IL XIII - The Eagle Warriors

[AlphariusOmegon108]

It was earlier established that he leads his sons for about a full 60 years as a loyal primarch.

[bluntblade]

There's so much stuff in here, I miss things very easily.

[Sigismund229]

It was earlier established that he leads his sons for about a full 60 years as a loyal primarch.

ok...time to re write their fluff...(sigh)

[MikhalLeNoir]

What do you guys expect. He is chaos incarnate^^

[bluntblade]

Maybe we should recruit someone to make sense of the EWs chronology, and spare Sigi's sanity

[AlphariusOmegon108]

The legion (in my absense for a while) was heading in a very wrong direction, so Im now correcting it.

[bluntblade]

We weren't sure which direction it should go, I'd say. I'm aware that I set this current avalanche off, mostly because I was concerned about squaring this Legion's tale with the other, perhaps more grounded Legions.

[AlphariusOmegon108]

Thats why Im now on this crusade of correction. So yes I will interfere with alot of ideas in the future about this legion. But don't worry, I am still open for suggestions :)

[Sigismund229]

Thats why Im now on this crusade of correction. So yes I will interfere with alot of ideas in the future about this legion. But don't worry, I am still open for suggestions

Craaap...Can you send me a list of corrections you intend to make and then I can adjust fluff accordingly?

[AlphariusOmegon108]

I would need to see a detailed list of what you have first. I never saw any of your har worked fluff laying around in my message boxes ;) if you could send me EVERYTHING you got. Ill give it a correction avalanche in the coming week (now first.. a secret project is up... hehhee... Dis gon be biiiig)

[Sigismund229]

(makes sign of the aquila)

[bluntblade]

Think of it as growing pains. I feel we just need to make sure that there's the right balance of drama and plausibility when the Eagle Warriors are set beside the other Legions. Hence my concerns about the idea of the Legion being viewed as rebellious right up to the moment they turned; there's just not much drama there.

[MikhalLeNoir]

This could be fun^^ Where is the popcorn?

 

But having everything ever written about the eagles in one post could be easier to have an overview and then AO can correct and if his corrections are not fitting in the botl cuz what do i know uhmm an example. He was so long absemt that he believes that Travier made shish kebab out of daer'dd we could point out, that this is wrong. Or that it wouldn't fit if travier suddenly starts to wear pink.

 

So put everything inside for a whole review. (i think i asked for it a few posts and ao reacted amd we came to the conclusion. That ao has a mind disorder. So he can keep most of his ideas with sagittarius intact and it could explain a alot and travier wouldn't be directly responsible for all evil that happens in the galaxy. Well...not at first^^

[AlphariusOmegon108]

I have a full story part now from sigi. So do not worry. That will happen

[bluntblade]

The trick is, in my opinion, for them to be credible the other characters. Icarion needs to find Travier credible if he's to be nudged into rebellion, as will the other Insurrectionists if they are to believe they'll be part of a functional army.

 

If we can make sure that works, we're in business.

[Sigismund229]

The trick is, in my opinion, for them to be credible the other characters. Icarion needs to find Travier credible if he's to be nudged into rebellion, as will the other Insurrectionists if they are to believe they'll be part of a functional army.

 

If we can make sure that works, we're in business.

To that end, we may need to have events take place earlier and accelerate the downwards spiral of the Eagle Warriors(depending on whether AO oks that) so that Alexos can lead his legion "normally" for 60 or so years

[AlphariusOmegon108]

I... am the knight... that says.. OK

[bluntblade]

Normal service needs to last for a decent length of time before they become secret heretics, I agree.

[Sigismund229]

Here's all the fluff written for the EW so far(still need to do a boxed section on the EW friendship with the Wardens of Light

 

The Founding

The earliest known records of the XIII legion date back to the days of the Unification Wars in Kentral Amerik. A region of radioactive jungle, the inhabitants of this region had put up a highly effective defense against the forces of unity when they had attempted to conquer it, hitting them with repeated hit and run assaults and then fading away into the irradiated jungles before a significant Imperial response could be mobilised. While they were eventually conquered, the Emperor had been impressed with this tenacity and ingenuity in war, so the he drew the first recruits of the XIII legion from the region.

As so often, time would prove the Emperor wise in his decision to recruit these tribesmen. The early astartes of the XIII legion proved well suited to the lightning strikes that they had utilized against the forces of unity, being both quick on their feet and well disposed toward racing across plains atop a jetbike. While worse suited to being part of the main battle line, the XIII were frequently used in the late unification wars as a flanking force, moving around and launching lightning strikes on enemy flanks and rear as other forces held the enemy in place. Many times, it was a charge to the enemies rear by the XIII that decided the fighting in favour of the forces of unity. It was in this way that they earned their name, for when one enemy commander asked the Emperor "Who are these eagles who descend upon me?"(referring to the XIII legion who were charging his rear) the Emperor replied "They are my Eagle Warriors and they come for all of you".

