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Legio Venator - Legio Venator: Legio VenatorLoyalistTitan LegionCollegia TitanicaAdeptus MechanicusThe Legio Venator is currently in the service of the Lathe Worlds' branch of the Mechanicus, and is always ready to aid the Tech-priests of those three Forge Worlds when circumstances demand.Within the Drusus Marches sub-sector of the Calixis Sector lies the forbidding Forge World of Arachnus. It is named for the breed of arachnid-like megafauna that once walked the planet's surface, and were hunted to extinction by the Legio Venator. During the Great Crusade, those personnel of the Legio Venator that were assigned to expeditionary fleets swiftly developed a sense of pride in brotherhood and unity, values that proved at odds with the beliefs of those left behind on Arachnus.When the Forge World fell into civil war during the galaxy-wide conflict known as the Horus Heresy, those that remained loyal to the Emperor retained their original name, striving to wash clean the sins of those who had turned against Him.From Arachnus, as well as their later permanent posting within the Lathe System of the Calixis Sector on the dead moon of Lycosidae where they were said to maintain a hidden fortress, the Titan Legion stands vigil against any who threaten Imperial sovereignty in the region, and plays a critical role in maintaining order and stability throughout the sector.
Legio Venator - Great Crusade: With the clarity that hindsight offers, it is clear that the hostilities held by some upon Arachnus towards the Imperium persisted long after it bent the knee to Mars. Little evidence exists that Arachnus and its people actively plotted against the Imperium during the Great Crusade, for the Forge World benefited greatly under Imperial rule.In addition to the returning of its vassal worlds, bar those few seized by Mars as a measure of chastisement for raising arms against the Imperium and the Omnissiah, Arachnus rapidly expanded its borders, seeking out many lesser, as yet undiscovered, Forge Worlds elsewhere in the region to bring under their sway.Of even greater note is the arms which their manufactoria produced, for Arachnus soon became a favoured world of the Emperor's own transhuman bodyguard, the Legio Custodes, and the Forge World was noted for the skill with which they constructed the more esoteric weapons the Emperor's household troops often made use of.Furthermore, a significant portion of the Legio Venator's strength was committed to the Great Crusade, nearly two-thirds of the Titan Legion separating into independent detachments and battlegroups deployed across the galaxy.Nevertheless, there lay an undercurrent of resistance from Arachnus towards the growing might of the Imperium, with veiled attempts to establish itself as the prominent power within the region of minor Forge Worlds known as the "Belt of Iron" and a notable effort to gather seats within the Martian Mechanicum's Parliament to better influence policy towards the favour of Arachnus.Never was this more perceivable than amongst those who served with elements of the Legio Venator that had amassed long standard years of service during the Great Crusade, and others of the Titan Legion who remained guarding the borders of Arachnus, called to war only in the most urgent of circumstances. Such individuals noted that those who stood as warders of Arachnus were bitter and melancholic, adverse to the notion of any not born of their world issuing commands to the Legio Venator.In contrast, those who regularly served within the expeditionary fleets of the Great Crusade were praised for their devotion to the Imperial cause and lauded for the spirit of self-sacrifice that placed the good of Mankind before their own lives.
Legio Venator - Horus Heresy: The ideological splits between the two disparate elements of the Legio Venator were to bring much strife to Arachnus come the Horus Heresy. When news of the Warmaster Horus' treachery reached Arachnus, there was much contention within the upper hierarchies of the Forge World as to which side in the developing conflict Arachnus should take.In answer, the far-ranging elements of the Legio Venator were recalled to Arachnus and, after standard years of debate, those Iron Spiders that had spent great periods of time away from their founding world appeared to emerge victorious following the outbreak of warfare within the Belt of Iron.In answer to calls for aid, the veterans of the Great Crusade were sent across the region, bringing war to the Warmaster's allies. In doing so, Arachnus was emptied of many who held ironclad loyalty to the Imperium, a circumstance that proved calculated in its arrangement.Mere solar months after much of the Legio Venator swore renewed allegiance to the Emperor, Arachnus declared its own independence, purging the Forge World of those who still supported the Imperium and bequeathed the secessionist elements of the Legio Venator with a new name -- the Legio Tritonis, the "Dark Tide."For the remainder of the Horus Heresy the Loyalist remnants of the Legio Venator utilised the forge-fortress of M'Khand, gifted to them during the Great Crusade, as their primary base of operations. From there, the Legio Venator ranged across the Belt of Iron in search of the support needed to reconquer Arachnus, the Titan Legion's number heavily depleted first by the treachery of the Dark Tide and then the endless attrition of war.When the Legio Venator finally returned to Arachnus, wrestling it from the grip of those Traitors who had spat upon their oaths to the Imperium, the Forge World of their founding was but a shadow of its former glory, lesser than M'Khand and perhaps never to return to what it once was.
