Wolf Priest that selected him, who tells the aspirant that the true test has now begun. To prove himself worthy he must make his way back to the Fang and gain entrance. He is now at the other side of the continent, a thousand miles away from home. The Wolf Priest disappears and the aspirant is truly on his own.

Although the aspirant does 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 reactions and heightening his perceptions. Vestigial fangs are starting to emerge. The venison provides the raw protein 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 and 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 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 is usually 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 creatures, with an animal's cunning. They continue to grow and hunger for flesh, eventually becoming Wulfen, the most feared monsters on Fenris. Others only partially overcome this stage, and in later life will revert to the Wulfen state in times of crisis.

If the aspirant survives the First few days then his sanity and intelligence slowly return. He looks on the world anew and finds it changed. His senses are keener. He can see for ten miles, hear the crack of a twig a league away, smell the musk trails of deer and wolf. He finds he has grown strong beyond the imagining of a mortal man, able to uproot trees and run for days without tiring. He is almost immune to the biting chill. He recalls who he is and how he came to 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 elks of Fenris are huge beasts, standing near twelve foot 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 destruction twenty foot tall, weighing many tons. Most feared of all are the packs of Fenrisian Wolves, one of the most vicious predators in the known galaxy. 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 hunt down even the largest prey.

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

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 who 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.

Warriors are assembled at the gate to greet the aspirants. This time their applause has no irony. They are welcomed as a brother. 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, changing them even more. But from the moment that they reach the Gates Of Fenris they have become Space Wolves.

The Fang, the famed Citadel of the Space Wolves, is a great tower that rises above the atmosphere of Fenris.

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 fortified with resistant armour and cloaked with void shields 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 workshops. 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 the Iron Priests and their servitors craft weapons forged in fire from the planet's molten heart.

It is one of the greatest Citadels of the Imperium, and several times during its long history it has almost fallen to enemies. The first time was during the 32nd Millennium, after the end of the Horus Heresy. Magnus the Red, Primarch of the Thousand Sons, determined to take revenge for the devastation of his home world Prospero by Leman Russ and his followers, launched a series of devastating raids on the worlds near Fenris. Great Wolf Harek Ironhelm sought for many years to bring Magnus to battle. Several times Magnus appeared to him as a vision among the ruins of devastated cities and taunted the Great Wolf for his inability to stop him. After many fruitless efforts to catch up with the raiders, Harek became obsessed and took to searching worlds along the edge of the Eye of Terror itself. Eventually he found what he believed to be the Thousand Sons' secret base on Gangava and launched a full-scale attack against it.

In this he was deceived. Gangava was held by a strong garrison of Chaos forces allied to Magnus but these were a distraction. Even as Harek attacked Gangava, the fleet of the Thousand Sons and their Chaotic levies appeared in orbit over Fenris. The Fang was held only by a skeleton force of Space Wolves and their thralls. For forty days and forty nights the Thousand Sons assaulted the Citadel. Bjorn the Fell-Handed, most ancient of the Space Wolves' Dreadnoughts, was awoken from his long sleep and took charge of the defence. Under Bjorn's direction the Space Wolves fell back to the innermost chambers of the Fang, collapsing the tunnels as they went. Simultaneously, a force of Scouts, under Haakon Blackwing, managed to escape from the Citadel and take ship to Gangava, bringing word of the siege to Harek.

Harek was overcome with fury and shame at his folly and immediately returned to Fenris, taking the Space Wolves with him. Finally, on the slopes of the Fang itself, he met Magnus in battle. The evil Primarch was too strong for him and slew Harek, but not before taking a terrible wound himself. The Thousand Sons withdrew before the blood-mad Space Wolves. Harek was buried on the upper slopes of the Fang, and his crypt is now a shrine. It is said that when Rune Priests undergo their ordeal of initiation they must make a pilgrimage there and be warned by the spirit of Harek against trusting visions granted by Chaos.

The Space Wolves are organised in a very different manner to most other Space Marine Chapters. The Chapter dates from the First Founding and its structure owes more to the personality of Leman Russ than it does to the Codex Astartes. It also reflects the preferred fighting style and social organisation of the native Fenrisians.

