The XI Legion - The Beginning

[Kelborn]

Hey guys,

this thread will be my brainstorm thread: collecting ideas, presenting and discussing them with you.

To clarify it right from the start: I'm not collecting miniatures, nor do I paint them. I'm just writing fluff. Therefore I wasn't quite sure if this part of the community is the right one but it feels like it is the right place to start.


Right before the Liber Challenge 8 was announced, I started to work on my own XI Legiones Astartes. Actually I don't know where to start....

I'll try a summary:
My XI Legion and their Primarch, Metheus Sa'tal, are masters of ship to ship battles, boarding actions, etc. But I'll come to that later on.

Besides writing the XI Primarch, I am working on the II Primarch as well. The II, called Dillian Naltheris, will be the main reason why the XI was exiled as he allied himself with Malal. [bUT I won't write their whole fluff! I only write the fluff for the II's downfall for myself. With it, it will be easier for me to explain why the second Primarch fell to chaos and why the VI and XI were tasked in stopping him. Sharing this with you helps you understand my ideas. In fact that is what I hoped for. I won't publish two threa ds, each for one legion. My focus will be the XI legion and it's history. Nothing more, nothing less.]

As most of the XI along with their Primarch leave the Imperium behind, some will remain to protect the hidden worlds of the XI inside a huge nebula. Those remains will be isolated for 10.000 years until they are rediscovered by my DIY chapter, the Storm Riders (http://www.bolterand...a-storm-riders/). As the Storm Riders will be condemned as traitors, although being innocent, they will join forces with the remaining XI legion. Together, they will protect the hidden worlds, defend the innocents and search the missing XI Primarch.

Before you think: "? A whole legion is out there and could potentialy return and kick some buts?"
No, it won't. Most of the XI legion will die fighting the traitorous II legionnares and their demonical allies. As a result of this horrific war, only a few hundreds of the XI, including Metheus and his praetor, will survive. Of this few hundreds (for example 700 marines) most of them will join Metheus (about 500). The rest (200) will stay and protect the hidden worlds. I wanted to write something like Leman Russ' departure, taking his wolf lords with him.

By now it is not planned that Metheus and his missing sons will return. They truly disappeared like Jaghatai, Leman Russ, Vulkan, etc.

That was the short version. ^^"

Now, some bits about both Primarchs:

First of all, I was greatly inspired by this piece of art:

http://img02.deviantart.net/b391/i/2011/119/1/4/the_xith_primarch_by_saint_max-d3f5fr3.jpg

I used the appendand fluff as the cornerstone for my own fluff:

The XIth Primarch, Metheus Sa’tal
The Skylord, The King of Hunters, The Emperor's Spear, Savior of Waniku, The favoured Brother, Slayer of the green Raider, Breaker of the Reaving Moon
The Primarch, who was later known as Metheus Sa'tal, crashed into an ocean world, risking being drowned, he was saved by sea hunters and been raised by them. Living in a solidarity society of both humans and Eldar of Craftworld Umare, he didn’t take much time to become the king of hunters, establishing a small but powerful empire of his own. It was comparable with the realm of Inwit or the early Ultramar, naming it Waniku, the kingdom of hope. Later he was found by the God Emperor and accepted to serve the Imperium of Mankind. As he was the second Primarch to be found, he achieved great victories in the Great Crusade and befriended several of his brother Primarchs, most notably Leman Russ. Utilizing eveything he had learned from the sea hunters, who raised him, and bis Eldar tutors, he quickly became the absolute master of void warfare. As he was forced to fight at the side of Leman Russ against their brother Dillian Neltharis, he tried to spare the renegade Primarch's life. After all attempts of persuading him, at last Leman Russ made the killing blow, saving Metheus' life. The Lord of the XI Legion was afterwords confronted by the Emperor. Accused for not following His orders and for the alliance with the Craftworld Umare, Metheus and bis sons were cast out from the Imperium by his father the Emperor to be forgotten just like his brother the Second.

Now thousands of light years away from the Imperium, Metheus fights his way through with most of his legion, while his second in command and a small contigent remained on the hidden worlds, the secret core worlds of Waniku and the inofficial homeworlds of Metheus Sa'Tal.

----------------------

The second Primarch would be something like this:

My II Primarch, Dillian, was captured way longer inside the warp than the other Primarchs.
Inside the warp he was changed, loosing his normal eyes and get something of a spectral sight. Furthermore his body mutates, making him a very ugly Primarch. Had something between Raziel (Legacy of Kain) and Illidan (Warcraft) in mind. As he gets to know the very core of chaos and the gods, he meets the one being inside this realm who wants to destroy it: Malal / Malice.
The fifth god shows him everything he needs to know about the warp and it's monstrosities. During his teaching and because of his dark influence, Dillian's soul splits, creating a second being inside of him, Neltharis (all of his negative aspects + demonical powers).

