The /tg/ Heresy

One fine evening on /tg/, a bunch of creatively-minded anons got together to come up with their very own Primarch and Astartes Legion. This proved very popular, and it wasn't long before /tg/ decided to take everyone's fluff, put it together into their own self-contained alternate universe, and tell the age-old story of the Horus Heresy.

Hence, The /tg/ Heresy.

The GoogleDoc for this can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TAl_Rh3q0UR3cqX6Pbn-4TnB87BS-GrFrax-ErtOL2E/edit Sup/tg/ links can be found within the Googledoc.

Okay guys, be excellent to one another and don’t fuck this up

Legion Overview

The Twenty Six Space Marine Legions of the Great Crusade
Number	Name	Primarch	Homeworld	Loyalty
I	Knights of Justice	Bohemond	homeworld	Loyal
II	War Scribes	Arelex Orannis	Whitestone (Destroyed), now Fleet-based.	Loyal
III	Silver Spears	Maranthos Egille	homeworld	Traitor
IV	Sons of Fire	Inferox "The Burned King"	Crematoria	Traitor
V	Void Angels	Gaspard Lumey	Ciban	Loyal
VI	The Entombed	Golgothos	Sepulchra	Loyal
VII	Scions of Europa	Kleisthenes	Europa, Segmentum Obscurus	Loyal
VIII	Children of Armok	Uriel Starikov	homeworld	Traitor
IX	Machine Guard	Fjordous Machenis	homeworld	Loyal
X	The Crusaders	Thomas Gaudin	homeworld	Loyal
XI	Wolves of Dawn/Heralds of Hektor	Hektor Cincinnatus	homeworld	Traitor
XII	Life Bringers	Johannes Vrach	Rai (destroyed), now Eden (Demon World in the Eye of Terror)	Traitor
XIII	Nova Defenders	Rook North	Rylethon	Loyal
XIV	Black Augurs	The Voidwatcher	Ostium	Traitor
XV	Argent Legion	Malphas	Thiros	Traitor
XVI	Eternal Zealots	Aubrey The Grey	homeworld	Traitor
XVII	Bulwark	???	homeworld	Traitor
XVIII	Omegon Annihilators	Darius Cyaxares	Simurgh	Loyal
XIX	Eyes of the Emperor	Octullus Tyran	homeworld	Loyal
XX	Iron Rangers	Merrill	Profi Tiroedd	Traitor
XXI	Council of Iron	Thoren Grimm	homeworld	Traitor
XXII	Thunder Kings	Brennus	Alessia (destroyed), now multiple worlds	Loyal
XXIII	Silver Cataphracts	???	homeworld	Loyal
XXIV	Mastodontii	???	homeworld	Traitor
XXV	Falcus Cobalt	???	homeworld	Loyal
XXV	Steel Marshalls	Roman Albrecht	homeworld	Loyal

The Primarchs

The Traitors

Silver Spears: Maranthos Egille, Charismatic leader, likes flashy weapons

Bulwark: Sebastian Rex, Cautious and cynical but otherwise average. Super siege fortifications.

Black Augurs: The Voidwatcher, Fast reflexes, quick to make decisions. Far-signted, divination psyker.

Life Bringers: Johannes Vrach, extremely skilled apothecary, would rather purge problems and build anew. Prefers to tend to the wounded in battle instead of leading from the front lines. Very benevolent to his allies and protective of his own troops, but after losing his adoptive family to a disease he couldn't cure and having to conduct a large-scale purge on his homeworld believes all civilizations other than the Imperium to be corrupt and potentially dangerous if allowed to join, which means they must be eradicated and their worlds terraformed for Imperial colonization. Accepted the gifts of Nurgle under the guise of more efficient bioweapons and joined Hektor. Orchestrated chemical bombardments during the Istvaan massacres.

Mastodontii: NONAME, Optimistic, weak psyker

Council of Iron: Thoren Grimm, extremely aggressive, brutish, and bloodthirsty warrior and believes that the only true justice in the world is not found in any court, but when one fights for one's life on the battlefield, where the strong survive and the weak are crushed. More of a man of action than talk,short tempered physically with no sense of fear.

Argent Legion: Malphas, Irreverant.

Iron Rangers: Rogerius Merrill, Obsessively seeks knowledge regarding tech

Wolves of Dawn: Hektor, Horus analogue, Friendly, great leader.

Sons of Fire: Inferox The Burned King , Ruthless, willing to make utilitarian sacrifices. Loves fire. A cold soul who only seems to take pleasure in purging worlds to the crust.

Horns of Ruin: Kranios, Dauntless warrior almost immune to physical trauma. Has an almost complete disregard for the lives of his Astartes and finds satisfaction in tearing down the creations of others.

Children of Armok: Uriel Starikov, Charismatic, political and espionage genius. Everyone likes him, but kind of distrusts him because of his spymaster reputation. You can guarantee that if there is a secret , no matter how buried it is, Starikov knows it. Is obsessed with getting into the Black Library.

The Gorges: Nathanog the Endless Mouth

Feral, Strong, and Cunning. Think only of the Hunt and nothing else. Will fall to Chaos in the anticipation of finding more preys to absorb and thus prevent the Hunger from killing him and his Legion. Probably better to have him be killed else he would never have the patience to sit there and be a Daemon Prince and would instead spend his time being a gigantic, easily targetable asshole who would raid 24/7 (and thus would be dealt with pretty fast).

History

Landing on a medieval world, Nathanog lived anonymously for decades in the forests, hunting and feeding on the strong beasts living there, feared by the humans of this world. But one day, a disease spread through the planet, mutating the already strong beasts into engines of terror and slaughter. The humans grew desperate, as more and more civilized land was destroyed by the rampage of the mutant beasts, until the day Nathanog was seen slaying one of the beasts by himself.

The humans had no choice, they followed him, learning from him how to kill the mutants, how to trap and slaughter them. They called their new leader Nathan. But the help of Nathan had a price, he would force the humans to eat the mutated monsters, many died but those who survived grew strong, and as Nathan expanded his strength and his pack from lands to lands, castles to castles, the humans slowly claimed back their world.

As the beasts grew small, Nathan only had one choice if he wanted his thirst for hunting to be satisfied, conquer the planet and feed on all those that would oppose him. And so he did, followed by the strongest of his pack, he went on a blood march that would set the planet ablaze but that would ultimately see him crowned as his sole master, Nathan-Og, the Endless Mouth.

But then happened what only a few saw coming, with no more conquests to be had, Nathanog proceeded to hunt his own, those he had raised to strength now were fine preys and would sate his thirst for violence. This is when the Emperor arrived and managed to save both his Son and his planet by controlling and calming his Hunger. The Emperor offered his son an army and the perfect opportunity, a galaxy full of enemies to prey upon.

Eternal Zealots: Aubrey The Grey

Kind, Compassionate, Proud, Naive. Aubrey cares for all who are under his command, raised a doctor, grew to become a general, under the rule of a xenos world.

Appearance

His face has a fair complexion, angular with bony cheeks, long silvery locks fall on his shoulders and emerald green eyes, after the heresy his normally warm and radiate face became more sunken, dark circled eyes, his locks turning grey, losing their silvery shine.

Background

He fought his way to the top of the caste system on his xenos world, from the Doctors and Medics at the bottom, to the Warriors and Generals at the top. He, an outsider, inspired an army of xenos and rose to supremacy and was well known for the fact he lost very little men under his command, his officers learning enough from him they got to command their own armies.

Relationships

The Voidwatcher - To be expanded; Feels a kinsmanship with him, as a scholar and their secret whisperings about xenos.

Uriel - After the Betrayal he and Uriel conversed much, Uriel that introduced him to his new Xeno allies. As intelligent as Aubrey is, he was too wrapped up in his visions of a new Imperium to bother to notice Uriels dealings, or the fact he was manipulated.

Theron - Finds him hard to work with due to his personality.

Bohemond - Once respected eachothers martial prowess, they became enemies after The Betrayal, sworn to slay one another during the heresy.

Johannes - A fellow Apothecary, though, finds his methods wasteful.

Kranios - Disgusted by his lack of disregard for life and his allies.

The Loyalists

Knights of Justice: Bohemond

Charismatic, stubborn, zealous

They are fast and surgical. Hold a code of honour most highly, and are rather zealous and stubborn. Tricked by the Traitor legions in an Istvaan V style scenario, and has spent post heresy trying to recover their huge losses.

Like to get up close and personal to bash/slice in skulls. For flavour, imagine a KoJ war council happening something like this -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez6wfJWVCeI Substitute "God wills it!" for "The Emperor wills it!" or another suitable phrase.

Responsible for the destruction of the Zealot's homeworld. The duel between Aubrey and Bohemond on Istvaan V has marked the two Legions, and to this day they will do whatever it takes to destroy each other.

Steel Marshalls: Roman Albrecht

Builder, Ruler, puts things together.

Machine Guard: Fjordous Machenis

Driver and talented marksman, can pull the best out of a vehicle and machine spirits in general.

Silver Cataphracts: Constantine

Occasional shining moments of glory, loves dakka

Omegon Annihilator: Darius Cyaxares

"All-Seer" "Prophet King" "Silver-eyes"

Darius is a philosophical yet judicious man. Due to his upbringings he has a very spiritual demeanor, though he has cast off religion in favor of the Imperial Truth. He enjoys visiting and counseling his brothers, as their father once counseled him. He often quotes various proverbs and challenges his brothers to think outside the box when they are presented with difficult decisions which annoys more than a few of them.

On occasion he will provide them with cryptic prophecies, most of which are frighteningly accurate, he dares not look too far into the future after being traumatized with what he saw the first time he did so. While he tries to maintain a humble deposition, many are unsettled when they look into his warp tainted eyes, or feel he is looking down on them with his riddles

Appearance

Darius is often described as otherworldly or gaunt. While he is tall like all his brother primarches his inclination towards magics and study has left him thinner than the rest though his years living on the desert planet have left him with a healthy dark bronze skin tone. His most distinguishing feature of course is his warp tainted silver eyes, which shift and swirl like a pool of liquid metal and making him blind. He has a slender face with high cheek bones and his head is always shaved bald, with the left half of the top of his skull covered in runic tattoos and another tattoo of his "3rd eye" in the middle of his forehead.

History

When Darius was stolen away by the chaos gods and sent tumbling through the warp his containment pod was damaged, causing the young babe to awaken. As he opened his eyes to cry the warp damaged his eyes. Moments later he landed upon the deserts of the Feudal world of Simurgh, where he was soon found by a caravan of traders. At first glance the merchants knew this boy was special, for his eyes now two pools of liquid silver, constantly shifting and swirling in different directions.

They immediately took the boy to the nearest temple and delivered him to the priests. The holymen of this feral world had long dabbled in ancient mysticism and sorcery and recognized his great potential. Undeterred by Darius's blindness, they trained him in the ways of magic and divination. Eventually Darius mastered all that his teachers had to show him, and people from all over the planet flocked to him to have their futures told. When the four kings of the planet heard of his power, they each tried to use his prophetic powers against each other, but Darius refused.

Instead he foretold that a golden light would come from the heavens to reveal their true destiny. Angered by this, each of the kings tried to take him by force, either through trickery, bribery, or use of their armies, yet with his divination and psychic ability the "All-seer" outsmarted them all, eventually defeating all of them.

However, after defeating the four kings, Simurgh began to grow more and more unstable, as other power hungry warlords, would-be kings and conquerors continued to surface to take their place, all wanting the same thing the four kings wanted. Time and time again Darius defeated these opponents, but not matter how many he toppled or what he tried the resulting power vacuum led to an endless chain of war and intrigue. It was as if the greedy nature of man was some kind of Hydra, no matter how many heads he cut off, more simply grew.

