Eagle Warriors

Eagle Warriors armorial with Legion iconography

Eagle Warriors Legion appearance

### Observed Strategic Tendencies

Heavy Infantry Assault, Attritional Warfare, Co-ordinated Mass-Theatre Warfare, Armoured Assaults, Planetary Decimation

### Allegiance

Insurrectionists
*Traitoris Maximus*

### Unique Organisations

Aztekis Circle, Animal Packs, Jaguar Toa, Eagle Hunters, Kaskuta

### Colours

Sea Green, Bone White & Gold

"*I was there. I was there when the god fell, I was there when the primarch broke... I was there when our legion fell.
I looked into darkness' eye, I looked into the maws of hell. I saw the darkness inside, the hell in my brothers.
I tried to fight the evil, tried to save a few. I tried to kill my primarch, I tried to break my herritage.
I come from a broken legion, I come from a broken man. My legion has fallen, and I have slowly died. I died in the arms of a shadow, and now only my light shall remain.
My candle of light shall lead the way for the others, the few still loyal to the God-Emperor Himself...*"
— Takar, 'The Reborn', first of the Aztekis circle, foremost amongst the surviving loyalists of the doomed Eagle Warriors
Damned above all other Legions, the history of the **Eagle Warriors** is a dark chapter among the famed Legiones Astartes. Blood and sacrifice are the twin desires of the XIIIth, as they throw costly armoured assaults at their enemies. These first assaults are merely a distraction as they reduce defenses before the final blow is struck in the form of a rapid strike of jetbikes, fast vehicles, and beasts of war. Military efficiency is no virtue to the Eagle Warriors, who do everything they can to sate the bloodlust of their Primarch. Ixiptatlan was a Primarch marked by rumours as a failed son of the Emperor before he would enact the Serpent Lodges, supposed places of warrior equality but tainted with whispers of grisly rituals. On the Day of Revelation, the Eagle Warriors' would reveal the full extent of their inhumanity to the galaxy.

## **Origins and History**

### **The Founding**

"*The Thirteenth. The largest known legion. A legion with a stable gene-seed and a huge influx of
new recruits.The Thirteenth had played a huge role in the Unification era, even their Thunder Warrior ancestors had been amongst the best. They wore the gold of freedom, an honour given to them by the Emperor Himself.*"
— Excerpt taken from the personal journals of Arion the Doubted, Remembrancer of the XIIIth Legion
The earliest known records of the XIIIth Legion date back to the days of the Unification Wars in Kentral Amerik. This was a swathe of rainforest, rad-scarred but still densely populated. It had largely been ignored until the VIth Legion's victory at Magellos, which opened up the neighbouring lands to the Imperial advance. With the war against the Pan-Pacific Empire far from over, the Emperor set several of His geno-regiments to the annexation of Kentral Amerik.

However, the inhabitants of this region put up a highly effective defence against the forces of Unity when they had attempted to conquer it, hitting them with repeated hit and run assaults and then fading away into the irradiated jungles before a significant Imperial response could be mobilised. While they were eventually conquered, the Imperial advance had been severely slowed, and three companies of Lightning Bearers were assigned to complete the campaign. But this tenacity and ingenuity in war proved the salvation of the tribes, even in defeat. They had impressed the Emperor and His advisers, so much so that He drew the first recruits of the XIIIth Legion from the region.

As so often, time would prove the Emperor wise in His decision to recruit these tribesmen. The early Astartes of the XIIIth Legion proved well suited to the lightning strikes that they had utilized against the forces of Unity. Beyond being fleet of foot, they were well disposed toward racing across plains atop an assault bike and those few grav-vehicles the Emperor's armies possessed at this time. While their numbers were meagre at this time, the XIIIth were frequently used in the late Unification Wars as a flanking force, springing sudden attacks on a foes' weak points as other forces held them in place. Many times, it was a charge to the enemy’s rear by the XIIIth that decided the fighting in favour of the forces of Unity.

It was in this way that the Legions earned their name at the Battle of Madagac. The battle spanned the northwest Indsen Wilderness, with tens of thousands giving battle in the Emperor’s name. Yet it was the XIIIth Legion whose charge proved critical, overwhelming even . Beset at his command post, the Madagac general beseeched his false gods, "Who are these eagles who descend upon me?" It is said that this was the very moment when the Eagle Warriors broke the lines of his bodyguard, the Master of Mankind at their head, and Emperor replied: "They are my Eagle Warriors - and they come for all of you."

