The Wolves of Fenris

[snikrot]

so i just finished reading A Thousand sons and i was wondering if anybody knows or has an idea what the wolves of Fenris actually are? The books states flat out that they are not actually wolves and some of the Thousand sons seem to know what they are but the book doesn't tell you specifically.

[wittdooley]

Toss this is in the fluff section next time, but there are to prevailing thoughts:

1. The Wolves are benevolent manifestations of the warp. All that we've really seen thusfar is that everything in the warp is evil. Perhaps it isn't the case.

2. The Wolves are either Space Wolves or their Thralls that had the Canis Helix take them over and have become bestial.

Read Prospero, and then read Battle of the Fang. Both go into it more, with Battle of the Fang leaving me to believe it is more likely the 2nd theory.

[Mr.Pickelz]

If you look into the Space Wolf books, which follow Ragnar, They go in depth for that question. All the fluff that i know about points to the 2nd conclusion. That aspirants who fail to control their transformation when digesting the Canis helix turn into wolfen, think werewolves, and some continue from that to turn into full blown wolves.

[david5th]

Some kind a genetically modified creature created to be a predator on Fenris to keep the food chain in balance when the first settlers arrived.

[Wolfshade]

Keep reading. Prospero Burns adds some depth

[wittdooley]

Some kind a genetically modified creature created to be a predator on Fenris to keep the food chain in balance when the first settlers arrived.

Yeah, that's definitely not it.

Both Prospero Burns and Battle of the Fang make that pretty clear.

[Wildeybeast]

Yeah, isn't Fenris already a death world? Not sure the introduction of another apex predator on a death world would be necessary.

[Mr.Pickelz]

Correct, Fenris is listed as a Death World

[wittdooley]

Sarcasm Missed. Facepalm.

[AnEnemy]

3. The original human settlers of Fenris, IE during the Dark Age of Technology, modified themselves with the Canis Helix to better adapt to the rapidly changing environment of Fenris and the multitude of predators. Things went sideways and they devolved into Wolf-esque creatures over the millennia.

Prospero Burns and The Battle of the Fang are purposely ambiguous. Make up your own theory. They'll be just as valid as any one else's.

[wittdooley]

3. The original human settlers of Fenris, IE during the Dark Age of Technology, modified themselves with the Canis Helix to better adapt to the rapidly changing environment of Fenris and the multitude of predators. Things went sideways and they devolved into Wolf-esque creatures over the millennia.

Except where is this ever presented as a substantiated theory? To be fair, I've only read the first 3 of the Ragnar Space Wolf books, but I've never heard this as a potential theory, considering the Canis Helix is unique to the Astartes gene seed and not the inhabitants of Fenris.....



Prospero Burns and The Battle of the Fang are purposely ambiguous. Make up your own theory. They'll be just as valid as any one else's.

Those books are pretty ambiguous between the two theories that I presented. Unsubstantiated theories are not as valid as fluff-substantiated ones.

[Kawauso]

Except where is this ever presented as a substantiated theory? To be fair, I've only read the first 3 of the Ragnar Space Wolf books, but I've never heard this as a potential theory, considering the Canis Helix is unique to the Astartes gene seed and not the inhabitants of Fenris.....



There's at least one occasion in either Thousand Sons or Prospero Burns where someone (Magnus, maybe?) mentions that the 'wolves' are the result of Dark Age technology used by the initial human settlers of Fenris...and that they have something to do with genetic manipulation.

I think both that and the thing about failed aspirants are correct. :)

[wittdooley]

There's at least one occasion in either Thousand Sons or Prospero Burns where someone (Magnus, maybe?) mentions that the 'wolves' are the result of Dark Age technology used by the initial human settlers of Fenris...and that they have something to do with genetic manipulation.

I think both that and the thing about failed aspirants are correct. :)

Is it with the Canis Helix? I was under the impression that was a part of the Astartes Geneseed... I mean, in the Ragnar books at least it makes it pretty clear that the Canis doesn't exist in the Fenrisians before their implantation, or did I completely miss something here?

[Kawauso]

Oh, whatever it is, it's not part of the native Fenrisian population from M31-M40. It seems like it was an abortive part of some attempt to adapt to the planet while colonizing it.

It could be that the Canis Helix is part of what the original settlers of Fenris used to try and adapt. The Imperium did love re-using things from the Dark Age of Technology, especially during the Crusade, so it's feasible that the Emperor re-discovered it and incorporated it into the geneseed of one of his legions. He probably improved it so that the likelihood of failure wasn't as great. There aren't all that many Wulfen, after all, and most of them seem to be humanoid rather than straight-up wolves.

I think the actual 'wolves' that live in the wild on Fenris/become cyber wolves/thunderwolves, etc. are descended from the initial human settlers of the planet.

My 2 cents.

[wittdooley]

Makes sense to me. They're definitely linked with the Vlka Fenryka somehow, as Wraight clearly made a point to show in Battle of the Fang. And they're definitely old.

[snikrot]

based on just the Thousand sons reactions to them they seem to have some kind of connection to the warp.

