jaxom Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 I don't really care for how the Dark Angels have been handled overall in Black Library books and because I like having a cohesive reference document available (particularly when I'm not the only one working on material) I decided to go back to the knightly roots of the Order to get an idea of how they might impact the culture of the First Legion. As a base, I read through The Book of the Order of Chivalry by Ramon Llull, an Iberian knight, writing between 1274 and 1276. What I've done is taken portions (it's a short read), modified them slightly to fit into the 30k universe (sometimes I didn't have to change a thing) and then adding commentary from an Imperial translator as if they had taken it into Imperial Gothic from the native Calibanite language (and provide myself a mouthpiece). I'm including the original text in spoilers. Second post will offer some commentary from me on how I see this fitting in with the larger Dark Angels/First Legion in during the Great Crusade and Heresy era. If there's more interest then I'll try to really flesh out everything to the level of a FW HH book. The Order “In the beginning, when contempt for justice had come into the world because of the diminution of charity, justice sought to recover its honor by means of fear. And thus the entire populace was divided into groups of a thousand, and one man - more kind, wise, loyal, and strong, and with nobler courage, a better education and better manner than all the rest - was picked and chosen from every thousand.” In the beginning, when contempt for justice had come into the world because of the diminution of charity, justice sought to recover its honor by means of fear. And thus the entire populace was divided into groups of a thousand, and one man - more kind, wise, loyal, and strong, and with nobler courage, a better education and better manner than all the rest - was picked and chosen from every thousand. Examination of historical records indicate The Order came to power through a series of violent campaigns against small tyrant kingdoms, but there is little to suggest how far into Old Night this occurred. The latter portion indicates sorting out the purest remaining individuals and one can extrapolate it relates to Caliban’s modern caste system and may indicate a form of genetic segregation. Cross-Reference: Magos-Biologis Fratrix’s Surviving Old Night: An Examination and Postulates on Utilizing The Omnissiah’s Gifts to Adapt, “Volume LCXI: Evidence of Human Genhancement on Techno-Barbarian Worlds.” “Among all the beasts, the finest, swiftest and most capable of enduring the most amount of work, and the most suitable for serving man was sought out… and it was given to the man who was chosen from one thousand men, and thus is that man called a knight.” “Among all the beasts, the finest, swiftest and most capable of enduring the most amount of work, and the most suitable for serving man was sought out… and it was given to the man who was chosen from one thousand men, and thus is that man called a knight.” The Calibanite use of beasts seemingly perfectly suited to their role, to say nothing of the presence of crops that can be safely consumed, contrary to the vicious nature of all other life on Caliban suggests to me a certain credence to Fratrix’s theories that the settlers of Caliban had extensive genetics knowledge and used it to establish themselves. The Calibanite word used to describe the chosen man has numerous semanometic recursive meanings that do not translate concurrently, but seem to refer to a deeper meaning around which the higher tier concepts circle (note: this is common to the Calibanite language as a whole: the deep structure can be obscured by higher syntax and semantics, with all applying at once or selectively, again, depending on the whole context). The best description in Imperial Gothic would be a combination warrior- and -ruler caste with expectations of intellectual persuasions. I have chosen to use the word ‘knight’ in my translation, but it is a poor substitute. “Once the noblest beast had been assigned to the noblest man, the noblest arms most suited to combat and protection from wounds and death were subsequently picked and chosen from among all the arms, and those arms were given to and bestowed upon the knight.” “Once the noblest beast had been assigned to the noblest man, the noblest arms most suited to combat and protection from wounds and death were subsequently picked and chosen from among all the arms, and those arms were given to and bestowed upon the knight.” The Techno-barbarian classification was applied to Caliban upon its discovery because of the population’s utilization of items otherwise beyond their mean technological level. The knights use and are capable of producing powered armor with limited strength enhancement, chain-weapons, and a form of bolt weapon. The former two require the use of fusion cells that are considered relics by Calibanites as they do not have the means of making more and thus limited the number of knights. “Love and fear are joined as one against enmity and contempt, and thus the knight, because of his nobility of courage, good habits and the very high and great honor that is bestowed upon him by him being chosen, and because of his horse and arms, must be loved and feared by the people. For through love, charity and learning shall be restored, and through fear, truth and justice shall be restored.” “Love and fear are joined as one against enmity and contempt, and thus the knight, because of his nobility of courage, good habits and the very high and great honor that is bestowed upon him by him being chosen, and because of his horse and arms, must be loved and feared by the people. For through love, charity and learning shall be restored, and through fear, truth and justice shall be