Alpha Legion

Alpha Legion armorial with Legion iconography.

Alpha Legion Tactical Marine Veteran, Admon Korsa.

### Primogenitor

Alpharius, "Aleph Null," "The Hydra," the "Threefold Serpent," "The Final Configuration" and the "Last Primarch"

### Cognomen (Prior)

Many informal cognomen are listed for the Legion, including: The Harrowing, The Children of Eris, The Ghost Legion, The Unbroken Chain, The Strife Wrought, The Hydra, The Combine, Aleph Null, The Last Unity, Vigil, The Threefold Path, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Azure Serpent, The Amarant Coil and simply literally - "*Legion*". [732 other recognised cognomen occur in Primaris level archives]

### Observed Strategic Tendencies

Surprise Assault, Sabotage, Infiltration, Insurgency & Counter-Insurgency Warfare, Multi-Vector Attack, Interplanetary Pursuit & Decimation Campaigns & Deep-Range Raiding Operations.

### Noteworthy Domains

Unknown/Unconfirmed {see Addendum XX-XVX-Omega-V}

### Noteworthy Successors

Azure Serpents, Daggerfangs, The Faithfull, The Honoured, Shadowed Ones, Shrouded Hand

### Colours

Blue, Silver & Green

"*Our name is Legion, for we are many.*"
— *The Book of Malignancies*, *The Apocrypha Terra*, Origin date unknown
Always the most secretive of Astartes, the **Alpha Legion**'s name has long passed into apocrypha within the Imperium, with most, outside their Astartes brothers and the High Lords of Terra, believing they were destroyed by the vengeful Ultramarines after the Dornian Heresy. It is an idea they are keen to foster, the better to exercise their finely-honed covert abilities. From the shadows, the Alpha Legion uses infiltration, deception and assassination to sow discord and anarchy within enemy territory and root out insidious Chaos cults operating within the Imperium.

## Legion History

### Origins

There is no other Legion like the XX. Of all the mighty forces the Imperium commanded during the Great Crusade, there were none so wound about with falsehood, supposition and paradox than they. Any attempted study of the XX division of the gene-seed of the Legiones Astartes, a force that would eventually become known as the Alpha Legion among a myriad of other names, is therefore fraught with difficulty and contradiction, and uncovering 'truth' when applied to such a study is a vain hope. This is the case even to a record such as this, compiled with the highest of authorities and most extensive reach possible given the wreckage of the age of war which we have so recently survived.

Long before the vile treachery of Rogal Dorn came into being, the XX Legion, its formation, use and purpose was shrouded with mystery and deliberate concealment from the rest of the Imperium. This secrecy was colluded -- as is evident -- by the highest circles of power. Indeed, it cannot be doubted that it was the Emperor's will. It is believed by many Imperial scholars that the secrecy surrounding this "outsider" Legion and its designed purposes would later serve to conceal the dark transformation at its heart which was long in its gestation. This malediction and the increasing addiction for the evincing of its own preternatural use for subterfuge and destruction, only worsened after the ascension of Horus to the rank of Warmaster. The Alpha Legion became a twisting serpentine force of formless shadows, as dangerous and deadly as the multi-headed monster of ancient myth that in latter days became its modus operandi and its icon. It was a weapon neither first the Emperor nor later the Warmaster could control.

The pall of mystery surrounding the XX Legion can be traced back to their creation. The last known of the gene-seed strains used in the creation of the Legiones Astartes at the end of the Unification Wars, factors relating to the XX Legion were kept beyond the usual secrecy and security that the Emperor chose to surround the Space Marine project with. The XX along with the XVIII (Salamanders) and VI (Space Wolves) proto-Legions, were formed and established largely in separation from the rest of the Legiones Astartes and were generally thought created to very specific ends and purposes. What plan of the Emperor's lay behind this action cannot now be known, and even at the dawning of the Imperial Age, this was one of many secrets the Emperor kept both from the Imperial Court and many of His own advisors, and the Primarchs themselves. These Legions were kept veiled and distant from the beginning, breeding distrust between them that, save in the case of the XVIII Legion - who would later become the widely renowned Salamanders Legion - would never disappear. In the case of the Alpha Legion, it would instead worsen over time. This first mystery would breed others, and questions would continue to go unanswered not simply about the XXth Legion's methods and nature, but about the use to which it was put in its earliest days.

Of the early decades of the XX Legion on Terra and during the re-conquest of the Sol System almost nothing can be said with any accuracy whatsoever, and even the cluster of myths and rumours that would later grow to surround the Legion's activities is absent. What remains instead are a few sparse but suggestive fragments, anomalous records of unknown Legiones Astartes units carrying out targeted strikes, abductions and assassinations, both on Terra and beyond, and reports of Space Marine units answering to no known masters or Legion allegiance passing through war zones on high priority missions and under the writ of unassailable clearance codes which broached no question. Rumour and supposition even surrounded the designation "Alpha", which by some records is connected with the XX proto-Legion from a very early period. This, aside from the numerous occult and arcane associations and significance that certain sources choose to derive from this fact, ties into another, more prosaic, potential association dating back to the hidden work of the Emperor's own gene-labs.

It is apparent from numerous extant sources that during their creation, each nascent proto-Legion after the Primus or I Legion (later the Angelis Tenebrium or Dark Angels), was raised first to active service in a staged process of testing and trials before the full active force was created through mass recruitment from amongst Terran populations loyal to the Emperor's cause. Each stage of creation would result in expansion of the gene-seed implantation on progressively larger groups of Neophytes. The last of the these preliminary stages was, according to sources, the "Alpha" induction. This was in essence believed to be the first non-experimental implantation, and its purpose was to create a proto-Legion of Astartes at minimum fighting strength to be field-tested in open battle. Tellingly, there is no recorded evidence that the XX pattern gene-seed group, although having been approved by the Emperor after its limited battle-tests, was ever ordered to expand to full implantation, or received an allotted intake region of Terra for mass recruitment as the rest would do during the early years of the Great Crusade. This then effectively limited the XX Legion to a body of around 1,000-3,000 Legionaries and effectively side-lined them while their contemporaries underwent rapid expansion and deployment through the opening phases of the Great Crusade. The question then remains, why?

Almost certainly it was not a question of gene adaptation; the extant sample records place the gene-seed implantation success rate for the XX pattern as being in the highest end of the recorded spectrum. The evidence would indicate it was certainly far superior to certain other developed typos (the difficulties experienced by the VI (Space Wolves) and IX (Blood Angels) genetic patterns being documented elsewhere). Likewise, their battlefield performance was stated high, removing the other most obvious likelihood for considering the XX proto-Legion a failure. There are three outstanding theories that have been posited as to why the XX was not apparently expanded to full Legion strength during the early Great Crusade which may each have some merit. The first is entirely mundane, and is simply the sabotage of suitable manpower. The recruitment assignments of the other Legions during the period now covered most of the suitable-genetic and cultural candidates of both Terra and the Sol System, and some sort of disaster (which has been redacted from official Imperial records) had proven the folly of attempting to recruit Legiones Astartes stock from potentially tainted sources.

The second is the suspicion that some hidden problems, or potential flaw had been discovered which prevented the proto-Legion's expansion -- although this in many ways seems unlikely for it is to suggest the Emperor was either unable or unwilling to solve such a problem and equally unwilling to ruthlessly eradicate a failed experiment as He had done before. The third theory is that the XX was deliberately preserved separately as an isolated unit for other specific or military reasons possibly to act as a strategic gene-seed reserve or indeed a control group as some have suggested. This theory also posits the possibility that the XX proto-Legion was held back to undergo some further development and conditioning unique to them that the rest of the Legiones Astartes was restricted from by design. There remains evidence that this last "Alpha" stage-Legion of the Emperor led to the later development and eventual creation of his personal cadre of transhuman protectors, the Legio Custodes.

### A War in Shadow

Once the Great Crusade was fully underway after 798.M30 and the first of the great Expeditionary Fleets had set out en masse to bring unity to the galaxy, the XX Legion disappears from official history for many decades. However, there seems to be a connection between them and certain shadowed events during the Great Crusade that have never been adequately explained by the official record, even to what was known to the highest echelons of the Imperium, including even the Throne of Terra itself. Some suggest that during this time the XX Legion, without their lost Primarch, had a secret role to play in ensuring the Imperium's future. It has been suggested since the earliest days of the Great Crusade and the Emperor's great vision of a united humanity free of the shackles of torment of nightmarish enemies, as well as the threat of enemies without, there has remained the danger of the enemy within as has been proven time and again. Evidence for this hypothesis can be seen by the fact that the nascent Imperium of Man was plagued with rampant insurrections, petty rebellions and the dangerous plots of Renegades and Traitors. Such enemies had slunk into shadowed obscurity following bitter defiance and crushing conquests during the bloody wars of Unification, but yet plotted vengeance. Many were twisted by lust for power or tainted by exposure to the horrors beyond, and sought to pervert the Imperial Truth to their own ends.