Legio Venator - Calixis Sector Operations: Over a thousand Terran years later, the Legio Venator was one of the forces to heed the call to arms against the self-proclaimed "Emperor of Brass." The Titan god-engines were invaluable in breaking the rebellions bordering the Gelmiro Cluster, ruthlessly cleansing any worlds that rebelled against their Imperial masters. During the final assault on the remaining hive city clusters within the system, the Legio Venator came face to face with a new and terrible enemy: Chaos Titans.What followed was a four-day-long conflict in which the massive war engines on both sides relentlessly stalked their foes through ruined spires and destroyed hab blocks. Several of the Legio Venator's damaged Titans even volunteered to act as bait to lure the Chaos Titans into ambushes, occasionally sacrificing themselves to destroy their targets.The eventual arrival of two Imperator-class Titans signalled the end of the fighting, as the remaining Chaos forces were unable to stand up to the might of these awe-inspiring machines. Entire swathes of ruined cityscape vanished beneath the power of their mighty armaments, as the Chaos god-engines that did not escape offworld fell to the overwhelming onslaught.The battle groups then turned their efforts towards supporting the remaining Loyalist forces, and the entire star cluster was eventually left a smoking ruin, though the cost in lives had been high. However, the escaped Chaos forces would return to face the Legio again, under the banner of the Forsaken Reavers Chaos warband.When the Meritech Wars erupted across Imperial space almost five hundred standard years later, the Legio Venator dispatched forces to help quell the massive uprising. These included the Ignis Inferorum, an ancient Imperator Titan dating back to the Age of Technology, which strode the battlefield like an avatar of wrath, its twin Plasma Annihilators belching fiery retribution. The defenders found themselves hopelessly outmatched and, in the end, not a single living creature survived.Following the conclusion of the Meritech Wars, the Legio Venator focused on rebuilding and strengthening its holdings in the sector, occasionally dispatching battle groups to honour treaties and obligations from the distant past.In the 41st Millennium, the Legio currently has forces operating in both the costly Margin Crusade and the on-going Achilus Crusade. Here they have encountered the deadly Bio-Titans of the Tyranid hive fleets, and many priceless god-engines have fallen to these ferocious monstrosities.As a result, Princeps Majoris Maxilohv has decreed that no additional battle groups are to leave the Calixis Sector, except to fulfil the Legio's current obligations, until the destroyed Titans are replaced. Such an undertaking is expected to require many standard centuries.
Legio Venator - Legion Specific Wargear: Blind Launchers - The Legio Venator makes use of one-shot launchers that can unleash a burst of smoke which interferes with conventional vision and auspexes.
Legio Venator - Legion Combat Doctrine: Within the Legio Venator, it is the duty of all moderati to defend the princeps against death itself, regardless of the cost. The princeps of the Legio Venator maniples train together extensively, learning to work in near-perfect concert until they can anticipate each other's actions nearly as well as their own.Following the loss of Arachnus during the Horus Heresy, the Legio Venator found itself deprived of large numbers of heavier Battle Titans, adapting their tactics to accomodate larger numbers of lighter god-engines.The princeps of this Legio are known to seethe with an intense hatred of all Traitors, raging at their abandonment of the true order and determined that all such Renegades should fall before them, whatever the cost.The princeps of the Legio Venator spent long solar decades fighting within the Great Crusade's expeditionary fleets, and were able to control their god-engines with seemingly preternatural skill.The princeps of this Legio are well-practiced in commanding Titans in battle, and are capable of drawing up intricate plans with built-in redundancies.
Legio Venator - Notable Titans: Lupus Ira (Warlord-class Titan) - Despite some misgivings about the loyalty of the Legio Venator and their Forge World of Arachnus, following their Compliance and subsequent integration into the Imperium, the Legio Venator Titans were given long-term assignments to the Great Crusade's expeditionary fleets. Titans such as the Lupus Ira, depicted above, would go on to prove their loyalty across innumerable battlefields, quickly developing a great devotion to those they served alongside. The respect they held for the forces of the Great Crusade drove many of the Legio Venator to turn against their former masters when Arachnus attempted to secede from the Imperium during the Horus Heresy.Lupus Tempestus (Reaver-class Titan) - Lupus Tempestus is a renowned war machine, a veteran Titan of the Legio Venator. In the Achilus Crusade it cut its teeth fighting T'au in the Canis Salient. Lupus and its princeps, Terrach Vex, used their mobility to full effect and employed the T'au's Hunter Cadres' own tactics of lightning strikes and hit and run attacks against them. More than one T'au thrust headed from the front found itself engaged from an unexpected quarter and robbed of momentum by the Lupus Tempestus, before being destroyed by a concerted Imperial counterattack. Although the T'au do not use Titan-like constructs as a rule, Vex has brought down two of their super-heavy flyers, the Mantas.Theridionx (Warhound-class Titan) - The Theridionx was a Warhound-class Titan that took part in many of the conflicts of the Cataclysm of Iron campaign during the Horus Heresy. Warhound-class Scout Titans, such as the Theridionx, pictured above during the assembly at M'Khand following the fall of Arachnus to the Traitors, became integral to the continued operation of the Titan Legion after many of its oldest princeps defected to the nascent Legio Tritonis. The existence of the Dark Tide was a great stain upon the honour of the Legio Venator and the princeps of its Warhounds believed it their task to exterminate all who wore the colours of their traitorous kin.
