IL I - The Harbingers (thread 2)

[Grifftofer]

If you could drop a link or something when that goes live, that'd be awesome. I'd love to listen to that conversation.

[bluntblade]

Good to hear on all counts, Athrawes

[simison]

Ah. Err.

 

Still probably worth not having them be Lightning Bearers just yet.

 

[That's a good point. I'll just refer to them as the First Legion for now.]

 

It was then that the First Legion revealed their hidden weapon: divination. While able to perform most of the psychic disciplines, even in this early era, the First's battle-psykers naturally gravitated to sight beyond sight, perhaps an early indication of Icarion's nature. Before the Divines had planned their retribution, Sahaal was already aware of their course. To counter the approaching cultic assault, Sahaal completely went against standard military doctrine and divided his heavily-outnumbered force into three smaller detachments. 

 

The Northern strike force under Captain Zso Ise would counter the Divine known as Fastus. Divine Fastus was an arrogant man who advanced his forces without care, already dreaming of his newest victory over the Emperor's forces. Captain Ise set up a series of brilliant ambushes that crippled the cult army, even though the legionnaires were outnumbered over 100-to-1. The enemy army further suffered as Fastus enacted cruel executions of his own officer corps, blaming them for his failures. 

 

To the South, Captain Steban Tasater would challenge Divine Gula's army. Unlike the haughty Fastus, Gula chose a more cautious approach, wary of the legion's progress. Since ambushes would be ineffective against a more aware enemy commander, Tasater unleashed a series of daring raids, targeting the cult's psyker contingent. Although losing a third of his number, Captain Tasater paralyzed Gula's army as the Divine foolishly held position, trying in vain to discern the next attack.

 

Finally, Sahaal took the smallest command. Loading his few squads into his only Warhawk Class Stormbird, Sahaal made his most dangerous move: an aerial assault against the Crystal Fortress. Never dreaming of an attack comprised of so little, the remaining Divines were caught completely off-guard when the lone stormbird entered their air space. With surprised secured by the First Legion, Sahaal opened fire on the Divines' level of the fortress, clearing a landing zone before he and his legionnaires stormed the palace. Unable to rally more cultists to their side, the four Divines and their bodyguards died quickly.

 

The physical head of the cult dead, Sahaal turned his attention to his true target: the Dirge. Standing at the source, the Dirge played havoc with Sahaal's warriors as the first ones began to succumb to its power. With not enough time to safely evacuate, Sahaal was forced to execute each warrior that failed to maintain their mental defences, even as he sought to end the Dirge itself. The legionnaires had brought a small supply of meltabombs and attached these weapons to the fortress' load-bearing pillars. All the while, the small strike force shrinking as Astartes were overwhelmed by the corruption of the Dirge. When the last meltabomb was deployed, Sahaal gathered his survivors and returned to the Warhawk pattern stormbird. Only when they were safely above ground did Sahaal detonated the charges. 

 

Catastrophic explosions ripped through the Crystal Fortress, causing it to collapse into itself. As the dust settled, the infernal Dirge was finally silenced. All across the continent, the cult died in chaos as men and women were freed from its evil and resisted the diehard cultists. The twin armies of Divine Fastus and Divine Gula disintegrated when the Dirge stopped, both Divines savagely murdered by their own men before the two armies scattered to the four winds. Returning to his legion with only nine marines, Korvost Sahaal was hailed as the Imperium's first hero to hearken from the Legiones Astartes. 

[simison]

Compliance of Argos Rho-4

 

At the height of the Great Crusade, the Lightning Bearers enjoyed unrivaled popularity and support among the legions. Although they were welcome sight to see on any battlefield, it did not prevent the Legion from having its own idiosyncrasies that puzzled other parties that could also uncomfortably bear some resemblance to mysticism. One such strange strand among the Lightning Bearers were the Volta of the Blue Shield. 

