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The '''Warrior Lodges''' were a group of secret fraternities formed by members of the [[Space Marine Legion]]s during the [[Great Crusade]]. They eventually led to the division of the Legions into factions that facilitated their fall to [[Chaos]] and the start of the [[Horus Heresy]]. Warrior Lodges were covertly spread by the [[Word Bearers]], who had secretly fallen to [[Chaos]], as a means to subvert the loyalties of each Astartes Legion.{{Fn|5}} == History ==

Officially, there were no secret societies within the [[Adeptus Astartes]], not least because the [[Emperor of Mankind]] disapproved of them, feeling that they were dangerously close to the cults that he had outlawed after the adoption of the [[Imperial Truth]].{{Fn|1a}} Nevertheless, according to [[Space Marine Captain|Captain]] [[Serghar Targost]], the Lodge Master for the [[Luna Wolves]], some form of these fraternities had existed in almost every Legion for thousands of years, since before the [[Unification Wars]].{{Fn|1b}}

Approximately sixty years before the [[Battle of 63-19]], 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 centered 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}}, [[Nathaniel Garro]] of the [[Death Guard]]{{Fn|2a}}{{Fn|2b}}, and [[Macer Varren]] of the [[World Eaters]]{{Fn|3a}}, forbade the men of their [[Space Marine Company|Companies]] 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|2c}}

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 to spot, and hopefully head off, the development of [[Traitor Guard]] units.{{Fn|4}} 

==See Alsoalso==

== Sources ==*1: [[Horus Rising (Novel)]]:

*2: [[The Flight of the Eisenstein (Novel)]]:

*3: [[Garro: Sword of Truth (Audio Book)]]:

*{{Endn|4}}: [[Cain's Last Stand (Novel)]] - — [[Ciaphas Cain: Defender of the Imperium (Omnibus)]] by [[Sandy Mitchell]]: , Chapter Five, pg. 563*{{Endn|5}}: [[The First Heretic (Novel)]] - , Chapter 22