At the Battle of Razkev, where the massed regiments of Imperial Prussan foot and the IIIrd Legion had clashed with the berserk hordes of the tyrant Kalaggan, the intervention of the XIIIth would also prove decisive. The fighting lasted three days and three nights before it was finally decided by a final charge by the newly named Eagle Warriors who, freshly arrived upon the field, crashed into the flanks and rear of Kalaggan's massive horde. A further day of battle saw them triumphant, breaking the back of the Emperor's great foe even as the Blood Wolves claimed his head.

### **The Eagles Soar**

The XIIIth was one of the most powerful Space Marine Legions in the early years of the Crusade, winning great victories and expanding the boundaries of the Imperium. Though not as powerful as some of their fellows grew, as Primarchs were found, the Eagle Warriors maintained an enviable record and strength. At times they were placed under the command of another Legion's sire, but carried their duties without complaint, as when Pionus Santor called them to his banner for the Liberation of Yamatar.

At this time the Eagle Warriors already evinced several of the tendencies which would define their way of war later on. Particularly of note was a use of armoured units that, as a proportion of their size, exceeded that of the Halcyon Wardens and Iron Bears. Lacking their cousins' close allies among the Collegia Titanica and Knight Houses, the Eagle Warriors developed several tactical doctrines which revolved around the deployment of tank squadrons to effectively combat enemy Titan-analogues. This mastery was proven on Henua, where the ruling Autocracy had thrown back two Imperial Army offensives with heavy losses, anchoring their formations with variants on the Capitol Imperialis that the invaders proved unable to overwhelm. The Eagle Warriors routed the Autocracy, destroying their squadrons of Predator tanks and breaking open their towering command vehicles.

The XIIIth's rise seemed unstoppable, and none imagined anything other than continuity with the finding of their Primarch. No one could have expected the events that soon followed.

## The Blood of Mexicatii

"*Even with all these honors, all these names, they failed. It all started when they found their primarch on a degenerate planet of wildlife and barbaric cultures.
Their primarch was a priest in the largest city, working his way up to becoming the master sacrificer, and being the embodiment of their delusional gods.
The Emperor was disgusted by him..He hated everything about Ixiptatlan's culture. He took his newfound son and forced him to change - thousands of hours of torture changed him. Ten-thousand hours of torture had broken Ixiptatlan.
Ixiptatlan was then taken and put as the commanding officer of the Thirteenth Legion, a once-broken primarch with a strong legion... Ixiptatlan's pain carried across the Legion, and though none saw it the cracks were spidering through the structure...*"
— Excerpt taken from the personal journals of Arion the Doubted, Remembrancer of the XIIIth Legion
Decades before the Emperor first came to Mexicatii, a small metal pod slammed down amidst its mountains. From this pod emerged a young child. However, this was no ordinary child but a primarch, one of the Emperor's twenty sons who had been scattered across across the galaxy. This particular primarch would come to be known as Ixiptatlan, primarch of the XIIIth Legion, the Eagle Warriors.

Located on the fringes of what has become the Imperium, Mexicatii is a world which is dangerous and inhospitable, even for a young primarch. Covered in steaming jungles broken up by the odd mountain range, Mexicatii is a world which is around twice as large as Terra and whose terrain resembles that of Terra during the time the Magos Biologis refer to a the Kretasik period. However, human life had endured on the world and was centred around the 13 temples of the Aztekis gods. It was in the largest of these temples, the temple of Huitzilopochtli, the most powerful of the Aztekis gods, the god who embodied every aspect of human life and created the world, that the young primarch sought refuge. Taken in, named and raised by the priests , this was where Ixiptatlan (whose reap name has never been discovered by any save perhaps the Emperor) was raised. However, in time Ixiptatlan proved to be a priest of such enormous skill and knowledge. Using his knowledge of the sacred texts and his observation of the passage of the sun and stars, Ixiptatlan perfected the Mexicatan calendar to fit the passage of a Mexicatan year, dividing it into cycles of 13 days, and he also predicted the passage of a burning comet across the skies of Mexicatii, a sure sign of Huitzilopochtli's favour, all in a matter of weeks. Observing all this, Sagitarii, the High Priest of Huitzilopochtli and the closest thing to a father Ixiptatlan had in these formative years, declared that Ixiptatlan was no ordinary priest but a son of the Gods, sent by them to rule Mexicatii and spread their faith across the stars. As all other temples and High Priests are subservient to that of Huitzilopochtli, this was quickly accepted across Mexicatii and Ixiptatlan was crowned emperor of all Huitzilopochtli's subjects.

