vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Legio Audax - Legion Combat Doctrine: Unusually amongst the Titan Legions, the Legio Audax relied solely upon various classes of Scout Titan in the prosecution of war, a practice that saw the Titan Legion develop a reputation as peerless hunters.Armaments such as Vulcan Mega Bolters, Turbo Lasers, Inferno Cannons and Natrix Shock Lances were common amongst the battle-packs of the Legio Audax, suiting the close-ranged warfare the Ember Wolves were famed for.In concert with close assault elements of the  World Eaters, maniples of Legio Audax Titans would stalk the streets of enemy cities, the greater speed and manoeuvrability offered by their Warhound Titans allowing them to flank enemy contingents and purge them with ruthless efficiency.The Ursus Claw was a weapon originally designed for use upon the voidships of the World Eaters Legion. Owing to their close association with the XII Legion, the Ember Wolves soon adopted a modified version of the weapon for use on their god-engines, which proved effective in hunting xenos beasts during the Great Crusade.When the Legio Audax turned against the Imperium, it turned these tactics upon Loyalist Titans, with packs of Warhounds tearing down larger Titans with deadly efficiency.The Legio Audax became infamous for its prolific use of ambushes utilising Ursus Claws. Their Warhound Titans often strode into battle bedecked with trophies taken from the larger Titans they had felled.
Legio Audax - Canis Light Maniple: Better known as a "battlepack," the use of Canis Light Maniples was perfected by the Legio Audax. This maniple configuration utilised a Warhound's speed to launch brutal ambushes as they fell upon their Titan prey with unbridled fury.
Legio Audax - Mandatory Components: Three Warhound Titans
Legio Audax - Optional Components: Two Warhound Titans
Legio Audax - Legion Specific Wargear: Reinforced Plating - The Titans of the Legio Audax are equipped with additional armour plates to somewhat offset the relative lack of armour most Scout Titans possess.
Legio Audax - Notable Personnel: Venric Solostine (KIA) - Princeps Ultima of the Legio Audax and princeps of the Command Titan Syrgalah. Slain by a Legio Lysanda Reaver-class Titan during the Battle of Armatura.Toth Kol - Moderati Primus of the Command Titan Syrgalah.Keeda Bly - Moderati Secundus of the Command Titan Syrgalah.The Ninth - Mechanicum Adept of the Command Titan Syrgalah.Audac Lyrac - Princeps Penultima of the Legio Audax. After the death of Venric Solostine he became princeps ultima and took control of the Command Titan Syrgalah.Balthus Voltemand - The Princeps Primus of Battle-Pack Karnassia, commander of Canis Ulteriax. Killed by the controlled reactor core explosion of the Legio Castigatra Warmonger-class Titan Tantorus Magnificat during the battle for Gorgonopsii Maestrale.Shenk - Moderati Primus of Canis Ulteriax. Slain by a beam from the Rubella Mortem's Turbo-Laser Destructor during the battle for Gorgonopsii Maestrale.Kordella - Moderati Secundus of Canis Ulteriax. Killed by the controlled reactor core explosion of Legio Castigatra Warmonger-class Titan Tantorus Magnificat during the battle for Gorgonopsii Maestrale.Grental Thrax - Princeps of the Rubella Mortem. Killed by a swipe from the Canis Ulteriax 's Ursus Claw during the battle for Gorgonopsii Maestrale.Haximiliian Bettanquor - Princeps of the Vulpium Nox. Slain by a beam from the Rubella Mortem 's Turbo-Laser Destructor during the battle for Gorgonopsii Maestrale.Phestalag - Princeps of Pugnax Principio. Crushed underfoot by the Legio Castigatra Warmonger-class Titan Tantorus Magnificat during the battle for Gorgonopsii Maestrale.Tunstall Haulk - Princeps of Rapacia Rex, one of Thrax's close allies. Killed by the Vulpium Nox during the battle for Gorgonopsii Maestrale.
Legio Audax - Legion Strength: Divisio Militaris records list an estimated 90 god-engines in service to the Legio Audax at the onset of the Horus Heresy, marking it as a Tertius (Maximus)-grade Legio. Given the abnormal distribution of the Legio Audax's strength, the vast majority of such god-engines were Warhound-class Scout Titans, with the Titan Legion's tactics focused heavily on utilising the speed and manoeuvrability of the smaller Titan.Due to atrocities committed during the Great Crusade, the Ember Wolves were not sanctioned to employ other Titan classes. However, the Primarch Angron exploited loopholes in the writs of censure, which stated that "...the Legio Audax could not field any class denied to it through the malicious corruption enacted by the now-rightfully extinct entity known as the Zlasslr Empire," to augment the Titan Legion's strength with Rapier Light Scout Titans and Dire Wolf Heavy Scout Titans, the patterns of which had been supplied to the forge-fanes of Sarum but not the Ember Wolves.The denial of heavier Battle Titans was of little consequence to the princeps of the Legio Audax, who often traded the felled carcasses of such god-engines to other Traitor Titan Legions in return for munitions and technology to reinforce their Scout god-engines.
Legio Audax - Traitor Space Marine Legions: World EatersDeath GuardEmperor's ChildrenSons of Horus
Legio Audax - Legion Appearance: Each of the Legion's Titans is bulkier from additional armour plating and wears a head of dark metal, resembling a wolf or jackal baring its teeth.
Legio Audax - Legion Colours: This Traitor Titan Legion's colours are dark red trimmed with iron, decorated with embers and cracked lava designs.
