Perditus Legio

“Perditus Legio” or “The Lost Legion” is a secret dumping ground for rejects, failures, and last-chancers of the Adeptus Astartes. Something akin to an Imperial Guard penal legion or Adepta Sororitas Sister Repentia, the Perditus Legio is the last stop for disgraced marines (known as “Turpis Legionaries” or just “Legionaries”). They are either too disobedient, too impure, too imperfect but still too valuable to dispose of. An astartes is a tool too valuable to toss away so carelessly and those that can be salvaged, even if it’s for a suicide mission, are sometimes secretly seconded to the Perditus Legio without their chapter’s knowledge before disposal.

## Missions

The Perditus Legio is a filthy cesspool of dishonorable, chaos tainted, mutated, rejects and deserters and their missions are chosen to reflect that. The sort of missions the Perditus Legio engages in are the lowest of the low: red flag attacks against Imperial citizens and space marine chapters, as hired bodyguards of xenos dignitaries, as entries into gladiatorial contests in Commorragh on behalf of Inquisitors masquerading as wealthy and debauched human patrons, suicide bombers, as mop-up crews before (and during) a viral bombing or some other form Exterminatus, as a breaching force into the Blood Pits of Khorne, as bait for Eldar raiders, etc.

Turpis Legionaries are deployed in small “Kill Teams” in a similar fashion to the Deathwatch and are led by a “Deadman” (a survivor of previous missions) if one is available.

They’re not coming back from whatever mission they are sent on and an astartes lifespan is measured in minutes, hours or days once they are deployed on missions. As such Turpis Legionaries are declared dead upon deployment.

## Equipment

The Perditus Legio are not issued standard equipment. Instead they are given scraps, second-hand hand-me-downs, recovered damaged gear, testbed pieces that failed, spare parts, pieces of gear from the Imperial Guard, and little Adeptus Mechanicus support to maintain their gear. As such anyone who survives more than a mission or two gets pretty good at repairing their own gear, salvaging bits and pieces of their fallen comrades, and keeping their stuff working despite it being held together by spit, bubblegum, and faith in... well it aint’ the Emperor anymore.

Marines are stripped of their honors, relics, and anything of value other than some pieces of their armor before being tossed to the Perditus Legio and they are not permitted to wear their chapter’s badge anymore. Most are ceremonially carved off or their pauldron entirely replaced by a cheaper version.

Every Turpis Legionary is strapped with a high yield explosive that they can not only self-detonate but can be detonated remotely by those commanding them. Because of an astarte’s conditioning many will detonate prematurely as a way to take out as many enemies with them.

## Deadmen

Anyone who survives a mission is “promoted” to the rank of “Deadman” or “Corpse” as all Perditus Legio are listed as “dead” upon deployment due to their high attrition rate. Deadmen act as both the Sergeants and veterans of the Perditus Legio. No one lasts long in the Perditus Legio however and anyone who can claim “seniority” is probably just good at using their battle brothers as human shields.

## Why Do it?

The Imperium of Man is a cruel and twisted place where morality goes to die under the jackboot of a fascist theocracy, Legionaries don’t have a choice. Those rare ones who do pick the Perditus Legio as a form of spiritual self-flagellation, rubbing off their honor and deeds with filthy and immoral acts designed to match their soul. It’s like choosing to remove a tattoo with a cheese grater, those who choose do it are suicidal and wish to go down in some sort of blaze of glory because of their hypno-indoctrination and mental conditioning. Those who go kicking and screaming are the only sane ones, the only ones who survive more than a few minutes on the battlefield.

## Loyalists or Renegades?

Perditus Legion is a tool of the Imperium of Man. The morality and loyalties of a given legionary is up to the toss of the coin: they're a mix of the blindly loyal seeking absolution in death, true renegades and jackasses, and truly fallen marines (to thing like Chaos, xenos influence, mutation, etc). None of this matters however as they don't last long and are mostly just thrown into the first suicidal mission the Imperium can find where they'd be of some use. Morality is secondary to the immediacy of their death.

## Guardians of Hell

Not every member of the Perditus Legio is a depraved marine fallen so far they couldn’t see the Emperor’s light with a master-crafted auspex, some are part of the command staff that deploy, maintain, and kill them when needed. These are generally special Inquisitors, Chaplains permanently seconded from other chapters, and members of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

## Infamous Legionaries

**The King of the Damned:** The high Chaplain of the Perditus Legio is a feared and venerable one known on records only as “The King of the Damned”. Not only does this black-clad Chaplain minister to and instill the fear of the Emperor in the Perditus Legio but he deploys with them as well on some missions. Rumors and legends offer a conflicting picture: some say they were a marine who was once possessed by a daemon and drove it out with pure anger and spite, some say they are a null who makes psykers quake 3 systems over with his mere presence, others still claim he is a powerful psyker who mind-controls the legionaries, and there are many rumors that he was a Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain who was deemed too extreme even for them.

**Alfonzo “The Lich” Morales:** Brother Morales was a marine fallen so far into depravity that the chapter he was part of was purged but he was sent on a special torture regimine by covertly being enlisted in the Perditus Legio. Despite their best effort Brother Morales survived dozens of missions and always seemed to avoid death by the skin of his teeth. Because they don’t give medical attention to Legionaries Brother Morales is a gaunt and knotted mess of scar tissue, cancers, and mutations but he is the closest thing the Perditus Legio has to a “Captain”. His nickname comes from his ghoulish appearance and apparent immortality.

## Terms

* **Turpis Legionaries:** High Gothic for “Dishonorable/Filthy/Foul” Legionaries. Any astartes who serve in the Perditus Legio.
* **Deadmen:** Any Turpis Legionary who survives a single mission.

## Trivia

* The Perditus Legio are inspired not only by things like the penal legions of the Imperial Guard and Sisters Repenta but also things like crusades of repentance, the A-Team, Suicide Squad, the Thunderbolts, Cloymore, 13 Assassins, Bad Batch, the Dirty Dozen, Inglorious Basterds, etc.
* So many Devil Boys have ended up here that those who run the Perditus Legio call being seconded to them a "Devil Boys Retirement Party" as a joke.