Star Guardian Divisions

Throughout the Great Crusade, the Star Guardians were divided at the highest level into Divisions, each formation having a nominal strength of 10,000 legionaries. Below this were Brigades of 5,000 warriors each, Battalions of 1,000 warriors, Company’s of 100 warriors, and finally squads of either 10 or 20 legionaries. In many legions, the battalion level of deployment, whatever they called roughly 1,000 strong formations, were the basic blocks from which all military planning was based around, and as such
they developed more divergent identities than their larger counterparts. This was evidenced especially amongst the Silver Basilisks, whose 3rd Chivalry, "*The Storm Serpents*" were far more well known than the Household they
were a part of.

For the Star Guardians however, everything was linked to the Divisions, individual formations within always linking themselves back to their division first, Brigade, Battalion and Company identity taking a secondary role in most of their minds, with only squad identity predictably rivalry that of the Division itself.

Each Division was, for all intents and purposes, a pocket legion within the greater whole of the Star Guardians, fully self-sufficient, self-supplied, and empowered by Shaaa Hydrades to conduct the wars he assigned to them as they saw fit, Shaaa’s broad method of planning leaving them room to conduct such actions as they saw fit based on their own preferences. With a single Commander at their head, the Divisions each gained a very real and distinct identity, fuelled by their lord, and as such few warriors ever left the Division they were recruited into, with the sole exception being the influx into the Lord Commanders own 1st Division. Warriors recruited into the 7th Division would advance through the ranks of the 7th, passing through the training as dictated by their Commander, only leaving for one of four reasons; Death, offered a position within the Hydradyne, internment within a Fracturam shell, or promotion to the ranks of the 3rd Division, and beyond that, the hallowed ranks of the 1st.

Given identity by their Commander, Divisions usually underwent identity changes after the death of their lord, to a greater or lesser degree depending on who succeeded them. In time, this new identity would pass down the ranks to the rest of the Division, the Star Guardians evolving through the death of their officers and their replacement, as was their way.

Within the Star Guardians Legion, officers carried the power of both life and death; each Sergeant Major empowered to provide both reward and punishment to any warrior within their company, though usually this was meted out to Sergeants, the Sergeants responsible for providing the same to their Corporals, and the Corporals to the squads they led. This included the right of immediate punishment, including the rare punishment of execution, over any beneath them, to be carried out by the Discipline Corps each Division maintained, or in the field if expediency was required. Likewise at the highest end of the legion, a Commander could pass judgement on any warrior within their Division, with the Lord Commander holding power over them. Overarching this structure, Shaaa Hydrades was the single judge, ruler and master over all in his Legion without contest or gainsay. Despite this power however, executions of Astartes within the IVth legion were extremely low, though there are occasions where mass executions have taken place, such as the Bloody Reprisal of 30-206, where close to a hundred Star Guardians were incarcerated on the orders of Shaaa and the Lord Commander, a dozen of their number facing execution soon afterwards…

## Known Divisions of the Star Guardians

### The 1st Division “*The Immortals*”

Known as the Immortals, the 1st Division were the elite of the Star Guardians, none their equal across the legion. Within their ranks, each warrior was a veteran of a hundred wars, admittance into their ranks an honour only afforded to those who had proven themselves in other Divisions first, none recruited directly into its ranks.  Within their ranks rest the bulk of the mighty Saturnalian order, and indeed each of the 10,000 warriors within the 1st Division are counted amongst their ranks, capable of taking to battle in the ancient armour if the need is great enough, though in practice, many within the Division go to battle in lighter marks of Terminator Armour or in regular power armour.

Unlike all other Divisions, the 1st Division does not merely have a nominal strength of 10,000, but an exact strength of 10,000, maintained rigorously as no more, or no less. When warriors are selected for placement within the Division, they are instead transferred to the 3rd Division, known as “the Chosen”. This swells the ranks of the 3rd, but they do not remain their forever. When a member of the 1st dies, one of these warriors is immediately called up, and in doing so, their ranks maintained, giving rise to many of their enemies believing them to be immortal, their faceless helmets betraying no hint at which warrior was beneath, or that they were different from ones felled in prior battles.

Though the 1st Division initially served under Lord Commander Varinius Rampt, his rule of the Division was short lived, being placed within a Dreadnought shell shortly after Shaaa’s founding. As such, Crikon Hanfer has shaped the warriors of the 1st into a deadly, ever advancing storm, never showing mercy, focusing on claiming victory no matter the cost to themselves or those non-combatants who are too foolish or too slow to remove themselves from the path of the 1st.

