Hydra Auxilia

Shaaa Hydrades, Primarch of the Star Guardians Legion, clad in the armour of the Hydrades Empire, later adopted by the Hydra Auxilia.

### Military Forces

Solar Auxilia fusion with the warriors of the Pre-Imperium Ring

### Establishment

M30.870

A highly regarded and elite regiment within the Imperial Army, the **Hydra Auxilia** are a fusion of the skill of the Solar Auxillia, tempered with the mentality of the people of the Ring and their wargear, and trained directly by warriors of the Star Guardians, the Hydra Auxillia quickly began to grow in fame far beyond the 12th Solar Cohort they were formed from could ever have dreamed, their size swelling beyond that of a single Cohort into a mighty regiment in their own right, millions strong. Often, failed aspirants from the IVth who could still fight but were genetically incompatible or otherwise unable to continue the transition to Astartes through no fault of their own were transferred to the regiment instead, given positions of command and prestige few others could match, their failure not seen as a sign of weakness, unlike those who failed the ascension due to personal failings. Standing side by side with their Astartes Masters, no Star Guardians Expeditionary Fleet forwent Hydra Auxillia Support, the mortals bringing forces to bare the legion itself lacked, armour, speed, mobility, all backed up by the impeccable barrages of heavy stub-fire, the crack of their guns becoming as famous as the las-beams of the Solar Auxillia.

By the time of the Almire Apostasy, the Hydra Auxilia comprises close to one percent of all denizens of the Ring, two and a half billion soldiers fighting across the Imperium as infantry, tank crews or boarding teams almost without equal, Lord Generals and Admirals fighting for cohorts from the elite regiment to be counted under their roster. When the Apostasy struck, almost all of the regiment remained loyal to Terra, many dying as they were turned upon by traitorous former allies. Those that did turn proved a considerable thorn in the Imperium’s side, loyal Hydra Auxilia forces swearing to see their one time brothers dead no matter the cost.

## Regimental History

### The Origins of the Solar Auxilia

As their name might suggest, the origins of the Solar Auxilia lie in the Sol System and on Terra in the earliest days of the Great Crusade. No doubt from the very beginning, the Emperor realised that while His Legiones Astartes would be His foremost agency of war and conquest, the sheer scope of the undertaking of the Great Crusade -- no less than the liberation of the entire galaxy -- would require far more manpower, spread over a wider area, than even hundreds of thousands of Space Marines could hope to achieve. They simply could not be everywhere at once, nor would they be utilised best by undertaking roles ably filled by ordinary humanity.

From this reality the *Excertus Imperialis* or Imperial Army was born; billions, then trillions, possibly even quantillions of second line and support troops, functionaries, labourers, void crew, logisticians, almoners, adepts and staff officers, and the countless quantities of weapons, equipment and war machines, void conveyances and warships they needed; all to make the Great Crusade a reality. In truth, the sheer scale of the Imperial Army quickly expanded to the point where none, even the Primarch's themselves, could hope to do more than estimate the number of warriors within the organisation. Within this vast body of men and women under arms, organised and formulated by the Emperor's own transhuman intelligence, were many highly specialised divisions, each created to serve a singular purpose, each a vital cog in the vast Imperial war machine. The Solar Auxilia was one such purpose-created division.

The parameters of this creation were exact; the raising of a large body of frontline soldiers whose principal theatre of war would be the void and hostile environments of all kinds, both to support the Legiones Astartes in battle, and by deployment free them for concentrated frontline operations. Where the Space Marines were to be foremost the hammer of the Great Crusade, the Solar Auxilia were to be its pathfinders and its watchmen.

They were to garrison the great warships and frontier outposts; they were to serve alongside the Rogue Traders and in the Expeditionary Fleets both as aggressors and as explorers, and as such they would need to be disciplined, trained and well-equipped considerably beyond the level of the average militia soldier. Once Compliance over an area of space had been achieved, and the battlefronts of the Great Crusade had moved on, it was also to be the Solar Auxilia, with their own fleets and assigned warships, that would guard those worlds and star systems that were now part of the growing Imperium from marauders from without and rebellion from within.

While a Solar Auxilia taskforce would not, indeed could not, match the power and force of the Legiones Astartes, these compact fleet-based armies of colonial control were more than capable of dealing with most "petty wars" and local conflicts that might occur on their own. Where a threat proved stronger than a Solar Auxilia taskforce could match alone, they were conditioned and equipped to stalwartly hold the line no matter the odds, until aid could be summoned and the Emperor's Angels of Death unleashed on the transgressors.

### The 12th Solar Auxilia Cohort

In laying out the strategic formulation and pattern of organisation for the Solar Auxilia, the Emperor, in His wisdom, appears to have drawn on two principal sources: the great military forces of the Unification Wars of Terra and the Saturnyne Ordo. Warfare had been the general condition on Terra and its star system for thousands of standard years, and the homeworld of humanity had seen many great empires rise and fall, and with them great armies and warrior cultures form and meet their destruction.

From this crucible of battle, the Emperor drew much that would inform the structure and tactics of all of His armies, and the Solar Auxilia would be no different in this, but it was the highly militarised tech-enclaves of Saturn, whose expertise in void warfare was of peerless temper, that would most greatly inform the nature of the Solar Auxilia.

The Polities of Saturn had formed during the Age of Strife; they were a disparate league of independent domains and kingdoms formed from scores of asteroid-enclaves, orbital arcologies and lunar colonies around the gas giant which gave them their name. Over time they had established a common technologically advanced culture, and although inter-state conflict, competition and vendetta was rife among them, spurred on by survival, they quickly banded together in the face of outside threat, be it the baleful influence of Mars, or the horrific privations of xenos and mutant raiders come to plunder the wealth and resources they had so long sought.

Their military, combining by far the most powerful fleet in the Sol System prior to Unification and elite armed forces known as the Saturnyne Ordo, had honed the weapons and tactics of void warfare for centuries, and until the coming of the Legiones Astartes, in such techniques they were unsurpassed. This exposure to the Legiones Astartes came in two forms. The first being those forces of the XIth Legion, as then unnamed, descending upon the mutant held world of titan, destroying those forces there who had plagued the Saturnine ordos for generations. The second legion was that of the IVth, the recently named Dark Watchers. Still depleted from their recent conquest of Lunar, the Dark Watchers and their Lord Commander, Varinius Rampt, did not come to conquer the Ordo’s, but instead came to treat with them, the two quickly finding common ground, and within mere days, the Saturnine ordos had joined the Imperium wholesale. Many have argued that it was only after the Polities of Saturn joined voluntarily with the Imperium that the Great Crusade truly began, their fleets, orbital shipyards and void expertise fundamental to the speed and scale of the early years of Imperial expansion.

