Minotaurs

Minotaurs armorial with Legion iconography.

A Minotaurs Veteran Sergeant, unknown company.

"*In all things - including warfare - many hands make light work.*"
—Thesephae rallying his legionnaires, paraphrasing an ancient Old-Terran philosopher.
The **Minotaurs** are the V Legion of the Legiones Astartes and are the aggressive, siege-minded sons of Thesephae. The Minotaurs are a powerful and steadfast legion of siege-masters as well as brutal physical combatants. Thesephae wanted to continue the aggressive, destructive nature of combat on Artherion to his Legion itself, ensuring to only select the most strong-willed and belligerent marines for his Legion. The Minotaurs originate from the world of Artherion, a powerful, industrious world of aristocratic rulers with an a culture and tradition similar to the Grecians of Old-Terra.

## Legion History

### Founding

Following the success of His proto-Astartes - the Thunder Warriors - the Emperor laid plans for their successors. Amongst these successors were the V Legion who would become known across the galaxy as the Minotaurs. For the V legion the Emperor sought out subjects from the same genetic history as his Thunder Warriors. Natives of Terra whose genotype has already proven strong. The men of this Legion were decreed Inheritors of the legacy of those proto-legionnaires. Until the discovery of their Primarch on Artherion the V would claim the title '*Inheritors*'.

## Legion Organisation

The Minotaurs have a very standardized organization system conforming to the rules of the *Principia Bellicosa*, including Chapters, Line Companies, etc. These ranks and titles are displayed through chevrons on the right pauldron.

## Legion Combat Doctrine

The ancient repute of the Minotaurs suggests that on the battlefield their Astartes often times eschewed any form of combat that did not allow them to rapidly get to grips with their enemies as fast as possible.

This highly autonomous, almost berserk force was often announced in a war zone without preamble or even much by the way of reconnaissance. They would hurl themselves at the enemy without heed of loss or cost. Their fury spent, the Minotaurs would then withdraw as suddenly as they had arrived. This pattern made the Minotaurs too unpredictable and unreliable a force to be counted on by their fellow Imperial allies. Over the centuries, the Minotaurs tactics and approach have changed in regards to how they prosecuted a campaign.

The Legion now preferred to deploy a vanguard to pin its enemies in combat, then use fast units to encircle them to ensure there could be no escape before bringing in the full weight of the Legion's firepower and heavy armour to crush the foe without mercy.

Still highly autonomous, the Minotaurs go where they are willed by the needs of the Imperium but now seem far more content to operate within the structure and command of the Imperial war machine than the Legion's distant history suggests.

## Legion Beliefs

The Minotaurs seem to bear little respect for anyone or anything, save the Emperor of Mankind and the High Lords of Terra, for whom they have displayed fanatic and unquestioning loyalty. They tend to show no love for civility or deference when dealing with individual Imperial commanders and other Space Marine Legions, but they have been known to show pleasure in testing their skills against worthy foes.

Some Imperial commanders who have served with the Minotaurs have gone on record, hinting that this Legion is at the edge of madness or heresy -- describing the defences and security precautions taken by it even when dealing with supposed allies as obsessive bordering on the paranoid. Given the number of enemies both within and without the Imperium this is perhaps unsurprising.

## Legion Appearance

Since their inception, some Imperial commanders have gone on record as finding the Space Marines of the Minotaurs Legion to be brooding and malign warriors, far from the epitome of honour and righteousness.

The Legion's individuals hold about them an aura of barely restrained spite and malice that breeds fear and apprehension in all but the strongest hearts.

The Power Armour worn by the Battle-Brothers of this Legion typically bears syncretic iconography, denoting rank and battlefield record.

Many of these symbols have meanings hidden from outsiders to the Legion, though it is believed that the numeration and colouration of the "lambda" Helikan-glyph markings common to Minotaur heraldry refer to attested "kills" against worthy opponents in single combat, likely in increasing order of magnitude.

### Legion Colours

The Minotaurs colour scheme is that of bronze armour. The right pauldron bears the Legion's icon. The left pauldron displays the squad specialty emblem -- battleline, close support, fire support, Veteran or command.

The Minotaurs do not generally display squad number or company indicators on their battle-plate. Members of the elite Veteran 1st Company wear a variant of the Legion badge; a bronze bull's head on a dark red background.

### Legion Badge

The Legion badge is a red bull's head with black horns on a bronze background.