The Emperors Dragons

Last legion of the Emperor, created by John Stone Art - https://www.instagram.com/john\_stone\_art/

**The Last Legion**

Times Change.

4000 years after Guilliman’s Internment into stasis the highest echelons of the Inquisition, lords of Terra and the Grey Knights decided that with humanity under incredible peril they needed a power strong enough to stand against the oncoming darkness. A light in the dark, a ray of hope and a shining beacon that would take the fight to the enemies of the Imperium and free the galaxy from corruption. A power that could stand on its own and not just resist the tides of chaos that closed in on humanity, but push back. So under extreme secrecy, Project: DRACONIS IMPERIALIS was born.

On the fringes of --- ##REDACTED – ORDER OF THE INQUISITION## --- a facility was created and trials begun. But to lead a legion, you need a primarch. Using sciences long thought forgotten, created by the Emperor Himself, they were able to forge the geneseed need to craft the perfect specimen. But the efforts were nothing without a host for it to grow. After 514 years of searching, trials and millions of souls, the perfect instrument of warfare, a being of pure Will and Might was formed. A Primarch outside of the Emperor’s own hands was born. The journey of the new Primarch is a legend that would go unwritten, unknown and unseen for thousands of years… Until now.

Seed was taken, children were inducted and within the new Fortress-Chapel on the Death World --- ##REDACTED – ORDER OF THE INQUISITION## --- , a world so uninhabitable all denizens live in monstrous underground caverns below the surface. Pushed through a regime so extreme it rivalled that of the Grey Knights, the first warriors of the last legion were forged. Far from humanities gaze, utterly secret and without glory or songs to carry their deeds through the imperium, the Emperors Dragons fought a war unknown.

Hive fleets, Ork Invasions and entire Necron Dynasties were destroyed by the power of the Dragons. Legions of daemons and traitors were purged without mercy before the bolters, boots and chainswords of the black and orange juggernauts. Humanity remained oblivious that they had been saved time and time again. To be an Emperor’s Dragon was to not to be humanities finest, it was to be a step above. To be utterly incorruptible, to have a Primarch of such purity that stood as if the Emperor himself was standing over you, shoulder on hand, guiding the way. And so it has been for over 6000 years that the Emperor’s Dragons have fought a war in secret, without thanks or acknowledgement. They are the flame of the Emperor, the blinding light that will cleanse the galaxy. And they shall know no fear.

**An Imperium on a knifes edge**

Why create a legion when it’s power previously brought humanity to its knees? Why allow for a primarch to take power of so mighty a force and set about his will without dispute? Upon the end of the Horus Heresy it was the original wishes of the high lords of Terra that no single man, mortal or otherwise, would wield the power of a legion ever again…

4000 years would pass before the decision was made to begin the quest to create the impossible again. The survival of humanity was on a knifes edge and without the Emperor to lead them, without his sons to guide and safeguard the vast expanses of the Imperium’s domain, the walls were closing in.

Zedekiel, the Dragon Primarch.  Last of his kind, wrought from the greatest humanity had to offer now stands as the barrier between the Imperium and enemies at its gates. On the extreme edges of its borders do they dwell. Secretly waging an eternal war against those who threaten all that is sacred. The legions duty and purpose is to *endure.* Not only the rigours of eternal combat and war, but most importantly of all, remain pure and untainted against the horrors they face.

To survive all the tests and hardships that come its way and stand triumphant, Zedekiel must lead his legion with unflinching resolve.  The power of the dragons is their ability to adapt.  To rapidly assess any situation they face and mould themselves into the deadliest fighting force ever seen.  Failing to do so is death.

Not every battle and war fought by the Emperors Dragons is a victory. Not every decision made has lead success. In these defeats the Dragons absorb the lessons learned and apply them for the next war to be fought.

Ten divisions of ten thousand. Ten chapters of one thousand in each division. Ten companies of one hundred in each chapter. These are the fighting legions of the Emperors Dragons. Cycled endlessly through their domain they are in a constant state of crusade, replenishment and rearming. New ground is taken and the depleted ranks of a division will swiftly be reinforced by another so that they may fall back and refill the ranks of the fallen.

These are the Emperors Dragons.  Last legion of the Emperor of Mankind.  Fighting for victory in a war that will never end.

**Zedekiel, the Dragon Primarch**

The Dragon Primarch is the greatest triumph of humanity since the original Primarchs and Space Marine legions. Created in secret in the 34th Millennium, The Imperium was being tested like never before and the walls were closing in. Something had to be done. In the dark circles in the highest echelons of humanity, a scheme was born upon desperation. A scheme that would take five hundred years and cost two million aspirants would result in either perfection or total catastrophe.