[wittdooley]

See, that's what I thought too when reading Prospero. I actually really like the notion that the Space Wolves are able to manifest benevolent warp creatures. But it's still very up in the air between those two.

[StraightSilver]

Basically during the Dark Age of technology the original explorator fleets would identify worlds suitable for human habitation, and would set up colonies there.

In most sci fi settings when planets are identified as able to support human life but need some adjustment some form of Terra Forming takes place, to make the environment more suitable or habitable, in other words to make it Earth-Norm.

However in 40K they went the other way, and instead of changing tha planet to suit the settlers, they changed the settlers to suit the planet!

In the case of Fenris the original settlers were genetically adapted to suit the hostile, cold environment.

They used the Canis Helix to modify their genes so that they would better adapt to the cold, be better hunters etc.

The settlers would adapt with each subsequent generation and be more suited to the planet they had settled on.

Unfortunately the Canis Helix was either too strong, or Fenris was too hostile and the generations of human settlers were more and more affected by the Canis Helix until some of them mutated into the Fenrisian Wolves.

All subsequent native inhabitants have the Canis Helix written into their DNA, not all of them will have mutated but the genetic alteration is still present.

That is why some Space Wolf aspirants can also devolve into Wulfen, as the Astartes modifications can rewrite parts of their DNA which speeds up the degredation of the Canis Helix.

So "there are no wolves on Fenris". The original settlers didn't bring them with them, they became them due to flaws in their genetic make up. Although Darwin would disagree and say that the flaws are within those settlers who didn't succemb to mutation, as the Fenrisian Wolves probably have an easier time surviving than the un-mutated humans! :)

Of course the Emperor would also have used some of the research that went into genetic manipulation when creating his Primarch projest. One of the novel states (edit: Dliverance Lost) that animal DNA was used frequently to augment human DNA during the Primarch project, which is why some of the Raven Guard devolve into lizard like, or animal like creatures when they are modified using Primarch DNA.

So it makes ense that Russ would have had some form of Canine or more likely Lupine DNA chucked in there at some point, as his Legion was specifically designed to hunt and kill (n their case apparently other Legions!).

It does seem like an awfully big coincidence though that Primarch with Lupine DNA landed on a planet where the inhabitants are affected by the Canis Helix (also a lupine / canine modification), but hey the Gods of the Warp are fickle buggers!

Perhaps human settlers succumbing to their more animal instincts on a genetic level makes them more susceptable to Warp influence?

[Thornblood]

I agree Prospero Burns and a Thousand Sons are deliberately ambiguous. However the Battle of the Fang really pushes the conclusion towards the 2nd option.

Nonetheless Authors do have a bit of scope to ret-con and chnage things and in a universe where mutually exclusive theories can co-exist, I think the thousand sons (the pro- warp pro-psykers) were pushing for the 1st option- the phychic or warp manifestation thingy. Whilst Prospero burns- the wyrd fearing, down to earth wolves storyline suggests more that they are failed aspirants or wulfen whose canis helix has gone into overdrive.

However, the Ragnar Blackmane series sees one of his fellow aspirants become a great wolf-beast thing (not a straight up fenrisian or thunderwolf mind), but the books are old (pointly by the human sized fallen dark angel, the race of talking velociraptors and the wolfblade- OTT 2D sterotype characters very similar to Thor's companions). So that could be out of date....

[StraightSilver]

Sorry I meant Deliverance Lost in my earlier post, not Descent of Angels.

This also sheds some light on Primarch genetic maniplualtion, which would then extend to Astartes genetics.

I won't spoil it for anybody who hasn't read it yet but essentially the Emperor mixed a fair bit of animal DNA into the mix when he created the Primarchs, and this would also then have affected Astartes physiology.

Therfore the Lupine DNA flowing through the geneseed implanted into Space Wolf Aspirants would probably have a field day with the Canis Helix already present in the indigenous inhabitants of Fenris.

Of course do we know if any of the original Terran Space Wolves were ever affected by the curse of the Wulfen?

[MarneusCalgar]

Oh, whatever it is, it's not part of the native Fenrisian population from M31-M40. It seems like it was an abortive part of some attempt to adapt to the planet while colonizing it.

It could be that the Canis Helix is part of what the original settlers of Fenris used to try and adapt. The Imperium did love re-using things from the Dark Age of Technology, especially during the Crusade, so it's feasible that the Emperor re-discovered it and incorporated it into the geneseed of one of his legions. He probably improved it so that the likelihood of failure wasn't as great. There aren't all that many Wulfen, after all, and most of them seem to be humanoid rather than straight-up wolves.

I think the actual 'wolves' that live in the wild on Fenris/become cyber wolves/thunderwolves, etc. are descended from the initial human settlers of the planet.

My 2 cents.

Mines two!!

That´s what I always had believed after reading Prospero Burns and Battle of the Fang... That the "THERE ARE NO WOLVES ON FENRIS" theme is very clear and true: all the wolves we see are the first settlers of the planet, who tried to adapt with the Canis Helix and became wolves with the passing of eras.

[Gut40k]

Def read battle of the fang. Great book!!