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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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==History==
The '''13th Great Company''' was formed from the followers of [[Leman_Russ_(primarch)|Leman Russ]] from his days on [[Fenris]], before the coming of the Allfather (The [[Emperor]]). They were all old men by the standards of the Astartes, having been reavers and sword-brothers to Leman, King of the Rus. When the truth of Leman’s heritage was finally revealed, every warrior in the king’s mead-hall had drawn their iron blades and clamoured to fight at his side, as sword-brothers ought. But they were all too old, the [[Emperor]] had told them; not a man among them was younger than twenty years. The trials they would have to endure would very likely kill them, no matter how courageous and strong-willed they were. Yet the men of Leman’s mead-hall were mighty warriors, each man a hero in his own right, and they would not be dissuaded by thoughts of suffering or death. Leman, the king, was moved by their devotion, and could not find it in his heart to refuse them. And so his loyal thanes undertook the Trials of the Wolf, and true to the [[Emperor]]’s word, the vast majority of them died. Out of hundreds, almost two score survived, a number that amazed even the [[Emperor]] himself. In honour of their courage, Leman – no longer king now, but Primarch of the VI Legion – formed a new company around the survivors. Ever since, the other warriors of the Legion referred to the Thirteenth as the '''Greybeards'''. The members of the company, however, called themselves the '''Wolf Brothers'''. Immediately preceding the Heresy, the Company was led by the [[Wolf Lord]] Bulveye.<sup>3</sup>.
==The Great Crusade==
That the 13th Company accompanied Russ on the [[Great Crusade]] is known, although the details of the campaigns in which they fought are lost to antiquity. Only the names of actions, long since forgotten appear in the archives, battles such as the First Siege of Methrix and the Battle of the Plains of Mo-Shan, the Fall of the Paramours of the Morpheus Rift, and the Crossing of Hangman's Void.
Space Wolf legend states that the Thirteenth Company was sent by Leman Russ to pursue the survivors of the [[Thousand Sons]], after a failed attempt to eliminate them at their homeworld of [[Prospero]]<sup>2</sup>. The members of the 13th Company swore to hunt their foes down until every last one of the cursed marines was slain, no matter how long it took, nor where the traitors fled. [[Wolf Lord]] Bulveye himself casts small doubt over the veracity of these legends with his guarded response to [[Ragnar Blackmane]]'s historical recount of their mission during the events of [[Wolf's Honour]]<sup>2</sup> They vanished from Imperial records, and their loss is honoured by a black stone in the Grand Annulus (the record of Space Wolf Great Companies).
