IL III - The Crimson Lions (thread 1)

[Sigismund229]

I intended to do this earlier. I'm starting this new thread to contain all the relatively finished Crimson Lions fluff so that it is separated from the ideas and such that I post on their regular thread for discussion. I'll post the fluff as I finish going through it and editing it. This is mainly to save Grifftofter the effort of going through 4 pages of ideas and small stories and trying to determine what is usable and what isn't. 

 

The Blood of Jurfik

The origins of the III^rd legion lie not in the eastern realms untouched by the ravages of the Age of Strife that so often provided recruits for the legions but among the fierce warriors of the realm of Jurfik. In the centuries prior to the Unification Wars, the warriors of Jurfik had carved out an enormous realm that spanned most of Albion and reached as far as Norsca and the tribes of Frys. As evidenced by their conquest of their neghbours, the people of Jurfik were warlike, always reaching for the axe instead of the plough, often at war with the eastern Nords, the Suomensku nomads, the Jermani and the remaining free kingdoms of Albyon.

 

 While the Emperor tried to negotiate with the men of Jurfik at first, they were a proud kingdom and the warriors of Jurfik refused to abase themselves before the Emperor, instead electing to stand firm and fight. So it was that the Emperor sent a large force to subdue this stubborn kingdom. However, when the two armies clashed at the battle of Mount Batonicus, it was the warriors of Jurfik, led by King Knut who emerged the victors, slaughtering the Imperial forces in a vast encircling manoeuvre from which few escaped.

 

Seeing that this enemy would not be easily subdued, the Emperor changed his plans to account for this unexpected defeat and began to prepare a second invasion. This second invasion he would lead in person and it would be spearheaded not by Thunder Warriors or crack units of geno troopers but by the entire V^th legion of the Adeptus Astartes, a crushing force to apply against one kingdom.

 

This second invasion was far more successful and inflicted a number of defeats upon the proud warriors of Jurfik. Eventually, outside the hive of Jurk upon the crossing known as Sternfald Bridge, the warriors of Jurfik turned and fought the Imperial forces in a pitched battle, intent on going out in one last blaze glory and joining their comrades in the halls of their gods. The battle that followed was vast and bloody, with the blood of those who had fallen pooling and flowing down the dry river bank on either side of the crossing to form a new river beneath the bridge that gradually became choked with the bodies of the slain. At the centre of this whirlwind of slaughter were King Knut and his Hirt, standing in the centre of the bridge, fighting beneath the raven flag of Jurfik and cutting down any who attempted to cross it.

 

The climax of the battle came at dawn on the second day, when King Knut and his Hirt charged the Emperor and the elite of the V^th legion. As the leaders of the two armies met, the Emperor beneath his eagle standard and Artorus beneath the raven of Jurfik, their bodyguards clashed with a terrible roar that could be heard for miles. While the Emperor and King Knut were both skilled warriors, the outcome of their duel was not decided by martial skill. King Knut was not killed by the Emperor, as is often claimed, but by an unnamed Prussan Jaegar who put a precision shot through Knut’s neck, leaving the King of Jurfik to fall down to the Emperor's feet. While Knut’s Hirt and the nobility of Jurfik launched a last ditch attempt to rescue their King’s body and the battle raged on for another seven hours before the warriors of Jurfik conceded defeat, King Knut’s death was a turning point. The Emperor had won.

 

However, instead of ordering the execution of the surviving warriors of Jurfik as many had expected, for they had inflicted grievous losses on the Emperor’s forces, the Emperor saw the martial potential of these proud warriors and instead offered them a chance to continue their lives as warriors: join his burgeoning empire and fight as warriors of his Legiones Astartes or die. While some of the proudest warriors of Jurfik chose to die rather than fight for the man that had conquered them, the majority chose to join the Emperor, foremost among them Rollon, the only survivor of Jurfik’s royal house and brother of King Knut.

 

Undergoing the process that transformed them from ordinary men to warriors of the Legiones Astartes, these men emerged as the first warriors of the III^rd legion. Emerging from the ashes of their defeat at the Emperor’s hand, the warriors of Jurfik began to carve a new legend both for themselves and their people in the blood and flesh of their foes in the remaining battles of the Unification Wars. Ferocious in the swirling chaos of melee combat, the III^rd was often in the vanguard of the Emperor’s battle line and so developed a bloody reputation as melee specialists, a reputation that was cemented when they shattered the lines of the forces of Ursh at the battle of Muskova, killing the tyrant Kalaggan and encasing his head in silver to be carried on their banner.

 

Fighting fiercely, the III^rd, nicknamed the Blood Wolves by the units who served alongside them, fought in a hundred battles across Terra until finally, unity had been achieved, payed for with the blood of Jurfik and Albion. However, the Blood Wolve’s tale had just begun. 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2017 by Lord Thørn

[Nomus Sardauk]

Just a thought I had Sigis, perhaps as a sign of respect for the bravery & skill of the Jurfik warriors the Emperor himself returns King Knut's body to his warriors so they may bury him in accordance with their traditions, earning their respect in turn as they see the Emperor is more than another conquering tyrant, but a man of honour.

[Apothecary Meros]

++Warning: shameless self advertisement approaching++

 

If you ever need an amateur writer to turn your fantastic fluff into a fanfiction, I'll be milling about the B&C most days :P

[MikhalLeNoir]

++Warning: shameless self advertisement approaching++

If you ever need an amateur writer to turn your fantastic fluff into a fanfiction, I'll be milling about the B&C most days :P

Your mine^^ But free to help others. But remember this: Meros is Chief Apothecary of the Wardens. But it would be great to read more of ypur writings depicting other legions. If you don't forget the wardens. Help where help is needed. I need you the most....damn nerith...it hasme again...

 

This will be my last.post forever as I now reached 2001 posts

Edited August 14, 2016 by MikhalLeNoir

[Apothecary Meros]

Worry not good sir, the Wardens shall not be forgotten. I'm not going to stop writing my current work for you until Captain Valten kills at least 5,000,000 Orks on that planet. Although I doubt that'll take him more than about 10 minutes.

[Sigismund229]

@Sanguinius. Nice idea, I like it. I'll edit it in to the first section. 

 

@Apothacery Meros. Hmm...I may take you up on that offer...

 

Blood Wolves

As the Great Crusade left Terra and took to the stars, the Blood Wolves continued to fight at its vanguard. When the Imperial forces launched their attack on Luna, the Blood Wolves led the way, boarding the orbital stations and disabling them in violent and bloody boarding actions. Indeed, most believe this is what the III^rd was built for, as legionaries implanted with III^rd legion gene-seed grow larger than their brethren in other legions and have an overactive Biscopea and Ossmodula, encouraging greater muscle growth and a tougher skeleton. While this places greater strain upon the body of the recruit, the end result is a legionary ideally suited for the chaos of a melee or boarding action.

 

The way in which the Blood Wolves fought took full advantage of this fact. While not as numerous as some legions, they would launch themselves at the enemy in an all-out drop pod assault aimed right into the heart of the enemy’s forces. The objective was to rip the heart of enemy resistance and behead their command structure with a furious assault by the legionaries of the Blood Wolves. In many cases, this beheading was literal, as the Blood Wolves would hack off their enemy commander’s head and hang his head, encased in silver so as to prevent it decaying, from their banner. It was also not uncommon for the youngest Blood Wolves, who were more aggressive than their counterparts in other legions and so employed at the vanguard like the drengr of old Jurfik, to take the skulls of fallen enemies and hang them from their armour in an attempt to intimidate their foes, who would already be in shock from the fact that dozens of drop pods had just slammed down in their midst.

 

Through this quick, straightforward and often bloody method the Blood Wolves were able to achieve a rate of compliances that was only surpassed by the I^st legion. Led by the thingr, an assembly of strihothningr, the equivalent of a captain, rather than a single legion master, the Blood Wolves carved a bloody swathe of conquest from Terra, ever at the forefront of the Emperor’s armies and never out of the fires of war for long. It was because of this that the legion was given the two handed broadsword known as Soul Reaver by the Emperor, a blade said to sever the connection between a body and its soul as soon as it cut into a being’s flesh.

