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== History ==
{{Spoiler|source=Horus Heresy series}}Officially, there were no secret societies within the [[Adeptus Astartes]], not least because the [[Emperor ]] disapproved of them, feeling that they were dangerously close to the cults [[cult]]s that he had outlawed after the adoption of the [[Imperial Truth]]. {{Fn|1a}} Nevertheless, according to [[Space Marine Captain|Captain]] [[Serghar Targhost]], the Lodge Master for the [[Luna Wolves]], some form of these fraternities had existed in almost every Legionfor thousands of years, since before the [[Unification Wars]].{{Fn|1b}}
Approximately sixty years before the war with the [[Interrex]], the [[Luna Wolves]] and the [[Word Bearers]] participated in a joint undertaking to subjugate the world of [[Davin]], ruled by a fierce warrior society organized into a series of quasi-religious cults, each of them centred around the veneration of "totem" animals. The Davinites were fierce enemies, worthy of the Legions' admiration, and the [[Space Marines]] could not help but adopt their customs. Before long, similar lodges could be found in the other Legions, forming tight-knit fellowships between "elite" warriors.{{Fn|1a}}
Several of the Legions' more strait-laced officers, such as [[Garviel Loken]] of the Luna Wolves{{Fn|1a}} and [[Nathaniel Garro]] of the [[Death Guard]]{{Fn|2a}} refused to have anything to do with the lodges. Loken's friends, [[Space Marine Captain|Captain]]s [[Tarik Torgaddon]] and [[Horus Aximand]] both defended their membership in the lodges, arguing that even super-human Astartes needed a place to speak their minds and feel the kinship of their brothers, regardless of rank or unit affiliation. After attending a lodge meeting, Loken was somewhat assuaged, but still had misgivings: the lodges were, after all, a secret institution, and secrecy was anathema to a military organization.{{Fn|1b}}
Eventually, the lodges became the vehicle by which rebellion spread through the Legions, beginning with discontent over the [[Emperor]]'s withdrawal from the Crusade and some of the dictates being issued by the newly-formed [[Council of Terra]]. By the time of the [[Battle of Isstvan III]], the Legions were clearly divided between those officers and marines who would follow [[Horus]] in his treason, and those who would not, leading to the massacre of those loyalist forces at Isstvan.{{Fn|2b}}
== Aftermath ==
In [[M41]], ten thousand years after the Heresy, the formation of secret brotherhoods between self-appointed "elite" soldiers was still regarded as a warning sign of [[Chaos]] corruption. [[Commissar]] [[Ciaphas Cain]] made a point of lecturing his students at the [[Schola Progenium]] about it, the better for them spot, and hopefully head off, the development of [[Traitor Guard]] units.{{Fn|3}}
== Sources ==
*{{Endn|1}}: [[Horus Rising (Novel)]]
**{{Endn|1a}}: Part Two, Chapter Three, pgs. 245-247
**{{Endn|1b}}: Part Two, Chapter Five, pgs. 283-292
*{{Endn|2}}: [[The Flight of the Eisenstein (Novel)]]
**{{Endn|2a}}: {{Cite This}}
**{{Endn|2b}}: {{Cite This}}
*{{Endn|3}}: [[Cain's Last Stand (Novel)]] - [[Ciaphas Cain: Defender of the Imperium (Omnibus)]] by [[Sandy Mitchell]]: {{Cite This}}
[[Category:Chaos Cults and Abhumans]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]
[[Category:The Horus Heresy]]
