IL IV&IX - Void Eagles and Warbringers (thread 1)

[Skalpynock]

That was eventually bound to happen. Inspired by Simison's Halcyon Wardens and Raktra's Berserkers of Uran (as well as Athrawes' II Legion, although in a slightly more distant measure), I have decided to have a go at both expunged legions. Given my perpetually empty wallet, I probably won't be building them anytime soon, but I might be adding a few "transfer marines" to my next IW squad.

 

 

 

 

The Void Eagles

Numeration: The II^nd Legion

Primogenitor: Yucahu "The Penultimate"

Cognomen (prior): Dawn Bearers

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Armored deepstrike, Neutralisation of heavy assets, Astral superiority

Noteworthy Domains: Coabana, various recruitment worlds in Segmentum Solar prior to the rediscovery of Yucahu

Allegiance: [RESTRICTED TO ECHELON KHI-MINORIS]

 

 

The Warbringers

Numeration: The XI^th Legion

Primogenitor: Kozja Darzalas

Cognomen (prior): None

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Gun-line advances, Massed terminator assaults, Coordination of auxiliary troops

Noteworthy Domains: Strela, at least five known secondary recruitment worlds

Allegiance: [RESTRICTED TO ECHELON OMEGA-SUPERIOR]

Edited November 28, 2017 by Lord Thørn

[Athrawes]

Distant huh? http://image.bolterandchainsword.com//public/style_emoticons/default/msn-wink.gif

 

Well, its been just about a year since I started my II Legion Project and I've learned quite a lot in that time, theory-crafting with members of this board. Always happy to offer info or suggestions if you feel like it.

 

It's always a pleasure to see another take on the Missing Legions. Taking on two at once seems like quite the challenge but I'll certainly be eager to watch this progress. Best of luck and welcome to the Lost and Forgotten Brother.

Edited January 20, 2015 by Athrawes

[Raktra]

Followed with great interest. Glad I could help inspire!

[simison]

Ambitious, and I say that in a good way. When I first started working on the Wardens, I originally created both II and XI legions at the same time before shifting my focus on just one of them. I'll be watching and more than happy to offer support along your new journey.

[Skalpynock]

Colour schemes succesfully defined. Horrible use of MSPaint's line tool rather than just typing the numbers declared retroactively stupid. The XI Legion shall be known as "Sons of Kozja" as a placeholder until an actual name is found.

http://uplmg.com/data/Colorschemes.png

Athrawes, the fact that your legion is lost somewhere else than the Age of Darkness section of this website has to be the only reason why I don't re-read it weekly for inspiration.

Edited August 4, 2015 by Skalpynock

[simison]

Definite points for originality. What is the theory/concepts behind the color choices?

[Skalpynock]

The XI color scheme is just a Napoleonic-era Lithuanian uniform applied to a Space Marine. My first tests originally had white gloves before I realised how gaudy it would look on a model.

The Dawn Bearers I wanted to give an Indian vibe, so I used the three colors that appeared the most when googling "Sikh warrior".

The Golden Swords.... I don't really know, I have tried a vaguely Southern American/Inuit theme; still not sure about the golden arm, but it seems to have been fairly common during the Unification Wars, it would make sense for at least one primarch to reinstate it as a symbol of loyalty.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

The Dawn Bearers I wanted to give an Indian vibe, so I used the three colors that appeared the most when googling "Sikh warrior".

 

Will they all have a kirpan?

[Skalpynock]

THE XI LEGION ASTARTE
THE WARBRINGERS

“When one looks at the cold hearts of the Fourth, the Tenth, or the Fourteenth, they could easily blame an abusive primarch, or a harsh homeworld. While these are parts of truth, there is a deeper dread that emanates from their souls; but such things are better left untold.” - Alfonso Daudier, remembrancer assigned to Rogue Trader house Damasio
 

The history of the XI Legion is not one easily discussed. For even though their tales were once known by all, most records have now been destroyed, redacted, or corrupted beyond recognition by defective cogitators. Those who remember apply the edict not to speak ill of their once-brethren. However, there were neophyte archivists, ones who did not understand the wider meaning of that edict. These bright minds chose to keep for themselves the history of the Eleventh. As for their fate, there are substantial evidence of loyalists fleeing the razing of their world, sometimes along with their would-be executioners. These have kept documents, which have been dismissed as forgeries and apocryphs.
 

