Crimson Eagles

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Crimson Eagles
Battle Cry	"Death From Above!"
Number	VII
Founding	First Founding
Primarch	Caligor Kincaid
Homeworld	Haravi IV
Strength	~75,000-120,000
Specialty	Airborne Infantry, Airborne Cavalry, Total War
Allegiance	Traitor, Chaos Undivided/Renegade
Colours	Variable Camouflage (Typically Jungle or Desert) with Maroon helmet

"The Crimson Eagles are consummate front lines soldiers, eager to fight and quick to end a battle. Using aggressive tactics and mixed unit assets to hit the enemy and hit them hard. The Eagles deploy almost exclusively via drop pod, or from dropping from swooping thunderhawks, both infantry and cavalry units.

Legion History

Unification Wars

The Seventh Squad, as they were known in those prehistoric times, were a respected force. What the Seventh initially lacked in ferocity on the battlefield they made up in efficiency. However as the campaign lengthened their passion for combat awoke, meeting meeting tactical swiftness with righteous fury. The squad rode in with the Seventeenth as infantry support.

Their history began in the Eastern Wastes, vast marshlands and ruined coasts. Their first engagement was held within the strongholds of Fildelphii, a labyrinthine hive that had defended the Viscounts of Sylarvainia for centuries. Traditional maneuver elements proved to be ineffectual, personnel often becoming entangled in the twisting halls and streets of the city without armoured elements to provide proper support. To solve this smaller teams were used with extensive air support. The effects were felt immediately, as the smaller units were able to cover more ground in less time in the cramped urban conditions, and with the strong aireal assests providing overwatch they were almost unstoppable. When the Seventh Squad began siezing vital infrastructure, such as water processing plants, and threatening Fildelhpiian leadership with them, such as introducing promethium into the water supplies, the Viscounts began to be a little more willing to enter into peace negotiations.

Their skill was tested again in the battle grounds of Ba'al-Timur,some of the most aggressive and desperate fighting the Seventh Sqaud had seen thus far. The Marshlands of Ba'al-Timur led into sunken urban sprawls, vast webs of hive hidden by ancient ruins and murky waters. Infantry engagements were often short and deadly, the Astartes unaccustomed to this kind of asymmetrical warfare and guerilla tactics. Air support, while effective, was often a temporary solution, as the Survivors of air raids would escape back into the depths and continue to ellude the Seventh. Attempts at negotiations were met with bloodshed, and attempts to rat them out of their caves and grottos and sunken dungeons was only met with lost marines. It was only until the Seventh began to simply use bombardments and set charges to collapse the cave systems that they were able to bring the clans of Ba'al-Timur to heel.

One of their final battles along the Eastern front was at an ancient Merican centre of political thought, now a blasted pit dominated by roving bands of mutants. There was little to salvage from the ruins of Dæcee, and so Hektor did order a great purge of the wastes. The Seventh was instrumental in this cleansing. They purged with firebombs and automatic fire, the Merican waste lit by slaughter. In the bloody week that followed the collected Astartes washed the ashes of Merica with scarlet mutant blood, the seventh often put in charge of flushing out mutants from their burrows and warrens. It was here that something awoken in the squad, a certain visceral joy that came with the hunt and war. A deep, grotesque pride in the bloody work they did, equal parts inspiring and unnerving.

However bloodlust wasn't the only thing that the Seventh discovered in the pit of Dæcee. The squad leader, Rush Thil'Kanon, discovered the remains of a great Merican archive in a Mutant den. There he found many elder texts and manuscripts of a Merica long past. He took a few, as little more than trophies to ogle at, but these withered tomes would be instrumental in the genesis of the philosophy of the legion later on.

The climax of their career was on Luna, where against the wishes of Hektor, they part of the assaulting force. Indignant at Hekotor's reluctance in the Lunar Campaign and eager to prove themselves to the other astartes the Seventh Squad abandoned their tactical acumen in favor of a glorious charge, a tactic that has proven successful in other squads, in an attempt to break the defensive line. While they did indeed crack the Lunar defenses they incurred heavy casualties, Rush Thil'Kanon himself being interred within a Dreadnought sarcophagus after the battle. Despite their heavy losses, the Seventh continued to fight with greater ferocity like mad savages, a skill no doubt learnt from the conquest of Eastern Merica. The battle, while successful, was a lesson in hubris for the Seventh amd it tempered the still living veterans wisdom in the waging of war.

