A Broken Throne - Legion XVIII - The Steel Legion

[Sigismund229]

Here's the story with () where I need to put in names later. Seeing as I partly wrote this to help myself get a handle on the XVIIIth, please tell me if something's wrong

 

Beauty in the machine

() looked into the dust kicked up by the creeping barrage. While from the outside he looked like any other warrior examining the battlefield he was about to march into, in fact he wasn't really looking into the swirling clouds of dust. Instead, he was scanning over his section of the advance, a space measuring 100 metres in front and 5 metres either side of him. He had pre programmed this radius into his ocular implants, so when he swept his vision over it, his ocular implants scanned and filtered every image they got before relaying the resulting information to his servo implants which in turn relayed the information to the rest of the vanguard. The information collected by the legionaries on the ground was then combined by Captain () with the information they had received from reconnaissance drones and previous probing attacks before being relayed back to the vanguard and their support units. The result was an unmatched amount of information at the fingertips of every single member of the assault, allowing them to see points of likely resistance, confirmed traps, likely murder points and a thousand other pieces of information about the battlefield.

 

Soon another piece of data was added to this picture of the battlefield. In exactly thirty three seconds, the first shell of the creeping barrage would fall two metres in front of (). Sure enough it fell but instead it fell two metres and thirty five centimetres in front of (), a piece of information his servo implants related straight to the gunnery crews. Sure enough, with the information from his and the rest of the vanguard's servo implants, the gunnery crews were able to adjust their aim accordingly and correct flaws in their calculations.

 

As they did and each shell fell exactly two metres in front of () as he marched through a preplotted and pre cleared route through the fortresses surrounding mine fields, he smiled. This was warfare at its most beautiful. An ancient Terran artist had once replied when asked how he made his sculptures that he removed everything unnecessary. Such was the XVIII^th's way of war. Their shared view of battlefield removed anything unnecessary and the result was war at its most beautiful. Fluid, mechanical, efficient. It wasn't just war, it was art. The most beautiful, austere, pure form of art man could create, like a well lubricated machine, every cog and gear perfectly in time with its fellows, always expending just enough energy for maximum efficiency. Never more, never less.

 

Within three minutes forty nine seconds, () had passed through the minefield. Beside him, his squad were converging towards the same point as him, the same point as the three other squads of their sector of the assault, a gaping hole in the fortresses walls. Over their heads into the same hole went streams of heavy bolter, volkite, plasma, las and frag missiles, each aimed in accordance with information relayed from the vanguard's ocular implants. Within a minute, the heavy weapons fire transferred its focus to the walls around the breach. As everything else in the assault it was precisely timed and targeted. Reconnaissance drones and ocular implants of the vanguard had identified weapons emplacements on the walls that could inflict heavy casualties on an assaulting force and so, once the assault force was within unaugmented visual range, the support squads switched their fire to those emplacements.

 

Advancing over the mound of rubble in the breach, the legionaries kept the appearance of utter silence as they opened fire, instead communicating via data blurts to their shared tactical overview, telling each other of potentially dangerous weapons and eliminating those before turning their weapons on less dangerous las rifle wielding troops. The methodical nature of the fighting was comforting, reliable. Beautiful () thought again. The perfect synchronicity was beautiful.

Edited November 7, 2016 by Sigismund229

[Raktra]

Raktra stared intently at Nomus, as was his usual manner. He of course absorbed every tell-tale sign of a healed wound and every twitch that proceeded a full movement as Nomus spoke, mildly pacing as he did so. It was a typical meeting of one of his genetic relatives, and yet something bothered him. Behind each step, each flourish of the arm, there was a malformed echo, as though the actions of another shadowed the Scorpion's actions, that behaved not as a methodical analyst, but instead moved with the tense wariness of a lonesome jackal. If Raktra focussed hard enough, he swore he could see a genhanced circulatory system not unlike his own superimposed over Nomus.

"Ashen one?" Nomus said, either finally noticing or finally becoming tired of Raktra's distraction. "Something troubles you?"

A moment of silence hung, as Raktra split his vision between the corporeal Primarch before him and the echoes that still yet lingered.