[Although I'm not sure if I will make use of this background. I was recently advised to leave his background a mystery for the reader and I think, he's right.]

At last, Malal threw Dillian back into mortal realm. Here he was raised by humans on a devastated world, who worship the other four gods. He gathers some cults, making his own perverted version and starts a crusade to clean this world of all foul things. Big E (accompanied by a loyal and a later traitorous Primarch) finds him. Dillian has a glimpse of their possible future, the loyal one dead, the other a willingness servant of the dark gods. He joins Big E hoping to prevent this possible future. After learning everything the Imperium has to offer, he returns to his homeworld and starts to teach his Legion his own ways of seeing the universe.

Most of his Legion fights alongside the Ultramarines (as they were without any discipline, etc.) on the eastern edge of the known universe to learn from the XIII Legion.

Only a handful of chapters join Dillian and start a crusade to extinguish humankind and by doing so, defeating chaos itself.

When Big E gets to know that, he sends the VI and XI Legion, as they both work very well with each other and both share a crucial resistance against the powers of chaos. Rest see above.

-----------------------------

Some features of my XI Legion:

Greek influenced, experts in void warfare, fight like 300 and 300 - Rise of an Empire, make heavy use of shields, fight in formations while being covered with tank and heavy fire support, homeworld(s) are the hidden worlds (one called Alantis) inside the Yurai nebula (which was created by myself), allied with a homebrew Craftworld Umare

As I liked the idea that the Primarchs represent the zodiac signs, I decided to do this with my Primarchs as well:

My XI Primarch, Metheus, shall represent Fortune, having many friends within the other Primarchs, motivating his own legion and protecting the innocents. He would be the best form of Fortune.

Dillian, the traitor, shall represent the High Priestess, as he gets to understand the warp and it's nature and therefore tries to defeat it by killing every single human. He would be the worst form of the High Priestess.

Name & Colour Scheme

Thinking of a name, I came up with Sky Lords.

I made some schemes with the SM painter:

Blue and white; classic colours with a different scheme than the canon legions

Or this one, reminiscing the artwork I posted earlier which would fit an eldar allied legion more.

That is an image I found on deviantart. That's how my legion actually looks like (at least in my head).

http://img12.deviantart.net/cc4f/i/2015/279/8/7/angels_vindicant_vanguard_veteran_by_diegogisbertllorens-d9c6swl.jpg

Miscellaneous

The problem of a surviving Legion

BL once wrote that both legions were extinct for reasons unknown. Leaving my XIth alive is truly a problem as some of you might think: "Whoa! Wait a minute. A whole legion disappears and could potentially return to kick some butts?!"

But let me ask you:

Were both legions really destroyed? Or was that something the Emperor wanted his sons to believe in.

And here comes my solution for my own fluff:

As Metheus didn't want to kill his own brother and furthermore tried to free him of Malal's influence AND for his alliance with an Eldar Craftworld, the Emperor was really upset with him. Not only has his son disobeyed His orders, he even works alongside xenos scum, believing that a alliance between mankind and eldar would save the universe! He wasn't able to kill his own son especially when another of his sons, Leman Russ was present. Leman still loved his brother although Metheus had ended their friendship.

Therefore Big E exiled Metheus and his few remaining sons, hoping that they will meet their fate across the borders of his Imperium. Furthermore he tasked Leman and his legion with raiding Metheus former realm of Waniku, the kingdom of hope. The VI legion and the Adeptus Custodes would garantue that everything reminding of the XI legion would be erased, clarifying Lemans' reputation as the Emperor's executioner.

As no other Primarch participated in defeating the II, nobody would get to know of what really happened, making Leman, one of the most honorable leaders of the Imperium, a mere puppet of the Emperor's schemes and lies.

That could work, right?

Other projects

Eesioh, a good guy I got to know when I joined this community, wants to create a warband out of my legion. We agreed that he can create his warband and I will integrate his fluff in mine. Furthermore we decided that his legion will be the "official" lie which the Emperor told his sons. Mine fluff will be the unspoken truth of what really happened.

Here's the link: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/315313-liber-challenge-8-silent-laughter-slaughter/

By now, it is very promising.

Hope that I didn't forgott something. There are plenty of more details I worked out by now, but those will be posted in coming updates.

For now that should be enough.

Hope you enjoyed reading and as allways feedback is appreciated!

[MikhalLeNoir]

Hey mate..good that yoh decided to start your legion project. I am looking forward to more information.

[Kelborn]

half of my post vanished ... Oo
what the heck?
Need to add the missing parts later on... Damn. :/

Ok, here are some additional thoughts I would like to share with you.

