The Riven

The Riven armorial with the Legion iconography

The Riven Legionary

### Observed Strategic Tendencies

Urban Warfare, Punitive Suppressions/Purgation Operations, Insurrection Repression and Abhuman Decimation

### Colours

Dark Green and Gold

*"The Riven are uncanny. Like all the Astartes they are big and tough and all that other stuff, but this group are...odd. I've seen them stride into battle; their bolters barking and flamers hissing, while enemy shots seem to miss constantly. What's worse is after they destroy an enemy they do something to the survivors, something fething strange. Raving rebels and hardened religious fanatics come out of the "conversion stations" completely different, they are now as loyal as you or me. It's terrifying, but I'm glad to have them on our side."*

-Sergeant Jin Delulo, 5th Ironhelm Hussars

Brutal. Effective. Untrustworthy. Few legions were as disliked and disparaged as **the Riven**. Known for their brutal re-compliance and suppression campaigns more than their actual compliance actions, The Riven gained a reputation for utter devastation and total compliance from what pitiful civilian remnants remained after their purges. Given their taciturn nature, it was not long before rumours began to circle their exploratory fleets. This only increased the isolation and bitterness of the legion, already high due to the nature of their rebellion suppression campaigns, and their lack of any sort of recognition for "honourable" tasks.

The Riven's fall to Chaos was a long, subtle one. Distrustful of psykers during the final years of the Unification Wars and the start of the Great Crusade, the legion slowly began to recruit more and more as they dealt with rebel witch-cults and Xenos psyker-breeds. This increased as the Great Crusade dragged on, culminating in roughly half the legion having some form of active psychic abilities and the majority of the remainder having latent or untrainable psyker traits. The slow, bitter jealousy of the legion tainted the Warp that they manipulated, drawing the attention of the Shaper of Ways himself, the Chaos God Tzeentch. Several years after the Emperor's Disappearance, the sons of Morrigar turned their guns and psychic powers upon their former brethren, heeding the call of their Primarch and their new God.

## **History & Origins**

### **Those of Use**

During the Emperor's long struggle in the Unification Wars, massive casualties and dislocation of civilians occurred. Adjunct Jordani Le-Rau of the 201st Mercia Cohort famously stated during a victory party, "The Emperor should make use of those that could be of use, and forget about those that cannot". This view, while callous, was taken quite seriously by some of the military minds of the time. War-orphans from across various theatres were taken and tested, the strongest and brightest earning places of note in newly formed Imperial military academies and scholams. A fragment of those tested were found to have something that the Legionnes Astartes require- indominable strength of will and an unwillingness to fail. This group of orphans, the detritus of battle, became the core of the XVth legion.

The war-orphans were the perfect recruits for the Emperor's Astartes program- they had already survived in war, they had no familial ties to break, and there were a multitude of them to be used up if needed. Put through the harrowing process of becoming a Space Marine, these young legionnaires were trained mercilessly through pyscho-conditioning, battle simulations, and intra-legion combat. Thousands died as the legion grew, but the constant wars kept the steady flow of recruits into the training halls. The enemies of the Emperor began to fear the "child-takers", the soldier-scientists who searched the burned-out enemy cities and camps for the legion's recruits. These fears redoubled when the children were returned to the war as mighty Astartes, come to destroy the Emperor's foes.

As more legionnaires were created, the XVth Legion began to participate in combined assaults with other proto-legions, assisting where able during the final years of the Unification Wars. Having no ingrained cultural bias was a boon to the XVth legion. Lacking any preconceptions of battle or strategy, the young legion began to develop innovative tactics to certain, often previously difficult, combat deployments and issues. The confusing tangle of urban combat and insurgent repression proved to be the perfect battlefield for the XVth, allowing them to bring a storm of flame, bolt, and blade to the enemy.

### **A Legion of Destroyers**

As the Great Crusade leap ever outward, the XVth's stratagems were noted and then used by the Emperor. Their expeditionary fleets were no longer sent purely to the expanding fronts of the Imperium. They were increasingly sent to systems that had already been deemed compliant, to suppress rebellious uprisings and insurrections. The constant, grinding nature of these campaigns began to take its toll on the legion, as they started to view any collateral damage as acceptable as long as the enemy had been destroyed. Compliance-chapters increased their use of controversial psyker-conversions and broadcasts loyalty-memes; no planet ever visited by the XVth legion during this time was ever known to have rebelled afterwards.

The legion continued to excel in the art of urban pacification and fused their expertise with some of the most devastating weapons the Imperium of Man had to punish recalcitrant planets. Chemical, nuclear, and even the dreaded phospex weaponry were unleashed to turn rebel cities into choking ashes and decimated defenders. Deemed "nothing more than a legion of Destroyers" by disapproving outsiders such as the Primarch Koschei of the VIIIth legion, the XVth legion brushed off all criticism and merely pointed out that if systems stayed compliant there would be no need for their talents to be turned on humanity.

