Lightning Bearers

Lightning Bearers armorial with Legion iconography.

Lightning Bearers Legionary.

### Observed Strategic Tendencies

Psychic warfare,Ghost Crusade, Void Warfare, Naval Engagements, Zone Mortalis and Boarding Actions, Precognitive Warfare, [Purgation]

### Allegiance

Imperium of Man
(*Fedelitas Totalis*)

### Unique Organisations

Volta Terminator Squad, Oni Spectre Squad, Black Dragons, Vortice Enforcer Squad

### Colours

White, Black & Gold

The **Lightning Bearers** are a stolid, proud Legion, constant in their service to the Imperium. Through the Great Crusade they were warriors cut from starlight - fierce and intelligent - gracefully bearing the Emperor's own lightning iconography over centuries of glorious conquest during the Great Crusade. To common humanity, they were angels of light, a bright star in the firmament of the Emperor's great design. Their particular role in that design, however, was long obscured by the Emperor's order. Now that we can place it in the history of the Imperium, it takes on a new significance: a harbinger of the ordeal which the Imperium would suffer.

## Legion History

### Origins: The First Among Equals

"*We who bear the Emperor's Lightning, looked to the stars and saw a kingdom in His Image. We who are His will made manifest shall cast ourselves unto the Heavens and see that His dream shall come.*"
— Korvost Sahaal, First Legion Master of the IInd Legiones Astartes
As the Emperor turned his eyes to the stars beyond the unity of Terra, He raised new armies to fight His coming crusade. He drew these in part from the forces aiding Him in Terra's Unification, and in part from His subjugated enemies, and standing beside the gene-breeds, war-wights, and battle emissaries were the first of the Legiones Astartes. These Legionnaires were far from the vast armies in their hundreds of thousands which would later unify the galaxy, but inheritors, bearing the legacy of the Thunder Warriors that had come before them, which together represented a fighting force singular throughout history. The IInd Legion stood sentinel over the creation of the monolithic organization, the Legiones Astartes, as the Emperor’s prototypes.

While the Ist Legion stood sentinel over the creation of the the Legiones Astartes as the Emperor's prototypes, the IInd heralded the specialism which would define some of the Astartes. Just as pertinently, their development would bring with it the first appearance of psykers among the Astartes. Few Legions would be so defined by it as the Lightning Bearers.

For His second Legion, the Emperor recruited widely, though with a particular focus on the eastern Meditaer region. This is believed to have been advocated by General Zaron Ramdul, who had observed the prowess of the desert tribes in high-velocity engagements. He recommended to his liege that they be used as stock for one of the new Legions, and they were soon determined a good fit for the IInd.

Despite the psychic element inherent in the Legion’s gene-seed, it proved to have few of the drawbacks which afflicted some other Legions. Their steady rise attests that theirs was indeed pure, with a low rejection rate even in the beginning. With these early successes, cadres began to be raised and grouped into the structures established with the Ist. As well as education from military scholars, they trained under the eyes of veteran Thunder Warriors before taking to combat alongside them. These trials were costly, but they rapidly produced warriors of a pedigree never seen before on Terra and taught them the limitations of Thunder Warrior tactics.

Throughout their genesis the IInd strove to master any form of warfare in which they might be required to engage. The disordered formations and sledgehammer attacks of the Thunder Warriors had no place in their methods; the IInd became synonymous with intricate strategies which could nonetheless pivot around a single factor. This is thought to be the first evidence of the foresight which later became their hallmark - the ability to see the point on which an entire battle might hinge, and seize the opportunity.

The first time that the IInd was unleashed in full occurred during the three-day Battle of Lakad. As their conscript forces were pushed back, the Heart Taker priesthood which controlled this city unleashed the Thur-Gea, genetically modified soldiers akin to the Thunder Warriors and steeped in the blade-cult practices of the region. Even the terrifying power of the Thunder Warriors would have struggled to overcome this similarly gen-hanced strength, but even as the Thur-Gea charged the Ist Legion swept onto the battlefield by gunship and cut through the Thur-Gea. The larger giants were felled by the newer, swifter breed in mere hours, their every blow all too obvious to the Legionaries and their deaths coming as if ordained.

From Franc to Merica the Legion won dazzling victories in this manner, and the battle against the witch-cult of Orioc - dubbed the Silencing of the Eternal Dirge - became the capstone of their deeds on Terra. Their status was made clear with the name they chose, taken from the title of the last Thunder Warrior. The Lightning Bearers, the IInd Legion became, mindful of those who had come before them even as they looked to the future. Still greater deeds awaited, and the Lightning Bearers' growth continued as the Great Crusade stretched out into the void from Terra.

### The Ghost Crusade

The Silencing of the Eternal Dirge left clues as to the particular purpose the Emperor intended for His Second Legion, had any known what to look for. The Emperor, who is said to have traversed the Galaxy even as Old Night sundered Man’s domains, knew the worst of what waited for his armies. Mutation, xenos marauders and madness would afflict thousands of worlds, but these were mere physical obstacles. Fewer - far fewer - but more problematic were those worlds where the separation of realspace and the Warp - that unknowable dimension by which we cheat distance and move across the Galaxy - had frayed. The denizens of the æther, beyond their threat to human life, posed a threat to the very foundation of the Imperium, for the entire edifice rested upon a falsehood. The Galaxy was sterile; religion was myth and nothing more. The Warp defies reason however, and the things that inhabit it no less so. For the sake of Crusade such incursions were to be purged.

Standing mandates existed under which sufficient ætheric breaches were grounds for the world's destruction. However, these were not always successful in banishing the taint. Moreover, in some systems the resources on a world or even the system’s position among the arteria of the Warp mandated a more direct approach, cleansing the world instead of wiping it out. Thus it was that the Ghost Crusade was proclaimed, in the utmost secrecy, and entrusted to a single Legion. When this is considered, the urge to expand and equip the Lightning Bearers when several Legions lacked even a fraction of their power, takes on a new significance. The same might be said for the terrible relic-weapons they retained in their arsenals, and the psychic gifts which became apparent early on in the Crusade.