Is it ok if a Primarch keeps his homeworld a secret? I know of Alpharius has done it but he was found as last primarch.

Metheus was found as and therefore it would be difficult to keep it a secret?

Why would he do that? Because his homeworld is part of a hidden realm in which humans and Eldar live and work together. As the Eldar know how the emperor would react, if he orders his forces to kill every xenos on sight, they ask Metheus to not tell his father. Therefore he makes another world at the edge of his realm his official homeworld, leaving the hidden worlds a secret of his Legion.

Allthough I did this, I am not sure if the members of the XI Legione, especially the terran born, would lie for their Primarch as well. But that could lead to a potential conflict and further to the creation of Eesioh's warband.

What do you think?

Off Topic: I will never again edit a post via phone....horrible. -.-"

[Kelborn]

Ok, sry for double post but I edited the first post.

Now it is complete again. Furthermore I added some thoughts on my second post.

Kind regards

[Calas Typhon]

You could make some marvelous conversions with Asterion Moloc! Will definitely follow this.

[Kelborn]

Someone could do a marvelous conversions. ;)

 

Unfortenatly I don't have the necessary time and money to do this hobby as it should be. I'm more the fluff-writing-guy. ;)

[AlphariusOmegon108]

*smiles at screen* I am open to help out.. ;) My pm box is open ^^

[Kelborn]

Well, that is an offer a can't decline, can I? ;)

 

writing a legion:

 

I love the heresy books. Therefore I will take the Imperial Fists article as a comparison for my Legion as the VII are the only other legion focusing on void warfare.

 

Good thing is that having the greatest fleet dosen't require to be the biggest legion. ;) That makes it easier for me to reduce their numbers because of the battle against the second.

 

As I would like to write the first pieces, what do you think?

Does the name Sky Lords fit? Wich coulor scheme looks better?

 

Kind regards :)

[MikhalLeNoir]

The third ;)

[Kelborn]

As I'm currently more interested im which colours would look beste, I count your post for blue/white ;)

 

Is there someone else who would like to tell us his favorite scheme? :)

[AlphariusOmegon108]

purple..purple with dark copper and red

 

but ehm, the second one is very nice

[Kelborn]

Thanks.

 

I think I will go with the second colours as the blue/white combi reminds me of the VIth. And as both legions will fight together for nomerous times, it would be quite boring imagine a grey/light blue wave of astartes. The green, purple would look better.

 

Yesterday I hat an idea concerning their structur and organisation. They would follow the tenets of the (can't remember the name) bellicosa. Perhaps I will change some names, calling a chapter a House or something like that.

 

Instead of making use of only specialized chaptera and companies, most of their forces would be a mixture of tactical and devastor Squads. Assaulg would stay separate.

 

The Sky Lords recruit from across the realm of Waniku. A new brother will be tested for several skills and traits. After that he will join one of the following academies within the legion, the silver eagle, the brazen bull, the iron snakes. (specialists like tech marines will have their own)

After absolving their final trait, they are allowed to carry the specific badge of his academie and join his companie brothers.

 

Silver eagle = assault Squads, bikes, speeder, Pilots, etc

brazen bull = tank Crews, heavy weapons, dreadnaughts, etc

iron snakes = tactical Squads, breacherst, etc

[Kelborn]

Hey guys,

now that I know which colours I'll work with, I would like to share some possible schemes with you.

A

B

C

D

So, which do you prefer? Which would fit a greek, void warfare, etc. Space Marine Legion the most?

[MikhalLeNoir]

C but make the chestsymbol also purple. Think of reduced color scheme

[Kelborn]

Hey guys,

yeah, I know.. sorry for the double post. What I would like to share with you now are:

- The first page of my definite fluff of my Legion. I try to do this whole project like an Legion article of the Horus Heresy books. What I'm missing a chapter badge for this first page. Had something with a shield, a spear or swords in mind but it's not finished by now.

Sky Lords

Numeration: XIth Legion

Primogenitor: Metheus Sa'tal

Cognomen (Prior): none

Observer Strategic Tendencies: Assaults, Void Warfare, Boarding Actions, Rapid Deployment, Formations like the shield phalanx

Noteworthy Domains: Realm of Waniku, hidden worlds

Allegiance: Fedelitas Constantus

"My sons, look at the stars. What do you see? Thousands of worlds, ready to conquer? Countless battlefields? Death and glory?

I don't see that. I See limitless oppprtunities. I see hope. I see mankinds future, an empire of light against evil itself!

I was once asked of what it's worth fighting for?

My answer was and will allways be, look at the stars. And today, my sons, we fight across those stars! Not for ourselves! Not for me! Not for the Emperor!

Today, we fight for a future of equality and freedom! That is worth dying for!"