Seeking an answer, Darius began a great fasting and dove deep into prophecy but what he saw horrified him. The stars burned as a malevolent darkness engulfed it all . A war, a war without end! Scarred by his visions, Darius had all but given up when suddenly a golden light descended from the heavens and out stepped a stranger unlike anyone Darius had ever seen.

Intrigued by this stranger, Darius invited him to his temple to meet him. This stranger was none other than the Emperor himself. The two conversed by many days straight. The emperor was disappointed in his son. As a priest, Darius had never wanted to rule content to his studies, meditations and religious teachings. It went against everything the emperor had bred him for. He explained to Darius the evils of religion and allowing the people to go astray of the Imperial Truth.

Convincing Darius to take up the responsibility he was destined to, the Emperor granted him a single company from the 23rd legion and a month to set things right, as a final test that Darius had learned all that the emperor had taught him. Taking command of personally trained them in the arts of sorcery and the planets most noble weapon, the Shotel. Taking up the blade of an ancient king, Darius led his men across the planet on a great crusade.

When the emperor returned, he was not disappointed. Darius had cast-off the religion that had bound him to inaction and taken control of the planet for himself. The emperors methods and his Imperial Truth had proven itself to Darius and brought peace to the war-torn planet. Eternally grateful to his father for the lesson, Darius bowed his head and proclaimed the planet now belonged to the emperor. With that the Emperor bid his son to rise, welcoming him to the Great Crusade and granting him command of the 23rd Legion in its entirety.

((TL:DR : Darius is trained to be magic prophet on planet by religion. People in power keep trying to use Darius for their own gains, forcing Darius to kill them. However because of his religious teaching Darius refused to take power himself, and feeling self entitled the people of the planet keep fucking everything up until the Emperor convinces Darius of the Imperial Truth and to step it up. Darius is grateful for the lesson and now loyal to the Emprah))

The Crusaders: Thomas Gaudin

Loyal to friends, ruthless to enemies

Void Angels: Gaspard Lumey

impetuous, suspect, and often obnoxious. He is the great doubter of the Primarchs, the least-liked and most suspicious of his peers.

War Scribes: Arelex Orannis

Great at analyzing masses of data, willingly wades into repositories the Administratum would never dare comb through, loyal to a fault to those he deems trustworthy (even when they’re not), somewhat disconnected from Humanity. Often decisively wins campaigns with relic weaponry, but causes significant collateral damage with those weapons. Hostile to the Mechanicus, seeks to promote widespread sharing of recovered technology. Only Dark Age or other human tech though, Arelex does not tolerate Xenos tech. 

Suffers a near-breakdown during the Isstvan Massacre, is unable to process the magnitude of the Traitors' betrayal. Arelex's trusting nature comes back to wound him deeply, and his Marines have to practically drag him off the field, evacuating their Primarch at the cost of most of the War Scribes Legion. With his world turned upside down, Arelex enters a fugue state, lashing out at everything that even hints at treachery with overwhelming, excessive force. Dead worlds pile up in his wake, and the Emperor is forced to send out an edict recalling Arelex to Terra, where the Emperor can keep him focused on defending Terra.

The Mechanicus intercepts this Imperial order, changing it so that the Emperor has commanded the War Scribes be purged for their excessive use of force, giving them an excuse to attack Arelex's recruiting world with a fist of adamantium. They hide this message until *after* the Emperor is interred on the Throne, and cannot rescind it or countermand it. Because the message is never sent, Arelex is left to burn himself out, delivering hundreds of worlds to the pyre of Exterminatus. To this day, many people of the Ultima Segmentum hold Arelex's name as a bogeyman, a planet-murderer beyond compare.

Arelex only returns to Terra after the Emperor is interred into the Golden Throne, finally realizing that his selfish inability to handle his raging emotions has cost his father dearly, and he struggles mightily to restructure the Imperium. Another Primarch had to help him come to this realization. (Who?)

Seeing that Arelex is going to keep power centralized on Terra, the Mechanicus decides to unleash their stored trump card, the message stolen from the Emperor, in the hopes that without Arelex, the Imperium will have no political leadership capable of keeping power in the Emperor's hands. They want the power to be centered around Mars, not Earth, and the other Loyalist Primarchs still living are too busy pursuing the lingering Traitors to stop them.

Unleashing several Titan Legions and numberless Skitarii (and some say, fellow astartes loyal to the ad mech) upon the War Scribes, the Mechanicus commit forces not seen since the defense of Mars itself upon the Scribes, and the Scribes respond with Dark Age weaponry of enormous potency, and the planet is destroyed in the conflict. The Mechanicus come out the victor by sheer numbers, and spare no pains to rewrite history saying that their actions were necessary to prevent Arelex from committing techno-heresy. To fully bury the evidence, the Mechanicus even covered up their cover story, striking the event from every history book they could find. Only the highest ranking Magi, the War Scribes and their successors, and a very few Imperial people capable of reading between the lines know anything.

To the Mechanicus, Arelex is the man who kept them from their ascendancy and dominance.

To the Imperium, Arelex is the one who kept knowledge in the hands of the people, and made sure the Imperium remained the Emperor's, even after his near-death.

• Compiles the Codex Astartes, taking personal responsibility for the large scale strategy elements, but consulting with several other Loyalist Primarchs for the tactical scale elements.

• Sets up the political structure of the Imperium after the Emperor's interment in the Golden Throne, out of a sense of duty to the Emperor and the Imperium, and because the other Primarchs were more needed in combat roles, not administration. The only Loyalist Primarch that has the scope of vision to even attempt the job, but Arelex is still not fully up to the task, he cannot do the Emperor's work. The system is deeply flawed, but does at least keep the Imperium lumbering along. Hates the Mechanicus, but cannot find a way to disentangle them from Imperial society.

Thunder Kings: Brennus

Extremely patient and meticulous

Eyes of the Emperor: Octullus Tyran

Paranoid, anxious, cowardly

The eyes of the Emperor were formelly traitor, and were coerced/forced/threatend into helping the traitors, but they escaped, declared themselves loyal to the imperium afterwards and particpated in the defence of mars for the loyalists,specifically for the ad mech. They were saved from being declared heretics via the Ad Mech pulling some strings. Due to their close ties with the ad mech, they dislike the War Scribes for stopping the Ad Mech, and are rumored with being the Ad mechs attack dog in exchange for rare technology. Their Primarch is currently missing, although it is rumored he was killed during the siege of mars

Scions of Europa: Kleisthenes

Creative, disciplined, and brave

The Entombed: Golgothos

Extremely stubborn and has a personal Vendetta against Johannes. He is interred in a Dreadnought.

Children of Armok: Uriel Starikov

Charismatic, political and espionage genius. Everyone likes him, but mostly distrusts him because of his spymaster reputation. You can guarantee that if there is a secret , no matter how buried it is, Starikov knows it. Is obsessed with getting into the Black Library. (Is in loyalists because he is still thought to be loyal by the Loyalists)

The Legions

Traitor Legions

Silver Spears: Slaanesh, melee focused

slaanesh legion with imperial rome theme, notEmperors Children Oppulent, excessive, hedonistic. They favour any method, but are easily baited by their emotional nature. They are a tough legion to face due to their obsession with training and constant striving for supremacy. They were present on Istvaan and Terra.

Bulwark: Undivided, defense focused

technically traitors cos renegade - Heavily defensive notIronWarriors Sieged by the Silver Cataphracts and the Steel Marshalls in the 'CRUCIBLE' where they lured the two loyalist siege legions into an open challenge on a mega-fortified world. Serious and dour, they are pragmatic to the bone, despite not being a heretic, they refuse to bow to the Emperor.

Black Augurs: Not!Wizards, Ambush and Trap Focused

Not!Nightlords/Not!ThousandSons They use fast and brutal tactics, favouring ambushes and any way they can inflict morale damage on their foes. They didn't fall to chaos, but did choose to fight on Hektors side. They were present at the Istvaan V scenario that nearly destroyed the strength of the Knights of Justice, the Entombed, and War Scribes. The Black Augurs as a whole are known for their lightning reflexs and psychic precognition.

Augury and Foresight

The Black Augurs have many arcane rituals and practices that they claim channels their foresight. Chanting and burning of incense in combat, inscribing ruins and esoteric symbols directly onto their armaments, and focusing on a single thing to discern prophecies from it. Most Black Augur marines can simply channel their combat focus into being able to predict the very near future, dodging bullet and sword swings and knowing when to fire on an enemy behind cover can both come to Black Augur when he enters a trance like battle focus. The things most often used to discern the farther future are the black void of space, storms (solar, thunder, cosmic, etc.), large groups of animals, and the patterns of explosions and debris. A special assault regiment called the Haruspices (Haruspex singular) even claim to be able to discern the future in the blood and viscera of their enemies and so use chain weapons to produce as much of these two things as they can.

Powerful psykers known as the Vates act as the legions Librarians and can channel many mind based powers with their disturbing incantations. All can project visions of doom and death into the minds of their enemies to demoralize and confuse as well as cause intense pain in the minds of individuals or small groups. The more powerful can project visions of unimaginable horror and the future death of all their opponents hold dear directly into their minds, often causing them to go mad with grief or anguish. The most powerful of the Vates as well as the Primarch himself can channel their will so fiercely into another's mind that the strong willed will often black out and the weak's brains boil out of every orifice or explode.

Weaknesses and Shortcomings

While incredibly potent as a tactical tool it is recommended that the common marine try to avoid going into a trance of prescience for too long in battle as they may discern momentary flashes of possible death. This is incredibly painful and distressing to such an extent that more than a few marines have had a vision of their death that is quickly followed by their actual death as a result.

On a more universal scale many members of the legion often suffer from horrific visions while in stasis after a hard fought battle and many neophytes suffer from visions of several of their deaths far in the future while becoming a marine. Even the Voidwatcher is beset by visions of death and suffering in the future. There is a close to even balance of horrific visions of torture and death and tactically helpful visions or visions of victory some might still see the precognition as a whole a "flaw". Though the Black Augurs themselves would be loathe for you to say it to one in person.

Heresy

The Black Augurs were one of the Emperors legions that turned traitor during the Hektor Heresy. While other legions and higher ups in the empire had long had some misgivings about the legion of sorcerers and warlocks the Black Augurs had long had suspicions they were not trusted as well as other legions. Their strange mystic rituals and unsettling arcane practices had even drawn the ire of the Emperor on occasion, especially when used around civilians. It was simple for Hektor to convince the Voidwatcher and his legion that some of their visions of a disgusting, stagnant, witchhunting, empire were not far off and that they would never truly be excepted into the Big E's unified humanity. They quickly joined the forces of the renegade legions but resisted the pull of the Chaos gods. Though farther down the line in the Heresy some mentions and devotions to Tzeentch were made he was never their patron. This was because whenever a Black Augur thought seriously about descending along the path of Chaos they were wracked with horrific visions of demonic torture by whatever is providing their visions and listening to their incantation.

Life Bringers: Nurgle, biological/chemical warfare focused

resident Nurgle Marines, but not quite death guard. Pragmatic and logical to the extreme, they would rather eradicate a world and rebuild it with terraforming, than have to fix it as it is. Highly protective of their battle brothers and allies. All officers cross-train as apothecaries and perform those tasks in addition to combat duties. Extensively used biowarfare before the heresy, were present both at Istvaan V, and at Terra. Became Nurgles chosen legion, incorporating his diseases etc into their weapons. Still believe they are healers freeing the galaxy from corruption, they continue to purge planets and reseed them with new life even after the Heresy in their warped view of a green paradise. This usually looks like a rotten mix between Catachan and Nurgle's garden where only their cultists, genetically adapted and mutated for that biome, can survive for long.

