Chapter Text
So you want to hear a story eh? Well pass me the bottle of sacra and sit down
But stop me if this sounds familiar
Long ago, before the flag of unity flew over even Mother Terra. The Emperor, blessed be his name, forged 20 beings, titans of flesh and blood, superhuman beyond even the Space Marine Legions as they are beyond you or I, the Primarchs. Each Primarch was shaped with a purpose as clear as a mountain spring and a destiny as heavy as a smith’s anvil. Even as the Emperor set about his great plan, of which the Primarchs were but a single, if crucial part, the dark gods of Chaos, jealous and spiteful created a wicked tempest that tore through the Emperor’s citadel itself, snatching the infant Primarchs and hurling them like wayward embers across the scattered worlds of the galaxy, leaving the Emperor to forge his children's genetic gifts into twenty legions made in their primarchs image and head to the stars seeking unification and reunion.
And on one of twenty different worlds, simple folk whose names have been lost to history saw a shooting star fall to earth and set off to investigate it. They found it wasn’t a meteor but a metal pod and inside it, a baby. One such world was Babcatha, and the baby would become known to the enemies of mankind as Morrigan Lugus.
Not quite what you were expecting eh?
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So this is another fanon Heresy?
Pretty much. I’ve just been discharged from hospital with a diganosis of a condition called Functional Neuropathy Disorder and I don’t know when I’ll be well enough to go back to work. On top of this some of the meds I’m on leave me a bit spun out so I’m not quite feeling up to committing to any new projects beyond editing my existing stuff Cold Morning and Ward 13 (which are/will be posted on this forum) and in hospital I listened to a lot of videos on Horus Heresy lore ( I play 40k and Kill Team, I cant afford to play Heresy too) and came up with this
The idea is I roll 2 20 sided dice, one selects the primarch and one selects the legion from the canon lists. I use this prompt (i.e. What if Mortarion commanded the Blood Angels) as a jumping off point to create new primarchs and legions. I reroll any numbers already rolled and ignore 2 and 11 (for now). This is just a jumping off point though, I didnt want to be limited to the actual canon legions and primarchs.
Don’t take this too seriously. Ive stuck closer to some prompts than others. This is just me having a bit of fun while I wait for my health to get better. Once I’ve designed the legions, we’ll see where we go from there.
At time of writing, it is the great Crusade, and all the Primarchs have been found.
Chapter 2: I: Brokkr and the Iron Angels
Summary:
"What if Perturabo led the Dark Angels"
Chapter Text
I: The Iron Angels
Earth Origins:
As the first legion, the Iron Angels were regarded as the testbed for what the legiones Astartes could be. The first to tread on the battlefields of Earth, heralding the end of the Thunder Warriors. They were granted weaponry later deemed unsuitable or inappropriate for other legions. They were the Emperors will made manifest, his dreams for Mankind made flesh and steel. Some even say their name the Iron Angels comes from the name given space marines by some of the people's of Earth. For some tome this was the name given to all space marines and this legion were simple the First Sons, others called them the Brotherhood of Steel.
The Primarch: Brokkr
Nicknames: The Forgemaster, The Iron Giant, The Keeper of Keys
Homeworld: Myrkheim
The First Legion Brokkr was the one of the first Primarchs to be reunited with his legion. This is because the world the infant Brokkr came to rest upon was within what would become the Segmentum Solar, at the core of what had been human held space for tens of thousands of years. While not as ancient as Terra the world that would become known as Myrkheim had seen human empires, federations and other polities rise and deep in the countless layers of its cities was the remains of a sublight colony ship which had first landed on the planet in late M3.
Myrkheim was a world, once cut off from the other realms of humanity by the Age of Strife, that wasn’t unlike Mankind before the Emperor. Barbaric tribes fought over scraps of ancient technology in the ruins of a vast planet spanning city. Even during the day the world was in a twilight like darkness, Myrkheims star long since dimmed by some great weapon in the Dark Age of Technology that came close to snuffing it out.
Brokkrs pod crashed into the inhospitable top most layer of the world city. How the infant not only survived but thrived is unknown Brokkr sees telling this story irrelevant. Tales began to be told however of a giant in armour forged from the toughest ancient metals defending the outermost towns of the world city from the mutated beasts and perhaps even rogue machines that prowled the tunnels of the city.
All is known is the young Brokkr, once fully grown came to command an army of warriors for whom he forged crude power armour. Soon he unified the various nations of the world city in fighting against the monsters that plagued its ruins. The people of Myrkheim had a long held societal fear of artificial intelligences from when the planet was a battlefield against the creations known as the men of Iron. Whether the monsters that Brokkr defeated were biological or some crude AI creatures is unknown.
As Brokkrs territory grew so did his technological knowledge. inventions long preserved but which were thought impossible to recreate were reforged by the Primarch. He had a preternatural gift with technology that allowed him to form the greatest army
But Brokkr didnt just rule through the promise of safety but the threat of punishment too. With artificial intelligence an abomination, the automata in his armies ran on a different source, his defeated foes. Its population dwindling or too mutated to be the quality of soldier he needed, Brokkr made great battle servitors of his defeated foes, something he would continue into his legion.
When the Emperors dropshops tore through the ancient and dying atmosphere of Myrkheim, the Forgemaster and ruler of the world city came to the surface to meet him, the only one powerful enough to survive on its upper most level, his soldiers and advisers wearing the same power armour he had forged them to survive.
When the Emperor presented Brokkr with the first legion to command he took it with little pause. He had unified Myrkheim and this was simply the next progression. Having been unified under Brokkr and reunited with mankind, Myrkheim’s world city began slowly returning to the hive world it had once been. Its forges and factories became crucial to the great crusade.
The Iron Angels’ place as the first legion, as the test bed of what it means to be an astartes was perfect for Brokkr. He was given far reaching freedom by his father to create new weapons, new formations. From huge formations of Battle servitors (some of which were rumoured to be defeated and lobotomised men of iron) to superheavy tanks, to variations on terminator armour and warsuits designed by the forgemaster himself.
Personality:
Cold almost to a fault. Brokkr is much more at home making and building than interacting with others, perhaps even his sons of the First Legion. To him, he was made for a purpose, and that is to wage war. His one interest beyond the next campaign is seeking our ancient technologies and perfecting them, to be better prepared for war. Known only to the Primarch himself though, he sees himself as above his siblings, his is the first legion, after all.
Appearance:
He carries himself with quite a reserved presence for such a huge being. He shaves his head and had little physical marks. In battle he wears the Aegis, a heavily customised and constantly changing suit of armour of his own devising. It bears volkite weaponry on each wrist and an independent weapons system on one shoulder capable of launching a range of warheads.
Doctrine and Combat Specialization: Mechanised warfare and exotic weaponry
With their role as the testbed of the Legiones Asteartes, the Iron Angels have generally speaking been better equipped than the other legions, capable of fielding greater formations of rare forms of armour, armoured vehicles and rare weaponry
After being reunited with their Primarch and with his mastery of technology this has only increased. The Angels have adopted their Primarch’s practice turning notable defeated foes into battle servitors. Also due to a strong level of respect between the Mechanicum and Brokkr they also field weaponry from the Tech Priests of Mars
Unique Units:
The Key Keepers: names of the “wardens” of the legions vast formations of Battle servitors and automata which range from humanoid forms to large armoured vehicles, a combination of battlefield technologist and prison warden, constantly on the lookout for any rebellion from their charges.
Ursos: a unique battlesuit designed by Brokkr, similar to dreadnoughts but piloted by a live unintegrated pilot. Often worn by the above Key Keepers
Appearance:
The Iron Angels fight in black armour with bronze trim and their symbol is a golden skull with silver angel wings behind it
Chapter 3: II: Tulva Thrax and The Storm Blades
Summary:
"What if Leman Russ led the Raven Guard"
Chapter Text
II: The Storm Blades
Earth Origins:
Imperial records suggest that the first deployment of the legion that would become the Storm Blades was in the dying days of the Unification Wars during the siege of the Hive cities of Merica. When the Emperors other forces were unable to break the siege of the city, the Storm Blades were deployed to strike directly into the city by air and underground to conduct decapitation strikes on the Merican leadership and key points of infrastructure such as the great void shields that protected the core of the cities. As each of the Merican consults were killed the rest of the cities nobility bent the knee to the Emperor.
This initial victory was the start of a pattern of the legion’s early victories. While all the legions were shock troops the Blades found their role in decapitation strikes, whether through stealth or sudden close in assaults. From the underground cities of Luna to the Vast Battleships of the Furosimite to the Siege of Apixaban the sudden arrival of the Storm Blades often spelled the doom for the Imperiums enemies. That is, if you saw them at all.