Legio Venator - Notable Personnel: Princeps Senioris Lenodius von Maxilohv - Princeps Senioris Lenodius von Maxilohv is the current commanding princeps majoris of the Legio Venator and is over 250 standard years old. His body is permanently confined to his command throne, an ornate brass device that contains the necessary life-support systems and tox-scrubbers to keep him alive and allow him to interface with his Titan's Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence). He retains only his head, right arm, and half of his torso, following a stand-off with Titans of the Forsaken Reavers Chaos warband. During a clash against these foul raiders, Maxilohv intercepted orbital surveillance that five of the fallen god-engines were attempting to flank the Imperial assault through a canyon south of the battle. As the rest of his command could not abandon this critical phase of the attack, Maxilohv disengaged his god-engine Imperialis Potestus from the battle and challenged the enemy Titans alone. The canyon's rock walls reportedly echoed with the twisted scrapcode of the lead Chaos Warlord Titan when the lone Imperial god-engine encountered them, while the meaning of Maxilohv's brief reply burst is lost to history. While the servants of Chaos could not all bring their weapons to bear on him at once, neither could they miss. Maxilohv's Titan sustained massive damage from the withering enemy fire, including a direct hit to his command bridge. Maintaining control of his Titan through sheer force of will, Maxilohv continued to engage the enemy despite his terrible injuries. Upon seeing the final Chaos Titan fall, Maxilohv finally lost consciousness, and his Titan ground to a halt. Following the battle, he was placed within the cybernetic command throne he currently occupies. After repairing his Titan, tech-rites added the new honour to its glorious annals.
Legio Venator - Knight Houses: Numerous Freeblade associations
Legio Venator - Legion Strength: The strength and grade of the Legio Venator fluctuated greatly during its time in service to the Imperium. Upon its rediscovery during the Great Crusade, when Arachnus first opposed the Imperium, the Iron Spiders were noted to stand at an estimated 134 god-engines, including two Imperator-class Titans.Of these, only 54 god-engines, and a singular Imperator, were to survive Arachnus' conflict with the Imperium. Great efforts were made to replenish the strength of Legio Venator in the first solar decade of its service to the Emperor and by the onset of the Horus Heresy, the Titan Legion's numbers had been restored to its former glory, marking it as a Secundus-grade Legio in the records of the Collegia Titanica.By mid-011.M31, following the breaking of the Legio Venator into the Iron Spiders and the Traitor Dark Tide, the Legio Venator held a strength of 67 god-engines still loyal to the Imperium, the remainder having assumed the mantle of the Legio Tritonis or fallen opposing the rise of Arachnus as an independent power. Of these, most were Reaver and Warhound-class Titans, with the Legio Venator possessing only a handful of greater Battle Titans.The forges of M'Khand worked tirelessly to construct additional god-engines, yet the forge-fortress' capabilities were far below that of a true Forge World.In truth, the greater number of new god-engines added to the ranks of the Legio Venator were those captured during the Cataclysm of Iron, fallen machines of foes and Traitors repurposed in the Emperor's name.
Legio Venator - Legion Colours: The Legio Venator's colours are primarily a light grey with a bluish hue, with secondary colours of white outlined in black.
Legio Venator - Legion Banners: Following the dissolution of their Titan Legion with the secession of their Forge World of Arachnus from the Imperium during the Horus Heresy, many of the Loyalist Titans of the Legio Venator began an unofficial, yet widely adhered to, practice during the Cataclysm of Iron.Existing kill-markings on Iron Spiders Warhound Titan honour banners were daubed in white for each Legio Tritonis god-engine they claimed; the greater the number of Traitors slain, the more lauded the princeps.The existence of the Legio Tritonis ("Dark Tide") was a great stain upon the honour of the Legio Venator and the princeps of the Legio's Warhounds believed it their task to exterminate all who wore the colours of their traitorous kin.
Legio Venator - Legion Badge: The Legio Venator's badge is a massive black arachnid, reminiscent of the megafauna that used to roam the surface of their home Forge World of Arachnus, centred within a cog symbol, symbolising the Adeptus Mechanicus, and surrounded by a large octagon outline.This symbol is centred upon a field of orange.
Legio Venator - Canon Conflict: The home Forge World of the Legio Venator has changed on multiple occasions.Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard (2nd Edition) states that the homeworld of the Legio Venator is the Forge World M'khand of the Segmentum Pacificus, while Dark Heresy: The Lathe Worlds (RPG) states that Forge World Opus Macharia of the Segmentum Obscurus is the homeworld of the Iron Spiders.
Legio Venator - Sources: Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Loyalist Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 89, 150-155Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Crucible of Retribution (Specialty Game), pp. 6, 14, 22-23, 26-27, 30, 42-43, 53Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Titandeath (Specialty Game), pg. 93Imperial Armour Volume Nine - The Badab War - Part One, pp. 57, 59Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard (2nd Edition), "Principal Forge Worlds of the Adeptus Mechanicus," pg. 10Dark Heresy: The Inquisitor's Handbook (RPG), pg. 133Dark Heresy: The Lathe Worlds (RPG), pp. 109-111Deathwatch: Rites of Battle (RPG), pg. 186The Horus Heresy - Book One: Betrayal (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 139Dark Heresy Timeline by Alan Bligh, pp. 2, 5Warhammer Community - Crucible of Retribution: The Story (23 Oct 2020)Warhammer Community - Titanic Tactics (22 Oct 2020)Warhammer Community - Coming Soon: Crucible of Retribution (29 Sept 2020)
Legio Vendettica - Legio Vendettica: The Legio Vendettica is an obscure Titan Legion of the Collegia Titanica.The only known reference to the Legio Vendettica dates back to the 31st Millennium and the dark days of the Horus Heresy.