Only the merest fragments have been retrieved from data-cores and decoded, where the Ghost Crusade is concerned. The numbers of words scoured, the tally of the lost and the horrors overcome must remain for all time unknown. Instances are recorded here and there of Ist Legion elements partially withdrawing from a campaign or being abruptly reassigned from their existing campaign, but these attracted no serious attention, however. They were the Emperor's favoured Legion; if he called they answered, and it was not for others to question why. And soon any questions would be blotted out when a Rogue Trader fleet drew near to a world named Madrigal, and found the Primarch of the IInd Legion

### Edge of the Maelstrom

Compared to many worlds that became host to a Primarch, Madrigal's prior existence is well-documented in the annals of the Mechanicum, being a colony founded by Mars as the Age of Strife set in. While the Red World and Terra warred with each other and then themselves, Madrigal endured the onset of Old Night. Drawing in cultures which struggled to hold together, it became a powerful stellar polity. Even a large and growing psyker population was a source of prosperity rather than a cause for alarm, though the Warp anomaly known as the Maelstrom loomed close to the world. By the time contact was established with Mars and the Mechanicum sent its Explorators, Madrigal was strong enough to be accepted as a partner to those magi who made their way to the edge of the Maelstrom. The world itself remained verdant even as its moon Akira grew into a shipyard to rival Saturn in its golden era.

But this happy equilibrium was not to last. The surviving archives attest to growing tensions within and without the Mechanicum sect, of clandestine meetings and increasingly esoteric research as a cabal sought to combine forbidden science and psyker arts prohibited by the rulers of Madrigal. Finally, the conspiracies took nightmare form, coalescing into an individual: the Thunder King. Machine-lord and blasphemous sorcerer, he unleashed a war which consumed the fertile surface of Madrigal in atomic fire and Warp-spawned horror. Though the Thunder King was eventually defeated, entombed beneath the world’s crust, Madrigal was irrevocably changed. The survivors were confined to the fortress-cities they had built upon the world’s mountains, and the extent of the strife had drawn a tendril of the Maelstrom perilously close. Every two centuries, the world would pass through it and endure what became known as the "Time of Storms."

The people of Madrigal and the surviving magos of Akira conferred, and realised that their orbit would carry them through the Warp-tendril. Necessity forced them to cooperate, and they threw themselves into the construction of what came to be known as the Macro-Geller Field. While not as secure as the ubiquitous, ship-sized field, this shielded Madrigal and Akira from the worst of the Warp’s onslaught, and those spectres that menaced the world and moon were destroyed by the warriors of Madrigal. When the threat abated, the rulers of Madrigal and Akira vowed that they would never again permit the power of the Warp to be abused in such a fashion.

The people of Madrigal honed their martial skills, developing lethal vibro-blades and power armour with which to brave the terrors in the rad-clouds. Their increasing prowess was complimented by their psyker-talents, which had become a uniform gift of precognition, merely latent for most but astonishingly potent in the hands of those who set themselves to mastering it. One day, on the cusp of a new century, one of these masters was struck by a vision. His name was Ikaru Anasem, and he foresaw the arrival of a child who would restore the fortunes of Madrigal.

### Stormborn

Many responded with skepticism to Ikaru's pronouncement, but the Magister stuck to his belief and when the infant’s pod came streaking down through Madrigal's atmosphere it landed not on the surface, but in a suspensor web constructed by the technologists of Anasem. Taken in by Ikaru and his immediate family, he was raised as both a warrior and scholar. His curiosity was boundless, whether in the arts of war, science or history. While he had not yet attained the mastery of foresight which allowed him to gaze years into the future, his "immediate" precognition was superlative, and he soon proved himself on several expeditions to the surface. Yet he resisted the injunctions of his adoptive father to take part in politics, instead preferring to explore and test his own limits.

It was perhaps inevitable then that he drew envy from his contemporaries. By far the most important of these was the scion of the Clan Tokawa, Hirato. Until Icarion grew into adolescence, Hirato was reckoned the most promising young warrior on the planet, and he studied with the young Primarch. It seems that Hirato came to resent the ease with which Icarion mastered so many skills, and the crippling of his father during an expedition - one which ultimately saw him killed by radiation exposure - soured it further as the responsibilities of ruling his Clan weighed on him, while Icarion was free to earn renown. Over the years, bitterness became violent ambition as another passage through the Time of Storms loomed.

Struggle between Clans was no stranger to Madrigal, though hostilities were traditionally put on hold when the baleful tendril loomed in the skies. Fourteen years after Icarion's arrival, Tokawa and Anasem had become embroiled in a war against the Clan Kadora. Hirato and Icarion fought together in the battle that brought the renegades to heel with only weeks to spare before the Time of Storms, which would have allowed them to entrench. In the aftermath, Hirato received the leaders of Anasem in his sky-city, only to bare his teeth. It was an observed phenomenon that when the Time of Storms drew near, the seers of Madrigal often had their second sight occluded by the tides of the Immaterium, and Hirato exploited this against his unsuspecting guests. After the feast’s conclusion, Hirato’s soldiers descended upon the Anasem quarters with cruel efficiency, murdering all they found. Icarion fought his way free with a few of his kin, only for their craft to be torn from the sky, vanishing into the clouds.

No one imagined that any could have survived the crash, and with Clan Anasem devastated, Hirato met with no meaningful opposition when he declared himself Shogun over the planet. With ruthlessness and cunning, he tightened his hold, pillaging ever more ruinous weapons from the surface and even building hermetically sealed strongholds in a few places, garrisoned by loyal soldiers and manned by slaves taken from among his subjects. Most cruelly, he began to banish his opponents to the wastes to be hunted by his warriors. While his rival was most assuredly dead, he seems to have grown obsessed with augmentation and surpassing Icarion's power. Five years later, he was barely human, a tyrant of metal and ceramite, and even the Magos of Akira quailed at him. Ship-building was renewed in the void around Madrigal, ready to spread his tyranny to the stars.

