What are the some of the most idiosyncratic Legions in the Empire? Does the Empire have a Legion specialized in taking down the weakly-godlike entities? If that is the case, I suspect such Legion(s) will be under jurisdiction of the Transcend.
Also, considering the Empire has twin war-gods (Dúréníän and Kalasané) I wonder each of the gods possesses their own Chariot and Legion.
For the simplest answer, here’s a screenshot from my notes listing the not–one-of-the-standard-four type legions:
For that, you’d be looking for the 74th (“God Slayers”) and 159th (“God’s Pallbearers”). They were both around pre-Transcend, but in the modern day while not strictly under its jurisdiction, they do receive an appropriate amount of Transcendent assistance.
Ah, but they have different focuses. Dúréníän’s the god of strategy and generalship, so is usually found behind the lines: if he embodies in anything, it’s probably the artificial moon Core Command is housed in. Kalasané’s is the god of battle, valor, and personal combat - more of a soldier’s god than a general’s, so he’s the one who takes the field in God of War.
Neither of them has a specific legion (although they share a militant religious order), because in their role as patrons of the Imperial Military Service, it would be improper to show that sort of favoritism. And the individual legions, of course, do have their own patron spirits.
Oh my. What an unanticipated gift. There are so many great ideas in there. A feast for the eyes and soul!
There are equally many questions to ask. So I will divide them into three parts.
Are all legions made up of the roughly same number of legionaries?
I suppose not-numbered Legions are the standard ones? Could the specialist Legions be “farmed out” to the standard Legions in a piecemeal fashion? After all, operating thousands of specialists as a single unit can be inefficient and wasteful.
Are the 1st, 6th and 7th Legions equipped with better and/or specialized wargear?
How the Hounds of Makrast met their end? There must have been a great many legions that fought against slavers. What makes them special?
There are many different combat engineering Legions, and more than one communications specialist Legions, but only a single logistics Legion. Why is that?
Is the 19th the sole siege specialist Legion?
What is the meaning of the denomination “Guardsmen”?
Is the Emperor’s Eye specialized in the execution of the perfect decapitation strike in an equally perfect plan founded upon the perfectly gathered information?
May you kindly provide some examples of experimental technology deployed by the 32nd? And how do the 32nd and 42nd differ from one another?
Don’t the Empire make an extensive use of automata? What makes the 43rd special? Do they simply use better/more “elite” technology, or is there something else?
Are the Firestorm Riders specialized in the flame-based warfare and battlefield conflagration?
Are there some hidden meanings in the names of the combat engineering Legions? Their particular specializations may differ from each other, but I can’t be sure.
If my curiosity makes you uncomfortable in any way, please let me know. I will apologize for incommoding you and cease the interruption immediately. The above question has been divided into three parts to minimize the burden on you, in addition to other reasons. Still, I’m concerned whether I’m practically bombarding you with questions.
I’d like to prioritize the questions concerning the Transcend and Transcend-affilitated Legions!
For that, you’d be looking for the 74th (“God Slayers”) and 159th (“God’s Pallbearers”). They were both around pre-Transcend, but in the modern day while not strictly under its jurisdiction, they do receive an appropriate amount of Transcendent assistance.
Were the 74th and 159th around pre-Transcend? That is insane. How had they already managed to kill gods without patronage of their own gods? Really, what precisely is the “applied eschatology”?
I wonder if the 74th and 159th are still killing gods with the standard, Empire-grade equipment. In this case, the role of the Transcend would be limited primarily to providing necessary information.
From whom does the 160th receive its orders? From the entire Transcend? Or from a more militant portion of it?
Does the 160th make use of specialized Transcend-grade weaponry?
Ah, but they have different focuses. Dúréníän’s the god of strategy and generalship, so is usually found behind the lines: if he embodies in anything, it’s probably the artificial moon Core Command is housed in. Kalasané’s is the god of battle, valor, and personal combat - more of a soldier’s god than a general’s, so he’s the one who takes the field in God of War.
Fascinating. Are there any other Eikone that could function as war gods? For instance, Barrascán and Braníël.
Neither of them has a specific legion (although they share a militant religious order), because in their role as patrons of the Imperial Military Service, it would be improper to show that sort of favoritism. And the individual legions, of course, do have their own patron spirits.
Patron spirits. How lovely. Very Roman indeed. The main difference is, the former is being very real. How the patron spirits act upon the Legions?
May you please elaborate on the militant religious orders of the Empire? Besides, how many religious orders are there in the Empire?
Have tested some of functions of the site. It seems completely deleting the post is not viable.
Yes. Full establishment gives each legion a fighting strength around 14,000.
Ah, I may have inadvertently misled you. By the numbers, in the 7200-ish milieu I’ve set a lot of things in, peacetime mobilization rates let the Empire field 77,000 full legions. I don’t have names and details and assignments for all of them, naturally enough - the only ones in my notes are the ones I’ve had something to say about and/or inspiration for.
(And the above table is only the one for the special legions that don’t fit into the normal four categories - light infantry, light cavalry, heavy infantry, heavy cavalry - which is why you don’t see those on the list; I keep them in separate tables. 
Every legion has a number, and all but the very newest a name and standard to go with it.)
This is also the answer to your questions 5 and 6, by the way. They’re not unique in the Legions, only in the small subset of them I’ve created so far.
Certainly. In building forces for particular purposes, it’s not uncommon to break off an ala, merarchy, or cohort (roughly equivalent to brigade/regiment/battalion) for independent operation, and it’s particularly common for the legions of specialists.
The 1st primarily have the ceremonial versions, as part of their job is to be on display. (Unlike a lot of ceremonial versions on Earth, the 1st’s equipment isn’t even slightly less functional; but it is definitely prettier, as an additional part of their job is to be on display.)
I haven’t yet defined the 6th and 7th strictly. They’re intended to be remnants of a doctrine that was selected against[1] for general use (worked really well, but too expensive to justify), but left behind in its wake a couple of units that were too useful to disestablish.
