Legion of Armageddon

Legion of Armageddon armorial with Chapter iconography.

Legion of Armageddon Legionary (Battle-Brother) of the 4th Company, 7th Battleline Squad.

## Space Marine Chapter

### **Allegiance**

Imperium of Man
(*Fedelitas Totalis*)

### **Successor of**

Salamanders
(Vulkan lineage.)
Firstborn Astartes (Various Lineage)

### **Battle cry**

"For the people! For the planet! FOR THE EMPEROR!

### **Colours**

Primary: Gold, Red, BlackDecanus: Gold. Green. BlackLegate: Gold, Purple, Black

### Successor Chapter(s)

None

The **Legion of Armageddon** is a non-*Codex* compliant Ultima Founding Chapter (despite some confusion faced due to their name, they *are* a chapter) that was created under special circumstances. This Chapter was initially created from many different squads of Firstborn Space Marines stranded upon the planet of Armageddon. These squads were often abandoned, thought dead, or were the last of their chapters. After a long journey for survival, these space marine squads found a strong bond had formed between them and felt a duty to protect the citizens of this forsaken planet. They were later authorised to form their own Chapter during the events of the Indomitus Era and were later reinforced with newly revealed Primaris Space Marines.

## History and Founding

The original founders were Praetor (equivalent to battle master) Alexander Marconious, ex-Black Templar; Master of the Forge Hephaestus, a crippled Salamander instrumental in organizing the chapter now working as the head smith for the chapter; now head Librarian Zephos, ex-Salamander, Apothecary Flavius, ex-Black Templar, and Centurion Marcus Nova, ex-captain of the Ultramarine.

These brave men lead what would become First Company of the Legion of Armageddon, nicknamed “The Survivors”, 350 miles across the planet to the hive city of Tempestora. The trek involved fighting many Orkish warbands that harassed the surviving space marines. After 3 months of hiking and warfare, the marines made it to an under siege Tempestora. The PDF was fighting off a large Orkish tribe trying to sack the Hive City. However the attackers were completely unaware of the marines coming up from their rear, completely flanking the Orks. Black Templars and Ultramarines took the lead in the charge, with Salamander eradicators burning anything that remained.

After the battle they regrouped and deciding the bond they formed was stronger than any marine had with their previous chapter, they officially founded the Legion of Armageddon. From here they would build their Monastery Fortress on the island north of Phoenix Island.

After the founding of the chapter and building of its first fortress monastery, the chapter saw relative peace for about 250 years, or at least as much peace as a chapter on Armageddon during the 3rd War could find, before a massive spike in Ork population occurred right off their shores. This led to a defensive war fought for the fortress monastery, one the Legion lost. This has been the most crushing defeat the legion has seen so far, leading to the destruction of the Fortress and 1/3rd of the Legion. In the battle, Praetor Marconious died fighting off the Warboss of the horde. After a furious battle in which each party landed strong strikes upon each other, until Marconious cut off the warboss’ head after which he succumbed to his wounds. The ruins were eventually secured and repurposed into a recruit training center, alongside existing as the main base of operation for the faction on the surface of the planet, while the Fortress Monastery was replaced with a fleet monastery in orbit.

## Chapter Organization

Being a non-*Codex* compliant chapter, the Legion of Armageddon has a unique chapter organization. The have their own ranks, comparable to other chapter ranks as so:

### Officer Ranks

* **Praetor** - Chapter Master equivalent. The Praetor is in charge of the chapter's army and is considered to be the best of all the chapter. Unlike normal Progenoid Glands, the 1st neck glands of the Praetor are preserved and set aside, with the only exception being the first Praetor Alexander Marin, as his were removed before the chapter's founding. He personally trained many recruits, but it was his last one at the time of his death that was in the right position to receive his second batch of Progenoid Glands harvested post mortem, though it is alleged organs from other geneseed providers were implanted to replace "bad" genes from the templars, like a working belcher's gland. This new "pure" gene seed has been passed down Praetor to Praetor unbroken for over 500 years. When a Praetor has no heir, they choose the best recruit they can find and personally train them, passing on the skills and techniques of the chapter. The recruit is eventually implanted with no geneseed other than the Praetor's own. After training is comeplete they skip being a legionary and recieve their own unique office, *Praetor Minor*. They can best be described as an assistant to the Praetor, often staying on the fleet if the Praetor is out on battle or vise versa. Upon death of the Praetor, the final ritual for the Praetor Minor to take over can take place, they must eat the heart of the past Praetor to absorb the memories of all the past Praetors. Now they are finally able to take control of the chapter, and start the processing of finding a recruit to turn into their own Praetor Minor.

* **Legate**- Each section of the chapter (Infantry, Cavalry, Rear Guard, Artillery) each has a Legate in charge of them. They maintain overall order, strength, and maintenance of their respective branch. The position is more of an advisory role, and a bridge between their branch and the Praetor. Very rarely do they see action, but if they do they often are leading a majority if not all of their branch in a major offensive.