As emperor, Ixiptatlan raised the inhabitants of Mexicatii from out of the darkness they had fallen into since the beginning of old night. He created thirteen cities, each centred around one of the old temples, each protected by high walls and fed from enormous terraced farms. With protection and a constant source of food, the people of Mexicatii grew wealthy on gems and gold extracted from Mexicatii's earth and education and philosophy flourished in ways unseen for centuries. At the head of all this was Ixiptatlan, guiding his people according to the God's wishes(meaning that, while never questioned, he could be a volatile and unreliable ruler when making decisions). Even Sagitarii's death and funeral did little to effect this stability (although it was later discovered that he had left a part of his soul knitted to that of Ixiptatlan).

### **Blood and Madness**

When a Mechanicum Warp-runner sent word that a Primarch had been found in the Mexicatii system, the information went no further than the Ist and Vth Legions. Much would remain hidden for a mortal lifetime, some was revealed only with the outbreak of the Insurrection, and some has likely eluded even our careful studies. What became apparent very quickly was that the Emperor, with Icarion at his side, had been resisted with fanatical determination by the theocracy that ruled Mexicatii Prime. The defenders tore the hearts from their slaves and offered the blood of thousands to their cruel gods on a regular basis. Now they did the same to the Imperial emissaries and deployed an army of zealots to resist Compliance.

With fists both gold and grey, the Emperor's forces broke the Mexicatii defences, although it would take a lengthy campaign of pacification led by the Halcyon Wardens and abetted by the Officio Assassinorum to achieve true compliance. The Emperor moved on swiftly, for the Crusade was ever unrelenting. The new Primarch, however, was nowhere to be seen. The writings of Vth Legion and auxiliary personnel - those of Lady Marshal Shakti Bijala of the Zanskat Guard have proven especially useful in documenting the affair - make it clear that only the uppermost tiers of fleet command had any inkling of the truth.

Rumours circulated - the Primarch had been somehow incapacitated by the priest-kings, and the Emperor sought to cure his wounds in secrecy. Few guessed at the truth; Ixiptatlan had been entirely immersed in the vicious cult that ruled Mexicatii. It was he who, with hands blackened by the blood of those he sacrificed, had slain the emissaries who came in the Emperor's name, and fought until the Emperor confronted and overwhelmed him, killing dozens of Lightning Bearers and several Custodians in the battle that followed. Finally subdued by the Emperor, he proved resistant to all reason.

The Emperor refused to tolerate such defiance from His son, but nonetheless He was unwilling to discard such a precious, unrepeatable creation. So for over ten thousand hours, He set His unmatched will and psychic power to the task of conquering Ixiptatlan's spirit. The details to this day are unknown except for the vaguest hearsay which describes it variously as a dialogue, a battle or an act of torture. By its end, Ixiptatlan was broken, and the Emperor and Icarion began the work of rebuilding him. Two years later, a silent giant was first seen fighting against the Orks of Waagh! Bowelhacka beside the Stormborn. He would continue to do so for another decade until the Emperor deemed him ready to meet his Legion, and finally assume his birthright of command.

### **Reborn Immaculate**

"*They repainted their armor a green reminiscent to the green of the sea on their new home planet, Mexicatii Prime. They took a culture abhorrent to every ideal of the Imperium and redeemed it, made it a source of warriors proud to uphold Truth and Unity. A perfect story of redemption, one to inspire. And then they fell... falling not merely into rebellion but heresy. Ixiptatlan twisted his Legion into a barbaric force of superstition. Fallen from the light, far away from the Emperor’s enlightenment.*"
— Excerpt from the personal journals of Arion the Doubted, Remembrancer of the XIIIth Legion, recorded during the Siege of Cas
The reunion showed the apparently total success of the Emperor’s work. There was no rancour such as that which would be seen several years later when Raktra was unveiled to the VIIth. Ixiptatlan vowed that he would prove worthy to lead such a prestigious Legion, and under the careful eyes of Icarion he did so. Broadly there was continuity in the XIIIth's methods, although as recruits from Mexicatii joined the ranks, its aesthetic began to change to reflect this. Ixiptatlan integrated elements of his home world's military culture, intending it to symbolise - if only to himself and his brothers - the ways in which any recalcitrant could become a valued part of Mankind’s future.

With their Primarch returned to them, the Eagle Warriors grew substantially as their tally of compliances and great victories swelled. Ixiptatlan was an arresting figure on the battlefield, clad in ornate power armour, always facing the worst dangers alongside his sons. His presence alone inspired his warriors to acts of bravery which drew praise from those he crusaded with. Yet his skill was not to be ignored either; he slew the champions of a dozen xenos races, most famously the Hnarkel spine-devils of the Revyaen Enclaves.