The critics hounded the legion after every victory and battle, complaining of unnecessary violence and rampant destruction of resources. Protests that the XVth did more work in the rebuilding and re-construction phases of compliance than any other legion was met with silence and whispered rumor campaigns of "child-snatching" and abnormal psykers. Legion commanders and leaders grew to doubt and distrust those who were not of the legion, to withdraw and take heed of only internal advice. Insular by nature, the XVth turned bitter and scornful towards many brother-legions. A downward spiral of suspicion and accusation followed the legion and with no Primarch to defend them in the higher circles of Imperial command, the censure and rebukes were taking a toll on the legion's morale.

Remarkably, the XVth's relationship with other organs of the Imperium other than Crusade Command or its brother-legions was extremely cordial. Army units assigned to fight with the XVth defended their Astartes compainions with fervor and many a rumor was squashed by the quick tongues and quicker fists of veteran Army troops. Army units fighting alongside the legion noted that the legionnaires, were just as quick to come to the aid of the normal humans as they were with other legionnaires. One Army colonel said of the XVth, "They're grim bastards, its true, but there is no one I'd rather have at my side in a city fight than one of them". Along with the Imperial army, the Mechanicum and the XVth legion had a good working relationship. Techpriests were welcome in the camps and fleets of the XVth, and legionaries tasked to learn what they could of machines did so with alacrity and dedication. The closest cooperation came from members of the biologus and genetists of the Mechanicum and the legion's Librarius, as both factions worked together to understand and enhance psyker abilities. Despite these friendly relations, the miasma of distrust, suspicion, and brutality clung to the XVth.

It is during this time of great unease and bitterness that Morrigar, primogenitor of the XVth, was found on the desolate world of Skiirad.

### **The Primarch**

For the legionnaires of the XVth, the discovery of their gene-sire was a somber, though welcome, event. Morrigar met with the legion commanders, observed the legion in both training and battle, and began to put his own experiences into the tactical doctrines of the legion. The Primarch dubbed the legion the Riven, for they were of the two sides of battle, destruction and repairment. The legion's focus on their twin primary tasks merged well with Morrigar's own talents, and he encouraged and codified the separate sections of the legion, the battle-companies and the compliance-companies.

Having been an insurgent himself, Morrigar knew the mindset and strategies of the rebel. He trained the Riven in counter-insurgency tactics, first using recon squads to follow and mark cell leadership and cadre commanders, then having the hammer of the battle-company smash all the enemy in a massive, all-out attack. These tactics worked well on many battlefields, with the Riven becoming increasingly adept at singling out and destroying enemy commanders. The Emperor approved of these changes and sent the Riven on their first assignment as a Primarch-led legion, the taking of the Ovar Sector.

The legion set out on a large conquest-crusade, taking roughly two-thirds of its strength to bring into compliance the psyker-tainted Ovar Sector. Several previous attempts at compliance had been thrown back, the might of the Xenos-led human cultures of Ovar being too great for the mere mortals of the Imperial army. Massive waves of enemy psykers pummeled the Riven with psi-blasts and mind flaying, overwhelming the psychic defenses of the compliance-companies' Librarians. Thousands of legionnaires were lost, mind-burned and shattered beyond repair. Morrigar's anger grew as his sons died; unshackling his talents more than ever before, he reached out and did to the enemy what they had done to the legion. Gathering his Librarians to him, Morrigar sent blow after psychic blow out, forcing countless imaginary horrors and thought-reavers into the rogue psykers. Though many of his sons died, the Xenos and human psykers were destroyed and the Riven battle-companies took their revenge- the Ovar civilizations were utterly decimated.

The Riven recovered from the losses of the Ovar Sector, but where changed as a legion as a result of the campaign. Becoming ever more grim and stoic in demeanor, they embraced their designation as the "clean-up" legion, and turned from the outward aspects of the Great Crusade to pursue their suppression campaigns with, for them, excitement. It was during one of these campaigns that Primarch Morrigar felt the stunning loss of the Emperor and moved his entire legion to Terra with all speed.

