++ March of the Legions: XVII Legion ++

[Son of Carnelian]

Very late WIP:

Now I just gotta paint him before the month ends!

[TheHalifax]

Thanks Daemonclaw, your free-hand and your WB's are fantastic. And yes you're spot-on, Slipstreams. :)

[Adra'Melek]

I think I'm going to use my catch up month for this one (that does exist, doesn't it?). Not really buzzed by it at the moment, so

I was going to do a Gal Vorbak but it doesn't feel right. Start from scratch I think.

[TheHalifax]

I present to you Marduk, Iconoclast and Standard Bearer of the Inexorable Blaze.

 

Marduk was amongst the first influx of Colchisian recruits into the XVIIth Legion. Excelling in hand-to-hand combat, he quickly made a name for himself as a fearsome fighter. As such he was soon inducted into the Ashen Circle sect serving within the Inexorable Blaze; a chapter of Iconoclasts comprised of Terran veterans and Colchisian new-bloods. All of them keen to tear down and immolate anything that ran counter to the Imperial Truth.

 

However after receiving their Primarch's illuminating truth and being at the forefront of ruthlessly purging his chapter of what Terran legionaries remained, Marduk was elevated into the ranks of the Blaze's honour-guard. And It was here that he was the first to bear the Ashen Banner, which was dyed in the ashes of their former brothers, into battle.

 

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Please excuse my rusty and slightly hurried painting; I too have improvements to make when it comes to painting metals.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Just over 2 days left! Get those late entries done and posted.

[Zujara]

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af182/Zujara/Legions/xvii1_zps9ftzjtuv.jpg

 

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af182/Zujara/Legions/xvii2_zpsu0hkzepm.jpg

 

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http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af182/Zujara/Legions/xvii4_zpsikbg4jj8.jpg

 

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af182/Zujara/Legions/xvii5_zpsazmlyix6.jpg

 

Once a Chaplain of the Broken Scythe chapter, Jareth lead infantry into cities the chapter had demolished while preaching the works of Lorgar to inspire his men while they hunted survivors. As the legion fell to the dark gods, Jareth bargained his soul in exchange for more power and became a Diabolist. Rather than preach while he and his men hunt down survivors, he now summons forth daemonic beasts to aid his forces in finding survivors hiding amongst the ruins.

[The Or]

Sender: Professor Phillipe Daumarl, Universitariat of Parie

 

Recipient: The Office of the Sigillite

 

Date: M30 776

 

Subject: Formal complaint regarding actions taken by the XVII Legion during the pacification of the Nord Afrik conclaves

 

 

My lord Sigillite

 

It is with most urgent concern that I must object to the actions taken by the XVII Legion during the Imperial pacification of the Nord Afrik Conclaves. My team and I were tasked by the Universitariat of Parie and by written decree from the Administratum to preserve and catalogue the vast amount of ancient documents contained in the library of Neo Alexandria after the citys capture. As we were only beginning our efforts we were interrupted by members of the XVII Legion ordering us to vacate the the library, and leave all documents we had catalogued within. They disregarded all our protest, herded us outside, and then set fire to the library. They burned it. All of it. They destroyed priceless documents, documents going back to the dark age of technology and even further into the ancient history of Terra, some dating back to before humanity left the Birthworld! And as we stood there disbelievingly, tears running down our faces, and asked them why? all they said was:

 

”The only truth is that of the Imperium, and no place of heathen lies shall stand in its path”

 

My Lord I beseech you! This kind of behavior can not be what the Imperium stands for. The wanton destruction of ancient knowledge simply because it contradicts the Imperiums policies is not how an enlightened society behaves! The Imperial truth is not so fragile that it can not stand up against some ancient philosophers opinions. What in that library could possibly have been so dangerous that it needed to be destroyed so completely? My Lord I beg you, the Seventeenths behaviour can not be allowed to continue. What possible future will humanity have if that future is built upon the ashes of humanitys own history? What glory will there be in Unification if it costs us our souls?

 

Your loyal servant

 

Phillipe Daumarl

 

 

Brother Jorabus of the Ashen Circle. Image captured by surveillance drone during the Alexandrian Iconoclasm.