File:Life Bringer marine.jpg

Mastodontii: Undivided, rapid vehicle focused

vehicle based and rapid assaults. Kind of like ChaosWhiteScars or Dark Eldar The Mastodontii make extensive use of vehicles for rapid deployments and heavy support. They are optimistic by nature, and will keep trying until they persevere. They joined the traitors as they saw the Imperium as the rapidly stagnating form it was becoming.

Council of Iron:heavy armament offensive assault

resident angry marines/?? The Council does not bend. They are ridiculously stoic and utterly unfazeable. They are more stubborn than dwarves when their will is opposed. their Marines inevitable march towards their enemies while using some of the heaviest armament possible. best when harnessed as an offensive role instead of defensive.

Eternal Zealots - The Betrayed

Proud, Zealous and self-righteous, the Zealots were the first chapter turned by the Children of Armok, and were used to turn Hektor himself. They desired to be shining examples of what Medicae and Fair tolerance to all castes and Xenos alike, using a Xenos Auxiliary that is widely debated upon within the Imperium. This open-mindedness and somewhat naive perspective of the universe lead to their downfall however, as their Xeno Allies enacted a Coup coup d'etat, set into motion by the Children of Armok.

The Betrayal

Aubrey was leading his Legion, upon the Warmasters orders, to recapture a human colony, to bring it back to the Imperium, however, things had been set in motion by Uriel, Primarch of the Children of Armok. Whilst in combat with the heavily fortified foe, the Tarellians, the Zealots Xeno Auxiliary, as well as the host of the homeworld of Aubrey and his legion, had began their Coup.

The Captain of the 1st Company had been felled, and a number of the Xenos were beset upon him and his Legion.

He survived, wounded and set out a message to his homeworld, the third of the Legion stationed there to keep an eye on the Xenos, on the Emperors strict orders. There was no response from the homeworld and he feared the worst, however his hands were tied, he couldn't pull out of the world without withstanding un-needed losses, so he called out to one of his brothers, Bohemond.

Bohemond rushed to the planet, vengeance in his heart, these filthy xenos had betrayed his brother, regardless of his Naivety, when he landed, he was received with the glares of the Captains of the Eternal Zealots as the Knights of Justice opened fire on the Tarellians, only for the Zealots to return fire.

The messages from the Primarch had been intercepted by the group responsible for the betrayal, a large anti-Imperium faction, they had manipulated the message, reporting the Captains stationed there that Aubrey had been slain by Bohemond and he had come to the planet; Lazarus, the homeworld to finish the job.

The fighting lasted for a week before A wounded Aubrey and Uriel, who arrived in time to bolster his forces on the world, for him to arrive there. Aubrey was livid, most of his forces were killed, he shouted, bellowed and threatened to beat Bohemond, they were about to come to blows before Uriel stepped in, saying his must return to his legion...

Aubrey was contacted by the Emperor, his face stern and unamused. He bereted the Primarch for allowing this to happen, reminding him of what he said the day he arrived to Lazarus, that Xenos were never to be trusted, that they were treacherous, selfish beings that wanted nought but their own advancement, not theirs. Aubrey was silent through the entire communcation, until the Emperor, after reminding him of his naivety and his disappointment with him, that Bohemond has been ordered to purge the system of the Xenos and he was to stand down while they did their work. The Primarch said with a sorrowful heart that he understood, he went then to watch, as the people who raised him from infancy burned for their betrayal. He felt it was unjust. He felt sorrow. He felt rage.

The Heresy

After the betrayal, their Primarch threw himself further into his studies of magicks, to be used for an alternate form of healing, It was then that Uriel, Primarch of the Children of the Armok, introduced to a race of Chaos worshiping Xenos; The Cyfecti.

A race close to the Eye of Terror, who worshipped the Great Eye and the mighty beings that dwelt within. Uriel had kept this secret, in the hopes it could be used and no other would be so easy to fall to this bait then Aubrey. When contacted by the Zealots, they invited them down and Aubrey was witness to a summoning of a Daemon, which spoke to him. Thus was his eyes opened, showing him the proof of these magicks, giving Aubrey the deal he could never refuse, in the name of medicine.

Aubrey used these powers to corrupt the wounded Warmaster Hektor and cause him to fall to Chaos.

Aubrey wanted an Imperium, a better Imperium, where men and xenos could live in prosperity, this was his vision and no one could get in his way now he had a god on his side, His legion believed now, fully, that they would be the ones to lead a new Imperium, A perfect Imperium. The Eternal Zealots then soon believed that the loyalists were beneath them and should therefore, die, the name of Aubreys new Imperium.

Now with zealotry and fanaticism, the Eternal Zealots pursue Mankind and the Imperium, world by world, shrugging off their hippocratic oaths of healing, in favour of cutting out the tumour that is corpse emperors followers, so that he may heal the Imperium and shape it into his own image.

Combat Doctrine

They favour close combat and fast attack tactics. The legion used to an over abundance of medically trained marines, Now they favour simply crushing their foes, crushing the weak under foot, no time to heal the sick and wounded, when there is more important matters, letting the sorcerers bother with healing their allies. They also employ Centaur styled Devastators, inspired from the Interex warriors, however a dark twist has come in the form of the Cult of the Juggernaut, fusing marines with the bodies of Juggernauts. They will take any opportunity to duel a loyalist marine, to prove their superiority - especially since gaining the favour of dark gods.

Cult Of the Juggernaut

Following on from their Loyalist days, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Companies, who were the foremost users of the "Astartes Centaur Exo-Suit" found themselves presented by their Xeno allies, the Juggernaut, a daemonic steed.

The Captains, Cyllarus, Hylonome and Kinnaras, then sat and their entire companies pledged to Khorne, upon a battlefield of 10,000 dead...that their armour may be blessed with such power, such rage of the steed, they would use their burning passion and hatred for the ones who betrayed them, assaulted them, that they would in his name and turn that tragedy upon them, a thousand fold.

Khorne listened...The Blood God was amused that a Legion that was thought to belong to Tzeentch, that 3,000 men would pledge to him...and he gave them that gift.

In a flurry of red energies, the Astartes changed...their legs shifted and changed into the headless bodies of the steeds they had once seen, made of living metal and burning blood, soon the armourers equipped their bodies with the heavy weapons they once wielded, so the Cult of Juggernaut was born.

Devastators would continue to use the Centaur suit, until they would be interred by a Khornate ritual, becoming a shard of the Legions rage, Half Daemon, Half Astartes.

Argent Legion: Malal, surgical strike focused

was a loyalist at the beginning of the Heresy, due to hatred of Sons of Fire and Black Augurs primarchs, they turned traitor for reasons currently unknown. They use surgical strikes and ambushes. They seize control of strategic strongpoints and disable the enemies ability to fight. They were innovative and competitive by nature, which drove them to extreme arrogance, but they were always friendly, if a bit over-bearing with their arrogant nature. How this has changed no-one knows.

Iron Rangers: Undivided, assasination focused

The Iron Rangers are pragmatists. They don't need to use a direct and costly assault when a sneaky assassination would get the job done. They are taught to work alone or in small groups, often using guerrilla tactics, or supplementing other forces. Utilizing these strategies, they have outfought much larger well equipped foes. They are obsessed with technology, all of it, and will pursue any new developments they can find. Often seen with upgraded equipment incorporating Dark Age and xenos technology. Hektor promised them the secrets of Mars, in exchange for their military support and aid in developing a virus for the Mechanicum based on their infected AI's. They never got there, however, being confronted by the Scions of Europa en route to Terra.

Pre-Heresy Tactics

Before falling to Chaos, the Iron Rangers preferred diplomacy over force. When force was required, they would often merely launch small strikes against individual leaders that opposed them, to reduce collateral damage and make transitions more or less peaceful. When possible, they would use methods harder to trace back to themselves (poison, utilizing local weaponry to make it look like an in-house job). When they were required to be fielded in larger campaigns, they rarely attacked in full. They had a threefold plan for working in Campaigns. Their Tactical Squads (and some Captains/Command Squads) would split into small teams to bolster and assist whatever allied regular human forces were available, in the form of additional training, better equipment, strategic/tactical advisors, additional, specialized firepower, and the morale boost of fighting next to Space Marines. Their scouts would deploy to set up Observation Posts and various Rally Points and Forward Operating Bases, whilst their Jetbikes, Skimmers, Assault Marines, and Air Power would be delivering hit-and-run missions against enemy Supply and Communications lines, Supply/Equipment Depots/Caches, destroying key strategic and defensive assets, and assassinations of High Value Leaders. As a result, most campaigns the credit went to whatever forces they were allied with, which left them seeming to be the weakest of the Legions, rather than being credited as one of the most subtle and inspired strategic thinkers.

Wolves of Dawn/Heralds of Hektor : Undivided, standard combat focused

Greek companion/fraternity feel. They prized brotherhood and fraternity above all else. Corrupted by the Eternal Zealots, and pushed down the path to beginning the Heresy. They were the most even-keeled of all the legions - able to enjoy themselves as well as be serious when required. Their fall was the greatest shock, as if the most well-rounded could fall, what does that mean for the other legions? Upon the death of Hektor, his council, the Heralds of Apollo, briefly fought to decide who would take his place. Agamemnon, leader of the Wolves of Dawns first company would rise triumphant, and after the heresy, would repeatedly try to out-achieve his Primarch. The Wolves were the largest legion before the Heresy, and now make up a large percentage of most of the Traitor legions attacks.

IVth Legion: The Sons of Fire

The Burned King was always a twisted soul. Twisted like a flame. The Sons of Fire are no different, obsessed with burning. Everything. They set entire systems ablaze for the Emperor, but they found a new master in Khorne. Before the Heresy, they tried to mask their all consuming desires for fire with a cold, calm and ruthless exterior, which broke down when Khorne claimed their souls. They were present on Terra and the Burned King is now a daemon prince. On Istvaan they collected all of the dead loyalists, and burned their bodies and armour to slag and ash, before piling their scorched skulls in a pyramid inside of a captured ship, and firing it into the Warp.

Their Primarch is Inferox, the Burned King, the Fire Rider.

Horns of Ruin: Undivided, Siege Masters

Horns of Ruin suffer from the same interest in destruction as their Primarch. The homeworld that Kranios had chosen his Legionaries from was one that he had torn to the ground in order to conquer, and they had little care for the building of anything if it was not meant to destory. Though this made them excellent at the art of besieging an enemy fortress, it did not in any way endear them to the local populaces of the Imperium. Kranios was quick to fall to Chaos. He did not find the idea standing idly by once the Great Crusade had been finished to be as near as tempting as the never ending war that Hektor's new Gods had promised.

Though they may be of Chaos Undivided they have still roused the ire of Slaanesh againts them. The Prince of Chaos detests them for destroying the works of her followers and leaving nothing but grey wastes wherever they go.

Children of Armok: Tzeentch, manipulation, espionage, and politically focused

AlphaLegion meets WordBearers with Cold War spy games and politics thrown in.