"No." He finally said, albeit a good deal flatter than was appropriate. "Just an echo."

Edited November 7, 2016 by Raktra

[Kelborn]

Nice job, guys. :D

 

Sigismunds story reminds me of a unit I wanted to propose prior to the end of the poll.

 

Most of you might be familiar with the Tau and their different kind of drones: shield drones, communication drones, sensor drones and so on.

 

How about something like them in the form of Servitors or Servoskulls?

[~Drakzilla~]

Ooh, a squad of fully armed, advanced servoskulls could makw for an awesome unit.

[simison]

Isn't that treading on Tau territory?

[bluntblade]

I like the concept! I was worried that they would be Iron Hands 2.0 but I like how you've put a fresh spin on their close ties to the Mechanicus and heavy use of bionics.

If you ever need a writer you know where to find me ;)

EDIT: for a name...Iron Claws? Iron Ravens(in Norse culture the raven was a wise animal)?

Iron Ravens is cool, but we've been beaten to it

[Chief Captain Redd]

I really like the use of just "The Immortals" I think that would work REALLY well,

[Skalpynock]

Regardless of whether he gets terminator armor or not, I can only picture Nomus being a wirehead. Less pronounced than Perturabo, and with sleeker systems, but his skull needs either tubes or nodes.

[Grifftofer]

Right as promised I beat photobucket into submission and now have some images to share. So I'll drop those in here (in no particular order):

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn171/Grifftofer/Silver%20Scorpion_zpsl7v6etvq.png1

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn171/Grifftofer/Silver%20Scorpion%204_zpsxky3ohlk.png2

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn171/Grifftofer/Silver%20Scorpion%203_zpsojfxxaav.png3

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn171/Grifftofer/Silver%20Scorpion_zps4vmfe0kq.png4

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn171/Grifftofer/Silver%20Scorpion%205_zpst0swy5sy.png5

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn171/Grifftofer/Silver%20Scorpion%207_zps230vdb4k.png6

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn171/Grifftofer/Silver%20Scorpion%208_zpsg7hselbp.png7

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn171/Grifftofer/Silver%20Scorpion%206_zpsrruma4u9.png8

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn171/Grifftofer/Silver%20Scorpion%209_zpskap3wznx.png9

If there are other colours people would like to see I can throw them together quickly enough, so ask away.

 

EDIT: Added some numbers so I can keep track of what designs are most heavily supported more easily.

Edited November 7, 2016 by Grifftofer

[Grifftofer]

The Immortals works for me as the Legion name.

 

I must admit I've had some thoughts on Legion rules/units/wargear myself (I almost always seem to frame my ideas in terms of rules :P)

• Instead of Vexilla/Nuncio-voxes the base level of cybernatics would function in the same way as both as a ~35 point upgrade for all squads. Further upgrades could be things like -1 cover saves, Wrecker/other special rules and the benefits of a Cognis-signum.
• I had a unit idea of something like the Interex Sagittars (centaur-like armour), but with a scorpion-like lower half rather than a horse.
• Sanguinius had an idea for an advanced Recon squad with advanced cyber-warfare skills (I believe)
• Taking Kel's ultimate veteran squad idea a bit further I thought of a WS, BS and I5 unit of veterans who are very customisable, but only get power armour. So they'd be pretty squashable, but hit quite hard.

 

In terms of rules, how would you feel about them getting a certain bonus depending on the losses a unit has suffered? Ie, after 25% losses they gain 1ld, 50% 1init, 75% something a bit more brutal still? Also, they could automatically pass look out sir rolls
How are servitors, robots and ai seen in the legion? Would they have more or less techmarines and praevians?
Any ideas of units and wargear? Griff's character seemed interesting, any more ideas for what could be quite an impersonal legion?

I actually had some similar thoughts. I was going to go with bonuses to WS/BS @ 50%, but your suggestions would probably work better. I think that keeping it to a single upgrade at 50% would help keep bookkeeping to a minimum. Really like the look out sir idea too, I'd probably make it a +2 bonus, that way regular sergeants act like ICs and IC auto pass, unless an assassin is going after them at which point they get a normal roll(Assassins give a -2 to the test).