* **Centurion** - Centurions are commands technically below legates, though they still answer to the Praetor (or more often a represented of the Praetor) rather than Legates unless once is deployed into the battle field. They fill the role of battlefield generals, and are in charge of making sure what ever plan they are assigned goes well. Often times, a centurion is the highest ranking officer deployed in a tactical offensive, and are given very simple yet key objectives they are free to accomplish as they wish, though there is a general disdain for "meat grinder" tactics and any general caught consistently sending men on suicide missions, especially ones which truly end in death, run the risk of being court martial and potentially stripped of their rank. They are the last of the command roles, and are not tied to any specific group of men. They are assigned cohorts as needed for their missions, and are expected to work with the Decani to achieve victory.

### Specialist Ranks

* **Reclusiarch**

* **Chaplain**

* **Chief Apothecary**

* **Apothecary**

* **Chief Librarian**

* **Librarian**

* **Master of the Forge**

* **Techmarine**

### Line Ranks

* **Decanus** - Sergeant equivalent, though the role of the Decanus comes with extra off battle duties. They lead *cohorts,* groups of 5-10 men and are seen as not only their leader, but adoptive father figure. They are the leaders of their cohort, and are in charge of making sure they make to daily actives like training, dining, shower, prayer, and bed. In religious clans, they also are the religious leader for the cohort

* **Legionary-** Battle Brother equivalent

* **Scout Marine**

* **Neophyte**

* **Aspirant**

## Chapter Recruitment

They accept any stranded Space Marines in the Armageddon System into their ranks, no questions asked. They recruit primarily through the population of the planet. Every year, the strongest and healthiest one-quarter of the male population that turned the age of 7 (prime age to start training) would be conscripted into the training regiment. Other planets in the system often send children to have their worth tested, while occasionally a child with great talent might be taken in if a space marine is out on some peace keeping duty and spots talent in them.

Between the constant warfare and high population in the hive cities, the training is considered one of the most brutal and many young boys die before even getting the chance to receive implants. Training takes place either on the grounds of the Fortress monastery or in the extreme climates of the deadlands or firewastes. While the mortality rate is high, not all who survive are inducted in. Those who survive and are not inducted in however, are still given great respect by the chapter who will vouch for them to join the PDF or Astra Militarum as an officer.

The brutal process of an Aspirant's journey starts in boot camp at Fort Evictus, the site of the old Fortress Monastery. They spend the first 6 years of their life physically training, learning to shoot, run marching drills, learn weapon maintenance, along with mixed classroom and mock field time learning combat tactics. Around year 4 of training, they also start to undergo chemical and medical therapies to prepare the human body to accept the space marine implants, which don't start under year 6. At the end of year of 5, the recruits are sent into an live fire obstacle with razor wire, mines, and death row inmates beaten into submission. Those who survive are officially given the rank of Aspirant, and the true space marine training begins.

Years 6-9 of training are spent receiving implants, learning chapter doctrine, receiving hypno and further chemical therapies, learning how to take care of power armor, and more live field training. At the end of year 8, the aspirant is given the final implant, the black carapace. They are given a 1 month leave to recover from surgery before return. Upon coming back, they are given their own set of power armor. The aspirant is given the rest of the year to train and become accustomed to using power armor before being given the final test, they are sent into the Fire Wastes with a bolter pistol, knife, and 9 other space marines.

Those cohorts that survive become Neophytes, and the best among them becomes the *Decanus Minor* for them. An older Space Marine is assigned to the cohorts as their *Decanus Major*. The Decanus Minor is in charge of the cohort and leads them into battle, while the older Decanus Major will give the up and coming marines their own wisdom and knowledge. The Decanus Major also adopts the Neophytes, becoming a battle-father to the soon to be Legionaries. given the chapter's strange obsession with gene seed lineage, Neophytes are often put into cohorts with other Neophytes and a Decanus Major of the same lineage. This meant to promote unity and form a deep, familial style of bond between the trainees that is carried on once they become full Legionaries. They also are in charge of ensuring the marine's loyalty and making sure they understand the evil in the forces of Chaos, often explaining the devastation of the 1st War of Armageddon. The Decanus Major, while most taking a back seat during combat, can take over at any time they feel necessary if they do not have faith the Decanus Minor will lead the cohort to victory. They also have the power to reassign the role of Decanus Minor for the cohort to any other Neophyte they see fit. This ensure the future Sargent of the cohort will have plenty of front line experience leading the cohort into battle without worrying the recruits will fall in battle. After a year of serving together, the Neophytes are eligible to become full Legionaries. The process is simple yet brutal, and each member must do it alone. A neophyte must kill an Ork by themselves, by what ever mean necessary, and prove it to their commanding officer. After doing so, they are considered a full Legionary and Member of the chapter. The Decanus minor will stay with the cohort as a second in command until time eventually comes from them to take on a cohort of their own to train.

