You're Just Looking At His Afterimage (Grimdark WIP) (Patreon)

Hello!

It's Grimdark Month and now it's the Khan's time to shine!

So I'll be honest.  Going into the Horus Heresy, I thought the Khan and the White Scars were going to get the Iron Hands treatment.  And trust me, no 30K/40K fan wants the Iron Hands treatment.  I've seen grots treated with more dignity than the Iron Tenth. 😅

My prediction was that the V Legion would get some brief acknowledgement about recapturing the Lion's Gate spaceport or something.  To my pleasant surprise, not only did their books far exceed my expectations, they flat out turned out to be one of the best things about the Horus Heresy/Siege of Terra series.  And after 50+ books, I can safely say that Jaghatai Khan, a.k.a the Warhawk, a.k.a the Burnmaster catapulted to the top of my list as one of the best Primarchs in the setting.

The writers (well, just one writer really) managed to give the Vth Legion Primarch a surprising amount of nuance in only a few books.  And that is pretty refreshing in a demi god character. 👍So get strapped in for another very long summary because I'm going to fanboy for the Khan and make sure he deserves all the credit he can get.  Maybe he'll even get some new fans. 😄 (Oh, and as usual, lots of spoilers).

To start things off, the Khan's birth pod landed on Chogoris, a fertile world with wide, open, green plains and tall, white mountains and blue seas.  Bit of a side tangent but Cegorach decided to do a switcheroo with Fulgrim's pod, drastically changing how events would unfold.  One can only speculate what sort of cosmic joke the Space Clown was trying to pull against Slaanesh.

Anyways, the dominant empire on Chogoris was a well-organized feudal aristocracy led by the Palatine. To the west of the Palatine's empire was the Empty Quarter, a barren grassland with few resources, and as such it was never invaded by the Palatine's armies. It was home to wandering tribes of nomadic horsemen (Mongolians, they're Mongolians). The Palatine or other nobles of his empire would sometimes lead forces into the Empty Quarter to capture slaves or merely to hunt the tribesmen for fun.  Luckily for the tribes, the Primarch was found by Ong Khan, the chieftain of a small tribe called the Talaskars, who saw him as a gift from the gods. It is said he had a "fire in his eyes," the sign of a great warrior among the nomads.

This did earn the jealousy of other tribes though and only after a few years, Jaghatai's adopted father was slain by the rival Kurayed tribe. Jaghatai, already a superhuman Mongolian that had mastered warfare attacked the Kurayed tribe and razed its yurts to the ground, slaying every man, woman and child in a murderous, revenge-driven frenzy, completing the revenge arc by mounting the enemy tribe leader's head on his tent. 😲

After that, Jaghatai had a bit of time to reflect on his actions.  While he did enjoy battle, he realized it had to be tempered with an actual goal.  So he swore to end the constant tribal in-fighting and unite all the people of the Empty Quarter, thereby shaping him into a man of fierce honour, loyalty and ruthlessness. The Khan fought hundreds of battles against other tribes and defeated hunting packs of nobles sent by the Palatine. Each tribe the Talaskars conquered was absorbed into the larger Talaskar confederacy.  While all this was happening, the Palantine was getting increasingly nervous about this mysterious warrior that was uniting all the tribes and rightfully paranoid he would try to usurp his empire.

Ten summers after the Khan's arrival on Chogoris, his tribe was caught in a vast avalanche when they travelled through some mountains. Jaghatai survived but was found by one of the aristocratic hunting bands led by the Palatine's son.  No direct records about that encounter survive but it was said all that returned of that band was one mutilated rider with the head of the Palatine's son and a note saying that the people of the steppes were no longer his toys.

A super pissed Palatine gathered a massive army and determined to march west to wipe the tribes of the Empty Quarter from the face of the planet. But the Khan being Genghis Khan/Chinggis/Temujin in all but name used famed Mongolian tactics like horseback archers with hit and run attacks to whittle away the Palatine army then slaughter them almost to the last man.

Jaghatai then marched on the cities of the Palatine and gave them two choices: surrender or die. Most surrendered, but many resisted and were utterly wiped from the face of the planet. Eventually the armies of Jaghatai came to the Palace of the Palatine, where the Primarch demanded the head of the Palatine on a spike.  By this point, the Khan's reputation had reached legendary proportions and the capital city's promptly turned on their ruler to save their own lives from the fierce tribesmen of the Empty Quarter. Jaghatai Khan adorned his tent with his greatest conquest's head, just as he had with his first enemy two solar decades before.