### The 2nd Division “*The Wardens*"

Though they hold pride of place
within the Star Guardians, the 2nd Division have markedly fewer
battle honours to their name than others, only those formed in the wake of the
Ullanor Crusade having fewer than them. This is not for lack of purpose
however, indeed the 2nd have perhaps one of the greatest purposes of
all, to oversee the future of the legion, garrisoning the Ring and training all
future generations of the Star Guardians.

This duty, held in an almost
enshrined position by Commander Fazel Manesh, “The Warden” who the Division
take their moniker from, the 2nd Division are harsh taskmasters to a
fault, and yet are also fair in their judgement. In their minds, the harder
they are on the new recruits into the legion, the easier a task they will have
when they raise to its ranks, and none who have been through the process would
deny that it is effective, most remembering their instructors in the 2nd
long after they have moved to other crusading divisions.

Geared purely to homogenise,
break and rebuild the sons of the Ring, all children are sent to the 2nd
when they come of age, put through same training, regardless of standing,
gender or infirmity. Children do die in this process, but their deaths are few,
weeding out the weak, and ensuring all of the Ring are a potent fighting force
before any augmentations take place. Once this phase has passed, children
undergo an extensive screening process to test for compatibility for the
legions geneseed. For some, this is quick, many offered instead the lesser path
of training within the Hydra Auxilia, still overseen by the warriors of the 2nd,
while those who path begin their training in earnest, the first step on the
path of becoming a warrior of the IVth Legion.

### The 3rd Division “*The Chosen*"

The sole Division to only travel
alongside another, the 3rd Division, known as the Chosen, never
leave the side of the 1st Division, if warriors of the 1st
are deployed in smaller numbers, the 3rd will match them and travel
with them, the two all but inseparable, the 3rd’s role too important
to allow distance to build up between them.

This is for the simple reason
that the 3rd Division live up to their name as chosen, being a
resting place for those warriors who have been selected for elevation to the 1st
Division, but no position has yet opened up. As such, the 3rd is
considered an extremely elite force to rival that of the 1st, though
they do not have the reserves that the 1st do, few suits of Saturnine armour held within their ranks.

Forged this way by the force of
will of the mighty Harnt Redal, the 3rd is unique here too, in that
they have undergone no identity change since the death of their lord. This is
purely due to the sheer presence that Harnt had within the legion, being the
favoured son of Shaaa before his death. Replaced by 3rd Commander in
Situ Naqu Twaj, the 3rd continue as they always have, a potent force
who have but one superior.

### The 4th Division “*The Spears of Akin*"

Famed for their revival of the
old Dark Watchers tactics and combining them with the new Star Guardians
doctrines, the 4th Division are known to make heavy use of power
spears within their ranks, and also boast more Breacher Squads than Indomitable
Squads, preferring the smaller squad size and close ranged death they deal in.
A standard tactic for warriors of this Division is the ‘Phallaxa’, an ancient
Grecco formation from Old Earth. Locking shields together and presenting a
bristling front of crackling power spears, the 4th have more than
earnt their name under Commander Sirvan Akin, known to many as “The Spears of
Akin”

### The 5th Division “*The Corpse Grinders"*

Of all the Divisions of the Star
Guardians, few gained as dark a reputation as the 5th, their name of
“Corpse Grinders” bestowed upon them by those they fought alongside, rather
than chosen by their warriors. The Star Guardians were ever a brutal legion, liberally
spending the lives of human slaves to charge down guns, identify blind spots or
deplete the enemy ammunition supplies, but rarely did the legion frivolously spend
fighting men and women, only committing warriors of the Imperial Army to
assaults they could actually hope to succeed in.

Not so the 5th. The
Corpse Grinders were one of the few Star Guardians forces to forgo major Hydra
Auxilia support, boasting only a handful of Cohorts, and instead swelling their
ranks with penal battalions, or regiments of other expendable troops like the
Red Ocean Armies.

Led by Commander Nader Kardan, a
warrior connected body and soul to his flagship *Shaaa’s Retribution* in a
manner similar to a Dreadnought or a vat-bound titan Princeps, the 5th
Division are feared by their allies and their enemies alike, the Division known
for its pinpoint accurate bombardments during infantry assaults, the penal
soldiers attacking positions they cannot hope to take conventionally often
carrying homing beacons with them, guiding orbital fire to their position to
smash aside both friend and foe alike.

