BotL - Monthly fluff challenge

[Chief Captain Redd]

I'll keep an eye out while I'm still up.

[bluntblade]

Swapping my vote to EW

[Kelborn]

I'm for EW as well for the same reasons as mentioned previously.

 

Our arch-traitors should be fleshed out. Maybe even more so than other Legions to explain why they fell from grace.

[bluntblade]

And we need to make sure that they have that grace during Travier's early tenure, I think

[MikhalLeNoir]

Grace? So that their fall is deep?

[Sigismund229]

And we need to make sure that they have that grace during Travier's early tenure, I think

Possibly not so much Travier's early tenure as before Travier was discovered

[Nomus Sardauk]

If I recall correctly the early XIIIth were quite favoured by the Emperor prior to re-unification with Alexos, in fact it was the Emperor who dubbed them his Eagle Warriors during the Unification Wars on Terra as well as grant them the Imperial Raptorae as their Legion symbol.

[bluntblade]

 

And we need to make sure that they have that grace during Travier's early tenure, I think

Possibly not so much Travier's early tenure as before Travier was discovered

I'd rather the Emperor's work makes him more than just a broken Primarch who can only be a figurehead. Or Icarion could've built him up again. Otherwise they're just waiting to turn evil.

[Sigismund229]

If I recall correctly the early XIIIth were quite favoured by the Emperor prior to re-unification with Alexos, in fact it was the Emperor who dubbed them his Eagle Warriors during the Unification Wars on Terra as well as grant them the Imperial Raptorae as their Legion symbol.

Yup, so in terms of th e Emperor's regard,the Eagle Warriors occupy a similar position to the Emperors Children in canon, at least before Travier is found

Edited August 30, 2017 by Sigismund229

[simison]

Wardens of Light - Blunt, Demus 
Eagle Warriors - Mikhal, Sig, Blunt, Kel

 

Also, Demus, what's the color of Nik's hair and eyes? 

[Demus Ragnok]

Nik has black hair and dark eyes.

[bluntblade]

I'm gonna have a crack at part of the EW history, specifically the finding of Travier. Consider it a dry run for my ideas.

[simison]

It's official. The Eagle Warriors will be the focus in September.

[Kelborn]

Very well...

 

So...on what should we focus?

[Chief Captain Redd]

I'd say we beef up their early years, they've gotta have a fall from grace, from being amongst the foremost legions to Alexos falling to chaos; otherwise they'll end up too one dimensional, though I will note Daer'dd never likes Alexos, maybe he is just evil. Because while they are this Emperor's Children esque perfection at first, under Alexos they fall to a blend of Night Lord and Word Bearer.

But regardless, I think it's that transition that tells their story best.

[MikhalLeNoir]

Just call him travier.^^

 

Yeah,early years and the breaking with the arrival of travier.

[bluntblade]

I'm already trundling through the Travier onwards fluff, seeing what might fit. Question is, will a group of historians (when remembrancers never got close to the truth of Travier anyway) have any clue about Sagitarus?

 

The draft's nearly done, I'm hoping it doesn't stray too far from what changes AO approved.

[Sigismund229]

I'm already trundling through the Travier onwards fluff, seeing what might fit. Question is, will a group of historians (when remembrancers never got close to the truth of Travier anyway) have any clue about Sagitarus?

 

The draft's nearly done, I'm hoping it doesn't stray too far from what changes AO approved.

That's a problem I had when writing EW stuff, how to get clear Travier's split personality in a way that makes sense for a historian to know. You end up either needing to abandon it or make it so obvious that Travier would need to be utterly unhinged.

[Kelborn]

Something Mikhal and I have discussed in the past was the possibility of implementing Fight Club-ish lodges.

 

Travier could implement internal challenges in which they fight against each other or have to face sheer impossible odds in order to prove their worth and test their abilities.

 

With each new challenge, the circumstances are getting more extreme and brutal, slowly forming those winners into more weird, ruthless champions.

 

This could be used as a slow but constant process of corrupting the entire Legion. Something like Horus' lodges but more in a combative style ala Fight Club, you know?

 

Could be a secret at first but it's influence would spread during the Great Crusade, with Travier at its head, while formally being "just" a figurehead.

