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So the Space Wolves maintain twelve companies. Occasionally, one of those companies gets itself lost in the warp, or utterly wiped out, or, very rarely, led off into the great black yonder by a pissed off Wolf Lord who disagrees with the Great Wolf on something or other. In such cases, a new company is raised to take its place, ensuring that the Space Wolves always have twelve.

What if one of those Lost Companies pops back out of the warp or shows up on the other side of the galaxy a couple hundred years later? What's its status with regard to the Imperium, especially if it doesn't immediately move to rejoin the Fang? Is it a de facto band of renegades now, or can they saunter up to the AdMech and say, "Hey, we're Space Wolves, the great company of Losty McAntiauthority, and we could really use a couple Land Raiders and a few dozen suits of power armor," because Space Wolf companies are more or less independently operating units, and the chapter as a whole isn't exactly forthcoming with information to the rest of the Imperium?

They would probably get away with it...not that it would really be a crime, it would just be unusual. That's what Inquisitors are for, to figure out who the bad ones are. So, if they popped up and tried to get resupplied by Adeptus Mechanicus, chances are thier records wouldn't say one way or the other if they were legit. Unless they had hastiliy covered over eight pointed stars and smelt of brimstone then they'd be okay.

That would be a cool story, it's very similiar to some fluff I am writing for a mates army!

Technically there's only one "Lost Company", and that's the 13th Company, as it's the only time an entire Company of Space Wolves has been "lost" at once.

There's been small squads or warbands that've gone renegade, but they usually just end up cropping up in Black Legion or Red Corsair warbands, fully supplied by the Dark Mechanicum and their new Legion sponsors.

I imagine there has been a few units that have gotten lost though that didn't go to Chaos or something to that effect.

Kanluwen wrote:Technically there's only one "Lost Company", and that's the 13th Company, as it's the only time an entire Company of Space Wolves has been "lost" at once.

There's been small squads or warbands that've gone renegade, but they usually just end up cropping up in Black Legion or Red Corsair warbands, fully supplied by the Dark Mechanicum and their new Legion sponsors.

Well, I suppose you're correct that the 13th is "the" lost company, in the sense that it's certainly the most well known. But there are actually other entire companies that have been lost. According to the C:SW, the Company of Svengar the Red was lost circa 912.M41, beyond the Ghoul Stars. And the book even says that the 13th black stone of the Grand annulus represented "all of the Great Companies in the history of the Space Wolves who have been destroyed in battle, lost on campaign, or recounted their oaths of fealty."

As to the topic on hand, I think a returning company would face different circumstances depending on how they left the chapter.

Any company that broke their oaths sworn to the Chapter Master, the Wolf King, would definitely be in big trouble, since, at best, they'd be considered AWOL. I suppose if oaths were broken to a Wolf King who was regarded as kind of a tool bag, who is now also dead, the punishment might not be as harsh.

I imagine a company that was lost on campaign but returned would be welcomed with open arms, after a battery of tests designed to find the taint of Chaos. The problem then, of course, becomes what to do with the returned company. Traditionally, there are only 12 great companies, tough I suppose a company returning is momentous enough an occasion to remove the 13th black stone, and insert the stone of the returned Wolf Lord.

Resupply is an entirely different issue. A lost Company showing up on Mars asking for equipment I believe would be told to go to Fenris. Most chapters maintain their own forges and manufacturing facilities, and the Fang is specifically stated to have such amenities.

They certainly would NOT remove the Blank annulus.

Most likely the company would be split up among the current lords based on their individual combat styles(i.e. a unit that favors mounted combat would go to the Iron Wolf or Krakendoom; scouts to Morkai, etc) As to where the Wolf Lord would go; he may get the honour of serving as one of Grimnar's Wolf guard(a bit of a demotion, but may also get bumped to next in line as a Wolf Lord depending on deeds done, and reputation. when he was a Lord to begin with)

Kanluwen wrote:Technically there's only one "Lost Company", and that's the 13th Company, as it's the only time an entire Company of Space Wolves has been "lost" at once.

There's been small squads or warbands that've gone renegade, but they usually just end up cropping up in Black Legion or Red Corsair warbands, fully supplied by the Dark Mechanicum and their new Legion sponsors.

As has been pointed out, the codex itself mentions at least one other company that's been lost. I believe WD has mentioned a couple, and there are some in older fluff sources as well. I'll try and find the references if so desired. Either way, the fluff on the black annulus certainly implies that there's been more than just the 13th.

Commander Endova wrote:
Any company that broke their oaths sworn to the Chapter Master, the Wolf King, would definitely be in big trouble, since, at best, they'd be considered AWOL. I suppose if oaths were broken to a Wolf King who was regarded as kind of a tool bag, who is now also dead, the punishment might not be as harsh.

