DIY concept "White Legion"

[ShasVa]

This is an "alpha" level WIP, so much is needed to refine it. Keep this in mind with any comments. Moving on...

 

So the White Legion are basically an idea for a lost Legion of Astartes from around the time of the Great Crusade. I haven't specifically stated that they are either Legion II or XI, nor do I know if I want to. They could be something entirely different - a XXI Legion, or a lost chapter that became a legion. In any case, I'm basing them outside of Imperial territory where the zealous corruption of the current Imperium can't reach them.

 

The White Legion are good guys, as much as one can be in the grim dark. As they came from the Crusade era, they have access to stuff that the legions of "today" do not. They also have a better understanding of it all too. So game-wise, they'd have 20-man Tactical squads, jetbikes, and Volkite weapons, among many other things.

 

They prefer to do things themselves, and won't ally with anyone unless the situation absolutely demands they do. They don't use Psykers at all, due to an event I haven't come up with just yet. Although they aren't within the Imperium anymore, they do remember what the Emperor originally envisioned for mankind, and are disgusted at the abominable state it is now in. They naturally despise Chaos to the core, knowing that Chaos is the cause of the Imperium's downfall.

 

Combat wise, they'll use whatever gets the job done, short of using gear tainted by Chaos or xenos. Drop Pod assaults and mechanised formations of vehicles, mobile artillery, swarms of Assault and Crusader squads, stealth and recon...very few tactics are beneath the White Legion. Belief wise, they came from the Crusade era and thus believe in the Emperor as a exemplary human and nothing more.

 

That's what I have on their lore so far. It's a start.

 

Game-wise, they'd be sort of like Grey Knights, in regards to having powerful but expensive (and small-sized) units. Sure they can bring heaps more bodies, but the cost will rise to compensate. They don't use Psykers, but they do use anti-Psyker gear like Null Rods, Immateria Wards, and "Pariah" guns. They'd have special ammunition types, but it wouldn't be wide-spread like the Grey Knights (tactical squads would still have S4 AP5 boltguns).

 

In short they'd be a powerful force that:

- sticks with human technology

- don't interact with practically everyone

- use almost any and all means available to them

 

Thoughts and comments, anyone? :P

[Furious Retreat]

I do not really know that much about the Imperium pre-Horus Heresy, but I'll throw a few thoughts out.

 

BTW, you are going to get a lot of flack with what you are attempting. May the force be with you!

 

Any military operation requires logistics. Normally in a "formal" type of war the one with the better logistics stands a much better chance of winning. If your troops have guns, ammo and food and your opponent does not, your side will win, nine times out of ten. if you are going to attempt this, your chapter / legion will need a solid home world / system or alternatively an arrangement with the Adaptus Mechanicus for gear.

 

Probably some type of connection / protection from Terra / Inquisition as well, since no government likes "rogue" forces moving through their territory. I would say that any government would react against a rogue force faster, since they can predict to a greater extent what an Ork, an Elder or a Chaos legion is going to do, not the case with a rogue force. Extreme governments (which the Imperium is) more so, as they cannot afford a rallying point for a large scale revolution.

 

Combat wise I've pretty much always thought that any SM's would do whatever they have to to gain an objective. Is that not a special forces trademark? In my opinion, a lot of the Black library writers and the codex writers do not bring that across, they focus so much on the Space Marininess (is that a word?) that they forgot that these guys are THE special forces of the Imperium. Its about getting the job done. How would you represent that fluff wise?

 

Hope this helps.

[Wulfebane]

How do you intend to explain your legion's complete lack of evolution in the tens of thousands of millennia then have passed since the heresy. Also, afaict, the only thing they'll truly bring to the table is bodies, as advancements in technology, that they were absent for, should vastly overpower their own. Unless you intend to bring advancements of your own by this legion somehow retaining technological knowledge that countless trillions have managed to forget.

 

Additionally, how do they know of Chaos, having been removed from the rebellion, and/or since Chaos is not exclusive to the Imperium and exists far being imperial zones, how have they managed to avoid its taint?

 

Last, if they're outside of the Imperium, wouldn't it hold true that they're at risk of being beyond the bounds of human expansion? How do they recruit or replenish their losses? What species DO they encounter, since their human interaction is limited.

 

A few IA things. Who is their primarch? How is it the Inquisition have not forced the mandate to have chapter-size regulations placed on their numbers? What does it mean to be both "good guys" and "do what it takes to get the job done"? Statistically, one will cancel the other.

[Brother-Sergeant Bohemond]

quick question, if they are a Crusade sized force, why do they need small units? A Crusade era Astartes force was there as the main conquest army, they were the troops sent in, wave after wave, to grind them down and conquer. Imperial Army was, literally, the support force unlike the Guard who are the mainstay of the current Imperium.

 

Smaller units are only needed as a rapid response force, as a Crusade conquering army you want to look at big, massive squads. Huge numbers, massed attacks. Things like that.

 

Also, who is their Primarch? Im very interested in this bit

[ShasVa]

Out of curiosity, does this White Legion idea of mine seem like an attempt to do a Grey Knights thing to anyone?

[Messor]

No, the impression I get from a Legion based force is that it should be fielding more warriors than any other marine army. Since that is pretty difficult, I can see why you went with trying to portray superior per-heresy tech instead, which naturally requires fewer numbers.

[Leonaides]

My query is regarding psykers - you say that they do not use them at all... So thats no communications with anything else (so they never hear about enemy attacks on human worlds or places wehre they'd be needed), no communications between themselves over long distances. they are totally vulnerable to chaotic corruption, Ork Waagh power, eldar messing with them, etc. They have no way of testign to make sure that their indoctrination of new recrutis has worked properly, or that the recruit is actually already a chaos worshipper (see C:SM about the perils of inducting the enemy into your own ranks)...

