MKIV armour legion preference

[Kol Saresk]

Still got two more books until that happens though

[Hyaenidae]

Time flies when you're having fun, though.

[Conn Eremon]

So the XX Legion was created a century and a half from the XVI Legion? While the I through XVI Legions were all made within a decade or so of each other? 16 legions within twenty years. Four in 150 years.

 

Why?

[Hyaenidae]

Resource problems as the Imperium stretched out? Mass amounts of surplus expended as other Legions needed larger numbers and more equipment?

 

There could be tons of reasons, I'm sure FW will explain it thoroughly in the end. They always do.

[Conn Eremon]

That makes it sound too arbitrary, though. Considering the importance of what we're talking about here. That the Emperor decided to create the Legions in order of the designation numbers given to the Primarchs that formed their basis is one thing. Choosing which Legions to create and which not to off of those designations is another thing. It means that the Emperor chose which four Legions he wasn't going to bother creating yet because their Primarchs' designations were higher than the others. The idea that it falls to poorly planned logistics makes less sense, what with the Legions being created by a guy who can see the future and planned the Legions to be created. While he wasn't infallible by any degree, the manner in which he's portrayed these days suggests that properly preparing for twenty Legions to be made wouldn't have been a problem.

 

I agree that Forgeworld will probably make sense of it, I'm just commenting on what we have available now. Looking through my copy of the IA confirmed it for me, too. So I'm not arguing that the Alpha Legion couldn't have been so young were, they apparently were. But that makes zero sense to me when compared to what else we know, like the fact that I through XVI were created at the very end of the Unification Wars in rapid succession.

[Hyaenidae]

That's fair. It could have been an "in stages" kinda thing too. The early Legions that still wore the grey of Unification were already displaying signs of how their primarchs would fight, so it's possible that the Emperor kept the XX small and secret intentionally, and used their skills as a Spec Ops or Kill team type unit, only building them larger when their numbers would be needed.

 

Who knows, though?

[Conn Eremon]

Makes one wonder, then. What's the reason behind XVII, XVIII or XIX? The Imperial Heralds (Word Bearers), Salamanders or Raven Guard.

[Hyaenidae]

Maybe (big one here) the gene-seed had a hard time taking to some humans, while others were more manageable. Since each Gene-seed causes different reactions and changes in people, it may have been something basic, like a slow recruitment (or fast recruitment) rate, depending on the stock receiving the gene-seed, and it's acceptance rate (or rejection, for that matter).

[Kol Saresk]

Maybe it was something to do with the gestation periods of the gene-seeds. Maybe some of the gene-seeds took longer to develop for one reason or another and thatvresulted in different foundings. I mean, the Thousands had so much trouble in their early years with the flesh-change and there was that incident with the Emperor's Children, who knows what other kinds of problems arose amongst the Legions in the early years. That's all speculation of course.

[No Foes Remain]

Or with the two missing legions/primarchs, the Emperor wanted to hold back on creating the XX until he was sure that their primarch(s) were hanging around somewhere and he forsaw Horus meeting Alpharius on the  bridge of his ship and then went ahead with creating them.

 

But Heathen's theory about them being used as a spec ops team seems more likely.

[Conn Eremon]

I could understand if it was due to genetic issues if they jumped around and skipped potentially problematic Legions. But that doesn't appear to be the case. If it was by number (though really, the only thing that says that is the case is that the I were first and XX last, nothing about the order of the other 18), then they skipped four pure Legions. The Imperial Heralds and Alpha Legion have no genetic deficiencies, and the other two only crop up later. One in respects to their homeworld and the other due to Heresy era tampering. If it came down to genetics, why were the Space Wolves or Thousand Sons created before any of those four?

 

The idea that they were kept from public eye and small makes more sense then it having any relation to gene-seed issues. Except the Imperial Heralds. A name like that, they were clearly not kept in the dark. But maybe they were close to the first wave, just not during the Wars of Unification, and so had ample time to take on that kind of persona.

[Kol Saresk]

I thought the Thousand Sons had to deal with the flesh change before they had even found Magnus it was finding Magnus that had saved them? Well I guess the word could be "damned" as well. Like I said, it was speculation. I don't know why everything worked out the way it did.

[Conn Eremon]

I didn't say that about 1ksons, Kol.

[Kol Saresk]

Sorry. I misread.

[Hyaenidae]

I could understand if it was due to genetic issues if they jumped around and skipped potentially problematic Legions. But that doesn't appear to be the case. If it was by number (though really, the only thing that says that is the case is that the I were first and XX last, nothing about the order of the other 18), then they skipped four pure Legions. The Imperial Heralds and Alpha Legion have no genetic deficiencies, and the other two only crop up later. One in respects to their homeworld and the other due to Heresy era tampering. If it came down to genetics, why were the Space Wolves or Thousand Sons created before any of those four?

 

The idea that they were kept from public eye and small makes more sense then it having any relation to gene-seed issues. Except the Imperial Heralds. A name like that, they were clearly not kept in the dark. But maybe they were close to the first wave, just not during the Wars of Unification, and so had ample time to take on that kind of persona.

 

But it's not just about the gene-seed having issues, it's about the stock of humans taking to it, bro. If the Gene seed rejects individuals because they aren't pure enough for the seed, it's just as problematic as a twitchy gene-seed with pure human stock. It might have been an issue of finding the correct human stock / tribe / whatever right mix of genetics that could be compatible with a picky, but otherwise pure, gene-seed.

[Conn Eremon]

That makes sense for the Thousand Sons and Emperor's Children, who needed their Primarchs in order to become stable, growing Legions, for independent reasons.

 

But I don't see it as you present it. Not as a long term issue. Short term? Sure. Maybe Terrans or other nearby human populations don't work. But the Imperium expands rapidly, gaining trillions in population in a steady stream. I can't see them failing to find an able population for a century and a half. Especially when the XX would be the only one, as the Word Bearers, Salamanders and Raven Guard all have Terrans. And it seems wonky when the only Legion to have such issues just happens to be the last one on the list.