The Space Wolves Chapter is made up of a dozen Great Companies, all of whom owe allegiance to the Chapter's commander, the Great Wolf. Space Wolf Great Companies are rather larger than the companies found in other Space Marine Chapters and are much more self-sufficient. In most ways, each Great Company is a separate army in its own right, and it is very rare for members of one Great Company to be placed under the command of leaders from another. All Space Wolves are headstrong and in the past this has even led to a Wolf Lord forswearing his oath of fealty to the Great Wolf and striking out on his own. This last happened in 815.M41, when Great Wolf Sven Ironhand revoked his oath and led his Great Company into exile on the Eastern Fringes. He was declared outlaw by Logan Grimnar, and a new Great Company was raised to replace the one that was lost. Some say that Sven went on to carve out an Empire in the Eastern Fringes and rules there to this day.

Each Great Company has its own lair within the Fang and its own allocation of starships and weapons. Each company is led by a Wolf Lord and his circle of advisors. The company is known by the name of its Wolf Lord, and will often be identified by the runes which form his name in the Fenrisian language. Each Wolf Lord takes as his totem one of the legendary wolves of Fenris, which according to legend were tamed by Leman Russ in ancient times. The Wolf Lord's totem becomes the insignia of his Great Company and will be worn upon the armour of his followers. When a Wolf Lord dies his replacement chooses a new insignia for the Company. This means that the name and insignia of each Great Company are constantly changing, a fact that has caused some confusion amongst Imperial scholars in the past. For example, Ragnar's Great Company is named after its Wolf Lord Ragnar Blackmane, who took as his totem the Blackmane Wolf, the Howler in the Night. Previously the Great Company was known as Barek's Great Company, after its Wolf Lord Barek Thunderfist, and it bore as its insignia the Thunderwolf, who is said to still run before Russ around Fenris, the sound of its paws being the thunder, the glint of its teeth the lightning.

Tales are told of a thirteenth Great Company whose Wolf Lord took as his sign the pelt of the Wulfen, the legendary spirit of evil whose curse can still turn Space Wolves into monsters of that name. This Wolf Lord, his name has been lost to the ages, said that he could overcome anything, even the curse of the Wulfen, and that was why he took it as his totem. His hubris cost him dear; the Great Company vanished into the Eye Of Terror during the Horus Heresy, and none know of its fate. Since then the Space Wolves have traditionally considered the number thirteen unlucky and a portent of bad omen.

In addition to the Great Companies there is the household of the Great Wolf himself, within whose walls dwell the Chapter's priests and Dreadnoughts. The emblem of the Great Wolf's company is always the wolf rampant, the wolf that stalks the stars; the emblem of Russ himself. When a new Great Wolf is elected his followers from his Great Company will either replace their old insignia with the sign of the Wolf Rampant, or add the sign to their armour so that they bear both their old sign and their new one. The current Great Wolf is Logan Grimnar, one of the Imperium's longest serving warriors. This cunning and fierce warlord 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. The majority of troops in the company are Grey Hunters, warriors of proven ability. Also present are packs of youthful and glory-hungry Blood Claws, as well as wiser, older Long Fangs.

With the exception of the Wolf Guard, warriors of the Great Companies fight in squads known as packs. These packs are formed when an aspirant is accepted into the Space Wolves, and the members of the pack will usually remain together for the duration of their service. New members are never added to a pack, and this means that the members of a Long Fang pack were inducted and have fought together throughout their long service with the Chapter. In battle, Space Wolves risk their lives for their pack-brothers without a second thought. This creates debts of honour and friendship that may take centuries to repay. Even after pack-brothers have moved on, these bonds remain, binding the members of a Great Company together with chains of honour and loyalty stronger than tempered steel.

It is easy to tell a Space Wolves Space Marine's role by his appearance. Space Wolves grow progressively more grey-haired as they grow older; their fangs become longer and their skins become even 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 youngest and least experienced troops are the Blood Claws, whose role is to act as assault troops.

