Asklepian

## Fellowship of the Warbringers

### Duties

Improving the genetic stability and recruitment rates of the Legion, the Genesis Project

### Leader

*(previous)* Atrefos Cezary Vizenko
*(current)* Atrefos Dagomir Mihailovic

### Colour

Purple

The **Asklepians** are a Fellowship of the Warbringers.

The most ancient of those orders, pre-dating even the Wars of Unity on Terra, the Asklepians were originally a brotherhood of military physicians in Darzalas. It was among them that Kozja was raised. With the coming of the Emperor, it became an extension of the legion's Apothecarion, and home to experiments that would be censured by the Vizenko prosecution, where it was formally dissolved; the Insurrection would see it rise again. The Asklepians bear purple adornments and arcane med-glyphs.

The first of these fellowships in fact pre-dated Kozja’s arrival on Strela: the Asklepians were in charge of the medical system in Darzala - though they were best known for the healing they provided to Darzalan soldiers, their main work in fact lay in the advanced treatment of the aristocracy of the Strelian Heraldic Houses. Having benefited from alchemical and genetic technologies of the Zalmoxite Platers much earlier then the rest of Strela, the Darzalan aristocracy had developed a taste for improving their bodies to further their political ambitions.

It was a member of the Asklepians called Galdan who adopted the young Kozja as his own - under his supervision, Kozja quickly learned all the genetnik lore held within the libraries of the fortress of Asklep, and even began improving on it thanks to experiments on his own body and to the study of the gestation pod in which he had landed on the planet. At the age of ten, a man fully grown already, he was able to develop his own soldiers for the Darzalan war effort - these “Huszars” became the elite shock troops of the nation, and it was with these that he undertook his coup to become the ruler of the expanding nation.

The order of Asklep was too precious to be abandoned when Kozja was given command of the Warbringers, and so they were absorbed into the Legion’s Apothecarion, where they were given the task of improving the pattern of the Legiones Astartes. Initially, the Primarch and Galdan lead the researchers, and together they developed ever more efficient implantation protocols and training methods, so much as to [double] the recruitment rates of the Legion.

The focus of the Asklepians’ research would shift however once Galdan retired from active service - with the advent of Cezary Vizenko, genetic and alchemical knowledge was blended in order to create bigger, stronger, better Astartes. While skirting the very limits of the rules imposed by the Emperor, if not those imposed by the Asklepians’ traditional isocratic ethics, Vizenko found that progress was still too slow: from that point on, he ordered his Fellowship to begin collecting samples from mutants, abhumans and xenos alike.

The other Legions began to take notice of the methods of the Warbringers - even though the IX had never been one of the largest legions, their recruitment rates had risen spectacularly, and some apothecaries showed little discretion in collecting specimens for their studies. It came to the point where Apothecary [Timmy] of the [Scions Hospitalier] privately confronted Vizenko about his dealings. Enraged, Vizenko lashed out, and accidentally killed the [Scion]. Of course, accidents happen all the time, and should Kozja show his brother Pionus the right respect and condolences, and should Vizenko receive the appropriate chastisement, there would be no further problems...

Only, the curiosity was too great: long had Vizenko studied the genomes of humans and aliens, and most of all of the Warbringers… but never that of another Legion. With care, Vizenko applied his reductor to recuperate [Timmy]’s geneseed, and suddenly he had set down a new dark path...

The hierarchy of the Asklepians was comparatively complex, an intricate system of merit, individual actions, relation with non-Astartes personnel, and informal titles. These were due to a cultural blend of Darzalan and Selenar Gene-Wrights, Legion Apothecaries, and the influence of the XI and XVII Legions even after reunion with their respective lords. What is understood is that the Atrefos was the highest denomination, and served as the Primarch's equerry. Other titles included Kalapsi, Syanocron, Isom-Octal and Adexin. These bore the purple of the original medicants of Darzalas, who raised the Primarch, the Fraternity of Asklepias, and were bound by a code known as the Isocratic oath.

The most ancient of those orders, pre-dating even the Wars of Unity on Terra, the Asklepians were originally a brotherhood of military physicians in Darzalas. It was among them that Kozja was raised. With the coming of the Emperor, it became an extension of the legion's Apothecarion, and home to experiments that would be censured by the Vizenko prosecution, where it was formally dissolved; the Insurrection would see it rise again. The Asklepians bear purple adornments and arcane med-glyphs. Nominal leader: Atrefos Dagomir Mihailovic.

Originating in the Order of Asklep on Strela, the Fellowship of the Asklepians was dedicated to improving the human form, whether through genetic manipulations or alchemical treatments. Being integrated into the Warbringers' Apothecarion, they became masters of Astartes physiology, they led pioneering research into furthering Space Marines' bodies, as well as multiplying the speed of recruitment through many [arcane] methods.