Legio Vendettica - Notable Campaigns: Schism of Mars (007.M31) - When open civil war erupted all over the Red Planet as the civil war within the Mechanicum known as the Schism of Mars began, the Legio Vendettica had already pledged their support to the Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal and his co-conspirators of the Dark Mechanicum. At the time of the Schism of Mars and the subsequent blockade of the Red Planet by the Imperial Fists, the Legio Vendettica maintained an extensive armoury depot in the eastern part of the Mare Hadriacum.  This facility was used by the Traitors of the Dark Mechanicum who were aligned with the Traitor fabricator-general. It was raided by the Loyalist Mechanicum resistance force known as the Omnissian Faithful.
Legio Vendettica - Notable Titans: None listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Vendettica - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Vendettica - Legion Colours: This Traitor Titan Legion's colours are not listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Vendettica - Legion Badge: This Traitor Titan Legion's badge is not listed in current Imperial records
Legio Victorum - Legio Victorum: The Legio Victorum ("Foe Slayers") is a Loyalist Titan Legion of the Collegia Titanica, one of the military arms of the Adeptus Mechanicus. There is very little information in Imperial records about this Titan Legion's founding, though it is known that it was raised before the start of the Great Crusade.The Legio Victorum actually grew so large over time that it split into what were effectively three separate Titan Legions based on each of the triple Forge Worlds of the Triplex System, the Legio Victorum I, the original "Foe Slayers," on Triplex Galatia, the Legio Victorum II or "Foe Hammers" of Triplex Phall and the Legio Victorum III, the "Foe Breakers" of Triplex Thule.In the wake of the events of the Horus Heresy only the Loyalist elements of the Legio Victorum I would survive, retaining the original Legio name and cognomen of "Foe Slayers."When the Schism of Mars occurred during the opening days of the Horus Heresy, the first Titans of the Legio Victorum were still present on Mars awaiting transport to other war zones within the Great Crusade when the civil war erupted between the Loyalist Mechanicum and the Traitor fabricator-general's Dark Mechanicum forces.The Legio Victorum fought valiantly on the Red Planet until it was relieved by Imperial forces after Horus' defeat in the Siege of Terra.Nothing else appears in the historical records concerning this Titan Legion until ten millennia later. When the dire threat of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Kraken threatened the Ultima Segmentum in 992.M41, the Legio's home Forge World of Triplex Phall came under the Great Devourer's shadow. The Legio Victorum survived the onslaught of the Kraken, though it cost was undoubtedly high, as they would later take part in the Third War for Armageddon in 998.M41.The Legio Victorum has never wavered in its devotion to the Emperor. It revered Him as the Omnissiah, the Machine God incarnate, and as such considers him embodied in the dominating presence of each Titan.The Foe Slayers' crewmen, through their indoctrination to the Legio, all have one thing in common -- the belief that Mankind has the sole right of existence in the galaxy.The personnel of the Legio do not tolerate the alien in any shape or form. Their dedication to this goal of eradication has extinguished many species that the Adeptus Terra originally designated as harmless and has left more powerful alien races, such as the Craftworld Aeldari, extremely wary of the Legio's presence in any theatre of war.The Titans of the Legio Victorum are renowned for the blitz tactics that are capable of shattering armies of a much greater size. In battle, their princeps are adept at working with other Imperial units and coordinating attacks to cause the maximum amount of damage in the shortest possible time.Typically, the Legio's Titans are armed for medium to long-ranged combat with devastating weapons batteries and super-heavy weapons predominantly featured, though a few princeps have dedicated themselves to assault, arming their Titans with a variety of close combat weapons that very few enemy war machines can withstand.
Legio Victorum - Origins: Once, the Legio Victorum was counted amongst the largest and most powerful of the many Titan Legions to be found within the Imperium. It consisted not of a single body, but of three linked Legios set within the Triplex System where three separate Forge Worlds provided for its arms and support.Each of these three shards of the Legio Victorum forged a legacy of its own, first as a brotherhood at the birth of the Imperium and then as rivals in the final days of the Great Crusade.That rivalry would be their undoing and, in the Age of Darkness that sat at the Horus Heresy's heart, the Legio Victorum would tear itself apart, to survive only as a single broken fragment of a once-proud Titan Legion.The Legio's origins lie in the long dark years of the Age of Strife -- the first Legio Victorum built for its parent forge a petty empire by the strength of its guns, subjugating those isolated pockets of Humanity it came across and annihilating the xenos marauders that infested that far region of space.It earned the epithet "Foe Slayers" by the count of the dead left in its wake, for Triplex Galatia and its new-born domain lay at the very edge of the galaxy where the enemies of Mankind were beyond count and each passing day of its existence was bought in the blood of the victors and the foe's dead.In those grim years the first Legio Victorum became a master of defensive engagements, the unbroken wall that protected the empire of Galatia and kept the flow of resources to the forges steady.Years passed and Galatia grew rich and bloated, one forge city became two and then three as Triplex Phall and Triplex Thule were founded, and the Legio Victorum, its ranks swelled with new war engines, split as well.The Legio Victorum II ("Foe Hammers") stood sentinel over Triplex Phall, formed of the most veteran of the old Titan Legion's princeps and built around the Apocalypse-class Titan Apex Maxis, while the Legio Victorum III ("Foe Breakers") warded Triplex Thule, its ranks filled by the most orthodox and militant of the tech-adepts of the Triplex System.Galatia stood unchallenged as the prime power of the Triplex System, and the Legio Victorum I the greatest military force in the Eastern Fringe. Those nearby worlds that could still be reached through the turbulent aetheric seas of the Eastern Fringe were unable to rival its influence, for Gulgorahd's Titans lacked the numbers of the Legio Victorum and Thramas had not the firepower to contend with such omnipotent war machines as the mighty engines of the Mechanicum.This dominance lasted until the arrival of the Great Crusade, for such was the vast size and power of the Imperial armada that came to the Eastern Fringe that, for the first time, the Legio Victorum was humbled.It was but one among many legions of Titans bound to hundreds of Forge Worlds, no longer unchallenged in its power or limitless in its reach. Not only that, but with access to the wider Imperium also came the subtle division of the three Forge Worlds of Triplex, with Galatia no longer the only arbiter of their future.