The Primarch: Tulva Thrax
Nicknames: The Rainmaker, The Walking Weapon, The Sky Huntress,
Homeworld: The Ocean World of Cydonia
The life of the infant Primarch could’ve ended as quickly as it began. Once plucked from the Emperor’s lab on Terra, the pod containing the infant crashed into the oceans of Cydonia. As fortune (or some higher power) would have it the impact of her pod into the sea was seen by a ship from one of the planet’s many ocean going cities. Cydonia is a world that is 95% ocean and highly vulcanically active. Most of its inhabitants live in ancient ocean going cities and usually only step foot on dry land then visiting newly created volcanic islands or the few land cities that have withstood the planets many earthquakes
Baby Tulva was taken before Lyra Thrax, admiral of one of the planets many City Fleets and raised as her own daughter. It would soon become apparent Tulva was no ordinary child. Stronger and faster than any of the boys or girls in the city fleet she called home and soon outgrew them too. She quickly found a role, somewhat appropriately in the marines of her city. Tulva was a one woman army whether defending the city from the planets many pirate fleets or attacking the City’s foes by Sea or from their Sky fleets. While she quickly rose to the rank of admiral she insisted on taking part in combat. She excelled in stealthy raids by hovercraft and light boat to take enemy vessels. She’d leat from the front in aerial assaults and parachute raids. Stealthy warfare with brutal efficiency. Tulva wasn’t happy to rely on her strength. She learns from every foe, taking weapons as
When the Emperor came to Cydonia he was welcomed by Admiral Lyra Thrax as a fellow hegemon, perhaps even her overlord, she may command the oceans by the Emperor ruled the stars. Tulva wasn’t so keen to accept the Emperor. He wasn’t her father, she only accepted Lyra as her mother. She was presented with the brothers and sisters of the Storm Blades, born from her own Geneseed and offered command of them. He said she had brought the seas of Cydonia to heel and quoted an ancient Terran general “And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept...for there were no more worlds to conquer.'. While she saw her logic, she said she would only command the Storm Blades if he bested her in combat. The two fought in the central square of the main city-ship. The two faced off and the emperor was reluctant to injure one of his children. Tulva wasn’t as hesitant and brutally assaulted the Emperor, demanding he show her his true skill. The Emperor acquiesed and the two fought across the city and Tulva, battered and blood only relented when the fight threatened to critically damage the city-ship. She said her goodbyes to her adoptive mother and took to the skies, taking with her a host of new recruits from Cydonia’s finest warriors.
Appearance: Standing around average for a Primarch she none the less towers above even the other Storm Lords. Powerfully build and broad she gives the constant presence of a wound coil, liable to explode into combat at any moment. She has dark skin and black hair which she keeps shaved off. Piercing eyes and a face that can go from cocky smile to determined grimace in a moment. Unlike some of her siblings she doesn't hide her expressions from her face.
She wears a towering suit of armour in the deep blue of her legion and wields a sword, forged from the armour of a defeated city fleet into a sword that would be two handed even for a marine but she wields in a hand and a half style, calling it “Tidebringer” she is not beyond using weapons taken from defeated foes though.
Personality:
“My dear sister unfortunately has the skills to back up her boastful claims” - unknown Primarch.
Tulva Thracx is confident, very nearly to a fault. She is brash and confident in both her conversations and her actions. She is quick to act but not quick necessarily to anger. She doesn’t hold grudges nor does she that easily lose her temper. She does however overestimate her admittedly vast abilities, sometimes to a fault. She constantly trains in any weapon she encounters to better fight in combat and to best any human or xenos she encounters.
With her siblings she is jovial, often a peacemaker and deliberator between the more contentious and opinionated Primarchs.
Doctrine and Combat Specialization: Stealth, Assasination, Aerial Assault
“Best of the best, tip of the spear, crack of my ass” - Unknown legionnaire
The Storm Blades are specialists in close quarters fighting, whether this is by closing with the enemy as quickly as possible or in urban or space borne environments. They make widespread use of jump pack infantry, orbital insertions and armoured warfare to do this. Like their Primarch they seek to be masters of whatever combat they’re faced with and best the toughest or most skilled opponents they can fight. The Blades are also skilled infiltrators and guerilla fighters although this has been seen less since being reunited with their primarch.
They, like their Primarch dislike grueling sieges and large ongoing battles. They dislike long distance warfare whether in space or on a battlefield, preferring to leave this to the Imperial Army or “less ambitious" legions.
Unique Units:
The Firehawks: The Firehawks, named for a large flying predator that lives amongst the volcanoes of Cydonia, are the elite jump pack units of the Storm Blades. Often deployed from gunship they seek to close with their enemy, pick out the often most vital (but usually most challenging) units on a battlefield. Armed with power weapons, thunder hammers and lightning claws, sometimes taken from defeated foes. They relish swooping down onto their foes and defeating them swiftly before choosing their next target. They are most famously led by Captain Torath Vir, Captain of the Legion’s First Company.
The Black Lance: This is the name given to the implacable formations of the legion specialising in close-in combat. Usually clad in Cataphracti terminator armour (although it isn’t unknown to see them in Saturnine or MKII Power Armour) they fight with heavy shields and the eponymous lances that give them their name. These short distance fusion weapons double as close combat weapons once they close the distance with their foe. They are the unbreakable heart of any formation of Storm Blades.
(more if I think of them)
Appearance:
The Storm Blades’ symbol is a silver lightning bolt crossed with a sword. Their armour is the deep blue of the Cydonian oceans in a storm with a simple dark grey trim. The appearance of the Brothers and Sisters of the Storm Blades is as varied as the people of their millennials old homeworld or of Terra. The only physical trait they’ve taken from their primarch the ritual shaving of their heads once they become battle-siblings of the chapter.
Chapter 4: III: Alysedes and The Liberators.
Summary:
"What if Gulliman led the World Eaters"
Chapter Text
III: The Liberators
Earth Origins:
The Legion that would become known as the Liberators were originally founded on Earth from the gene seed of Alysedes. Originally named the Imperial Judgement their role was that of a living weapon. When foes failed to see the imperial truth they were to be made an example of and would face the Judgement. None could stand before the bloody wrath of the legion. Where other legions were slower, methodical, had some degree of measure, the Judgement were a force of nature made of flesh and steel. From the Antarctic Hives to the orbital cities of Vega, none could stand before them.
The Primarch: Alysedes
Nicknames: The Breaker of Chains, the Fury, The Hand of Doom
Homeworld: Telma
Alysedes, the Breaker of Chains, the bloody hope, the hand of doom , a hundred names across a hundred battlefields . Standing as perhaps the most brutal of the Emperor's servants in an army already soaked in blood, to face Alysedes is to face not just your death but the destruction of all you hold dear for daring to stand against the Imperium. At least, this is how it seems
The infant Alysedes was found on the world of Telma, a planet reverted to primitive superstition ruled over by a spirit-worshiping elite. The girl that would become Alysedes was discovered by a slaver who chanced upon the girl walking the grim forests of Telma wearing clothes made from the hides of many great beasts. To the slaver’s surprise she surrendered herself willingly and he was sure she would quickly die in the planet’s fighting pits. She was taken to one of the great cities of the planet and clearly possessing an aptitude for combat was pressed into the ranks of the gladiators in one of Telma’s huge coliseums. Here to entertain the oppressed masses the elite would put on great gladiatorial combats as tributes of blood and life to their pantheon of deities.
The young Alysedes was taken under the wing of Theodora, one of the most famous gladiators in the capital city’s coliseum. Theodora gave Alysedes’ power discipline and form. It was obvious her physical abilities were beyond that of any mortal woman or man. While quick to defeat any animal she’d face she was hesitant to fight against fellow gladiators who were just slaves like her unless they attacked first. Then she put them down in quick and brutal fashion if necessary. She was also a keen tactician and regularly lead groups of gladiators to victory in the mock wargames put on by the elite. She quickly became a star of the coliseums across the planet and popular with the public. To put her in her place, the rulers of the capital put her in a fight against Theodora to the death, the new champion against the old. She hesitated, but Theodora implored her to play the game she was placed into. It was with these words a plan formed in Alysedes’ head. As ordered Alysedes slew her mentor and became a favoured champion not just of the wider public but her masters as well. She played the role of brutal servant of the Priest Kings of Telma but in secret she made allies,s he bided her time, she planned a revolution.
Finally, on the anniversary of Theodora’ death Alysedes led her fellow Gladiators against the guards and high lords of Telma and escaped from the Colloseum that had been their prison, out into the capital city, liberating other slaves and bringing the downtrodden of Telma to her banner. They waged a guerilla war against the soldiers of the Priest-kings for years. However the would-be revolutionaries were outnnumbered by the vast armies of the Kings of Telma and faced annhilation.
