Editing Void Angels (section)

=Organisation and Doctrine=
''What do you need to succeed as warriors of the Fifth Legion?  It is very simple.  Audacity, more audacity, and always audacity!''

- a favourite saying of Master of Recruits Remus Alsara

[[File:Va legion-1.jpg|200px|thumb]]
Due to their difficult beginnings, the young Fifth Legion had to fulfil many different roles, according to the whim of their commanders.  When serving [[Arelex Orannis]] of the War Scribes, they fought as a dedicated melee unit.  [[Roman Albrecht]] wanted them to be his air-mobile reserve.  But as the sons of Gaspard Lumey are fond of saying, "no year passes in vain".  Their varied experiences prepared the cadre of the Legion to train a great new intake of warriors once their own Primarch had been rediscovered.

The essential part of the Legion's doctrine is the role of military friction.  Unlike other fighting organisations, the Fifth do not attempt to bring order to the battlefield but instead seek to overwhelm the enemy's ability to co-ordinate their forces.  Once the opposition has been turned into an incoherent mass by the tempo of the battle, Gaspard Lumey taught the Legion to press home their advantage to destroy their enemy and make an example of them.  The futility - and terrible cost - of opposing the Imperium must be proven.  In brighter days, complaints at their brutality were not uncommon, but their effectiveness has won the test of time.

The Fifth Legion's tactical and operational doctrines began with the work of their first commander and, later, the Primarch's Equerry, Antoine Antonelle.  Antonelle believed that the critical task of a commander was not to boldly inspire or physically lead his troops, but to clarify his subordinates on the essential tasks of the operation.  This conception still underlies the Void Angels' planning sessions, which often involve very junior Astartes and allied commanders, so that all can be clear on the main objectives.  Within this loose framework, subcommanders are left to determine their own methods for achieving the objectives, but common training and equipment has seen the Legion adopt a general "game plan".

Antonelle's squadrons were meant to be self-reliant, both in their operations and in the training of new Marines dispatched from Terra.  The notion of an establishment manpower was completely foreign to the Fifth at this point, as their headquarters fought for every recruit and had little say in the deployment of the "Legion"'s limited forces.  About all that Fifth's commanders could managed was the decision of whether to raise new Squadrons or to feed new recruits to the existing formations.

Gaspard Lumey's first reform of the Fifth Legion - the so-called '''Establishment Decree''' -was based on the newly-established values of his homeworld.  Though the ethics were unfamiliar to the small cadre of Terran Astartes, these positions and institutions helped to familiarise the huge intakes of new Marines from Ciban IV and the Markian Pact.  Antoine Antonelle worked alongside his new master to create a regular structure for the expanding Legion's squadrons.  With so many new officers, the old days of improvisation could not be sustained.  However, the Fifth's cadre lacked experience in modes of warfare beyond their air-mobile light infantry role of the last few decades and it was determined to rely on auxilia to provide heavy support weapons until this deficiency could be made good.

Under the Establishment Decree, a squadron was to consist of 100 Battle Brothers plus officers, supporting marines, and clerks, organised as follows:
*Headquarters.  Lieutenant, Apothecary, Iterator.
*Reconnaissance element.  Ten Battle Brothers.
*Tactical element.  Sixty Battle Brothers.
*Manoeuvre element.  Twenty Battle Brothers.
*Motor Pool.  Two Techmarines, presiding over three ''Storm Eagle'' Assault Gunships, six Rhinos, twenty Space Marine Bikes.

Together with the new structure, the Establishment Decree set up new ranks or renamed old ones.

