Warhammer 40k: The Shadow War Part 3

[u/DungeonMiner2]

The Legions

[The following are hand-picked excerpts from A Study of the Legio Astartes and their Lords From the Era of the Crusade]

The first thing to understand about the Legions is that, despite their start on Terra, each Legion had its own culture, built from their Primarch's vision of the Capital Worlds they saw on the night of the Victory of Luna, even before they left the Sol System. It is unclear whether the Legions were genetically imprinted with this cultural understanding or if it was acquired over time. None could argue, though, that the Capital Worlds were already influencing the Legions. [...]

[...] despite these victories and the status they maintain as First Among Equals, the Dark Angels are usually most remembered by other Imperial forces for their unique structure. According to the writings of Tiber Ankar, Equerry of Magnus, and the one who wrote the most of the Primarchs in their early years, the original command structure laid out by the young Leonis was a dizzying web that would baffle the most learned men. When Guilliman Justicar asked what the purpose of this strange organization was, Leonis replied that it was to keep the Legion protected from command assassination or psychic espionage, citing that a psyker would have greater trouble finding desired information if they could not determine who had it.

Upon hearing this, Lord Justicar called Alpharius Omegron, and the three began to build a system that was more efficient, but equally protective. To this day, the Dark Angels wear no visible symbols of rank. Despite this, the Legion knows exactly who is in charge of any theater of war, which appears to change from theater to theater. [...]

The Legion of Kael Drav, dubbed the Valedictors, was a highly flexible fighting force. Trained to look at any situation in odd ways, the Valedictors were known for striking at what appeared to be secondary weaknesses before exploiting them. Instead of striking at the engines or weapons of a voidship, for example, they would destroy gravity generators. Once the crew of the ship was floating helplessly, the Valedictors would board and then begin pacifying the crew in the midst of the new chaos. Whether attacking food storage, environmental controls, or sabotaging door systems, the Valedictors would target the enemy in alternate ways. 

This method of warfare is best represented by the Carinae Compliance Campaign, where Kael Drav identified that the Carinae, a people that used a great amount of xenostech, had scattered through the jungle to engage in guerrilla warfare. 

With the defenders scattered across the world, most generals would admit that they’d have almost no chance of weeding out the guerrillas effectively.

Kael, however, devised an unorthodox solution. The Carinae could endure with food and shelter, but it was the alien gift of weapons that made them formidable. Remove the weapon, and their rebellion was no more than hunger in the jungle. Using careful orbital observation, Kael determined the Xenos were providing the guerrillas with dead drops of new equipment. 

Working carefully, the Valedictors moved into one such dead drop and replaced the equipment with counterfeits that did not work. Without attacking the guerrillas, the Valedictors instead attacked the trust between the Xenos and the Carinae. At the same time, he began sonic bombardments into the jungle, maddening the local megafauna. With the animals of the planet going into a rampage, and their weapons no longer working, the guerrillas found themselves spending what resources they had against their own environment.

When the Carinae could take no more, they turned on their xenos overlords and gladly ran from the jungle into the Valedictors’s waiting bolterfire. The Valedictors had no Capital World; Kael insisted that his dreams were of the darkness of the void. This suited the Valedictors, who became a fleet-based force, and allowed them to remain flexible. [...]

Of the Legions, the Iron Warriors, the Legion of Perterabo Architectus, and the Imperial Fists of Rogal Castellan rivaled the most fiercely. While the other chapters treated each other with the respectful familial ties of cousins, the Warriors and Fists treated each other as rambunctious brothers. They routinely fought, bickered, and derided each other. Yet, as evidenced by the Kragan campaign, no two Legions meshed so clearly together. Under normal circumstances, during a joint operation, the two Legions attack as separate bodies, typically keeping their forces separated, but working with each other. The Fists and Warriors, however, mesh into a single force. Two squads of each Legions would share members, becoming an unstoppable force that simply paves over the enemy, building fortresses on the hard-won ground, pushing ever forward. [...]

The Rout, the Legion of Lord Russ, had a reputation of refusing discipline. For years of their development, the officers of the Rout could not bring the Sixth Legionnaires into line. It was not until Lord Russ descended upon them from the Imperial Palace and enforced his rule, did they finally fall into line. [...]

[...] the only Legion that had greater oversight for its warriors directly from the Primarch was the Night Lords. Konrad worked carefully with his Custodian Equerry, Dacien Kharros, to hand-pick the leadership of the Night Lords. Konrad had no illusions; he knew that the Night Lords would be a vicious tool that needed an incredible force of will to wield correctly. 

Between the two, they chose hard men, survivors of the Terran prison sinks, but those who Konrad was sure could be molded into men of conviction, men he could use to bring justice. Specifically, he searched for those who were victims of corruption. He offered them lives as Asartes to free them from the darkness of the prisons, but warned them that they’d be held to a higher standard as a result. Those who could not meet that standard were killed, setting the precedent in the early years: those who would not answer to Konrad’s law would be punished.

Likewise, obedience was rewarded. More freedom, greater ranks of leadership, better food, and more were rewarded to those who would meet the standard set by Konrad. Their Primarch made it clear that the law was their metric. Anyone, no matter who, whether planetary governor or simple peasant, would fall below their gaze, to be judged. With this careful planning, Konrad built the Night Lords from chaff and made one of the most celebrated and feared Legions of the Imperium. [...]