Legio Audax - Legion Badge: This Traitor Titan Legion's badge is not listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Audax - Sources: Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Rulebook (Specialty Game), pp. 14-17Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Shadow and Iron (Specialty Game), pp. 8-10, 12, 26, 37-39Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Traitor Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 108-113The Horus Heresy - Book One: Betrayal (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 38-59, 86, 96, 101The Horus Heresy - Book Five: Tempest (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 258The Horus Heresy - Book Six: Retribution (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 103-125Betrayer (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenMaster of Mankind (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, pg. 268The Ember Wolves (Short Story) by Rob SandersHeralds of the Siege (Anthology) edited by Nick Kyme and Laurie Goulding, "The Ember Wolves" by Rob Sanders, pp. 80-99Warhammer Community - Fire the Ursus Claw! (28 Aug 2020)Warhammer Community - What is the Ursus Claw? 28 July 2020)Warhammer Community - Ready the Ursus Claws (25 Feb 2020)Warhammer Community - Shadow & Iron Crusades of Vengeance (05 Feb 2020)
Legio Bombastor - Legio Bombastor: The Legio Bombastor is a Loyalist Titan Legion of the Collegia Titanica.
Legio Bombastor - Notable Campaigns: The Brazier (Unknown Date; ca. 900s.M41) - A mighty warband of Death Guard and Iron Warriors Heretic Astartes attacked the Fortress World of Shen'tzi Vo. The planet's defensive shrines were corrupted by the Gellerpox, while its vaunted maniples of Legio Bombastor Titans fell prey to a devastating Iron Warriors ambush and were annihilated. Forced back to the Bastion Primus, a combined force of Salamanders and Battle Sisters from the Order of Our Martyred Lady were all that stood between the heretics and a crushingly swift victory. Recognising that their situation was untenable, the defenders slighted their own defences to lure the foe deeper into the Bastion Primus, before unleashing a conflagration of fused munitions, burning promethium and searing holy fire. Many Imperial warriors were consumed along with the attackers, but many more survived, whether by their sheer endurance to heat or by the impenetrable shield of their faith. The attackers were less fortunate; scorched Heretic survivors staged a last stand in the fortress' western gatehouse before being crushed by the combined assault of the Adeptus Astartes and Adepta Sororitas.
Legio Bombastor - Notable Titans: None listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Bombastor - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Bombastor - Legion Colours: The colours of the Legio Bombastor are not listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Bombastor - Legion Badge: The badge of the Legio Bombastor is not listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Castigatra - Legio Castigatra: The Legio Castigatra was one of the younger Titan Legions of the Collegia Titanica, the most powerful military arm of the Adeptus Mechanicus.Founded only after the start of the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium, the Legio Castigrata came too late to earn much renown on the battlefields of the galaxy but was embroiled in the galactic civil war known as the Horus Heresy.Declaring themselves loyal to Terra and the Fabricator-General-in-exile of the ancient Mechanicum, Zagreus Kane, the Legio Castigatra, was nearly annihilated by the Legio Audax, the dreaded Ember Wolves. It is unknown if this Legion survived into the 41st Millennium.
Legio Castigatra - Legion History: Much of the history of the Legio Castigatra was lost in the fires of the Horus Heresy.Some records speak of the Legion fighting alongside the Legio Audax on Vorda Corona before Horus Lupercal rebelled against the Imperium, but save for the Legion's last stand on Absolom, the Legion's history remains untold.
Legio Castigatra - Notable Campaigns: Last Stand on Absolom (Unknown Date.M31) - Having clashed repeatedly with the Legio Audax, the Legio Castigatra retreated to the world of Absolom in the Gorgonopsii Maestrale region of space. As the Horus Heresy raged across the galaxy, this world soon fell prey invading forces of the Dark Mechanicum, who proceeded to turn the planet into a battleground. Loyalist Mechanicum forces stood defiantly against the Traitor forces, with Titans from the Legio Catigatra, Skitarii and Taghmata forces fought against the traitor Titans of the Legio Audax and traitor Ordo Reductor. During the height of the battle, the Loyalist Legio Castigatra Warmonger-class Titan Tantorus Magnificat led an assault through a Traitor-occupied hive city. During the fierce fighting that followed, Princeps Balthus Voltemand of the Legio Audax and his Warhound Titans brought down the larger Titan through the use of his Legion's dishonourable wolf pack tactics. The pack harpooned the larger Titan with their dreaded Ursus Claws and pulled it to the ground, like a pack of hyenas assaulting a lion. After the Warmonger Titan was brought down, a Traitor Thallax cohort boarded the fallen Titan with the intent to capture it intact. However, the Loyalist crew refused to let the Traitors have their prize, and instead, overloaded their plasma reactor, which caused the larger Titan to suffer a catastrophic meltdown and massive explosion, which wiped out the remaining Legio Audax forces in the immediate area. As a result of the Ember Wolves' actions during the fierce fighting for this strategically insignificant world, the Legio Castigatra suffered heavy casualties.