Legio Victorum - Horus Heresy: It was a legend that would see a tragic repeat only a few standard years later. For, after its return from the Great Crusade at the command of Horus Lupercal, the Legio Victorum II would bring a new strife to Triplex Thule, landing nearly its full strength to pacify that fiercely Loyalist outpost and prove its loyalty to the approaching Night Lords Legion.Once again the Somnus Etema met an enemy superior in numbers, holding the primary gate of the Thulian forge-fanes alone against a maniple of the Foe Hammers' finest.After 19 solar minutes it had once again been reduced to a shattered hulk, but this time no allies were to come to its aid for it had bought precious time for the fleet Warhounds to disperse across the world of Thule where they would continue a bitter and prolonged resistance for several solar weeks more.Brought to the end of its endurance, the Somnus Etema caught the Foe Hammer Warlord-class Titan Glory of Phall in a final embrace before detonating its atomantic core and destroying both Titans.It was upon the wreck of the Somnus Etema that the last ragged survivors of the Legio Victorum III would pledge their loyalty to Lion El'Jonson when the Dark Angels liberated the system of Triplex, though fewer than nine Titans of the lightest classes had managed to shelter in the harsh wilderness of Triplex Thule to see their salvation.These veterans would act as the Lion's proxies in control of those elements of the Legio Victorum II that had surrendered to the Dark Angels and took a savage delight in ordering them into the harshest of battles.By order of the Lion, the great Apex Maxis was given over to the Foe Breakers, who renamed it the Somnus Perpetua and incorporated the salvaged neural core of the fallen Reaver into its chassis.
Legio Victorum - Notable Titans: Imperious Cathedra (Imperator-class Titan) - This Imperator-class Titan is particularly notable for being one of the few of these avatars of the Machine God which completed construction during the Horus Heresy. The Imperious Cathedra was still in the process of creation when open hostilities broke out on the Red Planet, but its forging continued nevertheless. When the Titan's construction finished, it took to the field to assist its Legion and was able to add its immense firepower to their cause. The unrivaled fury of the Imperious Cathedra's ordnance was one of the reasons for the Legio Victorum's eventual survival.Sagax Lania (Warbringer Nemesis-class Titan) - The Sagax Lanio was one of a number of the Legio Victorum I's Battle Titans that was not present in the Triplex System during the Dark Angels' onslaught, instead seconded to the Night Lords' elements engaged in the Siege of Thramas. It remained as part of the Traitors' order of battle for the remainder of the Thramas Crusade, fighting with bitter fury against those of its own Legio that had turned their colours to fight at the behest of Lion El'Jonson, and eventually followed the Night Lords into exile at the end of the crusade. The last known sighting of the Sagax Lanio would be at the walls of the Imperial Palace on Terra, though it appeared to have undergone some malign transformation during its exile, little resembling the clean lines and proud heraldry of its former glory days when it fought under the banner of the Emperor.Primus Malachi (Reaver-class Titan) - This Reaver Battle Tita was the first God Machine of the Legio Victorum. It took part in the Schism of Mars and since that time, ten millenia later, continues to fight against the enemies of the Omnissiah.
Legio Victorum - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Victorum - Legion Homeworlds: The Triplex Sector was dominated by swathes of barren star systems, largely uninhabitable and empty.It was a wasteland of ore-rich worlds among old, dying stars and a few scattered clans of Abhuman miners and prospectors, which was far from any established trade route and cut off from the more populous sections of the region by fierce Warp Storms.At its heart was the system of Triplex, its triple Forge Worlds the centre of all industry in the sector and the greatest prize in the Eastern Fringe.With Triplex, a general might control the entirety of the eastern half of the Imperium of Man, for it rivalled great Anvillus in power, and many aspiring warlords cast their gaze upon this prize as the Horus Heresy erupted.
