"Legends of the Legions"

[battle captain corpus]

"Legends of the Legions"

 

It is an age of lost hope and vengeance.

A time when the Legions clash and split worlds asunder with their bitter wars of dead brotherhood.

Among the swirling ashes and gun smoke rise champions of legend.

Figures of awe stride the battlefields and those who were once humble line officers become leaders of desperate bands of warriors...

 

The idea for this thread is for everyone to share their heroes and/or villains of the Age of Darkness. Think of it as a rogues gallery of both the known and named (Sigismund, Sevatar etc) and also for your own homemade veterans of the Heresy!

We want to see everything from work in progress to your stunning finished leaders!

 

If you have any background or extra fluff to add to this it would be especially welcome as it would be wonderful to hear some tales of bloodshed and fratricide!

Who was their latest kill? Is there a personal rivalry simmering away?

Potentially we could even explore linking up some of the grand company leaders and have shared exploits, vendettas and the like.

 

So....who leads your warband and grand companies?

Is it one of the Demi gods or a humble line captain?

Edited April 25, 2019 by battle captain corpus

[Marshal Rohr]

+Wilhelm Rohr, Marshal of the 7th Terran Regiment+

Terran Born Scion of the Prussic Marches, the Last King of Iron and Blood

R

ohr was one of the last initiated Terrans before the rediscovery of the Primarch and ascended to command of his Regiment six decades before Istvaan V. The Regiment was molded in the image of its commander and numbered some 5,400 Legionaries and Officers before the outbreak of the Heresy, having taken in its first generation of non-Terran recruits to replenish losses after the Golgathan Xenocides and Ullanor Crusade. Amongst the Legionaries of the 7th Regiment, Rohr has a distinct cult of personality. He is undoubtedly a consummate legionary officer, born to one the first Uropan aristocratic families to embrace unity and devote their lives and fortunes to the Emperor's cause. A decision which led to the ruination of their House at the hands of the anti-Unification Teknoslavic hordes of the west Urshan ash fields. Rohr rose steadily through the ranks of the VIIth Legion assault echelons to ultimately command a battalion and then a chapter of his own. He has had the honor of meeting the Primarch on three occasions, and stood in the presence of the Emperor once, on the burning fields of Gyros-Thravian at the feet of the wrecked Ork Gangantuan Idols. Referred to privately as 'the Warfather', he takes a personal interest in his officer cadre and legionaries. It is customary for the Marshal to share a meal with different squads in the evenings, even on campaign. He frequently gives reading assignments to his young line officers, expecting a full report when finished. Even the Imperialis Auxilia under his command respect him greatly, as likely as he is to be found on the firing ranges tutoring Auxiliaries in marksmanship as he is to be instructing his legionaries in shield wall formations. During the Ullanor Crusade he was grievously wounded when another Legion called for an orbital bombardment of their own position while Rohr and his relief forces were trapped in the blast radius. It was only by the knowledge and skill of Archmagos Octavius of the Gryphonne Octad Archimandriture the Marshal was able to recover and lead the Regiment during the Age of Darkness. Rohr would ultimately fall during the Siege of Terra, when a combined force of IVth and XVIth Legion terminators breached his command citadel, slaughtering the Regimental command echelon and Auxilia General Staff.
Edited April 26, 2019 by Marshal Rohr

[Phatsquirre1]

 

Vek'saron Lyksandr Khyze

Warsmith of the 52nd Grand Battalion

The Wayward Son

 

++++++++

 

Once a quiet soul, sure of purpose and unwavering in his commitment to the Crusade, Vek'saron Khyze found himself thrown into a war he had never imagined fighting, becoming not only a witness to the atrocity of Istvaan V and the ultimate betrayal of his gene-father, but also a survivor of that hellish slaughter.

 

Despite this, and many other trials that he would face in the coming months, his spirit and mind remained sound, a bulwark of unfailing loyalty and honor in a galaxy ripped apart by betrayal. Many times, those under his command looked to him for guidance, his calm presence and cool demeanor reassuring them even in their darkest moments, a beacon of resolve in a sea of shifting allegiances.

 

Only the Evacuation from Auror changed the Warsmith, his body shattered and soul broken at the hands of his former friend and ally, Sol Jakre, Master of the Chapter of the Rampant Eclipse. What his talons did to Khyze's body hardly matched the wounds he inflicted psychologically, and only after months of recuperation was Khyze once again able to take the field, his mind and body a shade of what it once was.

