[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-516934-105":59,"doc-detail-516934-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","in-pursuit-of-perfection-the-emperors-children-in-the-age-of-darkness","In Pursuit of Perfection - The Emperor’s Children in the Age of Darkness","","The text explores how the Emperor’s Children, among the traitor legions bound to Horus, were driven less by hatred or lust for power than by a consuming, long-brewing pride. It traces their pursuit of excellence from the Great Crusade, turning skill and mastery into an ideology of inherent superiority. Despite a celebrated record of disciplined martial power, the narrative presents their campaign as a brittle facade that masks a growing corruption, culminating in Fulgrim’s mysterious betrayal and the whispered possibility of daemon influence long before later catastrophic events.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":10,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/in-pursuit-of-perfection-the-emperors-children-in-the-age-of-darkness/516934/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/in-pursuit-of-perfection-the-emperors-children-in-the-age-of-darkness/516934.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"\tCallum ","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-25","2026-10-07",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What mainly motivated the Emperor’s Children during the betrayal?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"They were motivated chiefly by pride and a devotion to the pursuit of excellence, which evolved into an assumption of superiority rather than hatred or a desire for power.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why was the Emperor’s Children’s martial record considered exceptional?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"They maintained a consistent training regimen that honed their legion to a fine edge, demonstrated at Isstvan and in later battles across northern sectors of the Imperium.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does the text explain the Emperor’s Children’s eventual fall into rebellion?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It suggests that an overweening pride among senior commanders pushed Fulgrim and his sons toward the Traitor path instead of serving a unified Imperium.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},516934,1791458137,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":8,"category_name":10,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":34,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},137451211410,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/2000bb0a9246f588df?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1786362646172706240","IN PURSUIT OF PERFECTION:  \nTHE EMPEROR’S CHILDREN IN THE AGE OF DARKNESS  \n‘Hubris is an excuse by which those of an irresolute nature and inferior temper justify their mediocrity.  \nGreatness requires no justi cation and exacts no hidden toll, it demands only excellence in all things.’  \n-Attr. Lord Commander Cyrius ofthe Emperor’s Children.  \nIN PURSUIT OF PERFECTION  \nAmong all the Legions bound to Horus by treachery the Emperor’s Children were motivated neither by hatred nor by a lust for power, but instead by a simple aw that had long festered, one oft remarked upon by those they had once called brothers – pride. The pursuit of excellence in all things was the single and consuming goal ofFulgrim’s sons, an obsession born from the ancient traditions of its recruitment, for even the lowliest warrior among them had once been a prince of men, their status sustained by the hand of the Emperor and the many honourshe would bestow upon them. Over the course of the Great Crusade it would shift from a drive to master all the diverse techniques of war to an assumption of superiority on the part of the Emperor’s Children, to the collection of laurels and victory wreaths over the honing of skill. What had once driven them to excel in the service of the Emperor came to chain them to the promulgation of what the warriors of the Emperor’s Children saw as an innate superiority over their brethren, despite the honours won by each of the Emperor’s Legions in the long war toreclaim mankind’s birthright. Each of the wars to which Fulgrim deigned to commit his immaculate Legion were carefully chosen to display their superiority to those they called brother as much as to those they named enemy.  \nDespite this the Emperor’s Children had always been considered loyal beyond reproach, indeed many would have seen  \nthem as overly fanatical in their devotion to the Emperor, and yet they would be among the 􀀞rst to throw o􀀝 that loyalty and pledge themselves to the banner of Horus and rebellion. Though it can never be truly known what caused Fulgrim and his sons to turn their coats in such an unexpected betrayal, it is likely that the overweening pride that had come to dominate many of the Legion’s most senior commanders forced them to walk the path of the Traitor rather than to accept the role of servant to a uni􀀞ed and peaceful Imperium. The Emperor’s dream of a golden age that required no martial champions, no gaudy triumphs to mark its success, but only the rituals of innocence, was a world in which the Emperor’s Children were reduced to one amongst many. A fate that their pride could not endure.  \nThe Perfect Legion  \nThe pride that had overtaken Fulgrim’s Legion was not entirely misplaced, for among all the Legions the Emperor’s Children maintained a record of martial excellence that could not be ignored. It was a record upheld by the constant e􀀝orts of the Legion and its masters, a never-ending regime of training and war that had honed the Legion to a 􀀞ne edge that was made brittle only by the stubborn refusal to mark any as their equal. At Isstvan this deadly skill was proven by the red toll of the Loyalist dead left to carpet the black plains of the dropzones and in the headless corpse of Ferrus Manus, a singular trophy the like  \nof which no other Legion could boast. In the months that followed that infamous confrontation it would be proven many more times in battle all across the Coronid Deeps and the other sectors ofthe northern Imperium, the Lord Commanders ofthe IIIrd Legion planning and executing the complex set-piece battles for which they were famous. The Emperor’s Children were the backbone of Horus’ army, neither berserker horde like Angron’s sons, nor indiscriminate destroyers like the warriors of the Death Guard, but a disciplined host leashed to the keen insight of its commanders. On world after world they put Loyalist garrisons to the sword with precise and lethal skill, leaving pristine industrial hubs for the Traitor war e􀀝ort","cbCaijQ7MkQa9vZx","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijQ7MkQa9vZx","pdf",3680527,"English","# In Pursuit of Perfection\n## The Perfect Legion\n## A Serpent at its Heart","[{\"question\":\"What mainly motivated the Emperor’s Children during the betrayal?\",\"answer\":\"They were motivated chiefly by pride and a devotion to the pursuit of excellence, which evolved into an assumption of superiority rather than hatred or a desire for power.\"},{\"question\":\"Why was the Emperor’s Children’s martial record considered exceptional?\",\"answer\":\"They maintained a consistent training regimen that honed their legion to a fine edge, demonstrated at Isstvan and in later battles across northern sectors of the Imperium.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the text explain the Emperor’s Children’s eventual fall into rebellion?\",\"answer\":\"It suggests that an overweening pride among senior commanders pushed Fulgrim and his sons toward the Traitor path instead of serving a unified Imperium.\"}]","In Pursuit of Perfection - The Emperor’s Children in the Age of Darkness | PDF",1791333750,11]