The structure of a Space Wolf Great Company is less formalised than that of many other Chapters. Forces are organised on a temporary basis with whatever troops seem necessary 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 amongst equals; they hold their position because they have the respect and trust of their comrades. It is true that many of the Wolf Lords are held in awe by their men but the forces of the Chapter resemble a warrior band more than a formalised army. Because of this there are no Sergeants in a Space Wolves force; instead the most respected warrior in a pack will act as the pack leader. On a battlefield, leadership falls to whichever senior warrior is present. Thus, depending on circumstance, Space Wolves can be led by Wolf Priests, Wolf Guard, Rune Priests 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 really true. Every man knows his task and knows the honour of his unit depends on him performing it well. As war blazes across the Imperium the Space Wolves are always found in the forefront of battle, keen to get to grips with the foe, frost blades at the ready, mighty howling battle-cries drowning out the screams of the enemy. In battle they always follow Russ1 maxim: conquer or die!

Below are described all of the different warriors and units which make up the Space Wolves Chapter. As has already been noted, the Space Wolves do not follow the precepts laid down by Roboute Guilliman in the Codex Astartes, and nowhere is this more evident than in the unique selection of unit types and leaders that make up the Chapter.

The Wolf Lord is a Great Company's finest leader, chosen by acclamation of the Company from the ranks of the Wolf Guard. Bravest of the brave, mightiest of the mighty, the Wolf Lord leads the Company, and all its warriors owe him their fealty.

The Wolf Lord is selected from the ranks of the Wolf Guard on the death of the previous Wolf Lord. His fellow Wolf Guard make the choice after having consulted with the Long Fangs and Priests, and their choice is respected by all. He is a man who has proved 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 that follow him have total faith in his honour and courage.

Each Wolf Lord vies with the others for glory and a place in the Chapter's sagas. This competitiveness is reflected by their followers, who maintain a fierce rivalry with the other Great Companies. This often manifests itself in a desire to be the first to reach an objective during a campaign but is at its most evident during the great tournaments and drinking contests held on Fenris. Here representatives of each company vie with each other in races, wrestling matches, hunts and shooting contests. Much honour and gold is won and lost in the wagering. Sometimes this competitiveness leads to friction and the Wolf Priests must step in and arbitrate.

Where other Chapters have both Apothecaries and Chaplains, the Space Wolves have their Wolf Priests. The Wolf Priests are amongst the most revered men of the Chapter and are responsible only to the Great Wolf himself. They are hard, grim men, knowledgeable in the sagas of the Chapter's history. They recruit new brothers, oversee their training and minister to their spiritual needs. Wolf Priests are also wise in the ways of medicine. In battle they use these skills to ease the suffering of wounded comrades. They are responsible for performing the benedicto ultimatus and removing the geneseed of fallen Space Wolves.

Wolf Priests are chosen from the .anks of the Long Fangs. Becoming a Priest means severing all ties with their former pack-brothers and Great Company. It is a great loss, and they are mourned as dead by those they leave behind. To symbolise this they take on a new name when they don the sacred skull-embossed armour. This is important, for the Wolf Priests must be seen as 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.

The Wolf Priests guard the Chapter's genetic seed, bio-culturing new implants and maintaining the vigour of the strain by weeding out any weakness or mutation. Their knowledge is deep, and for many centuries they have studied the effects of the cursed Wulfen gene helix in a search for a way to modify it and make safe the Chapter's genetic seed. However, their efforts have only succeeded in preventing the curse spreading, and it is unlikely that the damage can ever be repaired completely.

At least one Wolf Priest always stalks the surface of Fenris seeking promising new candidates to recruit into the ranks of the Space Wolves. Wolf Priests perform the ritual implanting of the geneseed and supervise every aspect of training the aspirants. Wolf Priests are the first Space Marines any new recruit has dealings with, and they sternly supervise their development. During training, Space Wolves gain an almost religious respect for these grim old men that never leaves them. A brawl between drunken Space Wolves can be broken up by a single word from a Wolf Priest. It is said that a Wolf Priest's face is the first and last that Space Wolves ever see. They look on it for the first time when they are recruited and for the final time when the Wolf Priest performs the benedicto ultimatus.

