IL XIII - The Eagle Warriors

[AlphariusOmegon108]

-Remember when the walls fell? Remember when Alexos was victorious? Remember when we won? Remember well human, death does not remember you....-

[Sigismund229]

Fluff for the fluff god!

The Englightenment

While the XIII legion had been united with their primarch, his arrival did nothing to improve morale amongst the Eagle Warriors, in fact quite the opposite. Within weeks, it became clear to them that, far from being a warriors of legend or a great general, their primarch was a broken man, little more than a figurehead. However, for a time, a spirit of optimism prevailed. Surely, if the Eagle Warriors broke themselves over the anvil of religion as their primarch had been broken, they could find some form of understanding for the man they were told was their father. So it was that the Eagle Warriors began to adorn their armour with symbols of their new homeworld's faith and to conduct intense study of it. They even set up the 13 lodges, with each one being devoted to different facet of warfare as their primarch's religion had been divided into 13 aspects. However, while the Terrans stayed optimistic, the new recruits from Mexicatii were as broken as their primarch. The Emperor's arrival had broken the power of Mexicatii's priesthood's, broken their faith and obliterated the one element which had bound the Mexicatan together. They were demoralized and their once proud culture now had to live in a secret world of objects that could be easily disguised or hidden, a small gold pendant here, a Mexicatan glyph signifying one of the gods there. These items were symbols, symbols of the religion and Mexicatan pride that had been so badly broken by the Imperium's arrival on Mexicatii. While none knew it at the time, it was this sense of wounded pride that led the Eagle Warriors down the path to corruption and betrayal.

 

As the years passed, the sense of optimism that had presided within the Eagle Warriors faded, as it became clear that their primarch was deffinitavely shattered, reduced to but a shadow of what he had once been. They were the legion of a broken man, the only primarch to have failed the Emperor and therefore, they too must be in some way flawed. It was this which sparked the XIII's dabbling with gene tech, the desperate need to find their flaw, however well hidden it was, and eliminate it. However, within the first few years of experimenting with gene seed, the Eagle Warriors decided that to just correct their gene seed in the laboratory was not enough. In order to find the true flaw, they must fight in the harshest war zones they could find, truly test their limits and so find their defect, for it would surely reveal itself in battle. So the Eagle Warriors entered into a self imposed exile, fighting on the fringes of the galaxy and in the harshest warzones and seeking to adapt their bodies accordingly.

 

However, these years would change the Eagle Warriors profoundly. As casualties mounted and their efforts went unacknowledged by all others, bitterness within the legion grew, particularly amongst the Mexicatan. First the Emperor had broken the soul of their world and now, now that they had sacrificed thousands of brothers on the alter of his Great Crusade, he chose to ignore them, letting other, less worthy legions take the credit for victories won with the blood of Eagle Warriors. With the new recruits from Mexicatii now being murdurers and rapists, theives and gangers, the strongest of the individuals who now inhabited the heavily industrialized world, this anger only grew, coming to dominate the legion's mindset. Where before, amongst Mexicatii's noble warriors, who had constituted the legion's first Mexicatan recruits, it had been seen as a righteous test of strength, now it was merely a place to glory in your power and the slaughter you could wreak.

 

By the time the Eagle Warriors returned from the brutal wars on the fringes of the galaxy, they were a changed force on the battlefield. While they still utilized their traditional hit and run assaults, they now sought to inflict as much pain and suffering as possible with every strike, seeming to thrive on the pain of their foes. The oldest warriors of the XIII, those who had marched with the legion since the Unification Wars, saw how far they had fallen from the legion they had been in the early days of the Great Crusade. Their quest to purify their legion had done nothing but turn its heart black with hatred and bitterness. Yet, the rot was now a part of the legion as much as its gene seed. Still, they longed for something that would give their legion new purpose, remove the rot from its core and return their legion to its former glory.