Legio Victorum - Triplex System: The Triplex System located in the Triplex Sector was the beating heart of the Eastern Fringe at the time of the closing years of the Great Crusade. This system was considered one of the greatest industrial hubs in the entire Imperium, rivalling even great Mars and Anvilus in the capacity of its forges.By its labour had the Great Crusade won the distant stars of the east, and it was by the products of their manufactoria that civilisation was sustained in those hostile systems that sat at the very edge of the galaxy.Home to the three-fold Legio Victorum and several hundred militant taghma, the system was also one of the greatest concentrations of military force in the east.The few inhabited worlds and scattered mining colonies in the sector were held in thrall to Triplex by the threat of its anger and the necessity of its protection in the face of the terrors that lurked in unknown space.It was a nascent power that strained at the bonds of the Emperor's law and the dictates of distant Mars, one that saw in Horus' rebellion a chance for their own ascent even as they professed their loyalty to the newly-founded Imperiem.
Legio Victorum - Triplex Galatia: The Forge World of Triplex Galatia was the first of the triple Forge Worlds to be established, its birth long since lost to history in those ancient days when the Explorator fleets of the Mechanicum set forth blindly into the void, seeking fertile new lands in which to grow and expand.For long centuries, it would reign as the overlord of local space, its dominion assured by the strength of the Legio Victorum I, the Foe Slayers, and the sheer proclivity of its tech-priests.It would only be with the arrival of the Emperor that it would stumble and fall behind its sibling forges, for Mars took a hand to curb the power of this new rival and petitioned the Emperor to take only the Legio Victorum II for His Great Crusade, sealing the remaining two slivers of the Legio to the defence of Triplex.This would see Galatia cut off from the riches of the Great Crusade, which would flow instead into the hands of Phall. Denied the glory of war and the spoils of victory, Galatia turned inwards and its tech-adepts began to walk forbidden paths in search of power, paths long forbidden by the decree of both Mars and Terra.So it was that when the representatives of the Warmaster Horus and of its brother forge, Triplex Phall, sought to turn them to their cause they found a ready ally, one more than prepared to throw off the shackles of the Imperium.With the promise of rich rewards from the Warmaster himself, Galatia began to slowly stockpile weapons of war built to new and fearsome specifications, shipping the more orthodox examples of their craft to the Imperium in order to keep up the pretence of loyalty that had been thrown across the system like a shroud.History has often suggested that Galatia, despite its new hidden allegiance, did not take a hand in the death of Thule and kept its warriors and Titans absent from the fratricidal conflict.Yet, it remains guilty of the lesser sin of standing by as the Legio Victorum III and the warriors of Thule died, and of stripping bare the corpse that remained of its brother Forge World, unleashing at last its Heretek hosts once the battle had been decided in order to seal its pact with the Traitors.Galatia's triumph would be short-lived. For though the bones of Thule would nourish its industry and fuel the construction of new armies and voidcraft in anticipation of the Traitor conquest of the Eastern Fringe, the arrival of Lion El'Jonson and his Dark Angels would seal the fate of the darkened forge of Galatia.Utterly destroyed by the Dark Angels' Dreadwing, it would stand as a warning of the fate of Traitors and a token of the I stLegion's wrath that Phall could neither forget nor ignore.Even by the end of the Horus Heresy, it remained largely unvisited, for few wished to risk calling down the I stLegion's censure upon themselves despite the riches and secrets that lay buried in the ruin of Galatia's pride and ambition.
Legio Victorum - Triplex Thule: The smallest of Triplex's three Forge Worlds, the tale of Triplex Thule is born and ended in tragedy. It was founded by tech-magi cast out of Galatia in its early days for the practise of an extreme branch of Mars' orthodox doctrine that abhorred and condemned even the primitive servo-automata still in production amongst the Mechanicum's scattered worlds.Their obsession with the purity of mechanical devices and the subtle blending of man and machine in the form of servitors and MIU links put them at odds with the rulers of Galatia, who trod an increasingly deviant path in their research and lust for power.Thule would grow only slowly, starved of resources and shunned by their siblings, having reached the lowest grade of Primaris-ranking by the time of the Imperium's arrival at Triplex.Driven to struggle against their brethren for every last shipment of ore and batch of new subjects, Thule had long engaged in a hidden war with the other Forge Worlds of Triplex, one fought by a small Taghmata of heavily-modified servitors and the agents of the Malagra sect rather than by the Titans of the Legio Victorum III, the Foe Breakers.It was a conflict that would only intensify after the Emperor inducted the warriors of Phall into His crusade and gave it access to all the riches of the wider Imperium.As it had always done, Phall held its newfound wealth at arm's reach from the tech-magi of Thule, both a taunting reminder of the power Phall held and a mocking promise of what they might enjoy should they bow before Phall as Galatia had chosen to do.Stubborn and convinced of the rightfulness of their cause, the rulers of Thule refused to buckle beneath the growing influence of Phall. When the  emissaries of the Warmaster Horus came in secret to offer them Horus' favour for their loyalty, the archmagi of Thule spurned them as servants of Phall and its sneering Hereteks.The hidden war then took a more savage turn, with bombs and data-phage infections wreaking havoc on outposts of both Forge Worlds as well as upon Thule itself.It would be Thule's retaliation, the assassination of a Phallian archmagus by a trio of Malagra adepts, which would set the pyre for the final tragedy of Thule's tale. In the opening months of Horus' rebellion, open war would arrive in the Triplex System as Triplex Phall took up arms against its least sibling, setting the Legios Victorum I and III to open battle.As with any war between brothers it was fought with a vicious and unrelenting spite, with no mercy offered or expected, and by the time of the Night Lords' arrival in the system, there would be little but ruins left of the once-proud Forge World of Thule.