restored.” The populace can be kept in good relations towards the ruling class via positive reinforcement and indoctrination of good habits. The military strength of the knights allowed them to punish any transgressors in such a way as to deter further transgression. This philosophy helps explain the number of Compliances carried out by the Dark Angels since their Primarch was ceded command; they do not favor extended diplomacy and non-compliance is met with rapid deployment of force. “Be mindful… for if you become a knight you receive the honor and the life of service that devolve upon friends of chivalry. And the nobler your lineage, the more obliged you are to be good and agreeable to god and the people, and if you are treacherous you are the greatest enemy of Chivalry and most contrary to its lineage and its honor.” “Be mindful… for if you become a knight you receive the honor and the life of service that devolve upon the knight. And the nobler your lineage, the more obliged you are to be good and agreeable to The Order and the people, and if you are treacherous you are the greatest enemy of The Order and most contrary to its lineage and its honor.” The high psycho-indoctrination success rates of the first Calibanite induction to the I Legion were originally attributed to the gene-seed, but it may have been aided by the knights of The Order shared mindset similar to that of the Astartes: they are raised up above men by the Emperor’s hand, but much is expected of them upon ascension and all in service to humanity. “So lofty and noble is the Order of Chivalry… it was fitting that those who are in The Order be made lords of the people.” “So lofty and noble is The Order… it was fitting that those who are in The Order be made lords of the people.” The information density of written Calibanite once again stymies translation. “Lords” is the closest Gothic equivalent because of its feudal connotations. The intent of the passage is most likely that the warrior caste was descended from those “more kind, wise, loyal, and strong, and with nobler courage, a better education and better manner than all the rest” and thus most suited to rule. “Just as jurists, doctors and clerics have scientific knowledge and books and they hear the lesson and learn their office through the doctrine of book-learning… it would be appropriate... for [Chivalry] to be a taught art, just as the other sciences are taught.” “Just as cultivator-yeomans, sawyer-yeoman, and chemisages have scientific knowledge and books and they hear the lesson and learn their office through the doctrine of book-learning… it would be appropriate... for knighthood to be a taught art, just as the other sciences are taught.” The establishment of fighting as a science and the millenia of it being taught and advanced has created a premier level of martial skill in the warrior caste Calibanites. Order novitiates make excellent Astartes inductees. “Thus, just as our lord god has chosen the clergy to uphold the holy faith through scripture and reason, preaching the faith to the Infidels with great charity that they are willing to sacrifice their lives for it, so the god of glory has chosen the knights to conquer and overcome by force of arms the Infidels who contrive every day to destroy the holy Church. Therefore, god grants honor in this world and the next to those knights who are the upholders and defenders of the office of god and of the faith through which we shall be saved.” “Thus, just as the yeoman uphold Humanity through materials and crops, working the land with great charity that they are willing to sacrifice their lives for it, so Humanity has chosen the knights to conquer and overcome by force of arms the Beasts who contrive every day to destroy Humanity. Therefore, Humanity grants honor in this world and the next to those knights who are the upholders and defenders of Humanity.” The passage is somewhat unclear because of its metatextual connection to earlier passages on the creation of the knight caste. Humanity may represent the early settlers of Caliban or it may represent a holistic, totemic sense of our race. “Justice must be upheld by the knights, for just as judges profess the office of judging, so knights profess the office of upholding justice. And if the knight and book-learning could be joined in such close concert that the knight were learned enough to be a judge… for he by whom justice can best be upheld is more suited than anyone else to being both a judge and a knight.” “Justice must be upheld by the knights, for just as judges profess the office of judging, so knights profess the office of upholding justice. And if the knights and book-learning could be joined in such close concert that the knight were learned enough to be a judge… for he by whom justice can best be upheld is more suited than anyone else to being both a judge and a knight.” The previous texts have already established the, “ nobility of courage, good habits and the very high and great honor that is bestowed upon” knights. This passage is, thus, rather straightforward: a knight would have the best attributes to offer just judgement if he had an education in the law. The underlying context, applied to the Astartes, is similar to the apocryphal quotation often attributed to either Primarch Horus or Primarch Guilleman, “Legionnaires excel at warfare because they were designed to excel at everything.” One can also use this for further understanding of Primarch El’Jonson’s Compliance record. What room is there for examining the prudence of contrary opinion in diplomacy when one is led by a learned son of the Emperor? “Chivalry and valor cannot be joined together unless there is wisdom and common sense, otherwise, folly and ignorance would be joined with the Order of Chivalry…. That just as some knight or other, because of his nobility of courage inspires you to act