[Sigismund229]

Something Mikhal and I have discussed in the past was the possibility of implementing Fight Club-ish lodges.

 

Travier could implement internal challenges in which they fight against each other or have to face sheer impossible odds in order to prove their worth and test their abilities.

 

With each new challenge, the circumstances are getting more extreme and brutal, slowly forming those winners into more weird, ruthless champions.

 

This could be used as a slow but constant process of corrupting the entire Legion. Something like Horus' lodges but more in a combative style ala Fight Club, you know?

 

Could be a secret at first but it's influence would spread during the Great Crusade, with Travier at its head, while formally being "just" a figurehead.

Or maybe it could be presented by Travier as a way in which his warrior can perfect their skills, by facing greater and greater challenges, hiding its corrupting influence

[Kelborn]

Exactly. :tu:

Forgot to mention that.

[Sigismund229]

The idea reminds me of the cult of Mithras in the roman army. There were 7 "ranks" within it and in order to be "promoted" a member of the cult needed to undergo a challenge of some sort to prove their bravery and worth

[simison]

Here's what I just posted in the Invitation thread:

 

• Fall From Grace: Early in the Great Crusade, the XIII^th won great renown and honour in the Emperor's eyes. How does a Legion who has proven itself so well succumb to the vilest of corruptions? Or, for a more grimdark angle, what would it be like to be a Terran Eagle Warrior forced to watch his Legion, a Legion that the Emperor once smiled upon, transform into something new and disturbing?
• Mexicatii: For those who want to practice world-building, this is the world that the Primarch Alexos Travier fell upon, a world of jungles and death. Travier would take this death world and offer new stability in the form of 13 cities centered on temples to the 13 Aztekis gods. The Emperor took care to stamp out the scourge of the Aztekis religion, but the old gods are stubborn foes. Take the ancient Aztec civilization, add the Imperium's technology, and then make it a Legion homeworld. What would that look? How do aspirants join the Legion? 
• Scientist and Priest: Although he was high priest on Mexicatii before the Emperor's arrival, Travier is a brilliant scientist. It was through his scientific mastery that he was able to secure 13 cities for his people. Alas, such brilliance would be turned toward darker pursuits later on, including cloning. This is a chance at character writing, how does one handle a blend between these two disciplines? Especially in the service of the Chaos gods? Does Travier leave any positive contribution to the material plane before his corruption?
• The Mad Primarch: When the Emperor found Travier as the chief priest, what followed was an agonizing torture session as the Emperor cleaned his son of Chaos' taint, including wiping out memories of the Aztekis gods and their rituals. Unfortunately, it was not without cost as the Primarch's mind cracked. Travier secretly believes that he possesses two personalities: himself and the manic Sagittarius. Whether true or not, what steps does Travier take to hide his 'secret' before his corruption?
• The Corruption: What historians only now know is that the memories the Emperor hid were reawakened...or perhaps re-implanted sometime in 960s.M30. What did Travier find that began to unravel the Emperor's work? Here's a chance delve into the creepy and manipulative side of Chaos and outline just what did they show Travier to break his forged loyalty to the Emperor. This is also a chance to try to capture the horror of having your entire worldview shaken by a new revelation. Before, Travier was already struggling to stay stable. How can one stay stable when these strange yet familiar memories slowly drip into your mind?

 

I tried to make sure to highlight areas that haven't received a lot of detail or was completely open.

 

Also, did anyone else notice that we started working on the 13th Legion on Page 13 of this thread? Kinda creepy.

[bluntblade]

I'll post what I've done before I head to the cinema. Left the cults of Mexicatii vague, the world ought to be a redbox

[bluntblade]

Blood and Madness

When a Mechanicum Warp-runner sent word that a Primarch had been found in the Mexicatii system, the information went no further than the Ist and Vth Legions. Much would remain hidden for a mortal lifetime, some was revealed only with the outbreak of the Insurrection, and some has likely eluded even our careful studies. What became apparent very quickly was that the Emperor, with Icarion at his side, had been resisted with fanatical determination by the theocracy that ruled Mexicatii Prime. The defenders tore the hearts from their slaves and offered the blood of thousands to their cruel gods.