The Children of Armok are the Original Traitor legion. They discovered the Chaos Gods, and realised after some discussions with the God who they would later know as Tzeentch, they discovered a great tool for their agenda. They kept their corruption a secret, an easy thing to do in a Legion who are naturally suited to deceit and espionage, but they did begin to plot. The Children started the whole Heresy by corrupting the Eternal Zealots to be used as their legion-sized deniable asset. They did this to have a controllable asset that would corrupt Hektor while keeping their own hands clean. They saw Hektor as their route to greater power and knowledge, especially access to Mars, which is one of the many things the Children seek. Abnormal for a space marine legion, the Children make extensive use of espionage networks, and diplomacy/politics, preferring to force an enemy into a friend, or turn an enemy on itself. Both sides think the Children dragged their feet, but ultimately sided with them. This left the Children in their desired position - between two hostile forces they could play against each other for their own personal gain.

==The Children and their relationships with the other Legions==

The other legions like the Children as they always say the right thing, and seem to be on everyone's side in personal/legion disputes. They are also liked for their prankster and jovial nature. In fact, the prank is the oldest tradition in the Children, but since the fall the once innocent prank has become something far more sinister, with often lethal tricks played on unsuspecting rival legions and imperial forces in a never ending game of espionage one-upsmanship. But Uriel doesn't have friends among the other Primarchs, to him they are just powerful assets. But that doesn't stop him, or his legion from enjoying themselves with the other Primarchs and Legions. Most don't trust the Children entirely, but their constant ability to be useful, and their knack for politics and persuasion means even the Primarchs can't help but enjoy their company. Only Nicholai Galilei, Chapter Master of the Knights Draconian, a War Scribes successor, through an intense study of various reports and data, saw part of the way through Uriel's facade, knowing him to be false, even if he had no concrete proof, and openly hated him, much to the bewilderment of the other Primarch's and Chapter Masters who saw Uriel as a great conversationalist, helpful advisor and an entertaining prankster. Uriel was particularly close with Arelex, for Arelex had his own vast libraries and hoards of knowledge and tech that Uriel wanted access to, but also because both had a burning passion for more knowledge. Uriel also used Arelex to get his agents secretly embedded into the Imperial Government set up by Arelex after the Heresy; Uriel would provide 'suitable candidates' for various positions, after having carefully doctored and backed up the agents stories to make them the best candidates. Despite how much Uriel used Arelex, he did like the Primarch, finding a kindred spirit with the same thirst for knowledge he had. It upset Uriel when he had to manipulate the Mechanicum into making Arelex 'disappear'. in the Traitor Legions, Uriel is close Aubrey of the Black Augurs, Inferox of the Sons of Fire, and Krainos of the Horns of Ruins, who work well as aggressors for the Childrens schemes, and love a good chance to test their mettle against the Loyalists.

==The Children's methods, motivations, and facts==

Nothing is ever what it seems with the Children. Duplicity and deceit are their strongest suits, and they have grown in skill and power to become one of the most dangerous threats to the Imperium, having their supporters and sleeper agents embedded into all the major infrastructure of the Imperium. Why they do not use their full power is a mystery only Tzeentch and Uriel know. Maybe they love the 'great game' too much, that in their insane web of lies, they are starting to actively perpetuate it for its own sake. Of course nobody knows all of this, and to the outside eye, the Children look like a rather uninspiring legion, with no great victories or defeats to speak of. But that's exactly how the Children like it.

They are motivated by acquiring secrets, and plotting and scheming to further their own and Tzeentch's agenda's. They have no time, save passing respect for the other gods; their relationship with Tzeentch is wary at best - which is partly why Tzeentch favors them as he does: he finds them so much fun to deal with... They make use of Psykers, but no more than any other Legion would, seeing Psykers as just another tool to use despite Tzeentch's love of magic, they leave that aspect up to other Legions. They also prefer to eschew any mutations, any that become mutated are sent to join the Childrens Fallen Chapters to keep them hidden, but for the most part, mutations are extremely rare, and often concealable anyway. Uriel Starikov's greatest, most secret obsession is to gain access to the Black Library, and through the Black Augurs, has managed to broker some deals with the Dark Eldar, mostly by informing them of good places to raid for their slaves. In return they give the Children of Armok access to the webway. This clandestine invasion of the webway is why the Eldar are the Children's greatest foe - both the Eldar and the Children are engaged in a galaxy spanning clandestine war, usually fighting via proxies and the manipulation of unwitting pawns in their 'great game'.

You can bet that now matter what is happening in the galaxy, the Children of Armok will either know about it, be the first to find out about it, or more likely, be directly involved. Their espionage networks run so far and so deep, that there are entire sectors where nearly all of the officials are under their control, often without knowing about it. There are even rumours that claim that some among the members of the Council of the High Lords of Terra themselves are under the sway of the Children. They don't seem to have any plan to use their network to do any great damage, maybe it's just a back up plan, maybe it's part of a milennia spanning plot, or maybe Tzeentch and their predisposition fir intrigue and espionage has made them borderline insane, unable to stop themselves from continuing their addictive plotting by finally taking control.

==The Children of Armok after the Heresy==

Since the Hektor Heresy, the Children of Armok have started to slowly but steadily, gain more negative attention. Partly for their lack of following the Codex, which has drawn pressure from the Crusaders who want the Children to adopt the Codex they helped write. But The Children are also attracting negative attention from the more puritanical and skeptical factions of the Inquisition who are beginning to wonder how the Children get such accurate intelligence on the Traitors without being tainted themselves. For now they are relatively safe though, as the Children have sleeper agents and informers embedded in the Puritan faction, keeping them ahead of the hunt, and also enjoy the open support from the Radical Inquisitors, who quite often have similar aims to Uriel.

In short, the Children are playing a galactic balancing act, a balancing act they have methodically and patiently rigged for their benefit.

The Gorges: Khorne, eternal hunters, only feed on the strong, absorb the strengths of their victims

A Feral/Medieval feel, The Not!WorldEaters. After the discovery of their Primarch, the Gorges were to be used by the Emperor as an Astartes force that would exponentially grow in strength battles after battles through the absorption of their foes and would then provide him with a force that very few could rival. Unfortunately the meddling of Khorne weakened the control the Primarch and the Emperor had on the Hunger of the Legion. Left in a state where only constant hunting could prevent them from going mad or dying, it became more and more difficult for the Gorges to find adequate preys. But then came the offer of Betrayal. A promise that the Gorges would participate in One Hunt that would provide with an immense amount of preys of the finest quality, their own loyalist brothers. The offer was too good for the Gorges to pass on, pledging their allegiance to Khorne and promising the remains of their hunts to the Skull Throne, the Gorges embarked in the heresy with their stomachs ready for the feast.

Loyalist Legions

Knights of Justice: Close combat fast attack, no Not!Culture

They are fast and surgical. Hold a code of honour most highly, and are rather zealous and stubborn. Tricked by the Traitor legions in an Istvaan V style scenario, and has spent post heresy trying to recover their huge losses. Like to get up close and personal to bash/slice in skulls. For flavour, I imagine a KoJ war council happening something like this -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez6wfJWVCeI Substitute "God wills it!" for "The Emperor wills it!" or another suitable phrase.

Steel Marshalls: Close Combat siege specialists, possibly Not!Arabic

Even tempered, noble, and pragmatic. Their siege methods are archaic, using massed shielded infantry, slow but armoured transports, and massive Harbinger Siege Towers like the Terrans of Old. They succeed through their natural toughness, armour, and their exceptional skill at close combat.

They almost completely eschew firearms and traditional vehicles in favor of melee weaponry, and often use custom reinforced boarding shields. They will often challenge enemies to duels, and have more power swords than most legions, including a unique variant called the Austrich Pattern Power Blade. The blade is lighter and somewhat thinner, allowing for a serious of rapid strikes instead of a few overpowering attacks.

Silver Cataphracts: Siege specialists, Not!Russians

Dour and sombre to the point of fatalism, the Cataphracts can seem unmotivated at times. They do however get shit done. They are very effective siege warriors, preferring to breach fortifications then charge in with heavy weapons supporting the assault. Despite their fatalistic nature, they enjoy a good drink.

Omegon Annihilators: Close Combat specialists, hyper-religious, sorcerers, Not!Persians

They are fierce, and zealous, undying followers of the Emperor and His Will. Almost every member of the legion carries a shotel, a traditionally noble weapon from their home world of Simurgh, as their close combat weapon, though some have been converted into power weapon variants and fewer still hold wonderous enchantments bestowed upon them by the priests of the All-Seer. The legion also has a high number of psykers that make use of divination in order to locate their enemy before attacking en masse while bombarding them with psychic sorcery from afar.

The Immortals

The prestiged 1st company of the Omegon Annihilators. This company was originally the one that the emperor gave to Darius to conquer his home world. As the 1st company, every member is equipped with terminator armor, power shotel and storm bolters though many favored trading in their bolters for storm shields instead. Sargents of the Immortals are always psykers trained in the arts of divination and pyromancy and given a Force shotel instead. In order to keep up the illusion that they are truly immortal, the 1st company was always kept at 100%. Upon death an Immortals armor will instantly teleport them back into space where a ship can retrieve their corpse and equipment. A suitable member from the legion is then elected to replace the fallen immortal, being listed as KIA and taking on the name of the previous immortal.

The Crusaders: Armored Warfare Specialists. Tactically Flexible. Peacekeeping Force

Zealous, but tempered. They make a point of being fair and honourable where they can. Were second most powerful legion after the Heresy. Offered a logical and well thought out alternative to the Codex offered by the Scions of Europa. The alternative is a change in the chain of command of the Chapter. This change included the new "Lieutenant" rank, who was given command over two squads which form a single "troop". Other changes included dissolving Devastators and Assault Marines into only Tactical Marine squads which are armed with specialist gear depending on individual skills, mission objectives and enemies faced. Despite this, the Crusaders still field a unit of flyer marines, which armed with plasma, melta, flame and krak weapons act as a shock/anti armor unit. Designed to drop in and either lock down or destroy large enemy units e.g. Carnifex, Heavy Tanks and Battle Suits. They can also be used to scatter groups of enemies with their flamers and destroy key structures. Once these objectives have been completed the Shock Marines then retreat behind friendly lines to rearm and refuel. Due to this tactical flexibility the Crusaders have taken the role of a peacekeeping force. Sending fleets out to patrol their section of the galaxy, they also keep a sizable force planet side to mobilize as a quick reaction force or to reinforce other Legions if needed.

Void Angels: Generalists, iconoclasts

Gaspard Lumey never trusted the other primarchs and, according to the Void Angels, the Heresy proved him right. (Others would argue that if Lumey hadn't been such an insufferable prick his Legion might have been called into action in a more timely fashion and things wouldn't have ended up quite so bad.)

War Scribes: Generalists, Tech-lovers

Cautious, methodical, and predictable, and have an odd tendency to be brilliant when planning grand campaigns, but being more uncertain than most in the maelstrom of personal combat at the tactical level. Some Legions appreciate the War Scribes’ oversight of their wars, and others deride them for percieved cowardice. They lack the bloodlust that most other Legions are known for, preferring a solid, relentless advance, backed by the highest technology they can muster. Where other legions favour boldness, the Scribes favour tried and proven methods, and do not deviate from them. They are dour warriors, not given to emotion on the battlefield, but to those that earn their trust, they will go to the ends of the Galaxy to assist them in their times of need. Their favored weapons are Dark Age relics, and the Legion is replete with them. Even in the 40th Millennium, the Chapter and its successors will have access to much that the rest of the galaxy has forgotten.