### The 6th Division “*The Bolts of Wrath"*

Before the formation of the 17th
and 18th Divisions, the 6th was known as a place where Heavy
Support and Astartes portable heavy weapons ruled, and though they are capable
of waging war in the standard way of the Star Guardians, few doubt that they
have a preference for overwhelming, long range firepower.

Their Commander, Gunnar Rayden,
is known to go to battle with a personal guard of terminators, each armed with
autocannons and heavy bolters in one hand, cyclone missile launchers upon their
backs and storm shields held rigidly before them. This rare configuration of
shield and ranged firepower is undoubtably effective, shaping the entirety of
the 6th Division.

### The 7th Division “*The Terran Born*"

Led by Commander Julius Atalan,
one of the first warriors to ever serve the IVth legion, the 7th
Division is known to still maintain a tight link with their original recruiting
grounds on the throneworld. While under Shaaa’s rule, none in the legion may
come from worlds other than the Ring itself, the 7th Division take
many from the regions of Terra that once bore them as their wards, Terran blade
carriers and serfs filling the ranks of the Terran Born.

Excellent shots, bred by the impeccable
aim of Commander Atalan, the legion engages their targets at extreme range, far
further than most would attempt to use their humble bolter. By the time the
warriors of the 7th stamp over the ground once held by the enemy,
there is little left but crater ridden holes, their shields ensuring any who
survive find no purchase closer in than they did further out.

### The 8th Division “*The Dark Watchers*"

While the Terran Born 7th
Division may have held ties to the ancient homeworld of the species, the 8th
Division holds themselves close to the origin of the legion, taking the name of
Dark Watchers as their division title, the old legions symbol their new icon of
wrath. Where the IVth is cold, the 8th are noble, standing tall
against any who would threaten the Imperium, or skulk in the darkness of the
void.

Led by the controversial, at least
within the Star Guardians, but extremely skilled Commander Sirvan Golz, the
Division is known to rank low in Shaaa’s eyes, the Breacher Lord never showing
them any disfavour, but rarely fighting alongside them by choice.

### The 9th Division “*The Risen”*

Time and time again throughout
the Great Crusade, on at least three documented occasions, the 9th
Division was believed to be entirely wiped out, down to the last warrior, their
assets destroyed as incredibly bad luck seemed to plague them at every corner.
However, despite this, every time they rose again, their lord, Commander Hankot
Draedo leading them to victory, no matter the cost. In time, this trait became
their calling
card, the Division becoming known simply as The Risen.

Whispers are abound about the
providence of the divisions commander, his appearance unsettling even by the standards
of the already unsettling Star Guardians. Pale, almost alabaster skin, white
hair and completely colourless eyes, whispers are abound throughout the
Division and beyond that he is more than a simple Astartes, forged with some unknown technology or joint project with
another sect of the Imperium. Whatever the truth is, neither Hankot,
nor Shaaa himself, will say.

### The 10th Division “*The Forged"*

The Star Guardians are already
known for their extreme closeness with Mars and their larger than standard
compliment of tech marines within their ranks. However, the 10th are
known to stand out even in such a legion for their technological affinity,
their Commander holding both the rank of Commander and Forge Lord, most referring
to Nakom Palmet simply as Forge Commander.

Because of this, the 10th
is known to use a greater portion of otherwise difficult to maintain equipment,
such as conversion beamers and graviton weapons. To face the 10th is
a terrifying prospect, arcane weapons seldom seen outside the ranks of the
Mechanicum filling their ranks, turning battlefields into blinding flashes,
even in the darkest of nights.

### The 11th Division “*The Eyes of the Praetorian"*

The first of the new breed of
hyper specialised Divisions that sprang up in the wake of the Ullanor Crusade,
the 11th Division, often referred to as “The Eyes of the Praetorian”,
were designed not to stand in the battle line, but instead to serve as a rapid
relief force, moving quickly between points in the Solar Guardian Array,
plugging any gaps as they arose. As such, the Division boasts very few heavy
units, such as terminator squads, and even lack the traditional numbers of
Breacher or Indomitable squads that are synonymous with the IVth Legion.

However, what they lack in
staying power, they more than make up for in other areas. Crack shots with sniper
bolt guns, hidden from most sensors by the use of great camo-cloaks, and even
muffling their sounds with almost every suit of Mk6 Corsair armour that the
legion possesses, the 11th is a terrifying force to face, the first
a foe knowing about their presence is when the engagement has already begun. Led
by Commander Nelik Taarsal, the 11th were one of the many Divisions
that were wiped out root and stem during the First Solar War.