And with that, Jaghatai Khan was now the Khagan, the "Khan of Khans," of the Empty Quarter, the rightful ruler of all its people.  This actually worried the Primarch because the Khan was born to hunt but not to rule.  His greatest fear was to become fat and lazy like the Palatine he had overthrown.  Luckily, this wouldn't be a problem for too long because his true father would soon rediscover Chogoris and his son.

So when the Khan met Big E, the reunion was a lot more complicated than many others.  The Khan knew that the Emperor's offer to join the Imperium was not something he could say no to.  And he was definitely not a fan of the Imperium in general nor the Mechanicus who he saw as an race of 'metal slugs'.  But he also understood that the Emperor was the one person who actually had the ability and vision to unify humanity.  Plus he would be able to take to the stars and hunt on a whole new scale.  Not to mention the sweet bonus of Space Marines and Jet Bikes! 🤩 So in a pro gamer move, the Khan agreed to join the Emperor's Great Crusade if the Imperium/Mechanicum left Chogoris unchanged and he didn't have to repeat all the Imperial propaganda.  Big E said yes.

Prior to the Khan's discovery, the 5th Legion were known as the Star Hunters and were primarily the scouts/pathfinders of the Imperium, rediscovering lost human civilization from Long Night or finding new Xenos races which the Imperium would probably exterminate.  Fun fact, it was actually  one of their scouting groups that discovered Horus' homeworld who they described as a bunch of gangsters and criminals in their report back to the Imperium.  Back then, the Star Hunters they were heavily mechanized and slow, basically the complete opposite of the lightning fast strike tactics the Chogorians preferred.  Like armored bears as one of the Khan's men observed.  Jaghatai Khan changed all that, renaming the 5th Legion to the White Scars and teaching them the lightning fast hit and run tactics the 5th Legion is now famous for.  White Scars do love their bikes!

One of Khan's most important decisions was to get all White Scars to ritually scar their faces with the 5th Legion lightning symbol.  This was a symbolic gesture of unifying the Terran and disparate Chogorian tribes together.  It didn't matter where you were from, all of the Space Marines became White Scars after the ceremony.  He also encouraged his sons to enjoy battle to 'laugh while they are killing' and pursue other artistic pursuits like calligraphy and poetry.  As one White Scar put it 'Only poets can be warriors.'

With the White Scars fully formed, they grew famous for their hit and run tactics.  Where the enemy was weak or exposed, they enveloped and overran its positions without mercy, using speed and fury to overwhelm any defense.  But the 5th Legion also had a habit of staying out of contact with the Imperium for long periods of time, making it hard for them to resupply and organize them like other Legions.  One reason was because the Khan's relationship with his father and other Primarchs was not great.  In many ways he was the most distant to the Emperor, loyalist and traitor included.

You see, one thing the Primarch really disagreed with was the Imperial Truth.  Chogorians had tribal shamans who were very well aware of the true nature of the warp and the dangers that lurked with delving too deeply into its secrets.  The Imperial Truth basically said the warp was benign, no cosmic horrors existed and you should only trust in science which was total BS in the setting.  Basically the Khan hated the propaganda.  He understood humanity was inextricably tied to the warp and there was always a chance psykers/humanity would be overrun by Chaos.  But Chogorians also believed psykers should not to be feared but needed to be taught how to use their power responsibly.  The Path of Heaven as they called it.  Take what is necessary from the warp but don't drink too deeply from its poisoned chalice.  As opposed to Magnus who wanted to treat the warp like drug addict treats cocaine.  Anyways, this was a huge point of contention he had with Big E and Malcador and they never really resolved their differences.

And unlike Mr. Perfect or Lorgar 'all I wanted was the truth' Aurelian, who needs constant validation, the Khan could not give less of a shit about all the family drama or the politics involved with being a Primarch.  Plus most outsiders basically thought the White Scars were like the 6th Legion, (i.e. savage barbarians).  So rather than deal with all this nonsense, the Khan took his entire Legion as far away from Imperial space and did his own thing, fighting epic battles and riding those sweet, sweet jet bikes.  Have I mentioned the White Scars really like their bikes? 😄

When the Horus Heresy was in full swing, the White Scars were far away on Chondax hunting Orks and had no idea about what had happened or that three Legions just got massacred.  The White Scars were always so far away and out of everybody's mind so it was only natural they were the last to get involved in this mess.  After the Chondax campaign, the White Scars were accosted by the Alpha Legion and barraged with contradictory astropathic messages.  One side claimed Horus had turned traitor and they should return to Terra, the other said it was other way around and you should support team Horus.  One said Russ had burned down Magnus' homeworld of Propsero and he was the traitor.  Oh, and one was from Russ directory saying his Legion was getting his shit kicked in by the Alpha Legion and they needed help.  The Khan found that one pretty funny. 😄  But the point of all this was the Alpha Legion attempting to get the White Scars to pick a side in their very convoluted way.