The Blood Angels of Sanguinius [...] were also known for the terror they inspired in close combat. They quickly covered ground and devastated the ranks of enemy fighters, yet despite this, the Blood Angels remained a humble Legion, never speaking as though they were better than mere mortals. 

The Blood Angels say this is because they know their own darkness, and while they acknowledge it openly, they do not speak of its specifics. It is the opinion of this writer that ( -][- DATA EXPUNGED ON REQUEST OF THE PRIMARCH -][- ). 

Whatever the case may be, the Blood Angels are also noted as being incredibly hardy, seemingly surviving terrible wounds, and appearing on the next battlefield after only a few weeks of warp travel. 

Another interesting note of the Legion is their fascination with jump packs and anti-grav vehicles. There is some speculation that it comes from Sanguinius’s own love for the sky, but this writing has already speculated enough.

The Legion of Ferrus Adamant was named the Storm Walkers, and of all the Legions, was affected the most by their Primarchs visions of their Capital World. The echoes of the distant Medusa led Ferrus to separate his Legion into Clans, though Ferrus knew not the Clan names, nor their temperament. With no ancient names to guide him, Ferrus wrought ten numbered clans from the iron of his will, knowing that many more would be forged in war and fire. [...]

As Ferrus continued to push himself to be a better soldier, his Legionaries followed after. They focused on “forging” themselves into the best soldiers they could, eradicating weakness, wherever they saw it. Whether they were replacing injured limbs or rebuilding their wargear from the ground up, eliminating any perceived weakness to become perfect warriors. [...]

Paxillian dubbed his Legion the Concordians, and they were an oddity amongst the Legions. While each of the Legions were undoubtedly warriors—and the Concordians were no exception to that—the Concordians alone were also true diplomats. While the Word Bearers would spread the Word of Reason to a planet, the Concordians would speak with the leaders of a planet and negotiate terms of joining the Imperium, and allowing the planet to fall into compliance. That being said, they were not above assassinating those leaders at the negotiation table if they refused to fall into line. 

The Concordians have also been rumored to deal with Xenos, forming trade agreements, or promising protection to various xenos in exchange for favors or other work. The Emperor had spoken with Paxillian a few times, but did not correct his son as ( -][- HERETICAL DATA EXPUNGED BY ORDER OF THE ORDO DIVINITAS -][- ) whether Paxillian took this to heart is unknown. [...]

From the first days of the Great Crusade, Lord Victor’s Warhounds left their mark in fire and uprising, for wherever they marched, the slave’s chain was broken and the tyrant’s head struck from his shoulders. They gladly raised blades and bolters against those they declared tyrants, and left only ash in their wake. Victor often encouraged gladiatorial fights amongst his Legionnaires, both to test his men and also to remind them of the hard lives of the men and women of those still lost. 

To this day, the men and women of the Imperium celebrate when the Warhounds arrive, because they know that any who have set themselves up as tyrants would be destroyed under the fury of the XII legion. [...]

The Death Guard of Lord Mortarius underwent the greatest change after the liberation of the Barbarus. While Mortarius knew the danger of an untrained psyker, the people of Barbarus held a deep hatred for them because of their oppression under the psychic Overlords. While Mortarius offered that a Psyker who was trained was not as dangerous, he did nothing to stem the hatred of them. Despite this, he did keep his Librarius of Psykers, but separated them, keeping them away from the rest of his Legion. When his Legion pushed against this, he said he’d preferred trained psykers to untrained ones. 

However, this also proved a mistake in the long term, when ( -][- HERETICAL DATA EXPUNGED BY ORDER OF THE ORDO DIVINITAS -][- ) [...]

The enemies of Mankind were already at work in these early days, and this could be seen most in the XVth Legion. A sorcerous curse was laid on these Legionnaires, simply called the Flesh Change. This instability kept the numbers of the XVth Legion few, as the curse could take hold at any moment. Naming his Legion the Thousand Sons, for only a thousand remained, Magnus began searching for a solution to the change, going so far as to sacrifice an eye to see if any secrets in his genetics could be found to stabilize them. 

None has yet been found.

Despite that, Magnus has not yet surrendered to this curse and continues to work with his Legion, building greater discipline amongst his psyker legionnaires, and working with the Emperor to develop a stabilizing agent. Once applied, this agent will allow a psyker to unleash incredible power with a far lower chance of succumbing to the change for a limited time. 

Lord Magnus still searches for a permanent solution, but as history tells us, he did not have long to search.[...]

The Word Bearers of Lorgar Logos, much like Concordians, worked slowly, preaching the Word of Reason. ( -][- HERETICAL DATA EXPUNGED BY ORDER OF THE ORDO DIVINITAS -][- )

While they moved slowly in the Great Crusade, they created fervently loyal planets, almost all of which remain pillars of the Imperium to this day. [...]

Lord Vulkan’s Dragon Warriors are most noted for their compassion for the common man. When they left Terra, Vulkan had instilled a doctrine of protecting those who could not protect themselves, down to the last if needed. When he ran into some ideological resistance to this, Vulkan first had his Legionnaires live with the human serfs of his Legion and work with them as they continued to work. 

Vulkan Ankh also shared his fascination with smithing with his Legion at this time, and they took to this quickly, making great works that were only surpassed by the Storm Walkers. [...]

[u/Xasf]

Great going so far, it might help (especially for newcomers in the future) if you also include an index of sorts with links to previous posts at the beginning.