However they were being watched. The Emperor had sensed the presence of one of his children and had been watching Alysedes’s prowess from orbit. He teleported down to meet with his daughter alongside a handful of his loyal Custodes and revealed Alysedes’s true nature to her. He presented her with command of the legion made from her genetic material, the Judgement
Alysedes refused. Saying she could not abandon her fellow slaves. The emperor said this was not acceptable. The emperor knew if he took Alysedes from her fellow slaves she would never forgive him. If he left her on Telma, even if she was victorious her desire to liberate the entire planet would take years of not decades. Instead he appeared before the Priest-Kings of Telma and struck a bargain, the priest-kings would stay in power, but the slaves would be freed and the temples to the old gods destroyed
To Alysedes this was a betrayal, she knew the freed slaves would remain oppressed one way or another. She raged for days and nights in her quarters on the Emperor’s flagship, killing anyone who darkened her door friend or foe. Was the Imperium nothing more than order at any cost? would the oppressed suffer under the Imperial boot just like they had under their rulers throughout the Long Night? This dichotomy festered in Alysedes’s even as she took command of her legion. Not just a legion but those slaves from her army who could not become astartes, they became an army loyal to The Breaker of Chains first and the Imperium second. This army travels from world to world as the Great Crusade marches on, recruiting to its numbers, human and astartes alike. At their head isn’t the Imperial Judgement, but the Liberators. Bringing the Imperial Truth to all those who would hear it and swift death to all those who wouldn’t
However It is said, even as the Great crusade spreads across the galaxy, Alysedes plans his revenge, on the masters of Telma and on her father
Personality: Slow to anger but furious in her execution. Despite her reputation for brutality the Hand of Doom picks her fights carefully before a swift execution. Off the battlefield she is calm, almost sombre.. She favours planning the next battle or campaign over any socialisation.
Appearance: While a giant, Alisedes is average of height for her siblings. A coiled figure of muscle and power. She has a mane of long black worn back. Her face is marked with her gladiatorial tattoos that she wears proudly. She eschews ornate armour in favour of a larger version of the standard white armour of her legion. Her weapons of choice are the aegis, a shield, sword and bolt-gauntlet gifted to her by the people of Jenova, a world she liberated from Xenos oppression. The sword is several millenia old and bears in old Jenovan the words “in his heart, he dreams himself your master."
Doctrine and Combat Specialization: “the Killing Blow”
While capable of fighting as a fully self contained army, the Liberators are employed when combat has reached an impasse. Often serving as a floating reserve to various fleets of the great crusade, especially those made up of non-Astartes, a force of Liberators will be unleashed to break a frozen battlefield or particularly tough objective. Their tactics are usually straight forward, to close with the enemy and defeat them in close quarters or hand to hand combat, favouring the chainblade over the bolter. They make heavy use of jetbikes and jump pack troops to close with the enemy quickly.
Unique Units:
The Forlorn: The best of the best of the legions close combat units are called the Forlorn. Theirs are the tasks that are almost suicidal even for space marines. Despite this, the Forlorn have built up a reputation of achieving the impossible, even if not all of them return. Before each battle they recite a phrase to one another. “As of this moment, we are all dead. We go into battle to reclaim our lives.”
Appearance:
As the Imperial Judgement the legion wore silver and grey armour and their symbol being a pair of crossed hammers. As the Liberators their armour is a brilliant almost uniform white that quickly becomes drenched in the blood of their foes. They and their human auxiliaries fight under the banner of a broken three linked chain.
Chapter 5: IV: Kayron Mors and the Adamant
Summary:
"What if Vulkan led the Death Guard"
Chapter Text
IV: The Adamant
Tethys Major, 993 M30, After the battle.
Alysedes paced back and forth across what had once been the great chapel of the Star Lord in Tethys major’s capital, its religious iconography was already being torn down by a mix of Imperial administrators and some of Alysedes’ own auxilia. Her white armour was still caked in the blood of the last of the warrior priests who had died to a man, although whether this was of their own conviction or from the misfortune to face the Breaker of Chains was known only to her.
“You seem uncharacteristically Choleric, sister,” a familiar voice called out. She stopped and looked to see Tulva Thrax, Primarch of the Second Legion approaching, flanked by several of her captains, all in the deep blue of her legion. “He’ll make it you know, he always does,”
“You assume my temperament is because of our brother,” Alysedes replied.
“Because I’d be concerned too, if he wasn’t so damned durable, they all are, the Silver Shields,” Thrax barked with laughter, “Their first captain only beat my Eudocia here” she slapped the back of a large woman in heavy blue armour who looked somewhat embarrassed “Because he didn’t know when to stop fighting, I thought she was going to take his head off but the fourth can probably grow those back, at least the common man gives them that legend,” she chuckled.
“I wouldn’t have gone that far, my lady,” commented Eudocia Komnen, captain of the Storm Blade’s Fifth Company, “He was a worthy opponent,” she added. She had the same dark skin and shaven head of her Primarch, almost made in her image.
Finally Alysedes spoke, “I just wish he was grateful for the gifts he has, its just onto the next battle, the next, wherever father points him, The Forgemaster has a sword up his backside but at least he behaves with some gravitas, the people look up to us!”
“Sounds familiar,” smirked Thrax,
“You’re saying I have a sword up my backside, sister?” Alysedes raised an eyebrow. Her sister was goading her and she knew it.
“I’m not,” Thrax replied, “and I’m not saying who does,”
“Corzon? The Dragon?“ but Thrax was silent
A legionary in the bronze armour of the fourth approached them. “My Lady-Primarchs, my Lord wishes to speak to you,”
“Come on, he probably wants to go straight to debriefing,” Alysedes began walking, Thrax and the others by her side, “To be fair, your timing on bringing down the city shields was impeccable as always, sister,” and the two fell into an easy conversation about the battle that still smouldered about them .
Earth Origins:
Perhaps the first record of the fourth legion distinguishing themselves was in the dying days of the Kingdom of Oxitania. The realm had shrunk to a small mountainous region and its king, Gotha, was waging a campaign of scorched earth against the forces of the Emperor. Unleashing his stockpile of biological, chemical and atomic weaponry (and some say warp magics as well) in a ring around his kingdom stopping the advancing imperial armies. Here the IVth legion advanced through the inhospitable barrier while under fire from Gotha's artillery and defences, an implacable force marching straight at the Oxitanian capital.
The Adamant Legion, later simply the Adamant quickly built up a reputation of fighting in war zones too toxic sometimes even for their fellow Astartes as well as often shrugging off injuries that should have killed them. Theirs wasn't the armoured formations of the Iron Angels or the sweeping waves of the Lionhearts. Theirs was an implacable advance towards victory.
The Primarch: Kayron Mors.
Nicknames: The Hermit King, the oncoming Storm.
Homeworld: Acheron.
Acheron was a planet long since brought to the brink of destruction by ancient weapons. Its people scrapping together a living in underground cities. Unlike other Primarchs who were found as infants and raised by natives of their adoptive homes. The earliest stories of Kayron Mors were him as a fully grown man, walking unprotected across the surface, defending towns from raiders or oppressors. It is very hard to tell what stories are exaggerations and which are not. Some tell of him having limbs cut off only to regrow them or shrugging off mortal wounds and never once needing the protective gear that the people of Acheron needed outside of their walled, insulated cities. He never settled in any one city or place, travelling from town to town, defeating whole armies or slaying monsters one handed.
However known only to Kayron Mors (his name from the Acheronian for “the living dead” was that he had died many times across his childhood and in his early years of defending the people of Acheron from beast and tyrant alike. Each time he would eventually return to life. This is a secret known only to him and (unknown to him) his father, the Emperor. Instead Mors lets the myths and reputation work towards his benefit, some surrendering to him rather than face the undying man and certain defeat.
When the Emperor came to Acheron Mors accepted his role as commander of the Fourth calmly. Simply seeing it as the next step of his mission, using his gifts to bring peace to the galaxy by any means necessary.
Personality:His unusual nature has left Mors insular and withdrawn. He simply sees the next task, the next roll. He and his legion are simply weapons to be aimed at the enemy and inexorably advance on them. He also feels apart from his brothers and sisters and doesn’t regularly socialise with them outside of battle. He is cold to his friends and remorseless to his enemies.