None thought that such hidden foes could strike at the heart of the Imperium until the so-called incident that reached into the gene-seed reserve that was nearly to doom the III Legion (the future Emperor's Children) occurred -- an act which many have since attributed to the actions of a secret enemy within. It was not long into this dark event in the fourth decade of the Great Crusade (ca. 838.M30) that scattered and unspecified reports of anomalous Space Marine Legion activity came to light. These actions were uniformly tactical scale operations, which occurred far from the front lines of the Great Crusade by small detached units, ranging between squad and company in size. The warriors who carried them out were doubtless of the Legiones Astartes, identified by their power, abilities and wargear, but their identity remained concealed. These mysterious Legionaries carried little or no unit markings or heraldry, or in some cases wore unrecognised markings not in the official record. In some stranger instances they operated under a "false flag", wearing the livery of a known Legion, often amid a war zone where that impersonated Legion was operating but without that Legion's knowledge, license or command. These actions were uniformly of a covert nature; surgical strikes, assassinations, espionage, sabotage, the recovery of unknown artefacts and the abduction of important individuals or entire groups for some unknown purpose. Such strikes, carried out both at the front lines and within the already Compliant worlds of the Imperium, were deadly accurate and seldom left any witnesses alive to tell directly of them.

The predations of what came to be known in certain circles as the "Ghost Legion" were rare -- at least those that came to light were few -- and protests by local Imperial commanders or Planetary Governors against them were rebuffed or simply ignored. It was suggested by some within the Imperial High Command that the XX Legion was at work, but as other, specialised agencies of the Imperium such as the Legio Custodes, the Securitas Inconcensus and the Officio Assassinorum rose to power and established themselves, aspects of this unknown force faded and began to enter myth, although they never entirely disappeared. If such a "Ghost Legion" existed as a coherent entity, then it represented the frightening prospect of a Legiones Astartes force whose specialisation was to act in a way that was distinctly different from its peers, and to do so in secret. If this force was indeed the XX Legion, then it may have been operating in the shadows of the Imperium for more than a Terran century, building a wealth of influence and experience akin to any other Space Marine Legion and undertaking a secret war at once part of and parallel to the Great Crusade itself.

What it became, what it learned during these years remains unknown, but even if this supposition is true and not merely a conspiracy theory fashioned after the fact in regards to what was to follow, it poses yet another question -- why was the purpose of this "Ghost Legion" in its particular role ended? Had it simply been replaced by more specialised and newly founded Imperial powers, or had it become perhaps too unpredictable, uncontrollable or even too dangerous in its current form? Had the Great Crusade's need for front-line battle Legions to add to its war effort proved too great to allow the XX Legion to remain in the shadows, or had the long awaited discovery of their Primarch necessitated the change? Irrespective of the truth, the twisting coils of the Alpha Legion rose from the darkness and into the light of the Imperium.

### Unity & Lies

There remains much that is contradictory in the accounts of the first open actions of the Alpha Legion as a force of the Legiones Astartes in its own right. Official accounts found in both the datalooms of the Logistica Corpus and the more prosaic work of the Remembrancers place the Alpha Legion's appearance as an active Legion force in its own right to either the decade immediately preceding the commencement of the Farinatus Extermination or as appearing as an unexpected reinforcing power during the darkest days of the Third Rangdam Genocides. This represents a discrepancy of some thirty sidereal years, but in many regards makes the Alpha Legion the last of the Legiones Astartes to be recognised as a military entity in its own right by a considerable margin, and also the last to be officially re-united with its Primarch (again accounts widely differ as to the exact timing and conditions of this occurrence).

The XX Legion's chosen name -- the Alpha Legion (in the ancient form commonly meaning the "first" or the "beginning" in the glyph pattern) -- seems an almost deliberately perverse jest in the light of its late inception, as does the name by which its Primarch was generally to become known -- Alpharius. Some who have studied the history of the Traitor Legions have chosen to see the adoption of this naming convention neither as irony nor deliberate contradiction of fact, but rather as a statement of ambition and intent. Alpha also means '*Primarcy*', and '*Supreme*', particularly in conjunction with the ancient glyph called the Omega and the pre-Dark Age of Technology sigil known as the Æternus. This sigil, which was used particularly in the earlier displays of the XX Legion's heraldry, carries other hidden meanings not limited to themes of unity, continuum and indestructibility. It contains within it the pre-Imperial 'sacred geometry' (Ref: Tellurian Data-Glyph patterns) of the serpent of power and knowledge coiling around the pillars of physical reality and truth. The serpent also has, since time immemorial, been seen as a symbol of treachery, secrets, strife and lies. The ancient Terran mythic serpent of devastation that could not be slain -- for when one head is cut off, two more would uncoil in its place -- would provide the XX Legion's other great icon-type, and one which would become dominant by the time of the Horus Heresy; the symbol of the Hyrdra. Even then, within these symbols alone could be divined layer upon layer of hidden meaning and the promise of baleful intent, ambition and destruction; so would it be with the Alpha Legion.

### The Hyrdra

"*None shall make me break faith with my father. No xenos lies or false visions will convince me to turn from His light, no matter how deep the darkness in which I walk. This is the word of Alpharius, and so shall it be yours.*"
— Primarch Alphairus to his legion after the Battle of 42 Hydra Tertius

During the Great Crusade, the Master of Mankind and His armies ventured out across the galaxy not only to unite the diaspora of human colonies into the Imperium, but also to locate the lost primarchs. Guided by senses beyond imagination, the vast majority of primarchs were found by the Emperor Himself, and yet the most secretive of His sons remained hidden from His gaze. Instead it was Horus who encountered the final primarch, and according to the version of the tale told by the Warmaster, it occurred when Alpharius and his raiders attacked a Luna Wolves’ cruiser. That a band of un-enhanced humans could have boarded an Astartes vessel was in itself impressive, but that they could have evaded the search parties to assault the command deck told of an exceptional individual. Thankfully, the look of recognition which passed between the brothers as they prepared to attack one another was enough to stay their hands, and in the months that followed an unbreakable bond of friendship was forged between them.

Overjoyed at the news that his final son had been found, the Emperor and decreed that they, and as many of the primarchs as could be gathered, meet on Terra in honour of this momentous event. It was a celebration of special magnificence, and each brother spoke of the wonders they had seen and victories they had claimed in their father’s name. On that day, Alpharius heard many different examples of how an Astartes could fight but was left with the certainty that none of them was his own. Upon taking command of the XXth Legion he instilled within each marine his own unique philosophy; that they would defeat their enemies not by the application of sheer brute force, but by cunning, subterfuge and deception. Alpharius also selected a name for them which boldly proclaimed his intentions and resolved that they prove themselves worthy of calling themselves the Alpha Legion.

Due to their chosen style of warfare, far fewer marines needed to be attached to each expeditionary fleet compared to those of other Astartes legions. This meant that the Alpha Legion was able to lend aid to a great number of expeditions operating across the East of Segmentum Solar and the western borders of Ultima Segmentum. Rather than commanding the expeditions, as was usual where Astartes were involved, they instead acted as a covert vanguard which operated far in advance of the main force. By the time the Imperial Army arrived, they found worlds in disarray, their defences circumvented, and powerless to resist the coming invasion.

So successful were these tactics that their expeditions soon came into contact with those of the Ultramarines, moving westward from their powerbase on the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy. Philosophical differences between the two legions caused significant ill-feeling, with the Alpha Legion regarding the Ultramarines as unimaginative and hidebound by the prescriptive rules laid down by their primarch. In turn, Ultramarine commanders such as Chapter Master Marius Gage and Captain Orar publicly condemned the Alpha Legion's tactics as dishonourable, counter-productive and unworthy of the Astartes. They claimed the Alpha Legion had a callous disregard for the civilian casualties their actions caused, and that this stirred up resentments against the Imperium long after they had moved on. Alpharius' tally of victories was, in short, dismissed as due to the valiant actions of the Imperial Army shoring up a weak and inexperienced legion. These verbal clashes came to a head during a meeting between the primarchs of the two legions, which reputedly resulted in Roboute Guilliman ordering the Alpha Legion "out of Ultramarine space", and saying they should leave the Great Crusade to the real Astartes.