The first members of what would become the Eleventh Legion were mustered from the various bellicose city-states of Panslavjya, a loose region west of the powerful Terawatt Clans and Ursh. A region prone to conflict even during the millennia prior to Old Night, its inhabitants believed themselves to be a race created for war by the Gods themselves. When the Emperor and his Thunder Warriors came to the Panslavjacs, he was met by volleys of fire from antiquated weapons and iron discipline, much like what he would later see from the Ironsides of Albia. But unlike the Albians, the Panslavjacs would join the Imperium without needless bloodshed, once their priests recognized the Aquila as their War-Eagle, a heraldry said to be that of unificators and rightful rulers.

 

Cadets from their vojn-academies were taken as tithe for the formation of the Eleventh Legion Astartes, with geneseed implantation showing relatively low rejection rates, with no visible idiosyncrasies, essentially the perfect soldiers, not dissimilar to those of legios X, XIII, or XVI. The Eleventh would first be put to use against the Tawalsi province of the Yndonesic Bloc, who rose up against the early Imperium under Tang's most loyal surviving lieutenants. The XI was sent at the feet of their mountainous stronghold, bombing them day and night with artillery and air superiority until they were forced to attack on the ancient seabed. There they were met by lines of bolters, and waves upon waves of explosive ammunitions, eradicating the partisans and restoring compliance.

Edited August 4, 2015 by Skalpynock

[simison]

I keep reading it as 'Pansylvania' and I'm not sure why. I'm also having trouble placing it, been awhile since I studied pre-Crusade Terra.

[Skalpynock]

It's supposed to be in eastern Europe, around the location of current Poland, Belarus, and Hungary. It's not referenced anywhere in the Age of Strife fluff, but I suppose there was some sort of nation-state there. The name is based on panslavism, the eastern European equivalent of pangermanism.

[simison]

Gotcha. Definitely original territory.

[Skalpynock]

Having a pain writing more fluff, even though I know exactly where I'm trying to go. So instead I've used a moment of sleep-deprived boredom to draw the Eleventh's legion-specific terminators: the Tryzub, whose pavises allow the advance of non-astartes personnel into the war zone without being torn to pieces too early. This formation actually dates from the earliest days of the Crusade, where specific breacher units were used in boarding assault to escort the auxillia of the Saturnyne Rams; the Terrans' harsh manners and sense of superiority towards mortals awarding them the nickname of "Herdmasters". It was the coming of Kozja, as well as the advent of Terminator plate, that shifted the rank from tyrants to protectors, and a chore to an honour.

 

[Hesh Kadesh]

Those seem like fantastic time to use the Astra Militarum Ogryn's Bulwark Shields special rules.

[Skalpynock]

Writer's block hasn't dissipated, and it might be a few months before I add to the XI, but in the meantime I've been spending quite a bit of my free time drawing. And foreshadowing the downfall of the Second, which I won't expand as much.

 

 

 

"The Nomads... they call themselves Ravens now, and their father has cast them away, undone a thousand victories, calling them tyrants unworthy of his legacy. The Hounds... they are now led by a madman who does not even care about victory, so deep are these nails in his skull. What of us, my brothers? We have been granted the Emperor's honor, and are the proud bearers of His light, but what if tomorrow our Father finds us wanting, and decimates us as the Olympian decimated the Fourth? And still, I do not wish for us to be the last to find our true Leader, for where the Hydras can operate alone, we still need direction."

