Editing Heralds of Hektor (section)

=Culture=
The Heralds were ever-conscious of status and renown.  They were the first and most exalted of the Legiones Astartes, led by the first and greatest of the Primarchs.  Every member of the Legion knew his place both among his battle brothers and as a warrior of the Imperium, and guarded jealously against disrespect and dishonour.  On the First Legion's Expeditionary Fleets, a Marine was the master of his own household, staffed by mortal servants known as ''Armigers''.  These men were typically failed Aspirants, and had often spent time in their master's household as a youth before their trial.  The Armigers were charged with the care of the Marine's person, panoply, and the young ''Adoptati'' who he hoped to sponsor in the Aspirant Trials.  The atmosphere of the Household was relaxed and familiar, but the Marine's rule was absolute.  His Armigers and Adoptati all referred to their master as "Father".

The senior servant of a Herald of Hektor was known as the ''Scutarius''.  He was an honoured figure entrusted with ensuring his master's panoply was fit for war.  The Scutarius also maintained order among the other servants.  Unless disabled by war or age, he was also expected to supervise the martial training of the Armigers and lead them in battle.  Cases of Armigers actually engaging in combat were relatively rare.  The First Legion deployed regiments of [[Imperial Army (Hektor Heresy)|Imperial Army]] auxilia to supplement their strength when necessary.  However, the households of the Legionaries constituted a valuable security force for the warships of Hektor's Expeditionary Fleets.

When the Great Crusade was launched, the First Legion was exceptionally zealous in enforcing Compliance with the laws and culture of the Imperium.  It was normal for newly-pacified worlds to be garrisoned by reserve forces drawn from the teeming worlds of the Solar System.  Hektor went further and arranged for garrison troops to be granted landholds on his conquests, setting them up as a settler class.  These military-economic strongholds were known as ''Cleruchies'' and they would play an increasingly important role in the life of the First Legion.  From the third decade of the Great Crusade, this policy went as far as planting Cleruchies on empty worlds with agricultural or mineral potential.

==Recruitment and Training==
From their beginnings in the Unification Wars until long into the Great Crusade, the First Legion recruited its soldiers from the teeming billions of the Solar System.  Many of this brotherhood were recruited from Terra and her satellite Luna, but others were drawn from the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, settlements on Mercury and Venus, or the many space stations of humanity's birth system.  However, by about 900.M30 the ranks of the First Legion had become depleted and their traditional recruiting grounds were not generating enough men to make good their losses.  To make his Legion whole once again, Hektor turned to the Cleruchies he had established across the Segmentum Solar.  The ''Scholae Astartes'' that had once served only to provide mortal aides to the gene-sons of Hektor would now provide new brothers.

To fit with their original purpose, Scholae Astartes gave a broad instruction.  Physical conditioning and fitness were considered of high importance but the ''Praeceptors'' were cautioned against excessive training that might cause developmental problems.  Students also received an education in arithmetic, grammar, Terran civics and culture, and foundational sciences.  Every three years, the most promising students, deemed the ''Optimi'', were presented to the First Legion.  Other students would continue their education until the age of eighteen.  The uniform education of the Scholae Astartes greatly accelerated the growth of the young Imperium.  Graduates outside of the First Legion formed a cadre of well-educated Imperial citizens to staff the ever-growing administration of the Emperor's realm.

When a First Legion formation visited a Schola Astartes, each Battle Brother would adopt those Optimi that pleased him into his household to be sponsored for the Legion's Aspirant Trials.  Typically these ''Adoptati'' would be a few years too young to be implanted with the gene-seed, though occasionally an exceptional older boy would be taken on.  Presenting a promising Aspirant was considered an honourable achievement, and seeing one of his Adoptati sworn into the Legion was a moment of great pride for a Herald of Hektor.  The bonds between a sponsor and a Neophyte usually endured long into the warriors' careers, and although failure was not tolerated it was not unusual for a Marine's advancement in the Legion to owe much to patronage.

The links forged by the First Legion's system of adoption explain part of their pattern of success and decline.  Initially, the closeness Hektor fostered among his men gave them a great ''esprit de corps'', with veteran battle brothers eager to share their skills with the next generation and younger warriors devoted to their sponsors.  However, as the Legion aged, the patterns of interest altered.  Promising warriors without powerful sponsors were passed over for promotion and the junior officer corps began to fill up with mediocrities.