[[File:Binarycorpsbwalpha.jpg|200px|thumb|The binary corps structure used by the Fifth Legion early in the Great Crusade.]]
Lumey's first conquests in the Al-Sherar Sector would be made using just one squadron of Terran Astartes, strengthened by the redoubtable auxilia of his homeworld and soon augmented by the mobilisation of the Markian Pact.  As the first Cibanese Neophytes rapidly expanded the ranks of the Fifth Legion, Lumey and Antonelle developed the so-called "binary" corps structure, allowing the Fifth's few seasoned officers to closely supervise their squads.  This organisation was not long-lived, but its ideas would be returned to during the Imperial Reformation.  The first binary corps was led by Gaspard Lumey himself, with Fabrice Diallo and Unai Garrastazu as the Battalion commanders, though Diallo would soon be tapped to head the Fifth's second corps.  Alongside the lack of good officers, the Fifth initially struggled with a shortage of trained Techmarines due to these specialists requiring lengthy training on a Forge World, and for a time it was not uncommon to see ordinary Tech Priests assisting Lumey's men.

When Lumey assembled his great ''Task Force Rubicon'' for the decision at Sol, a typical Corps had three Marine Brigades of three Battalions apiece.  The Battalion somewhat resembled a ''Codex Astartes'' Chapter, with a Veteran Squadron, Commando Squadron, Four Battle Squadrons and Four Reserve Squadrons.  Squadron specialties were similar to those of Codex Companies.  Veterans are grouped together in the First Squadron, although the Void Angels rarely deployed their Terminator armour.  Commandos formed the Second Squadron.  Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth were flexible Battle Squadrons, with Seventh and Eighth in Reserve.  Ninth Squadron specialized in Assault while Tenth carried the Battalion's heavy weapons.  Squadrons varied in their strength, each composed of four Sections with ten to twenty Battle Brothers and one or two Sections of Scouts.  Veteran Squadrons usually lacked a Scout Section.

===Specialist Troops===
'''The Chosen'''

In the wars of liberation, the Cibanese had little trust for the officers who defected to their cause, but still had need of their talents.  The few military men among their own ranks, such as Lumey, were not sufficient to lead the armies of the Republic.  Therefore, the ordinary soldiers would elect a committee from among their number to serve as bodyguard ''and watchdog'' over their commanders.  Though the Fifth Legion were much more confident in their new Primarch than the Cibanese rebels had been in former aristocrats, they readily chose from among their number a bodyguard unit for Lumey, on the basis of one man from each section, elected to serve for five years.  The level of representation would gradually decrease as the Legion grew, eventually falling to just one man per Corps at the time of the Heresy, but throughout Lumey's tenure they served both as a bodyguard and a consultative body.  As with much of the Fifth Legion's customs, they were content to simply call this body "The Chosen" and leave others to imagine that the Primarch had hand-picked his men.


'''Scouts'''

The desperate measures employed during the [[Al-Sherar Sector War]] convinced Gaspard Lumey that a Neophyte freshly transformed into a Space Marine could contribute to the Great Crusade even as he finished his training.  The Scouts were lightly equipped but formed up in squads akin to those of seasoned battle brothers and led by an experienced sergeant.  Graduation from the ranks of the scouts depended on the judgment of the squad sergeant, though scout squads were subject to frequent review by the Tribunes to ensure that promising warriors were not being held back.

===Support Formations===
The necessity of developing their support formations from the ground up led to Lumey and Antonelle making some substantial diversions from the path of the other Legions.  Nothing displayed their differences with their brother marines more sharply than the treatment of the Legion's serfs.  The notion of enserfing recruits who washed out of training was anathema to the Cibanese mindset.  Lumey wasted no time in declaring that the Legion's serfs were free men, welcome to settle on Ciban IV with the hospitality of that gentle world.  Those who chose to remain, along with new generations of failed aspirants would be given professional positions in the Legion's administrative and logistical staff.  '''Clerks''' are generally well-respected and have a similar rank structure to Marines.


'''Apothecarion'''

The '''Chirurgeons''', renamed to better suit Cibanese and Markian ears, performed the same role as other Apothecaries.  Due to Fifth Legion's deployment of ''Scouts'', Chirurgeons were frequently seen on the battlefield.  '''Remus Alsara''', the Legion's wily Master of Recruits, often served as a ''de facto'' spokesman for the Apothecarion.