 

I also had a thought that they would get a coordination bonus similar to the Ultramarines as a base effect. Also as a downside an idea I had was that the leader would have such a store of collected knowledge that the transfer of it through the network would disrupt other communications if they died. So something related to warlord death that shuts off some/all of their abilities/cybernetics for a turn as the bandwidth gets maxed out :P

 

On the Praevian, Techmarine front. I think the Legion would have a slightly high number of Techmarines, but a pretty insane number of Praevians. Afterall they aren't so much into the building/crafting aspect as others, but still have good mech ties. However the various cybernetic lifeforms of the mechanicum would be obvious draws for them.

[Doctor Perils]

I actually had some similar thoughts. I was going to go with bonuses to WS/BS @ 50%, but your suggestions would probably work better. I think that keeping it to a single upgrade at 50% would help keep bookkeeping to a minimum. Really like the look out sir idea too, I'd probably make it a +2 bonus, that way regular sergeants act like ICs and IC auto pass, unless an assassin is going after them at which point they get a normal roll(Assassins give a -2 to the test).

 

I also had a thought that they would get a coordination bonus similar to the Ultramarines as a base effect. Also as a downside an idea I had was that the leader would have such a store of collected knowledge that the transfer of it through the network would disrupt other communications if they died. So something related to warlord death that shuts off some/all of their abilities/cybernetics for a turn as the bandwidth gets maxed out

Indeed, keeping it at a simple 50% would probably be better. For the Look out, sir! I still think it would be best to make it an auto-pass - that way it can represent to some extent that the character's consciousness is transferred to someone else in the squad, who then just picks up the fallen character's equipment and carries on.

 

That downside effect sounds pretty fun too :)

 

 

However, how will the legion look before getting to the primarch, and how would their reunification work? The adaptation may be a bit rough, no?

[MikhalLeNoir]

Color schrms: 2,4,7,8\

[Grifftofer]

You make a good point on the Look out Sir rolls. Can't believe I missed that interpretation, I came up with the transfer of consciousness idea too :S.

 

The only real thoughts I had on the pre-Primarch Legion is that there would be a strong special forces vibe to them, so they would work in tight-knit teams and use hand-signs to pass information silently. In that way they would emulate what they would later become. But as for the actual integration, I can see two main paths:

1. The Terrans accept the implants and are integrated into the collective. Their skills are amalgamated by the legion as they die off, but some may survive to become the ultimate veterans/leaders as they have fought for dozens of years longer than any of their brothers and have absorbed the memories of the other Terrans who were likewise older and more experienced.
2. The Terrans refuse the implantation feeling that it is a perversion of the Emperor's plan to modify themselves thus. They try to integrate, but are unsuccessful as the collective is such a major part of the new Legion. they would likely be given assignments away from the collective or even separated into their own fleet, because their influence is as distracting as their skills are useful.

[bluntblade]

Is sharing a name with the Medusan Immortals a concern?

 

Incidentally, that's where the Iron Ravens thing is from; an alternative Heresy where the Primarchs wound up on different worlds, with Corvus becoming Corvus Morragul

Edited November 7, 2016 by bluntblade

[Kelborn]

 

You make a good point on the Look out Sir rolls. Can't believe I missed that interpretation, I came up with the transfer of consciousness idea too :S.

 

The only real thoughts I had on the pre-Primarch Legion is that there would be a strong special forces vibe to them, so they would work in tight-knit teams and use hand-signs to pass information silently. In that way they would emulate what they would later become. But as for the actual integration, I can see two main paths:

• The Terrans accept the implants and are integrated into the collective. Their skills are amalgamated by the legion as they die off, but some may survive to become the ultimate veterans/leaders as they have fought for dozens of years longer than any of their brothers and have absorbed the memories of the other Terrans who were likewise older and more experienced.
• The Terrans refuse the implantation feeling that it is a perversion of the Emperor's plan to modify themselves thus. They try to integrate, but are unsuccessful as the collective is such a major part of the new Legion. they would likely be given assignments away from the collective or even separated into their own fleet, because their influence is as distracting as their skills are useful.