Appearance: beyond his huge stature he is notable in his unnotability, slightly pale complexion and short hair. His skin is smooth and unmarked, never scarring and healing. He has quite a youthful appearance at odds with his antisocial personality
Doctrine and Combat Specialization: ABC Warfare
The Admant pride themselves on fighting in inhospitable warzones. They’re capable of fighting in places even other legions aren’t. There is a quiet pride about them, seeing themselves as tougher even than other legions to match their name. They tend to field larger numbers of slower heavier troops such as tactical dreadnought armour or MKIII Siege squads.
Appearance: They fight in a someone worn bronze coloured armour highlighted in silver, their symbol being a simple silver shield.
Chapter 6: V: Corzon Deoro and the Lionhearts
Summary:
"What if Jaghatai Khan led the Emperors Children"
Chapter Text
V: The Lionhearts
Earth Origins:
The Fifth legion was originally called the Red Scions, so named because they were drawn from the ruling clans and nobility of the regions of Albia, Franc and Europa. They were taken as a tithe and statement of fealty to the Emperor following his conquest of that region of Earth in the Unification Wars
The first mention of them in combat imperial records was during the dying days of the Panpacific Campaign against the tyrant Narthan Dume. They, along with their siblings in the 2nd Legion formed the backbone of the Emperors forces in the capturing of the Panpacific capital of Vhnari. In fact it was a member of the Fifth legion who captured Dume alive and brought him to the Imperial capital for execution. The Scions being the first to Dume ahead of the usually rapid Storm Blades set up a sometimes friendly, sometimes tense rivalry between the two legions for decades to come.
The Fifth Legion was nearly destroyed in its infancy following the pacification of the Panpacific. A simple assault by forces of the nascent fifth legion on a stronghold in mountains of Hawaki, a holdout of Dume loyalists saw the unleashing of a gen-select bioweapon against them. A Dark Age of technology weapon that targets people with select genetic characteristics. With their limited knowledge of it, the Panpacific hold outs weren’t able to properly prime the weapon and it latched onto the characteristics of the Red Scions. Within hours, Scions thousands of miles away saw the effects of its cellular degenerative affects and the V Legion suffered almost 90% casualties, something it was still recovering from when they were reunited with their Primarch.
The Primarch: Corzon Deoro
Nicknames: The Young Lion, the Knight of Hearts
Homeworld: Cielo
The pod containing the infant that would some day command the fifth legion came to rest on the Paradise-like world of Cielo. Long since thrown back into feudal levels of technology bt the Long Night, it was a world of warring statelets and shifting borders, ruled over by Kings and Lords. Deoro’s pod was found by simple farm folk who presented the baby to their local liege, a man called Lord Argente Deoro as a gift, hoping to gain his favour. He took the baby and the shooting star that bore him to Cielo as a good omen and declared he’d raise the boy as his own.
The boy grew in stature quickly and it quickly became apparent he was no mere human. Seeing the boys strength and naming him as his heir, Lord Deoro raised his son in the martial ways of the Knightly classes of Cielo and by the time he was a teenager he was fighting in his fathers battles, from the back of a Cabalo, a huge eight legged mammal used for warfare and transport on Cielo. When Corzon was just fifteen, his father and the king they both swore allegiance to were betrayed and murdered by a rival lord who tried to sieze the throne for himself. Furious, the young Corzon considered travelling to the rival Lords’ capital and slaughtering the rival army single handed. However he thought on the ancient moral code he had been raised on and instead claimed his fathers Lordship for himself and, a gift orator, raised an army from his father’s vassals and peasantry and lead the attack on the usurper. A skilled tactician, he led a rapid campaign across the Kingdom. Deoro led from the back of Thunderstrike, an especially huge Cabalo beast and at the core of his heavy cavalry. When they arrived at the last of the Usurper’s cities they drew him seemingly out into open battle but the Usurper king was nowhere to be found.
When the armies of Corzon Deoro took the city they found that the city's population had been sacrificed in service to some foul deity that the Usurper had turned to worshiping as part of his bid for conquest. Deoro put the city to the torch with the Usurper strapped to his own dark altar. By the light of his defeated city, Corzon Deoro, dubbed “The Young Lion” by his followers after his father’s crest of a rampant beast of ancient Earth myth was declared King.
Seeing now that the population of Cielo wasn’t safe under its web of bickering Kingdoms and Duchies, King Corzon set about on a years-long campaign of global conquest. As many Kings and Dukes swore loyalty to the Young Lion as did defy him. At the end of his fifth year, with a third of Cielo conquered, Deoro was declared Emperor of Cielo, a title he accepted but somehow knew did not fit him, perhaps somehow knowing of his father to come.
The Great Crusade arrived at Cielo some five years after his conquest of Cielo. Corzon had turned from conqueror to statesman, setting about a federated empire based on the same knightly code of honour and justice that his adoptive father had taught him. He introduced new ideas long since lost on Cielo such as sanitation, steam power and astronomy. Some say he introduced the later in expectation somehow of the Imperium of Man.
Indeed it was the Royal Observatory he designed himself that first saw a host of stars appear in the night sky. In fact it was the Emperor’s own fleet exiting warpspace into the system. They informed the King-Emperor and tracked great sky ships landing outside the Royal Capital. Here Corzon, now fully grown, immediately recognised the giant of a man who led these off-worlders as a true Emperor and knelt in allegiance before his father. In turn his father presented him with knights in advanced red armour and called them “his sons” he also introduced another figure to Corzon, a fellow titan of a man who wore black armour who the Emperor introduced as Brokkr “his brother”
So he took up command of the Fifth legion, bringing with him not only the traditions of Cielo but many of its greatest young warriors. He redubbed his legion in honour of those warriors who fought and died in bringing peace to his adoptive homeworld. They would become the Lionhearts, fighting under the same white lion rampant that had been his adoptive father’s crest.
Personality: Confident, a warrior skilled in being both a patient hunter and in the art of a rapid assault. He isn’t averse to sieges or grinding warfare but he is most happy when on the move, like the global conquest campaign of his youth. A perfectionist and disciplined warrior, this trait to strive for perfection is also seen in his legion. He prefers the company of his legion over that of his brothers and sisters or the grand strategy of campaigns.
Appearance: Corzon Deoro wears his hair close cropped in the style of the Knights of Cielo. He and many of the legion have tanned skin and dark hair. He fights in a gold trimmed version of the Red armour of his legion. He usually fights from the back of a customised Sabre jet bike dubbed Thunderstrike after his old Cavalry beast. He fights with a high tech version of a Cielan Cavalry sabre modified to carry a compact bolt pistol in its hilt.
Doctrine and Combat Specialization: Battlefield Leaders
From an early point the Fifth Legion found themselves serving as battlefield generals and coordinators in forces composed of the nascent Imperial Army. Serving as the core of large armies composed of baseline human and mechanicus troops. This only continued following the bioweapon attack on the legion with smaller companies of Lionhearts serving as special forces and shock troops of wider advances. This is reflected in their Primarchs history coordinating world conquering armies. Deoro’s introduction of the Cielan code of honour has only endeared non-Astartes troops to them. However their pageantry and use of feudal world iconography often sees them looked down on by some of the less extravagant legions
They are experts in the rapid strike and mobile warfare, often as the killing blow of a wider Imperial Army strategy coordinated by the Legions captains. Far from the merciless killers of the Liberators however they fight to a strict code of honour.
Unique Units:
Cazadors: Named for giant winged birds from the Primarch’s adopted homeworld. A Cazador is a formation often fielded by the V Legion. Using widespread use of Storm Eagle Gunships as well as several unique variants, they are the air cavalry used as rapid response and strike to shore up a weakening front of strike at an opportune moment. Often escorted by jetbikes and Proteus Land Speeders they are often the salvation of a beleaguered Imperial Army Regiment
Appearance:
In keeping with their original name, The Lionhearts wear blood red armour with white trim. Their symbol is a heraldic rampant lion usually rendered in white or silver on their shoulder pads
Chapter 7: VI: FILE NOT FOUND
Chapter Text
VI: Interlude, Tiamat Secundus
Corzon Deoro, Primarch of the Fifth Legion was caught up in his thoughts. He heard another figure approaching but only realised it was one of his siblings when he heard one of his departing officers, Zalo Argentus, captain of the 3rd Company gave a quite “My lady,” to the figure. Deoro turned to see Morrigan, Primarch of the Seventh Legion approaching, still in her obsidian black armour and wearing the feathered cloak she wore into battle. Deoro sometimes wondered if it lost feathers in combat or if she had several. “Sister,” he acknowledged her approach.
“I’m sorry to hear about Astero,” she said directly. “Even in their brief shared battlefields my legion spoke highly of her,” she said as she approached Corzon’s side and they looked down on the body of Captain Astero, former captain of the Lionheart’s 9th Company.