'''Armorium'''

Training the first generation of '''Techmarines''' at Al-Sherar and Ghalhal lagged behind the early campaigns of the Fifth Legion.  In the intervening period, it was not uncommon to see the techpriests of these Forge Worlds fighting in the ranks of the Fifth Legion.


'''Castra'''

The reputation of the Fifth Legion as a tremendously effective offensive force somewhat obscures the work of their engineers.  However, the fortresses appointed by Gaspard Lumey's sons guard some of the most important worlds in the Imperium.  Dolsene's great star forts are perhaps the Fifth Legion's finest fortification work, although the defences of Ciban IV and Kerstes VI are also fine monuments to their architects.


'''Librarus'''

The return of Jeffrey Dinola from his apprenticeship with the [[Eyes of the Emperor]] was cause for great celebration among the Fifth Legion.  Although the new classes of Marines raised from Ciban IV and the Markian Pact worlds had swelled Winged Victory's numbers to something more closely resembling the other [[Legiones Astartes (Hektor Heresy)|Legiones Astartes]], the lack of any trained psykers had seemed to many as a sign of the Legion's incompleteness.  With Dinola among them, the Fifth could finally regard themselves as the equal of their brother Legionaries.  The young psyker's first task was establishing the rules of his Librarius.  As a true son of Gaspard Lumey, Jeffrey Dinola was reluctant to delve into poorly understood mysteries of the Warp, especially in light of the lessons of the Emperor - and history - about the perils of sorcery.  However, this was not a matter of simple closed-mindedness.  There was a great deal to be studied and categorized about the interaction of psykers and the Immateria that relied on comprehensible principles.  Dinola believed that it would be through a slow process of establishing these principles that the more mysterious processes - "Sorcery" - could be properly understood.  Thus, the Fifth Legion's '''Librarians''' worked under a cautious code of ethics to develop their abilities and knowledge.  A constant fixation was the effort to negate the warp-based powers employed by Xenos races such as the perfidious Eldar and foul Orks.


'''Tribunal'''

Lumey was deeply concerned with his Legion's acceptance and understanding of the Imperial Truth.  To accomplish this task, he dictated that a cadre of recruits be trained in the arts of the Iterators who carried out the task of spreading the Emperor's word to newly pacified world.  The Fifth Legion's '''Tribunes''' became mighty warriors of great strength of will, trained in logic and rhetoric.  The presence of such an exceptional individual on the battlefield fills his Battle-Brothers with a sense of their part in Mankind's destiny.  Tribunes also serve an important role in the life of the Legion, counselling their fellow Marines, acting as judges on matters of internal discipline, and often serving as envoys to other Chapters.  The '''Tribune Legionis''' is the Legion's chief justice and carries out certain ceremonial roles, while his counterpart, the '''Master of the Collegium''' is the chief of the Void Angels fortress-barracks on Ciban.


'''Victualary'''

This prosaically-named department was one of the most important to the Legion.  As befitted his training, Antoine Antonelle took personal responsibility for the Legion's Victualary.  His deft hand saw the Fifth through their difficult years, but he also carefully husbanded the bounty of their good years.  The amassed supplies and armaments cached in the Ciban system and carried by ''The Light of Reason'' allowed the Void Angels to fight non-stop through the Scouring.

As with many of their peers, the Fifth did not simply defer to the '''Frumentarii''' of the Victualary to secure supplies for their campaigns.  Secret but equally significant was the role of the Victualary in coordinating the intelligence efforts of various scouts and spies in the orbit of the Legion.  The Fifth's Frumentarii were especially proficient at interviewing their agents, sifting out reliable assets from pure opportunists and assessing the quality of the information provided to them.  A lasting legacy of the importance of Fifth Legion's Victualary are the many generous ''Warrants of Trade'' signed by Gaspard Lumey.  Some of the [[Rogue Traders (Hektor Heresy)|Rogue Traders]] who benefited from the Legion's need for information went on to amass huge fortunes and found dynasties of explorers and conquistadors - but at least as many died in the silence of space or on hostile worlds.