Then expeditions to the ruined cities began to vanish. The butchered carcasses of animals appeared, seemingly killed for food. Redoubts were broken open, weapons and supplies taken, their personnel vanished or slain, and the icon of the Clan Tokawa desecrated wherever it was depicted. Soldiers dispatched to find the cause found either nothing or death, but a picture emerged nonetheless. Something was stalking the wastes and ruins, able to endure the rad-scoured environs and overcome anything sent against it, intelligent enough to outwit and overcome anyone sent after it, and implacable once roused to anger. In other words, a Primarch.

When Icarion emerged he did not do so alone. He had carefully assembled an army from liberated slaves and rescued outcasts, housing them in the catacombs beneath the Tiger Claw Mountains. The carefree warrior of his youth faded rapidly as he learned of the crimes being visited upon his people, and as he plotted Hirato’s downfall the solemn warlord of Imperial history coalesced. Over half a decade his army amassed weapons and trained, waiting to exact retribution. Then they struck. From a seething mass of storm clouds they emerged, clad in plain grey armour and Icarion bearing two exquisite archeotech blades, a spear and sword. They moved as one, and quickly seized the city built atop the mountains. The news triggered unrest across Madrigal, as people saw a potential saviour in the vengeful warrior.

Hirato meanwhile was frenzied in his reaction, calling his army together to slay Icarion once and for all. Icarion must have foreseen this, immediately attacking one of the outlying Tokawa bases. Hirato took the bait, racing there before his forces could fully assemble, and the fortress burned. Amid the carnage the two met, the gene-forged warrior and the machine-bulked despot now equal in stature. Their duel raged across the landing plates, lesser warriors scattering from their path, savaging one another until Icarion finally plunged his spear through Hirato's throat. He had taken grievous wounds, his armour gouged and scorched, but the victory was his. Now, as people came forth to see this liberator had felled their ruler, Icarion knelt and took up the mantle Ikaru had intended for him. To his last breath, he would be the guardian of Madrigal.

Icarion was tireless in his work from this day. His first move was to reform the Astral Colleges, aiming to ensure that they exerted greater authority over their students. Destructive pride and ambition were to be discouraged, self-control stressed from the lowliest novice to the highest circle of magisters. Men of courage and wit were drawn from across the Clans to govern the world, and Madrigal began to move past the recent strife. Progress accelerated at a constant rate, making it difficult to say with any certainty when Icarion first became aware of the father coming to claim him. Scholars have passionately argued for almost any time-frame, some claiming that his first inkling precipitated the end of his exile, others suggesting that he only knew a few days before the Imperial fleet translated into the system. Regardless, when the Emperor arrived, He found His son waiting.

### Third Son

"*You shall be likened to a thunderbolt, the essence of my wrath, liberators to Humanity.*"
— Emperor of Mankind to Primarch Icarion Anasem, upon his assumption of command of the IInd Legion
Reunion was treated with all the pomp and ceremony such an occasion deserved, both on Madrigal and the worlds of the existing Imperium. Primarch and Legion accepted one another eagerly. Examining the records, speaking with his sons and fairly devouring the *Principia Belicosa* and other texts, Icarion found little in the Legion’s structure that he wished to alter. Their ethos he adapted subtly, weaving the teachings of the Astral College into the fabric of the Legion. This became the way in which Aspirants from both Terra and Madrigal learned to wield their powers. Resources flowed into his realm, and Akira became capable of supplying many of the Legion’s demands by itself. This can be seen in their distinctive armour variants and the preponderance of vibro-blades among the Lightning Bearers.

But the real test came with Icarion’s first forays into the Great Crusade at his father’s side, and he did not disappoint. A consummate general and warrior whose skill and grace defied any effort to describe them, Icarion led his sons to new heights of conquest. With that same dedication and skill, he accepted the heavy burden of the Ghost Crusade. So perfectly matched were the Primarch and his sons that the Lightning Bearers’ name remained unchanged. Around the Lightning Bearers Icarion built a great host, both from the domains of Madrigal and Akira and other worlds in the growing Imperium. The warrior culture of Madrigal permeated the Lightning Bearers - indeed, such aspects as the fascination with storms made for an uncanny fit with the existing Legion - and in every kind of warfare they excelled. They went about the building of the Imperium much as they had the Madrigal Sphere; stern and unyielding in war but magnanimous in victory, eager to bring the Emperor's dream to fruition.

In short order, Icarion proved a worthy addition to the brotherhood of Primarchs. He was a true warrior-scholar, who called upon deep wells of knowledge and wisdom as well as his prowess in battle. In the early Crusade he cut a peculiar figure beside the Twins and Kozja Darzalas, and many looked quizzically upon the plainly aether-touched Primarch. Others recognised that he embodied a particular aspect of his father’s powers, and deduced that he was meant to play a particular role in the Emperor’s designs.

The Lightning Bearers fought in many of the Crusade's greatest campaigns, and often at the side of the Emperor Himself as in the Vremalkyr Incursions and the Chahlem Offensive. In a roll of honour which stretched to tens of thousands of battles, defeat was a vanishingly rare blemish. Perhaps the only marks against them were their reserved nature and the way in which, responding to the demands of their hidden war, the Legion’s course through the Great Crusade could appear haphazard and inconsistent. Yet whenever they proved unavailable for a campaign, their admission came with the Emperor's seal, which none could dispute.

### The Slight and the Shadowed Path

**The Power of Names**

It is perhaps with some confusion readers may have with the overt use of the old title Lightning Bearers as opposed to the more notorious Harbingers. It is an unfortunate side effect of this piece being historical in nature, primarily concerned with the Great Crusade era.

