Let's get creative

[Conn Eremon]

Hot damn! That was a tasty treat that left me wanting MORE. Such a cool little snippet. You'd have a faithful reader in me if you could point me in the direction of more of your II legion stuff. And if there isn't any more to point to, well, that's something you should strongly consider remedying ;)

Your words are very appreciated. However, the II Legion here was the Lightning Bearers. I left that connection perhaps too vague, but the intent was to allow Athrawes an out if he chose not to include it as part of his lore.

 

But I do happen to have one of my own, that may some day be presented.

 

 

Edit: And as for the names, Aunjil was a made-up twist of Angel, and Vijand is old Dutch for fiend, which I took as an alternate term for brute. I know, Angel Fiend sounds dumb, but the name was created separately, and I just liked the sound of them together.

[depthcharge12]

Hmm...maybe I'll have to do one about the wolves being a self respecting dark angel...

[Wade Garrett]

Hmmm... the opposite of "my" Word Bearers.

 

Not the Ultramarines. Both sides would deny it at bolterpoint, but to me there are more similarities than differences in the XIII and the XVII. Both Legions focused as much (if not more) on reshaping the worlds they took as they did in taking them with fire and steel.

 

Both placed great stock in contemplating the words of their Primarchs and in the writings of the ancients. Lorgar and Guilliman both stood alone among their brothers, one as isolated by his success as the other was by his failure. No, that simply won't do.

 

Honestly, to find the opposite of the sons of Colchis, I prefer to look among their fellow traitor Legions. At the Alpha Legion, who say nothing they truly believe and believe nothing that they say. A Legion who prefers that its actions pass completely unnoticed as opposed to a Legion who openly proclaims its faith with bolt round fired and chain blade swung.

 

Or the Emperor's Children. Instead of uniting for a higher purpose, each one chases his own glory. Instead of a Legion that seeks the spiritual, a Legion that spends every waking moment satiating their flesh.

 

Were we to jump forward, I think the Black Legion-the Legion that denies its past, that spits on the legacy of its father, that tries to forge a kingdom of its own instead of submitting to the will of the Chaos Gods, that seeks to put a boot on mankind's neck, not free its soul- that would be the true antithesis of everything that drew me to the Word Bearers.

[Conn Eremon]

Either of those would be good. Or all. Do it. I would be interested in seeing what you come up with.

[Wade Garrett]

216th Reserve Company of the XXth Legion

 

Those who wish to kill monsters must first accept that by doing so they themselves will become in some ways monstrous.

-Unknown

 

"There is no 216th Reserve Company of the Alpha Legion! That name is attached to none of the Twentieth's Expeditionary fleets, its warriors have never received a single commendation or battle honor that was entered into Imperial archives, suffered no casualties, and are unlisted in all records of training and recruitment from that era.

 

What does exist are rumors and ghost stories that are all too easily explained by the labyrinthine nature of the bureaucracy that supported the Great Crusade, and the utter absolute disorder of the Heresy that came after it.

 

So what if the Night Lords 456th Orbital Assault Company is listed as conquering an entire solar system in M30 despite being wiped out to the last man fighting a variant hrud strain in M29? So what if the Company of Jarl Hagen Bladebeard is said to have assisted in the liberation of the Gae-Saek Trade Republic and the successful purge of an Eldar craftworld on opposite sides of the galaxy simultaneously?

 

And it is certain that during the massacres at the Drybones Biodomes the representatives of the XII Legion who were present exhibited all the signs of Butcher's Nails implantation and the proficiency with barb lashes that marked the so called "Skinsaw Brigade", despite the sworn testimony entered at Centurion Oyama's court martial. Both the inevitable consequences of record keeping on a galactic scale and the innate vagaries of Warp transport are much more believable explanations than those advanced by my colleagues.

 

While the Alpha Legion's propensity for intrigue should not be underestimated, this crack brained notion that they maintained some sort of deniable force specializing in massacres and mayhem of the most unsubtle sort...a unit which, I remind you, would need to have access to both the forbidden cortical implant technologies of the Twelfth Legion and either actual mutated members of the Sixth Legion or extremely convincing facsimiles thereof to have accomplished half the feats attributed to it by certain parties who really should know better.....

 

It is all nonsense. Nonsense of the highest order!"

 

Khamal-ibn-Fareed, Imperial intelligence analyst during the Scouring

[simison]

The opposite of my Wardens? That's either Alpha Legion, Night Lords, or World Eaters.

 

Hmmm....perhaps I should roll a D3.

[Ion]

It's not much, but here's my try...

 

My Legion: Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus

Chosen Opposite: Emperor's Children

 

Rationale: To me the Luna Wolves are tribal gangsters with a veneer of nobility. They are very flexible in their organisation and doctrine with a lot of room for individual initiative and a mindset which encourages such actions. They are not afraid to fight dirty in achieving their goals because in their mind the only importance is victory.

 

The Emperor's Children are aristocratic, the nobles of the legion. Their structure and hierarchy is rigid with every member allotted a place and role and they are highly discouraged from acting outside of that role. The Emperor's Children are no less dedicated to winning, but they strive to achieve it in the 'right' manner, in keeping with their ideals of perfection.

 

21st Millenial, 1st Cohort, 1st Company - 'The Blades of Morning'

 

'Vincit qui se vincit,' to Battle and Glory, for the Phonecian!

 

Commanded by Captain Arturian Dayne, the Blades of Morning are a Veteran Company renowned for their excellent blade masters. Such was the pride of their blade masters that they never went into battle without an active Brotherhood of Palantine Blades who served as Dayne's bodyguard and command squad. At the head of such warriors Dayne would lead his Company into the heat of battle in a textbook perfect Speartip manoeuvre, the faster elements of the Blades of Morning punching deep into enemy lines while those slower elements brought up the rear and consolidated their position to prevent being overrun.

 

All members of the Company hope to be chosen as part of the Palantine bodyguard of their captain, and as such every warrior of the 21-1-1 carry their personal blade into battle regardless of their usual role. Despite this it is often the same warriors chosen for the Brotherhood due to the superlative skill levels that they demonstrate.

 

It was this predictable need to race into battle and engage with the enemy that would prove their undoing during the events of the Heresy. Leading his warriors from the front Dayne underestimated the quality of his opponent, failing to protect his rear elements from a surprise assault the Blades of Morning were cut off from their support. With the 'haft' of their speartip broken they were surrounded and cut down. Those few that survived would go on to create the 'Blades of Mourning' warband, infamous for their habit of appearing in the midst of battle to challenge champions of either side to single combat.