valiantly and scorn dangers so that you can honor Chivalry, so the Order of Chivalry must ensure that wisdom and common sense are loved, so that knights may honor the Order of Chivalry in the face of the disorder and the failing that characterizes those who think they are following the honor of Chivalry through folly and ignorance.” “The Order and valor cannot be joined together unless there is wisdom and common sense, otherwise, folly and ignorance would be joined with the Order…. That just as some knight or other, because of his nobility of courage inspires you to act valiantly and scorn dangers so that you can honor the Order, so the Order must ensure that wisdom and common sense are loved, so that knights may honor the Order in the face of the disorder and the failing that characterizes those who think they are following the honor of the Order through folly and ignorance.” The passage, once again, does not cover the depth of the original Calibanite. A closer approximation of the text would be, “The Order [agent of action] can only act to achieve valor [appropriate action at appropriate time leading to just results] when using wisdom [previous actions of just elders-teachers-masters-knights] and common sense [good habits from elder-teacher-master-knight approved-taught-encouraged courage].... In the face of the disorder [lacking a foundation in good habits-chaos-unformed thought] and the failing that characterizes those who think they are following the honor of the Order through folly [inappropriate action at appropriate time-appropriate action at inappropriate time] and ignorance [applying inappropriate learning due to lack of appropriate learning].” The Order and its traditions stress swift action in the face of an obstacle or challenge, but also that a knight needs an extensive degree of ingrained knowledge and training so the action is appropriate. Learning from one’s masters so that the might of knighthood is not applied as an agent of action inappropriately is stressed. That a single knight could easily dominate a large swathe of other castes, as demonstrated by the earlier tyrant-kingdoms is never explicitly mentioned, perhaps as part of the Calibanite language, but much of the later text is given over to constituting the guiding principles of action with the Order. “Do not seek nobility of courage in the mouth, for it does not always tell the truth, and do not seek it in resplendent vestments, for beneath many a resplendent cloak there is a base and weak heart filled with evil and deceit… and do not seek a noble heart in the equipment or harness, for beneath grandiose equipment there is possibly a cowardly and maleficent heart. So then if you wish to find nobility of courage, seek it in faith, hope, charity, justice, fortitude, loyalty, and the other virtues, for nobility of courage resides in them, and because of them the noble heart of the knight protects itself against evil, deceit, and enemies of Chivalry.” “Do not seek nobility of courage in the mouth, for it does not always tell the truth, and do not seek it in resplendent vestments, for beneath many a resplendent cloak there is a base and weak heart filled with evil and deceit… and do not seek a noble heart in the equipment or harness, for beneath grandiose equipment there is possibly a cowardly and maleficent heart. So then if you wish to find nobility of courage, seek it in faith, hope, charity, justice, fortitude, loyalty, and the other virtues, for nobility of courage resides in them, and because of them the noble heart of the knight protects itself against evil, deceit, and enemies of Humanity.” The passage offers an intriguing insight into the Order and the Dark Angels. At the physical level, they are known as a taciturn Legion with little ornamentation on their armor other than simple white tabards or robes. Rumors of feuding with Third and Sixth Legions may be impacted by a deeper, Order-driven belief that their more boastful natures hide some sort of weakness. At the character level, the noteworthy attributes are all internal ones. “Unto the knight is given a sword which is made in the shape of a cross to signify that just as our lord jesus christ vanquished on the cross the death into which we had fallen because of the sin of our father adam, so the knight must vanquish and destroy the enemies of the cross with the sword. And since the sword is double edged, and Chivalry exists in order to uphold justice, and justice means giving to each his right therefore the knight’s sword signifies that he should uphold Chivalry and justice with the sword.” “Unto the knight is given a sword which is made in the shape of a cross to signify that just as Humanity vanquished on the cross the death into which we had fallen because of the sin of our fathers, so the knight must vanquish and destroy the enemies of the cross with the sword. And since the sword is double edged, and the knight exists in order to uphold justice, and justice means giving to each his right therefore the knight’s sword signifies that he should uphold knighthood and justice with the sword.” The portion “vanquished on the cross the death into which we had fallen because of the sins of our fathers,” is further evidence of genhancement of the Calibanite population in response to the horrors of Old Night. The word used for cross has linguistic roots matching those of early Imperial Gothic words for surgery and in Calibanite has metatextual markers for excision-cutting away weakness-safekeeping; one could be put in mind of the cruciforms commonly seen in Legion Apothecariums or the labs of the Magos Biologis. The sword is equated with a tool of improving the state of Humanity and physical reminder of the true purpose of knights beyond their existence as a warrior-ruling caste. The sword itself was forged of the same advanced alloys as the knight’s powered armor. It