So this is where I want to point out one of the Khan's superpowers and yes, I do consider this a superpower in the setting: common sense.  Unlike Ferrus, who literally charged at the problem without thinking about the consequences the Khan took the time to deliberate and plot the most sensible course of action.  So in the one of the rare instances of the Alpha Legion being outplayed, the Khan ignored all the messages and performed a tactical genius maneuver with his entire fleet, blowing past the 20th Legion's barricade to find their own answers.

From here, I'm going to condense a series of very important events because each of them could be its own post.  Basically the White Scars heads to Prospero to find Magnus because he's one of the few Primarchs the Khan trusts to give him a clear picture of what's really going on.  Yeah, he left Russ out to dry.  But he did send a polite astropathic message saying 'That sucks, bro.  I hope you don't die so we can fight together again.' Guess how Russ took that. 😄

They discover Prospero absolutely destroyed and upon further investigation, the Khan finds a shard of Magnus (he's a bunch of shards now, I'm not getting into this) who gives him an info dump about everything.  The two brothers also have a very candid discussion about the true nature of Chaos and why everybody is up shit's creek without a paddle no matter what choices they make.  The only decision the Khan has left is which team to play for.  While this is happening, the White Scars discover a lone Thousand Sons survivor who will eventually become the first Grey Knights Supreme Grandmaster.  (No, I'm not kidding.  It does make sense if you read the stories).  Oh, and Mortarion shows up on Prospero while some pro Horus elements of the White Scars decides this is the perfect time to stage a coup.

So back in my Mortarion summary, I mentioned how he joined the side that gives psykers all the power even though he hates psykers. 🤦‍♂️ With that questionable decision, Mortarion needed all the allies he can get.  The Death Lord tries to convince his brother that the Imperium was ripe for the picking and the Emperor was a tyrant whose cause the Khan never believed in anyways.  The Khan shoots this all down with few choice words about Mortarion's poor life choices.  And while he does agree that the Emperor did a lot of shady stuff, the Khan is also self aware enough to know he doesn't have the full picture and that their father was working towards goals none of them fully understood.  The Khan also recognizes that despite all his grievances towards the Emperor, He never tried to change who the Warhawk really was while Mortarion and the other traitors were now little better than glorified slaves to even darker masters.  Mortarion is enraged to have his own hypocrisy pointed out and the two have a brief scuffle before the Death Lord retreats.

So from this point on, the Khan and the White Scars are committed to the loyalist side.  They purge their ranks of traitorous elements and spend a few years bleeding the traitors.  Eventually the Khan discovers one of the nodes to the Emperor's Webway project (warp highway without all the Chaos problems and much faster) and uses it to return to Terra for the final confrontation.  But the cost for using it is pretty steep. 😢

There's a whole bunch of other stuff I could mention but I think this post is going to be long enough already.  Hopefully, that gives some insight into why I personally hold the Khan and White Scars in such high regard.  Because despite all the tension and disagreements the Khan had with his father, he returned when it mattered most.  When the chips were down, the Khan and his Legion were on Holy Terra fighting the most important war humanity ever had when more prestigious Legions were not.  Hell, even the Dark Angels somehow managed to get in on the action.  I swear Corswain single handedly stopped the Dark Angel's reputation from plummeting during the Horus Heresy.  The point I'm getting at though is the Khan stayed true to his nature while so many of his brothers failed the final test.  Because the Warhawk may range far and wide but he will always return to the one who set him loose in the first place. 👍

If you want to see all of the Khan's and White Scars epic exploits, I cannot recommend Scars, Path of Heaven and Warhawk enough.  Absolutely top tier books in the Horus Heresy/Siege of Terra series.  Great characters with ton of epic moments that will make you shed manly tears.  Hell, even Eidolon manages to be somewhat competent despite resembling a giant infected ball sack.  Plus there's an Emperor's Children swordsman that Lucius wishes he was half as cool as.

Appearance wise, I'm sticking as close as possible to his original art.  I'm not sure if I want to include the scar on his head as it always looks like it's painted on instead of being an actual scar.  I guess that's because no scar would be permanent for a Primarch.