 

Apologies for the low quality pictures, I had to use my cell phone-camera.

[Millicant]

[OrangeBob]

 

I stumbled upon the March of the Legions for the first time last week and was sad that I missed the XVIII, XIX and XX legions, but oh well, I can start with the Word Bearers! I always preferred the dark granite-gray scheme from the Horus Heresy: Collected Visions books. I've attempted something like that here. I still need to clean up several spots but seeing as there is only one day left in February, here he is.

[Grotsmasha]

++ Subject: Sergeant Tinaat Bhar ++

++ Status: Loyalist, XVII Legion ++

++ Location: Deceased, Calth ++

++ Time-stamp: =]DATA CORRUPTED[= ++

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Brother Sergeant Tinaat Bhar slowly removed his helm, wiping sweat from his brow. His helm was useless now, his latest encounter having cracked his remaining eye lens. He would need to borrow a new one.

He had been trapped aboard the warship for almost two years, waging a one man war deep within the bowels of the mighty warship. He had caused power failures, airlock malfunctions, jammed coms-traffic, and most recently overheated several power couplings, causing the ships warp drives and Geller Field generators offline for several hours.

His former brothers hunt him ceaselessly, he will not stop until they, or he, are dead. When Argel Tal had returned, changed, from the warp-realspace anomaly, the poison placed into Lorgar’s mind by Erebus and Kor Phaeron had taken root within the Legion wholesale. A purge had been carried out, Lorgar ruthlessly culling any from the XVIIth who did not believe as he wished them to believe. They had come for him in the practice cages, three of his own squad. Tinaat Bhar had killed his would be assassins, and escaped into the depths of the Legion ship.

He knew now that the Legion mustered for Ultramar. He would do what he could for as long as he was able. No ship was unbreakable, not even the Fidelitas Lex.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[Barabbas Sogalon]

"First I shall burn your shrine while you watch, priest. Then I shall burn you, your brothers, your temple, your flock because duty demands it. And then I shall burn your world because it pleases me. Your false god won't save you."

- Laus Ananias, Yeriko Campaign

Veteran Iconoclast Laus Ananias, XVII Legion, Imperial Heralds

A veteran of Unification, Laus Ananias was recruited into the XVII from the bombed out hives along the Northern Way shortly after the Boruzian Pacification of the region. Merciless and devoted to Imperial Truth while carrying the violent legacy of his once great people, he excelled as an Iconoclast and during his years of service to the Emperor he ensured that the remnants of Old Night ended in both red and green fire. His trusted weapon since the beginning was a flamer he named the Spark of Enlightenment, the bane of countless high priests, zealots and worthless trinkets dedicated to false gods. Ananias earned many battle honours during the Twenty Days of Ash when three neighbouring cities rose up after the Imperial Heralds 1st Chapter executed the local High Confessor and burned down his temple. Leading two squads of hardened Iconoclasts into the largest city, Ananias systematically purged quarter after quarter until he and his men were the only living things left. It was afterwards whispered that his extreme devotion to spreading the Imperial Truth hid a pyromaniacal nature of the worst kind. Laus Ananias fell while storming the Golden Monasteries few months before the rediscovery of Colchis, a bitter blow to the warriors under his command. Teburon Barka, a disillusioned Unification veteran of the VIII Legion, was quoted during the Heresy saying “I remember the one they called Ananias. Good warrior, understood the true potential of flame. Long dead now, but he was of the lucky ones. He never had to experience the corrupting influence of our so called 'Fathers' or witness the downfall of once great Legions.”

Unknown marking on right knee pad. "Diamond Skull" only seen on legionaries from the Northern Hives.

[StruManChu]

Let it be known that while I truly, truly hate the Word Bearers, this has probably been my favourite MotL projects so far.

Blood & Thunder – Epilogue

The Last Loyal Soul on Baupunt

It was the World Eaters that had first broken Baupunt, long years ago. It was the Imperial Fists that had garrisoned and refined her, turning the world’s desert sands into something much more than just another one of humanity’s lost settlements; listing and hopeless in the void. For a generation, she had prospered and developed, secure in their awareness of their place in the wider Imperium of mankind.