It was following the battle of Razkev that the newly named Eagle Warriors received their greatest accolade and honour however. At the battle of Razkev, the massed regiments of Imperial Prussan foot and the III legion had clashed with the berserk hordes of the tyrant Kalaggan. The fighting lasted three days and three nights before it was finally decided by a final charge by the XIII who, freshly arrived upon the field, crashed into the flanks and rear of Kalaggan's massive horde and breaking the back of the Emperor's greatest foe even as the Blood Wolves claimed his head. Following this victory, the Emperor declared that the XIII would henceforth have the right to bear his personal symbol, the aquila upon their standards and their armour, an enormous honour and not one dispensed lightly, for the Eagle Warriors were the only legion to receive such an honour. From that day on, the XIII swore to never falter in their duty and to carry the aquila to the darkest corners of the galaxy in the newly declared Great Crusade.

 

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.

 

The Enlightenment

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.

 

 

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.

 

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.

[bluntblade]

Did the idea of Icarion overseeing the integration of Madrigal and mentoring Travier get OK'd? It'd cement Icarion's preeminence among his brothers, and who better to keep an eye on someone than the guy with foresight?

[Sigismund229]

Did the idea of Icarion overseeing the integration of Madrigal and mentoring Travier get OK'd? It'd cement Icarion's preeminence among his brothers, and who better to keep an eye on someone than the guy with foresight?

It didn't that I'm aware of

[bluntblade]

Me neither. But that's the first thing I feel should be addressed - Mexicatii and Travier as of their discovery and compliance need to be treated with extreme care. OK, Angron wasn't in canonverse, but at least Alexandros would be appalled at his broken brother being sent off to command his Legion. Let alone if that Legion rapidly took off for the edge of the Galaxy - that would surely set alarm bells ringing in at least a few Primarchs' heads.

[MikhalLeNoir]

But the things hec provided seem a bit outdated now. We had the discussion a few weeks ago.

How about this?

To point it out:

Alexos lands on Mexicatii, Sagitarrius lets Alexos under his wing.

Alexos is manipulated by sagittarius and starts worshipping gods, he also gets science and matrial arts lessons.

Sagittarius dissapears, and 10 days later starts living in Alexos' soul with wards of invisibility. He feeds of all mortal souls nearby (just not much, enough to stay unnoticed)

Alexos gets found by the emperor and he comes with him (with some cages etc.. as the emperor kinda steals alexos away). Alexos gets tortured to forget his old self and give up his ways. This breaks him immensely, at some point he meets gwal when still in his torture fase. Alexos was on and off the ship alot of the emperor, as he was send to many EW ships so he could see and meet his sons, and learn how to be a general.

Alexos meets Gwal together with the emperor, Alexos "dies"after ripping of Gwal's mask, the emperor revives him and leaves a hole in the soul of alexos by accident. Sagittarius fills this hole and starts his whispers.

Gwal feels sorry for Alexos and they become friends because of the mutual feeling of loneliness. They start a decade long campaign together (the first ten years of Alexos as general) and so get to trust each other.

Alexos leads his legion for 6 decades, but kinda goed mad because of the voices.

Alex is calmed by Gwal

Alex is calmed by Icarion

Alex is calmed by both(pic in the head)

Alex and Azus are combat buddies

Alex and Gwal are best buddies

Alex and Hectarion have the same view for a long time, so become buddies

Alex is a maniac outcast to the rest

Alex is a high priest and scientist

Alex can do nothing, control is by his army after the 6 decades of his control

Alex introduces warrior lodges

Alexos starts sending expedition fleets for proof of deamons and the lies of the emperor.

Alex and generals are very sneaky about corruption.

Alex fights against the quarith

Alex is using quarith dna to improve himself and legion

Azus is shocked

Gwal is not shocked to see his bro with wings

Lions claim to have bigger guns so that eagle warriors fight for the title of big guns

Eagles are hated through the galaxy, eagles hate the CL as if they are arch enemies.

Eagles get rid of all loyal elements over the time, sending them to the front lines, ensuring that only those loyal to alex survive.

Warriros lodges start to worship chaos.

Day of reveleation: dark ritual -> wardens and still loyal EW are sacrificed and wards are broken

That the clash with the WoL is later is clear as it s on the day of reveleation ( by the way: big kudos to icarion for planning that out)

Simison cleared a few things and as travier has a mental disorder, sagittarius is just a personality of travier. So we should stsrt from here( with simisom cleared points) or just make everything from scratch or wait for AO to have a complete review and rework and from there we can start to get from point a to b without destroying point c

Edited July 27, 2016 by MikhalLeNoir

[bluntblade]

I believe Sigi is just posting the original fluff. This way we can scrutinise and modify it more easily.

[MikhalLeNoir]

Poor Sigi...all this work for nothing? Edited July 27, 2016 by MikhalLeNoir