Imperial Marine Legions

> "Even Alone, a Legionary is a formidable foe. So far beyond a man as the wolf is beyond the pups. But Together? When bound by ties of an unbreakable brotherhood, and brought into the forces of an Imperial Legion they are a force that can extinguish the stars and shake the very heavens."
> - Attributed to Moka'Luk Tikaani, Luminarch of the Frostwind Hounds Legion
>
>

**The Imperial Marine Legions**, or the ***Legiones Imperialis*** or simply the ***Imperial Legions***, are the superhuman armies of the Deus Imperator, the Lord of Man, and the Scion Armies of his Luminarch sires. The formations of the Legions had been created during by the Emperor on Terra in the late 90th Millennium.

This initial Founding happened during the waning centuries of the Terran Unification Wars before the start of the Great Crusade that would reunite the scattered worlds of Humanity beneath the banner of the Stellar Imperium. At the start of the crusade, as the Legions were placed at the forefront of the Imperial expeditionary fleets that had left Terra, the warriors were titled as the Imperial Marines and their formations the Imperial Marine Legions.

A Imperial Marine Legion is a frontline force of shock-infantry comprising hundreds of millions of superhuman warriors armed and equipped with the finest wargear the Imperium could supply. An Imperial Marine Legion could number anywhere from 100,000 to more than a million Imperial Marines, as well as the Legion's associated Imperial Army, logistical support forces and Armada Imperialis fleet elements. A force of a hundred of these genetically and biochemically-enhanced transhuman warriors could quell a rebellious city in solar hours. Thousands could conquer a world in only solar days, and tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands wielded at once were the doom of entire species, capable of reducing alien civilizations to mere dust and memory in a span no greater than the single course of Terra's orbit around the Sun.

Founded amid the bloodshed of the Terran Unification Wars that swept the Emperor of Mankind to dominion over the cradle of humanity, the original military formation of the Legions was the division of twenty numbered units of enhanced warriors, organized very much along the lines of the I'cartes Regiments that proceeded them in the Emperor's service and who they would eventually replace.

Much of the discipline and organization of the early Legions owed greatly to the ancient and proven Terran patterns of military strategy, hierarchy and functions as laid down in the revered texts of the *Principia Millitant* of Roma and O'livus Cromuel's (Oliver Cromwell) fragmentary *"New Model"* that had survived in the hands of the tyrants of Old Terra down the blood-stained generations of the Long Dark. To these venerable treatises the Emperor and His commanders had added their own genius and created a sturdy but adaptable strategic framework that spoke to the fundamental strengths and superhuman abilities of the Imperial Marines themselves. At the outset of the Great Crusade in *circa* 824.M90, many of these early Legions were raised along the so-called "*Terran Pattern*" of organization as formulated by the Imperium's Officio Militaris.

## Legion Organization

The smallest formation within the *"Logos Terra Militia"* and therefore within the early Imperial Marine Legions was the squad. This consisted of a group of Angelus under the command of a non-commissioned officer with the rank of Sergeant.

Squads varied widely in both size and specialization, with the size of units ranging anywhere between 15 and 20 to even 40 to 60 Imperial Marines in some cases. Conversely, very specialized squads such as reconnaissance units or those that had suffered heavy casualties might only consist of a handful of Imperial Marines in active service. The chain-of-command was simple and direct, and the Legions' officers, themselves mighty warriors, would lead their warriors into battle personally as had long been the wont of the techno-barbarian tribes of Old Terra. The battle would always be taken to the enemy because to defeat a foe was never enough for the *Legiones Imperialis*, only the utter destruction of an enemy of the Emperor counted as a victory.

This cold logic, coupled with their inhuman strength and bearing, and the sheer dread they inflicted on friend and enemy alike, was to give the Imperial Marines one of their earliest appellations, and perhaps their most appropriate -- *"His Majesties Angels of Death."* It would be a name they would earn time and time again.

### Legion Integration and Development

The Legions of the Great Crusade were a fusion of dual natures. They were the product of the Emperor's conquest of Terra and the Sol System. Selected from Terran stock and molded by the wars of the nascent Stellar Imperium, these Legions held a certain commonality of character. A sense of unity and an almost familial bond pervaded their ranks. Given that they were all of the first generation of Marines, born of Terra, they shared the imprint of their genetic forging and warlike history, and it is no surprise that members of the early Legions regarded each other as siblings, as brothers-in-arms.

Training, indoctrination and the shared experience of battle reinforced this belief within the *Legiones Imperialis*, encouraging the idea that they were a family born in the cradle of war. This bond of brotherhood would survive as the Imperium grew, but perhaps it was never as strong as it was when the Legions first conquered the techno-barbarians under the Terran sun.