### The 12th Division “*The Scions of the Wind"*

Another rapid deployment force
like the 11th, the 12th, known as the Scions of the Wind
and led by Commander Meysam Tarok, did not specialise in stealth and light
armour, instead utilising the sophisticated anti-grav vehicles favoured by legions
such as the Vth or XIVth. Landspeeders, jetbikes, as well as more esoteric
vehicles beside made available from Mars were the bread and butter of the 12th,
and they drilled in their use relentlessly, becoming highly proficient in their
use by the time of the Solar War. However, like the 11th, this speed
was not enough to save them from the fire, the entire division wiped out wholesale
by the traitors advance.

### The 13th Division “*The Bloodyhanded"*

Of all the Divisions of the Star
Guardians, few have as bloody a reputation as the 13th, mostly due
to their most famous member, the disgraced warrior, Lieutenant Tarhal “The
Fallen”, though their Commander, Karatok Neymeer, was barely less brutal in the thick of a melee. Designated as a close assault unit, the entire division is equipped
with a multitude of deadly close combat weapons, from standard chainswords and
thunder hammers, right through to siege drills, heavy rock saws or terrifying
disruptor weapons that can cleave through flesh and bone. When the traitors
arrived, the 13th made a bloody path through their ranks, and though
they took hideous casualties both there and at the Battle of Sol, the Division
managed to survive, Tarhal walking from the field of battle, bloody but alive,
the Butchers Nails he had hammered into his skull quiet, at least for the time
being.

### The 14th Division “*The Fireborne Host"*

The second of the two dedicated
assault divisions of the IVth Legion, the 14th makes use of copious
amounts of jetpacks and other personal flight devices to close the gap, rather
than simple aggression like the 13th. Despite the need for such
weapons, the Star Guardians still disliked them, and as such the 14th
were not held in high regard. Nevertheless, they afforded themselves well under
Commander Tyar Kaltar during the Solar War, reaping a fearsome tally before
finally being struck down, its last members being amongst the few Star
Guardians who remained at Terra when the Legion went to Sol.

### The 15th Division “*The Silent Wardens"*

While the entirety of the IVth
legion was trained and proficient in fighting in void-based, extra-vehicular
combat, the 15th Division, the Silent Wardens, took this to the next
level, trained across the SGA for the sole purpose of operating on its external
hull, rarely if ever conducting training exercises without hard vacuum and magnetic
boots. As such, the Division was equipped with the full range of the Imperial
armoury to make them more proficient at the goal, from extended oxygen tanks on
the back, to the specialised Anvilus pattern backpacks they utilised to aid in
zero-g manoeuvring. None could match the 1tth in the airless void, and with that firmly in their minds, the warriors et about punishing the traitors who fought to match them there.

This was proved time and time again in the Solar War, the 15th never losing a battle in their chosen field. However, Ferdous was not immortal, and would meet his end not through enemy fire or blades, but by attrition, wave upon wave of chaos cultists and expendable troops thrown at him and his men, easily cut down, but slowing their progress and clogging the accessways into the Solar Guardian Array’s interior with their corpses. In this manner, in the lifeless void, Ferdous and thousands of his warriors suffocated to death, their lifeless bodies floating through the void, no mortal wounds upon their flesh.

### The 16th Division “*The Solar Harbingers*"

Though the IVth continued to
prefer mobile walkers such as Dreadnoughts or Robots for heavy weapon
deployment, the 16th Division was an exception, designated as an
Armoured Division, and boasting a far greater compliment of armoured fighting
vehicles than any other IVth Legion deployment, from the light Predators and
Sicarans, all the way to the super-heavy assets, such as Fellblades, Glaives
and Typhon Siege Tanks. To most, this would have been a ground based force, but
such was the scale of the Solar Guardian Array that these tanks were
comfortable fighting inside its confines, fighting literally across the entire
Sol system during the Solar War.

Despite their hideous losses
during the Solar War and the Battle of Sol, the 16th Survived, their
Commander, Ehsan Taghi, going on to form the core of the armoured might of the
new Star Guardians, connected body and soul through a permanent MIU link to the
Broadsword super-heavy assault tank *Unbroken*.

### The 17th Division “*The Brotherhood of Vengeance"*

The 17th Division - One of the
two Heavy Support Divisions, the 17th and 18th Divisions universally wielded
the largest Astartes portable weapons such as autocannons, heavy bolters and
lascannons, Heavy Support Squads being akin to tactical squads in other formations.
Their role was simply to bring as much firepower to bear at extreme range,
keeping the enemy pinned in place for other warriors to advance and destroy the
foe. Compared to the 18th Division, the Brotherhood of Vengeance prefered weapons with a higher rate of fire such as assault cannons, heavy bolters or autocannons.