“Which battlefields?” Deoro asked grimly. “Mine or hers,” the last word was stressed. Morrigan knew exactly what he meant.
“We both know we don’t speak of her battlefields, brother,” she said calmly. “So why do you ask?”
“I do not, I cannot, speak of those battleifleds, but whatever she did at” he paused “her side, she learned well,” he sighed “Astero wasn’t even her original name, it was one she chose when she joined us, its Cielan, of my homeworld, she named herself outsider”
“Why do you dwell on these subjects brothers, the sixth is oblivion to us, she was a Lionheart of the Fifth, thats all she was,”
“I know, sister, it just made me think of them, both of them,”
“Your words invite treason, brother,” Morrigan said, turning to face him, hand moving to the hilt of her sword.
“Stay your blade, executioner, father won’t have any concerns from me, nor will Lazarus bring you one of his warnings or send off one of his hands to deal with me” he paused again, “forgive me sister, this battle was bloody and it left me melancholic. I, we all, had planned this battle, I know everything that went on and yet many of my legion fell, as did many of yours at the hands of these distant cousins of hours”
“So you dwell on that which you can’t know,” she mused,
“Aye, so I do,” he smirked. Morrigan placed a gauntleted hand on his shoulder.
“Astero rose to captain in your legion, whether she was captain elsewhere doesn’t matter, and thats all that mattered, she fought well, she died well, she will be remembered,” Deoro nodded.
“Agreed, thank you for coming to see her, she’d be honoured,”
“Hail the honoured dead,” Morrigan said calmly, Deoro echoed the call
“Hail”
Chapter 8: VII: Morrigan and the Death Riders
Summary:
What if Corvus Corax led the Space Wolves
Chapter Text
VII: The Death Riders
Earth Origins:
The 7th Legion have their origins on earth following the Conquest of the Nordyc Tribes. When the ancient Althing was put to the torch and the Thanes bent their knees to Imperial Forces. The war across the arctic had been long and bloody and had left the Nordyc tribes lacking in sons to give forth to the armies of the Emperor. Instead a tithe was taken. Each family would offer up their first two daughters to the Imperium. Those deemed suitable would become the sisters of the 7th Legion, those that weren’t would become the Nordyc Regiments of the Imperial Army. To this day, those regiments, now drawn from the homeworld.
The Primarch: Morrigan
Nicknames: The Battle Crow, the Butcher of Proxima, The First Daughter, the Executioner
Homeworld: Rhocancria
It is said that Morrigan, Primarch of the 7th Legion is the most trusted of the Emperor’s children, even by her brothers and sisters. She was also the first Primarch to be rediscovered by the Emperor, before even the Primarchs of the First or Thirteenth Legions. She among the other Primarchs is trusted with the task of destroying those former allies who have turned on the Imperiums laws and loyalties.
Like her brother Brokkr, the infant Morrigan came to rest on a world that had been home to humanity for millenia. Rhocancria is a mere forty light years from Terra and was even within a century or two of sublight travel of humanities home. However where Myrkheim was long since drained of life and resources, Rhocancria was still a fairlt active world albeit cold, with fortified cities protected against vast beasts that roamed the ice wastes. Fate brought the infant to one of these cities and her mere arrival lead to the death of thousands as it tore through districts of a city. The baby was taken into the custody of the planetary authorities. The rapidly growing child grew up in the planets mines and lichen farms as an indentured servant. Hated by the masters of the Ice Cities hers was a child of misery. Even when working alongside other slaves they would attack her, calling the child a murderer for her bloody arrival on the planet. Time and time again she was used as a scape goat as a symbol of the threats from space the ice world faced if they wavered in their loyalty to the city Lords.
However It soon became apparent she was no normal child and her growing strength and durability was wasted mining and farming. She was assigned to the Death Riders, a formation that would travel out into the ice wastes from the cities on long patrols to cull back both the roving tribes of the ice wastes and the huge beasts that made much of the planet their home. Each was implanted with a small explosive device in their neck to ensure compliance.
Each time her group returned to the fortress-cities, Morrigan had grown in skill and strength. Little to the knowledge of lords of Rhocancria she was making the Deathriders into her own personal army. For every tribe of the ice wastes she destroyed, another flocked to her banner. The symbol of seemingly long lost Earth she was named for, a black crow that heralded death and doom.
And when the time was right the crow being sighted on the horizon spelled the doom of the masters of the Ice Cities. By the fourth of fifth, its arrival outside the city walls was enough for the working classes of the cities to rebel. This did not spare the planetary masters. Each would be punished, put to the torch or personally executed by the Battle Crow, now standing above any man or woman and wearing a cloak made from the black feathers of the huge birds that roosted in the planets mountains. Each paid for their crimes personally with no quarter given just as they'd shown no mercy to the people they ruled over
When the emperor, bareilly a year into the Great Crusade arrived in orbit, he found the planet half conquered by his daughter. He remained in orbit, observing how she fought across the planet. However his patience grew thin and he landed before Morrigan and welcomed her back to his side. Shew knew she’d forged an army loyal to her ideals of bloody handed justice. She took to the skies alongside her Seventh legion, still unnamed but personally dubbed for her army of vengeance and justice, they would be the Death Riders.
As the first Primarch found and with her unflinching commitment to carry out the orders of the Emperor she stands at his right hand, the dagger he wields in keeping peace among the growing Imperium.
Personality: Brutal and bloody but not a mere butcher. She is a savage hunter and keen tactitian. She is quite reserved in her dealings with the wider imperium. Some have called her and her sister Tulva as the bark and the bite. If Tulva is the assassin, then Morrigan is the Executioner.
She knows her role as the Emperor’s personal executioner and carries it out dutifully, some would say even gladly.
Appearance: Pale, with long black hair. She has piercing blue eyes, icy as her homeworld.
Doctrine and Combat Specialization: aerial assault and utter destruction
Just as Morrigan and Thrax are seen as counterparts to one another, The 7th Legion can perhaps be seen as the grim mirror of the 2nd. Both specialise in swift and bloody assaults and both are capable of stealthy attacks but they differ in their aims and end goals. The Storm Blades will quietly and quickly close with the enemy and decapitate its command, bringing the battle to a swift end. The Death Riders will close with the enemy and when ready annihilate them. Their victories are warnings
To this end the Legion makes great use of aerial assets to rapidly bring their forces to bear, often to the heart of the enemy to eliminate their leadership then systematically annihilate them. Whether this is xenos, non complaint and rebellious worlds if needs be the Imperial armies themselves.
Appearance:
The Death Riders’ armour is a pale grey with black trim. Their symbol is a White Steed as ridden by heir Primarch in her formative years Primarch is named. The sisters of the VII legion are almost all uniformly pale with jet black hair
Chapter 9: VIII: Martel and the Steel Fists
Summary:
What if Angron led the Iron Warriors
Chapter Text
authors note: Wasn't sure if this was a bit rushed. Also not sure about that Primarch name. It was that or Malleus as they have the same route.
IX: The Steel Fists
Earth Origins:
Among many of the early legions such as the Storm Blades or the Death Riders who specialised in rapid assault or the killing blow on a battlefield the 9th Legion are quite the opposite. They were made in great numbers to crack open the shells of the Hive cities of Terra and the Solar moons, They were given greater numbers of siege engines and armoured vehicles with which to carry out their task with slow methodical precision and grim patience.
The Primarch: Martel
Nicknames: The Iron Giant, The Blood Titan
Homeworld: Caestus
Coming to rest among the techno-barbarians of Caestus the infant child who woul soon by named Martel was taken by slavers and put to work in the armies of one of the great powers. As the child grew he was cybernetically augmented as many of the soldiers were. He underwent a form of lobotomy where the pain centers of his brain were dulled, making him all but impervious to pain but also numbing his sense of touch and emotional state. The young Martel would shrug off all but the greatest injuries in service of his masters in the constant wars that blighted the planet.
Becoming a hero of his home nation and general of its armies Martel brutally slaughtered the enemies before him in pursuit of victory with little care for collateral damage. Many civilians who would otherwise willingly surrender to the Iron Giant were caught up in his single minded path to his goal. He was a keen if brutal tactitan in his global conquest of the wastes of Caestus. He slowly built power loyal to him and not to his would-be rulers, ready to take his place as the High King of Caestus when ready, but that day never quite came
The young Primarch was found not by the Emperor but by his sister, the Primarch Morrigan of the VIIth legion. Seeing the War Crow and her legionaries as little more than a particularly challenging foe he looked to the Lords of Caestus who he had taken to planetary domination to see what he was to do next. Seeing a powerful foe that perhaps even Martel couldn’t defeat single handedly they stayed his hand. When the Emperor arrived they bent the knee in exchange for being left in power and solemnly, methodically the Titan of Caestus took up his place commanding the 9th legion, taking many of his best young warriors with him. He thought the Kings of Caestus could keep their tiny planet. Greater battlefields awaited him.
