History Literature / ThousandSons

** ** The Prodigal Sons inflict what is at least a ApocalypseHow/Class5 on Vohal by unleashing a defoliant that kills all plant life on the planet within twenty-seven hours, removing its ability to support life and condemning its population to a slow and horrible death by starvation or asphyxiation. By the time the Inquisition arrives to set up a conclave there, Vohal has been a dead world for centuries.

** The Prodigal Sons inflict a ApocalypseHow/{{Class 4}} on Vohal, destroying its ability to support life without killing the actual population. [[FalseReassurance They die in the following months as what little resources are left wither away]].

* AbnormalAmmo: Inquisitor Iobel shoots Ahriman with a bolt shell made from consecrated silver. Ahriman survives, but some of its shards become too deeply buried in his body to extract surgically, and they're psychically warded against sorcery so he can't use his power to extract them. He notes them moving closer to his hearts throughout the story [[spoiler:and they reach his hearts at the climax of the second Rubric, but end up being eliminated as a consequence of the Rubric's power]].

* * WizardDuel: A common occurrence in the series, since Ahriman and many of his allies and enemies are all powerful sorcerers. The fights often involve the combatants blasting each other with telekinesis and elemental powers, deflecting attacks with telekinetic shields, invading one another’s minds, and having their souls leave their bodies to do direct battle with each other, and more.

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_ahriman_exile.png]]

!!Tropes

* ApocalypseHow: The Prodigal Sons inflict a [[ApocalypseHow/{{Class 4}} Class 4]] on Vohal, destroying it's ability to support life without killing the actual population. [[FalseReassurance They die in the following months as what little resources are left wither away]].
* BatmanGambit: When the Inquisition detects that Ahriman has broken through a blockade of the ruined planet of Prospero, former homeworld of the Thousand Sons, they fear that he's planning some sort of ritual there and order a preemptive Exterminatus. Ahriman is planning a ritual there - a ritual that would allow him to return to the new homeworld of the Thousand Sons in the Eye of Terror, the Planet of Sorcerers. To do so, he needed to recreate the fires that burned Prospero and a key part of the ceremony. So he made sure to be detected on his way in so that the Inquisition would destroy the planet again in an attempt to stop him.

** The BigBad of ''Exile'' is Amon, the lord of the Brotherhood of Dust, seeking out Ahriman to use him in his plan to bring salvation to the Legion [[spoiler:by destroying the Thousand Sons. Ahriman uses the knowledge of the Rubric to unmake Amon, take his armor, and his warband, which becomes the Prodigal Sons.]]
** The Big Bad of ''Sorcerer'' is Sanakht, who believes Ahriman's plan to save the Legion is ultimately doomed to failure and resolves to kill him, plotting with Ignis kill Ahriman at a moment of weakness. [[spoiler:Except Sanakht is merely an UnwittingPawn of Ahriman, who knew of his treachery, and used the non-Thousand Sons that turned against Ahriman as part of a mass sacrifice to fuel a warp portal allowing the Prodigal Sons escape from Apollonia. Ahriman is the real BigBad of ''Sorcerer''.]]

* BittersweetEnding: ''Ahriman: Unchanged'': [[spoiler:The second Rubric succeeds in putting Magnus back together with the wrath aspect under control and averts the War that was prophesied to consume the galaxy, but fails to reverse the damage of the first Rubric, while a dying Astraeos walks off on the surface of the Planet of the Sorcerers, content that Ahriman has failed. However, several days after the second Rubric was cast, it's discovered that one Rubricae, Helio Isidorus, was returned to life, initially remembering nothing before the Rubric was cast, but eventually remembering his name.]]

* GambitPileup: The first two books had enough of this as is, but ''Ahriman: Uunchanged'' somehow manages to take it UpToEleven with, at the very least, ''six'' conflicting agendas. Some plans going against each other are made by the same person.

* EvilSorcerer: The Thousand Sons have this as their hat. All the ones that are still alive are powerful sorcerers.

* MasterSwordsman: Sanakht was regarded as the Legion's best swordsman during the Literature/HorusHeresy, and is still this even after the loss of so much of psychic potential.

* RedIsHeroic: In ''Ahriman: Exile'', the Brotherhood of Dust have their color scheme red, the color of the Thousand Sons when they were loyal to the Emperor. This is part of Amon's desire to find redemption in the eyes of the Emperor [[spoiler:by annihilating the Legion]].
* SanitySlippage: Connecting to the ''Sycorax'' takes a heavy toll on Carmenta, and her mental faculties suffer as a result. [[spoiler:Ahriman's allowing of Sanakht to MindRape Hemellion into killing her is partly implied to be a MercyKill on Ahriman's part.]]

* VillainProtagonist: You may find yourself rooting for Ahriman to succeed, but make no mistake, he is not a nice person.

The Thousand Sons are a Legion of Chaos Space Marines in TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}, which have a trilogy of books written by Creator/JohnFrench, centering on their most famous member, Azhek Ahriman. The first book, ''Ahriman: Exile'', features the eponymous Ahriman having been exiled from his Legion after casting the infamous Rubric of Ahriman. Meeting up with a group of Space Marines whose Chapter was declared renegade, he takes them into his service when the Brotherhood of Dust, a Warband composed of several of his former battle-brothers, begin hunting him. The second book is ''Ahriman: Sorcerer'', and features Ahriman, now a powerful warlord of the Prodigal Sons, seeking to undo the damage the Rubric had done by seeking the Athanaeum of Kalimakus, which holds the words of his Primarch, Magnus the Red. The third book, ''Ahriman: Unchanged'', sees Ahriman and his warband trying to return to the Planet of the Sorcerers to cast the second Rubric.

* BittersweetEnding: ''Ahriman: Unchanged'': [[spoiler:The second Rubric succeeds in putting Magnus back together and the averts the War that prophesied to consume the galaxy, but fails to reverse the damage the first Rubric, while a dying Astraeos walks off on the surface of the Planet of the Sorcerers, content that Ahriman has failed. However, several days after the second Rubric was cast, it's discovered that one Rubricae, Helio Isidorus, was returned to life, initially remembering nothing before the Rubric was cast, but eventually remembering his name.]]

** Ctesias is physically weaker than his brothers, but can still fight for days without tiring, and in return has gained a large collection of powerful daemons at his beck and call.

* ApocalypseHow: The Prodigal Sons inflict a [[ApocalypseHow/Class4 Class 4]] on Vohal, destroying it's ability to support life without killing the actual population. [[FalseReassurance They die in the following months as what little resources are left wither away]].