The Bulls Palatine

The Bulls Palatine, a Thirdborn Trichotomic Founding Legion and greatly esteemed, stands as a proud symbol of perfection and excellence in all their endeavors. Their unwavering pursuit of martial virtue and distinction sets them apart as paragons of war, surpassing all others in their relentless drive to achieve greatness. They hold themselves to unparalleled standards, even if they may seem unattainable to some, and scorn those who fall short. Their ultimate goal is to embody a fluid, lightning-quick force on the battlefield, where victory is not a possibility but a predetermined outcome, achieved through meticulous strategic planning and flawless execution. While their attitudes and demeanor have often earned them labels of arrogance and vainglory, the warriors of this Legion always stand ready to answer any challenge with unforgiving resolve.
However, despite their unyielding pride and glory, the Bulls Palatine remain staunchly aligned with the hopes and aspirations of humanity. They consistently lend aid to Imperial worlds, acting as saviors and aiding in the recovery of devastated populations. They actively seek volunteers from these worlds to bolster their ranks, ensuring the continued strength of their Legion. Remarkably, they display an uncharacteristic kindness towards the unaugmented, offering their human auxiliary forces comfortable living conditions and prioritizing civilian survival rates during their campaigns. Furthermore, they often leave garrison forces behind on reclaimed worlds, safeguarding the survival and perseverance of humanity and its cultural achievements.
In recognition of their unrelenting drive and unwavering dedication, the Emperor bestowed upon the warriors of the XVIIth Legion a highly coveted honor—the right to bear the tri-headed form of the Palatine Eagle, the Emperor's own standard, upon the plastrons of their command staff. This distinction was granted to only a select few, underscoring the exceptional nature of this Legion. Showered with countless praises and accolades, there remains little doubt that the XVIIth Legion embodies the very essence of what the Emperor envisioned for the Legiones Imperialis. They embody nobility in both action and appearance, excelling in all facets, displaying strength, civility, unwavering determination, and unswerving loyalty to the core.
== Origins and History ==
=== Martial Brotherhood ===
The XVIIth Legion, like its counterpart the Errant Sons of Ademar, were initially forged during the later stages of the Sol Reclamation Wars, emerging alongside other brother Thirdborn Imperial Marine Legions. Drawing from the courts and blood vassal populations of the Wosmeilor, Otraria, and Sha Drieu Kingdoms and City-States, collectively referred to as the "Desolate Kingdom" at the time, the Legion recruited many of its finest warriors. These realms, having suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of the Imperial Legions, sought redemption and reconciliation by offering their most exceptional youths as tribute to the Emperor. 
The noble families of the Desolate Kingdom selected sons and daughters from their ranks, their act of submission and penance for their prior defiance during the Venusian Scouring. It is believed that this practice, according to some Imperial scholars of the era, inspired the earliest names of the Legions, a notion later affirmed by their Luminarchs after their rediscovery during the Great Crusade by the Expeditionary Fleets.
Among the noble families, there was a spectrum of attitudes toward the tithe. Some viewed their young warriors as mere hostages, begrudgingly surrendering them to Imperial service. Conversely, others embraced the cause of the Imperium with fervor, cooperating wholeheartedly. House Vonkana of Greater Hamsirte serves as an example of the latter, reportedly offering all its sons for transformation into Imperial Marines upon their capitulation to Imperial rule. Furthermore, they willingly continued the tradition by providing the firstborn son of each subsequent generation to serve in the XVIIth Legion. In the following decades, other prominent Venus Born dynasties followed suit, following the lead of the Desolate Kingdom. They eagerly filled the ranks of the XVIIth Legion with the finest young individuals Terra had to offer, whose lineage seemed harmonious with the aristocratic blood of the Legion's Initiates. Thus, a martial brotherhood was formed, intertwining the ancestry of these warriors with a lineage that reached back to the forgotten epochs of human history.
The XVIIth Legion, rooted in the traditions and sacrifices of the Desolate Kingdom and later bolstered by the inclusion of Terran noble lineages, became a formidable force. Their ranks were filled with the cream of Terra's youth, forging a potent martial brotherhood that possessed a shared heritage of warfare stretching back through the annals of time. Together, they embarked on a journey that would shape the destiny of the Imperium during the Great Crusade.
=== Inheritance-Helix Crisis ===
One great disaster made the greatest mark upon the early decades of the XVIIth Legion's existence. This was the catastrophic loss of nearly the entire Inheritance-Helix stock of the Bulls Palatine. Coming within a solar year of their great moment of triumph fighting at the Emperor's side upon Proxima, it was to prove a turning point that was to forever alter the XVIIth Legion's future. As the Emperor's Wars of Unity broke the bounds of Terra, the pacification of the Selenar gene-cults of Luna and the Martian Compact allowed the Imperium to produce and equip new Imperial Marines at an unprecedented rate, and the Legions began to expand to meet the demands of the vast new war across the stars. As the gene-forges of Luna began to implant recruits for all the Imperial Marine Legions, a portion of the XVIIth Legion's Inheritance-Helix reserve was dispatched to Luna for establishment there. What happened next is not clear. Some claim that elements of the Selenite cults still resistant to the rule of the Imperium and the Imperial Truth hijacked a defence laser and destroyed the ship carrying the XVIIth Legion's Inheritance-Helix, while conflicting accounts recount that the ship lost control and crashed as it was attempting to dock, whilst others claim that it simply vanished. The loss of the XVIIth Legion's Inheritance-Helix reserve was a severe blow to the Legion's development, but it would not have endangered the Legion's survival if a second calamity had not occurred in quick succession.
