Legio Gojira

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The **Legio Gojira** are a famed Titan Legio founded on Kirya, in the realm of Yamatar during the Age of Strife. Long adapted to the rigours of battle against the vast alien beasts known as Ke'mano, they were unwittingly well-prepared for the turmoil of the Icarion Insurrection, in which the full might of the Collegia Titanica would be turned upon itself.

## History

The Legio Gojira served the Forge World of Kirya, within the Realm of Yamatar, and weathered brutal wars against the Ke'mano, vast and terribly powerful creatures which attacked from hidden portals on dozens of worlds. By their strength and valour, and that of their allies, the Legio Gojira held back the tide until the Scions Hospitalier led a great force into Yamatar to deliver it from the Ke'mano.

Long the core of Yannatar’s defence against their monstrous attackers, Gojira became renowned the length and breadth of the Imperium as slayers of beasts. In stark contrast to their allies, they adopted the aspect of their foes, and their Titans bore heads fashioned into bestial faces and skulls.

When Yamatar willingly bowed to the Emperor, the masters of Gojira were as quick as any to seal their pacts. This was to the consternation of Kelbor-Hal, who reluctantly tolerated the divergent paths that Kirya had taken, though emissaries were dispatched to temper some of their more egregious departures from orthodoxy. However, he was powerless to arrest Gojira’s rise to prominence, as they accompanied Pionus and his sons into their deadliest battles, and built a repute that rivalled several of the Mechanicum’s “core” Titan Legions.

While enemies of all kinds fell to the blades, cannon and claws of Gojira, it was against gargantuan beasts and machines that they showed the greatest skill and fervour. Yet while other such specialised Legions as Praesagus favoured superior firepower above all to bring down their foes, Gojira were as willing to engage in close combat as they were to blast them into submission. This was demonstrated early on in the Mothran Purges and when the Urfshaykur Mob barred the Scions’ advance through the Gevayn Sector.

The Orks of Urfshaykur fetishised size, as their kind are wont to do, but on a scale rarely seen in the annals of the Great Crusade. They fielded a bizarre array of Titan-analogs which had already caused severe losses to the Army regiments who had faced them, wielding guns of terrifying potency. Loosed upon Imperial dropsites, the Ork machines had glassed a dozen square kilometres around the Imperial dropsites in the initial battle.

The senior princeps of Gojira saw a vulnerability in the greenskins’ tactics, and beseeched Pionus to let them lead the next attack. Descending to the surface in a veritable cloud of escort craft, their Titans engaged the Orks blade-to-blade, too close for the Gargants to safely use their city-killing weapons. This, of course, was not enough disincentive for all the Ork pilots, and several god-machines were lost when a Gargant loosed its payload of plasma at point-blank range. But the Titans moved with a speed and purpose which their foes could not counter sufficiently, and their weapons mangled the lumpen machines. When dawn pierced the clouds of dust and smoke, the surviving Titans of Gojira stood proud among the broken bodies of the Urfshaykur behemoths.

From that day forth, Gojira had a guaranteed place in the Scions’ line of battle and Pionus’ councils, and the master of the XIXth worked to strengthen Yamatar. Gojira benefited most conspicuously from the arrangements made, given the resources to repair and replace their god-machines on campaign. The already extensive modifications to their Titans were taken further still with the input of XIXth Legion techmarines and bound Adepts, enabling them to serve in many of the oceans where the Scions often plied their trade. The lords of Mars did not hide their consternation at this development, and some older Titan Legions made clear their antipathy for these “upstarts.”

A Primarch was not deterred by such complaints, however, and Gojira’s rise continued. Their formidable service record was increasingly difficult to argue with, no matter the antipathy that the likes of Mortis held for them. The Legio’s fealty to their Omnissiah was as sincere as any, and it was with bitter fervour that they confronted their traitorous brethren when the Insurrection broke out.

## Material Strength

While never close to matching the likes of Tempestus or Mortis, Gojira boasted an impressive number of Titans, and could readily claim to be among the best-equipped. At the Insurrection’s outset it was a Secundus-Grade Legio, with 121 Titans in service. The bulk of the Legion was made up of Reaver and Warlord Titans, often configured to the Carnivore and Nightgaunt patterns. This suited the Legion’s preference for close-range engagements, although as they came to face a broader variety of foes, several war maniples came to use Nemesis Titans as a counterweight to their melee-oriented machines. Warhound Titans were optimised for operations against infantry and light armour; however it was rare for them to go without a melee weapon, a holdover from the days of the Ke’mano.

Gojira enjoyed exceptionally strong and diverse support forces for their size. Besides their close alliance with House Toho and the mortal armies of Yamatar, they could call upon three Skitarii battalions, five Cybernetica cohorts and several thousand tanks. It hardly needs to be added that their integration into the XIXth Legion’s forces granted them further protection, with companies of Scions dedicated to the defence of their ships.