This led to them thinking of themselves as the pre-eminent Legion, and led to a prideful and confident mentality. Not only that, they spent decades fighting under the direct supervision of the Emperor himself. Unlike almost all other Legions, the Luna Wolves were led by their Primarch almost from inception. With these warriors to lead, Horus accompanied the Emperor for the first thirty years of the Great Crusade, and together they forged the initial expansion of the young Imperium. The Emperor spent much time with his protege, teaching and encouraging him, and soon gave him command of the legion created from his own genetic code. Horus was for many years the EmperorвЂ™s only discovered son, and there was a great affinity between them. Horus, the Primarch of the Luna Wolves, was the first of the Primarchs to be recovered by the Emperor, having been cast much closer to Terra than the others. By the time Horus was placed in charge of them, the Luna Wolves were ten thousand strong. Upon the discovery of Horus, the Emperor officially renamed them the Luna Wolves in honor of their past victories and baptism of fire on TerraвЂ™s moon.Дespite this somewhat unusual beginning, the end results were reckoned to be exemplary loyal and ferociously motivated troops. These вЂrecruitsвЂ™ were then taken to the geno-laboratories on Luna for the modification and indoctrination required to become Space Marines. Thus, many of the original XVIth are believed to have had a separate, somewhat unusual origin they were effectively kidnapped from the world of Cthonia by вЂrecruitment squadsвЂ™ sent from Terra charged with the task of rounding up thousands of individuals from the violent gangs that infested the ancient world. This, in turn, necessitated more recruiting stock As a result, they were tithed the bulk of the output of the captured gene-labs for a time, allowing them to rapidly build their numbers. Playing the most important role in the action, the XVIth achieved both the critical objective and notoriety during the conflict, gaining the unofficial moniker of the EmperorвЂ™s Wolves. One of their earliest campaigns proved important to the development and formation of the XVIth as a legion: the First Pacification of Luna. Whether it was this nature, or the EmperorвЂ™s genetic design for the legion template, or a mixture of both, the nascent Terran XVIth soon became known for being exemplar shock troops during the initial Imperial expansion campaigns, used successfully to both quickly start and finish fights, either in an initial, fully successful blow, or in being deployed from reserve to enact the killing strike These areas were reckoned to be harsh places to live, with their inhabitants noted for their ruthless, independent character.

The initial recruitment pool of the XVIth Legion was believed to made up of members of the вЂhunter clansвЂ™ of both the Jutrigan Bowl and Samsatian sub-plate slums of Terra.

Pre-Heresy Founding вЂ“ The EmperorвЂ™s Wolves

Pre heresy luna wolves