Like all of the Legiones Angelus, the XVIIth Legion recovered the replicat clusters from those of its warriors who fell in battle. From these organs a fresh set of Inheritance-Helix implant organs could be grown and a new Angelus created to replace the fallen. This system was, however, far from perfect. The nature of battle, and the manner in which Legionaries died, did not always allow for such recovery. To ensure that there were always organs ready to implant into new Aspirants, a reserve of Inheritance-Helix for every Legion was kept safe on Terra. From this emergency reserve it should have been possible to keep the XVIIth Legion supplied with new warriors, and even with the loss of the Inheritance-Helix reserve sent to Luna the Legion would have endured and in time grown; its survival should have been certain. But in a single night that hope was obliterated.
It was discovered that a fast acting viral blight had suddenly infected several of the Inheritance-Helix vaults on Terra, its cause and origin unknown. The Bio-Magi of the Mechanicum tasked with overseeing the gene-stocks feverishly sought to hold it in check as its progress threatened to wipe out in a matter of hours what had taken a century to build, but the doubtlessly artificial, and many surmised xenos, infection defied treatment, and it was only the intervention of the Emperor's own peerless bioengineering genius that was to purge the taint. While many Legions suffered losses from this attack from an unknown quarter, the blight was found to have destroyed the remaining Inheritance-Helix stock of the XVIIth Legion in its entirety. From that moment the XVIIth Legion began to die.
While other Legions grew in size and glory as the Great Crusade gathered pace, the XVIIth Legion withered. The only way it could replace losses was from the replicat clusters of the dead. Without the Legion's Luminarch, the Emperor and His gene-wrights could only rebuild the XVIIth Legion's Inheritance-Helix reserves with painful slowness. As the process of rebuilding crept forward, the XVIIth Legion's strength dwindled with every battle. It became clear that the XVIIth Legion would have fallen far below effective strength long before their Inheritance-Helix reserves were rebuilt. The doom of the Legion was inevitable -- and then the Luminarch Aesmedon was re-discovered, and everything changed.
===A Dreamer's Twilight Beginning===
Kerivaltas was far from the cold, barren home that the XVIIth Legion originally had known. Fertile over much of its surface, it had retained an intact civilization at the feudal level, though its technology had regressed to steam power, steel and black powder. A slowly shifting patchwork of kingdoms ruled over the peasantry and city-dwelling menials, vying for power by diplomacy and force. Advised and abetted by a caste of sorcerers, they brooked no challenge to their rule.
It might be expected that Aesmedon; the most radiant of the Emperors Sons would come to be born to one of these lords, but in truth the child that would come to be named Aesmedon came to be born in secret within a woodland thicket far from any major city, in the backwater surrounding provinces of Caloglou Civitas. Here in the surrounding oak and cypress forest of Larea, Aesmedon was born to Koralia Rinallis; a young noblewoman and daughter to the Baron freeholder; Panteleimon Rinallis.
Koralia, young and afraid as she was barely into her 20th year of life, had been both ashamed and fearful of the sudden onset of her pregnancy. As such she feared the ire of both the peacocking of Caloglien Nobles, and her own Father's wrath, she chose to hide within the Larean forest to the north of her father's province. But as had been the case with all the Luminarchal Mothers, the pregnancy was both sudden and swift and within several days she was heavy with child, and within even less the birth pangs of a Demi-God echoed through the Larean forest.
After hours of intense labor the young woman wished to merely leave upon the birth of the child. Leave him in either the care of the nearby peasantry, or to be taken by the elements. But upon looking at the young newborn she held in the darkness of the thicket, as perfect as any, possibly even more so. A shallow wellspring of gestalt power wreathed in her arms in the light of her worlds moon. Something grew in her that second, was it an instinctual maternal sense or the young Luminarchs own void based essence manipulating his mother, or something of a mix? Either way Koralia chose against the abandonment of the child, but as she sat there shaking in an apprehensive feeling of unknowing, the strain of the intense labor finally over took her, and in the Larean Forest as she held her newborn the two slept.
When the morning sun finally pierced through the forest canopy, Koralia jolted awake with her newborn nowhere to be seen. She searched for the young boy as fear began to spread through her. But she still hadn't fully healed from the night before, and as such she was forced into a snails pace as she searched for her son. For hours the weakened woman searched through the brambles of the forest, her vision hazy through frigid tears, and pace slowed by a rapidly decreasing strength.