Legio Castigatra - Notable Titans: Tantorus Magnificat  - The Tantorus Magnificat was an Imperator-class Titan of the Warmonger-subtype, perhaps the rarest class of Battle Titan in service with the Collegia Titanica. After having been successful against its foes on Balisarr Alpha and Phendrick's World, the Legio Castigatra clashed again with the Legio Audax on the minor Hive World of Absolom in the Gorgonopsii Maestrale. Tantorus Magnificat was tasked with attacking the Ember Wolves' landing zones outside of Hive Septus, but advanced unsupported and was ambushed by Battle Pack Karnassia. Led by their commander, Princeps Primus Balthus Voltemand, the six smaller Warhound-class Scout Titans successfully defeated Tantorus Magnificat while only losing two of their number. Transfixed by its opponents' Ursus Claw arrays, the mighty Warmonger-class Titan was toppled, destroying whole city blocks beneath its towering frame. As the Ember Wolves' treacherous allies in the Dark Mechanicum sought to take possession of Tantorus Magnificat, the Titan's crew activated its self-destruct sequence rather than allow the Emperor Titan to be captured. When the god-engine's reactor went critical, the massive detonation annihilated the remaining Warhounds and their support cadre, avenging the loss of Tantorus Magnificat.
Legio Castigatra - Notable Personnel: None listed in Imperial records.
Legio Castigatra - Legion Colours: The colours of the Legio Castigatra are not listed in Imperial records.
Legio Castigatra - Legion Badge: The Legion's badge is currently unknown in Imperial records.
Legio Castigatum - Legio Castigatum: The Legio Castigatum was a Loyalist Titan Legion of the Collegia Titanica.
Legio Castigatum - Notable Campaigns: Fear the Shadows (462.M41) - The Drukhari Kabal of the Black Heart struck at the Hive World of Lapradus, but were hurled back in disarray by the intervention of Titans from the Legio Castigatum. Mere solar days later, Princeps Gendath -- the author of Castigatum's victory -- was murdered on his own bridge. He was hacked to shreds within his amniotic tank by hissing horrors that slithered into being amid the thrashing soup of the tank. The murky shapes disappeared as suddenly as they struck, leaving only a half-frozen mulch of blood and shattered armaglass in their wake.
Legio Castigatum - Notable Titans: None listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Castigatum - Notable Personnel: Princeps Gendath - Gendath was the princeps who led the Legio Castigatum to victory over the Drukhari of the Kabal of the Black Heart on the world of Lapradus. He was assassinated only a few solar days later within his own amniotic tank by an unnatural assault likely unleashed in revenge by the Drukhari.
Legio Castigatum - Legion Colours: The colours of the Legio Castigatum are not listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Castigatum - Legion Badge: The badge of the Legio Castigatum is not listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Confindo - Legio Confindo: The Legio Confindo ("Sun Cleavers") was a Loyalist Titan Legion of the Collegia Titanica.This Legion hailed from the Forge World of Byrrus Alpha, located in the southwestern Segmentum Ultima. During the Horus Heresy, a portion of the Legion split off and joined the cause of the Arch-Traitor Horus.The rest of the Legion remained on their homeworld as its garrison. However, when word reached them of their kindred's treachery against the Emperor, they immediately departed to track down their wayward brethren and seek a reckoning.
Legio Confindo - Legion History: The Byrrus Alpha System was discovered early in the Great Crusade, on the fringes of what would become the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar.It was almost bypassed by the crusade forces, designated as lifeless, until the expeditionary fleet received a message from far beneath the surface of Byrrus Alpha welcoming the Imperium to what proved to be a subterranean Forge World, its inhabitants hidden from the deadly solar radiation that bathes the planet's surface.The Tech-priests of Byrrus embraced the Martian Mechanicum once more, and the Titan Legion known as the Sun Cleavers was attached to the world, though most of its god-engines left to accompany several Space Marine Legions in battle.Elements joined the Ultramarines, Word Bearers and Iron Warriors in helping to bring more worlds into Imperial Compliance.
Legio Confindo - The Great Crusade: During the Great Crusade, this Legion's ferocity and predilection for pushing their plasma reactors hard to close with enemy war engines and take them down, garnered the Sun Cleavers a mixed reputation.Where the Word Bearers heralded them for their zeal, the Ultramarines found their impetuosity often made them a rogue element in battle.Perhaps their most enduring relationship was with the Iron Warriors. Perturabo made good use of the Legion, sending them against the towering fortresses of the Bernean Empire to disrupt artillery fire while Iron Warriors breached the walls and moved in.
Legio Confindo - The Horus Heresy: Perhaps it was Perturabo himself who turned some of the Legio Confindo princeps to Horus' service, or maybe the scorn of the Ultramarines embittered them.Either way, when the Ruinstorm split the galaxy after the Battle of Calth, the princeps on Byrrus Alpha lost contact with their fellows across the galaxy, and what fragmented messages made it through the roiling tempests of the Warp told stories of Sun Cleavers bombarding Loyalist Space Marines and falling upon the defenders of innocent worlds.The Confindo princeps remaining on Byrrus swore solemn oaths to bring their errant kin to justice, but before they could fulfil their pledges, they were called to fight in defence of Primarch Roboute Guilliman's Imperium Secundus.When the Ruinstorm dissipated following the Second Battle of Davin, they set out to make good on their oaths, following reports of the Traitors mustering in the Beta-Garmon cluster. One way or another, the engagements there would decide the fate of the Legio Confindo.
Legio Confindo - Notable Campaigns: None listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Confindo - Legion Combat Doctrine: The Legio Confindo favoured forces that moved fast and hit hard, preferring to get in close and either achieve a monumental victory or suffer catastrophic defeat.The princeps of the Sun Cleavers' Warlord Titans preferred high-powered weaponry, such as Belicosa Volcano Cannons that could devastate opposing Titans -- even at the risk of overheating their own reactors and angering their Titans' Machine Spirits (artificial intelligences).
