Soul Drinkers

Soul Drinkers armorial with legion iconography.

Soul Drinkers Veteran Sergeant, unknown Chapter.

### Observed Strategic Tendencies

Covert Ops. Infiltration, Shock Assault, Boarding Actions, Terror Tactics, Psychological Warfare

### Warcry

"For the Emperor and Freedom!"
"Cold and Fast, Soul Drinkers!"

The **Soul Drinkers** are one of the ten Legios of the Legiones Astartes that make up the so-called Black Halo - the formation of ten Legions consisting of Legios XXI through XXX, which are responsible for providing tactical support to the First Founding Legions as well as guarding and maintaining Mankind's most endangered zones. They are the XXII Legion of the Legiones Astartes and the gene-sons of Hamartia, the Amethyst Tyrant.

Regarded by their peers with a mixture of respect and disgust due to both their mutations and combat doctrine, the Soul Drinkers are nevertheless a respected legion in the Imperium. The XXII make use of terror tactics in their conquests, using torture and fear to subdue their enemies. This preference though does not mean that they are ineffective in general warfare, as the legion is also adept in infiltration and close range shock assaults.

## History

"*"I have spent many years of my life studying the human psyche, my proud sons, and what I have discovered is that no other force is as inimical to humans as fear. It can paralyze a man, turn him against his own, drive him to take his own life, or obey his most hated enemy without question. And no mortal man is impervious to it."* "
— Hamartia's lesson to the Soul Drinkers.
After the Emperor's initial batch of Primarchs were scattered by the chaos gods, He resorted to the creation of 10 new demigods and legions, however history was destined to repeat itself when another disaster in the Warp stole this new batch of infants away from him. One of those children landed upon a planet named Atrax, a world of clouds, fog, and heavy rain ruled by a ruthless nobility. The infant crash landed in the estate of Duke Alden, a powerful and rich nobleman who took the star-child in and named him Hamartia. As the boy grew, his genetic mutations started to appear, his skin turning a pale grey and six additional eyes sprouting on his forehead. Hamartia received the greatest education available, and was taught in the ways of Atraxian nobility, which were merciless and scheming beyond measure. The young primarch soon realized that the meek and weak masses would only be preyed upon by the more ruthless nobleman, and that fear is a powerful tool to subdue your enemies. After three decades of machinations, assassinations, and political intrigue, Hamartia had risen above his rivals and established himself as the high king and absolute ruler of Atrax. For twenty years he ruled the planet until he was eventually discovered by the Emperor and his brothers Magellan and Devortus Gault, and was reunited with his legion.

Before their reunion with their primarch, the XXII was known as the phantom legion among the Legiones Astartes. Deployed almost exclusively on their own, they rarely came in contact with their cousins, but when they did the black armored marines with the deathly pallor and void black eyes unsettled their mortal and astartes comrades alike. Hamartia vowed to change this, replacing the black battleplate with his house's rich purples and silvers and encouraging his sons to learn the ways of nobility and decorate their armors with the popular images of Atrax. This led to the Drinkers turning from a legion of ghosts to a legion of refined, if mutated, nobleman and brought about a drastic alteration of the public's view of them.

## Notable Campaigns

* **The Subjugation of Ixana Minor (Unknown Date.M30)** - The first deployment of the Soul Drinkers after the reunion with Hamartia and the first use of their signature tactics. Ixana Minor, a relatively powerful world with potent technology, surrendered unconditionally in 72 hours. After the legion razed three cities and broadcast the carnage live to the rest of the world.

* **The Coltero Incident (Unknown Date.M30)** - The Soul Drinkers were deployed alongside the Black Dragons on Coltero, home to a race of xenophilic humans that used monstrous xenos slaves in war. Primarch Murad Ahga, horrified by the XXII's atrocious ways of war and Hamartia's callous disregard for the humans lives or Murad's pleas of mercy, stormed the bridge of the Terror's Hand, confronted his brother, and decrying him as a monster and demanding he cease his legions rampage on pain of being reported to the Emperor. Hamartia refused to comply with his brothers request, resulting in the withdrawing of Murad and his legion from the conflict. Relations have been strained ever since.

* **The Exterminatus of Xinhu (Unknown Date.M30)** - When the planet of Xinhu submitted to the Drinkers with very little fighting. Hamartia was invited to and accepted the invitation to a banquet hosted by the king. However after tasting poison in his wine, the Amethyst Tyrant had his guards capture and torture the king and his court to death. He would later slag the other lords domains from orbit when rebellion began soon after, leading to much of the world being uninhabitable.