They disagree with the Mechanicus in many areas, not least of which is their refusal to hoard technology. The War Scribes do not innovate technology, but they do reverse-engineer it at every opportunity, and disseminate the information to the worlds they conquer, and to the Imperium as a whole when possible. Unfortunately, as the timeline progresses, this becomes more and more impossible, as others view the Chapter more as a treasure trove to be plundered, rather than colleagues to be learned from. The Mechanicus has encouraged this mentality, with an eye towards someday destroying the War Scribes and taking what they have learned. Though the War Scribes aren’t inclined toward political maneuvering, they’ve had to learn to balance the other pillars of the Imperium against the Mechanicus to maintain their autonomy. It is fortunate that they have the authority of being a First Founding Legion to support them.

Space Marines know no fear, but the War Scribes don’t handle Chaos incursions very well, mentally or tactically. They can’t predict the unpredictable, and this puts them at a steep disadvantage. Against Material foes though, their brutally powerful relic weaponry makes them a force to be reckoned with.

Because of the Scribes love for knowledge, predictability, and the written word, the War Scribes were encouraged by the other legions and their Primarchs to author the Codex Astartes following the events of the Heresy, with the help of the Crusaders, Steel Marshals, Thunder Kings, and Scions.

The Isstvan Massacre nearly destroyed the entire Legion, and they were completely unprepared for their betrayal at the hands of the Traitor Legions. Despite being a respectably large Legion of nearly 90,000 warriors, only one in thirty Marines survived Isstvan, leaving a bare 3,000 to carry their Primarch back home. The only reason the Legion remains a viable force to this day is the large number of small squads dispatched galaxy-wide to hunt relics, these numbered almost 10,000 and were called back to brace the Legion. Without those reinforcements, which the Mechanicus had no knowledge of, the War Scribes would surely have been annihilated when the Mechanicus attempted to sear their homeworld to the bedrock in an attempt to remove the War Scribes' Primarch from impeding their goals to control the Imperium from Mars, rather than Terra.

As it now stands, the War Scribes are a fleet-based chapter, for though the Legion survived, their planet was torn asunder in the apocalyptic clash of forbidden, ancient technology. For the briefest of instants, they and the Mechanicus fought as Dark Age Mankind might have, holding nothing back.

The War Scribes Chapter of the 40th Millennium looks much like it did in the 30th, wielding Crusade-era weaponry alongside even more ancient relics. They defend their treasures jealously, though they do seek to share technology wherever possible and undermine the Mechanicus.

Notable successors

Knights Draconian Sort-of Not!BlackTemplars. The first Chapter Master of the Knights Draconian, Nicholai Galilei, served as liaison officer to The Entombed during the Istvaan V campaign. While recovering from the wounds he suffered there, Galilei criticised the War Scribes' strategy for failing to properly co-operate with the other legions present. While the critique was not harshly worded, it created considerable controversy - especially because Arelex Orannis, busy with other duties, did not publicly reply. Internal dissent within the War Scribes made the break-up of the legion for the Second Founding painless: those who agreed with Galilei left, those who disagreed remained in their original colours. Subsequent bust-ups with The Entombed and the Eyes of the Emperor left an embittered Knights Draconian believing that co-operation is largely impossible. Big fans of the Inquisition.

Falcus Cobalt: Snipers, no Not!Culture

The Falcus are jovial yet stoic. They are however precise and scarily adept at using targeted attacks to remove or weaken an enemy threat. They make great use of snipers and devastators, and have more predators and devastators than most legions.

Thunder Kings: Generalists, Repentant, Not!Celts.

Even-tempered, proud, and noble. The Thunder Kings took the Heresy badly, with more than half of their legion fighting for Hektor and his Traitors. They are now repentant, trying to quietly clean up their mess. They are renown for taking a cautious, methodical approach to warfare, and favour combined armed tactics over any single focused doctrine.

It is rumored that the Thunder Kings claim descent from similar genetic stock as the Thunder Warriors of old, and are simultaneously the subject of interest and revile as a consequence. They are larger than the majority of other Astartes, yet exhibit no other outward signs that’d betray such lineage.

During the Heresy, seven of the twelve tribes abandoned the Emperor and Brennus, heading towards Terra to assist Hektor Cincinnatus. Four of the remaining tribes set out in the same direction, assisting loyalist forces in various skirmishes and battles in the vicinity of the Sol system. It would be almost a year before Brennus lifted himself from Alessia, burning the world behind him, and took his last remaining tribe--his personal one--with him to Terra.

In the modern era, the tribal structure has been disbanded, and the Chapter no longer recruits from a single world. The loyalist tribes were instead broken off into their own individual Chapters, and are known to maintain close ties to the original Thunder Kings--who are all of Brennus’ original tribe. The Chapter is now mostly Codex Astartes adherent, at least with regards to organization, though it still maintains more Marines than is considered standard--owing to its extended garrison duties in many locations. Most notable is still their fondness for unified tactics, and it is unsurprising to see the Thunder Kings working alongside their brother chapters or with regular Imperial forces in the conduct of a combined front against a greater enemy.

Following the voluntary burning of Alessia, the Thunder Kings instead now recruit from a multitude of planets spread out over a gauntlet of stars known as the Soctis Cluster. With several black holes orbiting the periphery of the cluster, the habitable planets scattered throughout the Cluster are habitually bombarded by erratic seasons, exotic radiation, and altogether experience harsh conditions. It is from these worlds that the Thunder King recruits are drawn, with a permanent garrison maintained on each one.

Eyes of the Emperor: Ranged specialists, craftsmen

Paranoid, wary, and skittish by nature, the Eyes of the Emperor favored engaging their enemies at range,mostly focusing on heavy artillery, mechanical warfare and Sniping ability. As such, they spent a lot time crafting and maintaining equipment - they have gotten rather good at it. When presented a foe, they will become some what obsessed with it, trying to learn, understand and predict their targets moves to the extreme, playing a intricate game of battlefield chess as they continually deploy, redeploy and maneuver the battlefield, trying to get as into their maximum range. They are ridiculed by some close combat oriented legions, but have a good relationship with the mechanicus, and were present in the defense of Mars. Many of their Astartes brethren distrust them and They are especially despised by Imperial Guard commanders, as they often, accidentally, treat the guard as a meat shield while they keep at a range.

Originally forced into helping the Traitors in return for not being destroyed, they regrettably participated in the drop site massacre. They eventually turned on the Traitors, when they saw what had become of some of the cult marines under the sway of the chaos gods. Fearing that the same would happen to them, and compelled by what some would say was the only courageous act in their existence, they broke off from the main traitor fleet and deployed on mars, to help with the defense effort. For many days the Eyes of the Emperor fought, even equipping them selves with jump packs to get some what closer to the enemy with their shot guns. Although valiant, they were heavily injured during the offense and many were killed. Of their original strength, only a few thousand remained.

Their Primarch, Octullus Tyran was raised on the Gas Giant of Illobian. Drifting among the clouds of oxygen lied the space station where he was found, and raised. He soon found he was capable of reading the minds of others, But this proved to be a curse at the time, as he was overswept with the fears and worries of the entire station. He was soon found and taken under the wing of a professional bounty hunter on the planet, who took pity on the scared child, and trained him into helping control his powers to his advantage, along with the ways of ranged combat. Although he would spend most of his time hunting down, and even killing criminals, he still felt pings of fear when he saw their vile mugs through the lenses. Many years later, a new comer arrived, and demanded that . Deciding Challenging the new comer to a test of skill, he watched confidently as the man walked up to the podium, took the worn rifle, and hit all two thousand targets placed around the city in a single shot. Astonished, Octullus quickly bent knee, and watched as the Emperor revealed himself and told him of his origin. He quickly took command of the Radiance Warriors, who Octullus promptly renamed the Eyes of the Emperor, due to the amazing sights the Emperor must of had to make that shot.

They are diverge from most of the other marine factions via their tactics and troop selection, as they equip most of their Tactical marines Stalker Bolters, their Assualt marines Storm Bolters, their Terminators either Autocannons, Havoc Launchers or Plasma Cannons. They also make extensive use of Tarantula Auto Turrets, Tech Thralls, Servitors, and other expendable units to keep the enemy from closing on them.

• Chaplains meditate in isolation for hours upon hours trying to commune with the Emperor. They also can channel a small bit of their Prinarchs power to probe the minds of suspected marines

• Dreadnoughts are basically walking altars that rarely enter combat. When they do, they are armred with missile launchers to prevent them from being damaged. They also have their former visiage carved onto the front of the dreadnought

• Assault marines are actually based on a volunteer basis, and upon doing so, are considered dead until they get past their time volunteered. They must take up a vow of silence, and either take a regular bolter or dual wield dual chain hooks.

• Neophytes are paired up with a tactical to learn under the marines, and for each neophyte trained, they implant a veteran bolt in their fore head. They nay also use seals instead

• They are seven vows of purity that each neophyte must take to become a full fledged space marine. Each one concides with a organ except the last one, which is the bonding of the suit, neophyte and optic eye.

• Brothers are encouraged to consult every other marine under and above their command for advice on upcoming campaigns and other actions. Every decision is meditated upon, every deployment carefully considered

• When fighting a openet, they will usually plan days, weeks and months ahead to the very last second, and will base their plans on specifically how the enemy reacts. They are so well timed, there is cases of them firing with such timing, aim and precision, that they were able to kill entire flanks of enemy. They are famous for their saturation attacks as well, leading enemies into death traps of rocks and heavy weaponry

Scions of Europa: Tactical Marines, Greco-Roman inspired ethos and culture

The Scions are defined primarily by their bravery and their combination of discipline and tactical flexibility, allowing them to work well both as a single Legion and in conjunction with others, coordinating the strengths of the Legions with each other in combined engagements. However, their bravery has proved to be a double-edged sword, as they refuse to retreat unless under the most dire of circumstances, so they suffer higher losses than normal. Their emphasis on tactical flexibility results in higher numbers of Tactical Squads, and all marines in the Legion are trained in basic proficiency of all standard weapons. For some reason, they lack psykers among their ranks.

Many of the Legion drew their initial recruits both from Holy Terra and the planet Europa - hence the Legion's name - a world named after a continent of ancient Terra that emerged from the Age of Strife with much of its technology and traditions intact - passed down since the first colonists settled there. Their bronze-painted armor, trimmed with gold and cloaked in red, is an homage to the old Terran warriors of Europa.

Machine Guard: Vehicle users. Ranged Preference.

Reluctant to pick sides in a fight between brothers, eventually siding - after some considerable pressure from the Omegon Annihalators - with the Emperor. They favour fast and unconventional tactics. Serious, wild, and sometimes reckless through bravado and heroics. The use of vehicles in this fashion wins them no points with the Ad Mech but it is proven to be effective. Their geneseed insofar has been stable but they lost a great many number on Istvaan V and were left powerless for the remainder of the Heresy Era. They have slowly been rebuilding their numbers and their stockpiles but still lack behind severely. Each marine is a trained pilot of any vehicle they could encounter in their service life and a trained marksman but they lack severely in close combat ability and the only ones considered of acceptable skill was the primarch himself and most of the honour guard assault marines.

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The Entombed: Defensive specialists, death/tomb theme.

The Entombed suffer from a fault in their geneseed which makes it incredibly difficult to reclaim genetic stock from the fallen. To compensate for their difficulty in recouping losses, The Entombed have opted to wear much heavier armour. The legion consits almost entirely of Terminators, Centurions, and Dreadnoughts. Apothecaries have prominent leadership roles, and every squad of Terminators is lead by an Apothecary in terminator armour called an Undertaker.