Legio Confindo - Notable Titans: None listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Confindo - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Confindo - Legion Colours: The colours of the Legio Confindo are purple, gold and red.
Legio Confindo - Legion Badge: The badge of the Legio Confindo is not listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Confindo - Sources: Warhammer Community - Adeptus Titanicus Part 7: Founding a Titan Legion I (15 Aug 2018)Warhammer Community - Adeptus Titanicus Part 10: Founding a Titan Legion II (22 Aug 2018)
Legio Covenentia - Legio Covenentia: Legio CovenentiaTraitor Titan LegionRuinous Powers
Legio Covenentia - Notable Campaigns: Occlusiad War (550-560.M37) - The Occlusiad War, also known simply as the Occlusiad, was a major conflict that raged from the late 500s.M37 on the northwestern fringe of the Segmentum Obscurus between the Imperium of Man and the rogue Tech-priests known as the Apostles of the Blind King. During this time, the Iron Council of the Iron Hands Chapter made a show of dispatching a huge force to aid in battle against the Renegade disciples of the Blind King. Clan Raukaan and no fewer than four other clan companies took to the field. In a series of bloody battles, their vast strike force blunted a dozen uprisings on as many worlds. At Pelos they even hurled back the turncoat Titans of the Legio Covenentia with a vast armoured phalanx. As the war ground on, the Iron Hands were lauded as heroes by Segmentum Command and the Martian Priesthood alike.
Legio Covenentia - Notable Titans: None listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Covenentia - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Covenentia - Legion Colours: This Traitor Titan Legion's colours are not listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Covenentia - Legion Badge: This Traitor Titan Legion's badge is not listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Crucis - Legio Crucis: The  Legio Crucis is a Loyalist Titan Legion of the Collegia Titanica, the most powerful arm of the military-minded servants of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Very little is known about this obscure Titan Legion, including even which Forge World it hails from.The Legio Crucis ' existence in the 41st Millennium has thus far only been verified as one of the constituent units within Battlegroup Geratomro in 398.M41 during the Geratomran Reconquest.
Legio Crucis - Notable Campaigns: The Geratomran Reconquest (398.M41) - Bled dry by the continuous demands placed on it by the Adeptus Ministorum, ever in need of men to fuel the Macharian Crusade, the Industrial World of Geratomro secedes from the Imperium of Man. Drawing together several depleted taskforces, the Astra Militarum assembles a powerful Battlegroup from the survivors of former Battlegroups Kalidar and Dentares, including a single depleted maniple of Titans from the Legio Crucis. Initially brought in to cow the rebellious Imperial Governor -- Governatrice Missrine Huratal I -- into submission, the Titans of the Legio Crucis saw actual battle against an unidentified Traitor Titan Legion when it became clear that the Geratomrans had allied themselves with the debased Traitor Space Marines of the Emperor's Children. The fighting for Magor's Seat, the planetary capital of Geratomro, left the Warhound-class Titan War's Gift as the sole survivor of the campaign.
Legio Crucis - Notable Titans: Ultimate Sanction - Reaver-class Battle Titan deployed as part of Battlegroup Antares. Operating alongside War's Gift, Ultimate Sanction was the only Battle Titan of the Legio Crucis to be deployed to Geratomro. Hopelessly outgunned by the enemy, Ultimate Sanction nevertheless took to the field, the Imperial Guard hoping that the enemy would take the bait and thus allow a trio of its Shadowswords to ambush and destroy the enemy Titans. Ultimate Sanction duelled and ultimately sacrificed itself to defeat a far heavier Warlord-class Battle Titan which is believed to have been salvaged and reconsecrated by the Adeptus Mechanicus in the aftermath of the Geratomran Reconquest.War's Gift - War's Gift was a Warhound-class Scout Titan. It was the sole survivor of the fighting on Agritha IV and Geratomro.War's Messenger - War's Messenger was a Warhound-class Scout Titan. War's Messenger was destroyed fighting the Drukhari on Agritha IV by a trio of Ravagers.
Legio Crucis - Notable Personnel: Princeps Yolanedesh (KIA) - Princeps of the Ultimate Sanction and commanding officer of the Legio Crucis'  maniple on Geratomro. Slain by an enemy Warlord Titan during the capture of Magor's Seat.Princeps Gonzar - Princeps of the War's Gift.Princeps Almodovar (KIA) - Princeps of the War's Messenger, slain on Agritha IV.
Legio Crucis - Legion Coulours: The colours of the Legio Crucis are known to be sables (black) and silver (white), usually worn in a quartered livery. The Legion favours the symbology of the cross which are often prominently displayed on its Titans' armour.
Legio Crucis - Legion Badge: The badge of the Legio Crucis is not listed in current Imperial records.
Legio Crucius - Legio Crucius: Legio CruciusWarmongersTitan LegionCollegia TitanicaAdeptus MechanicusGreat CrusadeAge of StrifeThis Titan Legion has its great perceptory and base of operations at Ryza, a major Forge World within the Segmentum Ultima. Ryza is renowned for the manufacture of Plasma Reactor and magnetic containment field technology. The arts and sophistication of this Forge World is claimed by some to be second only to that of Mars itself.It is then unsurprising that the Legio Crucius, whose associations with Ryza are said to predate the Great Crusade, is renowned as one of the most well-equipped Titan Legions in Imperial service, and sufficient in number to provide garrison forces for several smaller outlying Forge Worlds and Adeptus Mechanicus outposts whose magi maintain fealty or alliance to Ryza and its masters.At some point in its history, Ryza was unsuccessfully invaded by Ork WAAAGH! Grax, and the Greenskins have continued to threaten this vital Forge World in the 41st Millennium, mounting two more invasions -- the latter of which is still ongoing in the Era Indomitus.As the green tide sweeps over Ryza, once more the god machines of the Legio Crucius walk to protect their homeworld, supported by Astra Militarum regiments sent to aid the world and by entire armies of Leman Russ Executioner tanks driven straight from the factories into the maelstrom.The mighty weapons of the Adeptus Mechanicus light the horizon with their fury, and yet still the Orks advance.