I would like to add my thoughts of them chasing for forbidden knowledge in terms of technology which would either be given to the AdMech or stored within the Legions halls.

Something like the Iconoclasts, ensuring that only the reasonable and logic imperial truth of Big Es vision come to pass.

[Doctor Perils]

 

You make a good point on the Look out Sir rolls. Can't believe I missed that interpretation, I came up with the transfer of consciousness idea too :S.

What about also adding a caveat for Challenges? There's a several legions that make Challenges into something important for them, but these [TOBENAMED] sound like they would care about challenges at all? Or would that be going too far?

[Skalpynock]

Is sharing a name with the Medusan Immortals a concern?

 

Incidentally, that's where the Iron Ravens thing is from; an alternative Heresy where the Primarchs wound up on different worlds, with Corvus becoming Corvus Morragul

There's a little problem with that, the clan was named Ra'guln before Autek Mor overtook it. Mor-Ra'guln.

I'm not too kin on giving this legion an animal name, it just feels like missing the point.

 

A potential additional source of inspiration would be Jodorowsky's Meta-Barons comics (most of my ideas for the False Primarch and late Suzerainty come from these), at least stylistically.

[Chief Captain Redd]

5, 6, 7 with 7 being heavily prefered in terms of schemes.

[simison]

Is sharing a name with the Medusan Immortals a concern?

 

I don't think so. 

 

5 & 6

[~Drakzilla~]

3 or 5 all the way.

 

Also didn't Sangi say he didn't want to consider animal names, since those would be considered primitive by the legion? That brings anything Raven-related off the table.

[MikhalLeNoir]

6 looks like the Sitheadair will, which could be cool because their Master is Scorpion^^ (You should read my blog)

 

But looking at it, my favourite is 7. Silver and purple is a great combination. By the way, as they are so on progression, why not entirly avoid cc combat and try to completly focus on ranged weaponry?^^ they try to completly avoid getting stuck in this ancient and barbaric thing called close combat.

[Grifftofer]

The Scorpions are focused of ranged fighting as a preference, but there is a need to understand and utilise melee combat. If only because it is not always possible to bring sufficient firepower to wipe out a foe before they make it to friendly lines. I think it's likely that the Legion will have a large number of special units (like the wardens) most will probably be ranged rather than melee based, but one is probably going to be melee focused if only because 5 ranged units will overlap a lot in theme.

 

 

 

You make a good point on the Look out Sir rolls. Can't believe I missed that interpretation, I came up with the transfer of consciousness idea too :S.

What about also adding a caveat for Challenges? There's a several legions that make Challenges into something important for them, but these [TOBENAMED] sound like they would care about challenges at all? Or would that be going too far?

I was thinking that the uber-veterans will likely be chosen warriors so they can take challenges and also have the same rule as the Champion Consul to re-roll the roll to swap who is fighting the challenge as they are even more in tune with each other than the rest of the Legion. I wouldn't want to make it a legion-wide rule because it would invalidate the Champion Consul even further.

[MikhalLeNoir]

Eventually a Squad completly equipped with pistols similar to the Warriors of Peace Airwalkers, but instead of Gunkata, something difffeent? Pistolero CC- Unit.

[~Drakzilla~]

With the proposed bonuses after losing units, I just realized the XVIII would make awesome in-game allies with the Warriors of Peace. The Warriors get worse when taking heavy losses, while the XVIII gets better.

 

Also, Nomus is probably be one of the few Primarchs Jade would befriend.

[Kelborn]

That is one reason why we decided to let them join the Suzerainty.

 

I'm reading a lot of great ideas. Can't answer to all of them. My don slammed his fingers into my eye and after consulting the doc, I can only see with one while the other is treated. Got hell of headache for only looking with one eye but I wanted to say that keeping at least one cc unit is reasonable as Nomus wants to react to all situations. Limiting their options is not their style.

 

I agree that the blue ones and 7 look quite good. They would fit a rational, futuristic legion. Would be happy with one of them.

 

Seal asked about our Legions role on the day of revelation. Will think about it and will discuss it with Griff and Sangi as these fluff aspects are something I'll not decide alone.