During the Terran Conclave, Morrigar was firmly against the election of a replacement for the Emperor, seeing none of his brothers worthy of the mantle of leadership, but was unable to convince others to go against the election. His stance was one of caution, viewing the disappearance of his liege as a catalyst that would fuel the mortal populace of the Imperium towards rebellion. Morrigar supported the Mechanicum's demands for increased independence and research rights, believing that the tech-adepts were essential for designing new protections and weapons for the legions and armies of the Imperium. Unfortunately, his voice was one of many, and the lord of the XVth's anger grew as fully a third of his brothers voted one of their own in as regent. As he gritted his teeth at Alexandros' elevation to Imperial Regent and the later promotion of Koschei to Primarch Representative, Morrigar felt dismay at his inability to bring the other Primarchs to his way of thinking. He turned his feelings inward, devoting himself to furthering his understanding and mastery of the psychic arts. Deep into the Warp Morrigar travelled, pushing past vast Warp-spawned storms and predators, seeking ways to find either the Emperor or answers. An immeasurably ancient consciousness noted the disturbance that the Primarch made and was pleased, as a millennia-long plan began to come to fruition.

## **Unit and Formation Structure**

Originally, the Riven were not much different from other legion's in regards to their tactical doctrines and strategies, though with a specialization in urban operations. As the years in the Crusade stretched onward however, the "Doctrine of Two Faces" gained prominence among the leaders of the legion. This strategy embraced both aspects of war that the XVth held dear, destruction and creation, and slowly the division of the legion into battle and compliance elements began. Compliance-chapters devoted themselves to defending and assisting their brethren in battle, and then converting the enemy to the Imperial Truth as the battle finished. Battle-chapters became exemplars of destruction, finding out how to destroy the most enemy forces as the same time, wrecking the foe's ability to further conduct warfare. These changes were firmly embraced by their Primarch, and further training made both factions of the legion masters of their respective crafts.

After the Psyker-Purge of Ovar, changes were needed in regard to the compliance-companies. Morrigar reached out to the Primarch of the Halcyon Wardens, Alexandros; Alexandros' legion used a specialized branch of legionnaires called Chaplains, designed to keep the legion free of any taint or moral issues via watchfulness and oratory instruction. Together with Alexandros, Morrigar created a new order called Heirarchs, combining the psychic powers of Librarians and moral instruction of the Chaplain. Morrigar led the Heirarchs in their psychic training, increasing their abilities in the field of conversion and psychic defense. The order of Heirarchs soon rose to prominence, with their members being promoted to head almost all of the compliance-chapters.

This focus on psykers and psychic ability irrevocably changed the Legion's makeup. Battle-chapters and compliance-chapters were soon put together, with the standard deployment being two battle-chapters to one compliance-chapter. Combining the ferocious assault of the battle-chapters with the focused psychic might of compliance-chapters made the Riven a potent force on the battlefield. Battle-chapters trained constantly, using close range weaponry that burned, melted, and destroyed enemy emplacements before specialist melee squads ripped through breaches in the enemy lines. Throughout a battle-chapter's movements, compliance-chapter members kept up constant psychic barriers that protected their brothers from enemy fire and psychic assaults.

The Heirarch Order trained their members in all aspects of the psychic arts, but they were especially talented with mental manipulation and destruction. After suffering at the hands of the Ovar Sector psykers, the Heirarchs learned their enemy's abilities and turned them to the Emperor's use. With battle-chapters providing solid firepower and close combat attacks, compliance-chapters turned their talents onto the enemy as psychic storms would flow into the enemy; mental commands to attack comrades, meme-viruses that turned the enemy's mind into a prison of insanity, and brute force mind razors that boiled the Riven's foes brains within their own skulls.

Thus did the Riven bring battle to the hordes of Xenos abominations and rebellious humans, with a brutal application of firepower, blades, and mental destruction.

### **Specialist Formations**

* Cardinai Guard
* Mellisian Terminators
* Heirarch Order
* The Korden-Vaal - The Riven do not have Destroyer units like most of their fellow Legions, instead they have the Brotherhood of Korden-Vaal.

## **Legion Wargear**

* Skiirad Flare-Flamers
* Glassine Force Weapons
* Psychic Hood

## **Exemplary Battles**

### **Tadagan Crusade**

The Tadagan Crusade was the last major campaign that the XVth Legion fought before their Primarch was found. The Cluster was a formation of three Eldar Craftworlds and multiple Eldar fleets, traveling in concert for an unknown purpose. Legion Commander Harradeen studied the eldar craft for a week before dispatching his fleet to attack. Knowing that the eldar were a race of swift fighters, Harradeen was determined to bring them to battle in a manner that played to the Legion's strengths. The Eldar defensive fleet was large, with layers of scouts, cruisers, and finally the massive craftworlds themselves all combining in an inter-linked defensive web.