For the unaware, while **(Add Name)** may have chosen the path of betrayal years before the Day of Revelation, it would only be on the Day of Revelation that he would re-name the vaunted IInd Legion to the Harbingers that is now more popularly known. The first recorded use of the Lightning Bearers is known from an address from the Stormborn to the 18th Expeditionary Fleet, whose survivors brought word back to Terra. The small number of remaining Loyalists of the Ist Legion would reject this new title as they embraced the name Lightning Bearers to further distinguish themselves from their traitorous brothers.

From piecing together later excepts from propaganda vox-casts, it is known that Icarion originally intended the name as a warning. The Harbingers were sounding the alarm of the Emperor's future perfidy. Of course, such intentions, no matter how well-intended, have now faded way as the name Harbingers have come to symbolise much darker tidings. The arrival of evil and corruption.

Even when Icarion, **(Add Primarch)** and Gwalchavad followed their sire through the Koloss Syntheticide, the First Son fought beside the Emperor more often than either of his brothers as they wrested worlds from the Abominable Intelligence and its armies. He was the First Primarch, master of the First Legion, and his primacy seemed unquestionable. Even as he had led the majority of his warriors in the Koloss campaign, a sizeable force of Lightning Bearers had fought with honour in the Qarith Crusade. When the Emperor announced His withdrawal from the Crusade on Qarith Prime, the shock was tempered by an expectation that Icarion would lead in His place. Perhaps the Emperor had been preparing Icarion for this moment ever since He found him. It was only to be expected.

Then the Emperor appointed His Warmaster - the (Add Name) Son - **(Add Primarch)**. Shock and confusion followed, though Icarion fervently supported his brother. He and **(Add Primarch)** had always been close, alike in their idealism and psychic gifts even if their demeanours contrasted sharply. Indeed it was said that **(Add Primarch)** was one of the few brothers who could coax out Icarion's old cheerfulness. And with Icarion's support, **(Add Primarch)** had acceptance in his role, however grudging it might have been from some quarters.

Yet there was the suggestion of brittleness in the years that followed, and a kernel of doubt grew in Icarion’s psyche. **(Add Primarch)**’s efforts to ensure that the Council of Terra and the Primarchs did not grow estranged meant that he himself could seem distant from the Crusade he was meant to be leading, and discontent reverberated among several of the Primarchs. A rebellion against the Imperium, led by a Rogue Trader who had previously served under Icarion, likely strained him further. After this, it seems Icarion received a missive from Socraes Travier.

Exactly what passed between the two is the subject of conjecture and no more, but it seems that Travier interfered in some way with his brother’s foresight, planting the conviction that the Emperor intended to destroy Madrigal and the Lightning Bearers with it. If that is indeed the truth, then it is the cruellest irony in Icarion’s tale, for Travier used not his pride or ambition, but instead exploited his very best qualities to bring about his descent. For from this point Icarion’s future would darken irrevocably, until finally his past nobility became little more than a faint, mocking glimmer, all but blotted out by the evil that consumed the Stormlord’s soul.

## Notable Campaigns

Until the appointment of Alexandros as Warmaster, there was a common saying that the Lightning Bearers were the First Legion in all things, and their pristine record would often be pointed to by those discontented with the Warmaster. While the Insurrection would reveal the Halcyon Wardens as a sorely underestimated force, it is true that in terms of raw conquest and the sheer scale of their triumphs, the Lightning Bearers were unmatched. No other shared so many battlefields with the Emperor, and Icarion led them to glory on hundreds of worlds. Many of their most famous victories have been examined in such detail that we could never hope to compete with; the Sordra Cleansing and the War for Agorium in particular have been the subject of multiple, formidable works. Instead we shall turn our attention to the following disparate battles which shed particular light upon the nature of this Legion.

### The Battle of Lakad

The first battle ever fought by a Legion Astartes in the Unification Wars, this three-day engagement saw the Ist Legion destroy the genhanced Thur-Gea elites of the Lakad Heart-Takers.

### The Silencing of the Eternal Dirge (779.M30)

Main article: The Silencing of the Eternal Dirge

The Silencing of the Eternal Dirge was a campaign undertaken by the Legion in the far south of Terra, during the late Unification Wars. It saw the Warp-cult of Veregav destroyed.

### The Battle of Gneos

The Lightning Bearers and the Legio Telesto destroyed the xenos which infested Gneos, the Titans of the Thunder Blades doing much to destroy the aliens' own great war machines.

### Compliance of Argos Rho-4 (841.M30)

Main article: The Compliance of Argos Rho-4

The Compliance of Argos-Rho IV was a battle fought by the Lightning Bearers against the Eldar for control of the Argos-Rho system and the Webway gates located there, alongside the Rogue Trader Intana Yonez and the forces he commanded.

### The Castigation of Amstarod (847. M30)

Icarion personally led his Legion and House Sunhava against the rebellious Knights of House Amstarod, breaking them as an independent power within the Imperium. The remnants were sentenced to indentured service, under the command of the Nihon Mechanicum.

### The Conquest of Mexicatii (902.M30)

The Lightning Bearers fought under the command of the Emperor to bring the homeworld of Socraes Travier to Compliance, destroying the bloodthirsty theocracy which ruled it. However, a lengthy post-Compliance campaign would have to be mounted by the **(Add Legion)** in the aftermath.

### The Vremalkyr Incursions (981.M30)

Main article: The Vremalkyr Incursions
The main strength of the Lightning Bearers sallied forth under the command of the Emperor himself to end the depredations of these xenos monsters. Alongside the Void Eagles and **(Add Legion)** they followed the Master of Mankind into a relief campaign which saved much of the Southern Imperium from destruction and ended the godlike power of the Vremalkyr. In the aftermath Icarion made an overture to the devastated House Rakham, whose territories had been laid waste during the early stages of the fighting. In time this would gain him a powerful new ally.