This acrimonious exchange aside, the Great Crusade was a time of great optimism for the Imperium as worlds long-isolated from Terra were reunited, and the darkness of superstition was banished by the rationality of the Imperial Truth. The Emperor had chosen to do this, in part, to suppress any investigation of the Warp's true, esoteric nature, believing that to allow the existence of Chaos to become public knowledge would be enough to lead some to their worship. Even His primarch sons were not trusted with this information, although some had gleaned a measure of understanding for themselves. Being particularly astute at determining the hidden hand behind events, Alpharius, was one of these few.

This was brought into sharp focus when the Chaos-worshipping inhabitants of the world of Nurth that the Alpha Legion were fighting to bring into the Imperium used Warp-magicks to destroy the planet rather than face defeat. Through painstaking and meticulous investigation of this new threat, they came to realise the destructive intent of the Ruinous Powers extended far beyond individual planets; they sought to bring down the entire galaxy in blood and fire.

The key to this was an insidious plan by a cabal of xenos breeds to see Warmaster Horus succumb to daemonic possession, thereby plunging the Imperium into a catastrophic civil war. Despite subjecting the xenos conspirators to their most terrible and persuasive of interrogations, they were unable to extract where or even when this possession would take place. They did, however, ascertain that the death of a Word Bearers Chaplain by the name of Erebus was vital to the alien's plans. Perhaps it is a sign of their paranoia and love of secrets, but rather than simply inform the Warmaster of the threat against his life, they decided instead to shadow Chaplain Erebus and ensure his safety.

In this way, the ambush the aliens had set for the Word Bearer was averted, and Erebus reached the Sons of Horus fleet without ever realising his life had been in danger. When Horus was struck down on the world of Davin with an ailment inexplicable by even the finest apothecaries, Chaplain Erebus proved his worth a hundredfold. He recognised the affliction for what it truly was and aided by the psychic might of Magnus of the Thousand Sons, was able to exorcise the daemonic entity and save the Warmaster. The Alpha Legion assumed that the threat had been averted but had woefully underestimated the cunning and subtlety of their Great Adversary.

### Ultramar Segmentum

With the Warmaster saved from the threat of the Ruinous Powers, the Alpha Legion turned its attention back to events in Ultima Segmentum, or, as many of its inhabitants were increasingly coming to call it, Ultramar Segmentum. With every month that passed more worlds, including many the Alpha Legion itself had brought into compliance, petitioned to make ever-closer ties with the Ultramarines and its confederation of Ultramar planets. A more detailed inspection of events showed that wherever Guilliman’s war-fleets passed, Ultramar ‘advisers’ were left in their wake. Though they were ostensibly there to improve ‘organisational productivity’, they also imparted a measure of cultural and political control beyond that imposed by the Administratum.

Furthermore, the Ultramarine war-fleets were growing ever-larger, and yet their westward expansion was taking them into areas of space already pacified by the Great Crusade. The Alpha Legion suspected the signs of Guilliman attempting to usurp control. These worlds had more allegiance to Guilliman than to the Emperor, and that, if left unchecked, this creeping expansion would see the Ultramarines grow too powerful to be stopped. Alpharius transmitted this damning information directly back to Terra, and when the call went out to mobilise fully half of the Astartes legions to bring the Ultramarines to heel, the Alpha Legion was amongst the first to volunteer.

With Warmaster Horus still recovering from the events on Davin, Rogal Dorn, the Emperor’s Praetorian, took command of the mission. While he led the bulk of the Astartes forces against Guilliman at his newest Ultramar world of Istvaan V, the Alpha Legion and Word Bearers were sent to destabilise the renegade realm from within. Lorgar set course directly for Macragge, but the Alpha Legion scattered to infiltrate each world they came across. Unlike the Great Crusade, where they had the support of the Imperial Army, their aim was simply to spread anarchy and disrupt the war effort so that Ultramar Segmentum would respond as isolated planets rather than as a unified entity. Only later, once the Imperial Army had properly been mobilised, could the worlds be reclaimed back into the Imperium.

Despite their initial successes at paralysing large areas of Ultramar Segmentum, the Alpha Legion came under increasing pressure due to great numbers of Ultramarines moving in from the direction of Istvaan. The war had rendered them virtually cut off from the Imperium, but at great cost the legion’s astropaths were eventually able to penetrate the aetheric howl. With each fragment of intelligence they gathered, the situation became increasingly dire. Against all expectation, the Ultramarines had triumphed at Istvaan, destroyed many of the legions sent against them, and were now moving against them in force. Eventually the reason for the Istvaan disaster became clear; Rogal Dorn had betrayed the Emperor’s legions to Guilliman, and now sought to claim the Imperial throne for himself. Although Warmaster Horus had been saved, the Ruinous Powers had found another primarch through which to work their evil.

Dorn’s cunning had seen both the Alpha Legion and the Word Bearers mired so deeply inside enemy territory that neither would be able to get back to Terra in time. Alpharius was convinced that their best course was to continue as before, keeping Ultramar Segmentum in turmoil and preventing Guilliman from sending aid to Dorn’s traitors. He was concerned of how the Word Bearers would react to the threat against their God-Emperor, but on meeting Lorgar, found him to be of the same mind. So unshakeable was his faith in the omnipotence of the Emperor that Lorgar would not even countenance the idea their father could be defeated. He held an unshakable belief that the loyal legions, led by Warmaster Horus, would crush the upstart Dorn, and that the Word Bearers must prove equally worthy by conquering Macragge and tearing the heart from the rebellious Ultramarines.

Though a noble ambition, the flood of Ultramarine reinforcements from Istvaan meant that any frontal assault on Macragge would be drowned in its own blood. Alpharius proposed that they lure away the defenders with something they could not resist; the chance to finally face the elusive Alpha Legion in open conflict. This was done by subtly revealing the existence of a major Alpha Legion base on the planet of Eskrador, further sweetened with the promise of being able to face Alpharius himself.

The ploy proved more successful than they could have hoped, with Guilliman committing large numbers of forces to the assault. Instead of the sober, measured campaign they had anticipated, the Ultramarines were far more reckless, committing a massed drop-pod assault onto the mountainous slopes near the supposed Alpha Legion base. For another legion this might have thrown their plans into disarray, but instead they adapted, and turned this development to their advantage. The unsupported infantry that emerged from their drop-pods were punished mercilessly for their hubris, and many Ultramarines, including several high-ranking commanders, were slain before their relief columns broke through from the lowlands.

The Ultramarines tell the story of Eskrador as a glorious victory, but all they gained were the bodies of but a fraction of the Alpha Legionnaires actually present, and a base filled with intentionally misleading information. Of their most prized 'victory' - the supposed death of Alpharius - that too was denied them. Whoever Guilliman fought that day, it was not Alpharius, as he still commands the legion to this day. Most likely it was a ruse to lull the Ultramarines into a false sense of security that the threat of the Alpha Legion had been ended. Although Eskrador had proved a great success as a diversion, before the Word Bearers could assault the weakened Macragge, news filtered in from the Imperium which broke their resolve. While putting an end to Dorn’s Heresy, the Emperor had been mortally wounded, and in their grief Lorgar's Word Bearers fled back to Terra, the assault on Macragge forgotten. The Alpha Legion was left to battle on alone against the might of Ultramar Segmentum.

### Hyrdra Dominatus

For many decades after the end of the Heresy nothing was heard from the Alpha Legion. The Word Bearers were instrumental in raising crusades to breach the Ultramarines' heavily fortified borders but were unable to find any indication of their fate. Eventually, and with great sadness, the Alpha Legion was classified as having been destroyed. Then, unannounced and unheralded, Alpharius appeared before an assembly of the High Lords of Terra with a dire warning. He apologised for his absence, saying that he had made a solemn oath to himself to see Guilliman pay for his crimes. Out of pride, Alpharius had hoped not to return to the Imperium until his vow was fulfilled, but events had forced his hand.

In the time since their disappearance, the Alpha Legion had honed their skills at covert warfare to razor sharpness and had kept Ultramar Segmentum from turning its gaze upon the Imperium. Guilliman, however, had grown tired of this state of affairs and was planning, under the flag of diplomacy, to take that which had been so long denied him. Barely a month later, the High Lords received a communiqué from Guilliman, who begged forgiveness for Istvaan. He claimed to have been deceived by Dorn and offered a strategic alliance against their true enemies – the forces of Chaos. Forewarned, the High Lords saw this for what it was; a ploy to allow the Ultramarine war-fleets to pass deep into Imperial space for an assault upon Terra.