Ixiptatlan’s scientific interests now came to the fore as he built bridges with the Mechanicus, most notably the Cognis sect. This gave him great freedom to steer his Legion’s development from the beginning. The plethora of jetbikes which had been integral to the early VIIIth remained, but they were joined by armour companies that came close to rivalling those of the Vth. These became the Legion’s bludgeon, following the rapier of the Skyhunter squadrons. Ixiptatlan made these elements into the first two waves of the Legion’s favoured strategy, the third being a massed infantry attack. This served a political purpose as well as its impact on the battle. By presenting the raw power of the Astartes, Ixiptatlan showed the true might the Emperor offered Mankind, as well as His power to quell any resistance. If any regime was unwilling to heed that message, then the Eagle Warriors would not relent until their palaces were brought crashing down about their heads.

Men spoke of the Eagle Warriors much as they had before; warriors whose spirit and zeal reflected the highest ideals of the Great Crusade. Yet there was an edge to their fervour which some deemed unhealthy. The Eagle Warriors might preach redemption for those who submitted to the Imperial yoke, those who resisted were crushed a severity which often strayed beyond necessity. There are several documented instances in which the Eagle Warriors utterly disassembled a planet’s government by way of punishment, necessitating a comprehensive program of rebuilding by those who followed in their wake. It is supposed that this is why Ixiptatlan never had the full trust of Daer'dd or Koschei.

Ixiptatlan spurred his techmarines and seconded Biologis personnel to accelerate the implantation process and bolster his Legion’s numbers, skirting the limits of tolerance. Such procedures usually entailed a heavy reliance on hypno-indoctrination, which in documented cases across several Legions gave rise to a lack of nuance in matters of ideology. Recaltricant cultures met with rather less merciful treatment than before. Still, just as their excesses in war paled beside the Void Eagles and Berserkers of Uran, their experiments were obscured entirely by the likes of the Warbringers.

### **Revelation**

The infamy that would utterly overshadow the Eagle Warriors' glory occurred far from Imperial eyes, but Ixiptatlan's own writings have cemented the world's place in history. On Anesidora, Ixiptatlan and his Legion came across a Warp breach, one which unlocked memories long suppressed in the Primarch’s mind. Ixiptatlan believed that he had heard the voices of the gods he had once worshipped. Nothing more did he learn at this stage and Icarion rebuffed his efforts to learn more, but the damage was done. The facade the Emperor had so painstakingly built had cracked, and nothing could reverse the damage. Now he embarked on a new quest: seeking the truth denied to him.

Ixiptatlan knew that if the Eagle Warriors were to seek out this truth, they would have to do so in the utmost secrecy. To this end, the majority of the Legion would remain in plain view, ignorant of their Primarch's goal, while smaller fleets would run far ahead of the main Crusade. Ostensibly operating in a similar capacity to the outrider elements of the Void Eagles and Crimson Lions, their true purpose was to investigate any Warp-tainted planets they encountered, and catalogue all the information they could find on the empyrean. These goals demanded several things from the outrider fleets.

The first was that they must be largely self-sustaining, necessitating large numbers of Apothecaries as well as the participation of numerous Magi, drawn largely from the Cognis sect, which had long been tied to his Legion. Foremost among the Apothecaries was Ixtlatl, a longtime advocate for gene-augmentation and cloning. Now he had an opportunity to test his esoteric theories, and embraced it with abandon. Furthermore, as time went on the fleets began to expand. Small human colonies were harvested for recruits and serfs; Ixiptatlan's orders made it clear that all other priorities were subordinate to the viability of the fleets. Their numbers would be swelled further on those occasions when, for appearance's sake or out of necessity, they would call upon a detachment from the main Legion forces, who would invariably leave some of their warriors behind when they parted ways. These also served as opportunities to impart their discoveries to Ixiptatlan or his closest lieutenants. Those who had not been with him on Anesidora were excluded, for fear that they would not readily join him in his new quest.

Finally in 963.M30, far beneath the Galactic plane, Ixiptatlan landed upon the world Teohuaca. Exactly what transpired here is simply too hazardous to share with the innocent, but we can reveal that Ixiptatlan met with a human culture in thrall to the Ruinous Powers. With their guidance, and after rituals of unspeakable depravity, he underwent the revelation which would turn him irrevocably against the Emperor, and damn His sons for eternity.