But before hope had been lost she heard saving echoes of laughter, limping to the source as she parted away branches and boughs. Her heart almost crashed into her stomach as she reached the clearing, for she had finally found her son who had been in the company of a Caloglien Cattle Herd as their young played. A breed of heavy set tetrabrachian animals, as strong and hearty as the Bulls of Old Terra, and like their ancient ancestors were excellent for field work with their dual sets of fore limbs making quick work with their plows. And the cows like their ancestors, were renowned for their meat and dairy. But as useful as they were, their fiery temperaments especially in the presence of their calves, had been the reason the breed hadn't spread further than Caloglou and its neighboring citystates and provinces.
But here, in a clearing within the forest of his birth, the child, a mere day old had been in the midst of a full Caloglien Cattle herd as he giggled as the young calves butted heads, their budding horns only beginning to show true growth. Koralia saw the boy, only a day old and already walking even if he wobbled upon his legs, and awe struck Koralia limped towards him. And in her arms she named him after her peoples Patron of protection whos symbol had been that of the Caloglien Bull, Aesmodon Caloglun, an ancient King who rode upon the back of a titanic Caloglien Bull as he guided his people to what would become the Civitas proper.
====The Bull Lords Youth====
For four Kerivaltan months after his delivery, the young Luminarch aged within the forest of his birth at an astonishing pace as his mother, in an attempt to create a veil of normalcy to the menials and nobility of Caloglou, alternated from the wild territories of Larea to the walls of the Civitas. When she would return to her son, she would bring food, books, and ancient data-tombs for him to learn from, and clothing for his ever-growing body, though they'd need to stitch sets of cloth into adequate garb during his later years of growth. But she was only able to be with him 4 days out of ten. And during these periods of isolation, Aesmedon as expected of a young Luminarch, was truly a mental sponge.
Aesmedon as a wandering boy, explored through the forest of Larea, often using the empty pages and graphite sticks gifted to him by his mother to recreate the images he saw within the forests onto the pages. His artistic endeavors didn't simply stop at the page though, as he uncovered more about his surroundings, he discovered the clay found in the banks of the rivers that flowed from Larea to Caloglou. And using this same clay he began to model the faces of those few people other than his mother he saw in the forests.
But in the days when his mother returned, his thoughts were razor lined onto her. As he wanted to learn more and more of the people that lived within the Civitas whose far flung fires he had seen since the days of his youth. And, though Korelia would forgo to tell Aesmedon of the nobility of Colaglou, she did tell him of the Farming people he had spent so long gazing towards in the dark of night. Because, as the 8th child of Panteleimon, Koralia had all the time in the world to learn of the people who lived in and around Calaglou. And as she recognized many faces within the menagerie of sculpts and portraits, she told many stories of the men and women she saw, their families, and their struggles.
And because of this, a twin sided rolling avalanche began in the gene-forged hearts of the young man, for he both wanted to learn more and more of the Cologlien menials, to simply speak to those he had been forbidden to even let know of his existence. That, and he wished to simply aid them in their struggles, for to be told of the ailing crops grown by the Farmers, the encroaching wild beasts of the south, and the ocean fairing raiders of the eastern oceans, something within Aesmedons very genetic makeup had been activated.
====The Dreamers Silent War ====
Koralia could never know just how her stories would affect her son, just how much her words would shape the course of his future. As during the days when Koralia would return back to the civitas, in his isolation he would turn his growing strength and intellect to secretly aid nearby agricultural settlements. From the glades of the forest he would emerge wreathed in ghillie styled robes in the dead of night in an attempt to tend to the needs of the menials of the Caloglou Civitas. And as he tended to the ailing structures of the farmers, he tilled their dying farmlands, rebuilt and strengthened their fences and gates entirely in single nights.
Other nights he would single handedly redirect river flows to better supplement the people and their lands, and others more he would either hunt down or evict bothersome beasts. Such as when he wrestled and beat down a brother pair of hyper aggressive Caloglien Bulls. These very same males, after being tamed by Aesmedon, would become the forefathers of the fire-breathing Khalkotauroi war mounts of the XVIIth Legions Elite.
But a terrible war had begun to brew in rise to Aesmodons actions, for as the northern farmland had begun to prosper, and the southern landscape had been emptied of the worse of Kerivaltan beasts. The land had been open to incursions from the East as raiders pillaged the north and set up strongholds in the south, in response to this Aesmodon reacted swiftly and violently. It was difficult at first as the young Luminarch had never killed before, but their actions justified his own.
He tore through raiding parties, his strength and speed in combat baffling even himself. He learned much about himself in these weeks of toil, from the speed and strength of his strikes to the durability of his body against attack. He learned even more about the people he fought for and fought against, from the look of men and women who fought with everything to the look of curs who had no pride to even hurt for.
This silent war of his would come to a fiery crescendo in the scouring of Vasofa Harbor, wherein Aesmedon in a complete twilight that mirrored that of his very birth would set the sky aflame. Armed with a great bow crafted for one with his capability, he wrapped his heavy arrows with simple linen and soaked them in oils. And with these he pierced through through the scarlet sails, and shattered the ship hulls of the raider armada that had dogged his people and cut off their supply lines.