### The Koloss Syntheticide (996-999.M30)

Main article: The Koloss Syntheticide
On the cusp of the new millennium, a Mechanicum Explorator fleet encountered the Obzen Apparatus, an AI system which had devoted itself to the extirpation of organic life. Expanding slowly throughout the centuries of Old Night, the ruling intelligence known as Koloss carved out a small but powerful empire for itself. When the Emperor heard of this threat He resolved to see it crushed, and the Lightning Bearers were the first Legion to heed His call.

Icarion brought the main strength of his Legion and was soon joined by the Halcyon Wardens, Shepherds of Eden and the Wardens of Light and many more auxiliary forces. What followed was a gruelling war of extermination which culminated in a ferocious battle on Stengah, where the Koloss intelligence dwelt. Throughout the campaign the Lightning Bearers' prescience was was a tremendous asset against the hive-minded *agma* constructs of the enemy.

On Stengah itself the Emperor was overborne and struck down by the vast war machine Koloss had housed itself within. The Master of Mankind might have fallen then but for Icarion and **(Add Primarch)**, who interposed themselves and forced back the behemoth. The Emperor, now given His opening, attacked again and annihilated the Abominable Intelligence.

### The Ginlas Rebellion (017.M31)

The Rogue Trader Merrice Ginlas made an audacious attempt to hold several systems around her fief to ransom. However a Lightning Bearers fleet caught wind of her scheme, and Icarion vowed to personally see the rebel dead. To this end he called upon Daer'dd Niimkiikaa and Raktra Akarro, and Ginlas' forces were dismembered by the elites of three Legiones Astartes. Ginlas died upon Icarion's spear and the operation was deemed a great success, remarkably clean considering the involvement of the VIIth Legion. However tensions had arisen during the campaign, mainly between the Berserkers and Iron Bears but also between Icarion and Daer'dd.

### The Battle of Conota (021.M31)

Main article: The Battle of Conota

The Battle of Conota was a battle fought by the Lightning Bearers against the Rak'gol. The victory was marred by the loss of Marshal Ri-an Antru and several other senior offices, in what appeared to be a severe blemish on the Legion's record at the time. Later, events were to frame the battle and its losses as a deliberate purge conducted by Icarion and Susanoo Empyon against likely Loyalist holdouts.

### Legion Command Hierarchy

Heraldry became integral to rank among the Lightning Bearers, starting with the helmet crests which identified sergeants and lieutenants. From captain upwards the marks of rank became more esoteric, with the storm-cloaks of the clan warriors serving as a badge of office for Senior Captain, who commanded the battalions. Commanders bore the Datemato crest upon their helmets as they commanded the Brotherhoods. They were appointed not on the authority of their superiors, but in a vote taken by the Senior Captains and captains.

A Sentinel held considerably more direct power than many of his counterparts, tempered by the elective nature of his appointment. In other Legions a senior commander might retain a command company whilst relinquishing direct responsibility for any other specific part of his command. Others such as the **(Add Legion)** maintained looser links between their companies, and its senior captains were notionally indistinct from the rest. A Commander however retained his own battalion command as well as responsibility for the entire Brotherhood. This served both to magnify his authority and provide a strong central element in each Maniple.

In what was already a deferential Legion, this was seen overwhelmingly as a boon, maintaining close links between a Sentinel and his men, and giving him a means of exerting his influence over the Maniple he led. However, there were those in other Legions who found things to criticise. To some, the practice hindered flexibility in the Lightning Bearers' tactical approach, causing them to compensate with their foresight. However this proved popular with other Legions, who willingly followed the example of the Ist. Others suggested that it created a conservative command echelon, often unwilling to experiment and grant responsibility to men outside their own close circles. Tellingly, the **(Add Legion)** only adopted a stripped-down version of this system, and the changes they made were in the name of elasticity. Still, none of the Legion’s critics could argue with the dazzling military record the Lightning Bearers possessed.

Only one rank stood above the Commanders, and that was the Sentinels. Three men of valour that formed Icarion's personal circle of advisors and wielded enormous power and influence for it. Each Sentinel bore a unique title. The Sentinel of Gates presided over the Astral College as Magi-Maximal. His task was to oversee the training and selection of future Kisai within the legion; those warriors of the various orders whose psychic powers flared brighter than their peers. In many ways, the very soul of the Legion was the purview of the Sentinel of Gates. Considered a lorekeeper and peacemaker within the Legion, The Sentinel of Gates sat as leader of the council of Order Masters keeping track of the records and secrets of the Ist Legion while simultaneously enforcing a balance between the various Celestial orders within the College vying for power.

The Sentinel of Locks commanded the fighting strength of the Legion in the Primarch's name. Historically this role has always been granted to the Legion's First Captain, the Commander of the First Brotherhood. A scholar with few peers in the arts of warcraft, the Sentinel of Locks was the defacto Legion master overseeing the training, deployments and arming of Legiones Astartes warriors. He stood first among equals within the ranks of the Brotherhood Commanders and even his fellow Sentinels deferred to his office on matters of combat and strategy.

The Sentinel of Keys held authority over the Lightning Bearers' auxiliary forces. The Sentinel of Keys oversaw the inclusion of the mortal elements of the Legion's war material. Principal among these forces were the Rakurai, fleet assets, Mechanicum Taghmata, and the Forges which supplied the Legion with arms, armour and ammunition. Perhaps the most important role of the Sentinel of Keys, laid in the realm of political oversight of the realm of the Sphere, diplomatic oversight with other imperial and non-imperial Agencies and subsequently, intelligence gathering for the Legion. Together, the three Sentinels reflected an important aspect of the Legion and were second only to Icarion himself.

### Specialist Formations

#### Atono

Part of First Marshal Susanoo Empyon's personal company, the Atono comprised the finest blademasters of the Legion and deployed in the manner of Despoiler Marines.

#### Hekirei Terminators

Equipped with Tartaros Terminator Armour, these warriors belonged to the First Company.