It seems that initially the XIIIth struggled with the revelation - many of their campaigns in the following decades took on a wholly destructive character, fuelled by a spite which baffled their comrades. From the records made available to us, it is likely that the bulk of the Legion’s loyalists were purged during these years, perhaps accounting for their soured mindset. Others may well have gone mad from the truth and duty their master bound them to, and there are hints of instability in Ixiptatlan himself. In the aftermath of one such battle, Hectarion confronted Ixiptatlan. The brawl that followed was fought with little inhibition, and might have ended in open battle between the Legions had Nomus Sarduk not intervened.

Whether because Ixiptatlan realised the true danger of allowing his plans to be discovered, because he deemed the cull had run its course or because the remaining Eagle Warriors accepted their terrible cause, the phase passed shortly afterwards. Now the Eagle Warriors' loyalty and zeal were tempered again, but it was naught but a facade, and on the worlds they conquered the Legion planted cults, nurturing a cancer within the Imperium. Only a scant few of the Eagle Warriors remained pure, kept separate from the main Legion and used as a smokescreen by Ixiptatlan. It may well be that the Qarith War gave Ixiptatlan a means of removing warriors he distrusted, simply by virtue of its ferocity. It is likewise believed in many quarters that he ordered his apothecaries to conduct research upon the Qarith's twisting of the human genome. The dreadful bounty of this research would not emerge until late in the Insurrection, but one theory is that Ixiptatlan saw it as an act of desecration against his father's edicts.

With Icarion as the prime instrument of his treachery - whether he decided this himself or it was ordained by his new masters, we may never know - Ixiptatlan knew he would have to play a long game. Despite his pivotal role in the psychic attack on Terra, his dark arts were treated with distrust by Icarion and greater disdain by several of his brothers. Nonetheless, he was indispensable to the Stormlord, with his powerful Legion and many allies already under his command.

### **The Chosen Warriors**

When the Eagle Warriors returned to the front lines of the Great Crusade, they were once again a changed force. Given new sense of purpose and finally led by their primarch in person, they threw themselves back into the fires of war without regret or remorse, bringing worlds into compliance at a record pace, unmatched by any legion save the Warmaster's own and the Lightning Bearers. However, this newfound ardour had been merely a façade to hide what the Eagle Warriors true intentions were. Out on the fringes of the Imperium, far away from prying eyes they were able to test their gene seed and improve upon their physical bodies in ways no other legion had done before, remaking themselves in the image of the gods they now worshipped. It was in these years, as the Eagle Warriors blazed their bloody trail across the galaxy, that the first of the Ecathl were created.

The Ecathl were the first of the Eagle Warriors to give themselves over completely to their primarch's vision of a legion remade to rise above all others and be true servants of the gods. While on the outside, each of these astartes was no different to their brothers, their capabilities were far in excess of those possessed by ordinary astartes. Inside them, these astartes contained Poseko's greatest successes, organs which took the basic blueprint provided by the Qarith organs and adapted them to the human frame. As such, the Ecathl were frequently far stronger than their brethren or able to unleash a horrifying screech which tore through all in its path, although their sanity had often suffered as a result of these implants. However, there was never a shortage of recruits to join the Ecathl, as the Eagle Warriors now saw them as the epitome of all they had striven to accomplish since their Primarch's discovery: perfection.

With these "perfect" warriors marching in the vanguard, the Eagle Warriors conquered hundreds of worlds in these years, bringing billions of subjects under the Emperor's rule. Because of this, few were interested in how they accomplished it and they were left to their own devices by and large. Drawing new recruits from the conquered worlds and accepting ever more neophytes from Mexicatii, the expansion of the XIIIth Legion in these years was enormous, with the number of Astartes that Ixiptatlan commanded rising from under 100,000 to nearly 190,000 or even higher according to some estimates.

It was also in these years that the Warrior Lodges within the XIIIth adopted their new purpose, as a place for worship of the gods. Here the Eagle Warriors began to practice the ritual sacrifices of old Mexicatii, refining the rites with the knowledge their pilgrim outriders had acquired. It was also through these lodges that many of the Eagle Warriors began to adopt the red hand, a single gauntlet painted red which signified a death oath from the warrior in question, each of whom had vowed to seek out the most dangerous of the foe and slay them in the name of the Pantheon.

### **Insurrectionists**

When the First Solar War ended in the failure of the Insurrectionist advance, Icarion's faction became wracked by division, but the Eagle Warriors had identified the means by which they might profit in this scenario. By guile and dedication, Ixiptatlan estranged Kozja from the Stormborn, pushing Icarion to the point where his wariness of Chaos was outweighed by his desperation for victory. Now Ixiptatlan accelerated his plans, and the first step was the corruption of the Berserkers. The result was the Blood Crusade.