The Imperial fleet crushed the Eldar scouts, pushing quickly to engage the main defensive cruisers. Harradeen had his fleet in an unorthodox formation, with all his heavy ships to the fore, cruisers on the flanks, and light ships holding the center around six massive transport haulers. Legion battleships, grand cruisers, and battle-barges weathered the blows of the darting eldar ships, firing back salvos of macro-weapons and torpedoes. As the fleet burned toward the craftworlds, it split; the transport haulers slammed forward to ram the first craftworld, followed by all the Legion's boarding torpedoes and assault craft. Two haulers were destroyed by the craftworld's defensive fire and one was broken in half as an eldar cruiser sacrificed itself to protect its mothership, but Harradeen's plan worked- the craftworlds staggered as enormous explosions destroyed delicate wraithbone spines and crystaline psychic-circuitry. On the heels of the transports' deaths, waves of boarders slammed into the craftworld and deployed their cargo of legionnaires. It cost the legion two thousand marines, many lost during the first few hours of the main assault, as the eldar were at their peak and most deadly. The two remaining craftworlds and their accompanying ships stayed close to their wounded sister-ship, as Harradeen had counted on.

The expeditionary fleet circled the Craftworlds, pouring fire into the remaining eldar cruisers and frigates. As the majority of the legion fought on the wounded craftworld, dedicated squads of Terminator-clad assault troops used teleportation strikes to jump onto the other two motherships. Using the knowledge of their brothers on the first craftworld, these Terminators swiftly deployed phosphex annihilation-bombs, melta charges, and void warheads in vital locations. Teleporting back, the strike squads watched as the weapons emplaced on the craftworlds exploded. One craftworld broke in half, its structure wracked with void-weapon detonations, and the other suddenly stopped moving.

Green flames shot throughout the craftworld as phosphex burned and consumed all around it. It took three more days and another four thousand legionnaires dead to gut the last craftworld and then legion finished off any remaining eldar ships in the area.

### **Suppression of Althas**

The worlds of Althas had been brought into compliance by the VIIth Legion, the Monastic Ascendants. The tech-savvy legion had broken the four worlds quickly and installed an Imperial governor from the Imperial Army, General Vadim Istly, before rushing off to another necessary battlefield. The people of Althas were technologically on par with the Imperium and had turned their worlds into a mass of hive cities and industrial workings. When they rebelled after the Emperor's disappearance, led by General Istly, it was given to the Riven by the Imperial Council to bring the worlds back into the fold. The Riven unleashed twelve battle-chapters and six compliance-chapters, with a massive backing force of Imperial Army, support from of Mechanicum Skitarii battalions and Legio Reavas Titan maniples.

Morrigar led the Riven, with First Captain Chovacs, Battle-Captain Harradeen, and Heirarch-Primus Karien each taking command of a planetary assault. Four coordinated droppod assaults screamed through a quartet of different atmospheres, each under covering fire from the lances of the 67th Expeditionary Fleet and each targeting the capital hive of a world. Follow up assaults by the Imperial Army landed outside secondary hives' defenses, initiating sieges and blockades to cut the hives' support of the capital off.

Within the hives where the Legion dropped, destruction reigned. Defenders watched in horror as squads of legionnaires ran through massed fire as if it was nothing, firing bolters steadily. Artillery and high explosives seemed to fail, to burst impotently in the air as Heirarchs glowing with power strode the battlefield in supporting trios. Rebels were overwhelmed in minutes, routed by the fast assault of legionnaires bolstered with psychic shielding. In mere hours three planetary capitals burned and were silenced.

Morrigar broadcast his assault on Althas Prime's capital via vox and vid-link to the four worlds. The people of Althas watched as the Primarch and his Cardinai Guard tore through the best troops the system had like paper. Where Morrigar looked men died, or went mad from the horrors of his mindstorm, while the Cardinai burned out the remainder. The traitor-general Istly launched a desperate last assault, charging with his thousand-strong honor guard of elite Veletaris stormtroopers. Morrigar and the Cardinai drew their spears and decimated the General and his stormtroopers in two minutes, cutting them down to the last man. Morrigar spoke to the worlds of Althas, his terrifying skull-mask covered in the general's blood. "You have one hour to surrender, or every single hive, city, and town on these planets will burn. Make your choice."

The worlds of Althas surrendered immediately, the words of the grim Primarch chilling many to their very soul. The compliance-chapters' Heirarchs spent two months combing the leadership castes of the worlds converting or executing rebel leaders. New capitals were designated, and Imperial Army garrisons watched over the entire system.

## **Notable Riven**

* **Morrigar** - Primarch of the XVth Legion.
* **Tellus Karien** - Hierarch-Primus.
* **Jovan Chovacs** - First Captain.
* **Tulvar Harradeen** - Former Legion Master
* **Edvar Locatum** - Lieutenant, right hand of Jovan Chovacs.
* **Kor Melis** - Sergeant, deceased.