Terminator Sergeant Shurya Asaran, circa 975.M30

[Skalpynock]

XI - ORIGINS OF THE ELEVENTH SON

 

During the Dark Age of Technology, Strela was an industrial world, renown for its production of vehicles of all sorts. However with the advent of the Age of Strife it was engulfed in warp-storms, cut from its client-worlds, leading to great famines. War erupted for the control of the planet's rare fertile lands, and the great factories were destroyed to make way for the growth of cultures, their machinery salvaged as weapons. It was on that world, drowned in ceaseless war, that a comet struck the sky, bearing within it what would become the eleventh primarch. The pod crashed on the ruins of a battlefield, as the victors were tending to their wounded and burying their dead. The strange contraption was far too advanced to be of Strelian design, and too ominous to have been a mere weapon. Scavengers rushed toward it, eager to steal whatever riches it might have contained. Inside they found only a child, whom they left in a shell-crater, instead choosing to recycle the pod's plating as armour. The infant primarch crawled through the hell-scape, only to cross the path of medical officers desperately trying to save a maimed soldier. These were more considerate, and took the child as a fellow tribe-member. He was given the name Kozja, a hero of ancient legends said to have emerged from among the dead.

 

Early on, Kozja displayed great curiosity towards life, owing to his kinship with the “death-walkers”, these brave few who ventured on the battlefields in desperate search of survivors. His posthuman intellect granted him an almost instinctive understanding of human biology, and after a few years he grew to be the greatest surgeon of the Darzalas host. But still war raged upon Strela, and the primarch put his skills at use, at first devising drugs to increase the combat effectiveness of his troops. The first battle involving these augmented warriors was a triumph, and Kozja saw an opportunity to test his scientific prowess. From then on, he would strive to make his soldiers stronger, hardier, superior to their foes in every way. This way, he thought, his nation could conquer the whole planet, and Strela would at last know peace. But he also sought to emulate his own, inhuman design, for he had quickly discovered his nature as a post-human, an experiment lost in the wastes. Attempt to reverse-engineer his body led to no concrete results, but he learnt a great deal on genetics. These, rather than combat drugs, were the way forward.

 

In ten years the Darzalans grew to prominence, their Genetnik Cossacks overwhelming all foes, unifying the main continents, famine being eradicated by the creation of hardier crops. Soon there was but one foe remaining, a kingdom entrenched in a mountainous massif, protected by a sprawl of fortresses, and whose soldiers wore powered plate armour, not dissimilar to those used on Terra during Old Night. The people of Darzalas had elected for Kozja to lead the offensive from the forefront, as their general and creator. Genetnik flesh clashed with rebel steel. Augmented muscles struggled against hydraulic pistons. Combat drugs and nerve-staples denied both sides the feeling of pain, as bullets and axes sundered armor plates. Kozja himself ensured that each citadel taken would hoist his heraldry of two crossed swords. While both forces were roughly equal at an individual level, the cossacks had the advantage of numbers, while their foes were working with a limited and dwindling arsenal of power-suits, without which they were doomed in close quarters. So it is that by the time Kozja came to depose the opposing king, his guard were the only ones left with the fabled armours, the rest fighting with whatever rifle they could scavenge.

 

When Kozja returned to his homeland, it was a hero. The celebrations for his victory in the last campaign culminated in his crowning as King of the Strelians, the alabaster and gold of the planet's past glories restored upon him. It was then that a storm of gold pierced the skies, bearing a host of giants. The three foremost were a barbarian covered in beastly skins, and probably skilled fighter; a leader in great armour, wearing a single wolf pelt; but the most intriguing was the gold-clad man. He felt him as many things, a ruler, a warrior, a wizard, but here he saw him as a creator and gene-wright. As if hearing all the questions in his head, the giant extended his hand and declared:

“Kozja Darzalas, subject Eleven of Twenty, I am the Emperor of Mankind. I created you and your brothers to lead Humanity to reunite the Galaxy, as you created your host to unite this world. Do you accept your duty, and take command of your sons and legion?”
The answer was immediate:

“By Mankind, I so swear.”

Edited August 4, 2015 by Skalpynock

[simison]

Liked what you wrote, glad you're resisting the Writer's Block. I do suggest you put a space between the paragraphs to make it easier on the eyes. 

[Skalpynock]

Liked what you wrote, glad you're resisting the Writer's Block. I do suggest you put a space between the paragraphs to make it easier on the eyes. 