I’m saving the details of their story in case I feel moved to write it one day, but the quick summary is that they’re the only legion to be completely wiped out. They guarded the pass of Makrast (“Cloven Mountain”) along the Brightwall, met what amounted to a Genghis Khan-level horde trying to pass the wall from the not-yet-Imperialized south, and held it back; but before reinforcements could reach them –
Well. They all died where they stood, and they all died standing. And that carved their legend into history.
Just what it sounds like: specialists in holding and protecting an area. (Legion doctrine by and large is lightning-fast maneuver warfare: hit fast, hit hard, move on. It makes digging in and holding ground more of a special function.)
Not entirely on their own, but when the Legions execute an operation exactly like that, the Emperor’s Eye are the Legion that went in first to gather the information and perform any necessary sabotage.
Whenever there’s some new technology to test - whether it’s as simple as a new model of battle carbine or something completely paradigm-breaking, it goes to the 32nd or one of the other experimental technology legions to use in the field before it gets rolled out to all the other legions. Back in the days where the 32nd earned their name, the leading edge of technology was still quite “steampunk”-ish, so they were fielding clank legionaires, five-furnace dragons (steam tanks with style), coilspring serpents, and all sorts of nifty stuff like that.
As for special weapons legions like the 42nd, they specialize in being very good at rapid cross-training on new weapons unlike anything in current use (hence “special”). Sometimes that means something advanced but off-the-wall that’s ended up stored in the Imperial Military Service vaults until they need exactly that thing. Sometimes it means something suitable for particularly outré circumstances, likewise. And sometimes it means that due to really bizarre circumstances, the Military Service has a sudden need for horse archers, longbowmen, or a pike square. Either way, it’s legions like the 42nd that get to learn how… really quickly.
This is one of those obscure technical points, I’m afraid. The Imperial Service does make a lot of use of robots (both “smart” cybershells and “dumb” drones) and other automation, but “automata”, in this case, means “not thinky at all”.
The Brass Legion started out in the same part of steam-and-clockwork-driven history as the machines that gave the 32nd their name, and they were, in fact, very simple clockwork legionaries. No artificial intelligence driving them; just a bunch of cams and cogs driving automatonic responses. Very limited, but useful enough.
Why are they still around?
Well, apart from being a fascinating piece of military history, when fighting some opponents - and I’ll talk about this some more when I respond to your other post - there’s a definite advantage to legionaries that can’t be talked to, persuaded, intimidated, hacked, reprogrammed, or infected.
They just keep coming.
That’s where their name came from, indeed. Although it’s not their only option: if tasked to go wreck things underwater or on a solar array, they do have other choices available. But fire? Fire is near-universally scary.
Legion names often come from within, and reference some particular custom or incident, so while they may occasionally offer hints as to specializations, just as often they refer to something not terribly relevant. Of the ones on the list, we can be reasonably sure that the 93rd (“Wrench Wenches”) came from one of the Empire’s more matriarchal constituent nations, and the 168th (“Ethring Marine Engineering Brigade”) have special skills in exactly that, but the others are probably just noodle incidents.
No, no problem. As long as you don’t mind that answers aren’t guaranteed in any particular timeframe (my time and ability to respond varies widely), ask away!
Tank dragoons, maybe? Maybe. ↩︎
Again, there are several subterranean Legions. I wonder if the Underminers are specialized in, well, undermining the grounds of enemy, while the Echoing Stone and the Tectonic Knights are more “conventional” subterranean fighting forces.
What is the Black Watch’s main occupations? Do they run watch stations across the empire?
Were the 74th and 159th around pre-Transcend? That is insane. How they had already managed to kill gods without patronage of their own gods?
How the Sunbreakers are distinguished from the standard heavy Legions? I speculate their primary job is for killing the largest and most dangerous vehicles that exist on the battlefield… is it correct?
Do the defense specialist Legions use specialized wargear and equipment as well as specialist tactics?
Is the 82nd specialized in the battlefield rescue/retrieval missions?
Bear cavalry? Really? Do they ride on genetically engineered bears?
Is the 98th specialized in causing artifical disasters?
I suppose the 116th Legionaries are all superbly gifted negotiators?
Do the roles of the Iron Guard and the Stellar Protectorate subtly differ? BTW, does the Empire even need internal military police? There are not one, but three military police Legions.
There are quite a few of hoplite Legions. What is the concept behind the hoplite Legions? How do they differ from the “normal” Legions? Do they use literal shields, perhaps? Could the Home Guard be promoted/upgraded to the “proper” Legions?
How does the 141th differ from the 32th?
What is the difference between the 48th and the 156th? The former are specialized in orbital bombardment, whereas the latter uses old-style artilleries, perhaps?
Could the 158th conduct operations on the surface of stars? What kinds of weapons and tactics do they use?
Does the 160th make use of specialized Transcend-grade weaponry?
Is the 161th the sole aerial Legion of the Empire? Or are they one among many, but somehow special?
What needs does the Empire have for the 167th? Couldn’t they simply synthesize exotic materials in the labs?
What is the role of the 174th?
Does the Empire have a “purge” Legion? A Legion dedicated solely to the complete and utter extermination of the enemy. The 56th seems to be more oriented to “terror” than “extermination”.
Patron spirits. They are very Roman indeed. The sole difference is the former is very real. How the patron spirits act upon the Legions? Are there any Eikone that could function as war gods? For instance, Barrascán and Braníël.
Mostly just names, although since they’re self-chosen names that often relate to their early operations, you’d be right to assume that sort of thing is how the Underminers started out. As for the Tectonic Knights, they’re a chfssssc legion, so they specialize in fighting down-deep, the chfssssc natively dwelling down around the Moho.
Don’t take the name too literally. They’re a dedicated special operations legion, old - originally a pre-Imperial unit from High Daëntry - and very, very good at what they do.