Rune Priests are selected from those Space Wolves who show traces of psychic power. They are carefully screened to make sure their souls are untainted by the dark powers, then their spirits are strengthened by many tests, hardships and rituals. They must be utterly strong, secure enough in their faith to resist the whispered temptations of Chaos that all psykers must face. If they come through all the tests then they are deemed worthy of becoming a Rune Priest and are taught how to wield their awesome psychic energies for the good of their battle-brothers. If they fail, they die.

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 the old 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 back to the time of the first founding and predating 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 prophecies 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 under the leadership of a resurrected Horus to destroy mankind. 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 warrior 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. He is expected to learn the tale of a 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. He learns to carve runes from the fangs of a wolf and is taught how to cast the Runes Of Divination. His armour is covered in runes of power which help focus his energies and allow the Rune Priest to focus his psychic powers in combat. As he progresses, he learns the sagas that tell the tales of the Chapter's Wolf Lords and 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. At every Wolf Time festival, great contests of saga-telling and psychic duelling are held to determine if a new High Rune Priest will be chosen. He is the leader of the Chapter's Rune Priests and advisor to the Great Wolf.

Many Rune Priests are psyber-linked to ravens. These creatures are known as the Choosers of the Slain by the Space Wolves, after their distant cousins seen circling over the battlefields of Fenris. The link allows the Rune Priest to see with the animal's eyes and control their actions. The ravens are freed to gather information from far and wide, and can also be used as messengers. The ravens are also used to observe the aspirants as they wander the land of Asaheim during the Blooding.

A full Rune Priest is an awesome sight. They are giant, weatherbeaten men, about whom hangs an aura of mystical power. Their armour is covered in ancient runes first carved by Russ himself, and when their powers are used these runes glow with balefire, focusing the Rune Priest's psychic energy. They are often cowled with the hides of a great white wolf and lean on the mighty oak runestaves that are seen as their badge of office. These staffs are made from wood taken from trees raised in the soil of ancient Earth back in the days when trees still grew wild upon that planet. They are highly prized treasures which gradually absorb the psychic imprint of their owner, becoming ever more closely tailored to his mind. It is said that if the Rune Priest lives to a great age his staff becomes a living part of him, and after his death the staff lives on, preserving something of his thoughts and powers.

On Fenris, the Forgemasters are men set apart from the bulk of the population by their knowledge of weapon making and ironwork. The secrets of smithing are passed from father to son. Forgemasters are organised into the mysterious Guild of Smiths, which has links to the Iron Priests of the Space Wolves. Iron Priests are chosen from the apprentices of Forgemasters in secret rituals on the Isles of Iron. Here candidates are picked both by Wolf Priest and Iron Priest. They do not face the mass questioning of the massed Space Wolves but are instead examined by the Master Iron Priest himself, and their knowledge of the mysteries is tested.

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 to 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, looking after the many technical systems of the Fang, supervising building and engineering projects, and all of the myriad of complex technical tasks that are undertaken every single day. In their own workshops they create all of the fine mechanical artifacts and wargear used by the warriors and Priests of the Chapter. The Iron Priests also create Servitor workers, half-human and half-machine creatures which are task-adapted and almost mindless. They serve the Iron Priests and sometimes act as bodyguards in battle. Iron Priests seldom take a direct hand in the fighting but their position within the Machine Cult means that they are well equipped with strange and exotic weapons seldom carried by other warriors.

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.

Closest to the Iron Priests are the Dreadnoughts, ancient battle machines inhabited by the shrivelled bodies of crippled Long Fangs and Wolf Guard. When dormant these machines are tended by the Iron Priests; when they awake, the young priests listen to their stories of ancient days. For the Dreadnoughts are virtually immortal and have often been alive for a millennium or more, linked as they are to the life-support systems of their armoured carapace. These systems will keep the Dreadnought alive even if it is disabled in battle, and only the near complete destruction of the suit can cause the death of its wearer.