Glad you liked it, adjusted the spacing to make it more legible.

 

Here's the (I hope) definitive version of the legions names and color schemes. I also have art of both primarchs in progress.

[Skalpynock]

“The Eagle shall fall. He spit on all our honors, on all our fallen brethren. He forced us to reject our ways, not for the blood of his people, like the Raven and the Gladiator, but to satisfy his personal whims. For that he locked us up in our ships, never to see land again. He broke our Raptors and lightnings, and put the Aquila in their stead, tried to fit us in his vision of the Crusade – a twisted vision. Then he humiliated us once more as we had to kill our own cousins at Strela, men who had fought on our side for centuries. He sent us, and not his sons, thinking we would be honored to slay the Emperor's foe. He did not know these warriors; he didn't know their sire; he didn't understand brotherhood. Now the Wolves and the Sons of Macragge are with us on this damned world, our livery and glory reborn, we shall bring the Imperium's Dawn. The Eagle shall fall, and his hatchlings with him.”

 

The reason for the VI and the XIII alike supporting the mutiny is simple, really: nobody knew what was happening, and there were more pressing matters to warrant the Emperor's attention. He dispatched the Ultramarines, Blood Angels, and Space Wolves, leaving the adaptability of the former and the versatility of the laters to solve whatever problems the Second was facing. That would prove insufficient, as conflicting vox-transmissions stated that Yucahu was either betrayer or betrayed; that the Eagles had fallen from the Imperium's light and the Dawn Bearers had returned to bring the back to the fold; others yet of a mutiny amongst the flock. The skillful lies of the Bearers deceived both the Wolf-King and the Avenging Son, an error that they would realize only too late, and which would haunt them for the rest of their lives. Only Sanguinius was not swayed, owing perhaps to the brotherhood between the Void Eagles and Blood Angels. The conflict would turn out to be a bloodbath, leading the Second Legion to almost complete annihilation when Yucahu fell. It was at that moment that Russ and Guilliman understood what they had done, and violently turned against the renegades, Arch-Praetor Surya Ashomyan executed at the tip of the Spear of Russ.

 

I didn't mean to go narrative after that quote, but it just wrote itself, so here's the Mutiny of the Second (still have to write the pre-fall fluff).

[AlphariusOmegon108]

I had problems not seeing my own lost legion in that first sentence haha, but I like it!

[Skalpynock]

Coincidentally, I settled myself on that name the same day your thread popped up.

[Skalpynock]

Well, while I'm familiarizing myself with the rules to understand anything and create some for my legions, I noted some ideas for characters and units.

 

-Legio IV: Void Eagles

--Mashyan, Terran Captain of the 15th ship-company "Victorum Iapetus", later defector to the Insurrectionists (kinda like a reverse-Garro), siding with the Revolutionaries as they break off, eventually rejoining his legion as the Revolution comes to a compromise with the loyalists.

--Ignatius Malor, Admiral of the 8th fleet and captain of "Rimward Light", piratish breach-leader

--Worldburners: jump-pack destroyer-like unit, with incendiary grenades. Consume a ship's oxygen reserves, mark your step on a world where you'll never set foot.

--?Second PA unit?

 

-Legio IX: Warbringers

--Captain Arany, gives buff to allied detachment of Imperial Army

--Tryzub Terminators: shield-wielding Cataphractii, form a wall behind which auxilia may safely proceed to battle

--?PA unit?

--Castraferrum Dread character

Edited August 22, 2015 by Skalpynock

[Skalpynock]

Something I've been working on for a while, and which might help me get started for the rules-side:

 

Behold now! Kozja Darzalas, the Prince Immaculate, the Shaper of Hosts, the Exemplar, sire of the Warbringers, Unifier of Strela and Patriarch of the New Tenth.

 

Edited August 22, 2015 by Skalpynock

[simison]

I like the facial hair.

[Skalpynock]

We had a serious lack of bearded primarchs in the original universe. And honestly, what's a better way to show smugness than a mustache?