The Solar Auxilia were also born in this moment, and the first ten Cohorts raised, known collectively as the "Saturnyne Rams," were no more or less the Void Hoplites of the Saturnyne Order, reorganised and expanded -- their arms and armament all but unchanged -- and sent out with the first deployments of the as-then only numbered Space Marine Legions to conquer the stars.

The IVth however remained behind as the other legions struck out, depleted and not truly able to commit themselves to the Great Crusade until their ranks were reconstructed, they instead focused on ensuring that each warrior was trained to the very peak of their individuals, being taught directly under the Saturnine Ordos in the art of void and EVA combat. By the time the legion had recovered enough to follow their brethren into the unknown, they had surpassed the Saturnine Ordo’s training in every way, being honoured with the name of “The 11th Saturnyne Rams” in recognition of this skill.

As they struck out however, it was with another force, raised from the Sol system in its entirety, comprising soldiers from nearly every world, Terra, Luna, Neptune, Jupiter, and of course, the empire around Saturn. These soldiers were formed up under the command of the recently promoted Legatus braden Jaxer, a warrior who’s name would become legend within the Solar Auxilia, and the wider Imperium, and under his gaze was the 12th Solar Auxilia Cohort born.

### Service of the Watchers

> "*Vengeance, it is said, is the preserve of the gods. We deny the existence of those gods, which leaves vengeance up to us to carry out.*"
> ― Legatus Braden Jaxer - Commander of the 12th Solar Auxilia Cohort and later the Hydra Auxilia, and sworn member of the IVth Legion
>
>

As the Great Crusade progressed, the effectiveness of the 12th Solar Auxilia as the primary auxilia force of the IVth Legion was proved time and again, the Cohort and the legion working in concert in a way few other Astartes and human forces could match. When the IVth needed numbers to secure ground, it was the 12th who provided it, when the legion, now lacking in armoured support after the Hyperion Way, needed to take advantage of a breakthrough, it was the tanks of the 12th that surged forth to secure the victory started by the Astartes. The bonds fostered in the early crusade would soon prove as iron, closer in some cases than those between the IVth and their brother legions.

Soon, the legion and the Cohort were almost as one. Even before their true shift, they recruited from the same stock, and those who failed in compatibility with the IVth’s geneseed but still could fight were often sent to the cohort, forging an extremely efficient and potent officer cadre for the rest of the cohort to be built upon. No matter what the Crusade threw at the IVth, the 12th weathered it alongside them, through the finding of Shaaa and the Ring, to the renaming of the IVth, and finally to the Squat Wars, where the regiment would see its final combat as the 12th, the regiment, like the legion, being reborn in the fires of the seven grueling years of warfare against the Khazadi Empire.

### A Regiment Reborn

As the Star Guardians limped back to the Ring, heavily depleted and requiring years before they were again at full strength, so too did the 12th Cohort limp alongside them. The Cohort had suffered immensely during the war, casualties of around 78% being reported across every section. Slowly, the IVth Legion began to recover, drawing its recruits from the denizens of the Ring, and as they did so, so to did the 12th begin to expand, beyond a cohort, Shaaa Hydrades making his intentions known.

The Ring, as the home of a Primarch and a legion, was technically exempt of any and all tithes to the Imperium, its worth being measured in the legion that sprang forth from its populace. However, Shaaa saw that as a pitiful drop from a population of billions, and by his decree did tithes be placed upon the Ring, carried out by Shaaa himself rather than any official Terran body. Ships were one of the largest of these tithes, but when it came to unaugmented human ground forces, only a single force would ever be considered. From the ruined 12th was birthed a new regiment, the Hydra Auxilia.

Combining the battle-honed skill of the remaining 12th Cohort with the warlike abhumans of the Ring, the Hydra Auxilia grew with frightening size, quickly becoming more than simply another Solar Auxilia force raised from a new world. New wargear was forged or appropriated by the regiment, training programs were refined and redesigned by Star Guardians, or even Shaaa Hydrades himself, while the process of recruits who failed to accept the Star Guardian genetic code but could still fight joining the regiment only increased, many of the officers were soon semi-augmented, hulking brutes who surpassed humanity, even as they fell short of true Astartes, or even the proto-Astartes some other legions used to augment those traditionally too old for the process of becoming an Astartes.

Soon, the IVth stood ready once more, and as always, their mortal forces stood alongside them, but no longer as the Solar Auxilia. Clad in the same powered carapace that the Ring produced even in the days before the Imperium, augmenting the already considerable strength of the abhumans of the Ring, and armed with powerful, if short ranged, stub-cannons, the newly ready Hydra Auxilia stood as testaments to the total integration the Ring had had within the Imperium, the force providing a perfect fusion between the warriors of the Ring from before the Imperium and the Imperium’s greatest mortal soldiery.

With the potential prize of absolute power of lord governorship a common possibility for high ranking officers of the Hydra Auxilia, it is then unsurprising that commissions of rank within Hydra Auxilia Cohorts destined for the frontier became a thing sought after by ambitious officers, petty nobles and the scions of great houses of Terra alike. However, almost all of those who tried to buy their way into the regiment or bully their way in with talk of their noble rank and pedigree were soon disappointed. Shaaa, and beneath him Legatus Jaxer, the undisputed leaders of the Auxilia force, would broach none to enter the Auxilia on name, only merit counting in their eyes, and few humans not of the Ring could ever hope to pass the training that every member of the Ring went through before they joined, designed as it was for abhumans, not baseline warriors. Even Braden often said that were he not granted his position in the old 12th, he too likely would have never succeeded this new regime, even at the peak of his own skill.

For those of the lower ranks, the lure of service ultimately may have been more prosaic, but no less valuable; fine living standards, pay and the respect of the Imperium for their life's blood. And if they desired it, upon retirement after serving a minimum tour of thirty standard years' service, they received full citizenship and commensurate land, money and position in a newly founded or newly Compliant colony world.