==Allies and Auxilia==
[[File:French_soldier_by_bidass-d4btv32.jpg|150px|thumb|Sketch of a soldier from the 5th Ciban Chasseurs, "The flower of Orléans".]]
The Fifth were well-known for making good use of their auxilia.  Three formations in particular were known to be close to them.  Famously, the mortal soldiers of the [[Ciban Chasseurs]] have been almost as much a part of the Fifth Legion as its Space Marines.  [[The Markian Corps]] often fought independently of Lumey's Astartes, but deferred to his overall command when requested, and the peerless [[Dolsene Rifles]] vowed to repay their debt to Gaspard Lumey - not a scrap more, not a scrap less.  But other mortal soldiers also fought and died beside the sons of Lumey.  Despite the savagery of the Core Worlds Campaign, [[Chelob Hammerers]] were briefly a fixture in Fifth Legion battlegroups.  Many other formations of the [[Imperial Army (Hektor Heresy)|Imperial Army]] would fight alongside the Legion, including [[the Auron Infantries]] and [[the Kondrus Aeroguard]].

More independent were the Forge Worlds of the [[Al-Sherar Sector]].  Mighty '''[[Al-Sherar]]''' styled itself an equal partner to the Fifth Legion, but was generous in its support.  The devastating firepower of [[Legio Antsar]] was generally available at Gaspard Lumey's request, and Al-Sherar's subordinate Maryannu Brotherhood and [[Order of Bahri]] Knights routinely assisted the Fifth.  [[Ghalhal]] was initially friendly but became stand-offish, seeing its primacy eroded but having no effective means of checking either Al-Sherar or Gaspard Lumey's Legion.  As a result Ghalhal's arms, including the swift and powerful '''Legio Cataegis''', were more frequently deployed alongside the ordinary soldiers of the Markian Corps.

The Navigators of House Voud-Culestes honoured Gaspard Lumey for his patronage of their progenitors and served on Fifth Legion's vessels exclusively.

==Fleet==
For much of the Great Crusade, the Legiones Astartes were unaware of their precise fleet strength.  Ships were parcelled out in different Expeditionary Fleets, lost, replaced, diverted, reassigned, lost to the warp, found again, and so forth with the Legion HQ only ever getting a partial and tardy accounting.  However, with their new orders to regroup and proceed to the far reaches of the Galactic North, the Fifth Legion were in a unique position to take account of their full naval strength.

Master of the Fleet Kesh Kanak took full advantage.  His staff recorded the names and classes of the Legion's 112 battleships, 44 grand cruisers, 178 heavy cruisers, 241 light cruisers, 318 frigates, 423 destroyers, plus 87 auxiliary military vessels.  Also taken into account were the 27 battleships, 8 grand cruisers, 834 heavy cruisers, 506 light cruisers, 1,769 frigates, 1,882 destroyers, and 177 auxiliary military vessels sworn to the Legion by its allies in the Adeptus Mechanicum and Imperial Army.  A full accounting of the pure transport assets of the Fifth Legion is sadly lost to history, but it can be assumed from the quantity of warships available to Gaspard Lumey that these were sizeable.

Beyond the mere book-keeping, Kanak also restructured the Fifth Legion's squadrons from ad-hoc associations of vessels into purposeful task-forces of complementary vessels.  The naval chain of command was overhauled, with dedicated fleet commanders being given complete tactical authority while under the operational direction of the combined land-naval commander.  Winged Victory had always had a reputation for excellence in the void of space, and Kanak was determined that the Void Angels should exceed their previous incarnation.