Allies Matrix vs Fluff

[Kraytirous]

So yeah, I was looking at it and I noticed something, to me, that was very weird. The Alpha Legion and Sons of Horus are Distrusted Allies. But in the IA article, Alpharius and Horus were very close. So I sort of have some confusion about how all of this came about it. I mean, I know the Alpha Legion is all super-secretive but why would they be Distrustful of each other? Is it just one of those things where the Primarchs got a long but the Legions didn't?

 

Meanwhile, what a some Ally combinations do you like or were interested to see? For example, maybe the Sworn Brothers between the Night Lords and the Death Guard? Or how the Salamander Bros are Sworn to the paranoid Dark Angels?

 

Or maybe the opposite, what Ally combinations were you disappointed to see?

As far as fluff is concerned, the Sons of Horus are primarily a Legion that saw its rise to prominence through two notable characteristics: the decapitating blow and the competitive spirit. The Alpha Legion, on the other hand, epitomize a lack of competition. It is no fun "beating them" to the punchline. The Alpha Legion were famously hostile with Guilliman for using very unorthodox methods and generally being considered tactical failures in his eyes (as described in Legion). They worked to prove themselves through excellence in a field of war that few of the other Legions actively partook in: espionage. The result is that the Sons of Horus simply have no common ground with the Alpha Legion. The Alpha Legion are content knowing they are the best at what they do even if nobody knows they're doing it (which in turn is further proof of how good they are at doing it) while the Sons of Horus are very aggressive about advertising their victories.

 

You don't just know you've been beaten by the Space Marines of the Imperium, you know it was the Sons of Horus and Captain so-and-so of the 203rd Grand Company. You saw him arrive at your front step, you saw him knock it down and you saw him walk through a hail of bullets, then run you through. They rub it in your face.

 

The Alpha Legion, on the other hand, are content letting you silently slump into your chair as blood pools in your shirt from a sniper round that came from the now empty rafters, then watching as that death causes the decline and collapse of an entire civilization. The Alpha Legion don't even want you to know who it was that did it. The Sons of Horus have absolutely nothing in common with the Alpha Legion, even if Horus was acting buddy-buddy with Alpharius to convince him that Guilliman (and by extension the Emperor) didn't appreciate his unique talents.