In terms of wargear, the Khan gets quite a few toys.  He wields a master crafted Tulwar called the The White Tiger Dao and an archeotech laspistol.  Seriously, a laspistol for a Primarch?  I hope it hits like a lascannon at least.  But most importantly, he can ride a Sojutsu Pattern Voidbike which has thrusters powerful enough for limited periods of true flight, and even some maneuverability in deep space.

So let me get this straight, there is no official model of the Khan riding a bike even though there are rules for him doing that.  Wow, I guess the Angry Company really does subsist on the tears of its fanbase. 😄

Career Highlights:

• Round 2 of the Khan vs Mortarion!  During the Siege of Terra, the Khan's attacks the Lion's Gate spaceport to slow down the traitor's advance and provide orbital counterfire.  Mortarion is also there doing weird psychic shenanigans to weaken the defender's resolve.  The two rivals clash again but this time the battle is pretty one sided because of Chaos cheat codes so it's really just Mortarion pummeling the crap out of his brother.  However, the Khan knows that physical pain is basically meaningless to a Primarch but it's the psychological damage that cuts the deepest.  So in another pro gamer move the Khan starts listing out all of Mortarion's inadequacies as a Primarch including constantly being upstaged by his First Captain.  This makes Mortarion reach new levels of rage that Khorne would be proud of and leaves him reckless and open to a perfect decapitation strike.  You are out of here!  Now that I think about it, the loyalist Primarchs actually have a pretty good track record against their traitorous counterparts in one vs one duels.  I guess Eliphas wasn't around to tell the traitors that becoming a Daemon Prince is technically a demotion. 😄
• In terms of actual superpowers, Khan does possess supernatural speed even compared to his own brothers.  He almost never becomes fatigued even after long periods of exertion and has been known enter a state of pure martial perfection and fury where he obliterated a insane number of Orks after they killed one of his original sons.
• I might have given the impression that the Khan has Dorn's level of social skills but that's not really the case.  True, he doesn't care much for the other Primarchs but most of them never tried to get to know the Khan but he admires those that manage to look past their savage reputation.  The Primarch and the White Scars are often described as very polite and respectful to outsiders if it is reciprocated.  And if someone earns the Khan's respect he can even be sociable, someone you can have a casual conversation with, have a drink and and play even Go.  You really can't do that with most of the other Primarchs because...just look at them.
• In my personal opinion, the Khan has some of the most badass sounding titles.  Like Warhawk, Khagan to his sons and Master of the Ice-blue Heavens.  I also decided to add the title of Burnmaster because 5th Legion Primarch throws some of the best shade in the Horus Heresy.  I won't spoil it here but in Scars the Khan gives Fulgrim a burn that has become legendary in the fanbase.  In the context of the story, it is absolutely hilarious.  I almost busted a gut.
• I've got to give a shoutout to Targutai Yesugei and Ilya Ravallion, two fantastic characters introduced in the White Scars books.  Both are close advisors to the Primarch and are essential in getting the White Scars back to Terra.  Targutai Yesugei is the Chief Stormseer of the White Scars and Ilya Ravallion is a member of the Departmento Munitorum who  becomes part of the White Scars command structure (Szu which basically means sage or wise counselor).  She manages to make the White Scars slightly more organized among other things.
• Nobody is really aware of this but the Khan is actually the architect of the Librarius within modern day Chapters.  Back in the days of Great Crusade, the Khan, Sanguinius and Magnus tried to hammer out guidelines on how a Librarian should operate in the Legions and what restrictions should be imposed on them.  But since Magnus screwed up everything at the Council of Nikaea, this wasn't followed up until after the Horus Heresy.  Which leads into my other point.  The Khan is one of the few Primarchs who actually agreed to implement the Codex Astartes as history has shown the Space Marines will screw everything up without proper checks and balances.  So he probably gave his Librarius organizational suggestions to Guilliman and he said 'Cool bro, yeah let's do that'.  Like I said, common sense is a superpower in the setting!
• The Khan and White Scars have the best bikes and riders in the Imperium.  Yes, you heard me Dark Angels.  Stop muscling in on the White Scars thing.  You already hog all the best Dark Age tech.
• As of now, the Khan is 'lost in the Webway chasing Dark Eldar'.  But based on current trends, I can almost guarantee the Angry Company will bring him back into modern 40K once the company cocaine bucket starts to run dry.

Next up are the Krorks and Constantin Valdor!  Here's a sneak peak of how the Krorks are shaping up.  Stay tuned!