 

Are you sure you dont want to reconsider any of this?

[ShasVa]

I will reconsider the use of Psykers in the White Legion. As far as communication goes, whose to say they didn't discover, or were discovered by, a non-Imperial human colony?

 

Primarch: I do not know who could be used here. We know zip-all about Primarchs II and XI, so I could either use them and have the legion be mysterious, or choose a known Primarch. Whether Loyalist or Traitor, I don't have a clear answer on this.

 

Homeworld: Also undecided. Fleet-based chapters/legions aren't necessarily a bad thing, as has been proven by the Black Templars. It's a thought I'll entertain.

 

Some organisation thoughts:

- Tactical Squads: standard marine, standard boltgun, nothing special

- Crusader Squads: dedicated melee assault, jump pack and dual power swords

- Support Squads: tacticals with different weapons

- Recon Squads: power armour scouts with stalker boltguns (not like the one Telion has)

- Stealth Squads: like Seekers from HH:B

- Devastator Squads: ranged Terminators, overwhelming fire support

- Decimator Squads: melee Terminators, getting up close and bashing faces in

- Hunter Squads: specialists in anti-daemon and anti-Psyker operations, few in number

[Ordo Machinum]

Either they use psykers or have some equivalent tech on hand.

 

As for the lost primarch angle, what sin could be worse than betraying your father and brothers?

 

Perhaps, the primarch got to thinking he was smarter and better than Daddy-Emperor.

 

The primarch was discovered on a hypertech world, raised by human scientists. Eventually, the primarch came to rule over them due to his superior nature. The emperor came, reunited the primarch with his legion, and the primarch felt he could do better. No chaos taint, no ego, the primarch was just very much like Dad-E - he did things on hsi own because he was RIGHT! The Emperor could never tolerate that.

 

Perhaps after the Primarch was killed and the rest of his legion assigned elsewhere *cough* Ultramarines *cough*, a failsafe was triggered. A clone, or even AI computer with the Primarch's brainwaves, was awakened. Maybe something happened and it was awakened late - 10,000 years instead of 10. Now the old/new legion is ready to even the score.

 

Perhaps you can use the Chaos codex and adapt it to technology instead of daemons. They do have 20-man TAC squads.

[ShasVa]

Still throwing out ideas here!

 

Owing to their pre-heresy origins, and combined with their alliance with the Technarch Republic, the White Legion has access to a lot of advanced equipment; some their own, and some modified by Technarchy science (which itself is fairly DAoT grade). Thus does the legion use Jetbike squadrons, Typhon heavy-siege tanks, Volkite weapons, plasma weapons that don't overheat, and much more.

 

Being out of the Echlessiarchy's sight and reach, they are not religiously zealous. They do still have Chaplains in their ranks however, to safeguard the mental/spiritual health of their fellow Astartes.

 

Thanks to Archangel, I have a draft for the leader of the White Legion - Adamas!...

 

What was once the Primarch known as Adamas is a memory to all within the legion whom remember it. After a major disagreement with the Emperor over how the Imperium could be optimised, Adamas was struck down by his father and thought dead. The Emperor, grieving, allowed the legion to mourn the loss of their Primarch. However this error in judgment allowed the legion to escape from Imperial territory. An order of retrieval and subsequent execution of the legion was ordered, but by the time it was issued, not only had the legion made haste for parts unknown, but the Horus Heresy was beginning.

 

The body of Adamas was placed in a stasis pod. The legion hoped it could preserve their father's body until a way could be found to save him. For decades, and into centuries, they drifted...until...

 

Far outside Imperial territory, the legion drifted, until it came across a human system, under the rule of the Technarch Republic. The advanced society offered them sanctuary, and the legion discovered that the Technarch Republic had a solution that would (more or less) revive Adamas. They proposed his mind be transferred into the mainframe of their finest Technarch Battlesuit - a cybernetic frame which was light but very well defended. The legion withdraw to consider this option, and eventually, they reached a decision.

 

Adamas was awakened from stasis, long enough for the Technarch scientists to explain the procedure to the Primarch. With consent given, the operation commenced. It was interrupted, however, when a xenos species the Technarch identified as the Zeltraaxi, attacked the Technarch homeworld. The legion joined their new allies in the counter-attack, and managed to hold them until Adamas was fully integrated into his new armour. The second he was aware and confirmed stable, Adamas grabbed his All Spark (a relic from the legion's time with the Imperium), and went straight into the fight.

 

To the astonishment of the Primarch, his new Technarch Armour was beyond impressive. He found he could easily sweep aside the foul Zeltraaxi, and their weapons did little if-any harm to him in return. Seeing their father on the battlefield with them once more, the legion rallied together, and inspired the Technarch troopers as well, to force the Zeltraaxi into retreat from the system.

 

When the battle was won, the republic held a celebration for their new heroes and allies. Adamas personally thanked the republic's leaders, and promised that his sons, now renamed the White Legion, would serve as the protectors of the Technarch Republic, now and forever.

 

For millennia, the White Legion had protected the Technarch Republic system and its worlds. Around ten thousand years after their exodus into non-Imperial boundaries, they make the decision to return home and confront the Emperor - not to kill him, but to seek some sort of forgiveness. They soon discovered that the Emperor was slain thousands of years ago by Horus Lupercal, and that their father's vision for humanity had degenerated into a repressed, faith-ruled regime of fear and endless war.

 

When Adamas learned of this news, he was understandably angry with what had happened - with his father the Emperor dead, he could not seek answers or forgiveness. He decreed that since the Imperium was not what they once served under, that they would not stand for it, but against it. Adamas has since mobilised a sizeable portion of the White Legion to deploy back into the Imperium and bring down the corruption that it has become.

 

It's a work-in-progress, like everything here. :)