Bjorn the Fell-Handed is the oldest living creature on Fenris. He is almost as old as the Primarchs of the Chaos Space Marine Legions, and they are the oldest known living things in the galaxy, with the exception of the Emperor himself.

Bjorn walked at the side of Russ himself, and was the first Great Wolf of the Chapter after the Primarch disappeared. He led the Space Wolves on the first Great Hunt, the Chapter's epic but fruitless quest to find Russ, and it was he who reluctantly gave the order to cease the Hunt, when it became obvious that Russ was not to be found. As the first Great Wolf he was instrumental in resisting the attempts of the newly created Administration to force the Space Wolves to accept the dictates of the Codex Astartes, even going as far as to threaten to rebel if the Administration persisted. Such was the fragile state of the fledgling Imperium that the Administration withdrew its demands. Thus was the unique nature of the Space Wolves preserved.

Bjorn's heroic career as a Great Wolf was cut tragically short during the Proxima Rebellion when he heroically led a raid to free brother Space Wolves trapped in the embattled Dreadsun Fortress. The raid was successful but Bjorn suffered so many wounds that he was left paralysed and crippled, and not even the best efforts of the Wolf Priests could save him. Eventually, to preserve his life, what was left of his shattered body was transplanted into a Dreadnought.

For the nest five hundred years or so, Bjorn was constantly in the forefront of battle whenever the Space Wolves fought. He distinguished himself on Algol Nine when he slew the Daemon Thran'saba, and saved the Planetary Governor from sacrifice. On the desert world of Quaran he slew the Ork Warlord Makrina and thus broke the Waaagh-Makrina. On the Hiveworld of Thranx he slew the rogue psyker Vornalan and thus averted a terrible rebellion. Slowly, though, the years took their toll on this proud and ancient warrior, and he took to spending longer and longer periods dormant, in stasis sleep. Given his exemplary record and long history of dedication to the Chapter, his fellow Space Wolves left him undisturbed.

Since then Bjorn has been lovingly maintained by the Iron Priests of the Chapter, and is revered almost as much as Russ, as a living link with the Chapter's distant founding. Every thousand years he is awoken and tests the Chapter's Rune Priests on their knowledge of the sagas. He is only otherwise woken during periods of great crisis, when the Space Wolves have need of every warrior, or when his, particular brand of wisdom and knowledge is sought after.

Other Dreadnoughts are not so ancient but are nearly as revered. They dwell apart from the Great Companies in a chamber within the Halls of the Great Wolf where they are available to him at an instant's notice.

The Wolf Guard are the elite warriors of the Great Company. They are the pack brothers of the Wolf Lord himself, his companions and most trusted friends.

They have access to the Chapter's sacred Terminator suits as well as many personalised weapons. The Terminator suits are ancient artefacts, giant suits 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.

A warrior 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. A Space Wolves Space Marine can become part of the Wolf Guard at any age; a Blood Claw is as eligible as a Long Fang. It is by his deeds that he is selected, not his age. 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.

In battle the Wolf Guard may form a small elite unit that acts as a bodyguard for the Wolf Lord, Priest or battle leader, or they are used to lead individual packs of Space Wolves, who welcome such heroes of the company into their ranks like long-lost brothers. A Wolf Guard has the pick of the weapons from the Space Wolves arsenal and is permitted to fight in whatever way suits him best; for most Wolf Guard this is in deadly hand-to-hand combat.

Long Fangs are the eldest of the Space Wolves, grizzled veterans of a thousand combats. Due to a quirk in the Space Wolves' geneseed, their canine teeth grow throughout their life so these men have, quite literally, long fangs. They are like old oak trees, gnarled survivors of countless storms.

In their youth they hungered for honour as any Space Wolf does, eager to earn a place in the sagas. Now, after countless wars, their experience stands as a mountain, commanding awe and respect from those of lesser years. Their saga is almost complete. The hot steel of youth has been tempered by honour, the reward of glory, leaving a keen yet finely balanced warrior, as wise in battle as he is strong of arm.