* **The Defense of Stoctor (Unknown Date.M31)** - Notified of a large-scale Drukhari attack on the Imperial world of Stoctor, First Captain Demetrius led a division of Soul Drinkers to repel the raiders, in the hopes that he might acquire some of their secrets and technology of course. They successfully defended the world but their efforts bore no fruit as the Haemonculus he was after had destroyed his personal lab on the xenos' vessel.

* **The Fear Crusade (Unknown Date.M31)** - Again facing Drukhari raiders, though this time alongside the Carcharadons legion. The two legions quickly dealt with the threat because of their complimentary tactics. Both brothers meeting afterwards to mop up the xeno leader, and forming a rapport.

## Legion Organisation

The Soul Drinkers are organized in 10 companies which feature 10,000 marines each, and are lead by a captain. Outside of the command structure exist the Theraphosan terminator elite who are the primarch's personal guard and the Cruciators. The Cruciators are the trademark formation of the legion, replacing the standard Apothecarion. They are scientists as well as warriors, their personal mission being to discover new and effective instruments of torture for the Drinkers use in their wars. They also act as interrogators for captives. Some of their creations include the Agonisers, special bladed weapons with power fields that cause the victims nervous system to flare up in burning agony with the slightest cut. The pain setting is adjustable and can even kill a mortal from shock. A similar instrument is the Subjugators, powerful whips which make use of the same technology and are often the personal choice of the Cruciators themselves.

### Specialist Ranks

The Soul Drinkers don't fight only alongside the standard Imperial Army, but also maintain their own auxiliary regiment, the Opulus Sentinels. Possible aspirants that were not fit for astartes conversion, but are still fine specimens that would be a waste to cast aside, are instead recruited into the Sentinels. Receiving intense training and equipped with hellguns or longlas and carapace armor, they are among the most elite of Imperial Auxilia. They specialize in infiltration, sabotage, and tracking, acting as the outriders of their Soul Drinkers masters, and preparing the ground for the main invasion.

### Legion Special Equipment

* **Agony Cradle** - Based off the combat harness of Hamartia's brother Aemilian, then converted for his own purposes. This combat machine blends expertly with the arachnid regalia on the armor of the Amethyst Tyrant, being similar to a spiders limbs encasing prey. These limbs curl around the shoulders and middle abdomen of Hamartia in an idle state, their source being the main unit attached to the spine. The Agony Cradle can then unfurl in the blink of an eye, lashing and stabbing at any target with a mechanical single-mindedness. Each limb can segment and lengthen for longer reach and to be used like a whip, and each is tipped with a deadly sharp blade integrated with the Drinkers pain technology. Many high-ranking members of the legion have been gifted Cradles of various designs and features by their father.

* **Arachni-Dreads** - A gift from Hamartia's brother Arpaza, these dreadnaught chassis replace the standard lower legs of other venerable models with four adamantium arachnid legs. These are able to climb on most surfaces if the area is stable enough or can hold the wounded astartes mobile tombs weight. One or both arms can also be replaced with a large set of arachnid claws for crushing or extra mobility, and like most Drinkers weapons they can extend to lash at targets. These arms can also be switched if needed for the standard armament or arms. To compensate for the lack of limb armaments shoulder, back, and chest weapons are often put in place.

## Legion Combat Doctrine

The thing that makes the Soul Drinkers controversial to the other forces of the Imperium is their modus operandi. Adopting Hamartia's teachings, the legion are masters of psychological warfare and terror tactics. They study their enemies to identify the best approach to subjugation and then strike with cold and surgical precision. For example, one of their preferred tactics is to take down a planets comm networks and fill vox channels with threats of torture and death, then strike at a worlds capital and inflict great atrocities, torturing soldiers and civilians, using biological weapons, and taking hostages. They then broadcasts these atrocities to the rest of the planet until they surrender or are too demoralized to fight. Even though this doctrine is often criticised by some of his brothers, it makes for quick subjugation's with little losses on either side and preserves most of the infrastructure of the newly compliant world. Of course, if one were to assume that the XXII are cowards for preying on the weak they would be entirely wrong. Hamartia has made sure that his sons are as effective as any other member of his brothers' legions. The Drinkers are gifted in the arts of infiltration, stealth, and subterfuge, which they use to great effect in their campaigns of terror. Their skills rival those of the more stealth oriented legions like the Carcharadons and Raptors. They are also skilled in shock assaults and close combat, while the abilities granted by their gene-seed make them gifted boarding fighters, or on hunts in confined spaces.