Personality: Some call him emotionless, single minded and methodical in his battlefield duties. The surgeries performed on him have left both his body and soul numb. While the space marines are brutal shock troops, Martel if left to his own devices has little care for
Appearance: A giant even among the Primarchs, is a titan among superhumans. Martel wears a huge, heavily made suit of armour and weilds a hammer forged for him by his brother Brokkr of the First Legion.
Doctrine and Combat Specialization: Siege Warfare
The Steel Fists were already known to be masters of siege warfare but the calculating logical mind of their Primarch only took this further. They have not come across a city they could not capture or raze or a fortress they could not break open. Theirs is only only the making of a breach but in exploiting this to raise their banner over its ramparts.
Unique Units:
The Iron Giants: named for the nickname of their Primarch. The Titans are especially heavily armoured terminators used in taking targets and fighting in close quarters
Malleum Heavy Tanks: A self propelled artillery gun unique to the 8th Legion. A superheavy tank built around a huge bore howitzer with heavy front plating.
Appearance: The Steel Fists fight in grey-silver armour with black shoulder plates. Their symbol is a silver clenched fist.
Chapter 10: Ghosts of Gold and Angels of Iron: Part One
Summary:
Praetor Laufey of the Iron Angels finds himself facing up against ancient weaponry on an apparently abandoned planet.
Chapter Text
This is a bit exposition-y and very improvised but I hope you enjoy
Ghosts of Gold and Angels of Iron: Part One
834 M30. Planet 2-9 “Asphodel”
A group of humanoid figures made their way through the a huge industrial complex at the heart of Asphodel’s capital city. If someone observed them (and someone was) they might think they were all a group of machines, no human flesh was on show, only thick layers or metal and ceramite armour. Five among them however were human, or at least, were once human depending on who you asked. Keeper Laufey of the Iron Angels Legiones Astartes led his small formation of brothers of the Iron Angels in the black and bronze armour of their legion. Around them was an escort of battle-thralls and small aerial weapons automata slaved to his armour’s cogitator.
His combat patrol had numbered much higher when the day had begun. Landing directly in what was originally thought to be a city but if it had been, it hadn’t been for years. Nonetheless, orbital scans picked up some interesting energy signatures across the planet, notably in the planet’s largest city. Not quite the hives of Earth from Laufey’s Youth or the world-city of Myrkheim many of the younger legionaries knew but much larger than any settlement the people of Myrkheim had carved in the ruins of their planet.
The 3rd Company, lead by Captain Jorth were given the honour of landing directly in the city. The company had prepared for urban battle by forgoing many of the mobile armoured vehicles the 1st Legion was famous for. Instead troopers were to fight on foot supported by formations of Ursos Battlesuits, two Dreadnoughts containing fallen brothers and of course Automata and Battle-Thralls. The latter was where Laufey came in. In theory he commanded ten other brothers, who in turn commanded various squads of thralls and automata. 48 marines and support elements in total, now down to just him and 4 machines.
The first losses had been when they were still in the air. Previously undetected anti-air weaponry opened up from the highest points of the city, thermal weaponry tracked and carve up the Black and Bronze Stormbirds of the 1st Legion. Other weapons fired smart homing missiles that pursuited and took down more of the company’s aircraft. Following 25% losses in the air the company landed still roughly on target. Incendiary munitions burned acres of what had once been city parks but long since reclaimed by nature.
Assault squads and drop pods were repositioned to capture the anti-air weaponry, only to find the weapons completely automated. Nonetheless once landed, the Astartes has expected similarly high technology foes. Instead as they advanced from their landing zones towards the high energy signals they were set upon by monstrous creatures. Laufey had noticed no one creature seemed to be the same, some stood taller than Astartes, others had rows of huge sharpe teeth. Others looked normal but when shot regenerated tissue seemingly within seconds and only total annihilation with vokite weaponry stopped them. The creatures had a crude cunning to them and despite having skin tone similar to humans he was reminded of the two years he’d spent fighting the Orks across the Naiad Cluster. None the less they had familiar enough features to put him on edge, eyes that seemed human like, hair, skeletal structure at times human like and at other times like someone had sculpted human flesh into perversions of their original form. Still, mutant or xenos it didn’t matter to Laufey
Slowly, his maniple was worn down. Some of the Aerial automata were plucked from the air by strange humanoid creatures with arms in place of wings. One especially large brute ripped a battle servitor in half and still shrugged off firepower long enough to take down brother Yorth before falling. .
There were seven battle brothers and twenty nine mechanical assets left in the maniple by the time they reached, if not their target, then the building that probably contained it. They’d been joined by another improvised squad of eleven tactical marines. While he was a specialised Praetor rather than a standard command officer, Laufey still outranked his second in command, Sergeant Ormund and was easily the most experienced officer in their little group of Astartes and machines and only he and Ormund were from Terra rather than Myrkheim. He had considered waiting for support from the rest of the company, when they’d consulted Captain Jorth (or rather what remained of his command team) they’d been told to keep pushing towards the target as they’d somehow ended up the forward most element of the battleforce in the city. Reinforcements were en route from orbit but time was of the essence if the source of power of the cities automated defences could be found.
While their entrance into the target industrial complex had brought them cover from the strange humanoid beings that prowled the city it saw the return of the automated weaponry dotting the exterior and interior of the walls and gateway of the complex. The open entrance halls of the complex left little cover and more machines and brethren fell. The remaining Astartes resorted to using the servitors as mobile cover as they advanced on a myriad of turrets and a new threat, humanoid automata armed with thermal weaponry such as the Volkite Serpenta Laufey himself weildeds. As a long time Ally of the Adeptus mechanicus Laufey sensed they might be a form of Silica Animus, the forbidden abominable intelligence. By comparison the automata he lead were either simple combat drones or were mechanical bodies built around human brains and nervous systems as their processors, criminals and rebels against the Imperium serving a last use in his Imperial Majesty’s service. He signalled for reinforcements from orbit, both from the Legion and from Mechanicus elements of the Second Expeditionary fleet with the grim warning of the Silica Animus. He considered withdrawing, leaving the Mechanicum to either investigate or pass judgement however he was ordered to push deeper, being the closest thing to a Mechanicum representative in the city. .
By the time they crossed out of the gateway building into the industrial complex proper there were only ten marines and nine machines left under Laufey’s command. He had signalled for reinforcements but any aircraft that tried to enter the city’s airspace was now being shot down or driven away by new squadrons of automated aircraft that seemed to know the stormbird’s weak spots. It now became apparent that the solution to the cities defences could only be found by those elements on the ground.
Another tactical squad was trying to reach Laufey’s unit but the gatehouse’s defences had already started to repair themselves and had opened fire on the new arrivals. They were all alone. A small mercy, the seemingly omnipresent automated defences had stopped firing on them once they were inside the industrial complex. So Laufey and the four others pushed deeper.
Chapter 11: Ghosts of Gold and Angels of Iron: Part Two
Chapter Text
The first building they explored was lacklustre to say the least. Even great works of industry needed administration and this crumbling building had overseen that. Its mundanity left Laufey with his thoughts. He was a Terran, born in the middle of the Unification Wars in a kingdom that had already bent the knee to the Emperor. Even in his childhood the buildings were already being rebuilt to what was becoming the imperial standard in design and aesthetic. There had been planets they’d liberated that they’d remained on for one reason or another where the cities, torn down by the astartes and Imperial army were being rebuilt in that same imperial style. Would this city some day be rebuilt as a familiar part of the imperium. Human worlds, separated from Mother Terra in the long night were perhaps stranger than alien worlds. Horik, one of Laufey’s men, must’ve been thinking similar. “Keeper Laufey, if I may speak?”
“Go on,”
“This building, while quite mundane, it grabs my attention in its scale,”
“Scale, brother?” Ormund asked,
“Those creatures outside the complex walls, while varied in shape, none of them match the scale of the doors, stairways or anything else, in fact this building is too small for Astartes,”
“It looks like it would fit an average human,” Laufey said, finishing Horik’s thought
“Perhaps this was a human world and they were at war with those creatures?” Trooper Leif offered.
“Perhaps, we should push forward,” Laufey remarked and they left the building.
Their next target, the largest building they’d yet discovered was across a wide open avenue from the first building. The complex was clearly large enough to accommodate large vehicles or hundreds of people.