Legio Crucius - Horus Heresy: This forethought did much to preserve the Legio Crucius' strength during the Horus Heresy. On a handful of worlds, including the Knight World of Molech, battlegroups of the Warmongers fell victim to the Warmaster Horus' wrath and, though the loss of even a handful of Titans was a keen blow to any Titan Legion, the greater strength of the Legio Crucius was not harmed by such injuries.Perhaps the greatest threat to the continued prosperity of the Legio Crucius came during the Defence of Ryza, when the Warmaster's allies descended upon the Forge World intent upon claiming it as their own. Though the Horus Heresy was far greater in scope than even the most dire of predictions, a contingency plan designed to combat a direct assault upon Ryza had been enacted.Following directives issued to them solar decades before, those outposts closest to Ryza were abandoned, each one's personnel journeying to the Forge World. More distant garrisons remained where they were, preserving their corner of the galaxy in acknowledgement of the fact that, should Ryza fall, others must continue its legacy.When the Traitors were thrown back from the Forge World, the Legio Crucius was much diminished yet stood far from powerless, and what strength remained departed to the stars in pursuit of the invaders and in search of surviving pockets of Warmonger elements.Following the fall of the Warmaster, much of the Legio Crucius had been reconnected and it was clear that though the war against Chaos remained far from over, the foresight of the Legio's masters had proved enough to preserve them for millennia to come.
Legio Crucius - Legion Specific Wargear: Plasma Weaponry - The tech-priests of Ryza are keepers of ancient plasma technologies and the secrets of their creation. Sunfury plasma weaponry, plasma reactors and venting systems produced on Ryza are rightly prized by countless Legios, though as with all things, the Ryzan Mechanicum and later its sect of the Adeptus Mechanicus kept back the best examples for themselves and their own military forces.Terminus Override Mechanisms - Some Legio Crucius Titans employed ancient terminus override systems for their Titans. These complex devices could read the mood of an unruly plasma reactor, detecting changes invisible even to the princeps and protecting the Titan against sudden overloads or devastating power spikes.Bi-Folded Power Containment - Ryzan Titan weapons often employed cunning bi-folded power containment chambers to mitigate the effects on the reactor of particularly energy hungry weapons such as Sunfury Plasma Annihilators and Volcano Cannons, though, as with all such Imperial plasma mechanisms, they were never completely reliable.
Legio Crucius - Notable Titans: Paragon of Terra (Imperator-class Titan) - The Paragon of Terra was an Imperator-class Titan of the Legio Crucius under the command of the Princeps Magnus Etana Kalonice, and it served as the key element of the Loyalists' defence during the Battle of Molech. The Paragon of Terra was destroyed by the treacherous Renegade Knights of House Devine.Praeco Deictus (Imperator-class Titan) - A formidable Imperator-class Titan which had survived the grim days of the Horus Heresy and had won countless victories on thousands of worlds for the Imperium. The Praeco Deictus was destroyed, along with other Titans of the Legio Crucius, defending the Hive World of Kado from the forces of Chaos. During the fighting, a hundred Slaanesh Hell-Knights infiltrated the main hive city and emerged to attack the Emperor Titan from the rear where it was most vulnerable, turning it into a pile of molten slag.Deus Praesitor (Warlord-class Titan) - Deus Praesitor was a Warlord-class Titan depicted above that took part in the Battle of Molech. Buried underneath the ruins of the Iron Fist Mountain, the Deus Praesitor used its Arioch Power Claw to dig itself from the rubble, and engage the Traitor Legions in close combat in an effort to avenge the wrong wrought against their Legio, both on Molech and across the galaxy.Hell's Daughter (Warlord-class Titan) - This Titan was commanded by High Princeps Cadmon Krom during the final Loyalist assault on Badab Primaris during the Badab War.Pugnus Vindictae (Warlord-class Titan) - The Pugnus Vindictae was the Titan who killed the Ork Warlord Grax and brought an end to the assault of WAAAGH! Grax upon Ryza in the late 41st Millennium after forty standard years of conflict. With their lord dead, the tribes of the WAAAAGH! fell into the infighting endemic to the Greenskin race and their assault was quickly crushed by the Mechanicus forces on Ryza.Astramos Mortis Æternem (Reaver-class Titan) - A Battle Titan of the Legio Crucius depicted below, during the Great Crusade the Astramos Mortis Æternem was often employed as a shield breaker and area deterrent. A favoured tactic of the Legio Crucius against more cautious foes was to create a no-man's land with a screen of Reavers that tore apart any who dared venture close and subjected those who stayed back to bombardments from supporting Warlords. The Astramos Mortis Æternem would survive the dark days of the Horus Heresy and go on to serve the Legion into the 41st Millennium. It also served during the Badab War.Primus Secutar (Reaver-class Titan) - A Battle Titan of the Legio Crucius which took part in the Badab War.Black Strider (Warhound-class Titan) - A Warhound Titan of the Legio Crucius which took part in the Badab War.Blood of Caldos (Warhound-class Titan) - A Warhound Titan of the Legio Crucius which took part in the Badab War.Wolfshead (Warhound-class Titan) - A Warhound Titan of the Legio Crucius which took part in the Badab War.