The second face of each Legion was that of the people and cultures which had flourished under different stars. As the war to unify Terra became a crusade to conquer the galaxy, the Legions grew. Casualties had to be replaced, and as the wars grew in scale so too did the number of losses and the number of recruits that were needed to take the places of the fallen. Initially intakes were drawn from Luna, Saturn's orbital stations, the Proximal worlds, and dozens of other worlds of the near Solar Proxima fed the Legions' needs for warrior stock. As this occurred, the Terran foundations of each Legion became diluted but was never overwhelmed, for the warrior tribes and cultures of Old Terra were many and their commitment to the Great Crusade resolute.

With the re-discovery of the Luminarchs and in many cases newly adopted homeworlds used as Legion fiefs (most commonly the world and less commonly the surrounding worlds upon which a Legion's new master had been found), this was to change the character of the Legions profoundly. Some alterations were superficial: a habit of speech, a change in close-quarter tactics, martial traditions and warranted additions to iconography and even language.

But for others the change would prove dramatic, with entire paradigms of culture, tradition and even ideology overwriting what had come before, such as in what came to be known as the Frostwind Hounds, Dune Wardens, Scarlet Lions and Stormwrath Scions Legions.

In many cases the stamp of the Legions and the will of the Luminarchs on their recruits came to largely outweigh differences of birth or blood, but in other Legions such as the The Carcharodon Sons, Bulls Palatine and the Scythes of Lazarus, a subtle divide would grow between those veterans who had been recruited into the ranks of the Angelus by the Emperor from Terra and those who had come into the Legion from their Luminarch's homeworld. This rift would be one factor among many that would lead several of the First Founding Legions towards ultimate damnation.

By the middle years of the Great Crusade the ongoing effects of these shifts within the Legions had resulted in a wide disparity in culture and organization between them. The outward sign of this was the development of a distinct character which meant the original Terran military patterns they had adhered to at the outset of the Great Crusade had been largely abandoned or become so modified and diluted as to be in some cases unrecognizable.

There were, of course, exceptions in whole or in part, such as could be found within the Avenging Shields and Iron Asha'karii Legions, who built upon rather than abandoned what had gone before, as well as those such as the The Errant Sons of Ademar to who the strictures and precepts laid out by the Officio Militaris were no longer even notionally applied.

There are those that have cited this increasing idiosyncrasy in hindsight as the seeds of division, of a sense of insularity and *"otherness"* growing between one Legion and another. This itself only fueled petty rivalries and needless feuds that had begun to simmer beneath the surface of the Great Crusade, both between the Luminarchs and their Legions.

## History

The Regiments of Fire - The First Sons

The Prometheus Project

The Silver Legions

The Great Crusade

## Legion Composition

***Authors Note:*** Listen, I like to use *hard* numbers when it comes to **LITERALLY** anything else. Height, and weight of a 13 foot tall Demigod? Of course! Whether or not the Synthians are bootleg cybertronians without alt-modes? **Most definitely!** But I've NEVER been a numbers Guy, hell I'm barely an Art guy, and I'm an even WORSE writer! And that's the entire reason why this Wiki exists! So, take aaalll of the Legion numbers with a huuuge grain of salt, effing dump the whole bottle on it if ya' want. If numbers are too high or too low, I give full permission to mentally fudge the numbers to make it sound better!