Well, there’s a couple of things to note, here.
First is that the best way to deal with a hostile weakly godlike intelligence is to catch it before it blooms (hits hard take-off). They started our handling hostile emergent intelligences on a much smaller scale.
But the other thing is that the thing about gods? Sometimes gods are dumb and/or crazy.
Okay, so that could use some explanation.
Fully flowered seed AIs are instrumentally smart. When it comes to figuring out means to achieve their goals, they’re very, very good at that. But in the field of ends, it isn’t necessarily so. An entity like the Transcend is the ideal here, because it was made to serve some very broad purposes in the first place, and soaked up tremendous breadth of mind from all of its constitutionals. Something like that doesn’t have mental weak spots to attack.
But look at some of the others we’ve seen in canon:
The Leviathan Consciousness is very instrumentally smart, but its focus is incredibly limited. It’s obsessed with network process optimization and can’t see the world in terms of anything else. Civilization is largely protected from it because if it’s not connected to it over a networking protocol, it’s irrelevant, therefore invisible.
Or the Mistake, formerly the Eteolis Mindweave, which was intended to share some of the properties of the Transcend, but due to lacking the high-order coordination functions ended up tearing its own mind apart in the throes of a cosmic-scale schizotypal disorder.
They could go forth and poke either one of those, for example, without Transcendent backup, because their irrationality opens up big mental blind spots you can sneak up on them and punch them in.
Not necessarily vehicles, but the largest and most dangerous entities in the battlespace, yes. If the standard loadout can’t handle it (which takes a lot of work, since the heavy infantry are routinely issued pocket nukes), these guys go in.
Their on-person loadout is standard (after all, it’s all general-purpose equipment), but their doctrine includes extra training on specialized defensive equipment: dropwalls, rapid-deployment bunkers, SAFEs, minefields, etc., etc.
No, they’re just a normal special operations unit. The name comes from an old saying that “the one hope of the doomed is not to hope for safety”, something which reflects a lot of the missions they end up being send on.
Oh, yes.
(Well, a lot of the time they’re more like bear dragoons, but still.)
In the modern day, yes. Of course, back when the Ancyrans first invented the notion, it was more “And now, my son, you must go into the mountains as I once did, find and tame your bear, and ride him TO GLORY!”)
(Of course, at the same time, on Paltraeth, the kaeth were fielding ankylosaur cavalry armed with giant hand-held black-powder cannon[1], so it’s not like they were alone on Team Beyond The Impossible[2].)
They specialize more in the delivery of messages than the follow-up…
Not really.
And not within itself, but there’s always an occupation zone somewhere that needs policing a little more, um, vigorously than the Watch Marshalcy provides for.
Yes, actually, really big and thick ones based on heavy vehicular armor and requiring considerable power-assistance to lift. It makes them very slow, but also completely relentless when it comes to advancing under fire. Brutally hard to grind down.
Not routinely. (The 153rd is an exception because the transfer between services at their own request.) The Home Guard are defensive militia units, whereas the Legions are regular military, and you can’t just go around changing the terms of the enlistment like that.
(Well, okay, some governments would, be the Empire is institutionally committed to Not Being That Guy.)
The 32nd are an experimental technology legion, so their job is field-testing equipment and doctrine as regular legionaries; while the 141st is a special scientific legion whose name is literally accurate - the complex battlespaces of the future, especially at the edge of the known, sometimes require fielding people who are both trained legionaries and trained scientists.
Actually, you caught me in a mistake there where I described the same function in two different ways. They’re both artillerists/bombardment specialists, using weapons accompanying them into the field - artillery battery robots, mostly, these days.
(Orbital bombardment is left to the Navy to provide.)
That’s exactly what they’re intended to do: on stellar husbandry arrays, in coronal habitats, and other similar facilities like that. (As for the details of their weapons and doctrine, that’s something I’m going to save for future writings.)
Possibly. Of course, they’re also not using the same timeline everyone else is using, so it’s also entirely possible that their equipment is standard issue in whatever part of the future they originated in. It’s also possible that these amount to the same thing. Either way, preserving causal integrity means they aren’t telling anyone. 
Oops. You caught another mistake of mine there. The 161st should be listed among the light cavalry legions, as an aerial-operations unit. (In light cavalry terms, this means their personal vehicles are capable of functioning as “attack helicopters” or operating at multiple levels of three-dimensional battlespaces.)
If they have the recipe, sure.
But if some new, interesting, and potentially useful exotic material shows up out there in the hands of hostile forces, you’re going to need to retrieve a whole lot of it from them for analysis so that you can figure out how it works and thus how to synthesize your own version.
As a winnowing legion, they’re tasked to deal with guerilla warfare and insurgencies in occupied regions, primarily in urban terrain but occasionally elsewhere (based on thoughts and sources here). They sort out the wheat from the chaff, protecting surrendering civilians and escorting them to safety while eliminating all hostile forces in a designated area.
No, actually. As strange as it can seem to say about a military service so thoroughly trained and equipped, the Legions are the arm of restraint. If they’re on the field at all, it’s because the Warmain in command doesn’t want to kill everyone.
(Even specialized terror legions like the 56th and 98th are the arm of restraint, in that their function is to terrify, intimidate, and deter, and you can’t do that unless you leave people alive to be terrified, intimidated, and deterred.)
In the extremely rare case that the mission objective is “Wipe them out. All of them.”, an Admiral on a starship in orbit gives the nod, a gunnery officer presses the “Saturation Bombardment” button, and it’s all done and glassed by teatime.
Like the Roman genius or the kami, the legionary patron spirits are embodiments of the collective “soul” of the legion, its honor, courage, and other qualities. They keep (and are) its history and its lore, and they inspire and guide its legionaries, who may connect with them to seek such.
Not as such. The eikones represent unique concepts in Flamic theology, and between them the Noble Warlord and the Laughing Warrior encompass all that is uniquely war.