At the close of the Unification Wars he Seventh had garnered a reputation for ruthless efficiency and wanton destruction in the face of an assured victory, and mad fatalism and reckless determination in the face of defeat. However their cleverness in the east, at Fildelphii and Ba'al-Timur did not go unnoticed in the eyes of those who valued a sharp mind over bloodthirsty brawn. In the eyes of those marines, the descendants of the Seventh had potential to be more than wild dogs of war to be fed to the heat of battle. Either way the Seventh was proud to have proven themselves, and to have won the favor of Hektor and their fellow marines.

Great Crusade

After the Unification Wars and the dawn of the Great Crusade the VII legion set off to reclaim the galaxy. The VII scouted ahead of the other legions as a fore runner force, the tip of the spear in the crusade. After some time their penchant for attempting to take worlds peacefully earned them the moniker of "Liberators".

However they did not utilize the same infiltration methods as other recon legions, instead prefering to make contact with the target planet and attempt to negotiate peace. Partly this was to distance themselves from their reputation, which at this point in time had spiraled out of control and now they were largely thought of as baby eating savages, their exploits in Ba'al-Timur and Dæcee blown way out of proportion. Rush Thil'Kanon, now the commander of the legion, worked to establish a more professional image for his legion as the diplomatic work that his second in command, Jonzeil Adamos, had done in such places as Fildelphii was overshadowed by tales of the squads violence and cruelty, the later simply untrue. The other consideration when using more diplomatic methods was simply to preserve marines. Their position in the conquest often had the legion had them far from support, and more often than not, each other. Using diplomacy before entering into an engagement often spared them resources and men, as well as time. Diplomacy as often utilized as a stalling method, engaging the enemy in talks until the bulk of the Legion could reuinte with the expeditionary force.

Despite how skilled some Marines became as orators and debators, words alone were often not enough to win over planets. In those moments the full fury of the VIIIth legion was brought to bear, trading the olive branch for the club. Orbital barrages covered Drop Pods and flyers, Thunderhawks, Transports, Caestus Assault Rams, and Xiphons the greatest of their number. However as the sky was torn asunder by aireal support marines rushed to sieze vital infrastructure and hold it until the enemy was forced to surrender, the legion learning from the Unification Wars that nothing frustrates a conventional military then asymmetrical warfare. Farmlands, water plants, Manufactorums, power plants, population centers all held hostage as a bargaining piece in a gamble for peace. These engagements did nothing to assuage their reputation for ruthlessness, but did reinforce their image as an efficient legion, doing everything necessary to obtain victory. When another legion, or another arm of their expeditionary force, was near they would typically weaken the enemy by destroying precious materiel and moving on to the next planet, leaving the enemy crippled and unable to fight against the encroaching legion.

Around 900m the Legion found the wartorn planet of Haravi, any attempts at contact were met with

>They find their primarch, one of the last legions to do so, and easily adopt his commando tactics. However Cal does take his whole legion to Haravi and its moons for two years to train and full assimilate himself into the legion, to the Emperor's great disatisfaction.

>The pause in their crusade payed off, their effectiveness increasing tenfold. However their penchant for diplomacy was diminished slightly, the legion often issuing a single planet wide command for unconditional surrender before beginning to insert marines and decimating the world until resistance is either dead or surrendered.

>After Haravi is nuked and Caligor's heart hardened opposing worlds would count themselves lucky if they received any demands for surrender, the Crimson Eagles often choosing to simply raze them to the ground until the enemy was little more than ash.

The Heresy

>Hektor, knowing full well that a) Cal isn't a huge fan of the Emperor, since he's essentially a tyrant and stopped him from delivering the final blow at Bravig which would have saved his family and nation b) Cal will know when he's being manipulated and doesn't like people talking to him sideways so he more or less straight up asks him "Hey, wanna heresy?" with the promise of being able to forge his own democracy after the heresy, all he needs is the Eagles and his tactical accumen to break down the defenses of Terra.