 

With fists both gold and grey, the Emperor’s forces broke the Mexicatii defences, although it would take a lengthy campaign of pacification by the Halcyon Wardens and the Officio Assassinorum to achieve true compliance. The Primarch, however, was nowhere to be seen. The writings of Vth Legion and auxiliary personnel - those of Princeps Shakti Bijala of Tempestus have proven especially useful in documenting the affair - make it clear that only the uppermost tiers of fleet command had any inkling of the truth.

 

Rumours circulated - the Primarch had been somehow incapacitated by the priest-kings, and the Emperor sought to cure his wounds in secrecy. Few guessed at the truth; Alexos Travier had been entirely immersed in the vicious cult that ruled Mexicatii. It was he who, with hands blackened by the blood of those he sacrificed, had slain the emissaries who came in the Emperor’s name, and fought until the Emperor subdued him, killing dozens of Lightning Bearers and several Custodians in the battle that followed. Finally subdued by the Emperor, he proved resistant to all reason.

 

The Emperor refused to tolerate such defiance from his son, but nonetheless he was unwilling to discard such a precious, unrepeatable creation. So for over ten thousand hours, he set his unmatched will and psychic power to the task of conquering Travier’s spirit. The details to this day are unknown except for the vaguest hearsay which describes it variously as a dialogue, a battle or an act of torture. By its end, Travier was broken, and the Emperor and Icarion began the work of rebuilding him. Two years later, a giant in ornate power armour was first seen fighting against the Orks of Waagh! Bowelhacka beside the Stormborn. He would continue to do so for another decade until the Emperor deemed him ready to meet his Legion and finally assume his birthright of command.

 

Reborn Immaculate

The reunion showed the apparently total success of the Emperor’s work. There was no rancour such as that which would be seen several years later when Raktra was unveiled to the VIIth. Travier vowed that he would prove worthy to lead such a prestigious Legion, and under the careful eyes of Icarion he did so. Broadly there was continuity in the XIIIth’s methods, although as recruits from Mexicatii joined the ranks, its aesthetic began to change to reflect this. Travier integrated elements of his home world’s military culture, intending it to symbolise - if only to himself and his brothers - the ways in which any recalcitrant could become a valued part of Mankind’s future.

 

With their Primarch returned to them, the Eagle Warriors grew substantially as their tally of compliances and great victories swelled. Travier was an arresting figure on the battlefield, clad in ornate power armour, always facing the worst dangers alongside his sons. His presence alone inspired his warriors to acts of bravery which drew praise from those he crusaded with. Yet his skill was not to be ignored either; he slew the champions of a dozen xenos races, most famously the Hnarkel spine-devils of the Revyaen Enclaves.

 

Travier’s scientific interests now came to the fore as he built bridges with the Mechanicus, most notably the Cognis sect. This gave him great freedom to steer his Legion’s development from the beginning. The plethora of jetbikes which had been integral to the early VIIIth remained, but they were joined by armour companies that came close to rivalling those of the Vth. These became the Legion’s bludgeon, following the rapier of the Skyhunter squadrons. Travier made these elements into the first two waves of the Legion’s favoured strategy, the third being a massed infantry attack. This served a political purpose as well as its impact on the battle. By presenting the raw power of the Astartes, Travier showed the true might the Emperor offered Mankind, as well as his power to quell any resistance. If any regime was unwilling to heed that message, then the Eagle Warriors would not relent until their palaces were brought crashing down about their heads.

 

Men spoke of the Eagle Warriors much as they had before; warriors whose spirit and zeal reflected the highest ideals of the Great Crusade. Yet there was an edge to their fervour which some deemed unhealthy. The Eagle Warriors might preach redemption for those who submitted to the Imperial yoke, those who resisted were crushed a severity which often strayed beyond necessity. There are several documented instances in which the Eagle Warriors utterly disassembled a planet’s government by way of punishment, necessitating a comprehensive program of rebuilding by those who followed in their wake. It is supposed that this is why Travier never had the full trust of Daer’dd or Koschei.

 

Travier spurred his techmarines and seconded Biologis personnel to accelerate the implantation process and bolster his Legion’s numbers, skirting the limits of tolerance. Such procedures usually entailed a heavy reliance on hypno-indoctrination, which in documented cases across several Legions gave rise to a lack of nuance in matters of ideology. Still, just as their excesses in war paled beside the Void Eagles and Berserkers of Uran, their experiments were obscured entirely by the likes of the Warbringers.