Baupunt was not the last world to come under the Shadow Crusade’s auspices, nor was it the first. Angron’s wrath was stoked as he recognised her as one of the first conquests he had made for the Emperor, and so the bloodlust of the World Eaters fell upon the planet. Those few Imperial Fists who had been called on to serve as custodians had been decimated along with many of the world’s citizens; the strength of two thousand Astartes nothing next to the might of an entire Legion. So it was that the World Eaters had broken Baupunt again.

It would be the Word Bearers who would now gather her ruined pieces and scattered citizens together, and remake her.

As Vardek Ghal surveyed the thousands of mortal humans being shepherded before him by his crimson-armoured brothers, a surge of pride coursed through his heart. The notion that his Primarch, the demi-God Lorgar Aurelian, had considered him worthy of this task was simultaneously deeply humbling and incredibly uplifting. Alongside hundreds of his brothers, Ghal had knelt before the Primarch aboard the Fidelitas Lex and relinquished his rank, squad and Chapter, swearing instead a new vow to bear the Eye of Horus; to preach and evangelise the truth of the warp with the same zeal and pure intentions with which they had once carried the Emperor’s lies. The Primarch had told them that their work would form a very significant part of the XVII Legion’s acts of atonement for walking so blindly for so long.

Since that day, his soul had been euphoric in a way he hadn’t known for decades. Since their pilgrimage to Cadia and the apotheosis of the Gal Vorbak, the Legion had been forced to mask themselves and their true nature, killing and crusading across the galaxy so as to appear the most zealous and loyal of the Emperor’s Legions, laying aside their mantle as Bearers of the Word. But now, with this new directive, Ghal and his fellows would bring the truth and light of the Old Gods to the galaxy, not with fire and war, but simply by revealing the realities of the universe to those they conquered and evangelising the new way.

He stood in the ruins of the broken fortress that the Imperial Fists had so desperately defended and, arms outstretched, began his sermon.

He had spoken for no more than a few minutes when he first heard the sound. A whirring, mechanical clunking. His brothers, standing sentry in the crowd, made to investigate, but he motioned to them to hold. He would not allow his congregation to be distracted from the Word. It was likely nothing; some remnant of the fortress's workings struggling to come to life under tons of rubble.

More time went on, and as Ghal spoke, he felt the crowd turning. Though many had been clearly terrified as they were herded into the fortress; still no doubt shocked by the violence and brutality of seeing the Legions at war, many now appeared to be engaged and caught up in the hope he spoke of. The barrier between the physical and the immaterial began to thin as more and more souls turned their attention toward the truth in Ghal' words. All he needed now was

The sound he had heard earlier returned, and its source became apparent. A single Servitor emerged from the rubble of the Fortress, straining under the weight of a stone Aquila. The thing was trying to clear the debris away from the fortress. Ghal grinned to himself that such a perfect metaphor would appear at such a crucial moment. Such providence the True Gods provided. Turning back to his congregation, he raised his voice aloud.

“See what the Emperor, what the Imperium, asks of its servants? This lone creature was once a human being like you. But through some failing, or some ineffective justice, or simply by outliving his usefulness, that man was taken and remade into this, robbed of all perception beyond what its masters chose to allow it to see and to feel. It knows nothing of the truth of its wider world, and so it toils away in this fruitless endeavour, trying to rebuilt a fortress for a war already lost. See how its burden, chained to its back, weighs it down? This poor, lost soul will labour and labour until its body is destroyed, and for what? For nothing! Where is justice for this one? Where is hope? Better to end its miserable existence now that let it suffer further.”

With a practised grace, Ghal theatrically drew his side-arm, paused for a moment so that all could see the pity carefully etched into his face, and fired.

The bolt round passed through the torso of the servitor before detonating. The damage to the servitor itself was not immediately obvious, as it took another three steps before stumbling. No expression of pain or fear passed over its face as it dropped to its knees, but as it struggled to rise again, its blank, dead eyes widened as if trying to comprehend why it was no longer able to obey its programming. It fell, sprawling forwards in the dust, the immense Aquila pinning it to the ground. It reached out with its bionic hands to drag itself forward, but blood and oil were filling its organic and mechanical organs, causing them to fail. The servitor was entirely cognizant and aware during this process, but was too maddened fighting against its own dying body to notice the Word Bearer standing over it.