## Legion Beliefs

Hamartia has strived for a refined and disciplined legion, and his efforts have born fruit, as the Soul Drinkers are admired as one of the most organised, disciplined, and cultured of the Legiones Astartes. The adolescents of Atrax are selected for induction into the legion go through a process of rigorous martial training, education, and versing in the ways of nobility. These attributes of the legion have garnered them the admiration of primarchs like Aymon of the Howling Griffons, Arian van Atre of the Angels Resplendent, and Devortus Gault of the Red Scorpions who, in spite of his loathing for mutants, has developed a close relationship with Hamartia. In fact the two brothers are so close that their legions often fight in campaigns together.

* **Honour Duels** - An honour-duel is a tradition from the old-way -- one of the Soul Drinkers' oldest traditions. This traditional form of combat is as old as the Soul Drinkers Legion, from the ranks of which the Soul Drinkers have been founded almost ten thousand years before. The Soul Drinkers believe that the Emperor would give strength to the arm of His champion and that Hamartia would counsel victory to the just. They also believe that he would lend strength to those that are worthy.
* **Sacred Blood Rites** - A few battle-brothers, those who make notable skills in battle, are permitted to crack open the skulls of their victims and take the brain material inside. A quirk of the Soul Drinkers' gene-seed had rendered the organ in their stomachs, the Omophagea, unusually sensitive, and as a result the genetic memories they could absorb had powerful emotional and spiritual resonances. This is a religious observance, then, for a Soul Drinker to swallow a gobbet of the bloody pink mass and to experience the memories and sensations that streams from it. Pains are taken to ensure that those whom are not Astartes do not witness this ritual. A non-Astartes are morally simplistic, and can not be trusted to see the bloody rites of the Legiones Astartes and not come to a wayward conclusion.
* **Trial of the *Scintillating Death*** - Each Aspirant of the Reclusium (potential Chaplains) had to submit themselves to the trial of the Scintillating Death. The Chaplains venture to learn of the Legion's very soul. The Aspirants learns of the fear that every battle-brother possesses within them. It is not the petty dread of a human. It is a terror that makes their Legion strong, for their battle-brothers fight to stave it off, but it makes them weak, for they will all be wretched in death with their fear having come to pass. The Soul Drinkers believe that they possess fear that go beyond that which a mere man can comprehend. It is the fear of dying with their work yet undone. For a Soul Drinker takes all the ills of the galaxy upon his shoulders and as long as they remain he cannot rest. Theirs is a fight that can never end, and so when they die, it is with battles still to be won. This is the fear that they feel. This is the terror that drives them on -- the terror of death; for they believe that everyone die with their duty not yet done. Not all those who submits themselves to this trial succeeds. Some are even lost. This is the price an Aspirant has to pay for enlightenment. And so, if an Aspirant returns successfully, the Reclusium accepted a new student.

## Legion Gene-Seed

The Soul Drinkers' gene-seed has an arachnid mutation, giving the marines their signature pale grey skin and pitch black eyes. Furthermore as a marine ages additional eyes will sprout from his forehead, eventually stopping when the marine boasts eight eyes like his primarch. Those eyes give the astartes of the XXII one of their signature abilities, namely the ability to detect a creatures warp signature and see it in the form of auras which grow more intense in brightness when strong emotion is felt, primarily fear. A more rare mutation is pointed and elongated teeth. The Soul Drinkers are also rumored to have a weak psychic field that influences the minds of others and makes them more susceptible to outbursts of terror and fear. However, these mutations make their gene-seed more unstable than the average legion, leading to semi-frequent rejections.

## Notable Members

* **Hamartia** - Primarch and father of the Soul Drinkers.

* **Prime Cruciator Demetrius** - First Captain and head of the Cruciatus.

* **Bancroft** - Second Captain and leader of Hamartia's Theraphosan bodyguards.

## Legion Appearance

### Legion Colours

The Soul Drinkers' Power Armour is primarily purple with ornate bone and gold-colored pauldron trims and a gold Imperial Aquila or Imperialis on their breastplates.

### Legion Badge

The Soul Drinkers' Legion badge is a golden chalice with five spirals of soul energy rising out of the top and the two blades of a golden laurel wreath sprouting from its base. This is centred on a field of purple.

## Gallery

Soul Drinkers Tactical Legionary, unknown Chapter.