 

During these years, the Blood Wolves formed close bonds of brotherhood with many legions. However, foremost among their brothers were the [redacted] and the Juggernauts, later to become the Iron Bears, for the warriors of both these legions reveled in their abilities to wage war at close range as the Blood Wolves did. As such, it was frequent for a hirdband to fight at the side of these legions building bonds of brotherhood with the Juggernauts that stand to this day.

 

 However, it was also in these early years that the price the Blood Wolves paid for their abilities in close combat became painfully apparent. Known as the Curse, it was an ethereal thing that was as much a part of the III^rd's gene-seed as their enhanced muscle growth. While dangerous, it made them what they were and so they fought keeping it ever at their side, harnessing it rather than keeping it locked up inside of them, fighting with themselves always just a small step away from its jaws. However, this inevitably meant that some of them would misjudge their distance from it and allow themselves to be caught in its gullet. Once a warrior falls, everything he once was is washed away as the Curse seizes him and makes him its own. To onlookers, it is as if the legionnaire has been replaced by a slavering thing of snapping jaws and berserk fury, killing anyone who crosses his path. However, to the legionnaire afflicted the world is a red haze and he follows the shadows of fallen comrades who lead him every onward towards a bright, golden light, a light from which he hears the sounds of laughter and warriors feasting. Gripped by the Curse he kills all who stand between him and the light, slavering and snapping about bright halls and peace as he kills. 

 

This often leads to the death of the legionnaire in question, as, no matter how they might try, his brothers are unable to kill with the speed, strength and ferocity of one who is lost to the Curse and he would likely kill them if they did, so they are forced to abandon him as he pushes ever onward into the enemy ranks. However, sometimes the legionnaire will survive the battle. In these cases, the legionnaire will either be granted the Emperor's peace or put into stassis until the next battle, when he will be unleashed upon the foe in a last chance to die with some honour still intact. 

 

For many decades the Blood Wolves waged war in the Emperor’s name, watching as other legions discovered their primarchs until finally the Emperor sent word. The Blood Wolves were to assembled in orbit over the world of Mycenae. Their primarch had been found.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Sigismund229

[Apothecary Meros]

These guys sound like a mixture of Blood Angels and World Eaters...

 

And it's like a dream come true...

[Sigismund229]

These guys sound like a mixture of Blood Angels and World Eaters...

 

And it's like a dream come true...

Who just happen to be my two favourite legions ;) not that I like close combat oriented legions or anything....

 

In all seriousness though, I hope they aren't too much like those two legions(although obviously being a cc oriented legion, they will share some similarities. And being a purged legion they'll possess a flaw).

Edited August 14, 2016 by Sigismund229

[Apothecary Meros]

Well, the gene curse described in that last paragraph is very, very similar to the Black Rage. It's not a bad thing, I'm just saying it wasn't hard to tell where you found your inspiration. To be fair, the Blood Angels don't exist in this universe, and I don't have a better idea, so go nuts! Hack and slash!

[Sigismund229]

Well, the gene curse described in that last paragraph is very, very similar to the Black Rage. It's not a bad thing, I'm just saying it wasn't hard to tell where you found your inspiration. To be fair, the Blood Angels don't exist in this universe, and I don't have a better idea, so go nuts! Hack and slash!

Fair. The gene-curse was actually inspired by tge section in battle of the Fang where Helfist loses it but it is very similair to the Red Thirst and as you say the Blood Angels don't exist here ;)

Not mentioning the fact that the they deal with it is more similair to how the Spac Wolves deal with the wulfen than the BA deal with the red thirst(when they're not lost to it that is)

Edited August 14, 2016 by Sigismund229

[Apothecary Meros]

Fair enough, I know very little about the Wolves really apart from beards, axes and brothels. Although those three words alone is enough lore for me to say that I do quite like them.

[Sigismund229]

In an attempt to make it less "Black Rage but not" and more like a warrior being led to the gates of Valhalla(or Angron being lost to the nails, take your pick) I re wrote that part about the curse. What do we reckon people? Better? Worse?

 

However, it was also in these early years that the price the Blood Wolves paid for their abilities in close combat became painfully apparent. Known as the Curse, it was an ethereal thing that was as much a part of the III^rd's gene-seed as their enhanced muscle growth. While dangerous, it made them what they were and so they fought keeping it ever at their side, harnessing it rather than keeping it locked up inside of them, fighting with themselves always just a small step away from its jaws. However, this inevitably meant that some of them would misjudge their distance from it and allow themselves to be caught in its gullet. Once a warrior falls, everything he once was is washed away as the Curse siezes him and makes him its own. To onlookers, it is as if the legionnaire has been replaced by a slavering thing of snapping jaws and berserk fury, killing anyone who crosses his path. However, to the legionnaire afflicted the world is a red haze and he follows the shadows of fallen comrades who lead him every onwards towards a bright, golden light, a light from which he hears the sounds of laughter and warriors feasting. Gripped by the Curse he kills all who stand between him and the light, slavering and snapping about bright halls and peace as he kills.

 

This often leads to the death of the legionnaire in question, as, no matter how they might try, his brothers are unable to kill with the speed, strength and ferocity of one who is lost to the Curse and he would likely kill them of they did, so they are forced to abandon him as he pushes ever onwards into the enemy ranks. However, sometimes the legionnaire will survive the battle. In these cases, the legionnaire will either be granted the Emperor's peace or put into stassis until the next battle, when he will be unleashed upon the foe in a last chance to die with some honour still intact.

Edited August 14, 2016 by Sigismund229

[Apothecary Meros]

It looks great to me

[Sigismund229]

Hectarion Mycenor

It happened on the night of the Allfather. All across Mycenae, the tribes were feasting and drinking in celebration of having survived another year and in remembrance of those of their number who had been carried off to the hall's of the gods. Tales of glory in battle or upon the seas were told and warriors entertained the gathering with the dance of swords as their wives played instruments. However, then in the night sky a fiery star appeared. It came burning through the planet's atmosphere and crashed into the world in the middle of one of Mycenae's vast forests.

Having seen this fiery star crash, the King of the Sakseath tribe led his warriors out to investigate it. However, when he and his party reached the site of the crash, they didn't find a star. Instead, they found a child, bleeding and shocked but alive. At first, they were unsure of what to do for clearly this was no normal child but he was just as likely an ill omen as a gift from the gods. However, cutting through the warrior's arguments the tribe's seer, Marobodus, declared that he could hear the child's future and that he would lead the Sakseathai to greatness before returning to the stars to wage war alongside the Allfather himself until the world's dying days. This silenced all protest and King Vercerix Mycenor adopted the child as his son, naming him Hectarion Mycenor.

Unknown to the tribesmen of Mycenae, this child was no ill omen or gift but one of the 20 sons of the Emperor of mankind, the primarchs. Because of this lineage, the young Hectarion grew and learnt quickly and before long he took his place in the battle line and on the hunt beside warriors many times his age. It was during one of these hunts that Hectarion's tale began. The hunting party was attacked by a fearsome pride of stone lions, the male being the largest that any of the warrior's had ever seen. His pelt was so tough that their iron weapons shattered against it and so Hectarion dropped his weapons and instead grappled the lion to the ground, wrestling with it until finally he broke its neck. He then claimed the beast's pelt as trophy, one that he still wears to this day.

There are many other stories of deeds accomplished by Hectarion in his youth. He scaled the cliffs of the Mount Æsgard, cliffs that had killed every other hero that attempted to climb them. He climbed Ygdrassen, an enormous tree at the centre of Mycenae with a trunk as thick as ten dreadnoughts standing next to each other, and then drank from the well of wisdom at the top of it. When his tribes passage across the seas was blocked by the giant Jari at the Pass of Kings, Hectarion threw a stone at the giant's head so hard that it went through the old giant's eye and into his brain. These are just some of the stories that are told of his deeds for there are too many to tell here.

However, while the veracity of some of these stories is questionable, what is beyond dispute is that under Hectarion's leadership the warriors of the Sakseathai defeated all who stood before them. With every passing year their territory grew and as it did so, so did their power and wealth. They were at their zenith. Then, with his 40^th summer drawing to a close, Hectarion's adoptive father announced that he and the other aged men of the tribe were going hunting. So it was that they went out into the wilderness as the snows began to blow and the storms wracked the seas. While Hectarion waited for his father each day atop the hill where they had parted each day for the entire winter, he was eventually forced to admit that, like so many others who had gone before him, King Vercerix wasn't returning.