 

Indeed, what leads the 52nd now is a dark and cold thing, a bitter fury suffusing its every step. Uncompromising, relentless, and driven by vengeance, Khyze is, ironically, now the embodiment of his Legions' image, a reflection of the depths it will sink to in order to achieve victory. 

 

Whether that bodes well for his Battalion and the Salient Cluster, only time will tell...

++++++++

[Brofist]

 

 

 

 

 

'The Queen of Crows'

Chosen of Malice

 

To ask is to be damned, exposed to what consumes thoughts and weaves mortal fates with threads of abnegation. Where she walks there is reckoning. Freedom and subjugation. Satiety and hunger. Not of Bohtar, but a wretched place, sanctioned, where men broke themselves to satisfy a cold metal hunger. It is said the birds led them into the pit she was kept. Freed, she burnt the masters alive, painting their ashes upon her face. The white crow found her shoulder and the birds cackled.

 

Follow the crows to find their queen. Seek her death and understand the true cosmic existence. For there is no reprieve for those touched by malice. Only an eternity, winding backwards and forwards, reliving the moment of damnation and atonement. Her hatred of gods and masters compels her. So she walks dead, forever among the living.

 

From the oral histories of Gurko, Remembrancer, 112th Expeditionary Fleet

We just got done with a narrative campaign where she punched to death 3 space wolf preators, including two brothers, in separate challenges. I wasn't even trying, it just kinda happened! After character advancements she's been rocking T5 and WS5, which makes her pretty scary for a warp touched human.

Edited April 26, 2019 by Brofist

[Vykes]

Vixus Ahazaar

+Marshal of the 33rd battalion+
Tribune of Tentabus

The combat record of the Sons of Horus 33^rd battalion, and that of its constituent companies, closely aligns with that of its Marshal Vixus Ahazaar: remarkably unambitious, yet strategically and politically advantageous.

Drawn up in the mid 10^th century M.30 under the command of then-Marshal Alyard Leng, the battalion incorporated the 65^th and 66^th line companies, as well as the 17^th Independent Reaver Company, all stationed aboard the grand cruiser Judicature as part of the 63^rd expeditionary fleet's second line units.

During the Callas compliance of 978 M.30, the 65^th was placed on front line combat trials with Leng's senior cohort, then-captain Vixus Ahazaar remaining on the Judicature as provisional shipmaster to provide support to Leng's main attack. A series of errors and miscalculations led to combat drops scattering behind a heavily defended Callasian strongpoint north of Roliesha, stranding Leng's errant speartip. The Marshal was killed in the initial drop and his companies were swiftly surrounded. The combat drop was more a stroke of political luck for the line-captain, who set about quickly reorganizing the deteriorating position after appropriating Imperial army uxor command and control staff aboard both the Judicature and the war barque Teeth of Korderra. While both line units were heavily mauled, they were saved from destruction by elements of the 14^th and 17^th Luna Wolves companies, and Imperial Army air corps.

The 66^th effectively ceased to exist. What remained was folded into the 65^th company instead of reconstituting both companies and senior commanders were selected from the pool of surviving officers. Centurion Lathyls Decadron, a well-respected Terran veteran of some repute, was replaced by the aggressive but inexperienced Lieutenant Ashram Kademius of the 66^th. Acting-Captain Kademius had effectively solidified the mixed companies into a single fighting that saw out the end of the compliance, cementing Ahazaar's brevet promotion as well as Ahazaar's station as the new Marshal.

Over the next two decades Ahazaar's machinations artificially kept actions light and numbers low while new arms and armour could be stockpiled in anticipation for a decisive engagement. In the meantime, Captain Kademius was groomed to make up for a lack of experience. The wiry Nord Afrik captain worked closely with mechanicum and army auxiliary units in pirate raids, installation assaults, and other sporadic actions, each calculated to establish a good working relationship with mechanicum and army-auxilary units. But the battalion's involvement in the Great Crusade and their influence in the upper structures of the legion waned. Thus, they were given their sardonic title 'Cerberus Group', the guardians of old Terran myth. This perception of the battalion would linger until their trial by fire at Istvaan III.

Istvaan was the tipping point. After consultation with his confidante and equerry, uxor Akiya Sen, Ahazaar pledged all of his units to the Warmaster's cause without reservation. It was a risk, but one calculated to preserve his fighting strength as he wagered that an unproven company would not be called upon to participate in the initial assault. He wagered correctly. The battalion would be used in the main clean up and suppression of loyalist forces, and earned their new moniker "Ash Jackals" in the fighting leading to the capture of the Khoral City. While privately apprehensive of the rebellion, Ahazaar outwardly appeared to be a clever and calculating political animal that cleaved close to the Warmaster, and the loyalty of the battalion was thus assured.