This is the part I'm most curious about. I've heard in a couple different places that the Space Wolves are unique in that the Wolf Lords swear only to the Emperor and Russ - not to the Imperium, not to the Great Wolf.

Kommissar Kel wrote:They certainly would NOT remove the Blank annulus.

Most likely the company would be split up among the current lords based on their individual combat styles(i.e. a unit that favors mounted combat would go to the Iron Wolf or Krakendoom; scouts to Morkai, etc) As to where the Wolf Lord would go; he may get the honour of serving as one of Grimnar's Wolf guard(a bit of a demotion, but may also get bumped to next in line as a Wolf Lord depending on deeds done, and reputation. when he was a Lord to begin with)

See, that sounds like perfect justification for a Wolf Lord to avoid returning; I don't think one of the notoriously independent Lords would like to have his guys scattered to different companies while he loses command of them.

I think once a Lost Company is declared lost, there's a good chance it stays lost unless its Wolf Lord was willing to have it disbanded upon its return to the Fang. Lost Companies that have clearly gone renegade would have the Space Wolves on their ass, but Lost Companies that hadn't clearly gone renegade, and where the Wolf Lord was unwilling to return? I imagine that creates an interesting political situation for the Great Wolf.

Resupply of equipment would obviously be the biggest issue, and without access to Mars or the Fang, they're ultimately doomed to run out of wargear and die off, but recruitment would at least be possible I believe, so they could prolong it as long as they could keep things patched up.

aren't the legion of the damned rumored to be of the cursed 21st founding and got lost in the warp

Completely different thing, Nickmund.

This is referring, exclusively, to the Space Wolves and their "Lost Companies" not the "Legion of the Damned".

aah right


Automatically Appended Next Post:
ill read the thread a bit more carefully next time

I think they would continue to operate independently, whether they were in the Eye or not.
Its not likely they would announce their status when they encounter Imperium agents.

I think it would largely depend on the contacts that the Wolf Lord has with the Imperium.
I don't believe that any Wolf Lord would recruit non-Fenrisians.
Mechanicus aid would be ok as long as they still had some Iron Priests who could contact them.

They would be unable to officially re-supply or recruit, since they officially no longer exist.
They would just gradually fade and die out. Whittled down to the last man.
And that seems to suit the overall mindset of Space Wolves in general.
To die fighting for what they want to fight for.

skrulnik wrote:
I don't believe that any Wolf Lord would recruit non-Fenrisians.

Why not?

Space wolves are grouped by recruitment "packs". These packs stay together until wiped out or promotion.

It stands to reason that they would view those from other worlds as "not part of the pack".

to use another canine phrase, they "wouldn't smell right".

Seaward wrote:

skrulnik wrote:
I don't believe that any Wolf Lord would recruit non-Fenrisians.

Why not?

Its stated that the Fenrisian humans have genetic differences ( possibly engineered ) that make them the only population base capable of stably creating space marines with space wolf gene seed. humans from other worlds using space wolf gene seed tend to lead to horribly unstable mutations. I guess though that conceivably there could be populations of them on other planets from similar stock but it would be a rare occurrence.

Lexx wrote:

Seaward wrote:

skrulnik wrote:
I don't believe that any Wolf Lord would recruit non-Fenrisians.

Why not?

Its stated that the Fenrisian humans have genetic differences ( possibly engineered ) that make them the only population base capable of stably creating space marines with space wolf gene seed. humans from other worlds using space wolf gene seed tend to lead to horribly unstable mutations. I guess though that conceivably there could be populations of them on other planets from similar stock but it would be a rare occurrence.

Where is that stated? I can't find it in the codex.

The usual argument I see is the Canis Helix, but the codex clearly states that the Canis Helix is implanted, rather than being something that native Fenrisians just have.

Seaward wrote:

Lexx wrote:

Seaward wrote:

skrulnik wrote:
I don't believe that any Wolf Lord would recruit non-Fenrisians.

Why not?

Its stated that the Fenrisian humans have genetic differences ( possibly engineered ) that make them the only population base capable of stably creating space marines with space wolf gene seed. humans from other worlds using space wolf gene seed tend to lead to horribly unstable mutations. I guess though that conceivably there could be populations of them on other planets from similar stock but it would be a rare occurrence.

Where is that stated? I can't find it in the codex.

The usual argument I see is the Canis Helix, but the codex clearly states that the Canis Helix is implanted, rather than being something that native Fenrisians just have.

I'ts not actually stated more suggested that the reason the Wolf Brothers failed was because the Space Wolf geneseed needs to be implanted into fenrisians because of their genetic makeup, personally i think that's a better excuse than anything else.

If a company had already been raised to replace them i would think they effetivly lose their postion in the chapter and go a bit lone wolfy and go out to kill as many things (enemies obviously) as possible.