Taking over leadership of his tribe, Hectarion led them bravely in war and gradually began to conquer the other tribes of Mycenae, subjecting more tribes to his rule than any king had done since the days of the High Kings. He wrestled with the mightiest champion of the Geats to win their allegiance and married the daughter of the King of the Vestgöt, tying their two tribes together(although she would die that winter of a sickness, the alliance her marriage to Hectarion had created endured past her death). When he demanded the alliegiance of the island tribes, they told him he could only have it if he caught the serpent who encircled the world. Taking his longship out to sea, Hectarion hooked and killed the largest drakfaraigge ever seen by any Mycenaean, although it almost cost him his hand. Impressed, the island tribes joined him. Eventually, Hectarion had the allegiance of every tribe save the Romuvai.

Calling his warriors to him, Hectarion invaded their land with an enormous host. The Romuvai mustered every warrior at their disposal but still their army was but a fraction of the size of Hectarion's. In desperation, they sacrificed their eight mightiest warriors called upon their gods to help them and they were answered. In the place of their eight warriors appeared a vast deamon of the warp, a bloodthirster who called himself Ma'annan. The earth at his feet caught fire and the rain that had been pouring down from the storm clouds turned to blood as the two armies clashed and the heart of the battle were Hectarion Ma'annan, locked in a furious battle.

When the storm clouds cleared and dawn came, it was Hectarion who was roaring his triumph to the skies. He had emerged victorious and, at long last, the tribes of Mycenae were united under a single High King once more.

However, in the year that followed his victory, Hectarion began to discover its price. He, like his sons, was wrathful in war and through that chink in his spirit's armour, Ma'annan had left a small piece of hinself inside Hectarion's mind. Over the year that followed his victory, Hectarion frequently dissapeared into the wilderness to hunt on his own and be alone with his warring soul. Finally, a year after his victory of Ma'annan, a wanderer visited his hall. Hectarion held a grand feast that night and asked that the wanderer tell his life's story and tales of places he had been. This the wanderer did, then revealing himself to be the Emperor he asked that Hectarion swear allegiance to him. Angered, Hectarion demanded that the stranger prove himself in war and defeat Hectarion in a duel. Only then would Hectarion swear fealty to him.

So the Emperor and Hectarion fought. As they did so, the Emperor looked into his son's soul and saw the war that raged inside him. He defeated Hectarion and cast him to the ground, where Hectarion bared his throat so that the Emperor might finish him. Instead, the Emperor banished as much of Ma'annan's essence from Hectarion's mind as he was able to without killing Hectarion, who then gladly swore allegiance to the Emperor before feasting the Emperor and his two brothers who had been waiting in orbit, Alexandros Darshan von Salim and Daer'dd Niimkiikaa, and the commanders of his legion, the Blood Wolves for a week. 

Edited August 15, 2016 by Sigismund229

[Sigismund229]

Edit: This section of fluff is no longer valid

Edited August 15, 2016 by Sigismund229

[Sigismund229]

Legion Organization and Structure

Of all the legions, it is the Crimson Lions who have deviated furthest from what could be considered the standard structure and hierarchy of the legions. Based on the structure of the barbarian tribes of their homeworld, the III^rd legion’s structure is, in its own way, every bit as confusing and hierarchical as that of the Warbringers but with none of the similarities to the usual organization of a legion. In addition to this, a warrior’s rank within the Crimson Lions does not always show how much authority he possesses, for the son of Mycenae respect skill at arms and courage more than rank and have a profound respect for any who have displayed these two qualities.

 

The largest units employed by the Crimson Lions are the Clans. Unlike the more common Grand Company or Chapter, the Clans have no fixed size. Instead, their numbers constantly fluctuate depending upon their leader’s personal charisma and the Clan’s martial success meaning that a Clan’s size can be anywhere between a few thousand to many tens of thousands of legionnaires. In another variation from standard organization, the Clans are not numbered. Instead, each is named after its founder.

 

At the head of each Clan is a Myrvallen. Translating from Mycenaean as “War Leader”, each of the Myrvalli is a warrior and tactician of enormous skill, each being among the finest warriors to be found in all the legions. The process by which a Myrvallen is selected will sometimes vary from Clan to Clan but by and large they are chosen by an election from amongst the warriors of the Clan. Instead of the usual show of hands, this is done by each warrior in the Clan throwing his weapon at the feet of his preferred candidate. This is a symbolic act, signifying that the warrior will help the candidate defend his “right” to the Clan’s leadership with his weapon if he must. If any one candidate has an overwhelmingly large number of swords around him then he is made Myrvallen. However, more frequently several candidates will have an almost equal number of swords and so the matter will then be decided by a series of trials of endurance, strength and courage, with the victor of these trials being made new Myrvallen. On occasion, the loser of these trials will break away from the Clan whose leadership he lost and instead found his own Clan, supported by the warriors of the Clan who supported him rather than the victorious candidate. However, this is rare as the Crimson Lions respect strength and courage above all and in order to be victorious in the trials, the new Myrvallen will have to have demonstrated these qualities in abundance, meaning that Myrvalli who form a Clan in this way need to be charismatic in the extreme.

 

Beneath the Myrvallen is the Clan’s Dryos and the various Rixi of the Clan. The Rixi are the Myrvallen’s subordinates, each one the leader of a brotherhood. The equivalent of a company in another legion, brotherhoods, like clans, have no fixed size and their size is dependent on the Rix’s charisma and success in war. However, unlike the clans, when a Rix dies his successor is chosen by the Clan’s Myrvallen, frequently, although not always, from amongst the former Rix’s chosen warriors. By contrast, the Clan’s Dryos is selected by Hectarion himself. Unlike the Myrvalli and Rixi, who are all leaders of men, the Dryos of a clan commands no warriors. Instead, his duty is to act as an advisor to the Myrvallen, safeguard the traditions of the Clan, oversee the selection of a new Myrvallen upon the death of his predecessor and enforce the laws of the legion within the Clan. Because of these duties, the Dryos is frequently a veteran warrior of proven wisdom and martial skill. While the Dryos of a Clan is not officially superior to the Rixi and is officialy inferior to the Myrvalli, it is not uncommon for a Myrvallen to defer to his Dryos in some matters and the Rixi always treat the Dryos with great respect and obey any order he might give. However, the Dryos will never command men as his place is at the Myrvallen’s side, both in war and peace.

 

In addition to the Dryos, a Myrvallen(and indeed a Rix) will always be accompanied by his chosen warriors, his curadhi. These warriors are frequently compared to the veterans found in other legions but this comparison is misleading for a warrior is not required to be a veteran to be inducted into this esteemed brotherhood. Instead all he required to do is catch his Rix or Myrvallen’s eye with some feat of arms and it is then up to the Rix or Myrvallen in question whether to take the warrior into his curadhi. Because of this, it is as for warriors in their lord’s curadhi to have been chosen from the ranks of young and hot-headed getae as the veteran warriors of the galloglaich. However, while the role of curadhi is primarily martial it is not solely martial. They also serve their lord as emissaries for diplomatic missions, administrators if their lord rules over a section of the Dominion and commanders of expeditions which their lord is unable to oversee personally.

 

The vast bulk of a Clan or brotherhood’s manpower will be composed of the Trodaiar. These are warriors who have had their youthful belligerence tempered in the fires of war by service in the getae. While the Trodaiar are often found forming the backbone of the Crimson Lion’s battle line in the shield wall, they are equally capable of turning their hands to any task, from wielding the heavy weapons confined the devastator squads in other legions to scouting out their surroundings using the skills they learnt as tribesmen on Mycenae. Leading them are the Kahoier, warriors of a rank roughly equivalent to that of sergeants in another legion. Like all officers of the III^rd the Kahoier wear a torc in addition to or in preference of a crest to signify their rank and they are all warriors of proven skill in war and it is for this reason that they are chosen by their Rix to succeed their predecessor.