Using their extensive knowledge of Ultramar Segmentum, the Alpha Legion was able to turn the treaty discussions on Prandium into a trap. By providing the supposedly unarmed Imperial Astartes with weapons, equipment, and intelligence, they were able to ensure that Roboute Guilliman was mortally wounded, imprisoned within a stasis field, and returned to Terra so that all could witness the traitor's just fate.

That eight other legions besides the Ultramarines had also betrayed their oaths to the Emperor had not been forgotten, and with Guilliman at long last having paid the price for his crimes, the Alpha Legion’s self-imposed penance could come to an end. As the legion is at its most effective when the enemy does not even suspect their presence, they officially remained casualties of the Dornian Heresy, with only the upper echelons of the Imperium and the loyalist legions made aware of the truth. Ever since the Alpha Legion has put its skills to use against the Ruinous Powers by monitoring planets close to the Eye of Terror for signs of cult activity, and as the vanguard of Imperial crusades to oust the Traitor Legions from the Emperor’s worlds.

Where the Ultramarines followed strict rules and a rigid, predictable organisational structure, the forces of Chaos were, by their very nature, an ever-changing chimera. This meant the skills the Alpha Legion had used to such great effect in Ultramar Segmentum often proved to be completely useless around the Eye of Terror. Similarly, their methods of infiltration proved to be far more vulnerable to detection by sorcery and the eternal, malevolent gaze of the Ruinous Powers. Having prided itself upon the ability to adapt, the Alpha Legion took to this fresh challenge with aplomb. With the aid of certain highly specialised Imperial organisations, they have found ways around even these obstacles. It is with these weapons as much as with primed boltguns and cold steel that the Alpha Legion works to excise the cancer of Chaos from the galaxy.

As successful as the Alpha Legion has been at keeping the forces of Chaos hemmed within the Eye of Terror, it has come at a cost to their operations inside Ultramar Segmentum. While it remains a prime example of the Alpha Legion’s ability to spread destruction and anarchy within an enemy's territory, their numbers are too few to do more than slow the Ultramarines’ implacable advance. In recognition of this disturbing fact, the Alpha Legion has had to become ever-more creative, and destructive in its plans.

When operating within Ultramarine territory there is no chance of support from the Imperium, and so the Alpha Legion frequently relies upon less conventional methods to bring large military forces to bear. Whether through provocation by covert military actions or the simple bribery of leaders, the ubiquitous Orks have proved to be valuable, if unwitting, allies. In particular, several Ultramarine campaigns against the Imperium have been averted by timely uprisings of the Ork Empire of Charadon. Another valuable technique the Alpha Legion has perfected is to fracture alliances and set them at each other’s throats. Be they shaky coalitions of Chaos warbands or the technologically advanced Tau and the Ultramarines, nothing sows discord like an unprovoked attack from Astartes in the livery of an ally.

Given their secretive nature, all manner of outlandish theories have been attributed to the Alpha Legion. There is even speculation that the legion has become so fragmented that its convoluted plots and schemes war as much against each other as they do the enemy. It seems certain that the truth is more prosaic, and at the same time more unbelievable than even the most ardent conspiracy theorist could imagine. The only person to know the whole truth is their primarch, and Alpharius has proven extremely good at guarding his secrets.

## Legion Organisation

Never one to stifle his brethren with rules and strictures, Alpharius has ensured his legion's organisation has remained fluid and able to adapt to every situation. A premium is placed upon crafting elegant and ultimately effective strategies, and ensuring that they never to fall into predictable, unthinking patterns. Rather than following a conventional grand company structure, they instead operate in cell networks of varying size depending upon the situation. Given the dispersed nature of the legion, command authority frequently resides with sergeants. Captains and lieutenants are instead involved with wider-scale organisation, and take direct command of none but the largest and most important operations.

While only a handful of full Astartes may be present in an operation, they are accompanied by a far greater number of human operatives. These include initiates who have yet to be fully implanted with gene-seed, as well as inducted Imperial Army and Adeptus Arbites veterans who are able to pass unnoticed among the populace in a way that an Astartes – even without power armour – would be unable to do. In support of these field agents are armourers and scribes, as well as techno-savants skilled in sifting through the mass of data for the intelligence they require. The criminal underworld is also an invaluable source of illicit information and muscle, although great care must be taken to ensure they never suspect the true identity of their employers.

So insidious are the Ruinous Powers that throughout the legion’s history, individuals and even entire cells have fallen to the Dark Gods. Although the knowledge possessed by a single cell is compartmentalised, and so in no way enough to bring down the legion, such defections can upset plans many decades in the making. The task of hunting down these renegades falls to the very best of the Alpha Legion, and on several notable occasions, Alpharius himself has taken charge of determining how far the rot has spread.

### Specialist Formations

* **Effrit Stealth Squad** - The Effrit Stealth Squad is a specialised infiltration unit within the ranks of the Alpha Legion. The Legion Seeker Squads employed by many Space Marine Legions were, according to some reports, pioneered first by the Alpha Legion to this end, and certainly such squads, along with specialised Legion Reconnaissance Squads, were common to all of the Legions' battle formations, although their use sat poorly within the more honourable combat doctrine of some of the Legions like the Space Wolves. These tactics were taken a stage further by the Alpha Legion in the creation of an elite unit geared specifically to rapidly inflicting targeted casualties behind enemy lines, known variably as the Headhunters or '*Effrit*' - although this latter term may also have referred to the act of assassination, and the sowing of destruction and chaos behind the lines in mid-battle, as well as a particular unit type. This preference for high-impact strikes carried out by small, elite infantry units is evidenced by the fact that both Legion Destroyer Squads (who suffered none of the opposition found in some Legions to those so assigned) as well as speculated Alpha Legion sabotage operatives are also classified as 'Effrit' in some accounts and treated as a respected Veteran cadre within the Legion. These operatives are chosen for their adaptive thinking as well as their ability to improvise. Little else is known of this elite formation, as the Alpha Legion is notorious for the obfuscation and secrecy that surrounds the internal workings of their mysterious Legion.

* **Headhunter Kill-Teams** - The histories of the Great Crusade record that it was the Alpha Legion that conceived of the deployment of Legion Seeker Squads, a unit configuration that spread to the other Legions as the Great Crusade expanded outwards. The Legion did not halt at Seeker Squads however, and had since fielded a further refinement of the concept in the form of Headhunter Kill-teams. These supremely skilled infiltrators specialised in creating conditions of all-consuming chaos among the enemy's ranks, sowing confusion by eliminating key officers, positions and assets. In doing so, the Headhunters bring about a tipping point in a battle or an entire campaign, the fulcrum upon which the fate of worlds is balanced. Headhunter Kill-teams are made up of the most skilled infiltrators and assassins in the Alpha Legion, and fielded at the direct command of a senior commander. They have access to some of the most prized wargear their Legion can provide, including special ammunition conceived specifically to penetrate armour up to and including Legiones Astartes battle plate.

* **Lernaean Terminator Squad** - Another designation, again driven from ancient Terran myth by the Alpha Legion, is the 'Lernaean'. This cognomen appears to have been given to the XX Legion's most expert shock assault troops, particularly to dedicated Terminator companies and in some instances Legion Breacher Siege Squads and Dreadnoughts. Few knew of the Lernaean Terminator Squads, though not because the Alpha Legion sought to obscure their existence, but rather because they rarely left behind any witnesses of their deeds. Clad in Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour chased with baroque finery and armed with Volkite Chargers, this makes them fearsome close assault and vanguard spearhead units against which few enemies can stand. In particular, battle recordings of certain Lernaean Terminator units mark them as being equipped with advanced teleportation assault capacity and specialised heavy weaponry such as compact Conversion Beam weapons and phase-field generator gear. The foremost task of the Lernaean is to swiftly isolate and destroy the most powerful frontline troops and potent battlefield assets a foe possesses, and to do so in such an emphatic and bloody manner that not only is a potential threat to the Alpha Legion's attack eroded, but the psychological shock of their attack will further damage enemy morale. Such is the calculated cruelty and cold brutality employed by the Lernaean Terminators that their reputation quickly spread beyond the Alpha Legion itself.