From there Aesmedon would freely let the people of Caloglou Civitas know of his existence, though only sparsely. Aesmedon would double his reconstruction efforts, and due to him having gained the favor of many who his actions benefited many followed in his footsteps. And from there he would rebuild entire homes and under the allowance of his Grandfather he rebuilt the infrastructure of the civitas from the ground level. But it was not to last, as what might have become of Aesmedon, had the Master of Mankind found Aesmedon fully accustomed to this life of simple reconstruction we shall never know. For the existence of a Luminarch, especially one so proactive in the uplifting of his people as Aesmedon was all but impossible to keep secret, and another ruler saw the potential in the young Lord.
====The Koskide Conflicts====
Vassilis Koskides, styling himself as the Archduke of Vlasis, was one of the most powerful lords on Kerivaltas, and among the most brutal. The agents he had placed in the Civitas of Caloglou - not truly his domain, but sitting just beyond his borders - carefully collected information on the young man who could single handedly shatter the hull of a war ship with the single bound of a piercing arrow, with his prodigious strength and intelligence, and determined that he was a worthy prize for their master. Koskides devised a scheme to acquire the young Luminarch, and sent two forces to Caloglou. One of these was a rabble of mercenaries, dressed in the livery of a rival lord, and knew nothing of the Archduke’s own men-at-arms who followed.
The Civitas would be left ravaged, the Baron Panteleimon left slain by the hand of the mercenary captain, and the young Luminarch, after evacuating hundreds of Caloglien men and women onto ships in an effort to save as many as he could, was left wounded unto collapse as he fought wave upon wave of mercenary warriors before the second of Koskides's forces arrived to "save" the handful of straggling survivors forced to remain as the ships escaped the harbor, under the pretense that these were his people. It is no surprise that none survived their wounds. A number of his sorcerers were also present, and worked spells of illusion on the journey back to obscure their route from the wounded Aesmedon. Thus was Aesmedon deceived into the Archduke’s service with the promise of vengeance. A hunger awoke in him, and he devoured lore of all kinds, though overwhelmingly this was limited to military matters. Caloglou Civitas, the home where he had been raised was obliterated from the maps, the better to maintain the deception.
With his new general, Koskides swiftly conquered the neighboring states, though the rate of expansion caused hardship to his people and the subjects he conquered. Voskouli Civitas, who would be made scapegoats for the destruction of Aesmedon's home, was the first to fall, and with the utmost care Aesmedon was kept unaware of the true extent to which the common people suffered. Unrest among the peasants was kept to a minimum by the fear that Koskides might turn his monstrous lieutenant on them. Yet as years became decades and Koskides's rapacity went undiminished, dispossessed nobles began to offer themselves as figureheads, and an uprising broke out, centered in part in the ashes of Caloglou.
Koskides might reasonably have assumed that there was no real risk in sending Aesmedon to his old home. Decades had passed since then, and while his general clearly possessed an astonishing memory, trauma was known to interfere with such things. Besides, his mages had been diligent in their deception.
But the Archduke could never calculate the truly eidetic memory of one such as a Luminarch. Even after all this time, Aesmedon in tears looked upon the rebel leaders as he remembered the landscape he had once called home. The noble commanders hair, though highlighted with streaks of white and grey, the features though dogged by age and marred by scars, and the pose now honed with the certainty of wisdom was purely that of the first woman he had ever known. He knew when the civitas had been attacked, he knew she had been alive and with dreadful clarity the pieces aligned. Koskides's soldiers had not been answering an attack on his own territory, but attacking Aesmedon’s people, the people now led by his very own mother.
In an instant Aesmedon realized the truth of his “rescue”, this adoptive father figure revealed to have been the murderer of those who had first taken him in. A mind like Aesmedon’s could easily extrapolate from this and guess at the truth behind accounts of bitter enemies torching their villages to deny Koskides's armies. There was no worth in the conquests he had bent his strength and wits to.
Wracked with sorrow, Aesmedon ordered his forces to stand down and took counsel with his long lost mother, with the pretext of it being a tactical parlay with the rebel leadership. And finally broke down in a way that belied his titanic size. The man kneeled before his mother, his statuesque features having long since been honed by age and experience were now slick with sorrow. Koralia accepted her son, and even though her son now eclipsed her in size by a factor of at least 5 she tearfully embraced her son. And silently Aesmedon listened to his mothers tails of strife, as she relived the decades that had passed.
Simmering with anger and a growing self-hatred, Aesmedon took counsel with his most trusted followers, ones who in their hearts had mirrored something of his virtues. And with their support he retook the field only to loudly, and proudly renounce his allegiance to the Archduke. This done, he turned on his fellow commanders and fractured the army he was meant to lead. Then he pledged his service to the dumbfounded rebels, and the uprising took on a scale never before seen on Kerivaltas.
Perhaps most surprisingly, Aesmedon's closest friend in this fight was his foster brother Silas. The revelation of Koskides’s deeds was as terrible for Silas as it was for Aesmedon, and joined him in fighting to depose their "father", even though this meant giving up the inheritance he was born to. Having been trained to rule as much as command, he turned his political skills toward winning allies for the fight and building a council of trustworthy men to serve Aesmedon.