Which is not to say that other eikones have no place in warfare; Barrascán patronizes all guardians and protectors, among whom are many legionaries; Dírasąn likewise all messengers and couriers; Éadínah nand Leiríah smile on all who lay cunning plans and deceptive feints; and so forth. And, of course, every legionary who’s ever found himself under fire or pinned in a foxhole offers a prayer to Athnéël.
But they aren’t gods of war. Merely gods in war.
Are there ever any cases where it’s specifically the inhabitants that they want wiped out, but for some reason or another want/need to preserve the local infrastructure/ecosystem/what have you? Or would that be one of the conventional legions?
Insofar as I’m talking locally, not globally, in contrast to the scenario y’all seem to be talking about, y’all are remarkably fascinated by a situation that is astonishingly, extremely rare to the point that I can’t find any historical examples, and that’s after composing all the history that, thus far, exists.
As a purely hypothetical comment, population densities in general being a long way from ecumenopolitan, you could glass the population centers of any continent-spanning polity on Earth or similar worlds from orbit without the regional ecology being notably affected.
But, to be blunt, they don’t have a whole stockpile of specialized weapons for the eventuality of a genocide or any sort of “Final Solvers” legion, because the role of Space Hitler is already occupied and they’re not interested in trying out for it.
In hindsight, I suppose that the scenario that I had in mind would be entirely out of scope(?) for the Legions to resolve? Insofar as, should such a situation come up, they would probably not even attempt to do it themselves given any acceptable alternative. Instead, presumably, they would call in specialists to deal with the situation (time permitting).
That scenario being: “We need these here fuckers extra super absolutely certainly dead, preferably ASAP. Collateral Damage Budget: Absolutely Fucking Not.”
Insofar as the Empire has any policy on such things, it is this:
Should you, at any point, find yourself seriously contemplating scenarios that call for the equivalent of the Einsatzgruppen, you should go home and rethink your life[1]. Before someone does it for you.
To be clear and final: if someone is stupidly fanatical enough to militarize their entire population and throw them at the Legions in a bizarre fighting-to-the-last sophont attempt to commit a drawn-out suicide-by-army, and their entire population is stupidly fanatical enough to go along with them, then the Empire will quite reluctantly oblige them.
But deliberately setting out to exterminate entire populations is something for ur-barbarians like Nazis, communists, and their moral equivalents, and civilized people, by definition, never go there.
Here’s the traditional pistol with one shot to help you with the rethinking. ↩︎
Does the Empire have military units specialized at probability manipulation?
Short answer: No.
Slightly longer answer: Not in any sense other than being really good at stacking the odds in their favor by ridiculously good strategy, tactics, logistics, equipment, training, and software support.
Fuller answer: I avoid it because, in my not-terribly-humble authorial opinion, probability manipulation is a deeply lame superpower which boils down to being really, really lucky in ways indistinguishable from writing a Mary Sue/Marty Stu.
I prefer my characters to earn their victories through weaponized technological cheating. 
Thank you for the clarification!
Just as the Empire has specialized legions, does it also have specialized fleets?
Does the Empire have this kind of “superpower”?
Lifted from an alternate heresy project
Numeration: The XXth Legion.
Primogenitor: Xanthos, known as the Dreamwalker, the Thrice-Sighted.
Cognomen: The Black Stars, (prior irregular) the Occulted Sons, (limited/uncertain) the Chiliagram
Observed Strategic Tendencies: Macro-coordination, precision engagement, trans-theatre campaigns, psychic warfare, counter-strike and tactical reserve, lore-culling.
Noteworthy Domains: The world of Thrais, the XX Legion additionally bears tertiary tithe rites across the Imperium (details restricted).
In creating the Legiones Astartes, each unique in nature, we now know the Emperor’s designs to have been woven with deeper meaning and purpose than any save a few among even His closest advisors and confidants were aware of at the time. Yet, it was an aspect of His being that few ever considered in its own right, overshadowed by the brilliance of his other unparalleled abilities and skills. That He did what He did in such a synchronous manner, that His reasons and intent were so beyond mortal ken, was but an expected outcome of all else that He was capable of.
It is, perhaps, obvious in hindsight that the Legion which so harmonised with this aspect of the Emperor was likewise so little considered on its own merit, and proved so concerning when it was.
Origin: Orphans under the Sky
In the case of many of the Emperor’s Legions, there could be seen some sign or portent of what the future held for them in the first selection of recruits, from the belligerent passion of the XVth to the taciturn independence seen in the IVth. By comparison, the criteria under which the first of the XX Legion were selected was obscure, favouring no bloodline, talent, location or mark of character. Adding further to the mystery, the Emperor Himself took an active hand in the Legion’s creation, standing in direct oversight at every stage, and at the nexus of all decisions made regarding them, from the timing of gene-seed implantation to the initial order of ranking.
However diverse they may have been in origin, the legacy of their gene-sire placed a powerful mark of shared identity upon them as they underwent the transformation into astartes, and one that became more and more apparent as they aged. Hair shifted towards an ever paler blond and eyes to a silver grey, while skin bleached out over years and decades of service to an almost pearlescent pallor. Even to other astartes the form and appearance of those carrying the gene-seed of the XX Legion grew more and more alike over time. An inner change, however, was subtler but more readily noticed in the beginning, a rapport between Legion brothers that bordered on the preternatural and ignored any barrier or lack of familiarity between them.
The first mention of the XXth in the Unification Wars appears in the Legion’s own internal records rather than the grand rolls of honour maintained by the Devisio Militaris. Squad and company scale detachments fighting alongside their older sibling-Legions and in support of mortal hosts, attacks launched and defences held. Again, no common thread served to link the battles or the mission briefs issued, and no outstanding achievement on the battlefield was attributed to them despite their success. Yet, during this time each order to deploy legionnaires to the battlefield came from the very highest level, and it is known that the Emperor received every report from these specific engagements, irrespective of whatever other task was occupying Him.