### Legion Infiltrators

The Alpha Legion is well known for their use of subterfuge and the innate ability of its Astartes and other operatives to blend-in with any environment. The Legion's agents mimic those that they infiltrate to gather intelligence, perform sabotage, or plant disinformation. They also use more drastic measures, such as those employed during the Dornian Heresy. Reveling in their anonymity, the Astartes of the Alpha Legion always strive to look alike, modeling themselves on their Primarch Alpharius. The Alpha Legion's Primarch had also devised an audacious plan to infiltrate other Space Marine Legions by using specially selected infiltrators. Prospective candidates for infiltration were selected for their possession of a variety of skills required for the successful completion of a mission, such as linguistic ability, a quick mind or an instinct for adaptation. These candidates would then take even more drastic steps to ensure their ability to infiltrate their targets, having their minds reprogrammed psychically by the Legion's Librarians so that they would forget their own true identities. The precautions taken by the psykers of the Alpha Legion shielded the infiltrator's mind from casual inspection by psychic or technological means.

During various battles that occurred during the Dornian Heresy, the Alpha Legion appropriated the bodies of many slain Traitor Legionaries. Alpha Legion Apothecaries then removed the faces from the slain Astartes and had them surgically grafted in place of an Alpha Legion infiltrator's face; remolding the bone, tendons and muscles in order for the misappropriated face to be successfully implanted. To complete the façade, the infiltrator then ingested the flesh of the fallen Astartes, allowing their Omophagea organ to dissect and absorb the memories of the fallen Legionary. Bolstered by the abilities of the Librarians - abilities forbidden by the Imperial anti-psyker edicts of the Council of Nikaea, but still widely practised by the Alpha Legion - the infiltrators were able to gather what fragments they could of the dead legionary's life.

An infiltrator often does not know how many others are involved in a particular mission or whether or not they are successful in taking their assigned places; there can be a single operator or possibly dozens of operatives. It does not matter, for a lone Alpha Legion infiltrator is trained to act alone and act accordingly -- remaining alive and undetected until such time as it is prudent to communicate with someone from their Legion. Infiltrators are always prepared to give their lives for their Primarch and their Legion in order to successfully achieve the mission objectives assigned to them.

Once an Alpha Legion agent successfully infiltrates his assigned target, the operative has to take special care to stay constantly alert to maintain the façade that they have adopted. With the assistance of the Legion's Apothecaries and the genetic material absorbed by their Omophagea, the operative's vocal chords and mouth will be reshaped to better resemble that of the target whose identity he has assumed, as the genetically-enhanced hearing of a Space Marine can detect any small difference that might give rise to suspicion. Living amongst those they are assigned to infiltrate, each day an operative learns a little more about their foe -- small mannerisms, turns of phrase, and protocols - that enables him to blend in better with his fellows, but it is not an entirely perfect process.

As an infiltrator the operative understands what it means to be a member of the Alpha Legion, and so does not expect to be lauded or singled out for his actions - such glory-mongering is not in the Legion's traditions. Each operative will fulfill their purpose, take contentment from the knowledge of a mission accomplished and the praise of their Primarch, and become one of the anonymous many of the Legion once again.

The Alpha Legion is also known to operate behind enemy lines and even mingle with enemy civilian populations. In such situations they are apparently able to pass unnoticed with a combination of appropriate dress and psyker mind-clouding.

### Other Formations

Certain records also indicate other named and specialised formations of the XX Legion, such as the '*Rhatoshaen*', '*Shayatan*', '*Quaryn*' and '*Echidna*' whose nature, if they truly exist at all, remains mysterious. In addition, certain references are made to the '*Chrythsaor*' which may have referred to the Legion's Librarians (possibly encompassing a wider intelligence gathering apparatus as well), which is suspected to have been extensive before the Council of Nikaea. Though not believed to have been present at the Council, Alpharius, at least outwardly, appears to have had his Legion abide by its ruling and disband their Librarius, a stance quickly ended during the war of the Heresy.

### Non-Astartes Agents

Of importance also when considering the particular structure and capabilities of the Alpha Legion is its use of human and augmented-human agents and paramilitaries. Whereas many Space Marine Legion forces utilise the manifold elements of the Imperial forces to support their efforts in the Great Crusade, and many Expeditionary Fleets utilise regiments of the Imperialis Auxilia subservient to the Legiones Astartes in their order of battle, the Alpha Legion makes particular use of detached mortal elements specifically trained for tasks of espionage, infiltration and terrorism, and these are beholden to none save the XX Legion itself in fealty. When encountering human worlds to be brought into Imperial Compliance, these augmented and highly adept agents (referred to as '*Sparatoi*', possibly from an ancient Terran term meaning the 'sown men', in some sources), will go ahead of the Legion and infiltrate the population, acting as spies, agitators and saboteurs.

Operating individually or as part of a cell network, these agents and operatives often have little knowledge of each other or in many cases of who their true masters are, but are uniformly highly trained, psycho-conditioned for ruthlessness and fanatical loyalty, and are often subjected to surgical, cybernetic or biochemical augmentation to further their abilities. They will encourage treachery, spread disinformation and corrosive mimetic patterns, and find or take over underground rebel or terrorist groups. Their role primarily is to promote dissent and cause widespread panic and infrastructural damage, and so seek to critically weaken an enemy before the Legion itself emerges in battle.

When the Alpha Legion finally shows its hand, these elite agents and their web of prepper-agents will provide a wave of sabotage and destruction attacks, further destabilising the enemy, often at the cost of their own lives. It is apparent that prior to the Dornian Heresy, these agent networks was expanded into the Imperium itself and its armed forces, becoming a vigilant presence that was only revealed as the great interstellar civil war erupted.

The XX Legion recruits many of these non-Astartes specialists in every theatre and campaign they enter, commonly members of the other Imperial armed forces, though almost any human can be approached by the Legion for his knowledge or skills. These operatives often remain in their original position, ready to respond to Alpha Legion commands. Compromised operatives are not discarded if it can be avoided, and Alpha Legionaries will go to great lengths to retain them or hide their existence, lengths that included the fatal silencing of other Imperials. Alpha Legion operatives are tattooed with a small hydra symbol similar to the XX Legion's badge.

### Legion Command Hierarchy

As with so much concerning the Alpha Legion, precise definition of their command structure cannot be determined with certainty, but certain patterns can be deduced as - if not constant - then repeated enough to have been deemed important. The first of these is specialisation. In any given deployment, a chain of command is obeyed unquestioningly, but this chain of command is a fluid one, both conditioned and highly decentralised in its manner. While a force will be notionally under the command of an officer such as a captain, the authority held by specialists in particular, such as siege masters or vigilators, is deferred to as a matter of course and is regarded as absolute and not to be questioned in their area of expertise.

Likewise, each unit within the XX Legion is expected to operate as a self-motivated and self-governing 'cell' without need of exterior command, and expected to display initiative and pursue its part in the wider battle plan under its own cognisance and in any way it judges to be expedient. Such is the emphasis on unity of action and initiative the Alpha Legion places on its warriors that the battlefield co-ordination and responsiveness to changing circumstances that the Alpha Legion displays is arguably superior to that of any other of the Legiones Astartes.

The Alpha Legion's commanders are seldom observed to operate as champions or warlords in the conventional sense as might be expected of the Legiones Astartes, craving it seems neither personal glory nor the experience of sublime clash of arms. Instead they are wont to observe the battle unfold impassively, matching the patterns of force and bloodshed it reveals, intervening only when needed by issuing orders that will tip the outcome in the Alpha Legion's favour or by direct participation, striking personally at the point of vulnerability where they will inflict the greatest damage.

In terms of honourifics and titles, the Alpha Legion seems to use a shifting set of terminology to convey authority and role. At times the Alpha Legion appears to have deliberately aped the systems used by other Legions (such as the Sons of Horus and the Blood Angels) although whether this was done to incorporate a proven pattern of organisation as part of a particular strategy or as some form of mockery remains unknown. Aside from these patterns, close scrutiny of the records reveals several distinctive additional divisions of command not shown by other Legions.

One such unique title known to have been used by the Alpha Legion is that of '*Harrowmaster*' or '*Jhariuk*' as the leading commander given overall control of all Alpha Legion forces in a given war zone. Although their normal rank might vary, it is the task of the Harrowmaster to keep track of encompassing the shifting events of a conflict in minute detail and shape the actions of the Legion's forces accordingly, creating and aborting battle plans and stratagems with bewildering speed. The position of Harrowmaster is known to be held as a supreme accolade by the Alpha Legion, and their infamous skill at battlefield control is highly regarded (even as the Legion itself is often mistrusted) by the commanders and strategists of the other Space Marine Legions. It is noteworthy that the Harrowmasters are among the few of the Legion, save its Equerries, whose personal names are left to the open record, although whether they have any basis in reality or are merely guises worn by a single warrior or perhaps a series of individuals remains unknowable.