#### Inzuma Devastators

The final component of the First Company, the Inzuma squads were highly equipped heavy support specialists.

#### Volta

Main article: Volta Terminator Squad

The Volta of the Blue Oni are a more mystical branch of the Harbingers who combine several roles of warrior, seer, and leader as they travel the stars. These honoured men in terminator plate have voluntarily forsaken the sight of the physical world. In return, their divination prowess is heightened to a considerable degree, even among their fellow Librarians. Wielding two volkite rifles, they eschew the sword. Only the foolish believes this choice make them easy prey in close combat where they will demonstrate an unnerving accuracy that allows them to challenge any opponent either near or far from them.

Yet, as careful disciplines of the future, they lend their foreknowledge off the battlefield as well. Governors, rulers, and commanders alike blessed by the suggestion or recommendation from a Volta have always reaped benefit. As such, many have sought to hear from these blind diviners for one purpose or another.

While all Legionaries bearing the Primarch Icarion's gene-seed exhibit psychic gifts (most commonly in the form of precognitive visions and future scrying), the Volta master this gift to the level of art form. Chosen as neophytes by the Legions Magisters, these fated aspirants are put through gruelling trials and rigorous studies until they become peerless in their ability to predict and observe the world around them. Their final initiation before donning the mantel of Volta is the ritual blinding; freeing them from the burden of false sight so that their minds eye can truly focus.

These ritually-blinded Astartes are able to foresee the swing of a blade or the trajectory of ordinance through Battle-scrying. So talented are they at avoiding the blows of enemies and pinpointing their own, the Volta forsake close combat weapons entirely; choosing instead to march to war bearing a pair of arcane weapons from the I Legion armories as they march forward in terminator plate. Though blind, these psychic gunslingers aim is nevertheless eerily accurate. Because of this, Volta are naturally drawn to the fulcrum of a combat zone, to the exact moment where one crucial decision or blow can swing the tide of victory. For it is their philosophy that the future is only somewhat malleable, some events are locked and can only be reacted to.

Though their role on the battlefields of the Great Crusade as elite troops and bodyguards are valuable, it is as a councilor that the Volta truly shine. Many a compliance has been rescued from disaster by the well-timed advice from these mystic advisors.

#### Oni

Main article: Oni Spectre Squad

Amongst the Lightning Bearers, many Astartes exhibit a singular gift for precognition and Future sight, however none seek to utilise their gift as aggressively as the Oni of the Red Path. Senior Members of this Celestial Order have found their niche amongst the IInd Legiones Astartes as Paragons of close-combat. As one of the largest Celestial Orders, the Oni of the Red Path share their name with one of the specific units deployed by the Lightning Bearers. These aggressive warriors emulate the nature of ancient demons as they fight their way through the battlefield.

When it comes to their form of battle-scrying, the Oni believe the future is ever fluid and changing. Thus, it is their philosophy that a powerful will can direct the waters of fate as he wills. Thus, the Oni are superlative blade masters, whose unique gift of Battle-Scrying allows them move with a preternatural grace and swiftness in the heat battle that is said to be almost hypnotic. Equipped with a prototype Teleportation Device designed by Icarion himself, the Oni are able to perform short distance "warp shunts" using their psychic prowess to tunnel their way through warpspace traveling from point to point on a battlefield, making them a highly skilled and mobile assault unit among the Legion.

#### Black Dragons

Main article: Black Dragons
For those who commit themselves to the Volta, sacrifice comes naturally. Nowhere is this more apparent than their willingness to forfeit their eyes in pursuit of strengthening their mind-sight. Service to the legion is fraught with sacrifice and this can be seen clearly when one looks upon the Black Dragons.

Dreadnoughts inhabit a peculiar place within the wider Lightning Bearers Legion. It is not, for instance; standard practice to place critically injured Astartes into a dreadnaught chassis so that they might continue their service to the Legion. In fact, to be 'brought back' from the edge of death is seen as unnatural and a stain upon ones honour. Traditionally, only warriors who request vengeance with their dying breath are granted the chance to serve on within a Dreadnought's cold sarcophagus. To choose vengeance over honourable death is seen as both a source great shame to the warrior and as an incredible sacrifice to his brothers.

To be a dreadnought in the Lightning Bearers is to be a vengeful spirit, a wraith whose sole purpose is to stalk the battlefields of Great Crusade in search of vengeance. The ultimate goal of these cursed warriors is to earn death, that final external sleep when both honour and vengeance have at last been satisfied.

There remains however, another manner of service and sacrifice within the IInd Legion; these are the Black Dragons.

The fact that dreadnought service remains taboo amongst the Lightning Bearers means that the critical fire support offered by these adamantium behemoths is quite frequently lacking from the Legion's order of battle. To fill this gap, there exists the Black Dragons, warriors (most commonly devoted to the Volta Order) who choose to willingly submit to the surgeries required to encase their previously healthy forms into dreadnought engines.

To willingly embrace this iron future, these warriors must be both strong of will and of faith in their Legions purpose. This manner of sacrifice comes naturally to the Volta, and it is seen as a mark of great character and modesty to their brothers that they would be willing sacrifice their future glories in order to serve the Legion.

### Vortice Enforcers

Main article: Vortice Enforcer Squad
As the Emperor's burgeoning Imperium grew, its rule was foisted upon dozens of worlds whose people chose to cleave to their backward ways instead of embracing the Imperial Truth. The Vortice squads, clad in Arkonak Terminator plate, were Icarion's answer to the threat of defiance. Chosen for their unquestioning loyalty to their Primarch, they were tasked with rooting out dissenters wherever they found them and making a brutal example of them, ensuring that the Emperor's dominion held. Several IInd Legion officers, put in charge of newly conquered worlds, found it expedient to take a squad of these fearsome warriors as personal retainers, and over time the units became commonplace among invasion forces as well.