Ahazaar's influence has been felt every since, turning the 65^th into a chimeric beast well supported and supplied with his contacts in the mechanicum and army units alike. Fresh intake of Cthonian, Tentabian, and Allothaxian recruits has bolstered the 65^ths fighting strength and poured materiel into the battalion's reserves, making them a premier unit in suppression and conquest. Relentless independent training regimes have been undertaken to ensure that no single-stoke decapitations would destroy the effectiveness of the company, leading to the rise of innovative and aggressive warriors such as First Lieutenant Kantaar “The Unbowed” Oristus. Freed from long standing tradition, the 65^th has become an ever shifting beast augmented by its own loyal cohorts of army troopers, capable of taking lightly defended worlds or ensuring the mass required to achieve decisive breakthroughs with other battle companies.

Recent actions in the Montecarde system have shown the malleability of the company, engaging in costly attrition actions with Iron Hands armoured companies and even defeating cohorts of the Legio Custodes. While Ahazaar was wounded in the fighting, the actions and victories of Captain Kademius, as well as Lieutenants Kantaar and Cyrennus have elevated the Marshal's import in the systems as a future lord governor. Indeed, many have whispered that independent rulership may have been his objective all along.

+++

Despite the Marshal being a higher rank then Kademius, I typically run him as the less combat-oriented character at the Deligatus level. He's more politician than warrior-king. In the local campaign he got himself wounded by an Iron Hands Praetor in a challenge (the usual sort ya have to worry about mister 3+ invul etc), but he ended up getting most of the inspiring and moral traits while Kademius, Kantaar, and the Moritat Sedak have been getting the stat and combat boosts. Kinda weird.

Edited April 26, 2019 by Vykes

[Pacific81]

Captain Sevruk, World Eaters 11th Company

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/Pacific81/capin1.jpg

 

Sevruk was one of the first Captains of the 12th legion from the Recruitment world of Bodt to have reached the rank, as opposed to the existing Terran ethnicity of many in the legion. Over the years he carved a name for himself as being utterly ruthless, often at the forefront of any attack and, even amongst the others of his legion, was regarded as being a shining example of ferocity and mercilessness.

 

It was on the barren and unforgiving landscapes of Talmasci IX that he would cement his rise to captain amidst a welter of blood and offal. Surrounded by the corpses of his slain cohort he faced the brutal orcish overlord of that world, a behemoth even by greenskin standards, atop a crude but towering orcish fort. With bestial cunning the orc declined Sevruk's challenge of combat, and instead raised his primitive flamethrower and doused the exposed chest and face of the marine in promethium. Sevruk's cried in agony as his skin boiled and eyes burst in their sockets, and the orc warlord, snickering all the while, turned to his horde to howl in triumph. But his victory cry proved premature as Sevruk, somehow still alive and guided by some innate sense, flung himself at the orc, and in a single motion raised the orc above his head and cast him from the battlements to shatter on the ground far below. The body of Sevruk was recovered by the legion apothecaries, and despite all predictions he lived, a complex bioneural interface from the mechanicum of Mars ensuring that he would see and fight again.

 

Sevruk showed no misgivings at all about the changes Angron brought to the Legion, and he was among the first to encourage the use of neural implants within the legion. This is shown by his personally selected guard who always have the modifications made. Although his accompanying marines usually suffer massive casualties in being the first into the breech, such a posting is seen as a great honour. The sight of Sevruk and his beserker guard howling in rage with chainaxes spinning as they charge is a fearsome sight indeed.

 

During the assault on the Gedren system, towards the end of the Crusade, Sevruk was instrumental in bringing about the demise of the Fief-Overlords. Personally spearheading the assault on Gedren Prime, arriving amongst the drop pods of slain Legion-troopers, his body guard were all but massacred by the criss-cross of devastating laser weapons. Undeterred, he tore into the giant abhumans sent to finish him, and reduced their psychic handler to giblets of quivering flesh with his chainaxe. As the laser beams continued to fly, he ignited his jump-pack, smashing through the ballistrade of the fortress walls and casting the horrified defenders from the parapet. He then, aided by a Captain of the Space Wolves legion, used a wall-mounted defence weapon to blast the turret from an approaching transport bearing reinforcements. It was said that after the battle, not a sliver of white or blue was still visible on his armour, so intense had been the bloodshed.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y0ci_tlS3dI/TY7BBc1ErqI/AAAAAAAAAIE/_RKwkZUitVQ/s1600/bat2o.jpg