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 died or fled. Although silver-haired, the Long Fangs are every bit as fit and strong as their younger brethren, and these hard bitten warriors are still able to show the younger Space Wolves a thing or two in a fight.

Long Fang units carry more heavy weapons than any other type of Space Wolves unit. They watch over their rash young battle brothers and give them supporting fire, using missile launchers, heavy bolters, lascannon and other heavy weapons to cut down the enemy from long range. Their cool heads and age-honed stealth are the very qualities that make for crack shots.

Usually by the time Blood Claws develop their first grey hairs the fury of the Blooding has receded, leaving them cunning and rational, as wily and deadly as wolves. They can control the urge to get straight to grips with the foe and are ready for the next stage in their initiation into the Chapter. They are sent out into the Hyperborean Wastes that lie to the west of the Fang to kill a Grey Wolf. The Grey Wolves do not grow as large as a true Fenrisian Wolf, but are nonetheless vicious predators, so a duel with one is far from one sided, even for a Space Marine. The Grey Hunter is expected to run the beast down and break its neck with his bare hands. He returns with the pelt as proof of his victory. Usually some part of the wolf skin is incorporated into his ceremonial dress or worn as a lucky charm.

The Grey Hunters make up the bulk of any force fielded by the Chapter. These are Space Marines in their prime, tempered by battle yet still hungry for a place in the Wolf Guard. They are men with a desire to win glory and they have the ability to do so. They are proud and fierce warriors who have acquired all the skills needed to see them through any combat. They are normally armed with a good mix of bolters, grenades and close combat weapons. They eschew heavy weapons like missile launchers in favour of tactical mobility.

In battle, the Grey Hunters stalk the enemy and blast at them from close range with their bolters before closing in to tear them apart in close combat. The battle ploys and cunning of the Grey Hunters are legendary. Often they will feign weakness, luring the enemy forward and then pouncing upon their foe. It is their uncanny calm and patience that distinguishes the mature warrior from the fiery young Blood Claw. When the moment comes, the Grey Hunters leap at their foe with the elation of a savage beast that has long stalked its prey and senses blood at last.

Blood Claws are the youngest and most ferocious of the Space Wolves. Having only recently acquired the honour of a place in a Great Company they have the most to prove. The memories of the Blooding are still strong in them and they still possess the primitive animal fury that carried them through their time of trial. In battle, their lust for combat sometimes overcomes their discipline and they desire nothing more than to get into close combat with the enemy. They can be found in the thick of any fight, howling their blood-freezing battlecries. Blood Claws are particularly noted for their blood-mad, howling charges. Even the staunchest foe can be overwhelmed by these battle-crazed rushes. After dispatching a foe in single combat it is traditional for them to tear out his heart with their bare hands, and so literally blood their claws.

Wolf Lords make good use of the Blood Claws' ferocity by ensuring that they are well equipped with grenades, chainswords, plasma pistols and other weapons for close assault and using them as assault squads that lead the rest1 of the company into battle. Blood Claws are also found acting as a mobile strike force, mounted on bikes or using jump packs. The latter is not much favoured by older Space Wolves, but Blood Claws will use them; anything to get them among the enemy as quickly as possible.

Wolf Scouts are very different to the scouts fielded by other Space Marine Chapters, a fact that has caused some confusion amongst Imperial scholars in the past. In most other Chapters new battle brothers are inducted into the Scout Company first, and it is there that they learn the skills required to become a full Space Marine. This is not the case with the Space Wolves, where new aspirants become Blood Claws upon joining the Chapter.

Instead, in the Space Wolves Chapter, certain battle brothers are promoted to join the Scouts, in a similar manner that others are promoted to the Wolf Guard. However, promotion to the Scouts is based on the warrior's natural character and aptitude, rather than being in recognition of a feat of valour. Certain Space Wolves are simply not well suited to the close-knit and boisterous brotherhood of the pack. Instead they are solitary people who yearn for wide open spaces and isolation. They are taciturn men of few words, whose soul is touched by the call of the wild.