## War Disposition

Early access to their Primarch's mature gene-code ensured that the Lightning Bearers' steady growth only continued throughout the Great Crusade, bolstered by the tithes of recruits from Madrigal and the domains Icarion established around it. Their Terran recruiting rights were retained for over a century after the reunion, and when the XVIth Legion's development faltered at the Alpha stage, many of its aspirants went to the IInd instead. As a result, the renamed Harbingers numbered over 250,000 warriors on the Day of Revelation divided into approximately 250 Maniples. This strength was further augmented by the Rakurai, Army regiments raised from Madrigal’s empire who were a match for the Solar Auxilia, and the formidable Taghmata Akira. In time, the Legio Telesto was founded upon the Forge Moon, growing strong on its industry.

Automata, Skitarii and Titans were only a part of Akira’s gifts to the Lightning Bearers. Akira gave them a great array of weapons, adding to an arsenal already stocked with the best that Mars could provide, and the archeotech weapons entrusted to the Ist after Unity on Terra. In particular the Lightning Bearers bore more volkite weapons than any other Legion, both as personal arms and mounted on their vehicles. Akira gave the Legion a pattern of Fire Raptor that became known as the Ash Phoenix for the devastation it created with these weapons, and played a key role in the development of the Sicaran Ulstor Assault Tank.

At the time of the Qarith Triumph, the Legion's fleet counted as many ships built over Akira as from the shipyards of the Sol system. Some 6,000 ships bore the four-pointed star and thunderbolt. These did not rival the Void Eagles for the number of vessels they commanded, nor was their culture marinated in void-sailing like the IVth Legion and its mortal servants. By any other measure, though, it was majestic, the ships equipped to Icarion's exacting standards.

Many of these formidable assets were discreetly redirected in the weeks before Icarion began his rebellion. From here, they prepared for new campaigns, ready to strike against the Emperor’s bastions and carve out a domain for the Stormborn. Several battalions were resupplying in the Madrigal system when the Halcyon Wardens arrived, and it seems that some of these were earmarked to accompany Pyrrhicles to Terra. Instead, they were unleashed to destroy the Halcyon Wardens before they could carry their warning of treachery to the Warmaster, and then to conduct a conquest of nearby Imperial space.

## Legion Wargear

* **Ætheric Lore** - In the Astral College, the Harbringers had access to an institution centred around psychic practice and education that was ancient long before the creation of the Librarius. Any one of the IInd's numerous psykers born on Madrigal would have been inducted in their ways from a young age and thus given access to a repository of ætheric knowledge and techniques unrivalled among the Legions except in half-forgotten whispers.
* **Focusing Crystals** - Though not unknown, psy-focusing crystals are somewhat of a rarity in the galaxy. Not so on Madrigal. Whether they were manufactured or simply found there is another piece of knowledge lost to the planet's tumultuous past, but such the frequency with which they are found there and the potency they possess mean that they are a common sight among the Harbingers. In the hands of the IIst's psykers, they control and magnify an already formidable power.

## Legion Vehicles

* **Ash Phoenix** - Alone among the Legions, the IInd continued to possess volkite weaponry in large numbers into the dark years of the Insurrection, thanks to the industrious forges of Akira and its satellites. The skyborne civilisation of Madrigal led them to favour gunships in their armoury both for the insertion of troops and as highly mobile gun-platforms, and as such these too were equipped with esoteric weapons. It is said that Icarion himself helped to design the Ash Phoenix, derived from the more common Fire Raptor in the Lightning Bearers' early campaigns against daemonic infestations. Armed with a twin-linked Volkite Demi-Culverin, it proved lethal against infantry of all kinds.

## Legion Combat Doctrine

### Rites of War

"*Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.*"
— Ancient Military Strategist M(-1)
* **Vaults of the Thunder King** - Deep beneath the Madrigalan surface lay the buried secrets of the planet's long fallen tyrant lord. Here lay secrets both terrible and wonderful, the relics of a crueller era. The Harbingers always had sought to harness this ancient legacy of power. When they march to war those honoured with the plunder of these vaults bear with them weapons of a lethal potency not commonly seen among their brothers.
* **Destined Assault** - A hallmark of the Harbingers' way of warfare was the use of rapid assaults, planned using the precognitive talents of the Legion's Celestial Orders and moving in a pattern their enemies could not comprehend. Before battle was even joined, skilled Battle-Scriers could pinpoint specific targets whose capture or elimination could alter the outcome of the wider conflict, in essence identifying the precise fulcrum around which a battle’s course would turn.

