Wolfspear lore

https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Wolfspear

Origins

Through the bloodshed and horror that spreads from the Great Rift, the enemies of the Imperium are stalked by the fearsome Wolfspear. Their brooding mien reveals a dark mindset and their grim brotherhood of dedicated hunters seldom laugh.

One of the Ultima Founding's most unsettling Chapters of Primaris Marines, the Wolfspear are proud inheritors of the genetic legacy of the Wolf King. Founded during the early years of the Era Indomitus, the Wolfspear are blood brothers of the fabled Space Wolves and like them descendants of the Primarch Leman Russ. Cold and taciturn, they are nevertheless possessed by a powerful wyrd, a spiritual force or destiny that makes them excellent hunters. Some may even say predators...

Despite their relatively recent foundation, the grim Space Marine brotherhood known as the Wolfspear have already proved themselves to be fearsome and ruthless hunters, honouring the genetic legacy of their primarch. Wherever they stalk, the Wolfspear prey upon the enemies of Mankind with a dark hunger intensified by blood-sworn battle oaths and a fierce loyalty to kith and kin.

The Wolfspear Chapter owes its origin to Roboute Guilliman's arrival on Fenris at the head of an Indomitus Crusade fleet. Responding to the calamity of the Great Rift, the Ultramarines primarch and lord commander of the Imperium came in person to the Space Wolves, bringing with him Primaris Space Marines drawn from the Chapter's own gene-seed and the technological means to forge more of their kind.

Some, he proposed, would join the ranks of the Space Wolves themselves, while others could be used to form new Chapters, furthering the lineage of Leman Russ while adopting the new weapons and doctrines that characterised the Ultima Founding.

Guilliman's gifts evoked complex emotions from all of the Chapters they reached, but few responses were as fractious and fiery as those voiced in The Fang. Though the Great Companies had been severely depleted by recent campaigning, the Primaris warriors presented to the gathered Wolf Lords were not initially embraced as pack-mates.

Lips curled and hands tightened around weapon grips at the scent of the newcomers. The Space Wolves had not fought alongside these warriors; they had not welcomed them back, bloody but unbowed, from the Lone Hunt, nor shared fireside tales and flagons of burning mjod with them in the halls of The Fang.

As such, some Wolf Lords argued for the outright rejection of the reinforcements. When Gunnar Red Moon roared that he would sooner hunt his quarry alongside a dozen true Sky Warriors than a hundred others with whom he had never feasted, there were several growls of agreement. Others held their tongues but brooded warily, distrusting what they saw as an effort to curb the independent tactical traditions of Fenris, but sensing in the Greyshields the keen instincts and proud bearing of true sons of Russ.

As Great Wolf, it fell to Logan Grimnar to rule on the matter. Having sternly counselled his Wolf Lords to respect the will of Guilliman as the Imperial Regent during his visit, Grimnar afterwards voiced the Kin-pack Declaration -- a formal recognition of the Space Wolves' successors. Whether forged in The Fang or otherwise, all were scions of the Wolf King, and all should be permitted to prove their mettle in battle or earn the scorn of their battle-brothers.

However, it was also the Great Wolf's duty to safeguard the ancient fighting creed and customs of his kin, and Grimnar's declaration made clear that the new Successor Chapters -- and any Primaris Marine warriors joining the Space Wolves themselves -- should uphold the ancient customs of the Space Wolves, not an Ultramarian ideal. Thus each Primaris pack assumed the traditional roles of Blood Claws, Grey Hunters and so on, as befitted their tactical strengths and experience.

First-Slain

The newly formed Wolfspear Chapter began life as an under-strength, fleet-based Space Marine force combining Primaris Marine brethren who had voyaged with Roboute Guilliman and other Firstborn Fenrisian initiates elevated to the status of Sky Warriors in the traditional way, the Wolf Priests being unwilling to close off the recruitment path they themselves had once walked.

Before Roboute Guilliman's crusade fleet reached Fenris, the Primaris Marine warriors that voyaged with him faced the flames of battle many times. From ambushes in the void to full-scale confrontations on planets of high strategic worth, Greyshields drawn from many genetic lineages fought side by side at the primarch's command. Nonetheless, in these early hostilities the scions of Leman Russ quickly gravitated towards each other, forming hunting packs with those they instinctively trusted as brothers and keeping others at a measured distance.

