Legio Astrum Iuguolo (Star Killers)

[BigJon]

Legio Astrum Iuguolo (Star Killers)

Orgin

While the Mechanicus is meticulous with keeping records they are less forth coming
when asked to produce those records. The creation of the Legio Astrum Iuguolo is
thought to be sometime around 745.M41.

From the bits collected and piced together the founding started to become clear.
The Mechanicus had apparently located a system void of life deep in the Ultima
Segmentum that was rich in very rare minerals and ores for mining. The Mechanicus
put together a colony fleet and made for the system. Since no Imperial colonies were located their
it was never given a proper name only a binary code that the Mechanicus has kept secret.

Upon arriving to the system the Mechanicus found it besieged by a tendril fleet of
Hive Fleet Behemoth and will all system resources fighting the body of the fleet the
Mechanicus were on their own.

The arrival of the fleet did not go unnoticed as Tyranid ships started pulling away from
the main body of the fleet leaving the massive digestion ships to do their work to
attack the invaders.

Since this was a Mechanicus colony fleet it was very lightly armed and not ready
to deal with an enemy fleet of this size.

Leading the Mechanicus fleet and set to goveren the new system was a power
Arch-Magos named Klawson, such was his rank and position that he had an
honor guard made up of Titans from a hand full of Legions

Arch-Magos Klawson knew he had to add the Titans firepower to fight off
the Tyranids. The titans were rised to the skin of the ships, cargo bay doors
were opened and even outer-hulls were blasted apart to give the titans clear
fields of fire.

At first the Warlords engaged the larger ships at distance slowing down the
Tyranid advance but it was not long before the Tyranid ships closed in and
deployed their forces. Reavers and Warhounds engaged the foe with close
range Mega-Bolters and missile launchers and the legions Skirti kept the
Tyranids from getting far if they did get in the ships.

As the titans destroyed more and more Tyranid ships long range scanners
detected more peeling off from the main body of the fleet, more then they could
hope to hold off.

In a desperate move Arch-Magos Klawson came up with an plan that would either
save them or kill them all but it was their only chance. As the battle raged around them
one of the larger Mechanicus ships broke through the Tyranid ships and
made for the systems Sun.

As the ship got closer a Warlord rose from the titan bay armed with a single
ship-class Vortex missile mounted to its back. The Warlord launched the missile toward the sun.

The Mechanicus ship's started to close ranks bring their shields together for
greater strength while the titans added to it with their Void shields as the missile struck.
At first the Sun expanded a thousand times its size engulfing the nearby planets and
the bulk of the Tyranid fleet with it and when the heat wave swept over the
Mechanicus ships doing massive damage to vessel and Titans both it also destroyed
most of the close quarter Tyranid vessels. Next, the Sun
contracted and formed a tempory Black Hole pulling in any Tyranids ships that were
not destroyed in the blast.

It took several days for the Mechanicus to bring the bulk of their fleet back into
operation status. The titans had lost a third of their machines but without them
their is no doubt the whole fleet would of fallen to the Tyranid's

Arch-Magos Klawson forge-world was gone but the resources he came for were
all around him, with the destruction of the planets in the system the rare minierals
would be much easier to get to but would also be harder to defend.

Arch-Magos Klawson with some insight saw the need for a Legion to help him carry
out his over all plan and put in a request to the Fabercrater General to allow him to
keep his current level of Titans and form a new Legion.


Legio: Astrum Iuguolo, defender of the Vortex Fleet.

Homeworld

Because of the combat action involving the Legion and the Tyranids the colony home
worlds were destroyed, but this was a blessing in the making. Many of the systems
planets were ripped apart and the Black Hole's gravity pulled many of the broken
worlds into an thick sphere of planetary chucks and asteroids. At the heart of this sphere
lies the Vortex Fleet, one of the largest Mechanicus fleets ever put together in one place.

Its from this fleet the Mechanicus develops Vortex and Void technology, to
dangerous to be planet side a fleet structure was perfect. Also, the asteroids were
rich in raw ore and the Mechanicus set up massive mining and processing ships.

Setting apart for the Mechanicus fleet is the fleet of the Astrum Iuguolo, many of their
vessels still bear the scars of that battle with huge sections of their ships still open to
space. It is from within these ships the Legion maintain their Titans and conduct
the Vortex Fleets mission.

