Event · M30

Discovery of Perturabo on Olympia

The discovery of Perturabo on Olympia was the reunion of the Emperor of Mankind with the primarch later given command of the Iron Warriors, the IV Legion of Space Marines. Like his brothers, Perturabo had been scattered from Terra as an infant; he came to ground on Olympia, a rugged, mountainous world divided among rival city-states whose wars turned on fortresses and on command of the mountain passes. By his own account he wandered alone in the planet’s wilds for at least a year, slaying beasts of local legend, and he was first found climbing the mountains below the city-state of Lochos with no memory of anything earlier. Guards brought the child before Dammekos, the Tyrant of Lochos, who took him into his household and raised him alongside his own children, Herakon, Andos and Calliphone. Perturabo mastered architecture, the arts, political debate and combat, and Lochos used the prodigy to secure alliances with other cities. He held himself apart from the religious Olympians and from most of his foster family, finding companionship only with Calliphone, and took as his name an old title for those of prodigious ability rather than that of an Olympian hero. Leading the armies of Lochos against rival cities, he designed siege engines once thought impossible on the planet and became known as a merciless warlord. Throughout these years he was troubled by visions of a great maelstrom, which he disclosed to no one. When the Emperor arrived, Perturabo submitted to him at once and, with the Legion the Emperor placed under his command, ousted Dammekos and brought Olympia under Imperial rule. Dammekos spent his remaining years gathering forces in a failed attempt to recover power, leaving a current of unrest on the planet. Perturabo passed a period on Terra, where he studied the works of ancient inventors alongside his brother Magnus, before taking the field. Reviewing his new Legion’s record, he judged it wanting and ordered a decimation, and recruitment from Olympia thereafter made the world the Legion’s home.

See where Discovery of Perturabo on Olympia occurred on the galactic map during the Horus Heresy.

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