-------------

Metheus Sa'tal, address to the XI Legion before the assault on Korgama

- Some quotes to flesh out their fluff. Those parts will be used for example an introduction of a paragragp.

"The eleventh? You 're asking me how they were? Foolish whelp, don't you know that it is forbidden to speak of them? The wolfking himself would tear you apart if he would hear that!

But let me just say this. It was glorious, both our legions added to each other perfectly. If we were earth and fire, they would be water and air."

-------------

Ghorne Helsong, wolflord of the Vlka Fenryka

+++Access request+++

+Please insert your password+

= * ** ***** =

+Overall access granted. Wellcome, my Lord.+

+Opening simulation records of the Primarch's+

# Training simulation Kerrenges [Phase Primus; void battle - Phase Secundus; ground Engagement; two legions fight against nach other]

- Participants: Primarchs of the I, IV, VI, VII and XI.

- Loading results of the XIth Primarch...

Phase / against

Lion El'Johnson

Perturabo

Leman Russ

Rogal Dorn

Summary

Phase Primus

loss

absolute victory

undecided as both were annihilated

victory

strength lies in void warfare

Phase Secundus

loss

no Entry as the terminal of the IV Primarch reported mailfunctions

undecided as both were annihilated

loss

although strong through their Phalanx formation, there is space for improvement

+My Lord, would you like to see more?+

+Connection lost; user logged out

+++closing program+++

++For Him on Terra!++

Hope you enjoy.

PS: damn the chart didn't work like I wanted... ok, will revise it, when I have the time, sry

[Kelborn]

Hey guys,

 

I think that I overwhelmed you with my posts. Maybe it was too much for this short time. Therefore, in the next couple of days, I will work offline and write the basics of their fluf.

 

Nevertheless I would like to hear your thoughts about my XIth Legion. :)

 

see ya

[Kelborn]

Hey guys,

 

working offline is worth it:

Primarch's background - finished, only need to translate it

 

Furthermore I sketched up the special wargear, Metheus' wargear (can't wait to share with you), structur within the legion and some bits concerning notable battles, homeworld, etc.

 

What I would like to ask you has to do with their size. Does someone know how largw the legions were during the midth of the great crusade? My legion will be exiled before or shortly after the discovery of corax and alpharius.

I think 100.000 would too much? I had something between 50k and 80k in mind but I want a realistic size. So how large were the legions after crusading for a century long?

 

Thanks! :)

[MikhalLeNoir]

Depends on the length they fought in the great crusade. The numbers of planets they draw aspirants from, the stability of their gene seed.

 

As I know big chunks of your Background i would say, that the sky lords are a rather big legion. So about 60-80k marines doesn't look far fetched as they were the third to be found and I think Metheus doesn't sent his sons into kamikaze missions but tries to save most of their lives.

 

As reference point you could take the ultramarines with about 200k at that time for the top end and the space wulfs with 10-20000 at the lower and. Correct me if I mixed things up.

[Grifftofer]

Based upon what is written I'd suspect that those Legions reunited with their Primarchs earliest would be the closest to their final size. Due to the stabilising influence having access top the Primarch had on geneseed implantation rates, but they probably wouldn't be more than 70-80% of their final sizes at the beginning of the heresy. This is a bit of guesswork on my behalf, because there is indication that the rate of training for marines increased through the Great Crusade until they could pump out a marine in around a year.

So based on my assumptions above the approximate sizes would be:

• Sons of Horus: ~100-140K
• Iron Hands: ~85K
• Salamanders: ~65-70K
• Imperial Fists: ~70K
• Ultramarines: ~180-200K
• Thousand Sons: ~7-8K
• Blood Angels: ~70-75K
• Iron Warriors: ~90-110K
• Death Guard: ~60-65K
• Word Bearers: ~50-80K
• Night Lords: ~60-80K
• World Eaters: ~55K
• Raven Guard: ~30K
• Alpha Legion: ~30K

All of the above doesn't take into account anything other discovery order and time since Primarch discovery, and even then the numbers are eye-balled. If you wanted to be more accurate you could probably attempt to factor in attrition so those Legions with higher attritions rates (Iron Warriors, World Eaters & Death Guard?) would likely reach their maximum relatively more quickly, because their actual maximum is reduced due to casualties in the field.

And Mikhal jumps in and gives you as good an answer much more succinctly, as I'm typing

[Kelborn]

Thanks, both you.

 

Think that I will make them as large as the Imperial Fists (second naval focused legion), round about 70-80k during the discovery of the last sons. As most of the Legion will die fighting the renegade II and his demonical allies, it would be quite difficult to explain why a Legion of once 100k+ was reduced to a couple of thousands. 70-80 sounds more realistic. :)