[simison]

Any Space Marine who has the distinction of wearing terminator plate can be quite intimidating to the average human as the already giant body of a legionnaire gains twice its weight and size in a tank the shape of a man. The Volta go one step further by having no lenses or 'eyes' on their helmets. For every member of the Volta is blind. This is not some gene-seed anomaly but a direct result of their training. The Volta undergo intense psychic training in the arts of foresight that eventually lead to a final trial where they are ritually blinded. This ritual is to further strengthen their powers at divination by sacrificing their mundane sight for the supernatural. While not a few have criticized this practice as smelling of bald superstition, none can deny the Volta's effectiveness in war. 

 

This was demonstrated without fail in the Compliance of Argos Rho-4. 

[simison]

Discovered by infamous rogue trader Intana Yones, the Argos Rho system was rich in resources and habitable planets. All initial scans suggested the system was quite the find, and the Administratum quickly drew up plans to have the system claimed and colonized in the name of the Emperor. However, when an Imperial Auxilia scout ship, the War Hound, approached the fourth planet in the system for in-depth scanning, all contact promptly vanished. A second scout ship detected the wreckage at the edge of the system and requested additional orders. 

[Kelborn]

Name suggestions: Harrison Jones or Indiana Ford :P

 

Or

 

Han Corell (because of Corellia)

[bluntblade]

What does Icarion's helm look like?

[Kelborn]

Does he have one?

 

There aren't that many Primarchs with a helm for both canon and BotL. Can think of Gwal, Pionus, Alpharius aaaand the Khan, right?

[Athrawes]

What does Icarion's helm look like?

 

Think this :

 

http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i327/nickfayette1/eb2946b98096401202f533f8229b53b6.jpg

 

But replace the faceplate with the slit visor and plain mask of Robert Baratheons Helm:

http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i327/nickfayette1/robert-baratheon-vs-rhaegar-targaryen.jpg

[Chief Captain Redd]

Does he have one?

 

There aren't that many Primarchs with a helm for both canon and BotL. Can think of Gwal, Pionus, Alpharius aaaand the Khan, right?

Daer'dd has one that's been mentioned in stories. And Russ has the one Ulrik carries around. I think Alexanderos has been depicted with one as well.

[Kelborn]

Didn't knew of Daer'dd and Alexandros.

 

I would leave the Lion and Russ aside this list as Gav Thorpe did mention that the famous Helmet of the Lion, which is carried by Azrael may not be the real one of Johnson but rather one with bits of the original one implemented.

 

Keep in mind: a Primarchs head > an Astartes head

[simison]

Alex's best picture has him carrying his helmet. Unfortunately, that's pre-Warmaster, so I need a different one now to fit with the terminator-head setup.

[bluntblade]

Horus has one in The Wolf of Ash and Fire and Fulgrim has a winged one. Naturally, both stop using them as soon as the Heresy commences.

 

Mortarion's helm-senses are mentioned once in Path of Heaven, Lorgar has a tricorned one which gets mashed in TFH and Betrayer and Vulkan has a dragon one on Istvan.

[simison]

To the auxilia's surprise, an answer came to them a mere minute after their communication. The Wayfarer, a Lighting Bearer destroyer, translated in-system. Commanding the vessel was the venerable Asizaga. Before the Auxilia could give a full report, the Volta member ordered their ship to prepare for departure, warning that an attack was imminent. While confused, the Auxilia obeyed the Space Marine's orders. As the two began their voyage into the Warp, a number of sleek warships appeared and attempted to intercept. The enemy vessels were quickly identified as Eldar warships, who failed to enter weapon ranges before the Imperial ships made their escape. This would merely be the opening move as Asizaga explained that a Lightning Bearer expeditionary fleet was already in-transit and that the Auxilia's services were no longer required for the upcoming campaign. The captain of the Auxilia ship, the Viper, inquired that if the First Legion was aware that Argos Rho system was occupied, why were Imperial scout ships allowed to conduct their survey. Asizaga claimed that the destruction of the War Hound had been hitsuzen. 

