Project Daedalus

'Project Daedalus would be anvil of which created the I'cartes Units. The I'cartes, also referred to in ancient records as the "Solar Legionata," the "I'cartes Regiments," and known in High Argothic as the "Legio I'kharionos," were the 5 Regiments or 'Demi-Legions of genetically-engineered, superhuman warriors borne upon Old Terra. Spawned from the workings of the Imperial Daedalus Project and created by the design of the God Emperor of Man through alchemical augmentation, somatic gene-sculpting and muscle-grafting techniques.
They were the first genehanced warriors created by the Lord Imperator and their purpose was to unite the homeworld of Humanity beneath the Emperor's rule during the Terran Unification Wars that spanned from the late 87th to early 90th Millennia. They would serve as the precursors to the present-day Imperial Marines, though they were created from only adult male supporters of the Emperor rather than adolescent initiates as seen in the Legions.
Wrought to become living weapons, the I'cartes were known to be physically much larger, stronger, more savage, more resilient and ever-more potent in combat than the later Demi-Marines and the Imperial Marines that succeeded them, though they were not nearly as long-lived and suffered from often dangerous mental instabilities and early onset metabolic collapse and cancerous proliferation when their bodies began to reject their comparitevely crude augmentations.
The I'cartes' legions were commanded by genetically-superior Daedalus warriors of particular skill, intellect and mental stability, who each held the technical rank of "Luminant." Each legion was particularly focused on a particular tactical or strategic specialty similar to the later, more perfected pattern seen among the Imperial Stellara Legiones. Imperial chronicles hold that the last of the legendary I'cartes died heroically during the final battle of the Sol Reclamation in the fires of the Saturnine Campaign, wherein the Last I'cartes would be slain upon the Rings of Saturn in an effort to destroy the Forra'kiir Engine.
Later, following the success of Dr. Nysa's Angelus-IIs, the remaining I'cartes became colloquially named as Angelus-Is by Imperial Historians, and this name took root to the extent that I'cartes such as Croa Idaeus referred to themselves as the First of the Emperors Angels. The Daedalus Project itself was also retroactively dubbed the Angelus-I Program.
== History ==
=== Origins ===
Borne from the Daedalus Project, a Special Operations Program spawned in the early years of the burgeoning Stellar Imperium. Of which its beginning dates back to the mid.88th Millennium, as a Prototypical off-shoot of the much larger Prometheus Project when the newly-formed Imperial Biotechnical Division began developing its own bio-engineering protocols with the experimention and creation of biochemically altered human soldiers. Although these performance enhancing substances were very primitive and nowhere near as effective as the bio-augmention procedures and chemical-stimulants used to both create and augment the soldiers of the Legio Imperialis and the Imperial Combat Regiments in equal respects, however they did show promise and gave results and served as the catalyst for future endeavors. Since then, human soldiers have used performance-enhancing equipment and stimulants for centuries.
Administratively, the Daedalus project was under the control of Prometheus Sub-Section-III, under the Special Projects section of the Imperial Biotechnical Division. However the I'cartes super-soldiers themselves were under the operational authority of the nascent Imperial Special Weapons Cadre(ISWC). The Daedalus Program was mostly an all volunteer force composed of the most skilled members of the Emperors Proto-Imperial Troop Regiments and special forces branches of the early Imperiums many collective military bodies — the Daedalus Program's Super-soldiers of the I'cartes performed in a slew of specialized, high-risk operations including: counter-insurgency operations, unconventional warfare, direct action and black operations along with less specialized Campaigns of Expansion, Invasion, Subjugation, Extermination and general Guerrilla style conflicts.
The members of the Daedalus Program, along with participants in its five subsequent Special Operations Projects, were soldiers who underwent extensive augmentations. These enhancements were the result of pioneering training methods and the latest biochemical advancements. The augmentations administered to the Daedalus super-soldiers encompassed a broad spectrum of innovative techniques.
Among these were a plethora of alchemical augmentation, a process that involved the use of advanced chemical compounds to enhance physical and cognitive abilities. Somatic gene-sculpting was employed to modify and optimize genetic codes, resulting in superior bodily functions and resilience. Muscle-grafting techniques, which involved the transplantation and integration of muscle tissues, significantly boosted physical strength and endurance. Muscular enhancement injections further amplified muscle density and power, providing the soldiers with extraordinary physical capabilities. Pulmonary respiratory enhancements were also implemented, increasing lung capacity and efficiency, thereby enabling greater stamina and performance in diverse environments. Retina-inversion injections were used to improve visual acuity, allowing for enhanced night vision and sharper overall eyesight. Finally, cochlea enhancement tuning refined auditory perception, enabling the super-soldiers to detect a wider range of sounds with greater clarity and precision.
