The Emperor’s Children are some of the strangest Space Marines to be found in Warhammer 40,000, and that’s quite impressive considering how many weird and dangerous varieties of Space Marines can be found on both sides of the long-lasting civil war between the loyalists and traitors. Despite the name, the Emperor’s Children are firmly on the traitors’ side, and are in thrall to the Chaos God of Excess, Slaanesh. Games Workshop is refreshing the Emperor’s Children line with new models and lore, including a new take on the Mad Max: Fury Road-esque Noise Marines.
Back in December, Games Workshop revealed the sixth Primarch to return to the 41st milennium: Fulgrim, who has ascended into a snake-man with four arms, wings, horns, and a multitude of blades. Where a Primarch goes, his Space Marines tend to follow, and so die-hard fans have been keeping an eye out for this Emperor’s Children announcement for some time. We know that many of these new models will be available in an army set, which includes the factions’ codex and data cards, Noise Marines, Infractors, Tormentors, and a Lord Exultant.
The Emperor’s Children are particularly interesting because they had such a promising beginning. Despite a horrible affliction with the gene-seed that meant only a few hundred Space Marines survived, Fulgrim won the respect of his father, the Emperor of Mankind. The Emperor granted the legion, now named the Emperor’s Children, the right to wear his insignia of the two-headed eagle known as the aquila.
Unfortunately, Fulgrim’s insecurity over his gene-seed sickness, the experiments of Chief Apothecary Fabius Bile, and the discovery of a corrupted, whispering sword from a xenos temple all culminated in the worst way possible. Fulgrim and the Emperor’s Children fell to Slaanesh and immediately got on the excess train. This includes the master duelist Lucius, who is both cursed and blessed by Slaanesh. If he is defeated, and his opponent feels pride, Lucius will be reborn and take over their body — and their face will forever be etched on his body so he can never get a re-match or forget an unfortunate loss.
During the critical Siege of Terra, the Emperor’s Children were less focused on strategy, and more interested in grinding up human beings to turn into super cool drugs. That’s the problem with Slaanesh: She and her minions are so focused on excess, perfectionism, and hedonism that they can sometimes struggle with the boring and dreary parts of battle.
The Noise Marines are one of the most memorable and iconic designs in 40K; they play along to the Song of Slaanesh, also known as the Kakophoni. As the name’s similarity to ‘cachophony’ suggests, the Song of Slaanesh shreds the skin directly off your face. They’re the perfect subject for cosplay or fan art, and offer a splash of levity in the greater Chaos Space Marines roster, which tends to be fairly grim across the board. We’ll have to wait for more details from Games Workshop on the release date for these new Emperor’s Children marines, but they look ready to rock.
