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I'm not sure if corrupt is the correct way to describe it but fluff-wise, which of the CSM Legions are least tainted/corrupt?

I'm sure that not all the Legions will be favored and gifted by the Chaos gods- are there any Legions which don't choose to be mutated or anything similar to that?

Probably Night Lords. Don't actually worship any of the Chaos Gods. They're just psychopaths who fight for themselves.

Second place: Iron Warriors. Still use daemons & make pacts, but prefer to bind daemonic forces into machines, which are more controllable.

Probably the Night Lords/Alpha Legion?

It varies from warband to warband, but I'd say the aforementioned CSM are probably the most likely to not use daemons/consort with the warp. (Though there are plenty of instances where they do)

I doubt any of them could claim to be free from taint, though. Though a particular warband may not openly worship or pay lip service to the Chaos Gods, those particular bands would be few and far between.

Alpha Legion. They are probably double agents actually loyal to the big E.

 fallinq wrote:
Probably Night Lords. Don't actually worship any of the Chaos Gods. They're just psychopaths who fight for themselves.

Red Tithe paints a good picture of the Night Lords- willing to use the tools of the Warp but looking down on those in their number that mutate or surrender any of their will to the Chaos Gods.

I think there are three who you would class as least corrupt in the way that they don't worship Chaos and use it as a tool and they would be the Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors and Night Lords all though would have elements that have succumbed to the joys that the Chaos Gods can offer, individuals and warbands alike.

Thousand Sons - free from corruption for nearly 10000 years.

 MarsNZ wrote:
Thousand Sons - free from corruption for nearly 10000 years.

Yeah, so free from corruption, they even get additional arms:

Welcome to the Age of the Emperor, where fluff is meaningless in the pursuit of gaudy models.

I could cherry pick an example of a mutant from any of the legions. People say Night Lords? In their own canon trilogy there is a blood-mad bezerker and a bunch of bird-marines.

 Pilau Rice wrote:
I think there are three who you would class as least corrupt in the way that they don't worship Chaos and use it as a tool and they would be the Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors and Night Lords all though would have elements that have succumbed to the joys that the Chaos Gods can offer, individuals and warbands alike.

I'd say the Night Lords and the Alpha Legion for the simple reason that they are not based in the Eye, whereas all the other traitor legions are.

 MarsNZ wrote:
Thousand Sons - free from corruption for nearly 10000 years.

"Regardless, when the Rubric of Ahriman took hold of the legion, most of their geneseed was destroyed. The only viable sources now known of are the surviving sorcerers of the Thousand Sons, powerful psykers who are so invested of the powers of the warp that the condition of their geneseed and the effects it would have upon someone implanted with it can only be guessed at.[1]"

Anyway, the Rubric of Ahriman turned all the non-psykers into sorcery-animated automatons and the others are... well, chaos sorcerers. And they dwell in the Eye of Terror. What makes you think they are free from corruption? All it did was stop the rampant mutation that was turning them into chaos spawn.

Overdose wrote:
I'm not sure if corrupt is the correct way to describe it but fluff-wise, which of the CSM Legions are least tainted/corrupt?

I'm sure that not all the Legions will be favored and gifted by the Chaos gods- are there any Legions which don't choose to be mutated or anything similar to that?

It is stated that the Night Lords have the purest and most stable gene seed amount the traitor legions.

 EngulfedObject wrote:
What makes you think they are free from corruption? All it did was stop the rampant mutation that was turning them into chaos spawn.

The corruption manifests itself as rampant mutation. They have no bodies to mutate, no minds to corrupt. Granted, sorcerers can be corrupted, but all legions bar WE have sorcs as well, and WE are a complete mess by comparison. No other legion can claim to be purer than Tsons.

Your earlier assertion that just because a legion doesn't base themselves in the eye they are not corruptable is bizarre. The Imperium doesn't exist within the eye, yet there are mutants everywhere.

 MarsNZ wrote:

 EngulfedObject wrote:
What makes you think they are free from corruption? All it did was stop the rampant mutation that was turning them into chaos spawn.

The corruption manifests itself as rampant mutation. They have no bodies to mutate, no minds to corrupt. Granted, sorcerers can be corrupted, but all legions bar WE have sorcs as well, and WE are a complete mess by comparison. No other legion can claim to be purer than Tsons.