In addition to the extensive physical enhancements, the Daedalus Program also incorporated mental augmentations designed to significantly boost brain functions. These enhancements included the development of advanced learning capabilities, allowing subjects to assimilate information at an accelerated pace and a higher rate of comprehension. Enhanced motor skills were another critical aspect, improving bodily control, coordination, and speed of movement. The Daedalus training regime, encompassing both pre and post-augmentation phases, was extraordinarily rigorous. It featured a series of grueling tests that challenged both mental acuity and physical endurance. Out of the six hundred thousand initial volunteers, a mere fraction successfully navigated the stringent training and augmentation procedures. Only approximately 140,000 survived this demanding process.
From this pool of survivors, an even smaller number were deemed fit for active duty following the completion of their training. Yet despite this high attrition rate, those who did enter active service demonstrated remarkable success in combat operations. Their initial deployments yielding such significant results that the focus on training the next cohort of Daedalus Program soldiers intensified. Within a few decades, the Daedalus Program had grown substantially, boasting around 200,000 active duty personnel. These elite soldiers were organized into the five Regimentalis I'kharionos, each regiment exemplifying the pinnacle of human augmentation and military training. The soldiers of the Daedalus Program, with their unparalleled physical and mental enhancements, stood as a testament to the relentless pursuit of excellence and the unyielding drive to create the ultimate warrior force.
==== Flaws ====
"Alas, for them, warriors of caged flame and with whom exhalted lightning and brilliant radiance have dutifully fought alongside, oh how they have burned the brightest and most resolute under His glory, but so ever brief within his gilded employ."
:-Attributed to Dr. Ino Polerion Nysa, before the final Conflict For The Forra'kiir Engine over Saturn
Throughout the tumult of the Unification Wars, the I'cartes showcased dutiful prowess on the battlefield, claiming a slew of tallied victories that reverberated across the conflict-ridden lands. Yet, beneath their veneer of success lay profound imperfections. A plethora of mental instabilities plagued many within their ranks, and as the Techno-Barbarian assaults and conflicts intensified, so did the efficacy of insurgent tactics, rendering them increasingly elusive. Over time, many of these insurgent forces coalesced into formidable organizations even as Terran States roused at the perceived threat of the Imperium's growing power, all of which would pose challenges that tested the limits of the I'cartes' abilities.
Compounding their woes were the relentless march of their own genetic shortcomings. As amidst the chaos of battle, many I'cartes succumbed to catastrophic biological failures, their once-superhuman physiques betraying them in tragic fashion. It became apparent, with hindsight, that the Emperor recognized the need for a more enduring solution to bolster the nascent Stellar Imperium's military might. As such, even as the I'cartes fought in the Emperor's name, He quietly marshaled a cadre of alchemical and biological savants and gene-wrights. Some joined willingly, whilst others were coerced from enemy ranks, yet they all formed the nucleus of this clandestine endeavor. Deep within the labyrinthine dungeons of the Emperor's Terran stronghold nestled deep beneath the Kilaminjanto Mountains, the Emperor established new genetics laboratories. These covert facilities housed the Alpha Biotech Research Team, an assembly of scientific minds dedicated to pioneering advancements in genetic engineering.
==== The Second Sons ====
The labor within these Laboratories went on for solar decades to centuries in absolute secrecy even as the Emperor periodically went off to command the many ongoing campaigns of the Unification Wars, with the fruits of this clandestine labor resulting in the creation of the Luminarchs and many other wonders of the Emperor's arcane and unmatched gene-craft, known and unknown. Yet the foremost of these creations were the twenty Imperial Marine Legions of legend. Into their creation went all the secret history and genetic lore of both the Golden Age of Technology, and Age of the Long Dark, hard fought wisdom gained through the success and failure of the I'cartes forged as the Prototypical Imperial Marines and the fruits of the Emperor's own inimitable genius.
Before the coming of the Primaris Founding, the first among the young Imperial Legions would be hand-picked from the orphaned sons of the Emperor's many mortal armies, their parents having fallen under his gilded employ. These volunteered children were subjected to surgical, genetic and psychological modification. With rigorous training and appropriate mental conditioning they became not only immensely strong and tough, but iron-willed and disciplined, an near unstoppable fighting force whose loyalty to the Emperor was unflinching. Quickly the process was refined and systematized, and the numbers of this new breed of physically-enhanced warriors grew swiftly. They would be organised well into the 8 Firstborn Legions of the Primaris Founding, each numbering at first no more than thirty thousand warriors and organised in a manner similar to their I'cartes forebears.
Although it remained a dire secret at the time, it is now widely believed that this division was more than a merely administrative one, as each of these young regiments contained a varied "genetic-profile encoding" drawn from a different Luminarchal Primogenitor.
This difference would often manifest its influence in subtle and unexpected ways, not least of all in influencing and altering the psychological character of the genetically enhanced warrior. And with these regiments expanding rapidly into legions with the intake of new blood from the areas of Terra that had already joined cause with the Emperor, these new warriors quickly eclipsed and replaced the mighty, and comparitevely far more disciplined yet increasingly unstable I'cartes. Yet with the Imperial Marines at the forefront of Imperial efforts, both tutored and led by I'cartes Veterans, victory followed victory in quick succession.