[simison]

Among the Volta of the Blue Shield, the future is assumed to be malleable except for certain events in time. No matter what the Volta may will or do, these special moments will come to pass, regardless of their efforts. This concept is what the Volta call hitsuzen. Thus Asizaga, though aware of the doom befalling the War Hound, believed this was one event beyond his ability to manipulate. 

 

With this moment passed, not even a day transpired before the 21^st Expeditionary Fleet entered the system. A fast but furious conflict occurred as the local Eldar navy attempted to throw back the invaders. Yet, for all of the arcane powers brought to bear in that race's stead, they were unable to overcome neither the might of the Imperial ships or the blind guidance Asizaga and his Volta brothers offered. The sleek Eldar vessels quickly succumbed before the Expeditionary fleet. However, while this had avenged the Imperial dead, the planets remained unsurveyed and probably occupied or guarded by Eldar ground forces. 

[simison]

When consulted, the Volta affirmed this suspicion before identifying four Webway portals located on the fourth planet, dubbed AR-4 for the campaign. While two of the four Webway portals were located above ground and candidates for orbital bombardment, the remaining two were subterranean and would require a ground assault. Additionally, the Eldar forces would deploy in defense of the portals with heavy casualties expected to ensue. Despite the forewarning, the Lightning Bearers would not shirk in their duty to the Imperium. While the warships of the 21^st would begin the bombardments to destroy the first two sites, the Lighting Bearers were split into two detachments. The first detachment comprised the majority of the Space Marines present. The second detachment was composed solely of the Volta contingent and those whose talents were deemed sufficient to perform a rudimentary 'Battle-Scry'. 

[bluntblade]

"whose talents (were) deemed sufficient"

[TheBlindPrimarch]

Quick question...who is Icarion's Equerry and if he doesn't have one currently would it be okay for me to come up with one? I need the character for a minor role in the Icarion/Mirr'or story.

[Chief Captain Redd]

Icarion's equerry is Raiden Anthrawes, if I'm not mistaken.

[simison]

Icarion's equerry is Raiden Anthrawes, if I'm not mistaken.

 

I thought so too, but when I went to verify it, I found that Athrawes hasn't actually picked an Equerry for Icarion. Not in the original Works In Progress thread, not in this thread, the Personae thread, or in any of the PMs we've sent to each other over the years.

 

Raiden is certainly a strong candidate for it. He was the Last Sentinel in the 'canon-verse', but I'm not sure if he's supposed to be an Equerry or something more akin to Loken. The First Company Sentinel is Susanoo Empyon, while Second Company is Fujin Isu, who is Raiden's mentor. All three of them have strong claims to be Equerry.

 

Until Athrawes gives a proper answer, I would recommend going with Fujin. As Raiden's mentor, it certainly suggests he's older and more experienced than the famed Raiden. Furthermore, he hasn't been given any kind of development, unlike Susanoo who was very nearly the BotL Everchosen. 

[simison]

Leading a maniple-sized element towards their target, Asizaga added an additional high-priority target that was to be destroyed on sight: illumination devices. When the unit reached the entrance to the cave system on the surface, the Volta took the lead, counting on their terminator armour to open the wave for their brethren. It was quickly determined that the Eldar had specifically chosen this location for the labyrinthine tunnel system for an additional defense against would-be saboteurs. It proved useless against the Lightning Bearers as the Volta expertly navigated the criss-crossing pathways toward their objective. 

[bluntblade]

I had thought that like Horus, Icarion's equerry was seperate from the captains.

[simison]

I had thought that like Horus, Icarion's equerry was seperate from the captains.

 

I don't know. Like I said, I'm not sure if Athrawes has ever addressed the issue before. 

[TheBlindPrimarch]

If anyone can reliably get a hold of him I'll wait.