 

However, in their search for purity and perfection, they had comitted many crimes, acts of such unspeakable brutality that they had to be called to count for them. So it was that they were confronted by Hectarion and his Crimson Lions on the world of Monarchia. The Mycenor had arrived to confront his wayward brother and his legion over their crimes and to escort him to Terra for a trial, overseen by the Emperor himself. However, this lit the flames of anger and hatred that had been burning within the Eagle Warriors. They had lost countless brothers fighting for the Emperor, brought hundreds of worlds into compliance and now he told them their primarch must stand trial? Angered by this slight on their honour and their primarch's, the Eagle Warriors charged, engaging the Crimson Lions in a battle that would last until dawn the next day when they withdrew, their primarch bleeding from dozens of wounds and the ceramite armoured bodies of Eagle Warriors and Crimson Lions alike littered across the battlefield. When the dawn's light shone upon the carnage and the Eagle Warriors realised the depths to which they had sunk, they fled, fled to the darkest corner of the galaxy, far away from prying eyes: the Ghoul Stars.

 

Here, the legion finally realised that far from eliminating their flaws, they had become the flaw, their quest for perfection turning them into the most flawed and imperfect monsters imaginable. The legion began to splinter under the weight of this knowledge, starting to fragment into dozens of seperate warbands as its commanders argued over their course of action. Some wished to commit the entire legion to one last action, a battle to wash out the blood of their brother astartes in the blood of their enemies. Others wanted to abandon their primarch, who had entered into seclusion since his duel with his brother, and forge their own destiny amongst the stars, seek perfection in some other galaxy and never return until they had found it, no matter how long it took. However, none could take firm control of the legion and it gradually began to rip itself to pieces.

 

It was then, as the Eagle Warriors verged on internal civil war, that Alexos Travier emerged from his seclusion. While for years he had seemed dead, lifeless and broken, the 13 days he had spent in seclusion seemed to have repaired him. He now addressed his legion for the first time, telling them that he had been aimless and purposeless for years but that he had now discovered what his and his legion's place in the universe was to be, what it had always been intended to be. His sons, repentant and grief stricken, immediately rallied around him, for he now offered them an end to their years of ceaseless wondering and the purpose they had lacked for decades. Under their primarch's guidance, the Eagle Warriors now slaughtered their way through entire systems of the Ghoul Stars until they finally reached the world of Krikta. It was here that it happened.

 

None know quite what occured on Krikta but what we do know is the effect it had on the Eagle Warriors. They carved a bloody trail across the galaxy and endured much pain and hardship to arrive at the world and once there, they found the true reason for the Emperor's brutal shattering of their homeworld's religion.

[Sigismund229]

It wasn't that gods didn't exit, it was because they were very real. All along, the Aztekis gods had been real and they had just been to blind to see and had allowed the Emperor, who in his hubris and quest for godhood, to break their faith. But now, on Krikta, they, their primarch and their faith were re born and baptised in the blood of the thousands they had slaughtered to reach this point.

[bluntblade]

I'd scratch the bit about the Emperor seeking godhood. Alexos should recognise his real objectives, I suggest

[bluntblade]

That Would Be An Ecumenical Matter or, a brief overview of Alexos' beliefs. Time for some Heresy!

 

-----

 

Chief among Man's fallacies is the concept of a benevolent deity. This folly has dogged our species for millennia, spawning further blights such as the barren atheism which the Imperium enshrines.

 

So entrenched is this idea that men readily overlook its absurdity, especially when bound up with myths of creator gods. Mankind's cradle was a morass of bloodshed and hardship, and the concept that such a crucible was inflicted on us by a loving father figure only becomes more worthy of ridicule when set against the backdrop of the wider Galaxy.

 

A few cultures of ancient Terra continued to recognise the true nature of the galaxy and divinity. Foremost among them were the people of Olmerik. Their religion did not reflect the true Pantheon, but they understood the ways of the gods well enough. Their gods demanded abasement and blood that their work might continue and the world might survive another day. As such their society grew up to serve those demands, with a hierarchy formed to ensure every citizen played their role in serving the gods.

 

When the settlers of Mexicatii revived these beliefs, they steadily progressed to grasping the truth. Thus every facet of their culture evolved to fulfil the Pantheon’s demands. It was perfect, until the Greatest Denier descended to destroy it all.

 

The paternal deity, by contrast, encourages an attitude of entitlement among its adherents. This leads in time to the collapse of hierarchy and religion itself. The entitled become self-seeking to the point of wishing to know better than their gods, and ultimately reject their deities for not fulfilling their needs as they perceive them. These wretches play the part of a petulant child, demanding more from their parents and shirking all duties and respect.