## Legion Combat Doctrine

Alpha Legionnaires are masters of subterfuge, misdirection and deception, and use these skills to spread anarchy and discord throughout enemy territory. Secrecy has always been vital to the Alpha Legion, but since the Great Crusade they have honed it to the point where their very existence is but a rumour. Where others, such as the Night Lords, openly proclaim their presence and wield the fear it generates as a weapon, the Alpha Legion believe it is easier to defeat an enemy who is unaware they are even engaged in a battle. Due to the necessity of keeping their presence a secret, the Alpha Legion no longer wears its traditional indigo livery. Since the Battle of Eskrador - the last time they openly proclaimed their existence on the battlefield - they have instead worn battle-plate of the darkest blue-black, or in an appropriate camouflage pattern. This is shorn of all legion iconography, squad markings or honours, and yet despite this apparent anonymity they are still able to identify their own.

When operating deep inside enemy territory, the Alpha Legion uses its skills to destabilise planets without ever revealing their presence. To this end, acts of sabotage, infiltration and assassination are all tools in their arsenal, as are the fracturing of alliances and the incitement of civil unrest. Rather than just keeping enemy territory in a state of anarchy, the Alpha Legion also works with the Black Templars in support of their massed Astartes Crusades. By infiltrating in advance of the invasion, they are able to cripple the enemy’s defences, draw forces out of position and ensure that any counter-attack is fragmented and ineffective. Their actions are always meticulously planned, with attacks coming from multiple directions so that the failure of any one element does not jeopardise the mission as a whole. In this respect they are like the mythical hydra - if one head is struck off, two more seem to spring up in its place.

Because even an Alpha Legionnaire would find it difficult to mingle with a crowd, much of their work is carried out by their networks of human operatives. They gather intelligence, infiltrate enemy installations and procure everything that is needed by their masters. As skilled as these human agents are, there are some tasks that can only be carried out by an Astartes Kill-team. In their infiltrator armour and cameleoline cloaks, the legion is adept at moving through the shadows like ghosts. However, it is frequently more efficient simply to appear in the guise of other Astartes, be they Loyalist, or those of enemy legions. Many victories against Chaos attributed to the timely intervention of a squad of Word Bearers or Iron Warriors galvanising the citizenry to resist the raiders have in truth been due to the Alpha Legion.

These disguises are even more useful when operating behind enemy lines, as it allows them almost unfettered freedom of movement across a Chaos-held world. Such is the terror with which Traitor Astartes are held by the inhabitants that few would dare look one in the eye, let alone deny a squad of them access to any building or bunker they wished to enter. They also use the guise of enemy Astartes to publically carry out acts which would destabilise alliances between groups. This can be anything from firing upon crowds to trigger civil unrest on Ultramarine worlds, to desecrating shrines to Slaanesh under the guise of the Space Wolves to provoke tension between Chaos factions.

Even though they ensure their armour is meticulously reconsecrated after such acts, the greatest of care must be taken when disguising themselves as worshippers of the Ruinous Powers. Under such circumstances they use only the most generic of symbols to give the impression of the legion they are trying to mimic. As bitter experience has taught them, even the simple act of painting a Chaos symbol upon their armour tarnishes the soul, and can bring down the gaze of the Dark Gods upon the wearer.

### The Harrowing

In battle the Alpha Legion proved itself capable of wielding a devastating mixture of subtlety and overwhelming force, revelling in both meticulous planning and the exercising of imaginative cruelty in war. Quickly, the Alpha Legion developed an unmatched reputation among the Legiones Astartes - save perhaps by the Raven Guard - for the use of espionage, infiltration and sabotage in its strategic planning. But where the Raven Guard sought to use such tactics to achieve victory without unnecessary attrition, or spare a human population it sought to liberate, the Alpha Legion had other, darker, purposes in mind. To them, such covert tactics seemed almost a deadly game of prelude. Where it could, the Alpha Legion will spread confusion and disorder seemingly for its own sake as well as any tactical gain it confers, or even perhaps for the bloody spectacle of it. They maim and bleed the foe, forcing them to chase phantoms and turn on each other in panic before they strike. Such tactics often bring the Alpha Legion's target to an agonised fever-pitch while simultaneously robbing them of their real strength and forcing them into such vulnerable configurations as the Alpha Legion wishes. Then comes the kill.

Often this final attack, or '*Harrowing*', will be in the form of an assault from a hundred directions at once; a blizzard of different tactics and attack plans used against a foe either utterly unaware of the true danger or already brought to the brink of chaos. The result is almost inevitable catastrophe for the Alpha Legion's victims, as the full might of the Legion will then descend at the point of their enemy's greatest weakness, and what will follow will be, to the onlooker, more akin to murder than battle.

## Legion Recruitment & Gene-Seed

Back to their earliest days in the Great Crusade, the Alpha Legion has operated from its fleet of ships rather than a homeworld. This is due in part to the requirements of their nomadic nature, but mainly because Alpharius pointedly refused to reveal the location of the world on which he had been raised. Because of this, it has always been assumed that the Alpha Legion selects new aspirants primarily from the local planets on which they operate, although given their maddening secrecy, this has never been confirmed. While other legions recruit based upon combat skills such as strength and speed, the Alpha Legion instead values creativity, cunning and quickness of thought. Physical toughness and combat ability can be bestowed by the apothecaries, their gene-seed implants and their various instructors, but quick thinking is an innate skill that cannot be taught.

The gene-seed of the Alpha Legion is said to be pure and uncontaminated, although the greatest of care is taken when dealing with progenoids harvested from Astartes who have spent extended periods close to the Eye of Terror. The strength of the Alpharius gene-seed has also been proposed to be the reason for the striking similarity between many Alpha Legionnaires and their primarch, even down to their height. While similar effects have been observed in the gene-lines of other legions, it has led to speculation of the use of cloned humans, recruitment from a restricted gene-pool, such as Alpharius’ secret homeworld, or the practice of surgically creating doubles to act as decoys. Of these theories, the last best fits the legion’s modus operandi, as their apothecaries can dramatically alter a marine’s appearance should the mission demand it. This may also explain how Guilliman could have been fooled into thinking that he had battled and defeated his brother on Eskrador.

## Legion Beliefs

The Alpha Legion firmly believes in the old proverb, "A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords at dawn." To this end, great pains are taken to keep their existence a secret, which includes after the mission has been completed. Given that the majority of their operations are carried out behind enemy lines, every action the Alpha Legion carries out is unique, as to fall into predictable patterns would rapidly result in their capture or destruction. Such things must spring from creativity and inspiration, and cannot be learned by rote from a book. That said, they have found Guilliman's '*Codex Ultramar*' to be an invaluable insight into the mind, tactics and responses of their enemy.

One of the Alpha Legion’s defining characters is their pragmatism, and ability to take the hard decisions required to ensure the stability of the Imperium. They are well aware that in the pursuit of their goals, terrible deeds are often necessary, and that in the Long War, the end justifies the means.

## Legion Battle Cry

Due to the need to hide their true identities, the Alpha Legion does not have a fixed battle cry. Instead, they fight in implacable silence on occasions where stealth is required, and while disguised as Astartes of other legions they use the appropriate battle cry to reinforce the pretence.