“I don’t like being in the open like this,” Ormund remarked, “There might still be automated defences inside the complex or one creature or another might be feeling bold enough to scale its walls.”
“This complex is long abandoned,” Laufey replied “perhaps those creatures have learned to avoid it over generations,” Horik chuckled at this
“Perhaps the automated defences have performed evolutionary selection on the beasts, only the timid ones were left to breed,”
“They weren’t timid when we landed,” Ormund remarked. Laufey found Sergeant Ormund an unimaginative mind. A superb rank and file soldier but entirely the sort of brother who wasn’t suited to be in the order of Keepers. Little interest in knowledge beyond tactics and weapon maintenance. Laufey was ready to internally chastise such haughty thoughts when ahead of him, Trooper Leif and one of the Battle Thralls suddenly stopped. A previously hidden turret had punctured a hole clean through both of them with some kind of thermal weapon. He cursed the technology that hid the automated turrets from their scans.
Laufey looked around for cover, the closest thing was the walls of the target building itself. He also noticed the energy signature from the building had grown stronger. He ordered his men and machines to make all haste to the buildings entrance. Keeper Horik sacrificed a battle thrall and two aerial automata in an effort to give them covering fire but the automated systems had either no concept of finding cover or were sufficient protected already. As Laufey approached the huge glass doors of the target building he could see figures inside, the same humanoid battle automata he’d faced earlier. Hoping to surprise them he fired his Volkite pistol at the doors. They clearly weren’t made of normal glass as the weapon merely heated the translucent material, starting to melt at it but not fast enough. At least where he was, the automated turrets couldn’t fire down on him. His helmet’s display flashed. Two thralls had been slaved to his system. He turned to see Keeper Horik falling to his knees, his arm already cut off by the thermal weaponry and lying limp next to him.
Before he could mourn Horik, the doors to the building opened as the automata approached. He thumbed the damage controls on his volkite pistol and he felt his hand heat and blister as he fired it on maximum setting. As before the enemy automata looked old, worn down, rusted perhaps. The volkite pistol caught one of them in the head, melting its face plate into the structure of his body and it stopped moving. Laufey commanded one of his aerial automata into a suicide run towards the other machine. Its limited intelligence weaved around the enemy machine’s pattern of fire before colliding with it at high speed. He detonated its power core and the complex’s long silent machinery was briefly lit by a miniature sun.
The defences went silent as quickly as they’d started. Despite the advanced technology there was something inefficient about them or lacking in sufficient strength. Something Laufey couldn’t quite put his finger on. “All troopers respond,” he said into his intercom. No response. “All assets report,”
“Combat-Thrall Delta-Two-Phi operational, damage eighteen percent,” a mechanical voice replied as the machine approached Laufey. A cyborg soldier designed by the Primarch himself, as big as an astartes, Laufey thought the thralls always looked like if you drew an astartes from a half lost memory or a child's impression of an Astartes, overszied armour, small heads containing cameras linked to a brain inside the chest.
“Combat-thrall Alpha-Nine-Alpha,” said a second figure, it was missing an arm but was still walking under its own strength. One aerial automata also beeped a replied. Laufey cursed his luck, no, his poor leadership. One marine and three machine assets was all that was left of his force. Still, he pushed deeper.
Row upon row of machine of unknown design filled up the main hall of the building. Laufey hypothesised by their structure that they were automated manufacturing machines and he catlogued each on his helmet camera. He checked each. They seemed to have power connections but weren’t operational. He noted their scale, while seemingly autonomous, simple displays for inspection or manual operation were below his eyeline. For a being of perhaps two meters height. Was this indeed a human made machine?
Eventually he came to an elevator of some sort that lead into the ground. He couldn’t leave the building as the automated defences were still active. So he got onto the elevator and pressed a button he assumed would take him to tbe bottom of the shaft. He would either find the source of the automated defences and their robotic soldiers, or he would find death. He decided that finding both was acceptable
Chapter 12: IX: Cronus and the Blood Brothers
Summary:
What if Alpharius Commanded the Blood Angels
Chapter Text
IX: The Blood Brothers
Earth Origins:
Even among the 20 initial legions the emperor had varied the genetic structure and purpose. As well as taking after their primarchs some had enhanced or separate abilities. While all space marines had a limited capacity the 8th Legion had a strengthened ability to gain knowledge from consuming the flesh of enemies. They were drawn from some of the most brutal places and peoples across Terra only adding to their brutal reputation.
Their role in the Unification Wars and Early Great Crusade was that of fighting in the most heavily polluted or desolate battlefields. This frequently had them fighting alongside the brothers of the IVth legion but where the Adamant were methodical in their advances the Raptors, as they were called, were savage, brutal butchers who willingly desecrated the forms of those they defeated and recruited from those that survived. From the charnel moons of Kapetyn to the Blood Forges of Xarelto IV they cut a bloody swathe across the early Imperium. Making enemies amongst legions like the Vth, XIVth and XIXth but accepted as a brutal necessity by others such as the Adamant or the Steel Fists
The Primarch: Cronus
Nicknames: The Saint of Corpses, The Masked Primarch, The Reclusiarch,
Homeworld: Rakshasa
There are many theories as to where Cronus came from. Some say he was secretly a legionary in the ninth legion since its inception. Others say he was found alone on a planet with no intelligence life and had lived the solitary life of a hunter, learning the ways of nature from consuming their flesh. Many Imperial historians however most strongly believe he came to rest on the planet of Rakshasa.
Rakshasa was a world tidally locked. With one side constantly facing its sun. While rich in minerals, the bright side of the world was only explored from the dark on mining expeditions, braving the intense heat before returning to the forever night of the other side. No one knows the truth behind the arrival of Cronus on Rakshasa but some day he survived as a child on the burning side of the world where any mortal man would die without heavy protection. Some day he arrived on the dark side like a burning comet.
All is known that some time before the Imperial Arrival at Rakshasa a cult arose in the lower levels of the hive cities. It started with criminals suddenly vanishing or being dead with their flesh partially eaten. Being the Cult of the Saint of Corpses. Based around the worship of a faceless man who took on the memories of people after death. Granting an element of immortality, people flocked to him despite no authority having a report of what he looked like. In fact when questioned followers insisted they were all the Saint of Corpses, for they would live on in him. They took his fight against criminals and threats into their own hands, their own clandestine activities and sudden mastery of guerilla war. It is these hit and run tactics and use of terror against both the authorities and gangs of the underhives that make historians think that the Saint of Corpses was in fact Cronus, the 9th Primarch.
However the cult ended abruptly. No so-called saint was ever found. When Imperial forces came to Rakshasa the cult seemingly abruptly ended with many cult members vanishing. This coincided with the 9th legion declaring Rakshasa one of its recruiting worlds. By the time the crusade moved on to another system the Blood Brothers had gained their Primarch seemingly out of nowhere, now clad in the crimson armour that was their trademark. His armour is plain with little other than his stature to suggest who he is.
Once reunited with their Primarch, the tactical use of consuming enemy flesh became more ritualised. Ceremonies sprung up based around consuming the dead symbolically after a victory. Reports came to the other legions of brothers of the legion giving their flesh to one another to consume, to better understand one another and feel more unified. Nonetheless, they went from success to success, leaving compliant if terrified planets in their wake.
Personality: A recluse. Cronus cares not for his brothers or their legions. To him his legion are his family. He is erratic, prone to rapid changes in mood and as the crusade has continued this has only increased. When a Blood brother dies in battle, as well as his gene seed being extracted his flesh is consumed. It is also suspected that some names of company captains have been carried across multiple marines who carry on his memories.
Appearance: He rarely shows his face, sometimes wearing a mask or always wearing a helmet in battle. The few people who've seen him say he is quite handsome
Doctrine and Combat Specialization: Reconnaissance, Guerilla Warfare and terror tactics.
With their unique skill at information gathering, they make good reconnaissance troops. This ability has developed into guerilla warfare. They’re masters of stealth. This is constantly tinged with their foes finding troops mutilated or part consumed. They have also been unconfirmed reports of Blood brothers taking flesh from civilians to gain information about a foe.
Appearance: The Blood Brothers fight in crimson armour with black and cream trim. They’ve adopted their primarchs tradition and rarely show their faces in public
Chapter 13: X: Lazarus and the Shadow Weavers
Summary:
What if Magnus led the Alpha Legion.
Chapter Text
X: The Shadow Weavers
Earth Origins:
While capable of fighting on the open battlefield, once formed towards the end of the Unification Wars, the Hounds of Sol, as they were originally dubbed, built up a reputation for stealth and guerilla warfare to rival that of the Death Riders. Their approach is not one of annihilating the enemy, they will locate the weakest point in an enemy with precision and strike it, bringing them to their knees in a swift move. Since their inception they’ve had a preternatural ability to know an enemy and predict their movements. This transfers across to hand to hand combat, when sparring with brothers and sisters of the other legions, while lacking the savagery of the Liberators or the swordsmanship of the Lionhearts, they can predict their foes next move and counter it accordingly.