 

[Soldier of Dorn]

Strike-Captain Vikare Armisael

Named as the Mountain of Judgement and the Archein of the Fall

Vikare Armisael was inducted into the IX Legion some time prior to the coming of the Primarch Sanguinius, taken as part of the tithe of blood and flesh from some nameless conquered world misfortunate enough to have the Revenant Legion unleashed upon them. Ruthless and possessed of a quiet, steely rage, it took little time for him to rise and take his place among the many bloody-handed warlords of ruination that ruled over the Legion in battle. There he fought for several decades before the Legion came to Baal and the famous reforms of Sanguinius were enacted upon the Legion.

Like many of the warleaders of the Ninth prior to the coming of the Angel, he remained an officer, set in command of the 65th Airborne Company -- a detachment dedicated to the rapid grav-chute insertions favored by Armisael -- and honored, at least in title, with the title Archein of the Fall, but as the long years of the Great Crusade wore on, these men were passed over in favor by younger officers more closely molded to the strictures of the Blood Angels.

At the outbreak of the Signus Campaign, Strike-Captain Armisael and his company were hardened veterans of the Great Crusade ever found at the Legion's van, and the treachery enacted there only served to harden their mettle further. Absorbing survivors of other veteran companies, they were found to bring the fight to the traitors throughout the rest of the Heresy, until the last days of the war at Terra, where the Archein of the Fall commanded a counter-offensive to attack the traitor-held Khangchen Tjulwa salient, where any record of the 65th or its captain ends without explanation, passing from the living day into the night of memory.

[marshal seanisi]

                                                    

 

                                                                                                                           Marshal Seanisi

                                                                                           Marshal of company 933 and hero of the Parsics Crusade

Edited May 6, 2019 by marshal seanisi

[apologist]

Cor, what a fun idea for a thread. It's so much more interesting to me to see people's own characters. After all, the Heresy's supposed to be full of heroes that die!

 

+++

 

+ Centurion Zariçus Cjarn of the Iron Warriors +

 

The Horus Heresy can be seen in black-and-white terms, but I find it more interesting to explore the 'pathetic aesthetic' of 40k, and look at the factions in more morally neutral terms. Those who follow Horus end up as monstrous villains in 40k, but in 30k, there are far fewer differences between the sides than it might appear.

 

So, riffing on that theme, I was struck by the idea of a well-intentioned Iron Warrior who had made bad decisions while trying to come up with an idea for my leaders. Essentially, what if straight-laced Loken (the protagonist of Horus Rising) had decided that his loyalty was to the Imperial Truth, rather than to the Emperor as a figurehead. It's easy to see that an Astartes raised to believe in secular truth and told that the Emperor had strayed from the path might have misgivings. If his misgivings were nurtured by those loyal to the Warmaster, we might see his take his first steps towards rebellion – or in his eyes, ensuring the continuation of the Imperium, with a new, more worthy leader on the Throne. Zariçus Cjarn was thus envisaged. 

 

Perhaps the most obvious part of this figure is the twin axes. One, held behind him, represents his loyal Imperial side – this is in the past, and held more loosely. The other axe is a twisted chaos blade, held aggressively in front of him, and painted with eye-catching warm colours. This represents his future. In addition to the axes, I added an Iron Halo, but inverted it and attached it to his torso as a collar. He is destined now to become a slave to Chaos – a fallen angel. It's also a nod to the classic Franzetta-inspired spiky bits aesthetic of the Chaos marines.

 

+++

 

 

 

 

+ Constantine Pullo of the Ultramarines +

 

 

Decked out in artificer-adapted Mark V hybrid (II/IV) plate with inbuilt cognitive-memhancer, arm-mounted augur-board and multi-spectrum vox-beading, Pullo is capable of directing an entire battlefront; as indeed he demonstrated during the Syrinx Annihilation, the closing events of the Hypon campaign, and the Nekuli void-war. In addition to this equipment, he carries an eminently practical boltpistol sidearm and the vitis, the short staff that serves as mark of office, as a visual directional tool when his high-tech equipment fails him or is impractical, and – in extremis – as a bludgeoning weapon. +

 

The Master of Signal is a role that sits at the heart of the Ultramarines' way of war. Serving in the 15th for nearly three decades, Constantine Pullo's experience and knowledge saw him promoted after the Nekuli campaign to a new role with the Evocati, overseeing the training of future Ultramarines on Armatura. This was a role he took on with characteristic seriousness. Redeployed to Calth alongside the final intake of Inductii before the Ghaslakh campaign muster, Pullo was caught alongside the warriors of the newly-created 190th when the Word Bearers attacked. He was lost on the surface prior to the Underworld War; just another of the 160,000 or so Legionary casualties of the Atrocity.