was more capable than the chain-halberds and chain-spears allowed to the yeoman classes; those were advanced in construction but limited by inferior materials. “The lance is given to the knight to signify the truth, for the truth is straight and does not bend, and truth goes before falsehood. And the lance-head signifies the power that truth has before falsehood, and the pennant signifies that the truth reveals itself to all, and it does all it can against falsehood and deceit. And truth is the support of hope as it is of everything else that the knight’s lance signifies regarding the truth.” “The lance is given to the knight to signify the truth, for the truth is straight and does not bend, and truth goes before falsehood. And the lance-head signifies the power that truth has before falsehood, and the pennant signifies that the truth reveals itself to all, and it does all it can against falsehood and deceit. And truth is the support of hope as it is of everything else that the knight’s lance signifies regarding the truth.” An interesting development in the teachings of the Order comes from the use of weapons. The sword, while the primary symbol of their place and purpose in Caliban’s human hierarchy, was not used to hunt the beasts of the forests, the primary function of the Order. Rather the lance and mace were used if possible. Here the lance is equated with truth and the power to overcome falsehood and deceit. I was fortunate enough to have a brief period of time to question some of the Magos Xenobiologis who accompanied the initial explorator fleet to Caliban. They gleaned only small portions of hearsay from the knights they interviewed who had faced a beast. A common trait, especially among the lesser beasts, seems to be methods of deceiving the senses and/or inducing a crippling emotion such as terror, shame, or sadness. My fellow Magos theorize some level of psyker ability among the beasts; not uncommon on planets close to large-scale warp phenomenon. The lance itself is listed before all other beast-hunting weapons because it is the first to be taught to initiates and first used to engage beasts. A Calibanite lance is a long, single-shot breech loaded bolt weapon. Knights and their squires would fire a salvo before the knights engaged a beast in melee while the squires would reload. An interesting quirk of Order culture was all women who lived in Order keeps, due to family or service, were trained in use of the lance for defense. Women beyond their child-rearing years were allowed to accompany beast hunts as a sort of honorary senior squire. “The chapel-de-fer is given to the knight to signify shame, for a knight who has no shame cannot be obedient to the Order of Chivalry…. And just as the chapel-de-fer protects the head, which is the highest and most important part of the human body, so shame protects the knight… so that he does not stoop to base deeds and the nobility of his courage does not descend into malfeasance, deceit or any evil habit.” “The helmet is given to the knight to signify shame, for a knight who has no shame cannot be obedient to the Order…. And just as the helmet protects the head, which is the highest and most important part of the human body, so shame protects the knight… so that he does not stoop to base deeds and the nobility of his courage does not descend into malfeasance, deceit or any evil habit.” It is no coincidence that the only piece of metal armor allowed to the lower caste yeomans was the helmet. This was often the first lesson Initiates to the Order were given and provided the negative feedback required to temper the inherent psychological certainty found among them (and Astartes recruits and novitiates). “The hauberk signifies a castle and rampart opposite vices and misdeeds, for just as a castle and rampart are closed around so that no-one may enter inside them, so the hauberk is closed and fitted on all sides so that it signifies the noble courage of the knight, inside of which neither treachery, pride, disloyalty nor any other vice can enter.” “The plate signifies a castle and rampart opposite vices and misdeeds, for just as a castle and rampart are closed around so that no-one may enter inside them, so the plate is closed and fitted on all sides so that it signifies the noble courage of the knight, inside of which neither treachery, pride, disloyalty nor any other vice can enter.” The largest piece of equipment, the powered armor, was another physical reminder for a knight of “noble courage.” The separation of pride, as a vice, helps to understand the Calibanite word I have translated as “faith.” To the Calibanites, faith was a physical concept of an appropriate outcome from an appropriate action taken at an appropriate time. We magos have a similar concept, the null-hypothesis, knowing that a single experiment which goes against what was expected can alter orthodoxy, such as Magos Land and his improved gravitic plates. “Iron chausses are given to the knight in order to keep his feet and legs safe, to signify that the knight shall keep the highways safe with iron, that is, with the sword, the lance, the mace, and other weapons.” “Metal greaves are given to the knight in order to keep his feet and legs safe, to signify that the knight shall keep the highways safe with metal, that is, with the sword, the lance, the mace, and other weapons.” The inclusion of the sword is a reminder that, though the Order had done much to reduce internecine conflict among Humanity on Caliban, bandits were still a threat. Explorator records note the bandits would sometimes be organized around worshipping one of the great beasts. The higher rate of occurrence for mutations among bandits indicate that groups which lasted long enough might have taken born-mutants left in the forest to raise rather than let die. “The mace is given to the knight to signify strength of