For the many that chose to serve several tours and for whom the Hydra Auxilia became a consuming way of life, the eventual reward was greater, and they were furnished with basic anti-agathic and medicae treatments to extend their lifespans and military usefulness accordingly, alongside commissions to officers ranks they may have failed to acquire in life. It stands as a testament to the loyalty to the regiment that the upper ranks of the Auxilia was filled with these aged soldiers, each one a terrifying testament to human endurance and power amongst the stars.

As the Crusade continued, the Hydra Auxilia only grew in size, save the legion and the naval assets, the Auxilia being the only force raised from the mighty space station. Soon, the Hydra Auxilia comprised close to one percent of all denizens of the Ring, two and a half billion soldiers fighting across the Imperium as infantry, tank crews or boarding teams almost without equal, Lord Generals and Admirals fighting for cohorts from the elite regiment to be counted under their roster, few forces in the galaxy save the legions themselves able to match their skill and reknown, equal to that of the Solar Auxilia, the Kastarian First, Caligula’s Legion or even the Warmasters own Trepitus Auxillia. Soon, the booming sound of stub-cannons was as famous across the Imperium as the whip crack of Solar Auxilia las-fire.

## Regimental Rank Structure

Though the Auxilia may have no longer been part of the Solar Auxilia, much of their origins still remained, namely their ranking and structuring.

**Strategic Command Staff**

* **Legatus** – Overall Commander of the Hydra Auxillia Regiment
* **Tribune** – In Command of individual Cohorts

**Internal Cohort Command Staff**

* **High Commander** – Act as Advisors to Tribunes, or take command of specific parts of their Cohort
* **Cohort Aquilifer** – Standard Bearers for the Cohort, this was a position of great honour within each Cohort, and usually indicates the officer has the possibility to rise to the highest levels of command.

**Sub-Cohort (Commissioned)**

* **Sub-Commander**
* **Lieutenant**
* **Sub-Lieutenant**

**Tercio (Non-Commissioned)**

* **Master Sergeant** – Commands Sections of Veletaris
* **Sergeant** – Commands Sections of Auxiliary or a single Vehicle
* **Void Primus** – Commands Sections of Void Marines

**Tercio (Enlisted)**

* **Veletaris** – Veterans from the Auxiliary
	+ **Veletaris Operators** – Veterans from the Tank crews
* **Auxiliary** – Lowest ranking soldiers within the Hydra Auxillia, split into three branches
	+ **Auxiliary** - Standard soldiers within the regiment.
	+ **Void Marine** – Auxiliary members who have been chosen for extra training in zero-G and EVA actions.
	+ **Operator**– Tank drivers of the Hydra Auxillia
* **Pioneer** – Non-combat members of the Auxillia, often tasked with constructing defences, cooking, medical support etc.
* **Labourer** – Often from penal worlds or Mechanicum servitors, these men are given simple manual labour tasks.
* **Abhuman Support** – Often made up of Ogryn Charonite or brute squads, these warriors were highly prized by the regiment and the IVth.

## Cohorts of the Hydra Auxilia

According to the measure of the Officio Militaris of Terra, the Hydra Auxilia Cohorts, like the Solar Auxilia they were born from, are the definitive example of a heavy void infantry formation of the Excertus Imperialis. As such, they are fully trained and equipped to take on void war zones, hazardous planetary environments and operate both as "interface" troops (meaning transitioning from void to ground operations in combat conditions) and fight heavily contested boarding actions.

The Hydra Auxilia regiment is subdivided into numerous different types of Cohorts, each one focusing on a particular method of warfare, and each standing at a nominal strength of 95,000 soldiers. However, just because a cohort specialised in a single method of warfare did not mean they were helpless in other instances. An armoured cohort still had capable warriors to persecute void actions, while an infantry regiment still had enough armoured vehicles to shake the very earth as they moved. In this way, though they may have each had their strengths, each Hydra Auxilia cohort could be considered as roughly equal to high command of an expeditionary fleet or Segmentum commander, making deployment of sufficient levels of men far easier when compared to other regiments who may have wildly different sizes and skill sets of their individual units.

The fundamental building block of the Hydra Auxilia at the tactical level is the Tercio, a formation made up of three "sections" of Hydra Auxilia, whose nature was defined by their weaponry and battlefield role. Tercios collectively could be assembled and deployed in a variety of ways and numbers to meet a particular strategic need. By far the most common Tercio formation was the Infantry Tercio, made up of three ‘Stub’ sections; each comprising twenty void-armoured, stub cannon-equipped infantrymen, commanded by a junior officer, either a lieutenant or sub-lieutenant.

Alongside these fought elite "Veletaris" Tercios, each made up of three squads of ten veteran troopers equipped with augmented short-range weapons such as Volkite Chargers or Flamer units, and Fire Support Tercios, commanding three batteries each of three crew-served infantry support weapons platforms, of which the tracked Rapier type was the most common.

Each Tercio was itself a self-contained unit, and every Auxilia within the Tercios trained not simply as a front line soldier, but also to be skilled in voidcraft, fundamental combat engineering, hostile environment survival and basic planetary exploration protocols, though some clearly specialised further into each of these roles. This particular combination of capabilities marked the Hydra Auxilia out as an elite among the human soldiery of the Imperium since their inception, and has always been a source of great pride within their ranks.

**Hydra Auxillia Infantry Cohort**

* Stub Sections – 50,000 soldiers

* Veletaris Sections – 5,000 soldiers
* Specialist Weapons Sections – 5,000 soldiers
* Crew, Ancillary, Pioneer, Labour and Support – 20,000 soldiers
* Staff and Command Cadre – 2,000 soldiers
* Fleet Officer Cadre and Voidsmen – 10,000 soldiers
* Abhuman Support – 3,000 soldiers

**Hydra Auxillia Veletaris Cohort**

* Stub Sections – 7,000 soldiers
* Veletaris Sections – 55,000 soldiers
* Specialist Weapons Sections – 5,000 soldiers
* Crew, Ancillary, Pioneer, Labour and Support – 15,000 soldiers
* Staff and Command Cadre – 3,000 soldiers
* Fleet Officer Cadre and Voidsmen – 5,000 soldiers
* Abhuman Support – 5,000 soldiers

**Hydra Auxillia Armoured Cohort**

* Stub Sections – 10,000 soldiers
* Veletaris Sections – 5,000 soldiers
* Specialist Weapons Sections – 5,000 soldiers
* Crew, Ancillary, Pioneer, Labour and Support – 70,000 soldiers
* Staff and Command Cadre – 3,000 soldiers
* Fleet Officer Cadre and Voidsmen – 1,000 soldiers
* Abhuman Support – 2,000 soldiers

