Event · M30

Discovery of Vulkan

The Discovery of Vulkan was the Emperor’s reunion with Vulkan, primarch of the XVIII Legion, on the volcanic world of Nocturne during the Great Crusade. Vulkan had arrived on Nocturne as an infant during the Time of Trial, a recurring period of seismic upheaval, and was taken in by the blacksmith N’bel of the town of Hesiod, who named him after the first king of the salamanders. Within three years he was larger and stronger than any man of the town, and he taught its smiths forging techniques they had not known. In Vulkan’s fourth year on Nocturne, Dark Eldar raiders struck Hesiod. Its people habitually hid from such raids, but Vulkan stood in the centre of the settlement with two smithing hammers, and the townspeople joined him in a defence that defeated the raiders; Vulkan is recorded as killing a hundred Eldar himself. Within weeks the leaders of Nocturne’s seven largest towns came to meet him and swore never again to hide. At a tournament held to mark the victory, a pale stranger challenged Vulkan, each wagering that the loser would serve the victor. After eight days the contest stood tied. In the final test each hunted a fire drake; an eruption threw Vulkan over a cliff, and the stranger cast his own larger drake into a lava flow to bridge the gap and save him. Vulkan was declared the victor but knelt to the stranger, who revealed himself as the Emperor. The account, known as the Promethean Opus, is told across many worlds of the later Imperium, though how much of it is accurate is unknown. Vulkan remained at the Emperor’s side for some years before taking command of his Legion, which was named the Salamanders in honour of the beast of the final contest.

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

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