>Cal considers this and discusses it with his legion, and they all decide to put it up for a vote. The majority of the votes went to rebellion, with a sizable majority of loyalists. Predictably the Eagles being the Eagles there is a giant legion civil war, which drags their allied Imperial Army Regiments in with them. It's amongst the bloodiest fighting of the Heresy. Once the smoke clears the surviving Loyalists book it to Terra, letting the Loyalist primarchs that Cal has gone rouge.

>The Crimson Eagles however finally join the fight, the definitive turing point in the Heresy.

>They finally reach Terra, and tear the place up. Caligor kills a Primarch and wounds another (we can talk about who) but loses and arm, leg, and eye

>Fucks off after Hektor fights the Emperor.

The Scouring

>I don't know what this is and the wikipage doesn't really make it any clearer.

Post-Heresy

>Goes full Big Boss and basically makes Outer Heaven, claiming a sector or two to rebuild his forces and claim some infrastructure. The worlds underneath him are relatively free, although they do tithe men and resources to support the Crimson Eagles.

>Remaining loyalists blow the Haravi the fuck up, and he moves his the Eagles to a space hulk duck taped to a space fortress and moves around as a PMC. A lot of the younger eagles fell to Chaos, creating the vast majority of piratical warbands out there.

>Caligor still questions if he did the right thing.

Organisation

The Organization of the Crimson Eagles is rather standard for an Astartes Legion, consisting of ten Chapters with five Companies each, the only variation in standard legion organization being the platoon level, in which squads fall under. The platoon formation allows for greater specialization within a company, and ultimately a chapter. While Chapters tend to prefer to stay relatively similar in performance and composition for simplicities sake, chapters and their companies often build a certain reputation for certain battlefield roles, such as boarding actions, or liberal use of promethium to suppress the enemy. Due to the extremely dangerous nature of Eagle deployments and their frontlines recruitment strategy their numbers tend to fluctuate rapidly, with fresh blood often going to those units most grievously in need of bodies.

Support Formations and Auxilia

>Heavy use of Inperial Army assets, usually those which compliment the Eagles doctrine or cover tactical gaps, such as armoured elements, artillery pieces, naval fleets, engineers etc

>Relationship with the Mechanicus was always tenuous, as the Eagles were notoriously tough on equipment.

Specialist Units

>Black Cats- Caligor's honor guard, modeled after his original Commando unit, the 13th Black Cats. Less of a honor guard than his personal hit squad.

Doctrine

Strategy

>Insert Marines quietly

>Find squishy things

>Get VERY loud

>??????

>Profit?

>Airborne insertion and targeted destruction of valuable infrastructure and personel via high impact sexual violence supported by aerial and mechanized assests.

The Crimson Eagles

Tactics

>If grunts can't get the job done call in the guns on wheels. >If the tanks and fighting vehicles can't get the job done, call in the jets and choppers >If they can't get the job done soak the area in promethium and napalm and move on

Arms, Armour, & Equipment

>Assault packs, Stalker bolters, bayonets, volkite weapons

>Due to their fore runner nature and efficiency, as well as Caligor bullying the AdMech, the Legion typically had some pretty good gear, which os why the AdMech fucking hated them for busting it up. There was many times in which they had to resort to Heresy pattern as opposed to the preferred Maximus and shitty bolter patterns because thwy where so out of the loop

Culture

>HOOAH/HOORAH

>If they run, they're a Xeno. If they Stay they're a well trained xeno.

>The Crimson Eagles are the greatest military force in the universe. This is Imperical fact

>Fuck Xenos. Their babies taste delicious however.

>THIS IS MY BOLTER. THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT BUT THIS ONE IS MINE

>Muh Democratic Republics >Muh Freedoms for the common Man >Muh Sic Semper Tyranus

>Be polite, professional, and have a plan to kill everyone you meet. Lol who are we kidding, get drunk, flip tables, fuck bitches, burn shit.

>No homo bro

Training

>Long and hard but ultimately worth it. As the legion got more reckless and bloodthirsty a lot of training was done on the battle field

Geneseed

The Crimson Eagle geneseed is comparatively clean