Legio Crucius - Notable Personnel: High Princeps Cadmon Krom - Krom was the high princeps of the Legio Crucius during the Badab War. He personally led the final attack of three full maniples of Titans, comprised of 15 god machines, during the Imperial siege of Badab Primaris.
Legio Crucius - Knight Houses: House Devine (Before turning Traitor at the Battle of Molech)House Donar (Knight house of Molech)House Indra (Knight house of Molech)House Kaska (Knight house of Molech)House Kaushik (Knight house of Molech)House Mamaragon (Knight house of Molech)House Sidus (Secret Ryzan vassal Knight house)House Taranis (Post-Heresy)House Tazkhar (Knight house of Molech)House Zavora (Post-Heresy)
Legio Crucius - Space Marines: Blood AngelsUltramarines
Legio Crucius - Legion Strength: Officially, according to records supplied by Ryza, the strength of the Legio Crucius sat at 152 god-engines a solar decade before the Horus Heresy began, marking it as a Primus-grade Legio. Subsequent events, such as the unexpected emergence during the Heresy of the once-secret Ryzan Knights of House Sidus, throw doubts upon this number as, if suspicions are correct, Ryza concealed a measure of its true military strength from all outside their domain.Attempts to further clarify the total strength of the Legio Crucius have proven difficult and require data collated from multiple sources of varying objectivity; of the 17 confirmed outposts dedicated to the Legio Crucius, at least 57 god-engines were recorded as part of their garrisons, yet a total of 36 god-engines are recorded to have been garrisoned upon Ryza at the same time and a further 82 in active service upon the Great Crusade's expeditionary fleets, giving a number above the recorded total.Further confusion of total strength is added when one considers the emergence of Warmaster-class Titans from many Forge Worlds during the days of the Horus Heresy, of which at least two are now known to have been in service to the Legio Crucius.It should, therefore, suffice to say that the official count is conservative at best and, in a move no doubt intended to hide the true strength and location of all of its god-engines, a not inconsiderate number of Legio Crucius Titans were concealed from the gaze of others.The last piece of data that should be considered is the recorded number a solar decade after the Horus Heresy ended, placing the remaining strength of the Legio Crucius at 74 god-engines, a number significantly smaller than even the most conservative of pre-Heresy estimates.
Legio Crucius - Legion Colours: The colours of the Legio Crucius are black and white with gold trim.
Legio Crucius - Legion Badge: The Legion badge of the Legio Crucius is a black gauntlet curled into a fist, superimposed over an Adeptus Mechanicus gear. A white letter "T" representing the identifier for the Collegia Titanica is located on the back of the gauntlet.
Legio Crucius - Sources: Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Rulebook (Specialty Game), pg. 15Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Doom of Molech (Specialty Game), pp. 7-11, 13, 17-19, 66-68, 75Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: The Defence of Ryza (Specialty Game), pp. 6, 8-9, 22-27, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus (8th Edition), pg. 21Imperial Armour Volume One, pg. 8Imperial Armour Volume One - Second Edition, "Principal Forge Worlds of the Imperium," pg. 10Imperial Armour Volume Ten - The Badab War - Part Two, pp. 43, 45, 49-51Imperial Knights (6th Edition), "A Legacy of Honour - The Ancient Tiomes"Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook (6th Edition), pg. 202White Dwarf 142 (UK), pg. 34White Dwarf 190 (UK), "Epic: Slaanesh War Machines", pg. 29White Dwarf Monthly (May 2018), "Scions of the Furnace," pg. 45White Dwarf 454 (May-June 2020), "Index Xenos - Goff Orks," pg. 20White Dwarf 457 (Oct 2020), "The Ultimate Guide to the Titan Legions"Vengeful Spirit (Novel) by Graham McNeill, Ch. 13Third War for Armageddon Worldwide CampaignWarhammer Community - The Defence of Ryza: The Story (23 Jul 2020)Warhammer Community - The Defence of Ryza: Your First Look (31 Mar 2020)Warhammer Community - Revealed at GAMA! (10 Mar 2020)Warhammer Community - What is the Battle of Molech?" (18 Apr 2019)Warhammer Community - Doom of Molech: What's In the Book (16 Apr 2019)
Legio Cybernetica - Legio Cybernetica: The Legio Cybernetica is one of the oldest sub-branches of the Adeptus Mechanicus and is responsible for deploying fully autonomous Battle-Automata for both combat duties and support tasks intended to aid Imperial armed forces in the field.The Legio Cybernetica can trace its lineage to the time before the birth of the Imperium of Man when Mars was an independent empire ruled by the Tech-priests of the Cult Mechanicus. Its members regard themselves as an elite within the ranks of the Mechanicus, as their Legio has a long history of serving the will of the Emperor of Mankind. However, many of those within the Legio broke faith with the Emperor during the Schism of Mars, siding with the traitorous forces of the Warmaster Horus and fighting alongside his Traitor Legions throughout the Horus Heresy.When this conflict ended the Traitor cohorts of the Legio Cybernetica fled into the Eye of Terror, where they remain to this day, warped and twisted by their exposure to the power of Chaos. The remaining Loyalist elements of the Legio Cybernetica pledged themselves anew to the Imperium, and its members took binding oaths of loyalty more terrible than any taken even by the Astartes.The Legio Cybernetica traces its origins to when early tech-savants experimented with artificial life during the Age of Technology. Ever curious, those early pioneers not only constructed vast hosts of automatons but also gave their creations the gift of independent thought. That decision was to cost them dearly, and the rest of Humanity with them. After the terrible consequences of those times, the dread concept of the Silica Animus was outlawed forever, its creators subjected to excommunico fatalis and its resurrection punishable by torture to the point of death.And yet there were those that still yearned to walk in their shadow, to perfect a thinking machine. In lieu of creating automata with the souls of men, many recidivist Tech-priests created machines imbued with the animus of loyal beasts -- or worse, with essences from the Empyrean. This too had disastrous consequences.The resultant schism was exploited by Horus himself when he betrayed the Emperor. Its legacy survived with the Dark Mechanicum, whose members still go to infernal lengths to give life to their machines. Many later-pattern robots are tainted by their association with the machine-predators of that desperate age.So it is that in the 41st Millennium the animalistic Thanatar, Castellax and Vorax Patterns of Battle-Automata are forgotten on all but the most intrepid and independent of Forge Worlds, and the Dark Mechanicum spoken of only in whispered code. Yet the fear and dark legend of those unstoppable robot armies lives on.Yet, over the millennia since the Heresy, the Legio Cybernetica has regained the respect and admiration of the rest of the Adeptus Mechanicus as well as the other myriad Adepta of the Imperium, though in fact it has rarely been deployed in recent centuries.