## **Legion Organisation and Structure**

### **Specialist Formations**

* **Aztekis Circle** - The main four advisors, each of them is a Cadre Master (Lord Commander equivalent). A Cadre is comprised of 10,000 warriors. There are eighteen cadres in total, but only four of their masters can be chosen for the Circle. The Circle acts as the advisors and main bodyguard of the primarch. Their rule can only be overruled by the primarch or the Jaguar Warriors.
* **Animal Packs** - Mexicatii is filled with large monsters and animals, many of them useable in battle. Most XIIIth Legion warriors make it a sport in their time on Mexicatii to hunt the largest and most ferocious animal on Mexicatii.
* **Jaguar Toa** - Specialis Terminators, these are the elites of the legion. They wear specialised armour and utilise large obsidian longswords as their preferred wargear.
* **Eagle Hunters** - An elite jetbike unit, only one-hundred of these can ever exist. They fly in packs of five, and all of them are armed with laser shooting lances or with large obsidian power mauls. Their jetbikes are armed with twin-linked plasma fusils.
* **Kaskuta** - Crazed Apothecaries and Librarians who display suicidal urges and a blatant disregard for overall combat doctrine. They are employed as efficient shock assault troops, as they have no fear of dead. They are armed with artificer made armour and large shields, their main close-combat weapon being a chainsword or power sword.

## **Notable Campaigns**

### **The Liberation of Yamatar (879. M30)**

The huge armada drawn up to invade the Mothran Abyss, under the overall command of Pionus Santor, included the majority of the XIIIth Legion. It is noted that they fought alongside the Apostles of War and the Legio Vindex during several battles on this campaign.

### **War for the Revyaen Enclaves (919. M30)**

One of the reborn XIIIth Legion's first triumphs, this campaign saw Ixiptatlan slay the deadly Hnarkel spine-devils.

### **The Golgotha Wastes**

Travier led his Legion into the interstellar wastes of the Golgotha Sector. Among their hard-fought victories was the extirpation of the heretek Forge World of Sarum.

### **Hullosk Incursion (936. M30)**

Little is known about this battle, but Acatli Ihuatzan rose to prominence as a tank commander at this time.

### **The Battle of Hynaka**

The Eagle Warriors fought on this world against an unknown enemy. The Kadisian Hounds are known to have been among the Excertus troops who fought alongside them.

### **The Qarith Crusade (993-9. M30)**

The Eagle Warriors committed several Chapters to the Qarith War, including the Sixth Chapter under Acatli Ihuatzan, who won a great victory at the Battle of Heimdan.

### **The Conquest of the Commena Cluster (030. M31)**

The Eighth Chapter of the Eagle Warriors participated in the Insurrectionist assault on this region, along with hundreds of thousands of mortal auxiliaries and slave-soldiers.

### **The Fall of Anvillus (033. M31)**

Travier led his favoured Chapters as part of the massive Insurrectionist force which took this mighty Forge World.

## **Legion Beliefs**

Within the ranks of the Eagle Warriors, there exists a quiet order known as the Serpent Lodge. Founded by Ixiptatlan upon being united with his legion, to outsiders the Serpent Lodge is simply a place where warriors of all ranks may gather in equal brotherhood and talk of what they wish. However, this is just a facade, maintained in order to hide the true activities of the Lodge. Shunned by many of the Terran astartes, the Serpent Lodge is a place where worship of the Aztekis gods can endure, far beyond the gaze of the Emperor. Amongst the ranks of the XIIIth, rumours abound of bloody rituals and sacrifices to the gods and the gold idols that Ixiptatlan worshipped upon his homeworld. It is said by the Terran veterans, many of whom steadfastly refuse to be drawn into the cult's nefarious activities, that in order to be accepted into the Lodge, an Eagle Warrior must rip out the still beating heart of an astartes of a brother legion, both an act of treachery to draw the gods attention and a sacrifice to appease them. It is for this reason, say the Terrans, that some of the most devout members of the lodge paint their right gauntlet red, not to symbolise the blood they have shed in the name of the Imperial Truth as the Lodge members say. No matter what happens behind the closed doors of the Lodge chambers which exist on board every vessel of the XIIIth, all that can be known for certain about the lodge is that it is one of the strongest dividing lines amongst the Eagle Warriors, who is a warrior of the Lodge and who isn't.