Combat Doctrine

The Astrum Iuguolo are on a constant state of alert guarding the Mechanicus mining
operations but more importantly the research ships and Vortex production facilities.
On rare occasions the Astrum Iuguolo venture out of the asteroid field when Imperial
Guard commanders or Space Marine Masters request Vortex support or the destruction
of a world its often the Astrum Iuguolo that will escort the weapon to its destination
if not be the very machine that will launch it.

The primary function of the Astrum Iuguolo is to escort, deliver and deploy Vortex
Missles within a warzone. Depending on the size of the missile or the number
requested will determen the make up of the Titan battle group. The Titans of the
Astrum Iuguolo while in the field do not fall within the Army Groups chain of command
until they have launced their payloads, after which the titans will act in concert with
the Army Groups wishes.

One break to this standard is The Astrum Iuguolo have a hate of the Tyranids and
will answer the call when issues that Tyranid Bio-Titans are involved in combat.

Emperors Hand

The "Emperors Hand" was the Warlord that launched the
Vortex Missile that saved them and lead to the naming
and the path the Legion would take. The Emperors Hand got its name because during the
siege of Terra the Emperor once leaned against the titan, his bloody handprint burned into
the steel of the Warlords foot forever burning bright. After the blast one of the Digestion ships
was blown clear and as it passed the "Emperors Hand" a tentacles reached out and grabbed the
might Warlord dragging it from the ship and out into space. It is thought that the "Emperors Hand"
still exist as faint signals have been detected coming from deep within current Tyranid fleet
controlled space. The Astrum Iuguolo await their time to recover their fallen artifact.

Organization

When the Astrum Iuguolo was founded the Legions strength was 12 Warlord titans.
From this number a councle has been made and sitting upon it are the Princeps of
these 12 Warlords. Their is a 13th seat saved for the Princep of the Emperors Hand.
The Mechanicus have a seat as well from the Fleet.

The Technology used to interface with the Legions Titans is very different from Legion
to Legion. The Astrum Iuguolo princeps have very little in the way
of augmentation, just enough to be able to communicate with Mechanicus and process
combat information, in fact the Titans of the Astrum Iuguolo depend of there Princeps
to be in top physical shape, its the Moderati who wear the bulk of the augmentation.

Its thought that in post-heresy days this would keep the Mechanicus from having
to much of a grip on some of the Titan Legions by keeping the majority of their
princeps as pure human as possible.

The life of a Princeps starts with a Warhound and they work their way up to Warlord
when they are physically and mentaly able to control them.

Heldary

When making their way to the colony system the Titans of the Legio Astrum Iuguolo were
marked and painted in parent Legions colors.

After the offical founding the councle decided that the Legions machines would be
painted black with silver trim. The heldary of the Princeps would be displayed upon the head of the titan
while the Moderati's heldary would be displayed upons the shoulder guards. Battle honors
and campain badges would be worn upon the leg armor while kill markings would be found upon the
weapons that were credited with the kills.

Warhound class titans may repaint their hull armor in camo for the current
theater of operations since it is their job to scout and defend the Legions Warlords and Reavers
while they fire their missiles.

[Sons of Horus]

pretty interesting ;)

[Algoroth]

Fairly well written. Wouldn't the titan legio have been named before departing? Most expeditions are named, and the Mechanicus are meticulous about classification. It would be appropriate that they renamed the legio after the events of the fleet encounter, at which time they would/could have changed their color scheme. It seems incongruous that the entire titan contingent's so new their red paint's still fresh, yet a precious relic such as the Emperor's Hand was along for the ride. Perhaps depict the Arch-Magos as someone of some note, that he would have sufficient pull to bring such a prized god-machine (maybe he was once the princeps of that Warlord?) on the expedition.

[BigJon]

Good points Algoroth, I'll tighten it up. The reason for the Older Titans is I envision that the AM can no longer make "new" titans so

they just repair/restore and redistribute active ones as needed. The Titans as they were being transported were in Legion formation

but just not given a proper name, the AM was going to wait until the AM colony was setup and they had decided to stay

before announcing the formal name. I'll work it in. Thanks

 

BigJon