Unsurprisingly the legion has perhaps the highest number of psykers out of all of the legions, whether this is by recruitment or they are made psykers by implanting of the gene seed is unknown. They’re regularly fielded offensively for battlefield damage or using their abilities to manipulate the enemy.
The Primarch: Lazarus
Nicknames: The Last Shadow, the Invisible Hand
Homeworld: Immerwald
Many, including the 10th Primarch himself speak of destiny. With his very arrival on the primitive planet of Immerwald, Lazarus was placed on a path to greatness. Immerwald was a human planet long since fallen to the level of swords and shields but also superstitions and magic. Many on the planet claimed to have supernatural abilities, ranging from charlatans to the greatest mages serving or usurping kings and lords.
The infant Lazarus’ pod burned through the atmosphere over the heads of two warring armies of the planets many kingdoms that laid claim over the planet's seemingly endless forests and mountains. Destiny played its hand again when one of the planet's many Lords, a man named Marteus, retreating from the battle that had witnessed the burning comet of the child’s pod, came across the baby, seemingly dead but returning to life as he was cradled by the defeated king. He named him Lazarus after a figure from a story of old Earth, an immortal man who rose from the dead each time he died.
It soon became apparent that Lazarus was no normal child. As well as being stronger and quicker than any mortal and growing quicker, Lazarus possessed incredibly talents at what the planet called magic and what the Imperium would call Psychic abilities. He knew things his father had never told him, he knew secrets no one had uttered. He once told his father than one of his subjects would betray him, his father ignored him, only for the subject to attempt a coup. Lazarus won the kingdom over however when he predicted when and how a rival Kingdom would invade. Based on his son's portent, Marteus set an ambush, slaughtered the opposing army and captured its king. With now teenage Lazarus guiding him, King Marteus lifted his kingdom to be a great power on its continent of origin. With each rival conquered, Lazarus learned more from the great mages they had defeated or who bent the knee to Marteus. Some agreed to serve under the young prince Lazarus and along with young people from across the kingdom with untapped potential, became a force of Psychics under Lazarus’ tutelage.
This all wasn’t without risk however, seeing him as crucial to his father’s endeavours, Lazarus was the subject of many attempted assassinations. To remove a weakness in his father’s forces he went into battle, projecting the image into his foes minds that he had been killed in hand to hand combat. Marteus’ army staged a mock funeral for the young prince Lazarus and fought on in his memory, with only the core of the royal army knowing the truth.
Lazarus and his army of mages and witches would fight for decades more from the shadows, kings would be killed or surrender suddenly. Armies turned on their lords and flew King Marteus’ flag. Even their reputation, as the King’s so called Invisible hands, would make people bend the knee to their king. All the while in each conquered city and temple, books and artefacts would go missing as each fell and Lazarus’ power would grow. Some who knew he still lived said he, as the stronger and more powerful man, should usurp his father but he refused. He didn’t seek overt, he was powerful enough behind the throne and sought only more knowledge.
Finally when the emperor came to Immerwald he asked out for his son. The people said there was one demigod who matched that description but he had been killed in combat. The Emperor didn’t believe such comments and sensed Lazarus was near. Sensing this newcomer was some kind of powerful mage, Lazarus appeared before the people and joined his father in the Great crusade, hoping to expand his knowledge yet further. Already masters of stealth he commented that his legion “aren’t hounds but shadows that weave together the threads of fate” and thus they were re-dubbed.
Personality: Private and withdrawn, he prefers his studies to socialising with his siblings or sometimes even his captains. Quite arrogant with his psychic powers, he will often forgo a conversation to simply read someone’s mind. His psychic abilities have left him somewhat paranoid of others.
Appearance: Lazarus has the pallid complexion and blue lips of someone dying, starved of oxygen. This has never changed despite being of superhuman strength and perfect health.
Doctrine and Combat Specialization: Guerilla warfare, Psychic warfare and battlefield manipulation
They contain some of the Legiones Astartes greatest scouts and marksmen but where they truly excel is manipulation of both the normal and psychic minds of their foes. They’re masters of battlefield manipulation, setting traps, assassinating key units, setting ambushes to a supernatural degree.
Unique Units:
The Invisible hands: named for their Primarch’s nickname on their homeworld, squads of psykers trained to use psychic powers for stealth as well as offence. Men can see them but their mind tells them to pay no heed or to suddenly move a different direction or in some cases attack their fellow soldiers.
Appearance: The Shadow Weavers wear Dark Purple Armour with a black trim. Their symbol is an an interlocking web of diagonal lines on three vertical lines
Chapter 14: XI: Minerva
Summary:
What if Horus Commanded the Imperial Fists
Chapter Text
XI: The Guardians of Eris
What if Horus Commanded the Imperial Fists
Earth Origins:
The Guardians of Eris’ name comes from that little covered and vague period between the unification of Earth and the first forays of the Great Crusade into other star systems. While the Emperor was forming his vital alliance with the Priesthood of Mars, his forces were still pacifying the outer solar system. Forces of the II (Storm Blades) and XI (as yet unnamed) Legions landed on the outer world of Eris and its symbiotically attached moon, Dysonomia. After a grueling campaign through the Dwarf planet’s planet-wide underground city, the 2nd Legion were recalled to the inner system, with the 11th legion tasked with making the planet ready to be used as a naval base for forces in the outer solar system.
While readying the world it came under siege from a xenos fleet. As the warp storms around the solar system faded, a nomadic species called the Golek dropped back into realspace and looking for resources attacked Eris and Dysnomia. With Eris being remote and Imperial Forces still mustering, the 11th Legion defended the Dwarf planet for weeks before the rest of the Imperial fleet arrived to drive them off, turning Eris into their own fortress world with minimal resources. From then on they were named the Guardians of Eris.
The 11th Legion already had a reputation for Stalwart defences of fixed positions and it was said neither the Steel Fists nor the Iron Angels could take a fortress they defended (something both legions would grow to take personally).
The Primarch: Minerva Onnamusha
Nicknames: The Castellan
Homeworld: Yomia
The infant Minerva came to rest on Yomia, a hive world that had been dying a slow death throughout the age of strife. Much of its frozen deserts and decaying hives were lawless, inhabited by ash wasters and hive gangs. The infant Minerva was found by one such group, a gang calling themselves the Castellans who fiercely defended Inayama, a town built around an ancient aquifer, perhaps the last untainted source of water left in the wastes.
Over the years Minerva quickly became one of their fiercest warriors, even as a child. She became a master of martialling limited resources and defences against much larger attacking fortresses. She learned to repurpose the equipment of defeated foes into defences and equipment and learned everything she could about fighting even with just fist and blade. Over the years she rose to become both Mayor and General as the town grew into a city and its people into a nation
It was during one such siege of their fortress-town that Minerva’s father arrived from the skies. A techno-barbarian chieftain named the Undying King was on his third day of laying siege of Minerva’s City, each attack happened when she allowed it and each was butchered as she closed a trap around it but his armies far outnumbered hers. While the King’s armies ceased their attack when the Emperor and members of his Legions landed, when he demanded fealty from the Undying King he was met with crude weaponry and soldiers. The emperor personally laid waste to his armies. Seeing an opportunity, Minerva rode out from Inayama into the King’s armies to join this golden stranger she felt a strange affinity for.
At the end of the battle she met with this off-worlder General and he explained his identity to her, and her own. Trusting him, she bent the knee and offered her armies to him. The Tech Priests of Mars would bring peace to Yomia in their search for technology and Minerva would offer up her finest warriors to become new recruits for her new command, the Guardians of Eris.
Personality: Confident but not cocky, patient but not apprehensive. She’s amiable to her brothers and sisters while not afraid to argue her point. She’s also quite content in her role as a defensive specialist and not too proud to accept the role given her by the Emperor.
Appearance: Tall and broad with jet black hair and pale golden skin. She fights in a heavy suit of armour, usually with a broad shield and golden sword
Doctrine and Combat Specialization: Defense and Siege
Masters of static or semi-static defence. They specialise in the rapid design and establishment of fortifications and their overseeing in carefully laid traps and brutal firepower. They are also experts at laying siege to static emplacements, something that has given them a bit of a rivalry with the Steel Fists who Minerva sees as needlessly wasteful
Appearance: The Guardians wear green armour with a gold trim and their symbol is of a golden sword
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