 

In contrast, Chaos gives, but only if the believer gives in return. This is what the Olmerik understood; sacrifice underwrites ever gift from the aether. Blood, autonomy, morality, all must be offered up to receive the Gods’ blessings. By doing this we embrace the primordial nature of the Galaxy, and ascend to become the true dominant predators.

 

The alternative is illustrated by the slow death agonies of the Eldar. Willful and arrogant, they believed that their technological power set them beyond danger and sought pleasure and power without consequence. This attitude was typified by the gods who they believed protected and nurtured them in their indulgence.

 

When true divinity was birthed by their decadence, they recoiled from its demands and paid for their impudence. Now half their species skulks, trying to repair their ruined civilisation, while the other half offer up the souls of others to keep free of the Dark Prince's appetite. However, all fail to embrace the deity they birthed and the Galaxy’s primal ways, and as such doom themselves to eventual consumption by the neverborn.

 

Such is the fate of the Imperium if mankind holds to its present course. If it does not fall in the same way, we shall be crushed by a civilisation that earns the blessings of the Pantheon. But should we overthrow our stagnant regime and embrace the divine, unimaginable power will be ours for the taking. Death will cease to afflict us, the power to crush all others will be ours, and no sensation or knowledge will be beyond our reach.

 

The Anathema attempted to tear this faith from me, but I have known the caress of the gods and will not falter in their service. To enlighten mankind, I thus dedicate my life and Legion.

 

The Testament of Alexos

Edited March 6, 2016 by bluntblade

[simison]

I appreciate this ecumenical. Perhaps it's my memory, but I don't recall many attempts to show that Alexos really is quite intelligent. 

[AlphariusOmegon108]

I appreciate this ecumenical. Perhaps it's my memory, but I don't recall many attempts to show that Alexos really is quite intelligent. 

 

He is rather keen and smart, a quiet worker that does not like sharing his projects. He might seem stupid and blunt at first, but he is in one of the higher levels of intelectual primarchs. Dont take him for a barbarian ;)

[bluntblade]

At the end of the day, he has to evangelise to Icarion (personally?) so we can't have him as a nitwit.

[Sigismund229]

Alexos Travier

Decades before the Emperor first came to Mexicatii, a small metal pod slammed down amidst its mountains. From this pod emerged a young child. However, this was no ordinary child but a primarch, one of the Emperors twenty sons who had been scattered across across the galaxy. This particular primarch would come to be known as Alexos Travier, primarch of the XIII legion, the Eagle Warriors.

 

Located on the fringes of what has become the Imperium, Mexicatii is a world which is dangerous and inhospitable, even for a young primarch. Covered in steaming jungles broken up by the odd mountain range, Mexicatii is a world which is around twice as large as Terra and whose terrain resembles that of Terra during the time the Magos Biologis refer to a the Kretasik period. However, human life had endured on the world and was centred around the 13 temples of the Aztekis gods. It was in the largest of these temples, the temple of Huitzilopochtli, the most powerful of the Aztekis gods, the god who embodied every aspect of human life and created the world, that the young primarch sought refuge. Taken in, named and raised by the priests , this was where Alexos(whose reap name has never been discovered by any save perhaps the Emperor) was raised.However, in time Alexos proved to be a priest of such enormous skill and knowledge. Using his knowledge of the sacred texts and his observation of the passage of the sun and stars, Alexos perfected the Mexicatan calendar to fit the passage of a Mexicatan year, dividing it into cycles of 13 days, and he also predicted the passage of a burning comet across the skies of Mexicatii, a sure sign of Huitzilopochtli's favour, all in a matter of weeks. Observing all this, Sagitarii, the High Priest of Huitzilopochtli and the closest thing to a father Alexos had in these formative years, declared that Alexos was no ordinary priest but a son of the Gods, sent by them to rule Mexicatii and spread their faith across the stars. As all other temples and High Priests are subservient to that of Huitzilopochtli, this was quickly accepted across Mexicatii and Alexos was crowned emperor of all Huitzilopochtli's subjects.

 

As emperor, Alexos raised the inhabitants of Mexicatii from out of the darkness they had fallen into since the beginning of old night. He created 13 cities, each centred around one of the old temples, each protected by high walls and fed from enormous terraced farms. With protection and a constant source of food, the people of Mexicatii grew wealthy on gems and gold extracted from Mexicatii's earth and education and philosophy flourished in ways unseen for centuries. At the head of all this was Alexos, guiding his people according to the God's wishes(meaning that, while never questioned, he could be a volatile and unreliable ruler when making decisions). Even Sagitarii's death and funeral did little to effect this stability(although it was later discovered that he had left a part of his soul knitted to that of Alexos). However, all this changed when the stranger arrived.

