Lions Rampant
The Lions Rampant once stood as stalwart defenders of mankind. Credited with brilliant leadership and numerous victories, their former glories are now forever stained by infamy. During the Hektor Heresy they cast their lot in with the traitors to the Imperium and are now among the greatest examples of the excesses of Chaos. Now they ride in an eternal quest to satisfy their dark master, the god of Chaos, Slaanesh.
The History of the Lions Rampant
Before the discovering of Cromwald, the Lions Rampant were an understrength legion known as the Highland Raiders. They were tasked with subjugating worlds that refused overtures of peace, and in such a role were often set against well prepared foes. They lacked for glorious campaigns in their formative years, especially in the wake of legions more specialized, organized, or simply more brutal in their ways. It was not until the discovery of the lost primarch that they would be catapulted to the role of a vaunted vanguard, earning their name and place in the Great Crusade.
Cromwald Walgrun, Primarch of the Lions Rampant
Appearance
Cromwald has all the bearing of an aristocrat; he carries himself with confidence and poise as befitting his upbringing. This, partnered with his modestly rounded features, tightly cropped charcoal hair and neatly trimmed mustache would see him fitted well with the nobility of the Imperium. Though given the typical imposing presence of a primarch, his middle aged, almost fatherly features are disarmingly pleasant to look upon, though his deep set brown eyes are those of an ever watchful hawk. Even when his great cheeks are drawn in an amiable expression there can be no mistaking that he is ever constantly judging those in his company.
Youth
The young primarch was discovered on the world of Sommesgard. Here he was discovered by an officer in the service to the Monarchy of Prathia. The captain was guiding a routine patrol as part of the summertime wargames exercised by the 131st grenadiers, and stumbled upon a child lost and abandoned in the woods. He responded by returning to headquarters with the child, and in the absence of any family, he would then adopt the boy a few months later. Dubbing him Cromwald, the captain would raise the primarch in accordance to the traditions and customs of the privileged upper class the Monarchy's officers were drawn from.
As a primarch, the child would grow swiftly. Captain Walgrun, despite being taken aback by his sons accelerated growth, raised the boy in the ways of etiquette, tradition, and ambition. He taught the child all he could about the privileges and responsibilities of the gentry. Before long the student had exceeded the teacher, and so it was with pride that Cromwald was entered into the academy to follow his adoptive father's footsteps as a soldier and leader of men.
The Military Academy of Her Lady of Grace was a prestigious institution that held a reputation for providing the finest officers in the Prathian army. Here Cromwald excelled in virtually every field; his superhuman intellect began to blossom into a sharp mind for strategy and a quick wit for diplomacy. He quickly proved a match for his instructors in the arts of personal combat and debate, and it was not long before his fieldcraft and generalship had excelled beyond all expectations. He graduated a lieutenant, but would not linger at such a lowly rank for long.
The wars that wracked Sommesgard were ceaseless as nations battled for the limited resources of the depleted planet. These provided the perfect backdrop for the grand march to unification. It began with a modest handful of routs against the rival nation of Calibrey. These routs turned into prolonged campaigns, and when the Prathian flag stood ascendant over their longtime rivals, Cromwald's rise to the rank of Field Marshal was all but assured. He had given the Prathian king the tool he needed to break the stalemate of the third great war of the continent of Maskovin, and soon the boots of Prathian troops would be heard across the whole of the mainland.