==Notable Members==

*'''Cassander Honorius'''.  Son of Paramoas Honorius, a trusted vassal to the Emperor during the Unification Wars.  Cassander was born to the purple, a patrician by blood and upbringing.  He was taught as a boy to believe in the Imperial mission as a form of ''noblesse oblige''.  This world view would succour Cassander when his psychic gifts were discovered and he was put in the care of the '''Lièrén Brothers''' to learn the control and mental discipline necessary to protect himself from the Warp's ruinous touch.  He was identified as a prodigy and due to his superb physical conditioning was put forward to be one of the first subjects of the '''Space Marine Project'''.  Throughout the hardships of this long apprenticeship, Cassander clung to the belief that such suffering was as much the birthright of the superior man as his undeniable gifts.  In recognition of his potential, Cassander was given the gene-seed of Hektor Cincinnatus and his body accepted the implantation process without undue complications.  With his gene-sire's approval, Cassander was inducted into the '''Sacred Band''' and given license to employ his psychic gifts for information-gathering only.  Throughout the Unification Wars and the Great Crusade, Cassander became increasingly adept at sensing the thoughts of others.  As Chief Librarian of the First Legion, he would instruct his subordinate psykers in the same arts.  When the influence of Chaos on the Heresy became clearer, Cassander protested to Hektor that the rebellion was going too far and that they would destroy what they had sought to preserve.  The Primarch was enraged and tore his Chief Librarian's right arm from its socket before Hephaestion Horatius intervened.  This selfless act cost brave Hephaestion his life, though Hektor's rage subsided when Cassander noted that, "He will never defy you again."  Despite this tragedy and controversy, Cassander served Hektor loyally through to the end of the Siege of Terra and saw to it that his lord's body was retrieved from the battlefield.  He chose never to accept a prosthetic replacement for his lost limb, but his pacts with Chaos made Cassander a far more dangerous foe after the Heresy than he had ever been before.  Unlike many of the prominent Heralds, Cassander did not attempt to establish himself as a war leader.  Instead, he set up his Academy on the planet Lukos in the Eye of Terror, to foster an ever-deeper understanding of the Warp and the mind.

*'''[[Sebastion Rex]]'''. Originally the son and heir of a terrible techno-barbarian warlord upon the surface of Terra, Sebastion would gain the trust of Hektor. He would be a revolutionary commander, his military strategies being invaluable to the Legion.

*'''Elenkor Dominatus'''.  Born of foul gene-sorcery, he would finally reunite the Heralds and lead the might of the Traitor Legions in a great Black Crusade against the Imperium.

*'''Hephaestion Horatius'''.  His father was a lesser noble who held the dignified post of cupbearer at the Emperor's table.  Hephaestion was taught from his earliest moments that the greatest test of a man was to learn his own place in the world.  According to this creed, the humble labourer who toiled away for all her years and died in obscurity was more glorious by far than those who held fleeting fame by over-reaching themselves.  When reviewing Hephaestion's subsequent career, it is difficult to say whether he was dutiful to paternal advice or not.  The youth was selected for the first intake of Space Marines and chosen to become part of the First Squad of the '''Sacred Band'''.  Hephaestion's surprising humility endeared him to Hektor Cincinnatus and led to the youth being selected as the personal bodyguard of the Primarch.  This duty became increasingly prominent as the Unification Wars led to the Great Crusade and the First Squad became the seed of a mighty Space Marine Legion.  As the Legion's traditions took shape, Hephaestion was entrusted with the leadership of Hektor's Agema, the '''Chrysaspides''', and he was always to be found at their head in the fiercest fighting.  He only questioned his master once, when Hektor turned on Cassander Honorius in a fit of rage.  Hephaestion defended the Legion's Chief Librarian and died at Hektor's hands.

Beyond the greatest warriors of the Heralds of Hektor whose names invoked awe across the Galaxy, the Legion also spawned many small warbands led by Chaos Lords who "merely" terrorized whole Sectors.