 

The stranger arrived shortly after the festival of Kupayotl, God of death, during which nearly ten million Mexicatan were sacrificed to the Gods, the amount of death sending pyschic shock waves rippling across the warp in all directions. When he arrived, the stranger arrived as if he were a god given form, glowing with golden light and in the company of similairly gold armoured warriors. Declaring that the stranger was the Gods given form, Alexos held an enormous festival in celebration of his arrival. However, the stranger bluntly declared that this galaxy had no gods and he and Alexos vanished as the golden armoured warriors who accompanied him sacked the temples of the gods, slaughtering their priests and destroying their effigies, for this had been no ordinary stranger but the Emperor of mankind.

 

The Emperor had teleported Alexos aboard his flagship and there, he demanded that his son give up his worship of false gods and embrace the empirical clarity of the Imperial Truth. However, Alexos refused and so began his torture, as the Emperor began to use force to make his son abandon his false gods. While this seemed to succeed, it left Alexos a broken man, unable to lead a legion. While his sense of superiority, left over by his time as emperor, remained, little was left of the old Alexos, not even his name, as the Emperor declared that his son had decided to abandon both his false gods and all traces of his time as one of their priests and so had taken a new name: Alexos Travier.

[simison]

Reap = real

[Sigismund229]

The Chosen Warriors

When the Eagle Warriors returned to the front lines of the Great Crusade, they were once again a changed force. Given new sense of purpose and finally led by their primarch in person, they threw themselves back into the fires of war without regret or remorse, bringing worlds into compliance at a record pace, unmatched by any legion save the Warmaster's own and the Lightning Bearers. However, this new found ardour was merely a façade to hide what the Eagle Warriors true intentions were. Out on the fringes of the Imperium, far away from prying eyes they were able to test their gene seed and improve upon their physical bodies in ways no other legion had done before, re making themselves in the image of the gods they now worshipped. It was in these years, as the Eagle Warriors blazed their bloody trail across the galaxy, that the first of the Ecathl were created.

 

The Ecathl were the first of the Eagle Warriors to give themselves over completely to their primarch's vision of a legion re made to rise above all others and be true servants of the gods. While on the outside, each of these astartes was no different to their brothers, their capabilities were far in excess of those possessed by ordinary astartes. Inside them, these astartes contained Poseko's greatest successes, organs which took the basic blue print provided by the Qarith organs and adapted them to the human frame. As such, the Ecathl were frequently far stronger than their bretheren or able to unleash a horrifying screech which tore through all in its path, although their sanity had often suffered as a result of these implants. However, there was never a shortage of recruits to join the Ecathl, as the Eagle Warriors now saw them as the epitomy of all they had striven to accomplish since their primarch's discovery: perfection.

 

With these "perfect" warriors marching in the vanguard, the Eagle Warriors conquered hundreds of worlds in these years, bringing billions of subjects under the Emperor's rule. Because of this, few were interested in how they accomplished it and they were left to their own devices by and large. Drawing new recruits from the conquered worlds and accepting ever more neophytes from Mexicatii, the expansion of the XIII legion in these years was enormous, with the number of astartes that Alexos Travier commanded rising from under 100,000 to nearly 190,000 or even higher according to some estimates.

 

It was also in these years that the Warrior Lodges adopted their new purpose, as a place for worship of the gods and it was here that the Eagle Warriors began to drop the pretence of loyalty and revel in their new faith, restoring the old gods of Mexicatii to life. It is rumoured that they would even sacrifice members of the legion to the gods, the ultimate display of devotion on their part. It was also through these lodges that many of the Eagle Warriors began to adopt the red hand, a single gauntlet painted red which signified a death oath from the warrior in question, each of whom had vowed to seek out the most dangerous of the foe and sacrifice them to the gods or else take their place. However, eventually, word of these bloody rituals reached Terra and the Emperor ordered the Eagle Warriors be destroyed, their name erased from all record of them but it was too late. Within weeks of this declaration, Icarion the Stormborn announced his own rebellion against Terra. The war for which the XIII had been preparing for decades had at last begun.