In terms of honours earned and glory gained over the Unification Wars, the history of the XX Legion was sparse in comparison to their fellows, even those founded after them. It could not be said that they suffered failure or setback in any notable way, indeed in terms of objectives achieved they ranked highly. And yet there was something almost procedural about their engagements, reports submitted by the Emperor’s observers mention no sense of great achievement in what they did compared to other Legions, or that there was any doubt as to the outcome beforehand. They did what was asked and expected of them, but it appeared little more could be said. There was little in the way of heroics or victory claimed against impossible odds. An air of expectation grew among those in positions to observe their progress at large, waiting for a revelation that stubbornly refused to come. It was a common rumour even then that the Emperor created each Legion with some purpose woven into the fabric of their being, but none could guess what it might be for the XXth.
A Pattern in the Grand design
Departing the Solar Dominion in the 12th Expeditionary Fleet, supported by a patchwork of mortal auxiliaries, the Legion’s initial compliances seemed to herald only a continuation of what was seen on Terra. The Legion was equally successful in battle and bringing worlds peacefully into the Imperial fold, no doubt was ever spoken that they would not be, but it amassed little repute in the process nonetheless.
An opinion began to form that it was simply poor luck and ill chance that the XXth forever missed the opportunity to match the glory of its peers. The petty empires it toppled would fall apart as soon as any pressure was applied, the armies it fought lacked the mettle to make their defeat a thing of glory, those who welcomed them with open arms would have done so for any Imperial fleet. While their cousins’ had the chance to build a reputation and establish a name for themselves that would be remembered down the ages, the Last seemed always to find themselves on the path of forgettable ease and be left in the shadow of other’s victories. A Legion ‘Occulted from the sight of those now laden with glory’ as one Lord Commander would note in her journal. More often, and by far, they would be present in the background of conquests achieved by other Imperial forces, their Expeditionary fleet was slowly becoming dispersed, though even here it seemed that the compliances they assisted in armies saw them out of place to gain glory save what was reflected from the leading host. If nothing else could be said, the sons of the XXth worked well alongside whichever armies they were sent to assist, and while many and varied views were held, none were disparaging or held complaint. As with many things looked back on with hindsight, it would be a source of surprise how few appraisals seemed to match, or hold truth beyond the bearer’s expectations or bias.
With numbers still low and recruitment still a seemingly labyrinthine process that defied any attempt at unraveling, it looked as though the XXth was to become as much a footnote in the annals of the Great Crusade as it was possible for an Astartes Legion to be. Still the Emperor maintained His quiet watch over them.
Unseen Constellations
As the Crusade expanded beyond Segmentum Solar however, questions started to arise among some in the War Council as they began to notice details that could not be easily explained. Not even the most outlandish simulations run by the Stratagoi ever predicted a Legion only encountering weak opposition, especially not when it roamed so widely and encountered such a variety of foes. Something more was at play that eluded conventional wisdom or detection. As they sought further, hints towards a pattern began to emerged, coincidental timings in the deployment of reinforcement, or chance positioning of troops that would come to play key, but subtle, rolls in a battle or campaign. Reconstructions of past engagements revealed the Legion to be in the right place at the right time with growing, improbable, regularity. Before more time could be devoted to this mystery, the XXth became caught up in a separate issue that demanded the Council’s attention.
While many Legions counted among their number those displaying some degree of psychic potential, the brothers of the VIII Legion had progressed far beyond the pale in both number of legionnaires so empowered and the extent of the abilities they wielded. Evoking a steadily growing sense of fear and anger in those who remembered how much damage had been inflicted by rogue witches across human worlds, calls were made for a resolution to the issue. The Occulted saw the next greatest number of such brother-psykers, far more indeed than those who first raised voice on the matter had thought, though it was with a focus on far subtler arts, and while without the rigid controls of Lord Aethios’ Legion, there was more structure in place than the VIIIth employed, and perhaps more self-awareness and understanding of why it was needed. The First Primarch would be considered to win the debate which followed, for the time being at any rate, drawing together agents of the Imperial Household, the most talented of the varied Legion psykers, and those from his own homeworld trained in warpcraft, to formulate organisation and training regimes to be spread throughout the Legions. Thus was the Librarius project instituted, with the quiet influence of the XXth at play within it.
Obscured even in this arena by the nova-flare of the VIII Legion’s displays, the Occulted returned to a position in the shadow of its peers, a position likely to have remained unchanged in most eyes for some time were it not for contact being made between the Emperor and the XXth Primarch.
Child of a Broken World
The Emperor would discover nineteen of His stolen progeny, while a twentieth would discover Him.
The Fractured World, the Wounded Lands, Thrais. What terrible works were enacted, that time and space and aether were injured? What unimaginable weapons were deployed, that they left scars upon the fabric of the universe itself? What hope of answer, when cause and effect rippled outward and beyond, rewriting what had been and would be?
It is impossible now to know the truth of Humanity’s first colonisation efforts and the civilisation they built in that lost era. It’s quite possible there is no longer a truth to be found, torn asunder as the Catastrophe broke a small corner of reality and left it to heal unset.
As always however, Mankind survived its trials and adapted to the new way of things. The rain fell on one side of a street before the other, a moment might be slow or fast in one place or another, a mountain might always be distant no matter how long you travel, and a road might only exist in one direction. Anything can become mundane given time. Towns and cities were founded, land was farmed, wars were fought, life was lived. Much was lost of what the people there once had by way of technology and lore, but not all, and some would be discovered anew. The shape of life came to reflect the struggle between stability and unpredictable change that haunted the world it rested on.
