Legion Master - List of Notable Legion Masters: The following is a list of all known Legion Masters that commanded one of the Space Marine Legions:Hector Thrane (KIA) - Hector Thrane was the first Grandmaster of the Ist Legion and led them during both the Unification Wars and the Great Crusade. He earned the right to lead his Legion following his great victory against the Udug Hul soldiers of the Great King of Akkad, with the ruler's head becoming a macabre trophy that hung from his belt. Shortly after, Thrane became the Legion's Grandmaster, which also earned him the title, "Sinestra of the Emperor, the left hand of the Warlord of Terra, His most fearsome instrument of conquest." This particular campaign proved the worth of the Legiones Astartes as a viable army and Thrane went on to lead the Ist Legion against the Emperor's foes on both Terra and across the Sol System. Though the Ist Legion achieved momentous victories, the use of Exterminatus-class weapons to achieve their aims left an indelible stain on both the course of their campaigns and the soul of the Ist Legion. By the beginning of the Great Crusade, the Grandmaster's actions had forged Thrane into a ruthless and prideful warlord. His continued success saw Thrane's meteoric rise and influence within the early Imperial Court, so much so that Thrane's counsel to the Emperor was second only to that of the Regent of Terra Malcador the Sigillite and the Primarch Horus Lupercal. However, such prominence and success caused both the Grandmaster and his Legion to develop an air of extreme arrogance that led them to believe they could not be defeated. This proved to be their undoing when they faced an unnamed xenos species on the world of Canis-Balor. Suffering numerous casualties, the Ist Legion was put on the back foot and forced to make a tactical withdrawal in the face of the dangerous foe's superior technology that defied rational explanation. Eventually, Thrane personally led another invasion of Canis-Balor after becoming enraged at both the losses and marring of his reputation. Under the Grandmaster's direct command, the Ist Legion's forces cut a swathe through the xenos, but could not overcome their superior numbers. This led to the Ist Legion's near-destruction at the hands of the powerful xenos, at which point Thrane realised his hubris and pride had brought The First to the point of ruination. Seeing the futility of continuing the invasion, Thrane immediately ordered the Ist Legion to evacuate the surface of Canis-Balor. As they began to do so, Thrane and his lifeguard acted as a rearguard against the advancing xenos, valiantly sacrificing themselves in order to ensure their brothers were able to successfully retreat. Once the evacuation had been completed, Canis-Balor was destroyed by Exterminatus. Shortly after, Thrane was succeeded as Grandmaster of The First by Urian Vendraig.Urian Vendraig (KIA) - Urian Vendraig was the second Grandmaster of the Ist Legion. Vendraig was a Terran-born Legionary who joined the Ist Legion following the end of the Unification Wars and took part in the Great Crusade. Vendraig would rise to become a captain of the 14th Company of the Legion's 8th Chapter and earned an enviable record of grand victories to his name. Following the death of Grandmaster Hector Thrane during the campaign on Canis-Balor, to the surprise of all, Vendraig was nominated by Malcador the Sigillite to be Thrane's successor, after the upper echelons of the Legion could not agree on who should become the next Grandmaster. The Sigillite's reasons for doing so were simple: Vendraig was a captain who was not enmeshed within any of the Legion's numerous factions and groups. Not bound to the allegiance of any of one of these sub-factions, Vendraig would be accepted by the Legion's upper echelons as a viable compromise candidate. Malcador's insights were soon proven correct, as the Ist Legion's Council of Masters voted unanimously for Vendraig to succeed Thrane as the new Grandmaster. Following his elevation, Vendraig was tasked with unifying a divided Legion and returning them to service in the Great Crusade. A warrior first and foremost, Vendraig saw the value of having the Ist Legion serving for a time on the fringes of the Great Crusade. To help the Legion take their rightful place as one of the preeminent Legions in the glories of the Great Crusade, Vendraig allowed a small contingent of carefully selected Remembrancers to join his entourage. Having limited access to the Legion's archives, they personally bore witness to the Ist Legion's ascension and helped to boost The First's