Hydra Auxillia Support Cohort

* Stub Sections – 10,000 soldiers
* Veletaris Sections – 5,000 soldiers
* Specialist Weapons Sections – 45,000  soldiers
* Crew, Ancillary, Pioneer, Labour and Support – 5,000 soldiers
* Staff and Command Cadre – 3,000 soldiers
* Fleet Officer Cadre and Voidsmen – 2,000 soldiers
* Abhuman Support – 25,000 soldiers

## Notable Members of the Hydra Auxilia

* Legatus Braden Jaxer - The original commander of the 12th Solar Auxilia Cohort that set sail from Saturn alongside the Dark Watchers, Braden has remained at the head of the Hydra Auxilia since its inception. One of the rare humans who can say they both know and are friends with Shaaa Hydrades, the Legatus has been granted the high honour of being inducted into the IVth Legion as an honorary member, proudly wearing their heraldry upon his uniform and armour. He would still be wearing it during the Battle of Terra where he and so many of the Auxilia's best perished alongside the Dragon Lords and those few Star Guardians who had not gone to die in the light of Sol.

## Military Doctrine

> "*Battles are won by courage, by standing firm in the face of overwhelming adversity, by advancing to certain death when every instinct is screaming at you to turn. When you land on a world where every life form is determined to kill, eat or enslave you, and there's nowhere to run because the drop ships have already lifted, you don't have much choice but to fight, to advance and to stand firm. Everyone's a hero when there's nowhere left to run.*"
> ― Tribune Orson Souzerin of the 187th Veletaris Cohort
>
>

The tactical doctrine of the Hydra Auxilia had grown up organically over the operations during the Great Crusade, and was the direct result both of the unusual environments in which they commonly operate and in part the particular qualities of their arms and equipment. Each member of the Hydra Auxilia must reach an expected height of skill and aptitude to bear the hallowed powered carapace armour of the regiment, those who attempt to wear the armour without the needed training soon finding themselves broken apart by their own movements, empowered by the armours servos.

Coordination and discipline was to them of paramount importance; infractions of discipline and rule on a voidship can lead to swift disaster for all, and in void warfare this is doubly true. Those who failed to meet these standards in training were dismissed to serve as naval ratings, those who failed them on active service were harshly punished, and those who failed them in battle faced summary execution by their officers.

The coherence and discipline of the Hydra Auxilia was key to their principal tactics; close order formations both in open field warfare and in the confines of a Zone Mortalis, concentration of firepower and stubborn defence, all often in support of Astartes forces. Strategies of "aggressive defence" were common both at the small unit and field level. This can be typified by aggressively seizing superior defensive ground (or manufacturing it with prefabricated defence lines, etc.) and inviting enemy attack on preferred terms, feigned retreat in order to drag opponents into pre-prepared fire zones and slow "rolling" advances under cover of close armoured and air support, protected by mechanised transportation.

Also common were asymmetric "lightning" assaults which committed massed forces against a divided portion of an enemy line in order to achieve localised victory while minimising losses. These strategies were in truth developed by the Solar Auxilia Cohorts, but the Hydra Auxilia further adapted them, specialising in bringing enemies in close before unleashing the full power of their weaponry, far more destructive than the longer ranged lasrifles many use, before finally charging forward to finish the enemy in close quarters, their own strength augmented above humanity by their birthplace and armour.

Though the regiment and its cohorts often fought as support elements for legions, specifically the IVth, they also found substantial worth in use as long-range pathfinder units for Explorator and Expeditionary forces, as well as rapid-response forces.

In such roles the Hydra Auxilia were often expected to fight alone and outnumbered, and faced unknown terrain as well as potentially unknown enemies. The famed discipline and ability to "hold the line" of the Hydra Auxilia in such circumstances can be seen not simply as a matter of martial ability, but as a simple survival trait; on an alien world or within the hull of an enemy warship, breaking and fleeing is pointless when there is no safe haven to flee to, and doing so dooms oneself as surely as it does one's comrades.

## Armaments

One of the most clearly defining features of the Hydra Auxilia was their unique panoply of war, which set them aside from the myriad different forces within the wider Excertus Imperialis and Imperialis Auxilia, and was what truly set them apart from their Solar Auxilia parent force.

### Personal Arms

The most singular and perhaps iconic piece of wargear utilised by a member of the Hydra Auxilia is their fully sealed carapace armour, officially titled as the Hydra Pattern Powered Carapace Armour, and more commonly referred to as ‘Hydran Armour’, the armour is little more than the pre-imperial suits commonplace across the Ring, the same pattern than Shaaa himself once war when he fought confined to the space station before the coming of the Emperor. The heavy plated armour is built across a sealed body glove, with a bulbous, armourglass helmet that provides near unparalleled and unrestricted vision in the three dimensional battles of zero-g environments. The Visor is capable of remaining clear, or tinting itself against glare and radiation, capable of full blackout in situations where external light sources may damage the wearers eyes. The suit also boasts a fully integrated life support unit, as well as the servo fibre bundles that separate this armour from standard enclosed carapace suits such as the Solar Axuilia’s Void Armour. These bundles are similar to those found within Astartes Power Armour, and allow the wearer to achieve feats of strength beyond human, though they still fall short of the super human.

The armour is fully sealed and capable of resisting small arms fire, ballistic impacts and shock trauma, is self-healing against minor penetrations and lacerations, and is particularly resilient against radiation and thermal effects, making it highly effective for combat operations in hostile environments of many kinds, not simply the open void. Although efficient and resilient, Hydran Armour should not, however, be considered to be a match in regards to durability or sophistication to Legiones Astartes Power Armour, which operates at a greater order of magnitude in terms of defence and endurance. Nevertheless, save the rare few suits of power armour that are wearable by non-Astartes, there are few suits that can match the Hydran Armour for both defencive and utility purposes.

Just as the Hydran Armour worn by the Hydra Auxilia is greater in terms of sophistication and material cost that that given to most of the Imperial Army, so is its small arms weaponry, the most common of which was once the Kalibrax V-I Pattern Lasrifle, but shortly after the regiments reformation, became the mighty Stub Cannon, often referred to as “stub-blasters" or more simply "stubbies”, the latter often used by the regiments detractors both to refer to the weapon and the wielder. Bearing many similarities to the massive shotgun styled Ripper Guns carried by Ogryn units across the Imperium, the Stubcannon has long since been the mainstay of the human forces of the Ring, before and after their unification with the Imperium.