 

Revelation

The infamy that would utterly overshadow the Eagle Warriors’ glory occurred far from Imperial eyes, but Travier’s own writings have cemented the world’s place in history. On Anesidora, Travier and his Legion came across a Warp breach, one which unlocked memories long suppressed in the Primarch’s mind. Travier believed that he had heard the voices of the gods he had once worshipped. Nothing more did he learn at this stage and Icarion rebuffed his efforts to learn more, but the damage was done. The facade the Emperor had so painstakingly built had cracked, and nothing could reverse the damage. Now he embarked on a new quest: seeking the truth denied to him.

 

Travier knew that if the Eagle Warriors were to seek out this truth, they would have to do so in the utmost secrecy. To this end, the majority of the Legion would remain in plain view, ignorant of their Primarch's goal, while smaller fleets would run far ahead of the main Crusade. Ostensibly operating in a similar capacity to the outrider elements of the Void Eagles and Crimson Lions, their true purpose was to investigate any Warp-tainted planets they encountered, and catalogue all the information they could find on the empyrean. These goals demanded several things from the outrider fleets.

 

The first was that they must be largely self-sustaining, necessitating large numbers of Apothecaries as well as the participation of numerous Magi, drawn largely from the Cognis sect, which had long been tied to his Legion. Foremost among the Apothecaries was Ixtlatl, a longtime advocate for gene-augmentation and cloning. Now he had an opportunity to test his esoteric theories, and embraced it with abandon.

 

Furthermore, as time went on the fleets began to expand. Small human colonies were harvested for recruits and serfs; Alexos' orders made it clear that all other priorities were subordinate to the viability of the fleets. Their numbers would be swelled further on those occasions when, for appearance's sake or out of necessity, they would call upon a detachment from the main Legion forces, who would invariably leave some of their warriors behind when they parted ways. These also served as opportunities to impart their discoveries to Alexos or his closest lieutenants. Those who had not been with him on Anesidora were excluded, for fear that they would not readily join him in his new quest.

 

Finally in 963 M30, far beneath the Galactic plane, Travier landed upon the world Teohuaca. Exactly what transpired here is simply too hazardous to share with the innocent, but we can reveal that Travier met with a human culture in thrall to the Ruinous Powers. With their guidance, and after rituals of unspeakable depravity, he underwent the revelation which would turn him irrevocably against the Emperor, and damn his sons for eternity.

 

It seems that initially the XIIIth struggled with the revelation - many of their campaigns in the following decades took on a wholly destructive character, fuelled by a spite which baffled many of their comrades. From the records made available to us, it is likely that the bulk of the Legion’s loyalists were purged during these years, perhaps accounting for their soured mindset. Others may well have gone mad from the truth and duty their master bound them to, and there are hints of instability in Travier himself. In the aftermath of one such battle Hectarion confronted Travier. The brawl that followed was fought with little inhibition, and might have ended in open battle between the Legions had Nomus Sarduk not intervened.

 

Whether because Travier realised the true danger of allowing his plans to be discovered, because he deemed the cull had run its course or because the remaining Eagle Warriors accepted their terrible cause, the phase passed shortly afterwards. Now the Eagle Warriors’ loyalty and zeal were tempered again, but it was naught but a facade, and on the worlds they conquered the Legion planted cults, nurturing a cancer within the Imperium. Only a scant few of the Eagle Warriors remained pure, kept separate from the main Legion and used as a smokescreen by Travier.

 

With Icarion as the prime instrument of his treachery - whether he decided this himself or it was ordained by his new masters, we may never know - Travier knew he would have to play a long game. Despite his pivotal role in the psychic attack on Terra, his dark arts were treated with distrust by Icarion and greater disdain by several of his brothers. But by guile and dedication, Travier estranged Kozja from the Stormborn, pushing Icarion to the point where his wariness of Chaos was outweighed by his desperation for victory. Now Travier accelerated his plans, and the first step was the corruption of the Berserkers.

Edited September 2, 2017 by bluntblade