The Scouring
In the aftermath of Horus's defeat, the Imperium launched a massive counter-offensive known as the Scouring. Traitor forces were driven back and the Emperor's Children, along with their fellow renegades, were forced to retreat into the Eye of Terror. The IIIrd Legion was shattered, its surviving members scattered across the Warp as warbands pursuing their own dark goals.
Without Fulgrim's unifying presence — consumed as he was by daemonic apotheosis — the Legion lost all pretense of cohesion. What remained was a loose collection of warlords, each commanding small coteries of debased Space Marines, their minds twisted by centuries of indulgence in the Warp.
The Legion Eternal
Within the Eye of Terror, the Emperor's Children found a dark paradise. The Warp answered their every desire, creating realms of impossible sensation and endless excess. The Legion rebuilt itself not as a unified fighting force but as a culture of obsession. Each warrior pursued his own mania — perfect combat, perfect art, perfect pain — and the Legions halls echoed with the sounds of both ecstasy and agony.
Fulgrim himself ascended to become a daemon prince of Slaanesh, a towering serpentine entity of horrifying beauty. From his palace in the Warp, he watched over his children, occasionally emerging to lead them on campaigns of conquest and corruption.
The Black Crusades
The Emperor's Children have participated in every Black Crusade launched from the Eye of Terror. During the 13th Black Crusade, warbands of the IIIrd swept across the Imperium, spreading corruption and excess in their wake. Their presence was marked by strange phenomena — worlds that fell to the Emperor's Children were not simply destroyed but transformed into living artworks of suffering and beauty.
Perhaps their most infamous act during this period was the corruption of the world of Harmond. The planet's population was subjected to a century of systematic torture and sensory overload, their suffering transmuted into a psychic symphony that echoed across the Warp. When Imperial forces finally reached the planet, they found a world where even the stones screamed in perfect harmony.
The Age of the Dark Imperium
With the opening of the Great Rift and the birth of the Dark Imperium, the Emperor's Children have become bolder. They raid Imperial worlds with impunity, their warbands united under the banner of the Dark Prince. Fulgrim has been seen leading campaigns in realspace once more, his daemonic form spreading corruption across entire star systems.
The IIIrd Legion remains one of the most dangerous threats to the Imperium — not merely because of their martial prowess, but because of what they represent. They are a reminder that even the noblest aspirations can be twisted into the darkest horrors, that the pursuit of perfection without virtue leads only to damnation.
Recent Developments
In recent years, rumors have spread of a gathering within the Warp — a convocation of the Emperor's Children warbands under the banner of the Phoenix Conclave. Some whisper that Fulgrim has called his sons together for a purpose none yet understand. Others speak of a new champion rising among the IIIrd, one who seeks to unite the scattered warbands into a single legion once more.
What is certain is that the Emperor's Children are no longer content to remain in the Eye of Terror. The galaxy is ripe for their particular brand of corruption, and the IIIrd Legion Eternal is hungry.