In the course of these bloody conflicts, there were many Greyshields who fell before their Chapter service could begin. To the Primaris sons of Russ, those lost from their bloodline came to be known as the "First-slain," held in great honour for the feats of arms that bought their kin passage to Fenris. This is particularly true of the Wolfspear, and for them an oath sworn upon the First-slain is as sombre and binding as any they can utter.

Indeed, it is thought that the pale grey livery of the Wolfspear may owe something to the colourless plate in which the Greyshields fought, and though often embellished with runic detail and furs, it serves to remind them of the grey-clad heroes who await them in the realm of Morkai.

Amongst these warriors, those of a similar disposition found further common ground, forming bonds that endured within the Space Wolves' Successor Chapters. Hence many of the psychically-inclined amongst them became the nucleus of the esoteric Icefangs Chapter, while the grim-faced huntsmen who preyed from the shadows found a natural home in the Wolfspear.

Dark Terror

These first Wolfspear warriors showed clear signs of their ancestry: keen-eyed and hungry for the hunt, their pointed canines marked them out as sons of Leman Russ. They bared these fangs only rarely, however, showing little emotion behind their cold predator's poise.

To those amongst the Space Wolves accustomed to bullish camaraderie, this brooding mien made the Wolfspear seem aloof and untrustworthy, but the more calculating of the Wolf Lords looked beyond the coldness of their new kin and saw a fiercely loyal spirit.

Erik Morkai was particularly struck by the focus and killer instinct the Wolfspear displayed during their early deployments. The Chapter showed a preference for swift terror tactics and brutal executions such as Erik Morkai favoured himself, and in a rare gesture of respect the taciturn Wolf Lord seconded some of his most experienced Wolf Scouts to the Wolfspear to impart their deadly hunting methods.

The Wolfspear also found favour with Logan Grimnar, who saw much in them that the Wolf King himself would have praised. The dour warriors of the Wolfspear possessed a strong wyrd -- even Njal Stormcaller spoke of it. They would be the "Grimwolves," the "Dark Terror," sent into the void to slaughter without mercy.

To bolster their numbers, Grimnar granted the new Chapter additional warriors drawn from his own Great Company. A small number of these were hoary Firstborn veterans who stoically crossed the Rubicon Primaris to guide their new packbrothers in battle; others were Space Wolf initiates originally earmarked for Grimnar's own Champions of Fenris Great Company, who became some of the first Fenrisians to receive the gifts of Belisarius Cawl and be transformed into Primaris Marines at the hands of the Wolf Priests in the Fang.

This influx of warriors young and old forged close bonds of brotherhood between the Wolfspear and their parent Chapter, and being as yet lacking a homeworld of their own, the Wolfspear began to regard Fenris in a totemic sense; a primal presence reaching out to them across the stars, like a moon obscured by cloud but known by its diffused light.

Many Fenrisian customs are maintained by the Wolfspear aboard their vessels and during battle, and though pride in their own pack identity comes first, the Chapter's Rune Priests and Wolf Priests speak well of the Space Wolves as their elder kindred.

Grim Starfarers

Since their inception the Wolfspear have been predominantly an itinerant hunting force, prowling the stars without a homeworld to call their own. This absence of a permanent planetary headquarters suits their combat doctrine well; those who dwell in shadow can choose their battles, encircling their foe unseen before leaping for the kill. Drawing parallels with the denizens of ancient Fenris, the Chapter's Wolf Priests assert that the ocean-borne kraken is a more elusive foe than the ice bears who dig their dens all too predictably in the mountains.

Nonetheless, prolonged campaigning puts logistical strains on even the most resourceful commanders, and like other roaming Adeptus Astartes Chapters the Wolfspear have established clandestine outposts in a number of key strategic star systems.

Whether veiled by inhospitable cloud storms or delved deep into the rock of seemingly barren moons, these secret hunting lairs allow the Wolfspear to re-arm and plan their next excursions far from the gaze of their enemies. In rare cases these scattered sites also serve an additional purpose as recruitment points, when the Human populace is deemed rugged and strong-willed enough to yield potential aspirants.

Not by chance was the Chapter's name chosen. The Wolf Lords of Fenris had agreed that a force should be formed that could be cast like a javelin deep into the Imperium Nihilus and other forsaken reaches, ranging far ahead of the war zones prioritised by the Indomitus Crusade fleets.