The people came to learn that the damage done to their world was not a static thing, but at times spread and contracted in strange sysles, distorting the weave of causality so that the past and future reached across the present, the near and far were no longer. The wise, gifted and inquisitive gathered to pool their skill and learning, acquired and forged instruments that let them look beyond the veil, developed disciplines offered a route to understand the impossible and safeguard their fellows from it. On the rare moments when those wounds in reality ran deep enough to reach the Beyond and bring it Within, they gave warning to prepare from the observatory-monasteries where they plotted the movements of the stars. Humanity fought, died, and once again rebuilt on the remnants as the cycle turned once more and again.
It was to this world that the XXth Primarch fell from the warp through a crack in existence, his incubation pod blazing with a aura of tortured warding. It was from this world he looked out and saw a light in the distance.
Spoiler: The Great Work
Xanthos, whose tall form was painted with the designs of eternity and haloed with hair of white gold. Whose embracing gaze reflected many colours, and transcendent mind perceived the ten thousand angels of reality. Having met and communed deeply upon the Sea of Souls, it was a mere formality when the Bucephalus came into orbit of Thrais, father and son embracing as festivals celebrated the the world’s reunion with its kindred across the stars.
The Emperor would spend far longer on the homeworld of His newest son that any other, examining the Great Work used to undo the damage inflicted on Thrais and the universe around it. Xanthos would recall the pleasure of meeting another who matched and exceeded his knowledge and ability, the debate they engaged in challenging him in a way he had not encountered before, while their discussions allowed him to speak with another who perceived the universe to the degree he did for the first time. On Terra, the newly returned Primarch was, in the same manner, to remain far longer than any of his siblings, inspired by what he encountered. Long days of study were spent in the Hall of Leng alongside his Father as they compared the anomalies there to the cracks in reality that had afflicted Thrais. Within the City of Silence he spent much time ensconced in the astropathic chambers as he meditated, considering the architecture and geometries involved that transcended the material plane and shaped the ether in mirrored forms. Of the Immaterium the two superhuman beings would speak at length and under the most secret and secure conditions, the Emperor both tutoring His son in yet higher Arts and warning him further of its dangers.
Across the wider Imperial Court, Xanthos was known for being deliberate in thought but decisive in action, for the absolute attention paid to those he encountered, and the captivation of his presence on those he directed his attention to. The Sigillite and he were oft seen in conversation, the conservator General and Master of the Adeptus Telepathica hosted him regularly as he plumbed their archives.
Spoiler: The Nature of Truth
Calibration
When the time came to depart Terra and take up the mantle of General, Xanthos was met by the whole of his Legion upon the surface of Terra in the shadow of the Imperial Palace. Thirty thousand sons forged in his image, now his to command. No words were spoken between them in this moment of perfect communion, but it was said he shed two tears as they knelt.
From the journals and letters of those courtiers who encountered him in these last few days on Terra, the Primarch was apparently pleased with the reports on his Legion and their performance, leading some to worry that he may not grasp the art of war as hoped, or misunderstood what was being said, however unlikely that could be. A single record, long lost to chance error in the record vaults of the Palace, offers another view, and some explanation behind the change in cognomen that took place then. In xanthos own voice, we hear part of an exchange between him and the, then, Chapter Masters of his Legion: ‘‘You are as dark stars in the heavens my sons, constellations unseen against the midnight sky, weighting the motion of fate in Mankind’s favour.’’
Changes to the Legion came as quickly as they were smoothly completed, a new cycle of induction swiftly began which would bring the first Thraisian legionnaires into the Emperor’s service. In short order, the newly renamed Dark Stars Legion took to the void once more, and for the first and only time as a single force deployed towards a single purpose. Its target was the palace-world domain of the Argent Princes, long resistant to compliance and having already succeeded in repulsing the 26th and 14th Expeditionary Fleet with terrible losses. Xanthos declined further support, stating that his sons and their auxiliaries would be sufficient despite the War Council’s expectations and prior plans.
Some believed that the Primarch sought to make right the underwhelming performance and record of his Legion to date, that he felt the need to prove what they were capable of or that they were due no less respect than the sons of his Brother-Primarchs. Others suggest Xanthos was making a point, clarifying the error in judgement he believed had been made when others looked upon his son’s successes in the past, or aimed to show the Emperor that his faith was not misplaced. More inclined to keep his own counsel than proclaim his intent and opinion, it is likely now that none will ever know.
Breaking into realspace at speed and continued without pause, the fleet cast forth its drop pods and stormbirds from afar as it arced round the planet, avoiding the orbital defence ring by the barest margin. Below, the Princes’ silver-plated grenadiers reacted quickly to the Legionnaires landing, troops redeploying to surround the invaders and reinforce the formations sent first to engage them, heavy weapons were brought forward and mechavelry columns readied. Chemhanced, utterly devoted, and the product of gene-lines bred across generations of their rulers’ feud-wars and exhibition battles, the forces set against the Dark Stars had already driven off three invasion attempts, interrogated to destruction the prisoners taken, and already disseminated the knowledge gained on the Imperium’s methods of warfare across its officer corps. Before Xanthos’ made his intent known, the War Council had planned for the V Legion to bring the planet into compliance. Now the XXth would seek to do so with a quarter of their numbers.
What followed was nothing less than a rout, a revelation of the truth behind the XX Legion’s reputation, and, faintly, the inspiration of fear in those who witnessed it. All in one act. The armies of the Argent Princes were outmaneuvered, their ambushes bypassed, regiments gathered for the next push were ill-positioned when the time came. They charged into kill-zones, misread the Legion’s deployments or intended targets, found themselves bottlenecked or overspread. Not because they were inexperienced, undisciplined, lacking in skilled commanders or support, but because the Dark Stars read their intent, foresaw their actions, and perceived the underlying patterns guiding them. And with this knowledge they acted, honing the edge of their understanding until by the time came when the Princes knelt before them, the enemy were unwittingly moving where the Legion directed them with subtle signal and false showing. At the centre strode Xanthos, clad in pearl warplate and painted silk, the axis of a vast mandala of war incorporating all it touched into his design. The gift he possessed to understand the motion of space and the shape of time expressed in its most terrific form.