A stub weapon of monstrous size, the Stubcannon can fire a variety of different types of fist sized slugs, from the once favoured expander rounds that tear through flesh, to the armour piercing man-stopper rounds or the zero-G rated gyro-jet rounds. All of these can be switched between the Stubcannons revolving drum with ease, and can be loaded in different orders as the situation may demand, though reloading the weapon from empty does take noticeably longer than reloading a more commonplace magazine fed rifle. In the past, the expander round saw the most use, these round were favoured for their killing power and lack of armour piercing capabilities, the ability to kill without risking breaching the hull considered paramount, placing them above other, more powerful weapons that were available to the warriors of the Ring. Now however, the simple solid round takes precedence, regarded as useful for a wide variety of situations, other rounds being religated to specialist use, though all members of the Auxilia will carry multiple types of spare rounds to react to changing battlefield conditions.

When combined with its pistol variant, the Heavy Stub Revolver, the regiment is capable of splitting the very heavens with the crack of solid shots, rivalling even the firing of boltguns for their sheer sound, and forcing the enemies of the Hydra Auxilia to wade through a hail of solid shots, only to find brutish warriors ready to crush them already bearing down upon them.

Historically, in terms of light support and specialised weaponry, the Solar Auxilia always favoured various forms of directed energy weapons, and this is one of the hold-overs that the Hydra Auxilia have maintained, including Flamers, Meltas, Multi-Lasers and Lascannons, particularly for their suitability to void combat and to simplify maintenance, although bolt and rotor cannon-type weapons were far from unknown in the cohorts, particularly when a Hydra Auxilia Cohort had operated for long periods alongside other Imperial forces.

Once the standard armament of a significant number of infantry sections, Volkite Weapons became increasingly rare as the Great Crusade wore on, and by the Almire Apostasy became the preserve only of the most elite of their Veletaris units, most of such units instead using massed flamers or mighty power axes. To carry such a weapon became a thing of great distinction in the ranks of the Hydra Auxilia, the weapons themselves passing from soldier to soldier as time went on.

The weapons of the Hydra Auxilia's officer class reflected the blunt nature of the warriors of the Ring. Most still carried the Heavy Stub Revolver that was given to all sergeants upon the promotion, either as their primary sidearm or as a potent backup. Each officer was allowed to furnish their own personal arms, which allowed for considerable variation between their weaponry, plasma, volkites, bolt and even ancient Archeotech weapons seeing use, though almost always unembellished and priding function over form. When it came time to close to melee range, hammers and axes being the preferred weapons, swords seeing little use on the battlefield within the regiment.

Duelling between officers of similar rank outside of active war has always been permitted within certain parameters within the Hydra Auxilia, Braden and Shaaa both agreeing that it helped to settle disputes in an environment that did not threaten an entire cohort if allowed to see the battlefield. Axes were commonplace for such duels, though it was not unknown for pistol duels, duels with otherwise disliked Terran Charnabal Sabres, or even bare knuckle fights were also known. These duels were often to first blood, but sometimes when a slight was perceived as too great, they would only end when one warrior surrendered, or more likely, died.

### Tactical Support

Every Hydra Auxilia Cohort was intended to operate as a self-contained force first and foremost, even if they often acted in supporting roles of Astartes forces, or were otherwise supported themselves by other regiments. These cohorts were organised and supplied with additional infrastructural support based on its assigned role, and then supplemented further with the realities of their situation. For example, if on exploration duty or in open warfare, the cohorts almost always operated as a mechanised force, utilising large numbers of heavy, all-environment armoured transports as mounts and rally points for their troops, but may be further furnished with indirect weaponry and additional armour plating to better serve as siege infantry if required.

Most common of these was the Dracosan Armoured Transport, which possessed both the transport capacity to carry entire lasrifle sections in a single vehicle and had both considerably more armour and inherent rad/alchemical protection than the ubiquitous Rhino, as well as a life support system of greater endurance.

Alongside this primary ground vehicle, a specific armoured and often armed variant of the Arvus Lighter served as the Hydra Auxilia's most numerous support transport. This STC pattern is a robust and reliable orbital interface craft whose trusted design predated the Imperium's founding by unknown centuries, and was used in a variety of roles from troop transport, to reconnaissance craft, to supply conveyor and even as an impromptu gunship.

As might be expected given the Hydra Auxilia's close relation to void warfare and orbital assault, additional naval support by fighter craft, heavy gunships and orbital landers was also very closely factored into the Hydra Auxilia Cohorts' sphere of operations, with the Auxilia possessing its own cadres of pilots and void ratings integrated into a given cohort's own chain of command to facilitate its operation.

Almost uniquely among the Excertus Imperialis, Hydra Auxilia Cohorts stationed upon ships of the line also make use of specially modified Shark Pattern Boarding Rams for void assault actions, a deadly form of engagement usually assumed to be the sole province of the mighty Legiones Astartes.There were also reports of the regiment having other vehicles otherwise believed to only be found within the armouries of the legion, many bearing the hallmarks of service within the IVth Legion, the Star Guardians providing many of their otherwise mothballed vehicles to the regiment where they would see far greater use than amongst the vehicle light doctrines of the Star Guardians.

### Heavy Armour and Ordnance

Thanks to their formation as the armoured fist of the IVth Legion, who themselves lacked significant heavy armour by choice and chance, Hydra Auxilia Cohorts made extensive use of support armour and mobile artillery units in open battle, and unlike the forces of the wider Imperialis Auxilia, these were invariably patterns designed and proofed against void and hostile environment operation, including radiological shielding and internal life support systems.

These included the notably advanced Mars-Solar Pattern Kodiak battle tanks, created initially for the Solar Auxilia alone but later permitted for use within the child regiment. Created specifically to the Solar and Hydra Auxilia's specifications by the Tech-lords of the Red Planet, the tank was both swifter and more sophisticated than their more commonly encountered counterparts. Rare, semi-automata variants of the otherwise commonplace Basilisk and Medusa artillery tanks were also common, mounted on those same environmentally-sealed Kodiak chassis.

Hydra Auxilia Cohorts are also renowned for their routine deployment of prefabricated defence works, fortifying any encampment they make or outpost they construct, however temporary; a standard operating procedure born of extensive deployments on unknown worlds far from ready aid. These will often stand even as trench lines are dug and expanded, the regiment able to create permanent fortifications on almost any world, even when under enemy fire.