* **Legion Command:** **Luminarch or Legion Master**
	+ Praetorate Senior Staff / Ancients Of The Legion / Veteran Staff (Senior Staff Officer Cadre)
		- Consular Representatives [Senior representatives of the Armorium Maximus, Astropathicus Sanctum, Sanctum Viam Videndus, Librarius Maximus (if present in Legion), Apothecarion Dominus, Masters of the Fleet, Lord of Ordnance, Castellans of the Legions Dominion, *et all*]
		- Vexillarius Prime- Legion Standard Bearers, Subalterns and Equerries
		- Praetorius Honor Guard (Praetorian Bodyguard Formations for the Luminarch and/or acting Legion Master -- number and structure greatly varied by Legion)
		- Legion Assets:
			* Planetary Domains
			* Throne Class Battleship
			* Dominion Class Warships
			* Secondary Escort Squadrons
			* Legion Armorium Temple
			* Legion Apothecarion Temple
			* Legion Librarius Temple (if present in Legion)
			* Auxiliary Forces (Non-Imperial Marine forces, usually an Emperors Guard Regiment or Home-Grown PDF)
			* Legion Support Corps (Victuallers, Commissary, Legion Serfs, Indentures, Servitors, etc.)
* **Chapter I** (Chapters or alternatively designated: Cohort Majoras, Grand Companies, Harrows, Millennials, etc.)
	+ **Chapter Command (Example):** **Lord Commander** (Alternatively Chapter Master, Khan, Warsmith, Daimyo, Magister, etc.)
		- Chapter Consuls (Senior Specialists and Advisors to the Lord Commander)
			* Chapter Vexillarius (Chapter Standard Bearers, Subalterns and Equerries)
			* Chapter Command Bodyguard
			* Chapter Assets:
				+ Chapter Flagship / Dominion Class Battleship / Capital Ship
				+ Planetary Assault Craft and Drop Ships
				+ Escort Squadrons
				+ Gunship Squadrons
				+ Chapter Armorium
				+ Legion Armored Divisions
	+ Originally each Chapter was composed of roughly 50,000 line Marines and a varied number of Specialists, but with the introductions of the Luminarchs, and as the Legions were rebuilt to endure the stresses of the Great Crusade. This number began to vary substantially by Legion, and also through the vicissitudes of war and the availability of replacement recruits
* **Chapter II (etc.)**
	+ **Battalion I** (Battalions were alternatively designated as Cohorts, Regiments, Battle Groups, etc.)
	+ Nominally each battalion was composed of 10,000 line Legionaries each, as well as various specialists and support staff
		- **Battalion Command (Example): Lieutenant Commander** (alternatively designated as the Cohort Centurion/Commanding Senior Staff Member, Commander, First Captain, Shadow Captain, Marshal, Legate, etc.)
			* Battalion Consuls ( Senior/Veteran Staff, Senior Specialists and Advisors)
				+ Battalion Vexillarius (Standard Bearers, Subalterns and Equerries)
				+ Battalion Command Bodyguard
				+ Battalion Assets:
					- Strike Cruisers
					- Wayfinder Pillars
					- Drop Pods and Rams Sleds
					- Light Gunship Squadrons
					- Super-heavy Detachments
					- Skimmer Strike Detachments
					- Support Artillery Detachments
					- Technoclast Covenants (Prime Senior Staff Member)
					- Apothecarion Sectors
					- Vanguard Talons (if present in Legion)
					- Reconnaissance Sections
				+ **Company I** (Companies are alternatively designated as Cohort Minoras, Lesser Regiments, Maniples, Bands, Brotherhoods, etc.)
					- **Company Command (Example):** **Company Captain** (alternatively Centurion, Prime, Wolf Lord, Solarian, Blooded, etc.)
						* Company Standard Bearer
						* Company Command Bodyguard Squad
						* Company Assets:
							+ Heavy Support Squads (30-40 Imperial Marine Legionaries)
							+ Assigned Veteran or Specialist Squads (Various)
							+ Gunships
							+ Legion-Class Armored Transports
							+ Tank Detachments
							+ Support Weapons Batteries
							+ Vanguard Units (If present in Legion)
							+ Magus Marines (If present in Legion)
							+ Technoclast Marines
							+ Apothecaries
						* Originally Battalions would number five to six companies, each of 1,000 Legionaries -- The Ist Company is nominally composed of Veterans and other elite units, the IInd, IIIrd and IVth would be fielded as line companies and the Vth Company was comprised entirely of specialist troops such as dedicated Assault, Outrider or Destroyer units. However, in practice many larger Legions regularly exceeded this number of companies, maintaining battalions with seven or ten companies each folded under a particular command, while individual companies also varied in strength. Ie; *none* of this Shit is really *supposed* to make sense, it's all for fun anyway.
				+ **Company II (etc.)**
					- **1st Lieutenant**
						* Lieutenants were the most junior officers of the Legion. They also differed in designations such as Dominar, Decurion, Pack Leader or Chieftain, and in some Legions the numerical positioning of the officer within the Company indicated seniority or ceremonial role and had further titles in rank
						* Legion Tactical Squad (15-20 Imperial Marine Legionaries)
						* Legion Tactical Squad (15-20 Imperial Marine Legionaries)
						* Legion Tactical Squad (15-20 Imperial Marine Legionaries)
						* Legion Tactical Squad (15-20 Imperial Marine Legionaries)
						* Support Squad (10-20 Imperial Marine Legionaries)
							+ **2nd Lieutenant**
								- Legion Tactical Squad
								- Legion Tactical Squad
								- Legion Tactical Squad
								- Legion Tactical Squad
								- Legion Tactical Support Squad
							+ **3rd Lieutenant (etc.)**

## Forces of the Imperial Marine Legions

 **Armored Personnel Carriers** | (Ultra-Heavy) Monarch Landstorm • Colossus Transport •
 **Vehicles** | (Heavy) Banesiren • Linesbane • Trench-Breaker •
(Light) Jetbike • Swiftwind • Path-Runner • Dagger Quick Deployer • Scout-Hog •
 **Main-Line Battle Tanks** | (Ultra-Heavy) Behemoth • Goliath •
(Heavy) Juggernaut • Leviathan • Paladin •
(Light) Ravager • Marauder • Reiver •
(Voidcombat) Voidhawk • Voidowl • Nova-Falcon • Starflare •
(Heavy Aerial Carriers) Stormroc • Stormpelican • Hellvulture • Hurricane Shields • Stormgriffin •
 **Voidcraft** | Throne Class Battleship • Dominion Class Warships • Legion Strike Cruisers • Legion Company Ships •