## Gene-Seed

Gene-seed wise, they are descendants of Primarch Vulkan and the Salamanders. However, the founding Firstborn veterans of the chapter might vary in gene-seed origin and it is not uncommon for those from other chapters to be seen in the ranks if they have no other chapter to return to for what ever reason. The chapter choose the Salamander's gene-seed as they were the largest group of the founding members of the chapter. That's not to say the other gene-seeds were tossed out. While not much of the Black Templars' gene-seed was used, the purity of the few Ultramarines founder's gene-seed was used to help stabilize the unstable Salamander geneseed. This lead to their skin color returning to normal, though red eyes are still common among the marines.

The chapter is noted for having a strange obsession with tracking and recording the gene seed lineage of all the members of the legion, all of which are able to tell which chapter founding marine they are descended from no matter if they were a high officer or a private, along with any notable chapter heros in their lineage. Each lineage is broken down into clans, which is the main form of organizing the chapter outside of combat. Each clan is an offshoot of the original 350 marines of the chapter, though sub clans have split off over time. These clans eat, train, sleep, and train together. However, given the personal nature of passing down gene seed in the chapter, each clan tends to be pretty self contained within a single branch of the chapter so the 2 systems don't interfere with each other. Given the mixed origins of founding marines, religion and prayer to the Emperor as a god is left up the chapter, most notably in the small minority of those descended from Black Templars. These religious clans often tie their officer roles with religious positions, and they also tend to be more strict and proud of clan identity, not training with other clans in their branch or socializing with them that much. Contrast this to the more atheist clans tend to see them as simple means of organization that have no more meaning in their life than what homeroom a highschooler is in.

### Primarch's Curse: Unyielding

With a culture that emphasizes endurance and self-sacrifice, the Salamanders are renowned for their stubborn nature. The Salamanders, and by tradition the Legion of Armageddon, are not swift to determine a course of action, and slower still to change their minds once they have decided. However, it is a fine line between determination and obstinacy, and Battle-Brothers must be watchful that their stubbornness does not grow. This genetic curse usually occurs in three stages:

* **Level 1 (Unrelenting)**: The Legionary cannot easily change his mind once he has decided upon something. Having weighed the facts of the situation, he sees his current course of action as the best one, and cannot easily consider alternatives.
* **Level 2 (Intransigent)**: The Legionary is unwilling to compromise and is difficult to reason with. His stubborn nature prevents him from regarding any alternatives to his point of view. Unable to reconcile with the rest of his cohort, the affected Legionary often chooses only to rely on himself, thereby reducing his cohort's overall cohesion.
* **Level 3 (Obstinate)**: The Legionary is slow to decide and is unlikely ever to change his views on any matter, and will die before relenting in any situation.

## Notable Members

### Current

* **Praetor Atticus Marin** - Current Praetor and General of the Legion
* **First Master of the Forge Hephaestus** - Only chapter founding officer still alive to this day. For any of the others that would be a major achievement, but due to Hephaestus' crippled legs and role as Master of the Forge he hasn't seen any battlefield action since taking the position. The only exception to this was defending and retreating from the first Fortress Monastery during it's destruction. Given his Astarte upgrades, it is assumed he will for quite a while. This age, along with the chapter's lack of dreadnaughts, has also lead his to become the main lore master of the chapter.

* **Head Liberian Gratian** - Head Librarian

* **Legate Darin** - 1st Infantry Legate

* **Legate Markus** - 1st/ Heavy Cavalry Legate. Known for being hot tempered and bold, he personally leads every charge with the Repulsor he trained on. It is said that when getting his first Ork kill to become a full Legionary, Markus at the helm of the Repulsor drove it straight on into an Orkish horde, massacring many Orks and getting plenty more than the required 1 kill.

### Deceased

* **First Praetor Alexander Marconious** - Founder

* **First Head Librarian Zephos** - Founder

* **First Apothecary Flavius** - Founder

* **First Centurion Marcus** - Founder

## Relations

### Enemies

* **Orks** - Technically, any entity trying to attack Armageddon is an enemy of the Legion. However, given their founding members were units sacked by Orks during the Third War for Armageddon, the chapter has a particular hatred for Orks. The chapter considers them their sworn enemy, and will engage in limited offensive strikes against Ork forces on the planet so long as they exist there despite the Legion's defensive nature.

## Notable Quotes

### About the Legion of Armageddon

 White Scars Successors
 Space Wolves Successors
 Imperial Fists Successors
 Blood Angels Successors
 Iron Hands Successors
 Ultramarines Successors
 Salamanders Successors
 Raven Guard Successors
 Unknown Lineage

[Source]

[Source]