Thousand Sons Legion Organization

[Tyriks]

So, I am working on my Thousand Sons army's fluff. A few questions came up I can't find an answer to.

 

The Legion is broken up into Fellowships, which are made up of Circles, which are made up of Chantries. Fellowships are led by captains and Chantries by sergeants, who leads a Circle? A lower ranking captain?

 

Additionally, do TS use their own names for the ranks? The only special names for ranks I have seen are the magisters templi. It is a but surprising TS would use the basic titles across the board though.

 

Finally, do the Orders operate on their own or are they under the leadership of the Fellowships?

Or is that not known?

 

Thanks for any answers!

[Magos-Dominus]

On 5/30/2022 at 7:54 AM, Nemesor Tyriks said:

The Legion is broken up into Fellowships, which are made up of Circles, which are made up of Chantries. Fellowships are led by captains and Chantries by sergeants, who leads a Circle? A lower ranking captain?

Shai-Captain is the title used in Book VI: Inferno for the Circle Commanders.

On 5/30/2022 at 7:54 AM, Nemesor Tyriks said:

Additionally, do TS use their own names for the ranks? The only special names for ranks I have seen are the magisters templi. It is a but surprising TS would use the basic titles across the board though.

The Cult structure and rankings are parallel with the formal military structure of the legion, though there's a very high correlation between your advancement in one and your advancement in the other. The ranks given (such as Magister-Templi, etc.) are based on a simplified version of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, with each rank being: Practicus (Apprentice), Adept (Full Member), Magister (Senior/Teacher), and Magister-Templi (Head of the Cult). At least, those are the ones I've seen used, on top of Magus (Master of the Cults, aka Magnus), and Ipsissimus (Transcendent Spiritual/Cosmic Authority, aka the Emperor)

On 5/30/2022 at 7:54 AM, Nemesor Tyriks said:

Finally, do the Orders operate on their own or are they under the leadership of the Fellowships?

The Orders mostly operate independently and are attached to various commands. The Order of the Jackal and the Order of Ruin include the entirety of the legion's Apothecaries and Techmarines, respectively, so they likely function in the legion's hierarchy as those two groups would in other legions. The Order of Blindness reports directly to Amon, and I imagine those members that are Astartes are part of the IXth Fellowship, at least "on paper."

The three rankings/affiliations are all independent from each other, though. So, the commander of a Circle would be a Shai-Captain, but also an Adept/Magister of a particular cult, and also might be a member of an Order on top of that. If it sounds a little confusing and unnecessarily complex, that's because it is and Magnus uses that fact to flex how smart he and his legion are.

[Tyriks]

Great information, thanks!