## Notable Alpha Legionaries

* **Alpharius** - Alpharius is one of the twenty Primarchs created by the Emperor of Mankind in the earliest days of the Imperium of Man. The Primarch of the Alpha Legion shrouds himself in mystery, often moving unseen even amongst the ranks of his own Legion, appearing as just another line Legionary. However, when the time comes to cast off the cloak of misdirection, Alpharius is as awe-inspiring a being as any of his other brother Primarchs. Due to the Alpha Legion's trademark secrecy extends to the records of their Primarch. There is little recorded information on his biographical background or where his homeworld originates.
* **Ingo Pech** - The First Captain of the Alpha Legion during the Great Crusade and Dornian Heresy era, Ingo Pech, like the majority of the Legionaries within the Alpha Legion, possessed strong physical similarities to his Primarch Alpharius, with a shaved head but gold-flecked brown eyes. Though he was physically smaller than some of the other Legionaries, he was quite strong.
* **Thias (Mathias) Herzog** - Second Captain of the Alpha Legion during the Great Crusade and Dornian Heresy eras, Thias Herzog also possessed physical characteristics nearly identical to his Primarch Alpharius. He was older than his peer First Captain Pech by twenty standard years. His bald scalp suggested that his hair was of a darker natural color, and that he shaved his head to resemble his Primarch and fellow captain. Herzog possessed blue eyes like his Primarch's.
* **Armillus Dynat** - Harrowmaster Armillus Dynat, known as the "Griefbringer" and "Instar-Nine", was a formidable strategist with a penchant for unorthodox and highly intricate attack plans often designed to pull apart and maim enemy fortifications before a killing blow was delivered, Armillus was also a master of integrated fast-armour and close air-support tactics. Armillus Dynat is thought to have been a theatre commander during the notorious Tesstra Campaign and the mastermind behind the Oanessi Genocide and the Harrowing of Callista Mundus.
* **Kernax Voldorius** - Harrowmaster Kernax Voldorius is a superlative commander and master strategist who is known for his meticulous strategic planning and brilliant execution of highly intricate stratagems that utterly annihilate the enemy.
* **Autilon Skorr** - Known as the "King-Killer" and the "Hydra's Headsman", Autilon Skorr was a Consul-Delegatus of the Alpha Legion, and was listed on the roll of honour of the Great Crusade's Council of War no less than seven times before the outbreak of the Dornian Heresy, for he was frequently dispatched by his Legion's high command to demand Compliance of newly discovered worlds in the name of the Imperium.
* **Sheed Ranko** - Sheed Ranko was the master of the Alpha Legion's Lernaean Terminator Squads during the Great Crusade and Dornian Heresy eras, and was an especially large Legionary, who doubled well for Lord Alpharius in diplomatic circumstances. He was a loyal Legionary who was known to accept any mission with the utmost secrecy.
* **Chaitin** - Chaitin was a Legate within the XX Legion for the later part of the Great Crusade and early years of the Dornian Heresy.
* **Exodus** - None can say whether Exodus is a single individual or one of several supremely skilled assassins operating at the behest of the uppermost echelons of the Alpha Legion. Whatever the truth, the Legionary known as Exodus ranked amongst the most skilled killers outside of the Assassin Clades of the Officio Assassinorum during the Great Crusade. His skill-at-arms was born of the convergence of the will, physiology and conditioning of a Space Marine with the fieldcraft and panoply of arms and wargear of an assassin. So adept was Exodus that he was said to rival even the marksmen of Clade Vindicare in his ability to insinuate himself into position and deliver the killing shot at the pivotal moment in a campaign. Some histories claim that as many as a dozen worlds were brought into Imperial Compliance with only a single shot having been fired by Exodus, who could achieve with one round what the expenditure of billions of rounds, charges and shells might never bring about.
* **Dartarion Varix** - As Strike Commander of the Alpha Legion, Dartarion Varix was one of the XX Legion most trusted officers. As leader of the Legion's elite Third Harrow of the First Host, Varix was a master of infiltration and an extremely efficient tactician.
* **Ursinius Echion** - Ursinius was a Librarian of the Alpha Legion during the Great Crusade and early years of the Dornian Heresy, who still retained his position within the Legion's Librarius, despite the Emperor's Decree Absolute laid down during the Council of Nikaea, which forbid the Legiones Astartes the use of such psykers within their ranks.
* **Sindri Myr** - Sindri Mry is a notable Lexicanium who currently serves in the Alpha Legion's Librarius.
* **Arkos the Faithfull, the Scion of Alpharius** - Arkos the Faithful was a Captain of the Alpha Legion who went on to become the first Chapter Master of the Second Founding Alpha Legion Successor Chapter, the Faithful.
* **Bale** - Bale is a notable Captain and trusted officer that currently serves in the Alpha Legion.
* **Roek Ghulclaw** - Roek Ghulclaw is a notable Captain that currently serves in the Alpha Legion.
* **Varus Hos** - Varus Hos is a notable Captain who currently serves in the Alpha Legion.
* **Dynat Mal** - Dynat Mal was a notable Captain and formidable strategist and master tactician, that served during the Great Crusade and Dornian Heresy eras.
* **Vykus Skayle** - Cykus Skayle is a notable Captain that currently serves in the Alpha Legion.
* **Phocron** - Phocron is a Centurion and notable Alpha Legion Infiltrator who is lauded as a master operative. He is responsible for bringing entire worlds back into Imperial Compliances through his superb acts of sabotage, terrorism and inciting war, undertaken by his extensive network of human operatives. The truth is, 'Phocron' is not a single individual, but one of several aliases assumed by multiple Alpha Legion Legionaries, for there never was a Phocron that ever existed. It is merely a cover used to help ogranise insurrectionists and agents across the Imperium as a symbol to rally behind.
* **Jaghathra Vax** - An Alpha Legion Infiltrator and noted bladesman, he has plagued Chaos Cults and rebell cells for decades, through his acts of infiltration, sabotage and assassination, evading their clumsy reprisals with ease.
* **Arkturion** - Arkturion is a notable Forge Master of the Alpha Legion.
* **Firaeveus Carron** - Firaeveus is a formidable warrior and notable Company Champion of the Alpha Legion.
* **Nullus** - Nullus is a notable Company Champion and lieutenant to Captain Kernax Voldorius.
* **Hekastis Nul** - Hekastis Nul is a notable Veteran Sergeant who currently serves in the Alpha Legion.
* **Ancient Archontas Origo** - Very little is known of the warrior referred to in the archives of the Logistica Corpus as the "Archontas" of an unknown chapter of the Alpha Legion, and it is considered unlikely that "Origo" is even a personal name. According to some extant early Great Crusade archives, at least a dozen different warriors of the old XX Legion bore that name, every one of them falling in combat during the early or mid Crusade eras to be interred within the armoured sarcophagus of a number of different marks of Dreadnought armour, from early Furibundus to later mark Castra Ferrum. The last known individual to bear this name, was interred within a Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought. Archontas Origo's Dreadnought armour was equipped with a pair of power claws with inset flamers, making him a fearsome prospect for any but the most accomplished of melee fighters. He also mounted a Cyclone Missile Launcher, a weapon often utilised to break down the coherency of enemy formations prior to an attack, a broad category of tactic the Alpha Legion were noted as being especially adept at implementing. This ancient's ultimate fate is unknown.
* **Ancient Nehalen, "The Interitus"** - Renowned among the Alpha Legion for his exploits as a member of the Legion's Destroyer cadre in days long since passed, Nehalen earned for himself the title "Interitus" for his brutal methods -- the fear of his deployment to a war zone a more potent deterrent than a full company of lesser warriors. Following a cataclysmic encounter with the Fra'al, Nehalen was confined to the metal shell of a Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought, a transition that barred him from the infiltration missions that had once been his specialty and kindled in him a cold fury and appetite for open slaughter that exceeded his fellows.

### Notable Alpha Legion Operatives

* **55/Phi-silon** - During the Dornian Heresy, 55/Phi-silon was a Sparatoi-operative that had been placed within the Mechanicum as a surgically altered Mechanicum Tech-thrall, in order to infiltrate the Dark Mechanicum faction on the newly implemented Forge World of Bronta-Median. With 55/Phi-silon in place, the operative successfully smuggled a full demi-cohort of Legionaries onboard the Dark Mechanicum vessel *Omnissiax* which would seize the ship and its precious cargo of Battle Titans. Charged with the awakening of both the infiltrated Legionaries and the Loyalist Titan crews, 55/Phi-silon was instrumental in the *Omissiax*'s capture by the Alpha Legion and the overall success of the Harrowing of Callistra Mundi.
* **Haln** - Haln was the codename of an Alpha Legion operative that had succeeded in infiltrating the Imperial Fists' fleet as a refugee during the years of the Dornian Heresy and that sable to operate for an extended period of time aboard the *Phalanx* itself.
* **Jalen** - During the Dornian Heresy era, 'Jalen' was the designation of a new kind of Alpha Legion operatives tentatively named "Hydra"-Operative believed to have been active on the soil of Tallarn for several years. Most distinctively "Hydra"-Operatives were no standard humans, but bio-engineered clones and established as twins or triplets operating within the same cell. Jalen would infiltrate a world several months prior to an invasion by the Alpha Legion, establishing a network of spies and allies amongst ranks of the Loyalists and those whose allegiance was aligned with that of the Arch-Traitor Rogal Dorn. This extensive network included specialised kill-teams, armoured troops and even elite assassin-squads of Legiones Astartes.
* **Hurtado Bronzi** - Hurtado Bronzi was a Hetman of the Geno Five-Two Chiliad and Company Commander of the Joker company during the Compliance of Nurth. Hetman Bronzi was recruited on Nurth by the Alpha Legion to serve as a Sparatoi-operative. He served for the remainder of the Great Crusade and the Dornian Heresy eras.
* **Quorvon Krish** - A Sparatoi-operative, he was a tertiary Astropath who served the Alpha Legion during the Dornian Heresy.
* **Nedico Orx** - A Sparatoi-operative and transmechanic, he was an expert in electronic countermeasures, computer hacking and all things mechanical. He served the Alpha Legion during the Dornian Heresy era.
* **Rukhsana Saiid** - Rukhsana Saiid was one of the senior Uxor, one of psychically-gifted female command cadre exclusive to the Imperial Army regiments of the Geno Chiliad. Rukhsana was recruited on the world of Nurth by the Alpha Legion and served throughout the Great Crusade and Dornian Heresy eras.