 

In addition to the Trodaiar and Kahoier, there are also the getae, sperothai and galloglaich. Of the lowest rank are the getae. The youngest of the Crimson Lions, the getae have yet to have their youthful belligerence tempered by experience. Because of this, they are equipped with jump packs and are ever in the vanguard ahead of the shield wall honing their skill in battle and unleashing their youthful eagerness for battle upon their foes. In this they are led by Sperothai. Like the Trodaiar, the Sperothai have experienced many battles. Unlike the Trodaiar, the Sperothai never grew out of their youthful lust for glory and belligerence and so continue to serve alongside the getae as sergeant figures, directing the getae’s efforts and watching over them even as they themselves revel in the joy of being in the vanguard. At the other end of the spectrum are the galloglaich. Veterans of a hundred battles who have lost many of the brothers with whom they started service, the galloglaich form themselves into squads of “greybeards” and fight at the flanks of their lord’s pezhetari, wielding the fearsome Mycenaean long-axe or falcan blade with their shield slung over their shoulder as they fight to ensure that their tale has a glorious ending and providing an anchor around which the shield wall can form.

 

Outside of this structure are the Sagartaith, Leighi, Cocidii and the Madrai. The simplest of these to explain are the Cocidii. Ordinary warriors, the Cocidii do not pledge themselves to any Clan. Instead, they travel between the Clans as they wish, seeking out the warzones in which they believe there is most glory to be won. Once in the warzone, they seek out the greatest enemy heroes they can find and attempt to slay them.

 

The Sagartaith and Alauri are the Crimson Lions Librarius-Chaplaincy and Apothacerion respectively. Each of them has its own organization and ranks separate from that of the standard legion and each is a separate entity, independent of the Clans. Because of this, the number of apothaceries(Alauri) and Librarians(Sagartaithi) who are assigned to any given Clan is dependent upon the whims of the current Lords of the Alauri and the Sagartaithi.

 

The Alauri are organized into two orders, the Leighai and the Cneasai. The Cneasai are responsible for the implanting of the gene-seed into new recruits and for working to eradicate flaws found within the gene-seed while the Leighai are responsible for monitoring the gene-seed stocks of the legion and ensuring that no mutation takes place. Within these orders there are several ranks. There are the Dochtuir, neophytes who are still learning the art of the Alauri, an Alauros, a fully-fledged member of one of the two orders who has learnt the art of the Alauri, a Fialeghai, an Alauros who is responsible for the training of new Alauri, a Celighos , a rank that is somewhat akin to being a captain among apothaceries, a Celighos is normally responsible for the gene-seed of a single clan. Finally, there are the two Konulaighi, the heads of the two orders of Alauri and bearers of the two grails of Mycenae(the grail of Camulus, carried by the Lord of the Cneasai and the grail of Ankunus, carried by the Lord of the Leighai). The rank of a Crimson Lions apothacery is generally shown by the amount of white on his armour. If only his helmet is white then he is a Dochtuir, if his helmet and torso then he is an Alauros. If all of his armour is white except his arms, then he is a Celighos and if his armour is completely white then he one of the Konulaighi and if his armour except his arms is white and his arms are bronze coloured then he is one of the Fialeghai. In addition to the varying degrees of whiteness of their armour, most Alauri beyond the rank of Dochtuir wear helmets shaped to resemble skulls with fanged teeth, a visage meant to resemble the Bassi who, according to Mycenaean legend, ride on the wind and carry a warrior to Hados’ halls.

 

The Sagartaith are the pyskers of the Crimson Lions legion, fulfilling both the roles of the Librarius and Chaplaincy. They are organized into three orders, the Fathai, the Firrinoimeadai and the Gutuatri. While all of the orders harness their psychic powers and tend to the souls of their brothers in the Clans, they specialise in different areas. The Fathai specialise in the art of prophecy and tending to the souls of warriors whose pride has been dealt a severe blow. The Firrinoimeadai specialise in more destructive and potent forms of psychic abilities, mainly pyromancy and harnessing the power of Mycenae to attack their foes with storms, and in exhorting their brothers to ever greater heights of faith in the Imperial Truth and revulsion of xenos. The Gutuatri specialise in psychic arts to add to the power of their brothers around, calling on the winds of Mycenae to grant them speed or the anger of Mycenae’s storms to grant them strength and learn the rituals that bind the Crimson Lions together before battle and they also learn and tell the tales of various of the Crimson Lions mighty deeds.

 

Within the Sagartaith there are various ranks. The first is that of Earcachos, an apprentice who has demonstrated psychic ability. Then there are the Teagascai who have chosen not to devote themselves to any order and instead to focus on the training of new Sagartaiathi. Amongst the orders there are Laochi, the equivalent of codiciers, Paithi, the equivalent of an epistolary, the three Taisechi, each of whom is the head of an order and the Konungos who is aligned with none of the orders and fulfils the roles of Chief Librarian and High Chaplain. Ranks within the Sagartaith are indicated much like ranks within the apothacerion. However, each of the orders has a different colour which is used to indicate that a Sagartaiathi is part of that order. The Fathai use orange, the Firrinoimeadai use black and the Gutuatri use stormcloud grey, with the torso and helmet being the order’s colour representing a Laochi, the torso, helm and legs a Paithi and all of the armour being the order’s colour representing one of the Taisechi and all pyskers within the Crimson Lions legion also wear a silver face mask to mark them out from their brothers as pyskers.

 

The Madrai are the techmarines. Outsiders from the standard Clans, the Madrai are viewed as somewhat eccentric by the rest of the legion. Entrusted with the maintenance of the Crimson Lions wargear, the Madrai spend more of their time amongst machines than they do with their brothers and as such are gradually frozen out from the circle of brotherhood that unites all the sons of Hectarion. So it is that, when there are no pieces of armour, weapon or machines to repair, the Madrai spend their time embellishing their own armour and bionics or that of the machines they repair. The result are pieces of armour and machines of great beauty and ornate detail.

 

Finally, there is Clan Mycenor. 11,000 strong, the legionnaires of Clan Mycenor are mostly referred to as the Sceathai. They are Hectarion’s chosen warriors and each one is handpicked by Maridius “Iron-arm”, the closest thing that the Crimson Lions have to a first captain. Also contained within Clan Mycenor are the Myramodons, Hectarion’s personal bodyguard of 20 of the Legion’s finest champions of whom 10 are always at his side. In addition, Clan Mycenor contains two brotherhoods of specialist troops, the Improdoi, the Crimson Lions terminator and boarding action specialists and Inroiar, the Crimson Lions planetary assault elite.

 

The last element of the Crimson Lions ranks is the appellation of Lord. There is no official rank to which this corresponds. Instead this is used by Crimson Lions to refer to their immediate superior, so a member of the Trodaiar might refer to his Kahoier as “My lord” and a Rix or Myrvallen can also be described a lord of his brotherhood or clan, so Maridius “Iron-arm” might be referred to as Lord of Clan Mycenor just as Gathos, Rix of the Improdoi is frequently referred to as Lord of the Improdoi. 

[Sigismund229]

So, Grifftofter has sent me how the Crimson Lions general history section is looking atm and, joy of joys, I still have room to fill. Because of this, I've decided to break down the rather rushed Great Crusade section of their general fluff and use more of the 20k or so words of fluff for the Lions that I have left. 

 

Old Wounds

While the grand feast held by Hectarion for his father, brothers and sons lasted a week, during which time the primarch of the III^rd legion learnt much about his heritage and heard many tales of the mighty deeds of his brothers and sons in the Great Crusade, it was eventually ended and the Emperor asked Hectarion if he would take up command of his sons and join him in the Great Crusade. Seeing that this was the war it had been prophesied he was destined to fight when he was first found by his adoptive father, Hectarion readily accepted his task. Upon taking command of the III^rd, Hectarion declared “Wolves skulk about in the shadows. They wait for their enemy to weaken and tire before they strike. We shall not do so my sons. We shall roar in defiance of old night and drive it back into the shadows. You will be wolves no more. Tyrants and traitors shall all tremble at the Lions roar” and in honour of this declaration, the III^rd legion rebranded themselves the Crimson Lions.