Legio Cybernetica - Legio History: One of the most feared and powerful of the Legiones Militant of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Legio Cybernetica carries the onerous burden and dread responsibility of the use of Battle-Automata in warfare, as well as the development, propagation and maintenance of these terrifying machines under sacred charge of the Crimson Accord of Mars.These sacred accords were one of the cornerstones of doctrinal law created at the foundation of the ancient Mechanicum during the Age of Strife, and forever forbade the creation of the abominable and soulless artificial general intelligence (A.I. or "Abominable Intelligence") known as the Silica Animus, and pronounced a death sentence on any who remained or any Magos or mortal who would seek to create them anew.These accords, however, allowed the survival and creation of the "lesser and righteous works" of synthetic life still deemed sacred, the Bestia Mechanica and their kindred, and of these robotic engines designed for warfare and slaughter, the Battle-Automata, were given into the hands of the newly-founded Legio Cybernetica to control.
Legio Cybernetica - Great Crusade: The service of the Legio Cybernetica on the field of battle was part and parcel of the Mechanicum's treaty of union with the Emperor, known as the Treaty of Mars (called the Treaty of Olympus Mons by the Mechanicum), and a great many cohorts transferred from duties as defenders of the Forge Worlds and retainers of the great Mechanicum factions and sects to act as mendicant regiments in the Great Crusade, fighting on every battlefield imaginable and serving many masters.Although their Battle-automata were difficult to construct and maintain, the arcane lore of the Legio Cybernetica's Magos and the successes they enjoyed on the battlefield ensured that several thousand active Cohorts of the Legio Cybernetica were in existence at the outbreak of the Horus Heresy. The Legio was instrumental in ending the isolation that had consumed the human-settled galaxy during the long years of the Age of Strife. This massive expansion of the Imperium continued unabated until the Emperor's realm encompassed nearly the entire galaxy by the start of the second century of the 31st Millennium.Unfortunately, a new and unexpected threat emerged to challenge Mankind's dominance over the galaxy. A galaxy-wide interstellar revolt was instigated and led by the Warmaster Horus, the greatest and most beloved of the Emperor's Primarchs, his super-human, genetically-engineered sons. But even before the opening stages of his planned insurrection began, he knew he would have to secure the support of the Adeptus Mechanicus and their superior technology and weapons if he was to defeat the Emperor and conquer the galaxy.
Legio Cybernetica - Schism of Mars: In order to win over the loyalty of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Horus promised he would provide them with the lost secrets of ancient Standard Template Construct (STC) technology that had been recovered from the worlds of the recently subjugated Auretian Technocracy by his own Sons of Horus Legion. Convincing the Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal of his resolve, the Warmaster secured the traitorous Arch-Magos' support by promising to provide increased autonomy for the Mechanicus after his victory, repealing all of the rules against the development of certain technologies that had been placed upon the Mechanicus by the Emperor.As a gesture of gratitude for his support, Horus supplied the Fabricator-General with the information needed to open the sealed Vaults of Moravec -- a repository of forbidden technology and innumerable artefacts corrupted by the malign influence of Chaos. The Emperor had ordered this repository sealed two centuries earlier, after the signing of the Treaty of Mars that incorporated the Mechanicus into the newborn Imperium. Their dark bargain struck, the Fabricator-General pledged his continued support for Horus, and promised that the Mechanicus would assist the Traitors with all the technology and war materiel at their disposal.Eventually civil war erupted across the Red Planet, as the tense relations between the various Mechanicum Magi who governed Mars erupted overnight into open civil conflict between those who remained Loyal to the Imperium and those who supported Kelbor-Hal and the Traitors. When the Fabricator-General and his Dark Mechanicum forces moved against the Loyalist factions, the robot cohorts under the command of the Legio Cybernetica willingly obeyed their traitorous masters.In the subsequent fighting, many more of the Mechanicum soon joined Horus and his Traitors, not bothering to hide the fact that parts of the Legio had been the first to declare for the Warmaster. The independent nature of the Legio Cybernetica's cohorts ensured that, as a whole, they sided in particular neither with Loyalist or Traitor, but were split between masters they had long fought for in many cases.Other cohorts, mindful of their oaths of loyalty to the Emperor and fearful of descent into anarchy, saw the Traitors as base Renegades to be destroyed, while others harboured ambitions to be free of the strictures of the Crimson Accords, and saw Horus' war as a chance to pursue the development of long-forbidden technologies.Following the defeat of Horus at the hands of the mortally-wounded Emperor at the end of the Battle of Terra, and the banishment of the Traitor Legions to the Eye of Terror, those within the Legio Cybernetica who had sided with the Traitors fled in disgrace as well. There they have remained for the last ten millennia, gradually becoming ever more warped and distorted by the power of Chaos.