The name also held a deeper resonance for some, evoking the legendary Spear of Russ gifted to their primarch by the Emperor. Just as Leman Russ had received that artefact reluctantly but learnt to respect its great power, so now Roboute Guilliman offered the Primaris Space Marines to the Wolf King's son s; a potent new weapon at a time of peril.

Hunters in Darkness

Founded beneath Fenrisian skies stained by the fell light of the Cicatrix Maledictum, the Wolfspear have never known respite from the war to salvage and renew the Allfather's realm. They are the grim scions of the Era Indomitus, bred for a desperate hour and well adapted to hunt in the darkness.

The earliest deployments of the Wolfspear Chapter were vanguard strikes ahead of major Indomitus Crusade offensives. Before the massed forces of the Astra Militarum and other Imperial agents made impact, the Wolfspear would seek out and destroy the enemy's deadliest assets, severing chains of command and sowing disarray before leaping back into the shadows.

In these missions the the Chapter's jarldoms competed with each other to demonstrate their prowess, mocking their peers for any operations they deemed too slow, too scattered in their application of force. Imperial allies soon found the Wolfspear to be restless of spirit, quickly jaded by protracted battle; sooner rather than later, the wilderness of space would call them away, and a fresh pursuit would begin.

Before long, this fact turned the gaze of the whole Chapter towards the Imperium Nihilus. This benighted expanse had been proposed as the Wolfspear's eventual hunting ground even while Guilliman still sat in the hall of the Great Wolf on Fenris, but few had foreseen the draw that region would so quickly exert upon the Chapter.

In a rare mustering of their full strength, the seven jarls of the Chapter gathered their fleets at the mouth of the Nachmund Gauntlet, the primary known passage through the Great Rift from the Imperium Sanctus to the Imperium Nihilus, and prepared to hunt on an unprecedented scale. Carving momentous oaths upon their blades and battle-plate and howling the Wolf King's name, they embarked into the abyss beyond the light of the Emperor.

note for fanfic: this is known as "Sepp Jarldóma Eiðr" (7 Jarldoms Oath) or "Eiðr í Stóra Rifta" (Oath in Great Rift) in Rothgar's Jarldom (OC)

How the Wolfspear have fared on this perilous voyage can be gleaned only from distorted fragments and nightmarish echoes. All that is certain is that the jarls' fleets soon became separated, and that the Chapter's scattered sons now stalk the Emperor's foes in numerous sectors cut off from the Astronomican's light. Whether they remain the hunters or are now hunted themselves by horrors untold, nothing but death will break the oaths they have sworn.

Notable Campaigns

Guardians of the Pit of Raukos (Unknown Date.M42) - During the Indomitus Crusade, Guilliman and his forces fought a major battle against the forces of Chaos who had emerged from the Pit of Raukos, an ancient Warp rift located in the star system that orbited the dying sun designated 108/Kapalus-9. The Pit was an old anomaly, predating the violent turbulence in the Warp that had created the Great Rift and was located in a region of Wilderness Space that had never been claimed by the Imperium during the Great Crusade. The Pit of Raukos was a deep rift in realspace that was used frequently by both Daemons and Chaos Space Marine warbands to launch raids into the surrounding Imperial space with relative impunity. Guilliman's Greyshield Astartes defeated the forces of Chaos near the Pit, finally clearing the system of all the servants of the Archenemy. In the wake of the Imperial victory and after the end of this first phase of the Indomitus Crusade, Guilliman ordered the Wolfspear Chapter of Primaris Space Marines originally created from among the Unnumbered Sons of Leman Russ' genetic lineage to take up permanent garrison duties near the Pit of Raukos. Their purpose was to prevent the Warp rift from ever being used by the servants of the Ruinous Powers again. This was an unpopular decision with the Primaris Marines of the newborn Wolfspear, who sought always to remain on the front lines of the Imperial counteroffensive as they believed proper for true scions of Leman Russ.

Cordon Impenetra (Unknown.M42) - The Dark Krakens Chapter and elements of the Wolfspear are currently fighting a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan in the Pankallis Sub-sector of the Octarius Sector. The Dark Krakens 5th Company and other Dark Krakens forces under the command of Captain Krijeni Luceior known as Strike Force Luceior were despatched by Chapter Master Mezonkyi Reio to the three planets in the Bianzeer's Hollow System to clear them of the Tyranid scourge. They were aided by the Wolfspear, which also joined the fighting on the frozen Death World oddly named Death of Bianzeer.