Legio Victorum - Knight Houses: House AttakamaHouse BeophaneHouse Shan Mor
Legio Victorum - Space Marines: Night Lords (Traitor)World Eaters (Traitor)
Legio Victorum - Legion Colours: The Legio Victorum's Titans have dark blue hulls, lined with a rich gold.Armour plating on the extremities of weapons is typically of a bright yellow, though the more ancient Titans may use bronze instead.Kill markings are usually displayed as stars on banners slung between a Titan's legs.The oldest Titans originally constructed on Mars have silver metals beneath their armour plating, whilst those built on Galatia are far duller, due to the different minerals present on the two Forge Worlds.
Legio Victorum - Legion Badge: The Legio Victorum's Legio badge consists of a golden gauntlet clenching an upside down open-framed triad (triangle).On each of the points of the triad, are three circlets with the High Gothic numerals 'I', 'II' and 'III', indicating the three separate detachments that made up the whole of the Legio Victorum.A green laurel surrounds the bottom of the central symbol which is crowned with a half-cog icon, symbolising the Legio's ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Legio Victorum - Canon Conflict: Imperial Armour Volume One lists the Legio Victorum's home Forge World as being Triplex Phall, located in the Segmentum Ultima, although older publications describe it as being Galatia in the Segmentum Pacificus, as well as providing a moderately detailed overview of the world.It was unknown if the information pertaining to Galatia had any relevance in regards to Triplex Phall, or whether another Titan Legion now called Galatia home.However, recent lore revealed in The Horus Heresy - Volume Nine: Crusade indicates that the Legio Victorum's homeworld was all three Forge Worlds of the Triplex System (made up of Triplex Phall, Triplex Galatia and Triplex Thule).
Legio Victorum - Sources: Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Rulebook (Specialty Game), pp. 14-17Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, pg. 8Imperial Armour Volume Twelve - The Fall of Orpheus, pg. 40The Horus Heresy Book Nine: Crusade (Forge World Series), pp. 24, 46, 76, 77, 136-139Titan Legions (2nd Edition), pg. 50Deliverance Lost (Novel) by Gav Thorpe, pg. 14Third War for Armageddon Worldwide Campaign - Forces Disposition, Imperial Forces: Legio Victorum
Legio Vindictus - Legio Vindictus: The Legio Vindictus is one of the Titan Legions of the Collegia Titanica. Records regarding the Legion's history are fragmentary at best, as for instance the Legion's true homeworld is unknown.Since the later stages of the Great Crusade, however, the Legio Vindictus has elected to make its home on the Forge World of Kiavahr, which is perhaps best known for being the homeworld of the Raven Guard Legion.The Legio Vindictus holds a special place in Imperial history as, whilst many a Titan Legion declared itself wholly for the Traitor Warmaster Horus Lupercal or the Emperor, and some like the Legio Tempestus split into two rival fractions, the Legio Vindictius is the only Titan Legion known to have been actively infiltrated and at least have come partially under the control of the highly secretive dissidents of the Order of the Dragon, who were allies of the Alpha Legion.
Legio Vindictus - Legion History: The Legio Vindictus’ history is shrouded in mystery and records of it are fragmentary at best. In fact, apart from its close affiliation with the Raven Guard and its ever-lasting shame for having allowed itself to have been infiltrated by enemies of the Emperor, virtually nothing is known about the Legion. Even its most renowned battle honours all date back to the dark years of the Horus Heresy.The Legion's original foundation and true homeworld are unknown, but what little can be known is that the Legion had been charged with the solemn duty of protecting the newly rediscovered Forge World of Kiavahr in the later part of the Great Crusade.Formidable as they are, Kiavahr's forges would have been insufficient to manufacture an entire Titan Legion -- even of modest size -- in the century and a half that separated the introduction of Kiavahr within the alliance of planets formed by the Imperium of Mankind and the beginning of the Horus Heresy.This only leads to the conclusion that the Legion must have been splintered off from one of the greater and more powerful Legions of the Collegia Titanica or relocated to Kiavahr after its discovery.Given Kiavahr's special situation as both a Forge World and a homeworld of one of the Legiones Astartes, this would be sufficient to warrant the protection of a Titan Legion. The tense relations between the Kiavahrian Tech-Guilds, artificers and artisans and the followers of the Machine God could also indicate that the Mechanicum desired to keep an eye on this peculiar world and if necessary have a powerful contingent of loyal troops ready to crush any form of rebellion.Indeed, the Legio Vindictus has always seemed to have benefitted from large amounts of supporting troops such as Skitarii, Sagitarii, Praetorians and Herakli, deployed perhaps in anticipation of civil war or insurrection, a precautionary measure that proved its effectiveness in the quick repression of the Kiavahrian Uprisings.Some have argued that the high level of infiltration by the Order of the Dragon must indicate a close tie to holy Mars itself, whilst other point out that if the Legio Vindictus origins ever truly laid on Mars, the Legion must have had some dealings with the office of the Fabricator-General, which notoriously turned Traitor under the influence of Kelbor-Hal.Yet the majority of the Legio Vindictus’ troops remained loyal and distinguished itself fighting alongside the Raven Guard in many battles. Along other more notable campaigns listed below, Legio Vindictus Titans were often deployed in small numbers to garrison liberated worlds such as Narsis after the the Siege of the Perfect Fortress had ended with the victory of the Raven Guard and their allies of the Therion Cohort.It would be alongside these two formations, and particularly alongside Marcus Valerius’ Therion Cohorts that the Legio Vindictus would fight most of its battles.