The strongest of armies in Koskides disposal were deployed against Aesmedon, but his conquests had dispersed them from his base of control. The terrible power of Koskides sorcerers became unleashed, yet at the same time, the latent talent that Aesmedon's gene-sons would one-day possess was unlocked in him. His presence caused the wizards' attempts to read his thoughts to fail, and their black fire to gutter and react negatively back to themselves. Within a year, Aesmedon had completely overtaken Vlasis and executed the man who he formerly called father. And Silas would now abandon the name of Koskides and would take upon the name of Rinallis. Which would be formally given to him by Aesmedon. The virtuous Koskides who had given up their privileges for the sake of their people were similarly honored.
Aesmedon's campaigns to spread his newfound ideology were initially slower than the conquests he had fought for Koskides, as political governance, and infrastructure reform now dominated his studies, and he refused to wage war at the expense of the civilians he protected. With this, Vlasis grew prosperous, and this itself fostered support for him in the lands he aspired to liberate. Conscript armies disintegrated as his enemies’ troops flocked to the banner of the House of Rinallis, and the most fanatical elites could not match the warriors trained by Aesmedon's own hand. After a short period of bloody tumult, Kerivaltas entered a golden age.
Alas, Aesmedon's laudable principles would bring the reunion with his father to a near disaster. As Aesmedon regarded this Golden Lord, lauded with his Eagles and Laurels, and seconded by his Seraphim with a deep distrust. Despite the innate kinship he felt with both him and Metatronous Godwin, who had accompanied the Emperor. When they drew close, the sheer magnitude of the Emperor's psychic presence overwhelmed Aesmedon, and he leapt to attack what he saw as a tyrant. Mercifully, Raphael O'Sullivan succeeded in restraining Aesmedon, and the Emperor managed to placate his son. Over the following weeks, he explained to Aesmedon the true scale of his intended destiny, and arranged for the now willing Luminarch to assume control of his Legion.
===Father of the XVIIth===
"To stand steady, enjoying a moment of reprise is not selfish. A breath that takes us back to our center is essential. We must respect the anchor that holds our feet to the ground. When we do this, we wield a strength that can push back against the spin of the world. The Father is there. The embodiment of the focus and dedication we hold when we make a commitment. A moment of clarity, grasped in a closed fist."Aesmedon was truly anxious from the start to make a substantial contribution to the Great Crusade like all of his brethren Luminarchs, but the small size of his Legion meant that the XVIIth Legion were at first placed under the command of the Luminarch Metatronous and were assigned to fight alongside his Imperial Harbingers Legion. Metatronous and Aesmedon soon grew personally close during their time together while their Legions participated in the conquest and pacification of the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy in the Proxima Orientus.
Here, Aesmedon would first assert himself. Having read his Legion’s histories, he was appalled at the reputation they had garnered, and the baleful influence of Kaeso Tadius. So as the first generation of the new XVIIth, both born of Terra and Kerivaltas, began their Ascension, Aesmedon summoned the Bulls Palatine to his world. In some ways he was generous, doing little to alter the Legion’s culture, but when it came to the echelons who ruled the Legion he was uncompromising. Kaeso and his most brutal lieutenants were cast back into the position of file officers, risking the anger of much of the Legion. Yet having seen the strength of bonds between Marines and their gene-sire, Aesmedon was willing to make this calculated gamble, and it proved a remarkable success.
From the onset, he took the brunt of whatever battle the Bulls Palatine fought, and this swiftly earned him the respect of the remaining holdouts. It may be deemed a happy accident that Kaeso fell in battle only a few years after the reunion; an honorable death, but one that reduced him to little more than a footnote in the Bulls Palatine's history. It is whispered in places that Silas, inducted into the Legion after the reunion, orchestrated the fall of the old Legion Master, seeing him as a lasting threat to Aesmedon’s authority.
Whatever the truth of Kaeso's end, it ushered out the last remnants of the old XVIIth and completed the Bulls Palatine's new lease of life. Along with a newfound feeling of purpose, they found acclaim from their cousins and the Imperium at large. Aesmedon made them liberators, artisans, and reconstructors as much as they had been warriors, and destroyers, and thus they were loved by the Imperium and feared by its enemies. Companies were placed within brotherhoods, and in these Terrans mingled with Kerivaltans as they were expected to create bonds of brotherhood by their Father.
Aesmedon spent his formative campaigns at the side of his brothers Metatronous and Mikha'el Theophylact , and the influence showed in the Bulls Palatine's use of their strength to shield their mortal allies. Indeed, they took it further, and while they used many of the units available to a Legiones Imperialis, they often skewed towards close range martial-combat. Perhaps it was by Metatronous' example or a continuation of Aesmedon's own policies, but in council all senior officers were given an equal voice in principle, be they of the Legion, Imperial Army or a Titan maniple.
Eventually, over the course of several Terran decades, the Bulls Palatine's ranks were swelled with new Angelus who had been recruited from both Terra and Aesmedon's homeworld of Kerivaltas, where the XVIIth Legion had established its fortress-monastery within the city of Vlasis. When the XVIIth were judged to have reached an appropriate size, Aesmedon was finally given command of the 28th Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Crusade and set off on his own course of conquest, adding dozens of worlds to the rule of the Emperor.