Ghal fired again, a kill shot into the servitor's head.

In that moment, the last soul loyal to the Emperor and Terra that would ever breathe the dust of Baupunt passed into oblivion.

[Flint13]

Oh that is all kinds of awesome. Great job Stru!

[Xin Ceithan]

Whew, I made it! Glory to the Eightfold Path! And and an honour to be among so many amazing Beares of the Word:

Here is my finishing entry:

-Pict capture at the Sacking of Armatura. Believed to be Orok Kursh, Section Leader, "Anusyha Kor -The Thrice Born", Breacher Section, Chapter of the Onyx Flame. Orok Kursh established himself as a capable section leader in siege operations during the so called Shadow Crusade, The Thrice Born increasinhly began to rely on utiizing arcane and empyrean arts in overcoming loyalist bastions and were recorded fighting during the Siege of Terra. Of Orok Kursh `s fate up and beyond this, no records survive.-

[DimDim]

AHHHHHHHHHHHH (ive been screaming alot lately)

Two freaking pledges done on the last day! maybe my highschool teachers were right, I do procrastinate lol.

Here he is

Nabis Rasul, Bearer of the word, Flame of Calth, Diabolist of the XVII legion

+

Imperium preserve us.

Legionaire Nabis Rasul was among the initial pool of Clochisian men to be granted the boon of the astartes, having fought at Lorgars side during his religious war against the religious head of Clochis. A devout follower of his gene sire and his beliefs, Nabis was quickly converted to the ways of the Dark Ones without any further proof past the word of Lorgar. Rasul knelt as his father spoke, and carved the eight pointed star upon his breast with his combat blade. After this show of devotion Lorgar named Rasul to his new office, aiding Nabis in the ritual to give the dark gods his soul and become a Diabolist and executioner of worlds. His first chance to prove his devotion to his new masters came at Calth, as he oversaw the mass ritual execution of millions of civilians and POW's by fire in an attempt to flood the planets hives with daemons.

The Flame of Calth was finally killed in action at the hands of Legionaire Alexadr of the Emperors IX legion after his consumption by the black rage upon Terra proper.

The Word Bearer is recorded as laughing psychotically as the Blood angel cut him down, chanting "Let them burn, let them all burn!".

+

Thank god its finished,

DimDim

[Son of Carnelian]

+++

Brother Augustus had very few friends among his fellow Word Bearers even before his legion began its decent into heresy. The son of a Terran noble, drafted into the legion after the conquest of the Sol system but before their Primarch's rediscovery, Augustus often heard the accusation that everything in his life had come at no cost to himself. Time and again, he swooped in with his squad after others had already done the hard work of combat and bloodshed. Compliance after compliance saw his name added again and again to the rolls of honor among his legion, and Augustus swelled with pride as the voices of his detractors died under the cheers of grateful Imperial Army soldiers and converted citizens.

But such vainglorious deeds have always proved fleeting throughout the history of humanity, and this new age would prove no different. The coming of Lorgar to the legion gave many a cause for rejoicing, but Augustus' spirit wavered at the influx of new recruits from Colchis. Time and again, he found himself passed over for promotion and elevation. The new breed craved their father's approval far more than Augustus did, and only his ingrained sense of duty kept him fighting under the Word Bearer's banner with any enthusiasm. He became know for bouts of sullenness and irascibility, arguing with other Word Bearers at the slightest provocation. When the Imperial Truth at the heart of the Word Bears crumbled, many among Augustus' fellows volunteered for the duty of purging him from their ranks. He died in a routine compliance, some twenty years before the treachery at Calth, murdered before he could even learn of the new gods that commanded the legion. As broken and unremembered as the city that burned around him, he simply uttered "finally" into the Word Bearer's vox before succumbing to the wounds his brothers had dealt him.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

One hour and 45 mins until time is up!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Time's up!