Your earlier assertion that just because a legion doesn't base themselves in the eye they are not corruptable is bizarre. The Imperium doesn't exist within the eye, yet there are mutants everywhere.

Corrupt as in warp-tainted/chaos-infused. How are the Thousand Sons not corrupt? The only members left with independent will are chaos sorcerers. The rest are basically mindless golems and tools. Their homeworld is a Daemon World. By what measure are they pure? "No other legion can claim to be purer than Tsons"? Now that is a bizarre claim.

And the Eye is where Chaos bleeds through to realspace and where daemons can manifest. Ergo, there is a higher chance of being corrupted by Chaos if you dwell in the Eye. I never asserted those who don't dwell in the Eye can't be corrupted, only that they are probably less likely to be (which I thought was rather self-evident). Plus those two legions as a whole don't actively worship Chaos (though there are warbands of both that do obviously), unlike say, the Word Bearers or Emperor's Children.

Also, let's not forget that the Thousand Sons' Primarch is a daemon prince. The only two legions without daemon primarchs are the Night Lords and the Alpha Legion.

 MarsNZ wrote:
Welcome to the Age of the Emperor, where fluff is meaningless in the pursuit of gaudy models.

I could cherry pick an example of a mutant from any of the legions. People say Night Lords? In their own canon trilogy there is a blood-mad bezerker and a bunch of bird-marines.

10th Company is just one warband of the Night Lords, and while yes, they did have Uzas who was succumbing to Khorne and Cyrion was essentially giving into Slaanesh. They are more the exception that proves the rule, as Uzas is universally reviled in the Warband and Cyrion asks to not have his Geneseed harvested. Those particular Raptors were mercenaries if I remember correctly and still rather looked down upon. Still the books show the general disdain the Night Lords have for Chaos and how they would rather remain 'pure' Red Tithe shows something similar with The Prince of Thorns and the other Night Lords looking down on the sorcerer and Warp Talons, and the Prince even going so far as to think he might need to murder two of his men if they are corrupted.

1) Night Lords - Aint nobody got time for dat! *Whilst terrorising in their own special way*

2) Alpha Legion - Second, they want to use chaos against chaos and actively cultivate chaos cults, so imo slightly more chance of corruption.

3) Iron Warriors - Don't actively worship chaos, but do accept chaos gifts that make them and their tanks decepticons! Awesome!

4) Dark Angels - Hidden past, but who is the good non corrupted side ?

5) The rest are pretty mutated to the same levels of corruption...

There is no more or less corrupt, either you are pure, and welcome in the imperium, or corrupt and need purging.

 Sentinel1 wrote:


4) Dark Angels - Hidden past, but who is the good non corrupted side ?

Nice try, but the non corrupted side fought with Lion, based on the current state of the HH novels.

Lion's only consorting with Daemons has been killing a Lord of Change.

EngulfedObject wrote:
Corrupt as in warp-tainted/chaos-infused. How are the Thousand Sons not corrupt? The only members left with independent will are chaos sorcerers. The rest are basically mindless golems and tools. Their homeworld is a Daemon World. By what measure are they pure? "No other legion can claim to be purer than Tsons"? Now that is a bizarre claim.

And the Eye is where Chaos bleeds through to realspace and where daemons can manifest. Ergo, there is a higher chance of being corrupted by Chaos if you dwell in the Eye. I never asserted those who don't dwell in the Eye can't be corrupted, only that they are probably less likely to be (which I thought was rather self-evident). Plus those two legions as a whole don't actively worship Chaos (though there are warbands of both that do obviously), unlike say, the Word Bearers or Emperor's Children.

Also, let's not forget that the Thousand Sons' Primarch is a daemon prince. The only two legions without daemon primarchs are the Night Lords and the Alpha Legion.

The same measure as you apparently, with a rather different conclusion. All you've given is vague assertions that because a legion doesn't dwell in the eye they `probably` aren't corrupt, despite evidence that the NL experience corruption. If my claim is so bizarre, do you have actual canon evidence that these other two legions are free from corruption, or more specifically that only their sorcerers are vulnerable to it? Unless you can find some, Tsons are the least corrupted legion. While Tsons are reduced to animatrons the point still stands that they do not experience the mutating effects of Chaos. As for worship, the Rubric was an act of rebellion against Tzeentch.