Soon, the Bulls Palatine were known for their determination to negotiate with any human culture they found, to an extent only seen among the Dawnguard and Avenging Shields before. In Mikha'el Theophylact, Aesmedon found a kindred spirit who was quite willing to share his decades of experience, and dozens of worlds were brought into the Imperial fold by his rhetoric and that of his sons. Nonetheless, while the Bulls Palatine rigidly upheld the Emperor’s line on violent and hostile xenos forces and mutants to changed to be reasoned with, they would choose to field a merciful hand to those few either far to weak to create a real threat to the Imperiums domains, or willing to bend the knee and be ruled by the Imperium as vassal Empires. And the XVIIth, would gain ample battle honors to go with their many diplomatic triumphs.
Under Aesmedon their reputation in combat was for steadfast endurance and willing sacrifice, the Legions very own marines offering their lives to break sieges rather than cost the lives of mortal soldiery to starve the defenders. To some of Aesmedon's brethren this was cause for concern or scorn; an unwillingness to face the hard facts of galactic conquest. But in the grand scheme of the Great Crusade - as multifaceted a scheme as Mankind has ever known - these were but minor worries, apt to delay the XVIIth's growth but nothing more. Besides, the Bulls Palatine's high regard for the Imperial Army ensured that they did not want for mortal support in their campaigns.
Yet beneath the surface, there was strain. The rate of attrition wore on Aesmedon as he watched his sons sacrifice themselves for the Emperor’s dream. At the same time, he was frustrated by the stratified society of the Stellar Imperium and the way that ruling tyrants were so often imposed on a conquered populace. Of course, he was often obliged to do exactly this to ensure a full compliance, and the charge of hypocrisy stung even if none spoke it.
== Notable Campaigns ==
== Legion Organization and Structure ==
=== Specialist Formations ===
Alongside the division of units commonly found within ocher Imperial Marine Legions, the emphasis and regard placed upon skill and excellence also notably led to the formation of a wide number of unique 'elite' or veteran units within the Bulls Palatine:
* Palatine Guard - The Palatine Guard is the elite unit of Imperial Marines from the Bulls Palatine Legion who serve as the Luminarch Aesmedon's Honor Guard. The members of the Palatine Guard followed their beloved Gene-Sire wherever he went as part of their duties, even when he was travelling within the relative safety of the starships of the Imperial Army and the vessels of the other Imperial Marine Legions.
* Taurean Galleries - Perhaps the most famous example of the Bulls Palatine specialist troops whose renown spread outside their own Legion were the Taurean Galleries of the Palatine Blades. These units were not permanent formations, but were formed for particular battles against foes deemed worthy, and whose membership existed outside of the usual rigid rank structure that characterized the XVIIth Legion. When such an enemy was encountered the senior commanders would draw together the finest swordsmen from amongst the forces present, a selection made easier by the relentless sparring and dueling that took place between battles to hone the Legion's skills. Armed with dueling blades, sabers and trophy weapons, the Galleries would then seek out the finest warriors amongst the enemy on the field of battle. The number and quality of such squads depended on how many of the Bulls Palatine were present in a given warzone and the quality of their foe.
* Horns of the Outriders - The Horns of the Outriders are an elite reconnaissance and infiltration unit tasked with gathering critical intelligence and executing precision strikes against high-value targets. These highly trained specialists combine stealth, adaptability, and technological expertise to accomplish their missions with flawless execution. Equipped with advanced cloaking devices, lightweight yet durable armor, and an array of cutting-edge infiltration tools, the Outriders operate in the shadows, exploiting weaknesses in enemy defenses and striking swiftly and silently. Their proficiency in stealth and covert operations is matched only by their unwavering commitment to the Bulls Palatine's pursuit of perfection in all things. Outriders often undergo intensive training in the arts of sabotage, counterintelligence, and asymmetrical warfare. Their abilities extend beyond conventional battlefield tactics, allowing them to exploit technological vulnerabilities, disrupt enemy communications, and carry out precise strikes against key targets. Their attention to detail and unwavering focus on flawless execution make them invaluable assets in the Bulls Palatine's quest for perfection on and off the battlefield.
* Taurean Wards - The Taurean Wards are an elite cadre of warriors within the Bulls Palatine, dedicated to the defense and protection of key strategic assets and high-value targets. They are chosen for their exceptional discipline, unyielding loyalty, and unwavering commitment to upholding the ideals of the Legion. Clad in intricate and ornate suits of powered armor, these warriors are a sight to behold on the battlefield. The Taurean Wards are equipped with advanced defensive technology, including energy shields that can withstand formidable firepower and deflect enemy assaults. Their primary role is to form an impenetrable wall, holding the line against overwhelming odds and ensuring the safety of critical objectives. They are masters of defensive formations and tactics, coordinating seamlessly to create an impregnable fortress. In addition to their defensive capabilities, Taurean Wards are highly skilled in close-quarters combat. They wield specialized energy glaives that can slice through enemy armor with precision, combining grace and lethal force. Their training emphasizes the art of timing and calculated strikes, enabling them to exploit weaknesses in enemy formations and neutralize threats swiftly and efficiently.