During the Horus Heresy, they lost seven of their ten companies to a chemical attack by the Life Bringers, and have sworn bloody vengeance against the worshippers of Nurgle. The Entombed do not generally concern themselves with external conflicts, opting instead to sit on their barren, grey homeworld of Sepulchra, fighting an endless war against the Orks native to their system. Only two battle barges regularly patrol the galaxy, searching for signs of the Life Bringers. If even a hint of Life Bringer activity is discovered, The Entombed will attack in full force. The Entombed would glass ten thousand planets if it meant killing only ten Life Bringers.

The Entombed field a unique Ossuary Pattern Dreadnought, with thicker armour and armed with the Demolisher Cannons usually seen on Vindicators. The Primarch of The Entombed, Golgothos, is interred in one such Dreadnought. Many Entombed choose to decorate their armour with skull iconography, and Entombed Dreadnoughts have recesses on the front, where the skulls of fallen battle-brothers are interred.

After the War Scribes failed to inform The Entombed of the incomming artillery barrage on Istvaan V which doomed their chapter, The Entombed declared them Nonexistant. The Entombed do not recognize that the War Scribes exist. In battle, The Entombed will place their artillery without regard for War Scribes, and march past Scribes as they are slaughtered, without even turning their heads. When the Knights Draconian, a War Scribes successor chapter, came to ask for The Entombed's forgiveness years later, Golgothos replied to their apology with, "How Can I accept what I cannot hear? How can I forgive one who does not exist?"

Stone Men: larger than usual, brutish, and slow

The Stone Men are hulking behemoths of space marines. clad in a stony ore from their home planet, neolithus, and wielding powerfists and meltaguns, they are nearly indestructible, yet moderately small in number and almost completely unable to increase the size of their ranks. they are all rather simple, dealing in not black and white or many shades of grey, but rather one shade of grey: destroy things. They were last spotted in a brawl between chaos space marines and loyalist astartes during the great heresy, fighting both in a confused attempt to discern which side they were on. after giving up on deciding entirely, they retreated to the deepest object in space they could find. none have ever since found this mysterious object, but reports do come in every once in a while of massive marines clad in stony armor riding meteorites saving imperial forces from threats around the edge of the galaxy, leading most to believe they live on. their primarch is onyx the indestructible, who is by far the largest at 20 ft tall.

�

Timeline

DISCOVERY ORDER OF THE PRIMARCHS

1) Hektor Cincinnatus

2) Arelex

3) Thomas Gaudin

4) Kranios

5) Uriel Starikov

6)

7) Thoren Grimm

8) Bohemond

9) Rook North

10) Kleisthenes

11) The Voidwatcher

12)

13) Gaspard Lumey

14)

15)

16)

17) Inferox the Burned King

18)

19)

20)

21) Ocullus Tyran

22)

23) Golgothos

24) Aubrey The Grey

25) Onyx the Indestructible

The First Betrayal

Once the truth was revealed, it was only a matter of time before the Emperor would be moved to censure the Eternal Zealots. The links of cause and effect are poorly recorded, but it seems that the Emperor waited for some time after the initial reports of Xenos Traffiking and support reached his court. That He sent missions to assay many more worlds conquered by the Zealots is known. We can only speculate as to why: perhaps He did not want to believe it of His son, perhaps He wanted to be sure, perhaps He was simply gathering information before acting.

Istvaan III:

Events are being told for those unfamiliar with the battle. Pic semi-related.

Hektor responded to a distress signal from the already captured world of Istvaan III. He returns, stating that the price of falling from the path of enlightenment must be a public display of humiliation, electing to wipe out the local government by way of deploying 5 legions to the planet. Those elected were the Silver Spears, the Mastodontii, the Council of Iron, the Sons of Fire, the Eternal Zealots,The Eyes of the Emperor and the Wolves of Dawn. The fighting seemed unusually harsh, however the plan seemed solid, and was playing out very much as was thought. However, the handpicked ground troops got word that there was another plan in motion. Hektor had planned to have all loyalist troops on the ground, and condemn the planet to Exterminatus via Lifeeater Virus. They managed to seek cover, forcing Hektor to ground troops once the planet was clear, stretching the battle to over a month. The purpose of the plan was twofold: to cull the members still loyal to the Emperor, while simultaneously forcing those Legions to commit. Any objections/additions/alterations?

Istvaan V

The Istvaan V legions were the Entombed, the Knights of Justice, the Machine Guard and the War Scribes (mainly cos 2 of those legions creators seemed to have left the thread)

Angered and blinded by their betrayal, Golgothos chose to deploy all 10 companies on Istvaan V, holding not a single marine in reserve. He cut off the Black Augur's air support and deployed his Legion at a strongpoint, a narrow causeway between two lakes he knew the Augurs would have to move through if they wished to rendezvous with the other traitor legions. The Augurs called to the Life Bringers for support, and they opted to bombard the site with artillery shells loaded with gas. The bombardment killed eight entire companies of Entombed, without offering a single target to return fire upon. The Entombed's geneseed flaw means that all geneseed recovery has an 80% failure rate. Suffering such massive losses, The Entombed were forced to return to their homeworld, and have never recovered.

In revenge for the destruction of their homeworld, the Eternal Zealots fall upon the Knights of Justice with unprecedented fury. Aubrey strikes swiftly into the staging areas, destroying many of the Loyalist gunships before they can even leave the ground and catches Bohemond's forces out in the open. The Knights of Justice are forced to fight a gritty defensive battle, a battle for which they are doctrinally ill-suited. The battle culminates in a savage duel between the two Primarchs that leaves Bohemond dead along with the vast majority of his Legion, and Aubrey firmly in the hands of Chaos.

Terra

The Zealots are the first openly traitor legion, playing the role the word bearers did, while the Children of Armok were the original traitors, and play the role Erebus does in the books and being the one to corrupt notLorgar.

The Zealots were acting unwittingly as agents for the Children of Armok, and through them Hektor And this shit starts from there.

Is there going to be a Calth/Shadow Crusade analogue? What Legion has its own stellar empire for the Sons of Fire to burn to the ground?

And our AU's alternative to the Iron Cage is the Crucible - a challenge by the more renegade than outright traitor Bulwark, vs the Steelmarshalls and the Silver Cataphracts

At the time of the Istvaan III Atrocity, a precise estimate of the Sons of Fire’s fighting strength and disposition was difficult to make. The Sons often fought as a small number of large scale deployments, with the bulk under the Burned King formed into the 13th Expeditionary fleet, and the Sigillite’s Agents were disliked and kept at arms length. Best estimates of their observed strength were around 150,000 Space Marines, placing the Sons of Fire in the middle to high levels of comparative strength amongst its contemporary fellow Space Marine Legions. They were also well-supplied and supported by the Legio Ignis (Fire Kings) Titan Legion and a fleet of at least sixty capital class vessels. It is commonly estimated that of all the Traitor Legions that had fought at Istvaan III in the purge of the Loyalist faction within their ranks, it had been the Sons who had suffered the greatest casualties, with well over 35,000 Legionaries believed to have met their deaths on both sides. Aside from the many wounded, it is recorded that a number had succumbed entirely during the protracted fighting to an insane pyromania and had to be forcibly restrained and removed back to the the fleet for containment, lest they burn even their allies to ash.

Kleisthenes (Scions primarch) fulfills Sanguinius’ role, Is crippled like the Ultrasmurf primarch is. (That’s not a bad idea, a nice mix of the two. Though, I hope the Scions don’t come across as too snowflakey cuz of that.) [You can’t be more snowflakey than the 100% Dreadnoughts and Terminators marines.] (…. that … that’s actually pretty true.) [:D ]

Well, a 100% Terminator Legion would be the smallest, maybe around the 10,000 mark like the actual TSons. So the Smallest Legion. The Entombed are only 3 companies. I was shooting for sort of a Flesh-Tearers “There’s like five of us” thing. before the dropsite massacre I mean. SO at the height of the crusade, 10,000 marines. Sounds reasonable.

The eyes of the Emperor mainly attended to Mars during the siege of Terra, trying to protect the foundries and factories. It is during this time where they display their braveness, using ancient DaoT weaponry to literally snipe and assassinate the commanders of Traitor Titnas, and plunging in close to the front line with storm bolter armed assault marines . They kind of fill out the void of the Dark Angels role of being the indecisive chapter and the Iron Hands as being the chapter to loose their primarch totally.

Crusaders were also present on Terra, as were the Marshalls, Cataphracts, and parts of the War Scribes (I envision the Scribes as being spread out everywhere a lot, always recovering their information and recording knowledge) (Yeah, the Scribes are a Legion only in name, in practice they’d have been fairly spread out during the Crusade, with a central force of maybe 30-50k marines, and lots of squads all over the place.)

The Thunder Kings arrived both in support of and in opposition to Imperial forces, with Brennus arriving with several thousand less than his traitorous captain Selioax managed to muster. It’s possible he was aboard when the Emperor and co. confronted Hektor, though he need not necessarily take the place of Dorn or whatever Not!Dorn we choose for putting the Emperor into his throne. Selioax survived, but both Thunder Kings factions sustained enormous casualties throughout the Siege of Terra.

Writefaggotry

Burning Worlds

The world was on fire.

One could not tell if it was day or night from the eternal glow, or the ash that choked the sky. The battlefield was a picture of hell, the hell man had once believed in before the Imperial Truth had swept such superstition away. But here and now, that mythical hell was reborn upon Yaga Prime, sending countless souls to damnation.

Striding through the flames, the Sons of Fire burned everything before them. The human defenders of this world, who had refused to abandon their gods and beliefs, were now either ash or small bands of fleeing survivors, each being run down and burned one after the other.

The war had, been won in a single hour and twenty-seven minutes, though the battle still raged on three weeks later. One hour twenty-seven minutes. That had been how long it had taken for his ships to cripple the enemy fleet, and fire-bomb every single major city on the planet. Over half the enemy flotilla had been lost in the opening salvoes, the rest in the hours and days after. The wreckage now orbited the capital planet, the heart of this system. Following that, twenty-four Modalis-class atmospheric missiles had been launched from the Eternal Conflagration at the surface of Yaga Prime. Each targeted a key strategic location, major cities, strategic hubs, and within seconds billions had burned. Thus, the war for Yaga Prime was won in one hour twenty-seven minutes. In the months that followed, all that remained was to complete the cull.

First Captain Emiya could feel the blistering heat inside the confines of his Terminator Plate. That meant that outside the temperature must be blistering, near that of the Plasma Reactors his suit had once been designed for. He strode dispassionately through the carnage, through the fire, flanked by his standard bearer Kleast, the standard singed at the edges, and master of signal Amerauk. The first company was at the heart of the pursuit, passing the blazing hulks of tanks and troop carriers. The crackling sound of burning flesh was everywhere, and the smell, the smell of burned man. That smell was lodged in the nasal cavities of every last Son of Fire. Most loved that smell. Emiya disliked it. I am in the wrong Legion. I take no pleasure in what I have to do. Most of his brothers took glee in burning all before them, the sickness that it seemed consumed more and more of his Brothers. Even before their Primarch had joined them, the Legion had taken to the use of flame weapons more often than not. Emiya had been young then, and had hoped their Primarch would be a great leader, one who could stand shoulder to shoulder with his Brothers as the Crusade pushed ever onwards. Then they had found their liege lord, and all had changed. “Emiya,” A deep, booming voice suddenly crackled through the vox. He knew instantly who it was. His Primarch. The Burned King. The Fire Rider. Inferox. “You are needed. One of the Sigillite’s spawn has arrived to see our progress, and I need you here with me.” “And why is that sire?” “So you can restrain me if I get fed up of her twittering and want to see how well she burns.” He could see in his kind’s eye the Primarch’s mighty flame-claw gauntlets flexing. Inferox was hardly co-operative. He was pointed at a world, and told to burn it. To have a representative of the Regent of Terra come, had to mean something was up. “I’m on my way,” Emiya began, but the line was already dead.