 

 

 

 

+++

+ Holion of the Ultramarines' Praetors of Calth +

 

'The Word Bearers thought that they killed me on Calth, just like the greenskins thought they killed me on Hypon, and the Nekuli thought they killed me in the cold, cold void above Sirius.'

 

'It is a curious pleasure to prove your enemy wrong.'

+ attr. Lieutenant Holion, 190th Company Ultramarines +

 

Holion is a character from my original http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?146205-Praetors-of-Calth-%96-Pre-Heresy-Ultramarines&s=ab125112c237a3df950706a46105a927&p=2664913&mode=linear#post2664913'>Praetors of Calth blog, which was themed around Hypon, a campaign set during the middle period of the Great Crusade. I always liked the conversion, which had him protecting a small girl called Cassie. The idea was to symbolise the Ultramarines as protectors, and it seemed to catch people's imaginations.

 

The original 'Young Holion' and Cassie.

 

I had the intention at the back of my mind that I'd like to follow Holion and Cassie's story through the Heresy since I first built them – hence describing him as 'Young Holion' (though this was also a nod to Ancient Greek epithets from The Iliad and Odyssey which informed the Praetors of Calth), but it took nearly ten years to actually get to it!

 

The painting was intended to marry the Praetors of Calth (my old 15th Chapter) with the newer models of the 190th Company. As a result, the armour is painted with the new approaches for blue and gold I've developed for the 190th (rather than the old Necron Abyss and yellow based scheme I used for the 15th, seen in Young Holion above). However, the new model incorporates his personal heraldry – a feature I added to all my Ultramarines).

 

I wanted to include some references to his previous models on the new one; such as the small tilt shield on his pauldron. Young Holion hailed from Talassar, and his personal heraldry reflected this. Now I'm a bit more confident painting, I've replicated his original heraldry on the tile shield, rather than the main pauldron – a fun challenge.

Edited May 3, 2019 by Apologist

[Lord Commander Eidolon]

Our names may be forgotten, and our bones crumble to dust, but our deaths will echo through the millennia to come.

 

CAPTAIN SAUL TARVITZ, WORDS SPOKEN IN THE HOURS BEFORE THE FALL OF THE LOYALIST CHORAL CITY ENCLAVES DURING THE ISTVAAN III ATROCITY

 

Here's my take on Tarvitz, the current leader of my Emperor's Children as I've technically only 'half' an Eidolon....

 

 

http://i63.tinypic.com/9zx8ug.jpg

[Deadass]

+++Word Bearers Legion Company Captain+++

Captain Uras at rest, Source: unknown

.Captain Ozga Uras, ‘The Red God’s Fist’
.Commander, 11th Battle Company
.The Weeping Maiden Chapter


Part of the XVII Legion’s first intake of colchisian recruits, Captain Uras soon began a meteoric rise through the ranks of the Weeping Maiden. During his tenure as veteran sergeant of one of the Word Bearers’ many despoiler squads the officer developed a reputation for the excessive use of brutality against the foe and callous disregard for civilian casualties. Though his unsavoury behaviour was more suited to the butchers of the World Eaters, Uras continued to rise in station as the chapter’s command echelon merely saw in his actions “the Legion’s righteous zeal, harnessed to bring swift compliance in the Emperor’s name.” Indeed, Uras was well-liked by men both under and beyond his command, the principles of martial honour he embodied finding approval in many of 11th company’s units.

By the time of the Great Betrayal, Uras had become sub-commander of the Weeping Maiden, leading large detachments of the chapter over the battlefields of Isstvan, Armatura, Esau and ultimately, Terra. It was here that the bloody-handed officer met his end, last seen impaled on a VII Legion power sword, though his mortal remains were never recovered.

Depicted here in his traditional panoply of war, Captain Uras was easily recognisable by virtue of his artificer-wrought type V plate (note officer’s crest, additional reinforcements and non-standard ornamentation of +REDACTED+ origin) and unique Othon-pattern power maul, its size and heft increased to impact like nothing short of the more common thunder hammer.

...

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Edited April 26, 2020 by AHorriblePerson