Legio Metalica - Origins: If the data vaults of the Forge World of Metalica are accurate, this esteemed Titan Legion, renowned for its great tactical prowess and skill in battle, stands amongst the most ancient of its kind. Indeed, the date of its founding suggest that Metalica was amongst the first successful colony worlds established by colony arks dispatched from Mars during the Age of Strife.The lengthy records relating to the long service of the "Iron Skulls," as the Legio Metalica is often named, provide a detailed history of the extensive victories claimed by the Titan Legion during the Age of Strife, telling of great adversity faced by both the Forge World and its defenders.Standing amongst many of the victories attributed to the Legio Metalica was the ruthless destruction of no less than 32 separate invasions by a diverse number of xenos species that, at one point or another, laid siege to Metalica.The strength of the Iron Skulls did not sit idle during these millennia either, and by the time of Metalica's rediscovery by the Imperium of Man during the Great Crusade, nearly a dozen neighbouring systems had been incorporated into the Forge Empire of Metalica thanks to the tactical prowess of its Titan Legion.Initial Imperial contact with Metalica was made by scout vessels of the 1159th Expeditionary Fleet that, upon detecting the Forge World from the edges of the star system, returned to the fleet with news of an alien world crafted from metal.The presiding commander of the 1159th at the time of Metalica's rediscovery is noted to have been possessed of great ambition and an impetuous mien. Caring little as to the nature of his foe, the 1159th Expeditionary Fleet was marshalled with haste to lay waste to the detected world and it was only after the Imperial fleet lay decimated by the defensive vessels of Metalica that lines of communication were opened.Further conflict was avoided when tech-priests attached to the expedition noted similarities in the design of the Metalican ships compared to the STC patterns in use across the Imperium.Subsequent diplomatic summits revealed that the metal sphere was far from xenos in origin and, instead, owed its transformation to millennia of labour undertaken by Metalica's tech-priests who deemed it only right that they toil in blessed sterility upon a world devoid of all life, to better commune with the Omnissiah and understand His will.Once agreement was reached and Metalica had sworn allegiance to Mars above all, the strength of the Legio Metalica was unleashed upon the wider galaxy. There, the reputation for martial prowess held by the Iron Skulls was quickly proved legitimate, the number of its victories increasing with each passing year.Conquests of particular note during the first years of its involvement in the Great Crusade include the conflict on Jardingris, where they fought alongside the Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman, and the razing of the Archaist Strongholds, a string of fortress worlds occupied by a divergent strand of Humanity ruled over by a vast Abominable Intelligence.These victories, amongst countless others, did much to cement the reputation of the Legio Metalica and its assistance was soon readily sought by dozens of expeditionary fleets across the galaxy. The strength of the Titan Legion stood greater when Metalica formed a concord with the Knight World of Kolossi, over which House Raven claimed dominion.Amongst the legends of Kolossi, it is said that upon first setting foot within the vaults of the house and observing the dilapidated nature of vast numbers of Knight armours, the tech-priests of Metalica gave voice to such sorrow that the slumbering Knights reawakened.From that moment, an unbreakable bond was formed between Metalica and Kolossi, the Knight house swearing itself into service to the Forge World.In war, the Legio Metalica was noted to favour ordered tactical plans, despairing of those it fought alongside that displayed impetuous behaviour.Amongst the stranger methods of war practiced by the Iron Skulls, at least when compared to the aloof nature of the wider Mechanicum, was the Titan  Legion's employment of a dedicated strategic diplomatic contingent whose role involved integrating itself within the commanding framework of allied forces.Once rapport had been established, these strategists would advocate battleplans favoured by Legio Metalica while working tirelessly to understand the methods of war employed by others within the war zone, friend and foe alike.In circumstances where such methods were deemed preferential to the Titan Legion's own, the Iron Skull strategists would support a change in plans while dispatching detailed reports to the Forge World of Metalica. Such reports would then be disseminated across the Titan Legion as a whole.This endeavour was aimed at the development and refinement of the Legio Metalica's tactical acumen in a seemingly endless quest to perfect its own methods of war. The employment of these strategic diplomats caused much contention amongst both other Titan Legions and commanders the Iron Skulls fought alongside.For the former, the methods of the Legio Metalica were perceived as a means through which the Iron Skulls could steal secrets and hoard them for itself.In the case of the latter, frustration amongst allied forces rose from the unwillingness of the Legio Metalica to share tactical developments unless deemed necessary and, even then, only when the commander in question was perceived as competent enough to understand the development in question.