Originally Posted by
DWest
The implication is, Fenrisian Wolves are technically deeply devolved Abhumans; the Canis Helix was developed by the first wave of settlers to Fenris in order to engineer the people to survive on the icy death world. Which means, first off, that the Space Wolves aren't space vikings, they're Astartes who recruit from an already-established population of space vikings. Moreover, their Apothecarion never removed the Canis, but rather worked around it, which is why you get the "Wulfen", who are Space Wolves who have semi-devolved as part of their augmentation. Even worse, Thunderwolves are implied to be Wulfen who went all the way feral.
As for the larger implications, it casts the Space Wolves in a bad light, basically making them out to be hypocrites; they punish other forces for deviating from the Imperial Creed, while they themselves are highly deviant. But, this is a trait already present in the Wolves, just look at their unbending hatred of psykers while at the same time making great use of Rune Priests, who are okay because they draw upon the "Wyrd of Fenris", which if that isn't the Warp, then it implies something even worse, that the very rock of Fenris is tainted by Chaos, the same way Caliban was.
On a related note, I wonder if the GW design team will read their own notes, with the new Helfrost stuff; if Rune Priests really do draw on some power innate to their homeworld, then it would make much more sense for Helfrost guns to be basically Psycannons charged with a very specific type of energy, but they'll probably end up being lasers fired through magic ice crystals or similar shenanigans.