[bluntblade]

That "you're not being rescued. You're the harvest" piece will become a thing this week. Just give me an hour or two in a darkened room with a Nine Inch Nails album.

 

I think there should be some element scrutinising them at least initially, but not the Custodes. Ideally, they should also have an agenda of their own. Perhaps Alex could ask Icarion to keep an eye on them, and that sparks some fresh resentment in Icarion.

[bluntblade]

Shenanigans during exile.

 

-----

 

The worlds we found were clearly a greenskin empire, and one that owned a great many human slaves. However, all have been scrubbed clean of life with such thoroughness that no trace remains of the conquerors. We can rule out Imperial activity as no records of these systems or their slaves exist. Needless to say, if the culprits are xenos then they pose a substantial threat. We will move on directly and seek to establish what transpired here. - Zytekas Volan, Explorator Fleet 62

 

-----

 

Throughout the domain of Uzgat Facegnasha, far from the advancing Imperium of Man, millions of humans toiled to feed the Ork war machine. Corralled in fetid slums, the worked their lives away, smelting, riveting and performing all the other tasks to delicate or dull for their thuggish masters. Any who were broken down by the constant labour were recycled, Ork overseers consuming their bodies and taking their teeth as currency. As far as the people knew, they were condemned to this life and their descendants after them. Some had been born into slavery, others taken from their homes by conquest. None questioned the axiom that no society could prevail against the greenskin.

 

So, when the whispers began they met with disbelief. Orks only lost battles when they made up both sides. Perhaps some new xeno species could possibly inflict some losses on them, but these rumours spoke of men seizing Ork planets. As such, they were plainly fever dreams.

 

But then the whispers continued and were heard from more slaves, and even the Orks as well. Giants, great warriors clad in green, with the will to stand before the Ork berserkers and with the weapons to tear down the rust-bucket fortresses of Facegnasha. Angels, the whispers dubbed them. Deliverers.

 

Before long, more worlds came under attack and the “angels” descended, slaying the greenskins with unbelievable speed and breaking open the slaves’ prisons. The humans exulted in their liberation, fighting back against the Orks to join their saviours.

 

Only when they stood face to face did they realise something was wrong. Something about the look on the angels’ faces. Something calculating and very much like avarice, but far worse. And as they recoiled the angels advanced, clapping then in chains and hauling them into their great ships. By the time they were dragged from their cages into the laboratories and saw the organ tanks and the instruments, they knew they had become something worse than slaves.

Edited March 8, 2016 by bluntblade

[MikhalLeNoir]

Cool story. But i would skip the last sentence. It is stronger if it ends with "they had become something worse than slaves."

 

All the instruments indicate thst they are test subjects. Not necessary to mention it. So the phantasy of the reader creates far more horrible. Descriptiom for what they have become.

[bluntblade]

Good point. You'd think I'd remember that after reading so much Iain M. Banks stuff.

[bluntblade]

Alexos presents quite an interesting challenge, once you realise you're dealing with both a religious fanatic and a scientist. So for me, his motivation for believing is rather different to Lorgar's "there must be more to the galaxy". So what we've got is a ruthlessly Darwinian view of the universe, and that carries over to his views on gene-tampering.

 

+++++

 

As noted before, morality is irrelevant to those in the service of the Pantheon, but nonetheless we must do our work far from the eyes of the Imperium. It is one of the Anathema's greatest hypocrisies that, having created the Astartes and Custodes, it bans any further experimentation on the human genome. We shall encourage some of our brother legions to tread the path, but as with everything else we do, our own experiments must remain in the shadows.

 

For that reason we also cannot perform true devotions to the Gods, but we can at least orchestrate our harvests to please them. The act of seizing sates the Blood God’s thirst, especially when we take slaves from greenskin worlds, and the death toll leaves a bounty for the Lord of Decay. The betrayal of the humans’ hopes and subsequent alterations invoke the Lord of Change, and the sheer extremity delights the Prince of Pleasure.

 

Doubtless many of the deluded see in the Qarith a definitive argument against experiments on the gene-seed, but once again it is a matter of faith. The Qarith, like the fools of Old Night, made a god of their technological prowess. They changed their bodies entirely for the purpose of “perfection”, moving away from the emotions by which we connect to the empyrean. Their secular sterility dooms them, as they assume that this dry, hollow “perfection” is sufficient to elevate them. If they were to embrace sensation and bloodlust, the power to sweep all before them would be within their grasp.