Most Hydra Auxilia Cohorts also feature at least one fully equipped super-heavy armour sub-cohort within its ranks, whose armoury contains numerous types of general battle units such as the Malcador and the Baneblade, as well as vehicles reserved for more specialised roles such as the Shadowsword and Stormhammer. It is notable, however, that more specialised siege formations, such as static artillery batteries, are rarely included within a standard cohort's regular order of battle, as siege duty and attrition warfare was largely considered a waste of most of the Hydra Auxilia's particular capabilities by strategic command during the Great Crusade, and left to other, more specialised formations of the Excertus Imperialis, though there were a small handful of well known Siege Cohorts of the Regiment, each one becoming a legend in their own way.

## Hydra Auxilia Wargear

### Ranged Weapons

* **Archaeotech Pistol** - Despite the renaissance of human power in the galaxy that the Great Crusade has created, there remains much of Mankind's ancient might and arts that is lost to myth and legend, save for a few relics that have survived Old Night. One of the more common types found are sidearms of surpassing firepower and elegance. Be they bespoke slug throwers utilising micro-atomic munitions or searing kill-rays that draw power from a planet's ambient magnetosphere, such priceless archaeotech artefacts of war find their way into the hands of the Emperor's chosen agents and the most senior officers of the Solar Auxilia.
* **Demolisher Cannon** - A short-ranged but destructive weapon designed for line-breaking and smashing enemy fortifications, the huge rocket-propelled shell fired by the Demolisher Cannon is enough to pulverise bunkers and collapse buildings around their defenders in a tide of rubble and dust.
* **Hydra Auxilia Support Weapons** - The Hydra Auxilia utilise a variety of support weapons as needed, including shell-firing heavy guns of different calibres, directed energy weapons and missile launch systems.
* **Graviton Weapons** - Little understood even by the Tech-priests of Mars, the term "Graviton Gun" refers to a group of gravity projector devices whose sophistication is such that the few that now remain are relics of a lost age. Such weapons prove extremely useful when fighting on a starship or in a null gravity environment. The power of the Graviton Gun's highest settings is sufficient to rupture organs and crack bones even inside armour, but its primary use is to impede the enemy and damage machinery without the risk of secondary explosions.
* **Irradiation Projectors** - "Irad" or "Rad" Projectors are potent anti-personnel weapons and relics of the Dark Age of Technology used exclusively by the militant forces of the Mechanicum. They commonly comprise a bulky generator unit terminating in a dish-like projector that unleashes a powerful blast of deadly cross-spectrum radiations. Victims caught in the blast of such a weapon suffer an appalling death as they are boiled alive from within -- their tissues blasted apart on a cellular level. Thick barriers of solid matter between the beam and the target provide some protection from this effect, though victims who survive the initial blast will often die later of extreme radioactive contamination.
* **Lightning Gun** - This aptly named weapon takes the form of a baroquely designed carbine either connected to a micro-reactor or, in the case of an Ordo Reductor Thallax, their firer's own cybernetic power core. It fires an ionizing las-beam down which a powerful phased discharge of electromagnetic force is unleashed, and is equally effective at slaughtering the living and overloading machine targets.
* **Mauler Pattern Bolt Cannon** - A field-support weapon found within Skitarii Tech Guard formations and mounted on certain Battle-automata, these baroque and bulky automatic cannons differ from the more common Heavy Bolter only in calibre, with the Mauler using substantially larger and denser shells, with a proportionally larger and stronger gun-frame needed to handle the firing stresses involved. These are powerful weapons whose secrets are jealously guarded by the Mechanicum.
* **Needle Pistol** - A favoured weapon of the assassins of the Terran Courts during the days before Unification, Needle Pistols are sophisticated and elegant handguns whose operation is silent, invisible and deadly. The finest examples use a combination of a flashless laser to pierce flesh, followed by an impellor-shot of virulent poisons delivered instantaneously into the open wound. This combination can lay low the toughest foe with ruthless efficiency.
* **Photon Thruster Weapons** - The arcane secrets of these deadly but unstable beam weapons are jealously guarded by the adepts who hold them, leading some to believe the technology is xenos in origin. When fired they unleash howling, needle-thin beams of utter blackness able to pierce the densest matter, slashing and slicing armoured men and machinery apart like razors, leaving pulsing waves of darkness in their wake. The exotic power sources of these unearthly weapons are extremely unstable, and catastrophic failure can lead to their firers being consumed by raging black flames until only dust remains.
* **Plasma Weaponry** - Such technology was far better understood during the dawning age of the Imperium, if still somewhat unsafe. As a result, three additional rarer types of sophisticated plasma weapons, such as the Plasma Blaster, Phased Plasma-Fusil, and Executioner Cannon, would become all but unknown in later ages.
* **Rotor Cannon** - Favoured by many Imperial Army formations, Rotor Cannons are multi-barrelled Stubbers, using electric motors to maintain an extraordinary rate of fire from their spinning barrels. The simple, medium-calibre solid slug projectiles they fire lack the power of bolt shells, but the hail of shots they unleash can be particularly useful against unarmoured hordes of foes and fleshy xenoforms. The newly prototyped Assault Cannon technology represents a more effective and powerful implementation of this principle.
* **Volkite Weapons** - "Volkite" is an arcane Martian term for a variety of powerful ray weapons whose origins date back to the Age of Strife. Possessed of considerable killing power surpassing most armaments of their size, Volkites were difficult to manufacture, even for the most able of the Mechanicum's forges, and the demands of the expanding Great Crusade swiftly overwhelmed the supply of these relic guns. Once relatively common within the fledgling Legions, they had fallen largely from favour by the time of the Almire Apostasy, and had been superseded in the Space Marine Legions by the far more flexible and utilitarian Terran Bolter. Those few that remained in service were the purview of only a few specialised units at the outbreak of the conflict that rent the Imperium asunder.
* **Grenade Launcher** - The Grenade Launchers used by the Solar Auxilia are advanced, selective fire weapons proofed for use in void conditions and able to deploy a variety of munitions types not normally encountered in the *Excertus Imperialis*.

### The Stubcannon

Bearing many similarities to the massive shotgun styled Ripper Guns carried by Ogryn units across the Imperium, the Stubcannon, often referred to as “stub-blasters" or more simply "stubbies”, the latter often used by the regiments detractors both to refer to the weapon and the wielder, has long since been the mainstay of the human forces of the Ring, before and after their unification with the Imperium.