Night Lords and Alpha Legion have dead primarchs, by that shaky logic the Black Legion - at least the former SoH within that legion - are also likely free from taint. And again, the Rubric went against the wishes of the Magnus.

VictorVonTzeentch wrote:
10th Company is just one warband of the Night Lords, and while yes, they did have Uzas who was succumbing to Khorne and Cyrion was essentially giving into Slaanesh. They are more the exception that proves the rule, as Uzas is universally reviled in the Warband and Cyrion asks to not have his Geneseed harvested. Those particular Raptors were mercenaries if I remember correctly and still rather looked down upon. Still the books show the general disdain the Night Lords have for Chaos and how they would rather remain 'pure' Red Tithe shows something similar with The Prince of Thorns and the other Night Lords looking down on the sorcerer and Warp Talons, and the Prince even going so far as to think he might need to murder two of his men if they are corrupted.

Notice how I specifically said I was cherry picking an example in response to a cherry picked example of a new 8th edition model displaying multiple arms? AFAIK that's one of the first Tson specific sorcerer models to feature any mutation. I am aware the NL revile corruption, and that supposedly their gene seed is pure - even though the ability to see future events which many NL possess is pretty glaring evidence to the contrary. The Tsons also revile corruption, that's the entire point of the Rubric. Also, all the NL in that series acted as mercenaries, they work for both Abaddon and Huron, so you can't single out the raptors as mercenaries. Furthermore the raptor cult are corrupted Night Lords, the disdain they receive from their fellow legionnaires can't change that pretty concrete fact. To your final point, NL will use any reason to murder a rival they really aren't that fussy.

 MarsNZ wrote:

VictorVonTzeentch wrote:
10th Company is just one warband of the Night Lords, and while yes, they did have Uzas who was succumbing to Khorne and Cyrion was essentially giving into Slaanesh. They are more the exception that proves the rule, as Uzas is universally reviled in the Warband and Cyrion asks to not have his Geneseed harvested. Those particular Raptors were mercenaries if I remember correctly and still rather looked down upon. Still the books show the general disdain the Night Lords have for Chaos and how they would rather remain 'pure' Red Tithe shows something similar with The Prince of Thorns and the other Night Lords looking down on the sorcerer and Warp Talons, and the Prince even going so far as to think he might need to murder two of his men if they are corrupted.

Notice how I specifically said I was cherry picking an example in response to a cherry picked example of a new 8th edition model displaying multiple arms? AFAIK that's one of the first Tson specific sorcerer models to feature any mutation. I am aware the NL revile corruption, and that supposedly their gene seed is pure - even though the ability to see future events which many NL possess is pretty glaring evidence to the contrary. The Tsons also revile corruption, that's the entire point of the Rubric. Also, all the NL in that series acted as mercenaries, they work for both Abaddon and Huron, so you can't single out the raptors as mercenaries. Furthermore the raptor cult are corrupted Night Lords, the disdain they receive from their fellow legionnaires can't change that pretty concrete fact. To your final point, NL will use any reason to murder a rival they really aren't that fussy.

I missed the cherry picking part, but even still, that one Thousand Son model isnt the only one that bares corruption, the Champion in the new rhubric set has an eye in the palm of his hand, and another of the Sorcerers has an option to have bird feet (actually all of them have options for mutations). The old days of the 1ksons Sorcerers being beyond the reach of mutation is clearly gone with the simple fact they can posses those mutations in the first place. Their models aren't the only place either, even in Black Crusade the 1kson Sorcerer you can play as isn't beyond mutation, and no longer revile it. It seems only Arhiman's sect does Which is a shame as I personally preferred the old way.

Also I can point out that they are Mercenaries, just because the core group worked that way, doesn't diminish the fact that the Raptor Cult were specifically brought in by the 10th from an outside source, even if they were originally Night Lords to begin with. And I dont think you meant the implication, but not all Raptors are Night Lords.