Legio Vindictus - Notable Campaigns: Kiavahrian Uprisings (Unknown Date, ca. 007.M31) - As Mars before it, Kiavahr devolved into civil war when the Kiavahrian Tech-Guilds -- long deemed defeated but never truly eradicated for lack of time -- try to seize control of the main forge complexes in Nabrik, Kiavahr's capital city. A seditious cult within the Mechanicum later identified as the Order of the Dragon supported the Guilders. Having managed to corrupt or take control of several god-engines from the Legio Vindictus, including the mighty Magnus Casei and at the very least four Warhound Scout Titans, the order attacked the fortress of the XIXth Legion known as Ravendelve, while insurrectionnist infantry tried to seize Prime Forge and other key-locations. With the planet's Mechanicum descending into civil war, the Legio Vindictus was called upon by Supreme Magos Deltiari to restore order and the remaining god-engines of the Legion quickly mobilized. Thanks to the quick intervention of the Raven Guard Legion, the uprisings are crushed within a solar day. The true fate of those Titans that sided with the enemy is unknown, but it is commonly believed that they were mercilessly hunted down by the Titan Legion in an attempt to restore their honour.Reconquest of Euesa (Unknown Date, ca. 009/010.M31) - Located in the Vandreggan Sector, the world of Euesa was the last world of this segment of space to fall back into Imperial hands, liberated by the forces of the Raven Guard, the Therion Cohort and the Legio Vindictus. The Reconquest of Euesa, while coming at a great cost for the Therion Cohort and its allies of the Capricon 13th Suppression Regiment and the Lothor Pioneer Corps was ultimately only a minor clash for the Titans of the Legio Vindictus, with only a few enemy Titans having been stationed on Euesa. Yet, left unchecked these once-honorable god-engines may well have prevented the Raven Guard from attaining its goals. Deploying several maniples of Titans, the Legio Vindictus supported the ground assault of the Therions from the front lines. Thanks to the tactical prudence of the Therion's commander, Sub-Caesari Marcus Valerius, which had held a powerful reserve back, two of the Legion's Titans proved decisive into routing and eradicating an Alpha Legion-led surprise attack, thus securing the army's flank. Other engines of the Legion even saved the sub-caesari's life when his command Capitol came under attack by an enemy Titan.
Legio Vindictus - Notable Titans: Magnus Casei (Imperator-class Titan) - The Magnus Casei was the Legio Vindictus’ mightiest god-engine. Having served in many great battles, it is unknown how this most-revered engine of war came under control of the seditious sub-cults of the Mechanicum known as the Order of the Dragon. During the early years of the Horus Heresy, Magnus Casei’s initial treachery was the long-awaited event that sparked the tinderbox that had become Kiavahr. Whilst the Magnus Casei’s guns were brought to bear on the Raven Guard fortress known as Ravendelve, the Alpha Legion-led insurrections of the Kiavahrian Tech-guilds spurred the severely depleted Raven Guard into action. Known as the Kiavahrian Uprising, these events saw other Titans of the Legio Vindictus, presumably also controlled by the Order of the Dragon, take side with the rebels, while Loyalist Titans had to battle their former brothers. As would only later be discovered, the entire insurrection had been but a diversion to allow one of the Alpha Legion's twin-Primarchs, Omegon, to infiltrate the Ravendelve-complex and steal the highly valuable Primarch-gene-seed template given to Corvus Corax by the Emperor Himself. Although the Loyalists ultimately won the battle for Kiavahr, Magnus Casei’s fate remains unknown.
Legio Vindictus - Notable Personnel: Princeps Senioris Niadansal - Niadansal was the commanding officer of the Legio Vindictus’ Titan maniples deployed on Euesa.
Legio Vindictus - Legion Colours: The Legio Vindictus’ colours are not currently listed in Imperial records.
Legio Vindictus - Legion Badge: The Legio Vindictus’ badge is not currently listed in Imperial records.
Legio Vulcanum I - Legio Vulcanum I: Legio Vulcanum I"Dark Fire"Traitor Titan LegionDark MechanicumEmperor of MankindWarmasterHorusRuinous PowersHorus HeresyThere is very little information in Imperial records about this Titan Legion's founding, though it is believed that it was founded before the Age of the Imperium during the Age of Strife.The Legio Vulcanum I, alongside the Legio Vulcanum II, the "Lords of Ruin," hailed from within the Vulcanis System upon the Forge World of Stygies VIII in the Ultima Segmentum, a large moon orbiting a massive, ringed gas giant on the outer fringes of the star system. These two Legios once stood sentinel near the tear in reality known as the Eye of Terror, guarding against invaders from the galactic north.But when the Warmaster Horus turned upon the Emperor, the majority of both of the Forge World's Titan Legions were fighting at Horus' side in the Great Crusade, and they quickly swore their allegiance to him, following the Arch-traitor into damnation.