## Notable Lightning Bearers/Harbingers

* **Icarion Anasem** - Icarion Anasem was the Primarch of the IInd Legion, known as the Lightning Bearers. Raised on Madrigal, the first of the Emperor's sons to be found and reunited with his creator. Icarion was and remained the closest to the Master of Mankind. He and his Legion were the most celebrated of all the Space Marines.
* **Korvost Sahaal** - Legion Master of the Second before reunifying with their lost Primarch upon the world of Madrigal.
* **Susanoo Empyon** - First Marshal of the IInd Legion and Sentinel of Locks, known as the '*Blade of the Tempest*', Empyon was a true veteran of the IInd Legion, having distinguished himself many times as both a warrior and commander. Perhaps more than any other Sentinel, he was the one trusted to speak for the Stormborn and lead the Lightning Bearers in his absence, as he did in the Qarith War.
* **Metis Odizama** - Captain of the elite Atono warriors under Marshal Empyon
* **Tadaku Hoda** - A Captain in the First Maniple, he commanded the Herikei Terminators
* **Suan Tamura** - Armistos of the Inzuma Devastators in the First Maniple
* **Raiden Athrawes** - Sentinel of Keys and Marshal of the 9th Company, Raiden Athrawes was once seen as one of the brightest stars of the Great Crusade. Charismatic and talented, he served his legion in three separate capacities. In addition to commanding the 9th, he served as Icarion's Equerry. This role allowed the legionnaire to personally observe the highest political workings of the Great Crusade as he observed Lords and Primarchs directing the great beast. Finally, wielding the famed Lightning, Raiden was considered the highest master within the Oni of the Red Path, both for his unprecedented skill and great power as a psyker. When Icarion established himself as Emperor, Raiden ascended to become one of Icarion's most able politicians as he wielded much influence over the Council of Sentinels.
* **Goro Amakune** - the IInd Legion's Master of the Forge, Amakune's understanding of Madrigal's archaeotech inheritance was without peer within the ranks of the Legions, and perhaps beyond. While not possessed of any great brilliance as a leader, he possessed a razor-keen intellect and an ambition to recover his homeworld's lost bounties, exploring its catacombs more thoroughly than any other. His knowledge of Madrigalan esoterica, combined with his expertise in Astartes wargear, made him personal armourer to a series of officers, ultimately to Icarion himself. Such was Amakune's breadth of learning that it went far beyond personal arms. His designs graced the IInd's armour echelons, its gunship wings - most prominently the Ash Phoenix - and even its warships. In war he put his insights to potent use as an advisor to Icarion and his Marshals, and as siegemaster, further amplifying his Legion’s deadliness.
* **Captain Yamon** - A senior captain under Antru Ri-an in the 17th Maniple
* **Hizade Matusaga** - Marshal of the 37th Maniple from the Battle of Heskyol, Matusaga was responsible for bringing Yu Sima of the **(Add Legion)** into Empyon's favour, facilitating the rise of the **(Add Name Unit)**.
* **Fujin Isu** - Marshal of the 2nd Maniple and Sentinel of Gates
* **Venerable Sejin Ouchi Yoshi-taka**
* **Assault Captain Katarius**
* **Brother Kstrom (Volta Guard)**
* **Magister-Sergeant Fulcran Naga (Volta Guard)**
* **Brother Ren Sobak (Volta Guard)**
* **Marshal Daivyn**
* **Marshal Saiga**
* **Captain Tetsuo (Ninth Company)**
* **Iro Ansem**
* **Marshal Manticus, 11th Maniple**
* **Brother Muniza, Hand of Terra**
* **Yimura Takeda, aide to Muniza**
* **Mifudo Miyanen, Equerry to Muniza**

## Legion Fleet

* ***Thunderchild* (Gloriana-class Battleship)** - Perhaps the most powerful of all the Gloriana class, the *Thunderchild* was constructed in the shipyards of Akira to be the personal flagship of Icarion.
* ***Storm Unbound* (Shogun-class Battleship)** - captained by First Sentinel Empyon, the *Storm Unbound* had few rivals save for the Gloriana class. During the Insurrection it was often at the forefront of the Harbingers' attacks.
* ***Blade of Akira* (Shogun-class Battleship)** - Raiden Athrawes' flagship
* ***Storm's End* (Shogun-class Battleship)**
* ***Fury of the First Son* (Goliath-class Battleship)** - Despite having been present at Madrigal, the *Fury of the First Son* took no part in the Commena Cluster, but instead joined Susanoo Empyon's fleet in the Battle of Ysta. It suffered severe damage from the Loyalist flagship *Steadfast* at the height of the battle.
* ***Cutter of Delusions* (Grand Cruiser)** - Hizade Matusaga's flagship
* ***Celestial Supremacy* (Battleship)**
* ***Dragon's Fang* (Battleship)**
* ***Tempest's Victory* (Grand Cruiser)**
* ***Blade of Vengeance* (Battlecruiser)**
* ***Cruelty of Time***
* ***Sword of Reckoning* (Battleship)** - rebuilt from the wrecked *Shield of Meriac*, formerly of the Shepherds of Eden
* ***Wayfarer* (Cruiser)**

## Legion Relics

* ***Time-Lost Aegis*** - Worn by the Stormlord himself, the *Time-Lost Aegis* is a beautiful and lightweight suit of psychically infused admantium and ceramite, engineered from Madrigalan archeotech. Inlaid with powerful psychic wards and a myriad of focusing crystals, the Aegis bolsters Icarion's psychic foresight to truly superlative levels.
* ***Thunderchild*** - Acquired by Icarion during the exile of his youth, *Thunderchild* is a spear of almost peerless quality. Said to have come from the personal armoury of the long-vanquished Thunder King, the weapon's potency goes beyond its fearsome disruptor energies. It is laced with psycho-reactive crystals, and a talented psyker such as Icarion can channel its power into lightning to strike any nearby foes.
* ***The Hand of Iroku*** - Named for the Sentinel who made the discovery and first bore one into battle, the prototype for these gauntlets was unearthed far beneath the planet's North Pole. Reverse-engineered by Amakune, the Legion's Master of the Forge, they allowed the wielder to unleash a devastating burst of electricity from his fingertips. Officers came to prize these devices both as a potent weapon and as a mark of prestige - the manifestation of the power from which the Legion had taken its name.

## Legion Appearance

### Legion Colours

#### Pre-Insurrection

When the Lightning Bearers were still known as an honourable and forthright Legion, they primarily wore white coloured battle-plate. The insets of their shoulder pauldrons were black, while the shoulder trim was gold on top edge and black on the bottom edge.

### By the Lightning Bearers

"*Both the victor
and the vanquished are
but drops of dew,
but bolts of lightning -
thus should we view the world.*"
— Attributed to Ouchi Yoshi-taka, Venerable Sejin of the IInd Legion.
"*I could smite you with a thought. I could hold out my hand just so; and turn you ash.
But I won't.
I'd rather tear a hole in the fabric of reality, thrust myself through a land that never was; just so that I might look you in the eye as I bring your world crashing down around you.
I am a spectre.
I am Become death.
And I am coming for you.*"
— Mantra of The Oni
*Feel free to add your own*

## Gallery

An ancient pict-capture of a Lightning Bearers Legion Breacher, Heida Yanada.