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I am currently in the middle of a Black Crusade game that takes place prior to the Horus Heresy ever occurring. Their actions essentially influence how the actual Heresy would play out and who would turn to Chaos. As of now, they have been able to prevent Horus from turning though now this is where the fun begins.

My main question is what would have happened if other legions (Loyalist legions specifically) had found out about Sanguinius' gene flaw prior to Horus ever turning? There was talk in Fear to Tread that Sanguinius' legion would have been expunged from Imperial records, but I wanted other thoughts regarding this. Sanguinius was the most loyal out of all factions though he had a strong loyalty to his sons. How would this play out if even Leman Russ got involved? What do you think would happen?

You mean the Leman Russ who's own legion had a similar degenerative flaw?

Can't say i think it would affect him, honestly.

 cincydooley wrote:
You mean the Leman Russ who's own legion had a similar degenerative flaw?

Can't say i think it would affect him, honestly.

Degenerative flaw or not, the Sons of Russ were the "Emperor's Executioners", to an extent. They would do what needed to be done, not because they liked to or wanted to, but because it would mean that others didn't have to. I think that if the Blood Angels's Red Thirst every came out as an actual issue, then the Wolves might be sent it. It all depended on whether or not the Emperor gave a darn. You should also know, OP, that in Fear to Tread a squad of wolves was sent to the Blood Angels to watch them, and while we know of their final fate, had they gotten off of the planet, they most definitely would have reported such a thing to Russ and the Imperium. At that point, the wolves may have been sent in to clean up the blood if you will.

Note: The Wolves are on record in the heresy of dealing with at least 2 Legions (1 secret and the World Eaters, possibly the other secret legion but I can't remember).

Hey Alf - do you think in fear to tread it was that kinda stuff they were looking for? I got the impression they were sent more to determined the allegiances of the various legions. I hadn't thought that it would potentially be an issue. That's a good catch.

They said they were there to ensure the 9th legions loyalties stood with the emperor and not with Horus. Which was a valid concern, considering how close those two were. I'm sure if everything had ended as it had but the wolves survived we would have had another Magnus situation. The wolves would be sent in to abolish the twisted mutants that were their Blood Angel brethren, regardless of whether or not the angels won that final push. We'll never know though.

I think there have been plenty of occasions where the entire war could have shifted because of one event or another not happening.

I haven't read Fear to tread yet but the black rage and red thirst only started after Sanguinius was killed. pg 7 BA codex

 VeteranSgt.Ryokai wrote:
I haven't read Fear to tread yet but the black rage and red thirst only started after Sanguinius was killed. pg 7 BA codex

The Black Rage is a flaw in the gene-see that was sparked by the death of their Primarch. They believe they are Sanguinius, and go bonkers, but in Fear to Tread there is a very, very, very noticeable thing that looks like the Red Thirst that plagues the Blood Angels in a battle before the Heresy (that Horus sees). The Red Thirst is a flaw in the gene-seed that exists before Sanguinius's death. Horus and Khornite Daemons use this to throw the entirety of the Blood Angels into a bloodlust and give themselves over to Khorne and Horus's sides.

Back of the book even calls it the Red Thirst:

There is war on Signus Prime; Horus sends the Blood Angels to the Signus system, where an army of Khornate daemons waits for them. The Warmaster's plan is to use the flaw in the Blood Angels' gene-seed – which will later be known as the Red Thirst – to turn them to the worship of the Blood God. At the height of the battle, Sanguinius fights with the Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha. The Blood Angels fight for survival of their minds and bodies...

I reckon that the emperor would have called sanguines back to terra and sanguines probs would have argued his point and then the emperor would have fixed it, I mean can the emperor really afford to have lost 4 out of 20 legions? (BA, 2 unkown and the thousand sons for being cool)

I mean the emperor allowed corrax to get hold of gene tech in deliverance lost, so maybe he would help sanguines, anyway the emperor already knew sanguines was affected by the warp ( HE HAS WINGS) I think the emperor would proberbly help sanguines. the IOM could not afford to lose such a powerfull legion in the galactic north..

Sanguinius was also said to be the one most like the emprah and also got on well with all his brother primarchs. Even Horus said he should have been the warmaster.

The thing is that they have changed the background, originally (2nd edition) what happened was that during the heressy blood angels genetic banks were destroyed and at the time of Sanguinius' death the only thing they could do was to take their primarchs blood.

The problem is that his blood had passed through the trauma of dying and when they cloned the blood that trauma went along with it.

Sometimes a blood angel believes he is Sanguinius in the eve of the battle with Horus and that's the origin of the black rage.

So although I liked the book, what they did with the background was roll it in a cigarrette and smoke it.