 

When Hectarion joined his legion, he brought with him several thousand new recruits to join their ranks. These early Mycenaean’s were the members of the host with which Hectarion had conquered Mycenae who were still young enough for gene-seed implantation and whose skill upon the battlefield had been proved during the primarch’s conquests. With these fresh additions to their ranks, the newly renamed Crimson Lions returned to the Great Crusade with their primarch at their head and fighting at the side of the Halycon Wardens. The reason for this deployment of the III^rd alongside the V^th was twofold. The primary and most obvious reason for it was that the Emperor had entrusted the education of Hectarion with all matters regarding his new duties as a primarch and leader of a legion and expeditionary fleet to Alexandros Darshan von Salim, primarch of the Halycon Wardens. However, there was a secondary reason and that was to heal the rifts between the III^rd and the V^th. For a long time there had been bad blood between the two legions as it had been the Halycon Warden’s predecessors, the Storm Riders, who had subdued Jurfik and the wounds of that bloody conquest were still bloody and raw in the Crimson Lion’s minds even eight decades into the Great Crusade. Therefore, part of the aim of the deployment of the Crimson Lions and Halycon Wardens was to patch up the open wounds between the two legions.

 

The deeds accomplished in concert were many and too numerous to go into here. Suffice to say that, after four years deployed alongside each other, the Crimson Lions and Halycon Wardens had healed the rift between them. Indeed, many of the warriors from each legion now had honour brothers within the other and many had served in combined squads made up of both Halycon Wardens and Crimson Lions. In the Crimson Lions case, many of the warriors who had done so commemorated their service in such squads through the wearing of a bronze medallion built to resemble the tower shields that were so popular in the Halycon Wardens and acid etched with the number V. Some warriors even went so far as to swap weapons meaning that, while rare, power lances like those used by the Halycon Wardens were not unheard of within the Crimson Lions. To this day, the two legions are still amongst the closest of any of the legions.

 

 

It was also during this period that Hectarion reorganized his legion to better suit his preferred style of war and to resemble the structure of the Mycenaean war bands that Hectarion had commanded for much of his life. With this restructuring of the legion, gone were the ferocious drop pod assaults of the Blood Wolves and in its place was the shield wall of Mycenae. Now, instead of beheading their enemy’s command structure the Crimson Lions advanced in a shield wall, crushing their enemy beneath the wall of shields and their ferocity in close combat. In addition to this change in style of warfare, the organization within the III^rd legion changed. While it had always diverged from the normal structure of the legion’s, with Hectarion’s reorganization of the legions it became almost unrecognizable, in some ways more similar to the barbarian war bands the astartes fought than the other legions. 

[Sigismund229]

The Foundations of Empire

Following Alexandros’ decision that there was no more Hectarion needed to learn from him, Hectarion took his leave of his brother for there were other wars that needed prosecuting and the legion’s needed to spread themselves across the galaxy rather than fight as one concentrated mass. So it was that Hectarion ordered all of his sons to gather themselves in orbit above their new home world of Mycenae. Heeding their father’s call, they did so and after two months, during which every Crimson Lions detachment from all across the Great Crusade assembled over Mycenae, the entire might of the III^rd was gathered. A force of nearly 75,000 warriors, they were then told by their father of their mission.

 

For much of the Great Crusade prior to this point, the direction of the Expeditionary Fleets had been directed eastwards, towards and past the Maelstrom and onward towards the Eastern Fringe and the Ghoul Stars. However, Hectarion declared that henceforth that would change as he and his sons, the Crimson Lions, would seek out their destiny in the north of the galaxy and carry the Imperial Truth to its farthest reaches.

 

Following this, Hectarion led his sons out in full force from Mycenae and into the north. The first system that they found was the system of Cretos and at its heart the world of Kanossia. When all attempts at negotiation were violently rebuffed by the Kanossians, the Crimson Lions readied themselves for war and fell upon the sector, subjugating it in three days. As the pyres of those few Crimson Lions who had died during the subjugation of Kanossia burned, Hectarion addressed his legion. He declared to them that, while his father had set out from Terra with the goal of uniting humanity, no ruler could hope to rule such a vast domain from Terra with any degree of effectiveness. Therefore, it was the duty of the Emperor’s sons, the primarchs and their legions to see to the rule of their own domains. So began the Dominion of Mycenae, the Crimson Lions’ empire within an empire.

 

As the ashes from the Crimson Lions funeral pyres on Kanossia were scattered across the world’s surface by the wind and Peeter Egon Momus and Hectarion’s own brother, Niklaas, set to work creating the architectural plans for the city that would become the administrative heart of Hectarion’s newly founded empire and the Labour fleets of the Mechanicus set to work building it, Hectarion’s sons launched themselves into the warp again, bound for many different destinations. Some would follow Hectarion’s newly appointed second in command, Maridius, into the Blood Stars, others would conquer their way towards the warp anomaly known as the Eye of Terror. Others still would head north east. No matter where they went, the Crimson Lions would now conquer worlds not just for the Imperium but for their primarch’s burgeoning realm.

 

For the next century, the Crimson Lions fought bravely on a thousand battlefields, for both the Emperor and their primarch, roaring the traditional battle cry of Jurfik, “Til Uprannan! Til Valhal!”, wherever they went and adding hundreds of worlds to both the Imperium and the Dominion of Mycenae. However, their campaign was temporarily halted when they received a command from the Emperor himself: they were to muster alongside the Halycon Wardens, Lightning Bearers, Scions Hospitalier, Drowned, Dune Serpents, Grave Stalkers and Stygian Jackals for a campaign against a mutated horror of humanity known as the Qarith.

 

The war that followed was bloody and was witness to many moments of heroism and brotherhood among the legions and between the primarchs. However, it faded into insignificance compared to the culmination of the campaign. Upon a continent built by the Mechanicus among the glittering oceans of Qarith Prime, the Emperor announced to the assembled warriors of the Imperium that he was leaving the Great Crusade for Terra and he was to be succeeded as leader of the Imperium’s armies by the newly crowned Warmaster: Alexandros Darshan von Salim. It was the end of an era. 

[Sigismund229]

The Age of Warmaster

Following the Emperor proclaiming Alexandros Darshan von Salim Warmaster of the Imperium, the Crimson Lions returned to their campaigns in the northern section of the galaxy along the borders of the Dominion of Mycenae. Of the legions, the Crimson Lions were rare in that they were utterly loyal to the newly appointed Warmaster. Where many other legions had doubts and believed that Icarion Anasem, primarch of the I^st or their own primarch ought to have been made Warmaster, the Crimson Lions trusted to the Emperor’s judgement. Because of this, whereas the Warmaster was forced to travel to visit many of his brother primarchs in person in order to soothe their wounded pride or assuage their doubts, he was able to leave the Crimson Lions to their own campaigns.

 

In these years, those following the proclamation of the Warmaster, the Crimson Lions steadily grew both their legion and the Dominion as well as cementing their hold on those worlds already under their rule. Establishing stewards and garrisons of Crimson Lions as well as appointing Crimson Lions to rule various sections of the Dominion, they even began to introduce the obligation of paying a limited amount of tribute to Kanossia from those worlds that were part of the Dominion.

 

In these years, the Crimson Lions accomplished victory after victory on the Imperium’s northern frontier, adding world after world to their empire and the Imperium. By the 40.M31, the Dominion of Mycenae numbered over 300 worlds, not factoring in the border worlds and veteran’s colonies that comprised the various marches of Mycenae that were exempt from paying tribute. By the same date, the Crimson Lions had grown from being 130,000 after the Qarith Triumph to numbering between 180,000 and 200,000 strong. While the majority of these recruits still hailed from Mycenae, many of them came from other worlds within the Dominion from which the Crimson Lions could draw recruits such as Caliban and Ceredigia.

 

However, despite all of these triumphs and successes both on the battlefield and off, the Crimson Lions were still plagued by the Curse. Fighting in the fury of close combat the Crimson Lions still kept the Curse close to them so as to benefit from the strength it gave but this meant that the Curse continued to take their brothers, turning them into maddened berserkers led on by shadows and leading them into the midst of the enemy formations where they were killed. It is unknown how many brothers the Crimson Lions lost to the Curse or to their quest to find a remedy for it while keeping the strength it gave them. Yet despite this, they refused to let the Curse conquer them and drive them to despair and so they continued to prosecute the Great Crusade with the same joyful ferocity as they had always done and utter faith in the Imperial cause as they had always done, conquering new worlds and ruling the Dominion as war lords without peer and rulers to match the great kings of ancient Terra, Theodoric and Clovis, Alexandre and Karloman.

[Sigismund229]

Legacies of Mycenae

As with many legions, the home world of the Crimson Lions is their primarch’s home world of Mycenae. Around 23% larger than Terra and orbited by its twin moons, Feri and Hasti, Mycenae is a feral world whose technology is similar to that of ancient Terrans in the early Iron Age.