“Kleast? Contact Captain Tamyo and tell him command’s passed to him. I have been summoned.” “The Primarch?” “Who else?” Kleast lowered the standard as he turned to Emiya. “Keep him calm. The last thing we need is another ‘accidental’ death. Emperor knows we’ve had enough of them in the past.”

The Emperor's Justice

“Let those who desire the Emperor's justice step forward!” Bohemond's voice echoed off the bare walls of the Palace of Justice with authority and conviction. The throng immediately fell silent, and the militiawoman policing the crowd gestured for the first supplicants to approach. They were somewhat hesitant about approaching the seated Space Marine, but a swift jab in the smalls of their backs with the militiawoman's pike propelled them forward.

“Who are you who, and why do you seek the Emperor's justice?” Bohemond found comfort in the old ritual. He had practised a variation of it before being reunited with his father, and throughout the Great Crusade he had made a point of holding court on each world the Knights of Justice had brought into the Imperium. Was the Emperor not an Emperor for all mankind? Did all mankind not benefit from His rule? Did all of mankind not benefit and deserve His justice?

“Balthazar, farmer of Mindan province m'lord,” mumbled the first figure, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the floor. “G-G-Greigor, merchant of Mindan province m'lord,” stammered the second. Bohemond noted that he was dressed somewhat finer clothes than the farmer, and clutched a feathered cap in his trembling hands. He had dispensed justice to all stations of people throughout the Imperium, from feral tribesman barely capable of civilised speech to his fellow Primarchs and their Legions, and this case would receive just as much attention as one of the conflicts Bohemond had resolved between his brothers.

“This man didn't pay me a fair price for my livestock!” Balthazar pointed accusingly at the merchant. “He claimed he had little coin but I know that's not true, I saw he had more!” So it was a matter of coin, it often was with these commoners. Part of him wanted to scream at these men for wasting his time, for holding him here whilst he could be chasing down the renegades and traitors and following the last command of his father – but what did these simpletons know of that? How could they know of the Great Betrayal? How could they understand the scale of the suffering wrought on the Imperium by Hextor and his cohorts? How could they understand a love so great that an Emperor had for all mankind he would kill his own children? They could not, but they could make sense of it here in this dispute, and thus the message would spread to others. Now more than ever in these dark times were stories of Imperial virtue needed.

“And this is true?” Bohemond questioned the merchant, fixing his gaze upon him.

“W-w-well yes m'lord, I did have more, but I was saving it to buy from other farmers so that they would have coin to buy food,” squirmed the merchant, desperately looking everywhere but at the Space Marine. “And the only reason Balthazar knew I had more money was because he broke into my wagon and forced open my lockbox!”

It was now the farmer's turn to feel the eyes of the Primarch fall upon him. Bohemond did not even need to speak a word before the words began to tumble out of the farmer's mouth.

“M'lord, he had more coin than I've ever seen! More than I saw that time we collected that sum for the orphans of the plague. He could've easily afforded to give me more, I've got seven mouths to feed and...” “That's a lie!” The merchant protested. “It wasn't nearly as much as he claims, and besides Balthazar only has four children!” “Well they eat so much it feel like seve...”

“SILENCE!” Bohemond's yell almost bowled the two men over. “Greigor, do you deny withholding funds from Balthazar?” “N-n-no m'lord.” “And you, Balthazar, do you deny violating a man's property? No protests, a simple yes or no.” Balthazar opened his mouth as if to say something, but simply shook his head.

“Then I am ready to give the Emperor's judgement,” Bohemond pronounced. “Greigor, to not give a man or his efforts their due worth can lead to the direst of circumstances. Some of my brothers felt slighted by their kin, and as a result it has led to anger, defiance and even rebellion.” This revelation brought a gasp of shock from the assembled crowd, who had up until now remained silent. “I therefore order you to pay Balthazar a sum equivalent to a fair price for his stock no later than forty days from now.” Balthazar's face took on an incredibly arrogant look, one that painfully reminded Bohemond of one of his fallen siblings. “I have not finished,” Bohemond snapped. “Balthazar, I spoke to Greigor about respect. Would you rather that Greigor had broken into your dwelling and simply taken your livestock? No, you would not. Society cannot function if we deviate from our laws, and committing one offence for the sake of righting a previous one is unjust and incorrect. You will therefore be fined the sum of money Greigor will pay you, payable no less than one day after you have received the coin, and thus the Emperor has given justice on this matter. Give thanks for this justice.”

“We give thanks for this justice!” The militiawoman began to chant, and soon the crowd took it up.

“We give thanks for this justice!”

“We give thanks for this justice!”

“We give thanks for this justice!”

Bohemond smiled and gave thanks.

The Duel at Isstvan V

‘I have long waited for this moment, Bohemond,’ replied Aubrey, ‘ever since you purged by brothers with vengeance in your heart. Ever since you humiliated me, and left me before our false father’s judgement. For years I have dreamt of this reckoning. Only one of us will walk away from this, you know that.’

‘I know that,’ agreed Bohemond.

‘You betrayed me and my brothers,’ said Aubrey, and Bohemond was surprised to hear genuine emotion in his brother’s voice. ‘You cast them down and purged them, because they were not human. Because they were Xenos,’ the last part coming out as a hateful hiss.

‘I did what I had to do because your eyes needed to be opened,’ answered Bohemond. ‘Xenos were never our friends, they were always against us. Father thought you knew better, he thought you’d understand. But you were naive, you never saw the threat they posed until too late. And now look at you, turning on us in the heat of battle.’

‘You turned on us. You shamed us and humiliated us. You will not do so again.’

‘Then you shall all die!’ snarled Bohemond. ‘Hektor is mad. Look at all this death! How can this be right? You will hang from Traitor’s Gibbet for this sedition, for I am the Emperor’s loyal servant and through me his will and vengeance will be done.’

‘The Emperor is a spent force,’ snapped Aubrey. ‘Even now he whittles away on some trivia in the dungeons of Terra while his realm is in flames. Even now he gives up on hope in favour of his own selfish desires. Are those the actions of a being fit to rule the galaxy?’

‘No more words,’ Bohemond adopted a combat stance with his blade. ‘Come then, brother. Let us decide this, you and I. For eternity.’

The battlefield fell silent as Aubrey drew his own blades, a matching pair of Black blades with snakes wrapped around the blade and outwards, forming both the guard and the hilt. The din of the battlefield could not mask the sound as they slid from their sheathes like the snakes that adorned them, before Aubrey, scorned son, spurned healer, bitter warlord and herald of the true gods, took his stance.

Both swords pointed towards the dirt as he put his right foot forward, shifted his body forwards, his silver locks draping down, only a single, almost glowing, piercing, emerald eye peered out from the shadows.

"For Lazarus."

Aubrey struck first, moving faster than thought, his cloak swirling about him. Bohemond met the blow with his mighty blade, and a radial wave shot out from it, throwing up the ash in swirling clouds.

Bohemond grunted as he blocked the incoming blades. He moved far more slowly than Aubrey, but everything he did was solid, dense, and indomitable, every movement clinical, a ruthless economy of muscle and motion, each thrust and parry executed to perfection without the audacity of dramatic flair.

Bohemond’s blade wove an exquisite dance, while Aubrey’s blades slashed at Bohemond with wild abandon, and the air rang with the clash of metal against metal, with the fizzing crack of opposing power fields.

Bohemond wrenched his blade back, the silver steel breaking through the air in lashing chops, blurring into a crescent that reflected the flames that lit the sky above. Each carving strike crashed against Aubrey’s blocking blades. Both warriors moved beyond mortal capability, with speed that defied sight. Yet one was a knight, a champion of justice and honour, the other a visionary whose vision had turned dark, and who fought with savage relish against his hated foe. Aubrey’s grin had been a brittle facade at the best of times since the fall of Lazarus. Now it turned to glass.

Aubrey beat away a sword-strike and went for Bohemond’s gorget with his other blade. At the last minute he jutted the blade down, slipped below the defence and cut a long gash in the primarch’s breastplate. This time the blade cut deep, paring already fractured armour and delving into the ribcage below.

Bohemond roared in painand jerked clear, cracking Aubrey’s blades away with his own mighty sword and staggering backwards.

He now snarled defiantly, turning his pain to anger, fuelling his body with rage and barrelling back at him, smashing him with perfectly directed sword-blows. Aubrey lurched away, stumbling across the uneven dirt carpeted with the bodies of his Legion and Bohemonds, while Bohemond lumbered after him. More blows came in – hard, heavy, earth-shaking blows, blows to sunder armour and shatter steel. Aubrey was driven further, only barely able to weather the explosion of fury directed at him. His armour was cut apart and his body battered and bruised by his once-brother’s sustained assault.

‘Die,’ Bohemond breathed. Desperation ruined his voice, rasping it from bleeding lips. ‘You should never have survived that tainted world you call home. Father should have ended you when he saw how fall you’d fallen, the company you kept.’

Summoning up one last burst of energy, Aubrey bludgeoned aside the mighty blade and pulled away, beckoning his adversary to come after him. Bohemond followed, his armour cut apart, his mighty sword slick with blood. A vengeful Knight, come to avenge his sons.

Aubrey held position, panting hard, trying to drag up energy for the final clash. His hearts thudded, his lungs burned. He held his twin blades poised, waiting for his enemy to move.

Come to me. You can see my weakness.

Howling anger, Bohemond did just that, and Aubrey took his chance.

One blade took the mighty sword, as he stepped to one side. The other blade flicked out, biting deep into the breastplate of his brother’s armour, and the Lord of the the Knights of Justice screamed, a sound that sould never have existed in the mortal realm as his breastplate gave in and the blade bit deep into his flesh. Hot blood sprayed from the wound and the mighty black blade slid from Bohemond’s hand as he snarled in fierce agony.

As Bohemond crouched, bleeding, he began to speak into his Vox, giving final orders to his sons as they tried to flee the field. He knew his fate, he knew he was done, but he had one last oath of defiance left to give.

Aubrey smiled down upon him, drawing his blades back. His vengeance was nigh, his victory complete. This would be a message to all who follow the False Emperor, all who refused the promise of the future, all who cast him down as a weakling, a Xeno-Lover.

His serpentine Black Blade clove the air as it swept towards Bohemond. Unnatural warp-forged steel met the iron flesh of a primarch, its aberrant edge cutting through Bohemond’s skin, muscle and bone with a shrieking howl that echoed in realms beyond those knowable to mortals.

Blood and the monumental energies, the very fabric of creation bound within the meat and gristle of one of the Emperor’s sons erupted from the wound, and Aubrey fell back as the searing powers blinded him, dropping the black sword to his side. He heard a shrieking wail, as of a choir of banshees, whip around him as phantom, skeletal hands clawed at him, and a thousand voices tore at his mind.

Bohemond was dead. His head peered up at him, sightless eyes staring in accusation, his lips still moving with an unfinished curse upon them.

‘Thus was ever your fate Brother,’ Aubrey whispered to the head at his feet. ‘Lazarus is avenged.’

The Skeleton in the Caves

As a babe, the Primarch whould come to be known as Golgothos crash landed on a desolate, grey planet known as Sepulchra. The surface of Sepulchra were inhospitable badlands, with gale force winds kicking up dust storms which could rip the flesh off a man. Fortunately, Golgothos' pod crashed with such force that it pierced through the surface into the caverns below, and it is in these caverns that Golgothos made his home.

