Loyalist EC Plog

SlickSamos · October 6

After much debate (mostly with myself), I have decided to build an Emperor's Children army for the Horus Heresy. As I have loads of unbuilt 6th edition kits for space marines (including some SW, BA & lots of DA) I thought it would be interesting to emphasize the 'Angels of Death' aspect of them. This will allow me to use BA and DA bits with a bit of converting to add a different slant to them.

I'm not going down my original idea of DA as the paint scheme doesn't appeal to me (see test mini here). Also my initial projects will be centred around using up older kits rather than buying more models so essentially I'll be starting with Mk. V (modified Mk. VII to make it look old/weird) & Mk. VI power armour. I hope as the project grows things like Godwin patterned Bolters and crudely green-stuffed Mk. VII bits will be diluted with actual Mk. III and IV bits as time goes on.

On to the lore (cue Occulus Imperia voiceover):

The cruiser Helios was not the largest vessel in the resupply fleet (designate 3-1208-R) plying the stable warp routes between Sol and Chemos but was of most import given the precious cargo it carried, for in its cryo-storage was contained the precious Geneseed of the IIIrd Legion.

Ever since the Geneblight at the outset of the crusade, these tiny organs have been the most precious of resources for the Emperor's Children, and the Geneblight itself was only resolved after the rediscovery of the IIIrd Legion Primarch on Chemos. These pivotal events are covered in greater detail elsewhere within this archive stack.

To mitigate this from happening again, the Emperor's Children split the storage of their Geneseed across multiple systems (most notably their main recruitment world of Chemos and in the depths of the Imperial palace) and across all of their expeditionary fleets, and invested heavily in monitoring and preserving their Geneseed's purity. From what can be determined from the scant records that remain, Apothecary Aqualanious of the second induction of Chemos worked alongside Fabius Bile and the Magos Biologis on the preservation of the IIIrd Legion's Geneseed. It is probable that he was a contributor of 'The Codification of Best Practices with Regards to both Cryo Storage and Stasis Storage of Légion Astarté Geneseed' (c.843 M30, [authorship redacted]) alongside Fabius Bile. Initiates may bulk at this assertion, for what abominations has this thrice-cursed traitor wrought, but initially he was of a different character, developing a fierce paternal love for his kin second only to Fulgrim, and would have been more motivated to determine to delve into all aspects of the Geneseed for the preservation of his brothers and himself. But I digress, his downfall is for another essay.

The Apothecary Aqualanious, known initially as The Warden, was maintaining vigil over the IIIrd Legion's gene-tithe fleet, aboard the Helios, between Terra and Chemos at the outbreak of the Heresy. His duties had kept him separate from his Legion, for example during the Laeran campaign he was overseeing the implantation of initiates on Chemos, and after the campaign received instructions from the Primarch via Phoenix Guard Praetorian Vess to go to Terra to access additional geneseed to replace their losses. Further, Praetorian Vess and his honour guard insisted on joining the fleet for the import the mission was deemed by the Primarch.

The outbound journey to Terra was uneventful, though Terra itself was in upheaval with the VI and VII Legions mustering in force, this did not prevent Apothecary Aqualanious from completing his mission.

Whilst the mission logs betrayed no hint of this, between Apothecary Aqualanious and Praetorian Vess tensions were rising, for Vess was interfering with Aqualanious' leadership (almost getting them boarded by Custodians in Sol) and insisting on relating the "oh so spectacular" temples of Laer whilst degrading Aqualanious' surgical skills as he tended to the most sick he dared not leave on Chemos under a lower ranking Apothecary's care.

As fortune would have it (in so much as fortune and luck exist), his fleet was becalmed within the warp storms on the return journey from Terra. Constantly put on edge by Vess' presence, he sequestered him self within the well equipped apothecarion asking for any change in the situation to be relayed to him first, something the irritated crew were more than willing to do...

To be continued!

Edited October 6 by SlickSamos
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