The gods who it's said are worshipped in the lodge are no less mysterious than the organization which is accused of worshipping them. There is Mixcoatl, god of blood and death, Chalchiutotlin, god of disease and sickness, Calacoyanti, god of change and time and the youngest, Tlazolteotl, god of carnality and pleasure. According the ancient religion and beliefs of Mexicatii, each of these gods represents a fundamental pillar of the universe and they need sacrifice to sustain them. If they don't receive sacrifice then they will gradually begin to fade and if one fades, then the natural order of the universe will be overthrown and all life will perish and so the gods shall also perish, leaving nothing but an empty void in which no life can thrive nor any sun rise. Thus, the followers of the Aztekis gods believe that the sacrifices they make are necessary for the continued survival of all life and that the world shall end when people cease to believe in the gods and stop sacrificing beings to them. Indeed, the followers of the Aztekis gods even give this void of unbelief a name: Cipalocatl, the Life Witherer, The Void from Which None Can Return Alive.

## **Legion Combat Doctrine**

The Eagle Warriors attack in sacrificial waves. First we send in a huge tank wall filled with thousands of astartes, this is the prey. These are supposed to get as much attention as possible, then the first attack comes. Another huge wall of mastodon and land raider tanks roll up filled with terminators and dreads, and these tear at the enemy. The hammer blow is the third wave, fast vehicles, jetbikes and beasts and artillery destroy the last bits of remaining enemy. All waves are accompanied by huge waves of storm eagles and stormbirds, evecuating the first and second wave when the third "destructor" wave hits. The last wave is always lead by one of either the Aztekii or the Jaguar Toa. Many cultists and solar auxilia regiments help with these opperations alot too. (They are a part of first and third wave, second wave is all titanicus and astartes wall).

## **Notable Eagle Warriors**

* **Poseko**
* **Huetic Xiutel** - Master of the Eighth Chapter, Xiutel invaded the Commena Cluster in support of Raiden Athrawes
* **Takar** - One of the few Loyalist Eagle Warriors to escape his erstwhile brothers' treachery on the Day of Revelation, Takar would become one of the leading Blackshield warlords on the fringes of the Loyalist Imperium.
* **Azraltan**
* **Acatli Ihuatzan** - Master of the Sixth Chapter. Ihuatzan or Worldcarver, as he styled himself, was a famed tank commander from the Hullosk Incursion of 936.M30-onwards, cementing his renown during the Qarith Crusade with the Battle of Heimdan. A native of Mexicatii, he was not present when Ixiptatlan had his dark revelations on Anesidora or Teohuaca, but nonetheless he was brought over to the worship of the Ruinous Powers. On Gatra V, Ihuatzan and his companies inflicted devastating losses upon the Wardens of Light, and wrote himself a bloody legend across the Imperial worlds in the path of the XIIIth.

## **Legion Fleet**

* ***The Suntalon* (Gloriana-class Battleship)**
* ***The Unforgiving*** - An ancient strike cruiser, this ship bore a delegation of Eagle Warriors to Mars on the eve of the Insurrection, accompanying a flotilla of Abyssii warships. It attacked the Abyssii fleet when the Schism of Mars erupted into all-out warfare, but was destroyed by the *Elpis* upon the arrival of the Halcyon Wardens in orbit.
* ***The Jaguar's Fang* (Ironclad-class battleship)** - Huetic Xiutel made this ship the core of the Eighth Chapter's fleet, and commanded from it during the invasion of the Commena Cluster
* ***Huitol***
* ***Tora Lance***
* ***Talos***
* ***Dark Spear* (Battleship)**- Ihuatzan's flagship
* ***Blood Revelation***
* ***Alignment of the Stars***

## **Legion Appearance**

### **Legion Colours**

Before their reunification with their Primarch, the XIIIth Legion were clad in burnished gold, in recognition of their steadfastness and absolute loyalty to the Emperor. Following their reunification with their gene-sire, Ixiptatlan began to wrought changes upon the XIIIth, in order to mould them into something more to his liking. The Eagle Warriors adopted the green of the sea of their Legion home world of Mexicatii Prime, with the exception of the insets of the shoulder pauldrons and left vambrace, which are coloured bone-white. Their shoulder pauldron trim was left in the original gold of the old XIIIth Legion.

Strange tribal and totemic markings are often stenciled upon their shoulder pauldrons and vambrace. Many of these symbols have hidden meaning to outsiders of the Legion. They were originally believed to be primitive symbols of their native heritage of Mexicatii Prime. But following their fall from grace, it is now believed by Imperial scholars that these symbols have a somewhat darker meaning. The general consensus is that these arcane symbols indicate a warriors' allegiance to the Ruinous Powers in a manner comprehensible only to other Legion inductees and to varying degrees depending on the viewer's level of initiation into the mysteries of the Legion's Warrior Lodges.