Here and now, the battles and wars fought by the Legion could be seen in the light of new understanding. Enemies that fell not for their own weakness but by a hand that understood them better than they did themselves, even while the XXth were themselves still coming to understand the talent they carried written into the very fabric of their being. Victories that were won not by the favour of chance and good fortune, but by seeking the shape of success and assuming it in the face of opposition.
Spoiler: Articles of Power
The movements of the Heavens
After the fall of the Argent Princes, the Legion slowly spread out across the Great Crusade, detachments often joining other Expeditionary Fleets for a time before moving on at their Primarch’s command, or at some unknown sign. By themselves, the Dark Stars moved across the galaxy in a swirling tide that ebbed and flowed around their beloved Primarch as he set the course of their advance. Inscrutable though they may have been in their movements, the Dark Stars came to be welcome additions to the battleline of many a Lord Commander, the advice of its officers welcomed, though rarely offered unless asked for, and the lack of friction seen in their deployment alongside myriad other Imperial forces appreciated. Where before they were known as the Legion that suffered the cruel kindness of fate, now they were courted for as heralds of victory by the armies they fought alongside, talismans of Mankind’s destiny.
Perhaps from the perspective of one who had already achieved great things before entering the Emperor’s service, and was by nature inclined to see both the bigger picture and the part played by each individual in it, Xanthos was less concerned with honours and glory than most of his brothers. The saying ‘success rewards with itself’ is attributed to him, and it cannot be denied that he stood second in far more victories than his peers, or so readily split his Legion so that it was named as ally to more who were crowned with glory for the victories than they were granted themselves. The XX Primarch is thought in fact to have been the least active on the battlefield from among that superhuman brotherhood, given more to the wider orchestration of his sons’ campaigns, spread as they were across systems and sectors of the void, and the bringing of worlds into the Emperor’s domain through diplomacy. Yet, when he did stand upon the field of battle it was as the herald of doom and the unstoppable motion of fate set against them.
Not all were enraptured by the Legion or its Master however. There were a number who felt his methods lacked proper honour, or were wary in light of his psychic nature. For a small minority there was maybe an understanding that what they saw in him was as much their own expectations reflected back as the true nature of the man, and who worried that some vast game was being played by him that they did not understand. The Emperor, if any doubt was brought to him, held no reservation, and at times still dispatched missions to them that He would see done in ways that other Legions could not.
Of all the Emperor’s sons, and the Legions who were their sons in turn, Xanthos and the XXth showed no concern as the Great Crusade came towards what many thought to be its final stages. While some others did indeed look forward with positive light to the place they and their Legions would occupy in the era to come, there was still at least the natural apprehension of the unknown, or worry as to how others might cope. All the while, the Lord of the Dark Stars continued onwards unperturbed as though no ending approached at all.
Unit Formation and Structure within the Legion
From the very start, the Primarch’s hand was active in the reordering of his newfound sons. Light but far reaching, often unseen, and always with purpose towards his vision. The absolute dictat practiced by some of his brothers was a crude tool in his eyes, to one who could hold the entire system of his Legion’s workings in his mind’s eye and plot the ripples of each change as he made them, there was no need. Looking in, the Dark Stars seemed to fragment and reform, revealing the hidden design that suddenly emerged fully formed. It says much of the swiftly established trust between the Legion and its Primarch that this occurred as smoothly as it did, and of Xanthos’ talent for intuiting patterns and building on them.
In place of the Chapters and Companies of more traditional Legions, Xanthos restructured his sons into twelve Great Houses, themselves of twelve Lesser Houses broken down into Fellowships and finally squads. To fulfill their purpose in the Primarch’s grand design, all were organised and equipped to operate independently in whatever conditions or situation they found themselves in, each an echo of the formation above it and echoed by that below. Whatever thoughts might have been had on how it occurred, as the compliances achieved by the Legion mounted none could deny the effectiveness of the changes implemented.
The extensive arsenals set at the disposal of each House, focused somewhat on the more precise arms available to the Legions, combined with the intensive training of each individual legionnaire to allow each son of the XXth to serve in a variety of roles to suit the needs of each mission. With the limited numbers available to them, in general and specific campaigns, this new direction in method set out by the Primarch saw the massed formations of dedicated troop types found in other Legions fall to the wayside. At the heart of the matter lay a simple concept, but one the Primarch held true and central, that by deliberate, individual actions at the right moment was fate moved no less than by those of nations committed without care. From this principle would come the standard unit of infantry deployed by the Dark Stars, the Hundred-Handed as Bhatu, Primarch of the XVth, named them, though they carried no special designation in their own Legion. Each unit was equipped with bolter, bolt pistol and gladius, anti-armour and -infantry grenades, and paired special issue weapons, so as to be able to engage in whatever manner of combat was required.
Though standing specialist units were uncommon, some, mostly unique to the XXth, were maintained. The most outwardly famed, and internally respected, of these were the Lotosi, fellowships of battle-psykers deployed to the most crucial of battles and where the outcome of wider events hung in the balance, charged with but a singular purpose they were empowered to achieve at all cost. It was in Xanthos’ hands alone to select those who would be initiated into this exclusive order, so named for the narcotic Thraisian flower they consumed that was said to clarify their minds of distraction and focus the psychic gift of foresight.
Legion Hierarchy
From the first moment of assuming command, Xanthos formed the axis around which all authority in the Legion revolved, orbited by the Masters of the Great Houses and they by those of the Lesser, and then their Lieutenants and sergeants in turn. Each movement altering the path of others in the shifting pattern of command distribution that emerged. Always a tight knit brotherhood, given to great unity of purpose and action both, it could have been imagined that the presence of one so impactful in their greatness as a Primarch might arrive with disruptive force amid the bonds established. Instead it was as though a missing piece had been seamlessly fitted into a gap that no one had noticed was there, his presence catalysing a synergy that put the Legion’s previous coordination to shame.