 VictorVonTzeentch wrote:


I missed the cherry picking part, but even still, that one Thousand Son model isnt the only one that bares corruption, the Champion in the new rhubric set has an eye in the palm of his hand, and another of the Sorcerers has an option to have bird feet (actually all of them have options for mutations). The old days of the 1ksons Sorcerers being beyond the reach of mutation is clearly gone with the simple fact they can posses those mutations in the first place. Their models aren't the only place either, even in Black Crusade the 1kson Sorcerer you can play as isn't beyond mutation, and no longer revile it. It seems only Arhiman's sect does Which is a shame as I personally preferred the old way.

Also I can point out that they are Mercenaries, just because the core group worked that way, doesn't diminish the fact that the Raptor Cult were specifically brought in by the 10th from an outside source, even if they were originally Night Lords to begin with. And I dont think you meant the implication, but not all Raptors are Night Lords.

OK fair enough. So if we agree that Tsons sorcerers can experience corruption in 8th edition that leaves Tsons with a fraction of their forces vulnerable. We can assume sorcerers from other legions are too, so we'll disregard the spellweavers. Given that the original question is "Which CSM Legion is the least corrupt" lets take a look at all 9 of them

EC, WE, DG I think we can agree are beyond redemption
WB - Rampant possession within the ranks, very corrupt
IW - Obliterators, Mutilators, many Daemon engines, very corrupt
BL - A hodge-podge of traitors, the full spectrum of Chaotic influence, very corrupt
NL - Raptors, prescience within their gene-seed, some corruption.
AL - Difficult to actually say given their fluff never gives much in the way of definitive answers, a contender if we can prove that only a small portion (at most) are vulnerable.
TS - Immune

A final point to your avatar. RIP the one true king. Ours is the Fury.

 MarsNZ wrote:

 VictorVonTzeentch wrote:


I missed the cherry picking part, but even still, that one Thousand Son model isnt the only one that bares corruption, the Champion in the new rhubric set has an eye in the palm of his hand, and another of the Sorcerers has an option to have bird feet (actually all of them have options for mutations). The old days of the 1ksons Sorcerers being beyond the reach of mutation is clearly gone with the simple fact they can posses those mutations in the first place. Their models aren't the only place either, even in Black Crusade the 1kson Sorcerer you can play as isn't beyond mutation, and no longer revile it. It seems only Arhiman's sect does Which is a shame as I personally preferred the old way.

Also I can point out that they are Mercenaries, just because the core group worked that way, doesn't diminish the fact that the Raptor Cult were specifically brought in by the 10th from an outside source, even if they were originally Night Lords to begin with. And I dont think you meant the implication, but not all Raptors are Night Lords.

OK fair enough. So if we agree that Tsons sorcerers can experience corruption in 8th edition that leaves Tsons with a fraction of their forces vulnerable. We can assume sorcerers from other legions are too, so we'll disregard the spellweavers. Given that the original question is "Which CSM Legion is the least corrupt" lets take a look at all 9 of them

EC, WE, DG I think we can agree are beyond redemption
WB - Rampant possession within the ranks, very corrupt
IW - Obliterators, Mutilators, many Daemon engines, very corrupt
BL - A hodge-podge of traitors, the full spectrum of Chaotic influence, very corrupt
NL - Raptors, prescience within their gene-seed, some corruption.
AL - Difficult to actually say given their fluff never gives much in the way of definitive answers, a contender if we can prove that only a small portion (at most) are vulnerable.
TS - Immune

A final point to your avatar. RIP the one true king. Ours is the Fury.

I can agree with that list layout for corruption.

Ours if the Fury, RIP one true King.

Night lords for one...

They never went as full on chaos as other legions.

Iron Warriors.
They are one of most pragmatically minded, they use deamons but they also don,t not plan properly and use genuine tactics and logistics that are not broken if deamon stuff fails.

Thousand sons are ... Well walking armour. .
So yes. Or no depending on opinion.

Fluff-wise would have to be "Soul-Drinkers".
A loyal space marine legion.
Made a Tzeenitch greater daemon take a real disliking to them and he decided to "bless them".
They are full of mutation (their Librarian has a lower body of a spider).
Still loyal, barely, pretty much have everyone gunning for them.

Second I would say is the Iron Legion.
They are rather surly and angry.
That is about it.
If they mutate, they cut it off and replace with a mechanical limb.
Their association with Obliterators remain to be seen on the "corrupt" end of things.