reputation across the Imperium. Vendraig next sought a foe that would unite The First together in their hatred. The opportunity to do so soon came when word arrived of the discovery of the deadly xenos species known as the Rangda on the far rim of the Great Crusade. Considered a growing threat to the Imperium, Vendraig brought the entirety of the Ist Legion to the Advex-Mors System and immediately launched a purgation campaign. The following battle cost the lives of 5,000 Legionaries. Despite the high tally of lives spent to eradicate the upstart xenos, the Rangda were defeated and the Imperium was once again reminded of the Ist Legion's might. However, the Grandmaster's hunger for glory caused Vendraig to lead his Legion in reckless actions that earned them great renown and victories, but also eventually led to the Grandmaster's own downfall. The Ist Legion joined the efforts of the Ultramarines Legion to bring the Fortress World of Karkasarn into Imperial Compliance, which had so far resisted all efforts by Primarch Roboute Guilliman and his gene-sons. Utilising a patient strategy that would bring inevitable victory while minimising losses suffered by the Imperial forces, Guilliman had expected Vendraig and The First to follow his orders. However, the Grandmaster vehemently refused. Seeing a chance to snatch a victory from the Ultramarines and humble Guilliman, the Ist Legion launched an assault upon the recalcitrant planet. In the subsequent battle, a force of 10,000 Legionaries breached the world's defences at the costs of hundreds of lives. The First's reckless advance into the inner workings of Karkasarn forced Guilliman's hand. He ordered the Ultramarines to follow the Ist Legion, but they did so methodically while securing objectives along the way. This led the Ultramarines to suffer only minimal losses, while The First suffered grievously. When Vendraig was about to secure victory by claiming a citadel that lay at the centre of the world, the overlords of Karkasarn detonated an atomic weapon that had lain beneath the citadel. The Grandmaster and numerous warriors of the Ist Legion died in the subsequent explosion. Vendraig had indeed succeeded in uniting his Legion in hate, though this was only achieved through his death and his Legion's ignominious victory.Thrallas - Thrallas was the Legion Master of the III Legion, later the Emperor's Children, before their reunification with their Primarch Fulgrim on the world of Chemos.Enoch Rathvin - The Terran-born Enoch Rathvin was the Commander of the VI Legion, later the Space Wolves, during the early years of the Great Crusade. It was during the Compliance of "1-122", a world also known as Delsvaan, where the VI Legion quickly garnered a reputation under his leadership as a ferocious, unforgiving, but steadfastly loyal formation. Following their reunification with their Primarch Leman Russ upon Fenris, the increasingly unstable Enoch Rathvin met his fate during the xenocidal campaign against the Orks, within the region known as the Wheel of Fire, when he was crushed in the hydraulic claws of an Ork hell crawler while leading a suicidal charge on the world of Xyat.Mathias - Mathias was the Terran-born Legion Master of the VII Legion, the Imperial Fists, before their reunification with their Primarch Rogal Dorn on the world of Inwit. Thanking him for his service, Dorn named the former Legion Master as High Castellan of the Inwit Cluster. Such an honour was also an onerous duty, for Mathias' next command was to raise thirty regiments of new Imperial Fists from the Inwit System.Ishidur Ossuros - Ishidur Ossuros was the first and only Legion Master of the IX Legion of Space Marines before it was reunited with its Primarch Sanguinius and renamed the Blood Angels. In truth, the real Ossuros died early on in the Great Crusade, but his identity and memories were taken by his successors though the abilities granted by their Legion's overactive Omophagea gene-seed implant. They allowed his legend to live on through them until their own deaths. The last incarnation of Ishidur Ossuros fell during the first battle of the newly-named Blood Angels with their Primarch, when he gave his life to save Sanguinius from being overrun and slain. Ossuros' body could not be found, so his persona could not be passed on to a new Astartes through the consumption of his flesh.Amadeus DuCaine - Lord Commander Amadeus DuCaine was the commander of the X Legion, the Storm Walkers, during the latter years of the Unification Wars and the early years of the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium before the rediscovery