Commanded by the twin, Nozar Ershard,
the Brotherhood of Vengeance was all but destroyed early in the Solar War,
listed as KIA as its warriors were folded into the still active 18th
Division.

### The 18th Division “*The Guardians of Xerxes"*

The 18th Division - One of the
two Heavy Support Divisions, the 17th and 18th Divisions universally wielded
the largest Astartes portable weapons such as autocannons, heavy bolters and
lascannons, Heavy Support Squads being akin to tactical squads in other
formations. Their role was simply to bring as much firepower to bear at extreme
range, keeping the enemy pinned in place for other warriors to advance and
destroy the foe. Compared to the 17th Division, the Guardians of Xerxes prfered slower, more powerful weapons, such as missile launchers, lascannons and conversion beamers.

Commanded by the twin, Arash Ershard,
the Division was initially designated to defend the greatest orbital plate of
Saturn, named Xerxes, and it is from this where they took their name. During
the battle of those orbital plates, the 18th is known to have
deployed in full, reaping a fearsome toll against the enemy armoured assets,
and even accounting for no less than four titan class kills before being forced
to withdraw. Many of their number were wounded and placed in stasis here, not
awoken until the legion was reborn by the grace of the Mechanicum.

### The 19th Division “*The Void Raptors*"

Though the IVth never placed much
stock in attack craft, preferring to focus on heavy ship classes and either
engaging in line battles or closing to boarding range, as they made the
transition from Crusading Legion to defensive legion, the need for rapid
response craft became clear. As such, the Division is equipped with every type
of orbital and sub-orbital strike craft within the arsenal of the Legiones
Astartes, from the standard Xiphons, Thunderhawks and Stormbirds, to craft
usually only used by the Imperial Navy, such as the Fury Interceptor or
Starhawk Bomber, right through to rare craft seldom seen elsewhere outside of
the Sol system, such as the Scapula-class Deep Space Fighter.

From their base of operations,
the mighty Super-Fleet Carrier, the *Ark Imperial,* Commander Soheil Bina conducted
grand exercises akin to the Blood Games of the Legio Custodes, forever probing
the SGA for weaknesses and in doing so, strengthening his defences. However,
despite their prodigious skill, the 19th took little action in the First
Solar War, a stray torpedo hitting the *Ark Imperial* as it withdrew from
the first defence line, overloading its warp engines and sending it screaming
into the other worldly plain. She and the entire 19th were officially
listed as MIA, no evidence presenting itself that the journey had been fatal.

### The 20th Division “*The Astral Ravagers*"

The IVth had never had any qualms
about utilising Destroyer type weaponry, in the days before Ullanor they had
never had a singular force of warriors wielding such weapons, each Division
keeping their own stockpiles. During the years between Ullanor and the Solar
War however, a Division was created with this specific form of war in mind,
each warrior wielding the deadliest of weapons known to man. The Division also
included the newly designated Heavy Destroyer terminator units, Commander Darius Kardmah leading these units from the front in all training exercises they
undertook.

However, few warriors bearing the
IVth Legions geneseed are as loathed as the 20th. During the First
Solar War, in the first weeks of the Warmasters invasion, over half of their
number turned from their appointed task, their deadly weapons instead targeting
loyal defenders of the throne as they declared their loyalty to Chaos, Darius
leading them with unrelenting fury and sadistic pleasure from that moment on.

### The Fracturam Division

Unlike all other Divisions in the
Star Guardians, the Fracturam Division did not boast a nominal strength of
10,000 warriors, nor was it named or numbered like the others, or indeed even
considered for deployment as a single entity. This is because unlike the other
Divisions, the warriors of the Fracturam Division were not merely flesh and
blood, but steel and oil, the might of the IVth Legions Fracturam residing within
its ranks, greater numbers of Dreadnoughts than possessed by any other legion.

Though he did not lead them as a
single entity on the field of battle, Fracturam Commander Varinius Rampt, the
first Lord Commander of the Star Guardians, was regarded as the first of their
kind, the highest of the high and the most revered in a brotherhood that
already stood in reverence amongst the IVth. Though many of their kind fell
during the Solar War, many more rose again after the wars end, their ranks
swelling as the red of Mars began to decorate their armour, the Star Guardians
standing tall once more, the undead forms of the Dreadnoughts now joined by the
undead form of the Revenax.