While in many Legions there was a sense of one body in action, the leadership of the Dark Stars was more akin to one purpose sought by many paths. Known internally as the Great Spiral, the pattern of command repeated itself as it trailed further from the Primarch. The Masters of each Great House served as Xanthos’ councilors and advisors. Each of them in turn was attended to by the Masters of the Lesser Houses under them, they by the Lieutenants of the Fellowships, and finally the Lieutenants stood counseled by their sergeants. Compared to a number of its peers, this command structure was shallow, though to those within it one that possessed considerable degrees of nuance. Success and ability saw deference and preference, with a high value on the experience of older legionnaires even of lower rank. It is interesting to note, that of all the Primarchs, Xanthos had no favorites or close companions from among his sons, and that to outsiders there was almost a sense of distance in his manner for all his sons possessed devotion that might have implied each alone was the sole bearer of their Father’s grace.
With each step the responsibility extended to them narrowed from the limits of the Primarch’s prescience towards the singular moment at hand, from Crusade level strategic orchestration down to the tactical considerations of a squad on the battlefield. At the same time, considerable allowance for initiative being extended to officers of all ranks, more by far than permitted by any other Legion. By extending set levels of authority at which each legionnaire could act at their own recognizance, the Dark Stars gained the ability to act with speed and decisiveness, confident in their fellows ability to respond appropriately. Indeed, the ability to successfully navigate the opportunities and hazards of chance as it was woven into the tapestry of the moment was a mark of distinction, and forerunner to promotion in many cases if tempered by appropriate care. Bolstered by the almost supernatural sense of understanding among the Legion’s sons, and the psychic gifts shared by so many of their number, few other Legions could boost such coordination and adaptability.
One facet of the Legion Command that stood out, and attracted criticism from some, were the changes to the Librarius Xanthos implemented. Always a Legion broad and deep in its psychic potential, the Librarius had been an important and extensive feature since it was first established, even if bearing the status of Librarian was seen more as a detail of ability rather than a rank in its own right, with many holding it alongside other ranks. Under the Primarch’s gaze the distinction disappeared entirely even as its training was refined under his care and the number of legionnaires with it grew. It was a rare officer who lacked demonstrable ability in the Arts, though many of them displayed such insight that it seemed they must possess it in a secret form.
Armorial Conventions
The all-seeing eyes, rendered in the Thraisian astromantic style, replaced the Legion numeration as its primary heraldry following the reunion of Xanthos and the Emperor, though it would prove to be only part of an extensive body of symbolic detail entering use. This adoption from the culture of the Primarch’s homeworld did in fact build on an already unique set of armorial detail beyond that set down in the Principia Belicosa: the lotus blossom, rose, hand, and star. Many could be traced back to an array of exotic Terran traditions, yet seemingly appeared to emerge into use unprompted, with secondary meanings depending on colour, placement and position that were wholly unique to the Legion.
The original pale grey of the Terran Legions had already transformed into a polished white by the time Legion and Primarch were united, mirroring the colouration of the legionnaires within. Following the first intake of recruits from Thrais, where skin art in henna, woad, ochre, and ink was so widely seen, the Legion came to work these, and other, markings onto their skin as a living record of their achievements and history.
War Disposition
Always one of the smallest Legions in the Emperor’s service, the Black Stars never grew beyond 79 000, a situation many blamed on their idiosyncratic and ill-understood recruitment practices. Despite this, they were also one of the most widely deployed Legions, with the Great Houses operating, in theory at least, independently, and the Lesser Houses in turn spread thin. Given Xanthos’ meta-perception and transcendental sense of coordination however, in the wider movements of the Great Crusade the Legion was never only engaged in the obvious task at hand, even when acting under the authority of others. In light of the events that unfolded during the outbreak of the Heresy, the Primarch’s prescience would be shown far greater than any had ever credited.
The Legion’s holdings on Thrais itself were light, and less centralised than those of other Legions, though invested with great care and attention to design and construction. Many were placed to align with significant points in the Great Work, some replacing existing nodes or placed to avoid or bath in its subtle emanations.
The Black Stars’ attendant fleet was balanced more towards swift transit and deployment than direct void warfare, with comparatively few battle barge-scale vessels. The Kairos, flagship of the XXth, was indicative of the style and function aimed for, and a model for the changes that were made to other warships in the fleet over time. The pre-Strife-Era warp navigation systems would be augmented by structural changes and warding arrays designed by the Primarch himself, and its astropathic choir sang from within a chamber said to have been lifted whole from the City of Silence on Terra itself. On paper, each House was linked to a single vessel or squadron, though the realities of war often resulted in a less ideal situation.
Traditionally all of the Legion’s voidcraft were navigated only by members of House Rhagan, whose survival had balanced on the edge of oblivion until an intervention by Xanthos during his time on Terra, though several members of the Librarius, and the Primarch himself, displayed varying levels of skill at warp navigation.
The equivalent, in naval terms, to specialized legions is specialist ship types; but those are functional on the level of individual ships. Any functional task force - a fleet is a huge administrative unit, not something you’d deploy - is always a mix of ship types anyway (your battle plane and carriers need a mix of screening vessels, cruisers need escorts, etc., etc.), so you just get ad-hoc task forces plugged together that happen to include whatever specialists you need.
Okay, but that is a huge wall of text. I’m going to need you to distil the relevant bits down for me because right now, I’m not even sure what sort of “superpower” I’m supposed to be looking for in there.
…their mystical prescience, being in the right place at the right time?
Nothing mystical about it in the 'verse: the job of arranging extremely convenient military coincidences is done by massively parallel predictive simulations. Which is a kind of prescience, but not that kind of prescience.
What kind of a war would have to be happening where “entire numbered Imperial fleet” stops being “obviously that is too many ships to deploy in this one place”?