As a child, Golgothos lived by foraging for caveworms and scraping moss off of walls. As he grew, he began to hunt larger and larger game. The beasts of Sepulchra fell to his bare hands, and Golgothos would consume everything, leaving only the bones behind.

However, Golgothos' life was not safe, for deep within the caverns lived a clan of Orks. Many times as he was feeding, Golgothos would be discovered by wandering Orks, and be forced to flee. For many years he was forced to live cautiously, fleeing before the echos of Ork grunts.

It was not until he was a man grown that Golgothos chose to face the Orks in battle. The Orks had driven all game from the caverns, and so Golgothos was starving. Delirious and exhausted, Golgothos wandered passageways he had never been to before. Stumbling around a bend, he happened upon three Orks, arguing over the roasting corpse of a cave drake. Golgothos attacked the Orks with a ferocity he did not know he had posessed, kicking, clawing, biting, with his screams of fury echoing across the planet. The Orks never stood a chance.

After that, armed with an Ork Choppa, Golgothos grew to enjoy hunting orks. The Orks came to call him "Da skellytun in da caves," and told eachother tales of the bony creature which ripped apart Orks with its bare hands. Eventually, Warboss Skullgub decided he had had enough, and rallied his Orks to hunt Golgothos.

For months, Skullgub harried Golgothos. While Golgothos was mighty, he could not face hordes of Orks at once, and so he was forced to make numerous tactical retreats. Fleeing before the echoing CLANKS of Skullgub's mega armour, Golgothos came upon a pair of massive metal blast doors. Golgothos had never seen anything man made before, and so he marveled at the doors. However, he was quickly ripped out of his confusion by the CLANK CLANK CLANK of skullgub's approach. Golgothos banged his fists against the control panel in desperation, and miraculously, the door opened.

Within, Golgothos found polished metal hallways, with deep recesses in the walls. In each recess he found the ancient, dusty remains of a man: Golgothos had happened upon a crashed Catacomb Ship from the dark age of technology. He went deeper into the ship, looking for some choke point or other tactical advantage, and found it: A door leading into a personal Tomb. He looked within, and found, laying on a Beir, a well dressed skeleton. The skeleton was decorated with gold jewelry and gems, as well as medals which marked him as a military officer. On the officer's hand, dull grey and coated with a layer of dust, was an ancient Power Fist. With his mighty new weapon, and an advantageous choke point, Golgothos was able to drive off Skullgub's Orks.

The Discovery had confused Golgothos, however. He had never seen another human being before, never even conceived of the possibility that there were others. And yet, here in this catacomb, he had found the skeletal remains of hundreds of men. Golgothos began to think that Men were gods, or perhaps demons, meant to torment the Orks. He spent the next few years guarding the catacombs, and tending to the remains of what he believed to be fallen gods.

Eventually, Skullgub managed to corner Golgothos away from home as he was hunting. Outnumbered, outmatched, and staring down the gob of a gigantic mega armoured warboss, Golgothos called out to the gods for aid. With a loud CRASH, the roof before him caved in, and before Golgothos' tear-filled eyes was a Drop Pod of the Imperium of Man. From this Drop Pod emerged the Emperor himself, along with some of his mighty Space Marines. The Emperor cleaved Skullgub in two with his mighty power sword, and the Marines made short work of the remaining Orks.

The Emperor offered Golgothos a mighty legion to lead, and Golgothos required no convincing. As far as Golgothos was concerned, before him stood the King of the Gods, and such a being should not be questioned. The Emperor did not approve of Golgothos' superstition, but at least it was superstition of human superiority. Golgothos was given the VI Legion, which he named The Entombed.

The Entombed maintain Golgothos' faith to this day, believing humans to be Gods, sent to punish impure and inferior xenos. They guard their fortress monastary, called the Catacomb, and pay much respect to the dead.

The Burning of Alessia

His grey eyes flickered across the assembled data-screens, darting from one end of the cycling display to the other. The faint green backlight from the screens were all that illuminated the large circular chamber, with the logic engines and tactical displays making up the vast majority of the room's walls.

He drew in a slow breath, turning over this puzzle in his mind. This was his throne-room, his sanctum, his greatest hall—and today he had naught left to him but one final tribe, the eponymous Thunder Kings, where twelve ought together stand. He did not bear his sword and shield today, and the screens did not display the miasma of information he found so much beauty and truth in. There was nothing to command today, and his patience—infinite as it was—had long begun to set into weariness and bitterness.

Agrica had stood with him, solemn and silent as a statue throughout it all. The tall, fair-haired Astartes looked as if he might have been handsome once, but a lifetime of war had imparted upon him a steel jaw and plentiful other skin regrafts along his face. He'd kept his eyes forward for all these long weeks, imparting some small . . comfort to the brooding Primarch. He didn't have to stay. He should have gone, to fight for whomever he thought best, but he did.

It was a long while before Brennus finally spoke, his ordinarily calm, thunderous voice now sounding soft, and solemn.

“I know now my failure,” he said, looking towards Agrica. If the Astartes was alarmed, he gave no notice, and merely turned to straight back at his progenitor. “Where one legion should stand, I have created twelve. Respectively united by shared fraternity, perhaps—but what was I but their commander, in truth? Not a father.”

Agrica said nothing. Not yet.

Brennus continued, pausing only briefly to examine his son's expression. As he looked back towards the screens and continued, a wry smile now appeared on his face.

“It is fitting that only one tribe remains. Only one legion. Agrica, I am proud and flattered that you waited here, where you need not have. There must be one legion. One,” the Primarch spat out. His form shook as an uncharacteristic vehemence seized him, his throne groaning as he now—after weeks—finally stood.

“Not all that have fallen are vanquished,” faithfully intoned Agrica, bobbing his head slightly forward.

Brennus let out a withering sigh, each heavy step causing the machines around him to rattle. He stalked towards the heavy door leading out from his throne-room, pausing just one pace before it. Agrica now too moved forward, taking up a position beside his master. “We are not yet fallen,” Brennus whispered, “Not yet. I cannot forgive Selioax, however—and I cannot forgive Alessia. It must burn.”

And though it pained him, Agrica agreed.

The Cleansing of Red Death

The primarch's pod landed on a jungle world Rai, the isolated centers of human civilization there maintained 19th century level technology. Quickly found and given to an orphanage, he was adopted by a surgeon from an old lineage of healers, even though he already had 5 children. His eldest daughter worked at that orphanage as a caretaker and took a liking to the strange boy that fell from the sky, eventually convincing her parents to take him in. The boy was given the name Johannes and became part of the Vrach family, his new parents and siblings raising him as one of their own. Johannes in turn loved his new family as well, and especially admired his father and his work healing the wounded and diseased. He took a big interest towards medicine and biology and displayed great talent in those fields, soon matching and even surpassing his adoptive father's abilities. Always working together they gathered planet-wide renown as the greatest doctors and brilliant researchers, finding cures for many of the diseases and disorders that previously affected the population. Life expectancy rose considerably, the technology and overall living standards soon followed as the people could now advance further into the depths of the jungle without fear of the many deadly spores from plants and contagious plagues carried by insects in the untamed rainforests.

Unfortunately, it didn't last. An exploration team looking for metal deposits deep in the wilds found the remains of a strange, ancient ruin. Archeologists followed, unearthing alien artifacts and metal tablets with writings in an unknown language. It is said that one of them must have started it, because at the same time a new, horrific disease appeared: the Red Death. It spread through cities like wildfire, the bodies of the infected slowly mutating uncontrollably until they became a writhing mass of organs that could no longer function as a single body and finally succumbed to death. As the best medical experts of the time, the Vrach family did their best to ease the suffering, but in spite of Johannes best efforts, no cure could be found. Slowly but surely the settlements of Rai emptied, both from infection and infighting as the healthy desperately formed closed enclaves and violently attacked anybody attempting to enter out of fear of bringing the Red Death in. To make matters worse, the doctors treating the infected started to succumb to the disease as well. Immune due to his superhuman physique but forced to watch his beloved family suffer from a plague he couldn't cure, Johannes grew increasingly desperate, spending days and nights in his lab, but to no avail. As he stood over a fresh grave of his youngest sister, the last of the Vrach bloodline, a large construct appeared in the sky. Giant, gold-armored warriors stepped on the planet.

Johannes almost begged the Emperor to save Rai, accepting his offer to take command of a space marine legion immediately. The magos biologis sent to analyze the situation reported that the Red Death is impossible to cure, so the Emperor ordered a complete purge of all infected regions as well as most of the deep jungle. Watching from space as Rai burned, Johannes now knew what his duty was.

Everything that is tainted must be eradicated, only then can new life flourish. Only those who sealed themselves in closed enclaves on Rai survived, and so must he bring new worlds to the Imperium: attempting to integrate or replace indigenous cultures, solve their problems and create economic ties is folly, for just like the Legions Astartes brought the light of the Imperium to the natives, so can their delusions and corruption infect the Imperium. When the worlds are wiped clean new life can be brought upon them, and then it will flourish, free of taint.

As a primarch, Johannes taught these ideas to his legion. He carried an advanced Narthecium of his own design onto the battlefield, focusing on providing aid to the wounded over the destruction of his enemies. Like him, the Life Bringers are healers and researchers first, warriors second, their officers cross-training as apothecaries and carrying medical equipment in addition to their combat duties. They are grim and determined in battle, but genuinely caring for their allies.

Assorted Other Material

Primarch Stats

Inferox The Burned King

Inferox, the Burned King, the Fire Rider, Primarch of the Sons of Fire: WS7 BS5 S7 T7 W6 I5 A4 LD10 SV2+/3++

Unit Composition •1 (Unique)

Unit Type •Infantry (Character)

Wargear •Armour of Hades •Flame-Claw Gauntlets •Phosphex grenade launcher

Special Rules •Primarch •Soul of Fire •Sire of the Sons of Fire •Very Bulky

Sire of the Sons of Fire Inferox is the pinnacle of his Legion, the dispenser of justice and the bestower of favour. All his sons aspire to be one with the flame like him, and fight all the harder under his eyes. All models with the Legiones Astartes (Sons of Fire) rule may re-roll the dice when using flamer based weapons in defensive fire, and gain the Crusader special rule. In addition all Medusas, Basilisks and Whirlwinds in an army led by Inferox may take Phosphex ammunition.

Soul of Fire The blazing heart of his pitiless legion, Inferox epitomised the power of unchained fire, its ability to consume all and leave nothing behind. Inferox is immune to all flamer based weaponry, and Fusion, Melta, Plasma and Volkite weaponry have their strength reduced by 2 when firing at him. In addition all his shooting attacks have the shred special rule.

Armour of Hades This blazing suit of armour, wreathed in flames gives Inferox a fearsome visage, and makes it harder for foes to hit him. The Armour of Hades confers a 2+/3++ save, and in addition all successful hits against him in close combat must be re-rolled.

Flame-Claw Gauntlets The Primarch’s signature weapons, these can both project streams of tainted fire at range, or else be used as devastating close-combat weapons. They have two profiles, one for the ranged shots, and the other for close-combat attacks.

Flame-Claw Gauntlets (Ranged) Range: Template Strength: 6 Ap 3 Type: Assault 1, Shred, Ignores Cover

Flame-Claw Gauntlets (Combat) Range: Melee Strength: 8 Ap: 2 Type: Melee, Shred, Murderous Strike, Paired (+1 Attack)

Phosphex grenade launcher This weapon fires the deadly, earth-tainting Phosphex to utterly purge Inferox’s enemies. Range: 18” Strength: 5 Ap 2 Type: Assault 1, Crawling Fire, Lingering Death