On a death world at the extreme fringes of the galaxy, wiped from all data drives, a facility was created to forge the final Primarch. Built on the home world of the aspirant that successfully passed the brutal trials placed upon him, the real work began. The greatest minds in the Imperium of Man laboured to create the impossible. Engineers, Mechanicus and scientists of all descriptions and origins worked together under the ever-present gaze of the inquisition. A company of Grey Knights was stationed to protect the facility, their devotion as unending as the works within.

A male child would go through transformations beyond the comprehension of any human in history. The sciences behind this were both archaic and revolutionary. Known methods and new were intertwined in ways increasingly at odds with the Inquisition who looked down on any sudden change. For 15 years the boy would grow into something far beyond any mortal that before him. That child was Zedekiel. The Final Primarch.

Throughout this time he would become the ultimate warrior and leader. Like his brothers before him, his mind was as sharp as his lost kin, his prowess in battle would surely impress that of even Guilliman. Yet this paled in comparison to his honour. Even the most cynical of the Inquisition were bowed by his devotion to humanity and the eternal Emperor that guides it. By twenty he surpassed everything that could be taught by his teachers. Recognising there was no more they could do for him, they set about his final test.

On the surface, Zedekiel was calm and level-headed. Internally, however, he held a burning, undying fighting fury. Under the extreme rigours of the Grey Knights, he would learn to use it to sharpen his senses and focus his mind. Zedekiel channelled his rage into his enemies, using it as a weapon. Thus he earned the name The Emperors Dragon.

He revelled in pre-emptive warfare, his clairvoyance once again worrying those closest to the Emperor’s light. But the Grey Knight training was true and he honed this skill in ways that would forge him into one of the Imperium greatest assets. Yet his greatest strength was his humanity. It was clear to all those who saw Zedekiel when he first met his people that there was a connection there. A bond of protection, strength and unity second only to the Emperor himself.

Setting him loose on his home world, he would find his way to his people that he was taken from. He integrated himself in their society with ease, his place within it clear from his first step on that ashen ground. Over the years he would echo Primarchs before him; uniting the people, advancing technology, way of life and bringing the Emperors light to the lost colony. Grey Knights watched from afar, gauging his actions, searching for corruption. Waiting for the moment they would make themselves known again.

After a decade, the Grandmaster of the Grey Knights descended. The people of the young Primach would stand in awe of the titanic marine in his armour as he entered the city Zedekiel had created as his home. “It is time” the Grandmaster said, and Zedekiel nodded. Having united his people and proven his ability to remain free of corruption outside the walls of the purified facility he was birthed in, the final steps were taken to create the last legion of the Emperor.

This legion would go on the fight for the Emperor in secret, unknown to the rest of the Imperium. Worlds under the Dragon’s control would fight directly under Astartes leadership. For over six thousand years now they have done so.

However, the Warp’s fury is ever increasing. A cataclysmic Black Crusade has been launched from the Eye and Zedekiel is hard pressed to keep his legion secret when the Daemons are howling at the door of Terra itself…

**Brothers apart**

Culture within the Emperors Dragons is like that of many Space Marine chapters known throughout the Imperium.  A brotherhood forged in battle.  Loyalty to the Emperor.  A lifetime of restraint and discipline, tempered fury and the pursuit of perfection as a warrior.

That is just the surface.  Taking a deeper look at a warrior of the Emperors Dragons you’ll find a connection to humanity that is rooted deeply within them all.  A rare side of empathy and compassion to sacrifice themselves in the name of preserving those that many other of their distant kin would look down on.

The Emperors Dragons understand that without humanity, they themselves would not exist. That for all their talents, righteous fury in battle, purity of purpose and almost immortal lives they were all humans to begin with.  It is with that in mind the colonies under the Emperors Dragons banner are protected like sons and daughters under the gaze of protective Fathers. To preserve the life under their care not only fulfills their duty, it provides the base to which a successful ecosystem is grown.

A populace which feels safe, protected and has a purpose upon which to strive for means that they are more productive and loyal.  Industrial worlds become mammoth conveyor belts of all the tools of war.  Agricultural worlds produce food efficiently and of a quality that sustains the billions under the legions watch.

Importantly, the legions of the Imperium’s guard march under a banner they are proud of and fight harder and better than any of their distant cousins. A force that is unique in itself; as to uphold the secret of the Emperors Dragons existence, these vast legions of native Imperial Guard fight in direct command of Emperors Dragon Astartes commanders, supplementing the Legion and aiding where broad battle fronts are fought.

This highly trained and diverse force allows for the Superhuman Astartes to truly flourish in war. In a theatre of war where the front is stretches across multiple planets and systems, the guard of the Dragons will be deployed, fighting to thicken the lines of the Emperors finest, allowing for the Astartes to launch their legendary precision strikes to cripple enemy command, supply lines and reinforcements.

As the attacks on the Imperium increase on all sides and the noose tightens; the tightly held secret of the Emperors Dragons becomes harder to protect. Will they step into the light and allow themselves to be seen? Or will they hold on dearly to protect their vow of secrecy until the last…