Legion Portrayal question

[Oir]

Right, so I got my lovely shiny (literally) copy of betrayal, cracked it open to look at the World Eater's section (reading After Desh'ea peaked my interest in the Legion) and, well, it comes across as too barbaric for the way I envisioned Pre-heresy World Eaters, missing a lot of feelings of honour, loyalty and brotherhood I got from the WE in Desh'ea and elsewhere.

 

So I was thinking of having my own force representing an element of the Legion that have those sort of attitudes that I saw in them (them still being bloodthirsty maniacs of course). Would this come across as being 'sue-ish' or altering the fluff when I should just leave it be? It just seems a lot of what I interpreted about the WE got left on the wayside in favour of making them as Khorne as possible even prior to their fall.

 

Just to reiterate, I'm talking about pre-heresy portrayal, not how they act at the beginning of the heresy

 

 

 

 

Also, an additional question:

 

Did the portrayal of the Legions in the book match your expectations? Why or why not?

[Kol Saresk]

Don't know about the Legion portrayals as I do not have the book so I do not know how they are shown in the book.

 

But I can say this, do what you want. If you want to make them look more honorable, then go for it. If you want them to be however barbaric Forgeworld shows them to be, then do that. It's your army, do what you want with it. As long as the idea itself isn't so far off the wall it makes dead monkeys go "Do what now?", you're okay to do it. No one can really say you are wrong for showing a part of the Legion pre-Angron since there is virtually no pre-Primarch fluff on the Legions.

[Schultzhoffen]

Your army so do what you like. I would say that the HH books are as close to actual canon as we'll ever get on the Legions, though.

 

I loved "Betrayal". The depiction of each Legion was perfect. The Sons of Horus really became much more interesting to me. Lots of great details. The Emperor's Children's vanity and ego really shone through.

[Oir]

Not so much pre-Angron as early Angron

 

I just wanted to avoid the trap of someone who makes 'their' character/army/whatever better than and without the flaws of the original. I'm sure I'm not the only one to hear or read someone's army story and think 'mary-sue'

[Kol Saresk]

That does happen every now and then, I'll give you that. But right now, I don't see your stuff as Mary Sue-ish at all.

[The Crimson Cartel]

Don't know about the FW book.. but i'm dead sure there has to be SOME of what you are looking for in the Legion. Look at Varren as one example. I'm with Kol and the rest. Your army, do as you like.

 

-CC

[Adra'Melek]

If you read the blurb for the WE dreadnought it says he was 'ashamed' (my word) for what his legion was becoming. I think that the older WE would have been different to the earlier ones. When did Angron force them all to have the nails? I know he did after the fall but Betrayal suggests it was an option for the new marines before. You could easily do a company with the more honorable parts. With the most savage being in the Rampagers (is that the right unit?). I think in all the traitor legions there were parts (usually the older marines) that saw the changes that started with the finding of the Primarchs and weren't particularly happy.

[Inquisitor Kravin]

I agree that there's nothing wrong with your idea. Remember that the Legions had tens of thousands of marines so there would clearly be a broad spectrum of view points. As people have said there were individuals like Varren who displayed a combination of the darker sides of the War Hounds - short-tempered, aggressive and brutal - but also clearly possessed a strong sense of honour and justice. The loyalist forces at Isstvan included a World Eaters contingent and I imagine that besides the simple question of Emperor or Primarch a factor would be attitude to the general direction of the Legion. My understanding is that the War Hounds were always a brutal and aggressive legion but the induction of Angron and the new marines would probably bring an element of barbarity and savagery beyond what the Terran marines would be comfortable with.

[Arachnid99]

My reading was it was the Butchers Nails and the lobotomies that really marked the change from savage warriors to berserker's.

[Phoebus]

It's obviously up to you (the OP) to do as you please... but remember that "After Desh'ea" is set right as Angron joins his Legion. "Betrayal" is set at a point where the World Eaters were facing censure for their absolutely bloodthirsty, genocidal practices. They were in a downward spiral of depravity by that point.

 

Sure, there's room to inject a "contrasting" look (which the Loyalists in a couple of other stories have shown), but it's important to remember that "Betrayal" does offer an accurate portrayal of the mainstream behavior of the XII Legion. :D

[Oir]

I understand that at the point of Istvaan, Betrayal is spot on. I was referring more to it's description of the Legion's past, which seemed completely devoid of those attitudes and elements I liked. In Desh'ea Angron demonstrated he had a code of honour and a sense of loyalty to his comrades.

 

I can't believe that the WE were "BLOOD FOR THE EMPEROR! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL COLLECTION!" for their entire existence as a Legion post-Angron. (by that I mean Khornate in almost every way)

[KarkassBC]

Between the Outcast Dead, there were three World Eaters. If you look at them you will find a good example of warrior code. The toughest of the three, I don't remember his name, promised to kill his Primarch, if the story of his betrayal was true.

 

In the book I read the description of three warriors preferring the close combat but not crazed bloodthirsty animals.

[Kol Saresk]

Not to mention the World Eaters in Galaxy in Flames who gave their lives to stall Angron so Tarvitz could make it back to camp.

[Phoebus]

I understand that at the point of Istvaan, Betrayal is spot on. I was referring more to it's description of the Legion's past, which seemed completely devoid of those attitudes and elements I liked. In Desh'ea Angron demonstrated he had a code of honour and a sense of loyalty to his comrades.

 

I can't believe that the WE were "BLOOD FOR THE EMPEROR! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL COLLECTION!" for their entire existence as a Legion post-Angron. (by that I mean Khornate in almost every way)

Ah. Touche, good sir.