A stub weapon of monstrous size, the Stubcannon can fire a variety of different types of fist sized slugs, from the once favoured expander rounds that tear through flesh, to the armour piercing man-stopper rounds or the zero-G rated gyro-jet rounds. All of these can be switched between the Stubcannons revolving drum with ease, and can be loaded in different orders as the situation may demand, though reloading the weapon from empty does take noticeably longer than reloading a more commonplace magazine fed rifle. In the past, the expander round saw the most use, these round were favoured for their killing power and lack of armour piercing capabilities, the ability to kill without risking breaching the hull considered paramount, placing them above other, more powerful weapons that were available to the warriors of the Ring. Now however, the simple solid round takes precedence, regarded as useful for a wide variety of situations, other rounds being religated to specialist use, though all members of the Auxilia will carry multiple types of spare rounds to react to changing battlefield conditions.

When combined with its pistol variant, the Heavy Stub Revolver, the regiment is capable of splitting the very heavens with the crack of solid shots, rivalling even the firing of boltguns for their sheer sound, and forcing the enemies of the Hydra Auxilia to wade through a hail of solid shots, only to find brutish warriors ready to crush them already bearing down upon them.

### Close Combat Weapons

* **Battle-Automata Power Blades** - Fitted to the primary weapon-limbs of some robotic Battle-automata, these sabre-like bladed weapons use molecular disruption fields supercharged with power from the Battle-automata's core.
* **Charnabal Sabre** - With their origins tracing back to the ancient duelling societies, assassin cults and bloody vendettas of the Terran Courts during the Age of Strife, these elegant and deadly weapons rely on speed and dexterity rather than brute force for their lethality. The pure metal of their blades is press-folded and stamped scores of times over before being micro-serrated with a fractal-sharp edge. The master swordsmiths of Terra are each said to have their own rituals of forging, impressing a distinct pattern in each bespoke blade as legible as a signature to those with the wit to read them. As well as the nobles of the Terran Court, certain senior officers of the Solar Auxilia favour the Charnabal Sabre over more "clumsy" Power Weapons as they see them as being more responsive to true martial skill, while others think them effete and decadent weapons.
* **Digital Lasers** - Incredibly sophisticated miniaturised weapons of xenos origin, these devices are extremely short-ranged but potent enough to kill despite being small enough to be concealed in a ring, gauntlet, sword hilt or helm. With a skilled user they are particularly effective in close combat, where they can be used to deliver a deadly strike to a foe already occupied in fending off the fighter's blows.
* **Paragon Blade** - Weapons forged of consummate artistry or irreplaceable relics of the ancient might of the Dark Age of Technology, Paragon Blades are few in number and may take many forms. The most common Paragon Blades are two-handed Power Weapons of extraordinary balance and durability, although even more rare and unique Chain Weapons wrought from the teeth of terrifying xenos beasts and certain night-black sickle swords found on remote Death Worlds on the edges of the Halo Stars have been known to hold similar phenomenal killing power. Regardless of their form, Paragon Blades are valued beyond price by the Imperium's warriors.
* **Shock Chargers** - Used to augment the combat power of Legio Cybernetica Battle-automata, these amplify the force of the Battle-automata's blows with powerful electrostatic discharges which detonate like thunderclaps when striking their target.