Let's see:

Space Wolves: Claiming to not use Psykers because they channel their powers from a planet. Feuded with the Inquisition over their deployment of Grey Knights. Usage of Khornate artifacts. Unchecked mutation...
Ultramarines: Maintain a de-facto Legion structure due to tight relationships with their successors. Export far too many "PDF" as Guard regiments for them to not be secretly running their own private auxiliary army. Their Chapter Master wields a pair of Power Fists that were looted from a Chaos Champion...

Iron Warriors are arguably less corrupt among the "Traitors" due to their practice of amputating mutations and replacing them with cybernetics. They generally avoid using Daemons, and their "Possessed" aren't actually Marines harboring Daemons inside them, so much as draining said Daemons to power a variety of infernal cybernetics.

I think the OP needs to define what they mean by 'corrupt'

Night lords have the purest gene seed. It compares well with Dark Angels, Imp fists, and Ultras for stability and being free of mutation.
The Night lords legion though seemed pretty corrupt and evil even before the horus heresy.

Didn't GW around 3rd ED paint Black Legion into a 'they love getting possessed' corner.

I'd go with Alpha legion they work outside the eye... but they are just as corrupt as they'll send thousands of cultists to their death.

 Talizvar wrote:
Fluff-wise would have to be "Soul-Drinkers".

Second I would say is the Iron Legion.

Neither of these are legions.

 Exergy wrote:
I think the OP needs to define what they mean by 'corrupt'

Night lords have the purest gene seed. It compares well with Dark Angels, Imp fists, and Ultras for stability and being free of mutation.
The Night lords legion though seemed pretty corrupt and evil even before the horus heresy.

I liked this definition: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/corrupt

1. guilty of dishonest practices, as bribery; lacking integrity; crooked: a corrupt judge.

2. debased in character; depraved; perverted; wicked; evil: a corrupt society.

3. made inferior by errors or alterations, as a text.

It simultaneously makes the original question erroneous and gives clarity to how to answer it.

If we are talking about the most dishonest legion - has to be Word Bearers. Their betrayal of the Imperium of Man started all this with their religious practices, giving into the Dark Gods and spreading their worship.

If we talking about the most debased, depraved or perverted legion - has to be the Emperor's Children. Grabbing people and turning them into drugs in pursuit of constant, all-consuming sensation.

If we are talking about the legion made most inferior by alterations - has to be the Thousand Sons. Literally turned into walking suits of armor, absolutely dependent on sorcery to carry themselves.

 Latro_ wrote:
Didn't GW around 3rd ED paint Black Legion into a 'they love getting possessed' corner.

No. They didn't. That's been the Black legion backstory since they were invented. After Horus' death, they became extremist - if rather fickle - Chaos worshippers. They opened themselves up to possession, only to be left as husks when they apostatised. After this reduced their numbers rather drastically, they put a stop to it (that and they'd run out of gods to turn to )

 techsoldaten wrote:

 Exergy wrote:
I think the OP needs to define what they mean by 'corrupt'

Night lords have the purest gene seed. It compares well with Dark Angels, Imp fists, and Ultras for stability and being free of mutation.
The Night lords legion though seemed pretty corrupt and evil even before the horus heresy.

I liked this definition: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/corrupt

1. guilty of dishonest practices, as bribery; lacking integrity; crooked: a corrupt judge.

2. debased in character; depraved; perverted; wicked; evil: a corrupt society.

3. made inferior by errors or alterations, as a text.

It simultaneously makes the original question erroneous and gives clarity to how to answer it.

If we are talking about the most dishonest legion - has to be Word Bearers. Their betrayal of the Imperium of Man started all this with their religious practices, giving into the Dark Gods and spreading their worship.

If we talking about the most debased, depraved or perverted legion - has to be the Emperor's Children. Grabbing people and turning them into drugs in pursuit of constant, all-consuming sensation.

If we are talking about the legion made most inferior by alterations - has to be the Thousand Sons. Literally turned into walking suits of armor, absolutely dependent on sorcery to carry themselves.

I'm not sure about Tsons. There is a certain purity in the rubric and the rubric only worked on those that were not psykers.
Deathguard on the other hand are walking suits of armor filled with plague, worms, puss, bile, and unmentionable. Anything they touch is corrupted.