Such Space Wolves can be very disruptive to the smooth running of a pack, and as soon as they are identified by the keen senses and understanding of a Wolf Priest they will be asked if they wish to become a Wolf Scout. Most accept readily, though some are loath to leave their pack-brothers, especially if they owe debts of honour as yet unpaid. In such circumstances they will be counselled by the Wolf Priest until they understand that it would be for the best for all if they left. Any debts that they might owe will be called void, for all know that they will serve their brothers well in the Scouts.

To mark his transition to a Scout the warrior undergoes a ritual to find his Were-Spirit. The initiate must fast for several days, all the time attended by a Wolf Priest. When the time is right, the Wolf Priest calls upon the services of a Rune Priest who, with the aid of a potent hallucinogenic brew, guides the initiate into the spirit realm. There the Space Marine will soul-bind with one of the Were-Spirits of Fenrisian myth. According to Fenrisian tradition these creatures embody the traits and characteristics of the different animals that inhabit Fenris. By binding with such a creature one gains some of the traits of the living creature. Those that bind with the Were-Spirit of the Blood Eagle are said to be blessed with extraordinarily acute eyesight, for example, while one that binds with the Were-Spirit of the Snow Leopard will become unusually fleet of foot. Once the Scout has been bound with his Were-Spirit he is considered to have become a full-fledged Wolf Scout, and can never be accepted back into the Chapter proper. To mark the change, the Scout will have tattoos applied to his body. He may collect and wear totems to show the Were-Spirit to which he has bound.

Wolf Scouts are equipped with lighter weapons and armour than that worn by their battle brothers in the Great Companies. They are used to range ahead of a Space Wolves army, using stealth and infiltration to catch their foe unawares and cause maximum confusion amongst the enemy. Packs of Scouts will often be dropped deep behind enemy lines, from where they wage an ongoing guerrilla war, striking at the enemy when least expected, and then vanishing back into the wilderness that is their natural home. It is not unknown for Scout packs to operate like this for months, and in some cases years at a time. Such is the nature of a Wolf Scout that they do not find such a lonely duty onerous; indeed they seem to prefer such missions, as they call for little contact with anyone other than the victims that die silently at their hands.

The whole population of the Fang is supported by the thralls, failed aspirants and other native Fenrisians who have seen the inside of the fortress and cannot be allowed to return home. They are given honourable positions as warriors and guardians of the Space Wolves' home, and are trained to drive and maintain vehicles and spacecraft and use weapons. They are effectively Fenris' planetary defence force. Thralls are adopted by the Great Companies and have the position of privileged retainers.

Servitors are created by the Iron Priests as helpers and servants. Their bodies are grown from human gene-cells in vats of artificial nutrient, and although otherwise healthy, their minds are blank and incapable of development or feeling much pain. Once fully grown, their bodies are implanted with bionic systems and psyberlink feeds that enable them to interface directly with the Chapter's machines. When the rituals are over, the servitor is little more than an automaton, tougher than a normal human, but robbed of free thought and emotions forever. The Servitors aid the Iron Priests in their multitude of technical tasks, never tiring and never complaining.

For ten thousand years since the end of the Horus Heresy, the Space Wolves have continued to serve the Emperor faithfully and with honour. The Chapter has endured ages of constant warfare. It has survived times of anarchy within the Imperium, and periods of occasional isolation from Earth. Through all these years the Space Wolves have held true to the vow of Leman Russ to serve the Emperor.

It would be impossible to describe at any length the wars fought by the Space Wolves over their ten thousand year history. Indeed, not even their extensive records give a full account. Legends tell of fierce battles fought against Chaos Space Marines following the Horus Heresy. However, no formal history of those times survives. Some of the Chapter's earliest history is preserved only in the form of epic sagas, tales of heroism composed by Fenrisian bards at the courts of the Wolf Lords. Such tales form an important part of Space Wolves tradition, and it is in this form that Space Wolves warriors habitually recall the deeds of the past. There are many thousands of these sagas. Some seem so improbable as to be pure invention, but most contain a gem of truth, and all are accepted for what they are, a fitting testament to the heroes of the past.