of the X Legion's primarch, Ferrus Manus and its renaming as the Iron Hands. He died fighting in orbit above Istvaan V during the Drop Site Massacre against vessels of the Traitor fleet.Ibram Ghreer (KIA) - Ibram Ghreer, a Terran-borne Astartes, was a respected general and the Legion Master of the War Hounds who commanded the XII Legion for nearly three standard decades until he disappeared without explanation from his taciturn Legion. In truth, he was killed by the Primarch Angron within the bowels of the flagship Conqueror so that the primarch could assert his rightful command over the XII Legion whose Astartes had been created from his own genetic material. Ghreer was considered to be an axeman to stand with the best of the XII Legion's warriors. He had proved to be a poor strategic planner, yet had managed to transform bluntness into a virtue for the XII Legion alongside brutality.Lhorke (KIA) - Lhorke, also known as "the First," was the Legion Master of the XII Legion, the War Hounds, prior to the rediscovery of the Primarch Angron and its renaming as the World Eaters. However, after being grievously wounded on the world of Jeracau, he was interred within the shell of a Contemptor Dreadnought and was forced to relinquish his command of the Legion to another. Given his position of respect and new status as a Dreadnought, he was never implanted with the Butcher's Nails. After spending the Istvaan III Atrocity in stasis, he was only reawakened during the Shadow Crusade, where he met his end at the hands of Angron on Nuceria.Gren Vosotho (KIA) - Gren Vosotho was a part of the first induction of Terran initiates for the newly-formed XIII Legion, the War-Born, later the Ultramarines, during the latter years of the Terran Unification Wars. Showing great promise as a leader, Vosotho was selected for high command, eventually rising to the esteemed position as the first Lord Commander of the XIII Legion, leading them for over three solar decades. Vosotho met his fate at the hands of unknown xenos designated the "Psybrids" when the XIII Legion were sent to put down the secessionist movement within the Osiris Cluster. Vosotho committed his life to the command of the rearguard on the surface, taking penance for his error, and his last act was to transfer Legion command to the most senior surviving officer present in orbit, Marius Gage.Halik-gar - Halik-gar was the High Herald of the XVII Legion, the Imperial Heralds, and its Legion master and commander prior to the rediscovery of the Primarch Lorgar and his renaming of the Legion as the Word Bearers.Cassian Vaughn - The first Lord Commander of the XVIII Legion, the Dragon Warriors, later the Salamanders, from the time it was founded on Terra during the Unification Wars until the discovery of the Primarch Vulkan on the world of Nocturne during the Great Crusade. Cassian was mortally wounded in battle against the Orks, but such was the esteem in which Vulkan held this warrior that he undertook to fashion for him a unique Dreadnought sarcophagus known as the Dracos Revenant, or the Iron Dragon. During the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V, he managed to survive where most of his Legion had perished. Cassian Vaughn's tale becomes intermingled with that of the famed Ebon Drake, alongside which he would return to the battlefields of the 31st Millenium, most notoriously during the Third Siege of Mezoa. His final fate remains unknown.Arkhas Fal - Shade Lord Arkhas Fal was the Terran-born Master of the XIX Legion before they were united with their long-lost Primarch Corvus Corax on the world of Deliverance. Once given command of his Legion, Corax began to impose the style of war he had perfected upon Lycaeus over that which had defined the XIX Legion of old, particularly by purging the more cold-blooded ways of the Terran Xeric tribes which had once defined the Legion culture. The Legion had so often served in oppression, repression and occupation forces that Corax saw in some of the Terran members of his Legion something akin to the slavers of Lycaeus. Several of the Legion's highest ranking officers were displaced or reassigned to non-command roles, including Shade Lord Arkhas Fal. A small number of mostly Terrans of the Legion of old had been assigned to posts beyond the fringes of the Imperium, some in independent nomad fleets, one of which was commanded by Arkhas Fal. What became of the Shade Lord, his fleet and the other elements may never be known, and the fact that Corax appears to have made no effort to recall them suggests they were considered a body apart from the bulk of the Legion.