### Equipment

* **Armoured Ceramite** - Additional heavy ceramite plating fitted to a vehicle allows it to withstand extremes of heat and radiation. Plating of this kind is commonly fitted to orbital strike craft to enable them to withstand the rigours of "crash" re-entry from space into a planet's atmosphere, and also to certain siege vehicles to protect them from thermal energy weapons.
* **Armoured Cockpit (Flyers)** - A reinforced armoured cockpit utilised by Solar Auxilia orbital strikecraft to enable them to withstand the rigours of "crash" re-entry from space into a planet's atmosphere.
* **Augury Scanner** - This energy scanning device has the effect of alerting the user to the concealed presence or imminent arrival of enemy troops in the vicinity, even if concealed, and can detect the tell-tale electro-gravitic disruption effect on local space that presages teleport transfers.
* **Auxiliary Drive** - The standard patterns of Imperial vehicles are often customised by the regiments that field them, and in some cases are test beds for technology either designed or recovered in the field by the Magos and crew that maintain them. One common form of such customisation is the fitting of back-up and auxiliary drive systems, such as secondary galvanic motors or outrigger thrusters, to keep a vehicle mobile for short periods even if its main motive drive becomes damaged.
* **Cognis-Signum** - An advanced array of sensory devices, Cogitator-assisted communications and telemetry arrays, the Cognis-Signum enables the wearer to co-ordinate battlefield data with blinding speed.
* **Cortex Controller** - This control and signalling device uses data-djinn to command Battle-automata fitted with cybernetica cortex systems, allowing the wielder to witness the battlefield through the automata's own senses, as well as monitor their status and exact precise control over their actions. Only the most highly experienced and specifically augmented adepts of the Mechanicum and the Forge Lords of the *Legiones Astartes* can hope to fathom the use of these fractious devices and successfully interpret the storm of data streaming from their un-living minions.
* **Cyber-familiar** - Utilised by Techmarines and the Adepts of the Mechanicum, cyberfamiliar is a term that encompasses a variety of semi-autonomous devices such as Servo-Skulls, Mek-Spiders and other smaller drone units and lesser robotic haemonculites tied into the direct neural control of their operator. These minion-drones are an extension of their master's will and provide them with a host of additional senses and capabilities.
* **Displacer Matrix** - These relics of xenos technology are one of a number of arcane "displacer" devices known to exist. These particular matrices, taking the shape of glassy black amulets, are found in the hands of certain Rogue Traders and are said to pre-date even the Eldar, being found sometimes on Dead Worldsfar out on the edge of explored space. They incorporate a shield generator system which uses a teleportation effect to protect the bearer from harm, displacing the energy of any impact into the void beyond or, if this fails, serves to remove the bearer from harm instead, returning them nearby some moments later...hopefully! Such devices are, it must be said, shunned and considered anathema by the Machine Cultof Mars for being flawed and dangerous to their users, but for some, this is a risk well worth taking.
* **Djinn-skein** - An Archmagos Prime operating as a battlefield commander is not simply a general whose orders are carried out, but the governing will of the Taghmata; a spider at the centre of a web of data-djinn and stolen perceptions from across the battlefield that enables them to make tactical predictions based on inhumanly swift calculation and accuracy.
* **Enhanced Targeting Array** - Certain robotic Battle-automata are fitted with additional slaved Cogitators and sub-incunabula Machine Spirits devoted to relentlessly tracking and targeting any and all potential threats in range.
* **Flare or Chaff Launchers (Flyers)** - A radar countermeasure utilised by Solar Auxilia aircraft which spreads a cloud of small, thin pieces of aluminium, metallised glass fibre or plastic, which distracts radar-guided missiles from their targets, causing them to detonate prematurely.
* **Flare Shield** - A flare shield operates against shooting attacks that strike the vehicle's front arc.
* **Grav-wave Generator** - A strange archeotech device found in the plundered inventories of certain ancient pre-Imperial voidcraft, these small portable gravitational wave generators send out pulses of force from a field that coheres several metres away from the bearer. This has an effect akin to any moving object striking the field as if hitting an invisible sandbag wall. The field collapses temporarily when struck by any object with sizable mass, but by then it has usually served its defensive purpose.
* **Illum Flares (Flyers)** - An illum flare marks a ground target, enabling Solar Auxilia ground units equipped with night vision equipment to better see their intended targets.
* ***Imperialis Vexillas*** - The Vexillas -- the banners, icons and standards of the Solar Auxilia -- serve as a focal point on the battlefield, both for the fighting troops' morale and as a reminder of their oaths of duty and service. Whether a Troop Vexilla represents a single fighting section or one of the elaborate company banners bedecked in the names of past worlds fought for and conquered during the Great Crusade, it is a point of bloody tradition and pride that the colours and icons of the regiment never fall.
* **Infravisor** - A night vision device utilised by Solar Auxilia troops that allows images to be produced in levels of light approaching total darkness. The image may be a conversion to visible light of both visible light and near-infrared.
* **Lorica Thallax** - Thallax Armour that is permanently, surgically bonded to the body of the wearer.
* **Mechanicum Protectiva** - This term covers a variety of energy field and defensive shield projectors devised by the Magi of the Mechanicum to protect themselves both on the battlefield and from assassination by their rivals. For this reason, the frequency and modulation of each device is a closely guarded secret.
* **Nuncio-Vox** - A radio-frequrncy-based communications device.
* **Psi-jammer** - Often either examples of prohibited and little understood technology, or even xenos artefacts, these devices generate a passive field which impedes psychic energy directed at the wearer and hides their mind from telepathic contact.
* **Refractor Field & Iron Halos** - These devices are defensive field generators designed for personal protection. They encompass the wearer in an energy field or force barrier which serves to refract or deflect impacts and energy discharges, although the need for the wearer to move and fight, as well as their power consumption, prevents them from being anywhere near inviolable to attack. Devices of this nature are relatively rare, and are the province of commanding officers and honoured champions, where they are often incorporated into armour or amulets and gifted as a mark of favour and rank.
* **Servo-Arm** - Servo-arms are powerful manipulators tipped with crushing pincers, useful for field repairs and punishing enemies. Ports for these detachable appendages are installed at the shoulder, and the Battlesmith's armour must also be upgraded with more powerful gyro-stabilisers to use one effectively. A Servo-arm can lift one side of a Rhino APC to repair a broken tread link. A Servo-arm can extend up to 1.5 metres. The limb's gripping mandibles allow the Techmarine to lift heavy objects or anchor himself in an emergency.
* **Shroud Bombs** - These canister bombs unleash a shimmering grey fog of dense smoke and multi-spectrum electromagnetic charge that foils scanners and surveyors just as easily as it does vision.
* **Siege Wrecker** - This is a general term given to a specialised form of massive close combat weapons intended for Legion Dreadnoughts and Mechanicum Battle-automata. Wreckers are designed to enable these heavy assault units to smash through fortifications and easily crush armoured barricades and defences in siege warfare. The most common form of this weapon is a hydraulic ram or massive disruption field-augmented hammer, although specialised forms of heavy claw or drill systems are also used.
* **Hydran Armour** - Based on designs ceded to the Imperium by the Ring in use during the unification of the space superstructure by Shaaa Hydrades, the Powered Carapace Armour of the Hydra Auxilia regiments has become largely synonymous with the fighting force itself, offering a degree of environmental and combat protection exceeded only by the Power Armour of the *Legiones Astartes*, and only matched by the Void Armour of the Solar Auxilia. As its name implies, the Powered Carapace Armour mounts sophisticated servo motors in its joints to boost the strength of the wearer, as well as providing a fully void sealed environment for the occupant to fight from, intended to enable a human soldier to survive the deadly travails of space battle and the harshest of exo-planetary conditions.

### Additional Wargear

* **Automated Artillery** - Unlike standard artillery, automated artillery does not require crew in order to function. It is not removed from combat due to a lack of crew and each gun must be destroyed normally before it is removed. Automated Artillery cannot move and cannot charge.
* **Battlesmith** - Those versed in the secret arts and teachings of the Mechanicum, whether Techmarine, Forge Lord or Magos, have the skill and ability to reconstruct and effect field repairs to war machinery in the very heat of battle.
* **Explorator Adaption** - Many of the combat vehicles of the Solar Auxilia are modified during construction to operate freely in the most dangerous alien environments, providing fully-sealed life support systems and are fabricated with materials and component systems far superior in the quality of their materials than those commonly possessed by the *Excertus Imperialis*.
* **Cybernetic Cortex** - Comprising a synthetic "brain" of sorts of the most advanced robotic Battle-automata, a Cybernetic Cortex consists of an armoured casing containing a complex bio-plastic mass which extrudes nerve-like grey tendrils into the body of the robotic frame into which it is housed, invigorating it with strange false-life. Far beyond a simple Cogitator in capacity, it is neither truly alive nor sapient like the dread and inhuman "Silica Animus" feared of old. Instead, it is akin to a primal web of bellicose instinct, guided not by self-awareness and reason, but by a programmed framework of encoded behaviour, comprising simple and exacting instructions and commands. The result is a superior, self-guided weapon; a machine-predator that will actively and instinctively pursue its foes as well as act with a degree of tactical sense and self-preservation beyond anything a Servitor is capable of, but without the dangers of revolt and the development of blasphemous intelligence -- or so the Legio Cybernetica claim.