 

The terrain of Mycenae is similar to how many believe north Europa used to appear as it is largely covered in grassland and dense forest of trees that can rise up to a hundred metres in height interspersed with towering mountains. While warm in the summer months, in the winter as the snows fall the temperature drops rapidly and the grasslands are wracked by snow storms which are so fierce that they rip off the skin of any who are exposed to them and upon Mycenae’s oceans, these storms raise up enormous waves that swallow entire ships never to be seen again and winds blow so strong that ships are capsized by them.

 

This hard climate also breeds tough predators against which the Mycenaeans are constantly locked in a game of cat and mouse with. The two most famous of these predators are undoubtedly the stone lions and drakfaraigge. The stone lions are enormous beasts who are without a doubt the apex predators on the land of Mycenae, often coming to 12 metres in length and having pelts so tough that they withstand axe blows. Combined with their sheer size and the fact that they often hunt in packs, this makes stone lions tough beasts to hunt and it is a point of immense pride for a Mycenaean warrior have hunted and killed a stone lion, even among the gene enhanced Crimson Lions. Next to these apex predators on the land are the drakfairagge, who indisputably rule Mycenae’s oceans. Resembling serpents but with thick scales and thick bone crests on their heads, none know how large the drakfaraigge are for any who have seen the whole body of one vanish beneath the waves, taking their knowledge with them. The most that many see of them are their scaled necks and heads, which still rises 10 to 15 metres out of the waves. With a bite powerful enough to snap a ship in half, drakfaraigge are only very rarely defeated by Mycenaean warriors and in the vast majority of cases they will devour their prey and vanish beneath the oceans. Because of this, it is the drakfaraigge that the warriors of Mycenae fear above all else that inhabits their world’s oceans, despite the various Magos Biologis theorizing that those found on the surface are only juveniles.

 

These dangers that they need to battle on a daily basis, from the unforgiving climate of their home to its deadly predators, have forged the people of Mycenae into a hardy and warlike people. Living on Mycenae’s grasslands in summer and migrating to the mountains or forests in the winter to escape the snow storms and waist deep snows, the tribes are often at war with one another. Mainly these wars take the form of raids to steal another tribe’s cattle or take members of other tribes as slaves or battles over the best grazing land or the most sheltered patches of land as winter sets in. Even in the depths of winter the tribes fight each other and launch their warriors out over the oceans of Mycenae, this time over the basic necessities of life such as food so that they might survive the winter.

 

 

With every day being a battle for survival, the people of Mycenae grow strong or they die. Indeed, as winter closes in, often the tribe’s eldest warriors will announce that they are going hunting. Come summer, they are sometimes found with their fingers blackened from frostbite and tears of agony frozen upon their cheeks. More often, they disappear into the wilderness never to be seen again. Yet, despite its brutality, this warlike life forges them into ideal recruits for the legions and it is from these savage and warlike tribes that the Crimson Lions often hail. 

[Sigismund229]

The Siege of Vrissen

         While the III legion has suffered through many savage and bloody campaigns on the northern fringes of the Imperium, among the most infamous of these is the siege of Vrissen. To this day, the III legion hasn't forgotten this bloody affair and the brothers they lost on the world. 

 

           Located on the outskirts of the Eye of Terror, Vrissen was a world of few resources and even fewer inhabitants. However, at the centre of the world was the Great Labyrinth, built by a near mythical figure known as the Builder King. A masterfully built maze, the Great Labyrinth was an ever changing and ever shifting complex filled with in built defences and traps, making it an ideal defensive point and a living hell for any who attempted to assault it.  However, the foe who the III would face when trying to take this structure was not the descendents of the men who built it. Instead, it was the Eldar, a cabal of whom had taken up residence amidst the labyrinth and were launching raids into the surrounding worlds, seeking to cause suffering and take slaves, with whom they would then vanish back into the webway and the dark city from whence they came.  

 

           It was because of this that the Crimson Lions launched their assault on Vrissen. They had been told by the inhabitants of the border territories of their empire of the nefarious and cruel Eldar who were raiding their worlds and the Crimson Lions had tracked these raiders back to Vrissen. Seeing the labyrinth from orbit and deducing that it was from here that the Eldar were launching their assaults, Myrvallen Karakal immediately ordered an assault upon the structure, so that he and his marines might put a stop to the Eldar's raids as soon as possible and return to the front lines of the Great Crusades. 

 

           So it was that the Crimson Lions attacked this fortress, easily gaining entrance but then discovering the  true nature of the fortress. Undeterred by this, the Lions kept up their relentless assault through the endless corridors and mazes of the labyrinth, being repeatedly ambushed by the Eldar who resided within. However, the Eldar had underestimated their foe, for each time they struck, the Lions simply formed up shield to shield, creating an impenetrable wall, against which the Eldar threw themselves but to no avail. The only exception to this were the getae, who threw themselves headlong into the Eldar ambushes, glorying in the swirling chaos of close combat and the ability it gave them to both earn glory and to display their fighting skills and, while they inflicted heavy casualties on the Eldar, they suffered heavy losses for their recklessness. 

 

          While each Eldar assault did little to damage the solid wall of the shields presented by the astartes of the III, as the campaign ground on and on, with the astartes of the Crimson Lions seemingly unable to reach the centre of the massive labyrinth, their casualties began to mount, their numbers chipped away at by the Eldar and by the innate defences of the labyrinth. Some brothers even became cut off from their squads and were never heard from again. If they were lucky, they were killed by the Eldar or the defences of the labyrinth. If not, they were dragged off by the Eldar to the dark spires and eternal night of Commorragh. Still the killing dragged on until finally, the Crimson Lions reached the centre of the labyrinth to find that their enemy had vanished, taking with him every trace of his presence, even their dead. 

 

            While a victory for the III, it was an empty one. They had lost hundreds of brothers amidst the twisting paths of the labyrinth over the two months they had been locked in that hell, many of whose gene seed had gone un recovered due to lack of an Alauros to harvest it and at the end of it, they had been unable to annihilate their enemy, who had fled into their webway most likely. So it was, that the warriors of Clan Karakal all took an oath that someday, they would find the dark city to which the cowardly Eldar had fled and destroy it, slaughter its inhabitants, tear down its buildings, leave no stone standing and inscribed the names of all the brothers they had lost onto their armour as a constant reminder of their oath(an oath then taken by every warrior of the III). While they have yet to make good on this oath and sate their need for revenge, the Crimson Lions have not forgotten. Nor have they forgiven. 

Edited August 16, 2016 by Sigismund229

[Sigismund229]

The Lion Packs by Gerold Camraig

 

Unlike many legions who operate in companies of a fixed size and position within the legion, the Clans of the Crimson Lions are ever changing in size and their prestige and influence within the legion fluctuates as frequently as their size does. The tides of which clan is in ascendancy is shown by their Myrvallen’s position at the feast of the Allfather. The more influential the clan, the closer their Myrvallen will be to Hectarion at the feast table.

In addition to this fluctuation, the Clans ever changing nature and habit of taking recruits not only from Mycenae but also other suitable worlds within the Dominion leads to a considerable and in many cases surprising amount of variation in the Clan’s culture and while the culture of Mycenae is still ascendant, there are echoes of many other cultures in many clans, including those of the earliest Crimson Lions who hailed from Albion.

 

The Lions’ Cradle

After the fall of Narthan Dume, the military covenant between Albion’s warlords splintered, and the region descended into war. For many centuries the kingdoms that sprung up in the place of old Albion warred incessantly with each other, yet whenever one managed to unite several kingdoms into a power that could reunite Albion, the remaining kingdoms would always band together and cast down this new power. So it remained for many centuries until finally the warriors of Jurfik formed an alliance with the western Nords and the Danes to overcome their neighbours and become the most powerful of the Albionic kingdoms.

Despite its ascendancy, Jurfik never truly managed to reunite Albion beneath its rule. While Meriac, Caledonia and Powys bent the knee, as did the west Nords and Danes and the Frysii, Jurfik lacked the strength to expand any further for its warriors were stretched thin fighting a hundred foes. So it was that the mountain fastnesses of Giwanedd, the fortresses of Kynt and the warriors of Cernath remained independent. Beyond the borders of Jurfik and Albion, the small states of Ulesur, Conaghet, Dublay and Monsteyar all vied messily for dominance. Ultimitely however, when Jurfik was forced to bend the knee to the Imperium, those of the Albionic states who had not already done so had to follow and so the III^rd legion gained its first recruits.