## Legion Fleet

With a Legion dealing in secrets and deception, no true account of the Alpha Legion's fleet can truly be verified as it is customary for instance to change the ships' ident-tags after a given operation and indeed use the same name for different vessels. As the last Legion to effectively join the Great Crusade, the Alpha Legion fleet consisted of newly forged battleships and is believed to have numbered amongst the largest of all the fleets within the *Legiones Astartes*. The Alpha Legion is known to possess the following vessels:

* ***Alpha* (*Gloriana*-class Battleship)** - Personal flagship of Lord Alpharius.
* ***Beta* (Battleship, Unknown Class)**
* ***Delta* (Capital Ship, Unknown Class)** - The *Delta* is one of several ships bearing that name, but it is also the largest to bear it.
* ***Gamma Lycurgus* (Capital Ship, Unknown Class)**
* ***Zeta Telios* (Capital Ship, Unknown Class)**
* ***Gamma Mu* (*Dominus*-class Battleship)** - The *Gamma Mu* is one of the reputed and massive *Dominus*-class Battleships that formed much of the core of the XX Legion's line-ships.
* ***Omicron* (Battle Barge)** - The *Omicron* was observed acting in support of Armillus Dynat during the Harrowing of Callista Mundi.
* ***Theta* (Battle Barge)**
* ***Sigma-Pythonus* (*Basileus*-class Battle Barge)**
* ***Anarchy's Heart* (*Despoiler*-class Battleship]])** - The *Anarchy's Heart* is the personal Battleship of Chapter Master Arkos the Faithful and his Space Marine Chapter, The Faithful.
* ***Anax-Rho* (Heavy Assault Cruiser)**
* ***Lambda* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Occam's Razor* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Phi* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Theta Malquiant* (Strike Cruiser)** - The *Theta Maquiant* was an isolated cruiser that operated alone and far away from the rest of the Alpha Legion during the opening years of the Dornian Heresy. It was the sister-ship, of the *Zeta Morgeld*.
* ***Upsilon* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Zeta* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Zeta Morgeld* (Strike Cruiser)** - The *Zeta Morgeld* was an Alpha Legion Strike Cruiser that operated as a lone hunter during the Dornian Heresy.
* ***Iota Malephelos* (Escort, Unknown Class)** - The *Iota Malephelos* was one of the many undermanned escort-craft deployed to protect and blunten the Space Wolves counter-attack on the Alpha Legion's capital ships during the fierce fighting in the Alaxxes Nebula.
* ***Keta Rho* (Frigate, Unknown Class)**

## Legion Appearance

### Legion Colours

The Alpha Legion still wears the same basic colour scheme for their power armour - azure blue, silver and green. This is an outward testament to the fact the Alpha Legion has - in spirit if not in body - remained much the same since its creation. Alpha Legion Sergeants often have green helmets with a blue stripe down the centre.

The typical livery of an Alpha Legionary is a combination of sea blue and emerald green. This is sometimes worn in subtle contrast, half obscured by the dust of conquest; at other times it is polished to a violently clashing high sheen, the better to draw the eye of the enemy so that the greater work might pass unseen.

The scaly cloaks worn by the operatives of the Alpha Legion are highly sought after - should a Legionary fall, one of his brothers will take up the mantle in his place, donning it on behalf of the Legion itself. Often, these are worn not by Champions, but by the least favoured or experienced of a company - such obvious signs of status attract the sniper's bullet, and the Alpha Legion regard such linear thinking with contempt.

#### The Colours of Deceit

The question of the Alpha Legion's livery and heraldry of arms is also a matter of some contention in the study of this Legion's history. It is the case that over the centuries-long conflict of the Great Crusade, all of the grey-clad Legions that first departed Terra changed their appearance to some degree -- some very dramatically so -- as the consequences of the long war and campaigning took their toll, and most tellingly when they were reunited with their Primarchs. It is also the case that most uniformity or conformity of livery and appearance proved impossible, even for a Legion not as stratified and fractured as perhaps the Ultramarines or the Iron Warriors, given that an armed force such as a Space Marine Legion numbered in the tens of thousands and was very scattered across the vast distances of the interstellar void.

These facts, however, do not account for the wide variance displayed by the Alpha Legion, and instead it is likely that a more deliberate policy of misdirection and secrecy played its part. Variously and across multiple time periods, the Alpha Legion has been witnessed in liveries of pale grey, gleaming steel, veridian, dull bronze, sable, indigo, amaranth and azure blue -- both in main and combination. It has been variously recorded as displaying Principia Belicosa standardised rank and unit signifiers, elaborate stylised reptilian iconography of unknown meaning, and the complex logos-teknika forms favoured by the Emperor-shattered Panpacific Empire on Ancient Terra before Unification. It has also gone into battle without emblems or markings of any kind; a faceless, anonymous army of killers without distinction or division in its ranks.

If any deeper meaning is held by these changes and masquerades beyond their use to confuse the enemy and confound those who would study the XXth Legion and know its ways, one of the most outlandish and disturbing explanations is that not even the Alpha Legion itself knew its true shape and forms. This theory, postulated since the Horus Heresy, contends that only Alpharius knew the main extant of his Legion and its domain, its strength and its reach, and perhaps then even he knew it only imperfectly. By this token the Alpha Legion had become unknowable, a self-sustaining, self-replicating force, a weapon that had transcended the flesh of the Legionaries that made it up and the hand that wielded it. It would be a force whose limits and extent would forever be unknown, even unto itself, and therefore ultimately unstoppable as no enemy or influence could ever hope to fully infiltrate or overcome it from within.

It was and is indeed the case, that even before the Dornian Heresy, entire generations of Alpha Legion warriors could have been trained, fought and died in ignorance of their own Legion's wider operations, purposes and goals. Entire Expeditionary Fleets could have operated never knowing the existence of mirror images of themselves, each believing that they were the only Alpha Legion bearing the name. The implications of such a colossal deceit are staggering if true.

### Legion Badge

The Alpha Legion's original symbol was derived from the ancient Terran 'Helac' script - the Alpha-Omega symbol. This iconography was used by the XX Legion throughout the early Great Crusade era. Many icons utilised by the Alpha Legion at this time, appeared to be drawn from the same ancient script. It is thought that the Helac gamma, omega and delta symbols were commonly used as the Legion's Chapter identifiers, though rarely consistently. By the start of the Dornian Heresy, the XX Legion's icon had been replaced with that of the three-headed Laernean Hydra, a mythological multi-headed serpent that would grow back two heads for every one that was cut off. Often this icon could be seen surmounting the older, chained alpha-omega icon. Both are common symbols within the Alpha Legion, with numerous combinations and variants adorning armour, banners and the flanks of armoured vehicles.

## Trivia

This article was originally authored by Aurelius Rex over on the Bolter & Chainsword forums. All rights are reserved to him.

## Gallery

Alpha Legion Praetor Askelitar Korsa arrayed in relic artificer-wrought Cataphractii Terminator Armour.Alpha Legion veteran Assault Legionary, Orphos Decritus, clad in relic Indomitus pattern Terminator Armour.Alpha Legion Veteran Sergeant, Hyssar Screed.Alpha Legion Assault Legionary, Orron Vernius.Alpha Legion Centurion Signal Master, Cronyx Dynas.Ancient Nehalen, "The Interitus", Alpha Legion Contemptor Dreadnought.Alpha Legion Effrit Sergeant ΣΨΓ-37, designated callsign 'The Whisper'.