 

Squeamishness at the practice of gene-manipulation is but more proof of the secular Imperium's decadence and weakness. It elevates the human body as a perfect form when its frailties are easily perceptible to anyone with eyes to see, and seeks to deny itself unimaginable potency. As with everything else, our vanity and cowardice must be cast aside to receive divine favour. Transcending the failings of our genotype will let us advance along the path to divine favour, demonstrating our devotion and elevating us to become worthy vessels.

 

An existence as the chosen heralds of Chaos will change us utterly and irrevocably. Beside those, the transformations we will carry out with our studies are really quite insignificant.

 

The Testament of Alexos Travier

[MikhalLeNoir]

Wasn't Travier adressimg the Chaos gods in their mexicatii form?

[bluntblade]

I hadn't considered that. Let's say this is him catering to the mass market.

[MikhalLeNoir]

Lol. I am not entirely sure if he knows himself ;)

[bluntblade]

Nah, I reckon he knows plenty. He isn't a dreamer like Lorgar. Although I'm still not entirely sure how their extended sojourn will play out, let alone their goody two shoes phase.

 

Although I suggest that their genetics fascination is seen by everyone else as a drive to redeem themselves for their Primarch's failings.

[MikhalLeNoir]

Well. When Gwal neets Travier shortly before he is backstabbed by him, Travier has grown a pair of beautiful wings. At least he practises on himself;)

[bluntblade]

So, what is Alexos' role in bringing about the Insurrection going to be? The Eagles' isolation will probably complicate things, after all.

[Sigismund229]

The Judgement of the Stormborn

When the Eagle Warriors returned to the Imperium from the Ghoul Stars, they found Icarion, the Stormborn, and near the entire I legion waiting for them. The Stormborn had been sent in the Emperor's place to pass judgement over the XIII and, if needs be, destroy them to prevent the rot in their ranks from spreading. So it was that the Stormborn met his brother of the XIII on the world of Troya and demanded he answer for his and his legion's crimes. However, Alexos saw right through the Stormborn's veneer of loyalty and saw the turmoil in his brother's heart caused by the elevation of Alexandros of the V to the office of Warmaster in his stead. So, instead of answering for his crimes, Alexos showed the Stormborn what the future held for him and the Lightning Bearers.

 

In this vision, the Stormborn saw Madrigal burn and his sons die, cut down by Custodian blades. Amidst it all, Icarion saw the Emperor standing resplendent amidst the burning ruins of Icarion's home, raised on a podium that was actually a pile of Icarion's dead sons. However, then Alexos changed the vision to another possible future. In this one, Icarion sat on the throne on Terra and his Lightning Bearers now wore gold, not the custodians. The Imperium flourished under his rule and humanity had entered a new golden age. It is said that upon seeing these two visions of the future, the Stormborn wept. These were not tears of surprise or grief, for the Stormborn had himself seen these two possible future's but dismissed them as apparitions, but the tears of rage of a son betrayed. It was in that moment, as his tears fell into the dirt of Troya, that the Stormborn made his choice. He could no longer serve the Emperor. He must rally his brothers to his cause and overthrow their tyrannical father.

 

To this day, it is unknown what weakened the Stormborn's resolve on Troya. Was it perhaps bitterness at being passed over for the office of Warmaster? The weight of keeping secret the Ghost Crusade and all the crimes he had been forced to commit in its prosecution? None know. All that is known is the result.

 

The Stormborn declared that the Eagle Warriors had returned from the dark path they had begun treading on and had already paid in blood for their crimes in the Ghoul Stars. With his wayward brother pardoned, Icarion left Troya and returned to Madrigal to begin to formulate his plans and rally brothers to his cause. The Insurrection was now inevitable.

[MikhalLeNoir]

Hmmm. Could icarion be seeing yhose visions for a long time? Every time more brutal and he sees also the death if the primarchs? A slow process would be more in line with the honorful icarion ( I know thst is Traviers story[ start calling him so, i still mix both alex up ^^] but there are some very good motives in your story)

[bluntblade]

Hang on, crimes in the Ghoul Stars?