== War Disposition ==
=== Legion Combat Doctrine ===
To the Bulls Palatine, war is a manifestation of perfection expressed through violent intent and action. The Legion takes great pride in their battlefield excellence and their ability to systematize and replicate any tactic or strategic deployment flawlessly upon command. Among the myriad formations and tactics employed by the Legion, one that has gained favor with the Legion's Praetors in their quest for faultless victory and glory is the Pséftis Távros. Named after challenging maneuvers in the Bulls Palatine dueling tradition, this tactic involves precisely timed and rapid feints to engage the opponent's defenses, allowing for a devastating and undefendable second strike.
The Bulls Palatine, ever driven by their relentless pursuit of perfection, have embraced a primary combat doctrine that combines heavy armor with lightning-fast assaults. In addition, they employ specialized spec-ops and stealth elements for forward reconnaissance and sabotage operations, when the need arises. This approach favors the use of Omni-Directional Void Gear (OVM), Terra-Practa Outrider Class Vehicles (T-POVs), and custom-designed aircraft that excel in lightning-quick assaults and swift retreats.
The marines of the Bulls Palatine are expected not only to be proficient but to excel in every battlefield role. Each battle-brother is trained to crew vehicles as competently as they wield heavy weapons or engage in close combat. While this pursuit of mastery is a common practice among the Legions, the Bulls Palatine add a unique dimension to their training—the incorporation of artistic pursuits.
This artistic approach has a notable impact on their close combat style. Unlike the clinical and methodical precision of the Warhounds of Anatelikós, the Bulls Palatine possess a fluid grace derived from the study of dance and poetry. They move across the battlefield like raging bulls, effortlessly evading blows and bullets before swiftly striking down their foes. Their movements flow seamlessly, enabling them to dispatch multiple adversaries before the first fallen enemy hits the ground. The officers of the Bulls Palatine are renowned for their powerful and persuasive oratory and diplomacy skills, honed through intense study of literature, poetry, and the art of rhetoric.
== Legion Beliefs ==
Deep within the hearts of the Bulls Palatine beats an unwavering conviction in their own purity and innate superiority which leads to expected sacrifice. They firmly adhere to Aesmedon's teachings, embracing the notion that true perfection can only be attained through personal struggle, unyielding in their resolve to uphold this principle. They staunchly reject any influences that might dilute their pursuit of excellence, refusing to adopt technological designs not conceived within the Legion's own minds and demanding only the most flawless specimens of the Inheritance-Helix be utilized in the creation of their Marines. Every member of the Legion shares an unwavering commitment to perfecting their craft, whether it be in the realm of combat or other disciplines. Their unwavering attention to detail ensures that while the Bulls Palatine may not boast vast numbers, each marine embodies the epitome of an Imperial Marine.
The Bulls Palatine hold an unshakable belief that the only being capable of surpassing them is the Emperor himself. While they do not worship him as a deity, their respect and admiration for his leadership are unbreakable. Fighting alongside allies, whether the Imperial Army or other Legions, often leads to friction due to their perceived superiority, which can be mistaken for arrogance or condescension. Despite this, the Bulls Palatine take pride in showcasing their skills to others. However, they are most comfortable when fighting alone, relying solely on their trusted battle-brothers. The Bulls Palatine ardently adhere to the Stellaris Dictatum, but they are not averse to collaborating with xenos or other factions if it means maximizing the preservation of human lives. The protection of civilian populations lies at the core of their priorities.
Having extensively served under the Pre and Post Zawadi Iron Asha'karii before the reunification with their Gene-Sire, the marines of the Bulls Palatine possess the ability to maintain and optimize their personal equipment according to their individual fighting styles. This practice allows the Legion's Technoclasts to focus on larger projects, differentiating the specialized wargear of the Bulls Palatine from that of more contemporary Legions. Their equipment boasts unique modifications and refinements rarely seen elsewhere.
In a display of their commitment to self-reflection and humility, the Legion engages in a cyclical voting process every 15 years to determine if a change in leadership is desired. While such a vote has not resulted in significant leadership changes thus far, except for the reserve chapters or Battle Squads, its purpose remains twofold: to ensure that the Legion's leaders reflect the beliefs and attitudes of its warriors and to uphold their commitment to humility and self-improvement.
=== Martial Traditions ===
The Bulls Palatine, driven by their unyielding pursuit of excellence in the art of war, consistently aimed to stand as exemplars above all others. They sought to embody martial virtue and excellence, looking down upon those who failed to meet their own, perhaps unattainable, standards. Their ultimate goal was to achieve perfection in warfare, functioning as a fluid and lightning-quick force that secured preordained victories through acute strategic planning and flawless execution. While their attitudes and mannerisms often led to accusations of arrogance and vanity, the warriors of the Legion were always prepared to respond to such slights with razor-quick bloodshed.