Legio Cybernetica - Magos Dominus: The Magos Dominus, also called a Tech-priest Dominus, is a master of the arts of the Legio Cybernetica, a sect of the priesthood of Mars granted the dread right to create and control the cortex-automata built for war and based upon the terrible secrets of the Dark Age of Technology. Such strange and threatening powers are not without price, and by doctrinal tradition such individuals surrendered an easy route to power within the Mechanicum, so dangerous did their fellows consider the secrets they wield.Instead Magi Dominus and their acolytes formed but one of the many factions and sects within the Mechanicum, divided both by technological specialisation as well as rivalry and ancient feud, each vying for power, knowledge and resources beneath the outward unity the organisation displays, shrouded as it is by impenetrable mystery and arcana.Those found within the ranks of the Taghmata serve a vital role but are seldom the most powerful of their kind, who can instead be found in the command of the Legio Cybernetica. Instead they served the Magos Prime either under terms of personal fealty or in fulfilment of binding pacts of mutual support between their Legio Cybernetica cohort and the Archimandrite who stands as the power behind the Taghmata.
Legio Cybernetica - Cybernetica Datasmiths: Cybernetica Datasmiths are the specialist rank of Tech-priest that program the Kastelan Robots of the Legio Cybernetica at the maniple level, often having to do so in the thick of battle. They have access to the dizzying array of weapons and arcana of their Forge World's arsenals, which they use in defence of themselves and their charges.Since the aftermath of the Warmaster Horus' rebellion, the Legio Cybernetica's robots have been controlled completely by their masters -- not by the bio-plastic cerebra and nerve-like tendril webs of Mechanicum constructs, but by sanctified doctrina wafers, fusions of bio-matter and electronics often in even shorter supply than the robots themselves. No bigger than the cards of the Emperor's Tarot, these slivers of wetware are entrusted to the Cybernetica Datasmiths that accompany the robot maniples to war.Inserted into the dataslot hidden behind each robot's chestplate, the wafer's command protocol will dictate every iota of the host's behaviour, usually optimising its ability to destroy its foes in a spectacular fashion. If the accompanying Datasmith wishes to change the behaviour of his robotic charges -- for instance to the assault-oriented Conqueror protocol -- he must manually remove the first doctrina wafer and insert a new one in its place.Should a maniple of robots find itself in battle mode without a Datasmith, it will continue to prosecute its last doctrina protocol until it runs out of power -- something that usually takes solar weeks of unbridled slaughter to achieve. Such risks and limitations are willingly accepted by the Cult Mechanicus, for the act of hardwiring independent thought into a battle automaton is strictly forbidden.
Legio Cybernetica - Imperial Robots: Over the centuries the Legio Cybernetica has produced many robot designs. Many proved to be successful, and the Legio has kept the five most common Imperial battle robot designs in its inventory for most of the Imperium's long and bloody history.Some of these designs were utter failures, such as the disastrous Castigator-class, which was so heavily armoured it moved slower than the troops it was designed to protect and support. Its survival capability was negligible as it was only outfitted with meagre weapons; a single Bolter.
Legio Cybernetica - Cybertheurgy: The Magi of the Legio Cybernetica are privy to many ancient secrets from the Dark Age of Technology, a time when the un-living phalanxes of Mankind's creations shattered forgotten alien empires to carve humanity's first empire from the stars.Although much of this lore has been lost or become expressly forbidden, such fragments of knowledge allow the Magi to fashion and maintain a small, but powerful, cadre of Battle-automata for the Imperium. Such is the nature of the dark arcana of Cybertheurgy, however, that it is not without its risks, as what is awakened may slip the leash of its master's control with disastrous consequences.
Legio Cybernetica - Components: A robot, like an Astartes Dreadnought, is the product of the synthesis of multiple advanced technologies required to construct its armoured shell, artificial muscle and nerve bundles, power plant, weapons control systems, equipment interfaces and central neural cortex.The forges of the Adeptus Mechanicus turn out many robots of the age-old designs stored within the core memory of their logic-stacks. For example, both the Castellan and Crusader pattern robots are known to have fought on the side of both Loyalists and Traitors during the Horus Heresy. The designs have remained virtually unchanged since that time, with perhaps only minor cosmetic differences and variations.The compatibility of the near-identical components shared with the Dreadnought simplifies many supply and repair problems on the battlefield. It is not unknown for Legio Cybernetica cohorts to have been cannibalised out of existence to provide spare parts for Dreadnoughts.In return, Legio Tech-adepts have not been adverse to dismantling Dreadnoughts, sometimes killing its occupant in the process, when making battlefield repairs. As might be imagined, such actions are not well-regarded by any Space Marine Chapter which should catch a Legio Tech-adept actually killing a Dreadnought Battle-Brother to save his or her mechanical "pets."