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So here I was thinking about Warmaster Abaddon and all that good jazz, when something suddenly occurred to me
How can it be, that after 10.000 years, that guy still holds the title as warmaster?
I mean how come nobody has ever tried to usurp his power

One would think that with an army of traitors, turncoats and oath breakers, someone among them would have enough ambition to try and beat Abaddon and take up the mantle as new the warmaster for themselves?

Give me your thoughts Dakka.

None of them was able to beat him 1 vs 1 maybe?

Or no one wants the stinkin old mantle...
Because the traitors don't care anymore. What does it mean to be Warmasta? More plunder? More ruin?

IIRC, the different chaos legions are too fearful or respecting of his power...

I don't think anyone wants to go toe-to-toe with the Black Legion.... and he's also like the only living Marine to have talked with/ seen Horus... (other than the Primarchs), which surely deserves respect

Nobody else wants the job.

Magnus: Sulking in his tower waiting for Arhiman to return.

Fulgrim: Hanging out on his planet "pleasuring" himself.

Angron: Too crazy to lead chaos and besides he's devoted to Khorne and would never be able tolead Chaos Undivided.

Alpharius/Omegon: Sneaking around the Imperium, not avaliable, maybe dead?

Peturabo: Playing with legos on Medrengard

Montarian: Busy ruling Plague Planet.

Lorgar: Meditating in his tower.


All the Primarchs are either unfit for the job/too busy doing their own thing.

plus abby has not failed 13 times, thats people who are "cool" mis-representing what he has done, he has achieved every goal he set out to do, even the 13th black crusade, cadia is in ruins and the chaos forces are "spilling through the eye in unprecedented numbers" imperials won is space... thats it

After the Heresy, Abaddon reorganized the Black Legion and beat up all the other Legions and stole their lunch money. Plus, he has the backing of the Chaos Gods. And of course, he's insanely powerful in close combat.

I'm sure a few people have tried, but no one has succeeded.

Those that have tried were never heard from again, and failure without survival does not lend one to legend.

The way I see it, he has enough control over the Black Legion to still claim it as his. And since the Black Legion is the place Traitor Marines go to when their own Legion/warband goes under operational strenght, it's the only Traitor 'Legion' still worthy of the name...

And it's not sure he's been aware of the entire flow of time for the last 10,000 years... The fact that not all Traitors live in the same timeframe might also make it rather hard to plan and execute a takeover...

Basically a mixture of these two:

LoneLictor wrote:After the Heresy, Abaddon reorganized the Black Legion and beat up all the other Legions and stole their lunch money. Plus, he has the backing of the Chaos Gods. And of course, he's insanely powerful in close combat.

I'm sure a few people have tried, but no one has succeeded.

Formosa wrote:plus abby has not failed 13 times, thats people who are "cool" mis-representing what he has done, he has achieved every goal he set out to do, even the 13th black crusade, cadia is in ruins and the chaos forces are "spilling through the eye in unprecedented numbers" imperials won is space... thats it

IGdude354 wrote:
I don't think anyone wants to go toe-to-toe with the Black Legion.... and he's also like the only living Marine to have talked with/ seen Horus... (other than the Primarchs), which surely deserves respect

Well, there's Khârn, but I don't see him leading a Black Crusade any time soon!

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/447558.page

IGdude354 wrote:IIRC, the different chaos legions are too fearful or respecting of his power...

I don't think anyone wants to go toe-to-toe with the Black Legion.... and he's also like the only living Marine to have talked with/ seen Horus... (other than the Primarchs), which surely deserves respect

I'm not sure about this, but didn't Talos also meet Horus?

Many traitor marines are from the Heresy Era. Abbaddon still has tons of his cronies left(there were ALOT of them)

I suspect he still holds power because Chaos ultimately finds him useful as a means of stirring up trouble all around - for the forces of Chaos (death, betrayal, bloodshed, plotting, etc.) and for everyone else (the Imperium, Eldar, etc.)

I mean if you think about it, what really are the Chaos Gods after? They want to to be able to feed off of and grow stronger an the thoughts,emotions and souls of living beings, and however effective in a military sense you think Abbadon is, he does cause mayhem and destruction on a massive scale all around. On top of that, he's also a focus of so many plots, coups, usurpations, etc....

From the Chaos POV he's far more effective as he is since he is guaranteed to continue his cycle of 'BLACK CRUSADE RAAAR' endlessly, battering his topknotted head against the massive edifice of the Imperium and chip away t it bit by bit... he's kinda stubborn that way.