Dueling held a significant place in the martial traditions of many Imperial Marine Legions, serving as a means to train and refine battle skills. However, for the Bulls Palatine, dueling carried a profound psychological importance beyond practical necessity. It became an integral part of their training as well as an expression of a warrior's skill and prowess, acting as a mirror reflecting their very essence.
The weapons employed in these duels played a crucial role in the Legion's culture, representing their aesthetic appreciation and reflecting their values. Many Bulls Palatine warriors wielded swords crafted by the skilled blade-smiths of countless worlds. Among these weapons, the sabers of Old Terras Rallian Seas hold a special status within the Legion, symbolizing exceptional quality and honor. Crafted according to ancient rituals and alchemical formulae, each blade became a unique masterpiece from a master swordsmith's hands. 
The practice of acquiring particularly fine weapons from defeated enemies was deeply ingrained within the Legion. When a renowned swordsman encountered an enemy wielding a weapon of surpassing quality, they would claim it as a trophy. The swordsman would then diligently train with the captured weapon until they surpassed the skill of its original wielder, turning the act into an almost mystical ritual aimed at absorbing and defeating the enemy's spirit. As a result, the champions of the Bulls Palatine wielded an array of remarkable weapons, such as Chixian pole glaives, Lessite friction axes, Jovian Tech-blades, Lunar phase swords, Nord 'Erikan gladii, Martian-forged glass blades, and countless others. There were no restrictions on the origin of the weapons; what mattered was the exceptional quality and craftsmanship they possessed.
The Bulls Palatine harbored no prohibition against acquiring weapons from alien cultures or those deemed worthy only for destruction. Their sole consideration was the superiority of the weapon itself, which they treasured as an embodiment of their appreciation for martial prowess and the pursuit of excellence.
Thus, the Bulls Palatine embodied a unique fusion of artistry, skill, and martial tradition, intertwining their relentless pursuit of perfection with the aesthetic appreciation of fine weaponry. They upheld a culture that celebrated the individual's mastery of their chosen weapon, regardless of its origin, embracing the belief that the quality and craftsmanship of a blade held greater significance than its background or the enemies from whom it was taken.
== Legion Inheritance-Helix ==
Since the Inheritance-helix disaster that nearly wiped out the legion in its infancy, the Bulls Palatine have taken obsessive care in the screening of implants, and summary activation. This solemn duty falls to the legion's apothecarions. From the battlefield harvesting of replicat clusters from critically wounded brethren to the testing, culturing and implantation into new recruits, they are the guardians of Aesmedon's genetic legacy. As such, the Inheritance-helix of the Bulls Palatine is of a truly unmatched purity.
Despite the stability of the Aesmedon Inheritance-helix, the stringency of the screening process still results in a relatively high proportion of rejections. Although this is in part compensated for by an implantation success rate unmatched by the other legions, it does mean that the Bulls Palatine are slow to replace brothers lost in battle. The legion has been brought twice to the brink of destruction, and twice they have emerged triumphant. They see this as a testament to the strength of their gene-line, and a vindication of their zeal in guarding its integrity with terminal intensity.
By long tradition, the replicat cluster in the chest is surgically removed as soon as it matures, while the second is harvested only upon the marine's death. The early elective removal of one replicat minimizes the chances that it will be damaged or subjected to contamination. In the event that some catastrophe should destroy the legion's helix stocks, surviving battle-brothers carry within them the means to continue the Aesmedon line. As a legion that has faced extinction on more than one occasion, the Bulls Palatine are acutely aware of the need to consider such things.
The Bulls Palatine, as the gene-heirs of Aesmedon, bear distinct physical features that link them to their lineage. Often members sport a head of characteristically darker brown hair and silver irises that reflect their Kerivaltan heritage, mirroring the traits seen in their progenitor. Remarkably, the strands of their hair take on a coiled pattern reminiscent of Aesmedon's own curly locks. 
In addition to their physical heritage, the Bulls Palatine have inherited their father's unyielding pursuit of perfection and his profound love for the arts. Just as Aesmedon excelled in both the strokes of a brush and the slashes of a blade, the Legion embodies his multifaceted passion. They channel their innate artistic sensibilities into their martial prowess, crafting a unique blend of skill and finesse on the battlefield. Each engagement becomes a masterpiece, meticulously planned and executed with unparalleled precision.
A notable attribute of the Bulls Palatine is their relatively high implantation rate of the Inheritance-Helix. Their genetic plasticity enables rapid revitalization and rejuvenation of their forces, even in the face of devastating losses and decimation. 
== Notable Legion Members ==
== Legion Fleet ==
* Kerivaltan Triumph -
* Perfection's Vanguard -
* Stellar Taurean -
* Pinnacle -
* Glory -
* Charge -
* Indomitable Bull -
* Flawless Hornet -
* Perfection's Vanguard -
* Aesmedons Horn -
* Bull's Fury -
* Perfected Minotaur -
* Unyielding Bullion -
* Bull's Resplendence -
== Legion Relics ==
== Legion Appearance ==
=== Legion Colors ===
=== Legion Badge ===
== Notable Quotes ==
=== By the Legion ===
=== About the Legion ===
Category:Imperium
Category:Imperial Legions