 

Clan Mycenor

Roughly analogous to the First Companies of other Legions, Mycenor are led by the Primarch himself. Chosen from amongst the ranks of the other Clans, each member of Clan Mycenor is a hero whose deeds are many and numerous. Indeed, many of the legionaires who make up the ranks of Clan Mycenor are able to boast of having accompanied the primarch in his campaigns when he was still just a tribal leader on Mycenae. Clan Mycenor also contains two unique brotherhoods, the Improdoi and the Inoroiar, the Crimson Lions terminator combat and planetary assault specialists respectively.

Fighting wherever the battle rages fiercest, the sceathai of Clan Mycenor fight in the frontline of the shield wall alongside their primarch and as suits their role as his shield-bearers they are granted the full range of the III^rd legion armoury from which to choose their equipment, with many choosing to clad themselves in hulking suits of terminator armour while wielding a shield to fight in as part of the shield wall.

 

Clan Balda

Clan Balda is an oddity in that the Terran marines who constituted many of its first members did not hail from Jurfik but instead from Giwanedd.  A mountainous realm, Giwanedd had long remained independent of Jurfik yet seeing the threat of the Imperium had sent its warriors to fight alongside those of Jurfik. Called sons of the storm by the warriors of Jurfik, many of them possessed a psychic ability which they had, for many centuries, used to safeguard their realm from foreign invaders. This heritage was present in many of the hirdband of the Blood Wolves, scattered until Hectarion brought them together in Clan Balda which continues to bear more resemblance to these early warriors than the boisterous sons of Jurfik.

Balda are often of quieter temperament than their brothers in other clans, they boisterous natures tempered by many winter night spent hunting in the peaks of Mycenae’s mountains. Masters of manoeuvring at speed in tight surroundings, they favour long-range weapons over melee combat, their culture suppressing some of the Getae’s more boisterous tendencies. However, the legionnaires of Balda are implacable once the hunt is joined for, like all Crimson Lions, they take savage delight in the hunt and spend much of their time on their home world hunting amidst its forests and mountains.

Myrvallen Gwythdr Antathos of the ancient Mawddach wartribe leads the Clan, one of the few psykers to hold such a lofty command within the Legions. It was at his instigation that they chose Ceredigia as a secondary base after Mycenae, the Myrvallen deeming the mountainous, rain-swept world to be “just like home”.

 

Clan Briganda

Of the various clans beneath Clan Mycenor, it is currently Clan Briganda that is in ascendance as the most powerful. Much of this is due to the charisma of Myrvallen Serenos. For the past two decades he has led his Clan from the chaos following his predecessor’s death that led to Clan Briganda’s split between Clan Briganda and Clan Karakal and in that time his Clan’s numbers have swelled to their present strength of 38,000 legionaries.

With this great strength, Clan Briganda have brought more worlds into compliance in recent years than any of their fellows in other clans and accomplished many great victories such as the Veroch war against the orks of Waaagh! Thargetha. With victories such as these, it is hardly surprising that Myrvallen Serenos currently bears the honour of being the Myrvallen seated at Hectarion’s right hand side during feasts.

 

Clan Ikenos

Clan Ikenos’ are a clan of a long and proud past that can trace their roots back to the legion’s unification with their primarch. In those first days they were led by Myrvallen Ikenos, the scion of the one the Sakseath tribe’s most prominent warrior families and one Hectarion’s most stalwart companions. In those days they were the most prominent of the clans and it was Myrvallen Ikenos who sat at Hectarion’s right hand side. While the clan has since declined in power and influence they are still influential and Myrvallen Tincomos sits close to the head of feast table.

The current leader of Clan Ikenos is Myrvallen Tincomos. He has led Clan Ikenos in dozens of wars and bears the distinction of having been at the vanguard of the Crimson Lions battle line at the battle of Darrak, where the III^rd fought the horrors of the warp. Wielding his two handed slashing sword, he fought his way through the warp spawned horrors with his curadhi fighting by his side, many of them wielding weapons similar to their lords, until they were ordered to withdraw by the primarch and even then, Tincomos was the last of the Crimson Lions to board the stormbird.

 

 

Clan Karakal

Of all the clans, Clan Karakal is the newest. It was formed when Cruach Karakal lost his bid to win leadership of Clan Briganda to Myrvallen Serenos. As a result, Cruach and his supporters broke away from Clan Briganda and formed Clan Karakal. Because of its youth and relatively small size, Clan Karakal is among the less powerful clans, surpassing only Clan Tauran.

As a youth, Myrvallen Cruach Karakal was born into the savage tribes of Mycenae’s far north. Running across the frozen wastes of his home, he hunted the great ice bears of the north. As with many youths of the north, he grew to be a fearsome and ruthless warrior with few qualms about using every weapon he could against his enemy, painting his body in their blood and using the frequent dawn assaults of his people. In these years he reaped a fearsome tally in rival tribe’s menfolk and was soon inducted into the Crimson Lions. Now, as Myrvallen his clan is largely composed of savages from Mycenae’s north and from world’s with similarly savage inhabitants, such as the hive world of Mortax.

Despite their small numbers, Karakal have earned infamy through their merciless approach to the Great Crusade. While the rank and file adhere to the breacher methods of the wider Legion, Myrvallen  Karakal used Destroyer units as the template for his curadhi, the dreaded Black Guard. They eschew some Destroyer weapons such as rad-grenades, but their ruthless conduct outdoes even those fearsome Astartes, save for the Blood Boilers of the VIIth Legion. As such, they are only deployed when no quarter is to be given, typically led by the Myrvallen with his huge, two-headed power axe. In addition, they often go helmless and paint their faces with swirling black patterns and dye their eyes red with the henna root so that they resemble deamons from hell as they attack in the low light of dawn.

 

 

Clan Daran

Numbering 18,000 Crimson Lions, Clan Daran is led by Myrvallen Erran. In recent years their power has grown and they are well regarded, even if not revered, for their servive alongside the Fire Keepers and Godslayers.

Their Myrvallen is a character of dubious renown within the legion for he is by far the youngest of the Myrvalli, having seen scarcely four decades service. He rapidly rose through the ranks, being selected for his Myrvallen’s curadhi straight from the getae and then being elected as Myrvallen. As such, his youthful belligerence has yet to be tempered by age and he continues to throw himself forwards with a similar ferocity to the getae and many say that if he had not risen through the ranks as he had then he would have joined the sperothai.

While Clan Daran has always had a reputation for feasting and drinking hard, under Erran this reputation has been enhanced a hundred fold and while they are not the most powerful of the clans, their victory celebrations have become legendary across all the legions. Niklaas himself posited that the banquet they held on Barbarus was the only cheerful thing the death world had ever seen.

 

Clan Tauran

At just 2000 astartes, Tauran constitute the smallest clan following a brutal war of attrition on Treyatan. With these losses, their influence waned to the point where they are now the weakest clan, their Myrvallen seated farthest away from Hectarion. They survived through the adoption of hit-and-run tactics, using jetbikes to lure their enemies into the teeth of their infantry. Myrvallen Tyrconus and his curadhi go so far as to ride jetbikes into battle.

The deserts of Ayni Prime contribute nearly a fifth of the Clan's intake, and little of their Jurfik or Mycenaean heritage and legacy survives today. They work alongside relatively few of their fellow Clans, who largely regard the men of Tauran as eccentrics.

 

Clan Askar

Numbering 21,000 astartes and commanded by Myrvallen Hothor Flokissen, Askar are one of the Legion's most prestigious Clans and seated close to Hectarion. Known as the Wardens of the Cadian Gate, they stand guard over this volatile region of space, on the outskirts of the Dominion of Mycenae.

During their long wardship of the Cadian Gate, Myrvallen Hothor and his clan have adopted some of the customs of the feudal worlds from which they frequently draw recruits, notably Caliban. Among these customs is the quartering of the clan’s sigil with that of the legionary himself, a sigil which often depicts one of his deeds. Hothor’r own sigil depicts the great pair of jaws that once belonged to a great saurian beast that he felled on Ibsen.