Almost every battle-brother usually bedecks his battle-plate with at least one fur pelt or a pelt of feathers to show their rank and to show they are worthy of fighting. This was a common practice amongst the warriors of Mexicatii Prime that was carried over to the XIIIth Legion following the induction of Mexicatan Neophytes into their ranks.

### **Legion Badge**

The Eagle Warriors Legion badge is a stylised eagle head with two lightning bolts striking downwards. This symbol is reminiscent of the *Raptor Imperialis*, the early iconography worn by the proto-Astartes known as the Thunder Warriors during the Unification Wars.

## **Notable Quotes**

### **By the Eagles Warriors**

> *As noted before, morality is irrelevant to those in the service of the Pantheon, but nonetheless we must do our work far from the eyes of the Imperium. It is one of the Anathema's greatest hypocrisies that, having created the Astartes and Custodes, it bans any further experimentation on the human genome. We shall encourage some of our brother legions to tread the path, but as with everything else we do, our own experiments must remain in the shadows.*
>
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> *For that reason we also cannot perform true devotions to the Gods, but we can at least orchestrate our harvests to please them. The act of seizing sates the Blood God’s thirst, especially when we take slaves from greenskin worlds, and the death toll leaves a bounty for the Lord of Decay. The betrayal of the humans’ hopes and subsequent alterations invoke the Lord of Change, and the sheer extremity delights the Prince of Pleasure.*
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> *Doubtless many of the deluded see in the Qarith a definitive argument against experiments on the gene-seed, but once again it is a matter of faith. The Qarith, like the fools of Old Night, made a god of their technological prowess. They changed their bodies entirely for the purpose of “perfection”, moving away from the emotions by which we connect to the empyrean. Their secular sterility dooms them, as they assume that this dry, hollow “perfection” is sufficient to elevate them. If they were to embrace sensation and bloodlust, they would have the power to sweep all before them.*
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> *Squeamishness at the practice of gene-manipulation is but more proof of the secular Imperium's decadence and weakness. It elevates the human body as a perfect form when its frailties are easily perceptible to anyone with eyes to see, and seeks to deny itself unimaginable potency. As with everything else, our vanity and cowardice must be cast aside to receive divine favour. Transcending the failings of our genotype will let us advance along the path to divine favour, demonstrating our devotion and elevating us to become worthy vessels.*
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> *An existence as the chosen heralds of Chaos will change us utterly and irrevocably. Beside those, the transformations we will carry out with our studies are really quite insignificant.*
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> - The Testament of Ixiptatlan, believed to have been authored around the time of the The Qarith Crusade
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"*The stars are not right. That is the excuse uttered by too many servants of the Pantheon, to absolve themselves of weakness of limb, mind or will. We of the Thirteenth Legion admit no such feebleness. We have come through ignorance and apostasy, we have flagellated ourselves and in the blood of fratricide, ourselves baptised. We are the high priests and heralds of the Primordial Annihilator, and if the stars are not right we will yoke and haul them into the ordained pattern.*"
— Extract from Socraes Travier's sermon following the Volriun Massacre.
### **About the Eagle Warriors**

"*+Vox transaction incoming+
-Silence-
\*Crackling static\*
-Silence-
+"Hel.. \*chatter\* LOAD!!!..."
\*Large explosion, record crackles hard\*
-Silence-
-Silence-
+\*Cracking of vox, chattering\*+
-Silence-
+\*Crackle\* "Welcome... Welcome to us.." \*Silent laughter\*+
-Silence-
+\*Hard and crackling breathing\*+
+"WELCOME TO THE THIRTEENTH WAR, THE THIRTEENTH LEGION...The eternal darkness.." \*Impossibly high-pitched laughter\*+
+Vox transaction finished+*"
— Last heard message from the *Morwyn y llyn*, command ship of Captain Antian of the Wardens of Light, the XIIth Legion. Contact lost afterwards, wreckage was never recovered. Thirteenth Legion questioned after close inspection of vox. No information gained.
"*Through the blaze of smoke he came,
An eagle descending from skies of Hell,
Spear and talon wreathed in flame,
As mortal men by the thousands fell.
Alone he stood in a sea of gore,
The daemon reaped his bloody toll,
And from the Chaos came a roar,
The voice of a demigod made whole.*"
— From the prophecies of Mexicatii
## **Gallery**

Eagle Warriors Legion iconographyEagle Warriors Legion appearance.