A pivotal moment in the plot line is when the Primarch Vulkan is kidnapped by his brother Conrad Curze. Curze tortures Vulkan endlessly, killing him over and over again only to find his brother(a little worse for wear mentally each time) alive and well due to Vulkan being a natural perpetual(undying being) like the Emperor.
Curze represents the idea of ruling by fear, while Vulkan represents the idea of not ruling at all, but serving others out of love. Curze, when he found his homeworld as a young primarch, before the Emperor discovered him. It was a mess of a planet driven by corruption, greed, and scandals. Perverts, degenerates, and murderers ruled its political scene, and the under-cities in its massive habitation zones were nothing but an arena for the weak to be preyed upon. Curze was disgusted by what he saw, and using his super human abilities he dawned the title of the “Night Haunter”, and stalked the streets of his capital city preying on those who prey on the weak. In under a year the crime rate of Curze homeworld was down to nearly 1%. His methods worked, but only so long as he was available to spread fear in the hearts of people. Otherwise Curze was a great and temperament leader…unless you strayed away from being a decent human being then he was your worst nightmare. In the end Curze is driven mad by his prophetic abilities, seeing a future of brother killing brother and nothing but war he is driven mad by that, and also the belief that in order to bring peace he had to become exactly what he hates, a murderer.
Vulkan on the other hand hails from a volcanic death world, where without the efforts of him and his legion every “fire season”(when the volcanoes all erupt) life on his world would not be possible. The marines of Vulkan sacrifice their lives simply to safeguard civilians walking to safety zones during the volcanic season. No great glory in combat, no honored medal, simply a notion that this is their responsibility. Nocturne, like Curze homeworld has its problems, but due to the benevolence of the Salamanders(Vulkan’s legion) crime, and corruption are kept low as it is an extremely appreciated population which strives to emulate the humanity of the Salamanders protecting them.
Vulkan, unlike Curze, is driven literally mad by dying so many times. His only flaw, like Curze, is a bad streak of anger in his personality. Curze expunges this, and shows the reader that even the best of us can become nothing more than a rabid animal, striking down their own kind with no heed, when exposed to endless hate, and fear. The books do not mention if Vulkan returns to his sanity, as loyal Imperial forces even try to help him, but it is suggested he either dies for good finally, or sneaks away to plot his revenge against the brothers he perceives have betrayed the Imperium, and humanity at its core values. Like a statement on stockholm syndrome though, to Vulkan’s credit he never sides with Curze, instead he lets his anger safeguard himself, preferring to go mad outright, than fall to the madness his brothers have embraced out of spite.
unappliedsemantics 