Emperor's Children Hierarchy

[Tenebris]

As the title aptly says I am curious about the highly formal and hierarchical structure of the Emperor's Children legion. While ranks like Lord Commander are self explanatory, HH Betrayal creates quite a mess with newer ranks that are hard to interpret. Following is a scheme of EC legion command as I understand it.

 

- Primarch

- Honor Guard, The Phoenix Guard (A formation that answers to the primarch alone)

- Lord Commander

• Millenial Command
• Millenial Consuls (advisors to the Lord Commander)
• Millenial Vexillarius (standard beaers, ancients, equierries)
• Millenial Bodyguard

- Lieutenant Commander

• Battalion Command
• Battalion Consuls (advisors and specialists)
• Battalion Vexillarius
• Battalion Command Bodyguard

- Company Captains/Line Captains (Centurion)

• Company Command
• Company Standard Bearer
• Company Bodyguard

- Lieutenant (Decurion)

- Sergeant

 

Along this direct command line there are senior ranks of the sanctioned imperial agents like astropaths and navigators as well as the formations of the Librarius, Armorium and Apothecarium with respectively librarians, techmarines and apothecaries of different ranks, ranks separated from the hierarchy of the legion.

 

So if I understood well Saul Tarvitz is a Centurion in official rank, 1st Millenial, 2nd Battalion, 10th Company, designated as a Line Captain since his company is neither the 1st of the Millenial (veterans) nor a specialist company, thus he is simply a line officer.

 

Ok, so till here we have arrived. Now FW while it did an awesome job on describing the legions, created quite a mess with the Emperor's Children.

 

They present us with some more ranks:

 

- Masters

- Sub Commanders

- Tribunes Palatine and Ordinary

- Equerries

- Heralds

- Praefectors

 

Now Masters is an easy one, Master of the Librarius, Armory, Fleet...Sub Commanders are perhaps the designation for a rank between Lieutenant Commander and Captain. The Tribunes are a bit more tough to discern, one can understand them as either chamberlains and court officials for the Palatine ones and perhaps bodyguard commanders and staff officers for the Ordinary Tribunes. The Heralds are perhaps a reminiscent of the first era of the legion, officers of arms while the Equerries are second in command, officer aides. Now Praefectors, Decanus (perhaps sergeants) are alien to me since in Betrayal they seem to have strange roles.

 

As you can see the hierarchy seems to be clear but once you begin to research it many questions arise. Even by writing so far and you good to have read so far, I am still unsure if I have designated the good old Tarvitz in the right way. Eidolon likes to point to the title of Line Captain to mock Saul but I guess it is much more behind that title than it says.

 

Well what is your take on the legion organization and especially the EC hierarchy. Is it clear to you or you have doubts on it as I have?

 

 

[ChaosLord Leon Enaek]

I agree with your attempt at a single hierarchy - it looks pretty solid to me :) bear in mind that the hierarchy presented by forge world is the original template for legion organisation - as the legions developed their own identities they may have changed this organisation to reflect their new ideologies - whilst the Space Wolves and White Scars probably present the most obvious changes, the Emperor's Children probably have made changes too.

The use of Line Captain as an insult stems from Eildon's own views. The Emperor's Children seek perfection - to the minds of some that means finding your niche, be it Captain or Brother or whatever, but to others, including Eidolon, it's about trying to show that you are the best.

[Tenebris]

On a side note. I have noticed that HH Betrayal says that the following ways were used to identify a veteran or a specialist:

 

- White inlay to denote veteran rank and heraldry. A tradition form Terra. 

- Eye of Horus to denote loyalty to the Warmaster and perhaps Lodge involvement.

- Platinum blazoning to denote the inclusion in the Palatine Blades.

 

While the above is quite clear I wonder if the Apothecary in the book has white armor or it is silver. Historically it would be white but the color is hard to discern. Anyone has some clue on this?