 

Clan Garda

Commanded by Myrvallen Venutius, Clan Garda have ever been in the middle of the feast table, not at the far end like some clans but never as ascendant as clans such as Ikenos or Briganda. Having fought their way through the heavily fortified Iron citadels of Gorryk and Troja, Clan Garda has great experience in siege warfare. Foremost among their strategists is Rix Tironnos Fort-Breaker, who masterminded the destruction of several daunting fortress' on such worlds as Gorryk and Troja.

Unlike legions such as the Fire Keepers, the legionaries of Clan Garda are less adept at reducing a fortress by slow calculation and well placed artillery. Instead, they are masters of storming a fortresses walls and breaking their way in with axe and bolter smashing aside any resistance they encounter.

Their specialism has seen them work alongside task forces from the Godsalters, as well as the Shepherds of Eden. Warriors of Garda frequently attribute these collaborations to maintaining their humanity and willingness to treat opponents mercifully. Defeated opponents are often surprised by the treatment they receive from their conquerors.

Like all clans, Garda makes extensive use of the shield wall. However, when they assault a fortress many have likened them to a barbarian horde as each warriors attempts to out sprint and climb his fellows and win the glory of being the first over the walls of the enemy fortress.

 

Clan Senonos

At 28,000 astartes, Myrvallen Vellocatos’ Clan dwarf most of their fellows. Of all the clans, the legionaries of Senonos keep the Curse closest to them and so they tend to be the most aggressive in war and lose the most brothers to the Curse. As a consuequence of this their getae tend to take a few years longer to settle into the disciplined mindset of the shield walls, demonstrating a cheerful irreverence for unit cohesion and caution.

Other than their appearance and conduct, Senonos conform to most III Legion practices and are well-regarded by their fellows, a certain exasperation with their getae notwithstanding.

 

Clan Siluros

Commanded by Myrvallen Deraeddon the “Ripper of Cthonia", the Terrans who constituted the early Clan Siluros originated from Cambrai and Dublay. However, these influences have been somewhat diluted by wide-ranging recruitment throughout the Dominion’s feral worlds and a large intake of Cthonians. Deraeddon and his Clan are famed amongst the ranks of the Crimson Lions for their wielding of flaying knives as a sigil, rather than displaying their Clan heraldry on the right shoulder guard. The primal ways of the tribes are also evident in their fondness for weapons such as axes and mauls, although this has little effect on their overall tactics.

Their code of honour is also well-known, a curious mix of Cthonian, Cambrai and Mycenaean ideology, as well as the ways of several tribal societies. This is known as the "Rules of Engagement", based on an expectation of honest, straightforward engagements and a willingness to surrender when the Lions are clearly victorious. If their enemies adhere to these rules they will generally be treated magnanimously.

Those who flout them, however, can expect neither mercy nor a quick death, as the flaying knives leave their sheaths. It is noted that neither the enemy populace nor the rank and file are targeted for such retribution, although both military and political leaders alike meet with grisly ends for their perceived transgressions. As a result, the broader Legion holds the Clan at arm's length, often withholding them from more delicate compliances.

 

Clan Enthos

While in most respects a perfectly normal Clan of Crimson Lions, Enthos is defined by a widespread technological expertise among its Astartes. This began with their origins among the tech-keeps of Cernath, which spent decades fighting to preserve its position between the might of Jurfik, Frank and Merciac, as well as the Hiberin raiders of Ulesur and Dublay. Consequently, the people of Cernath were forced to maintain technological superiority over their neighbours.

This attitude survives today, and has been nurtured by a proportion of recruits hailing from industrialised planets, and even a few Forge Worlds within the Dominion. As a result, a high of Clan Enthos learn to maintain and improve their equipment, or even construct it themselves, and a large portion of the Clan are techmarines, known as Madrai. They are easily recognisable, as ornate suits of armour are commonplace among their ranks and all carry a small hammer upon their belt as a sign that they have mastered the smith’s craft.

 

Clan Atrebetos

Upon Mycenae, there are many tribes who revel in telling tales of their people’s great adventurers, mighty heroes who sailed the waves to sail to glory in distant lands. However, Clan Atrebetos favour Mycenae’s islands for their aspirants as these hardy folk, used to navigating the turbulent seas they call home, find themselves perfectly at home crewing the vast ships of the Crusade. As a result, the Chapter have shown the ebullient air of adventurers throughout their endeavors, traipsing across the Galaxy with gleeful confidence as they traverse the tides of the Warp to the far edges of the Galaxy. In this they are led by their Myrvallen, Barinthus “Wave-born”. Born to a great dynasty of adventurers, he was the son of the legendary sailor Keros “One-eye” who famously lost his left eye to a drakfaraigge but claimed its head in retribution and never set foot on land in his life. Barinthus was of a similar breed and he captained a longship before he was 16 and when it was swallowed beneath the waves, dragged down by a mighty kraken, he emerged roaring in triumph having carved the beast’s eye out.

Atrebetos revel in their image as pathfinders for the larger Expeditionary Fleets, frequently collaborating with Rogue Traders or even striking out alone. While some call this reckless, the legionaries of Clan Atrebetos care not for they are the sons and grandsons of Mycenae’s greatest adventurers and have utter faith in their abilities to ride the turbulent currents of the void in the same way as they rode the waves of their homeworld. 

 

I feel that I should point out that while I changed parts of this, most of it was written by bluntblade so most of the credit needs to go to him. 

Edited August 16, 2016 by Sigismund229

[bluntblade]

I did however spell "technological" wrong in Enthos' blurb. Also for Garda it needs to be fortress', not fortresses Edited August 16, 2016 by bluntblade

[Sigismund229]

2nd exemplary battle, this was also written by bluntblade

 

The Corpse's Hoard 
A fleet of the Crimson Lions approached the space hulk Corpse’s Hoard with a level of caution that might surprise many who know the Legion's reputation. While the remains of human ships from such cultures as the Fushikya Tech-Empire and Calithia offered a tantalising prospect of archeotech, the hulk also bore clear signs of xenos occupation. Indeed, as the Legion drew near a fleet of small vessels launched to attack them. They were swiftly identified: the savage Rak’gol. Dispatching the attackers, two of the Lions' more idiosyncratic Clans began to scour the behemoth for archeotech and purge it of the infestation.

To this end, elements of Clans Balda and Enthos deployed onto the ship. The warriors of Enthos engaged the alien menace head-on with Rix Cikollius in the lead, putting their strength and tech-prowess against the cyborg monsters. Meanwhile several companies of Baldan performed a reconnaissance by force. Exploiting their skill at manoeuvring fast in tight spaces, they led their brothers through the hulk, flanking groups of Rak’gol, identifying the easiest routes and locating potential bounties of technology. At times they worked as just three large strike forces, at others splintering into smaller units to operate more flexibly.

Despite their formidable arsenal, the most advanced used by any warriors of the IIIrd, Enthos suffered a steep toll as the xenos launched dozens of vicious attacks, and the Rak'gol might well have surrounded and butchered them had they fought alone. However, with Myrvallen Gwythdr leading them, the warriors of Balda guarded the flanks of Antron's men and foiled ambushes against them. Attacking mobs of xenos were often trapped between the two forces and broken against the Legion's shields. In one particularly intense battle, Peredur Rhuddnant of Balda slew a Rak'gol Abomination, crippling the leadership of the xenos. The Lions, as ever, proved themselves the undisputed masters of fighting aboard ships and space stations.

Over three days of constant fighting, their strength bolstered by reinforcements, the two Clans purged the hulk, enabling operatives from the Mechanicus to begin combing the vast structure in earnest. Some devices were unacceptably corrupted by xenos embellishments, and two of the STC templates were corrupted. However, the search did turn up several items of mining tech, and an STC which would form the basis for the Scarabus pattern of Explorator constructs. Appropriately, these would see extensive use searching hulks in the decades to come.

The search completed, the fleet bombarded the hulk, fragmenting it before it could drift back into the Warp. The remnants were then strip-mined for useful materials, before being left as mute testament to the prowess of the IIIrd Legion. 

[Apothecary Meros]

Much appreciation to señior Bluntblade and yourself mister Sigismund... I certainly don't regret offering to write about these.