courage, for just as the mace is of use against all armor and it strikes and inflicts wounds everywhere, so strength of courage protects the knight from every vice and fortifies the virtues and good habits with which he upholds the honor of Chivalry.” “The mace is given to the knight to signify strength of courage, for just as the mace is of use against all armor and it strikes and inflicts wounds everywhere, so strength of courage protects the knight from every vice and fortifies the virtues and good habits with which he upholds the honor of the Order.” The mace refers to what in Imperial Gothic is called the corvus hammer. As noted here, it was particularly prized in beast hunts because of its usefulness as a bludgeoning and piercing weapon. “The shield is given to the knight to signify his office, for just as the knight places the shield between himself and his enemy, so the knight stands in the middle between the king and his people. And just as the blow strikes the shield before the knight’s body, so the knight must place his body in front of his lord if anyone tries to capture or wound him.” “The shield is given to the knight to signify his office, for just as the knight places the shield between himself and his enemy, so the knight stands in the middle between the beasts and Humanity or in the middle between a lord-knight and his people. And just as the blow strikes the shield before the knight’s body, so the knight must place his body in front of Humanity or his lord if anyone tries to capture or wound him.” The Order makes explicit the role of lord-knights ruling over the other castes. In conjunction with previous portions of the text it is made clear that a knight’s duty in a conflict between the ruler and the ruled is with the ruler. A ruler, as a knight and educated by the Order, should be the agent of action for justice and proper judgment. Lower castes without the inherent benefits of the knight caste and lacking learning would be in revolt only due to malfeasance, deceit, or bad habits. “The pourpoint signifies for the knight the great travails he must endure in order to honor the Order of Chivalry. For just as the pourpoint is worn over the other garments and exposed to the sun, rain and wind, and it receives blows before the hauberk, and it is attacked and struck on all sides, so the knight is chosen for greater travails than anyone else, for all those who are beneath him in nobility and under his protection have to resort to the knight, and he must defend them all, and the knight shall be struck and wounded and killed before those who are commended to him.” “The robe signifies for the knight the great travails he must endure in order to honor the Order. For just as the robe is worn over the other garments and exposed to the sun, rain and wind, and it receives blows before the plate, and it is attacked and struck on all sides, so the knight is chosen for greater travails than anyone else, for all those who are beneath him in nobility and under his protection have to resort to the knight, and he must defend them all, and the knight shall be struck and wounded and killed before those who are commended to him.” The knights were given much at the top of the caste system, but perhaps more was expected from them than any other caste. In attacks on settlements, yeoman militias were expected to defend a palisade if needed, but only long enough for the local knight to take over. A junior squire would be sent with new of the attack to the closest keep if more knights were needed. Knights participated in beast hunts and casualty rates were high as expected of a death world. If a great beast attacked then the knights fought to allow time for other castes to flee the area completely; the killing of a great beast if not the specific purpose of a large hunt was unheard of before Primarch El’Jonson’s inclusion in the Order. The robed appearance of the Dark Angels is, perhaps, the primary visual differentiation between them and other Legions. If this is an indicator that the cultural thought-construct of a caste being risen above but then expected to defend and die for their lessers has been added to the martial attitude of the First Legion then it is noteworthy. “The blazon on the shield… is given to the knights so that he may be praised for valourous deeds that he performs and the blows he delivers in battle; and if he is cowardly, weak or recreant the blazon is given to him so that he may be censured and reprimanded.” “The blazon on the shield… is given to the knights so that he may be praised for valourous deeds that he performs and the blows he delivers in battle; and if he is cowardly, weak or recreant the blazon is given to him so that he may be censured and reprimanded.” The armorial markings of a knight were not considered ornamentation, but a second form of name. The symbols used in blazons mirrored Calibanite text in that they had a higher information density than the spoken word (Explorators noted in their observations that Order initiates were often taught in a location where the instructor could draw symbols in dirt or sand to accompany the spoken lesson or in a chamber with symbols prominently displayed). While the lion, for courage and fierceness, has spread in the armor markings of the First Legion due to its presence as part of their Primarch’s blazon, the actual Calibanite interpretation of his blazon would be not just the positive attributes of the Calibanite lion, but also connotations of: one who kills his own kin (i.e. a lion that slays lions)-destroyer of Humanity (i.e. the Caliban caste-humanity or their way of life). “A knight who has no faith cannot be trained in good habits, for through faith man sees god and his works spiritually, and believes in things invisible. And through faith man has hope, charity and loyalty, and he is the servant of truth.” “A knight who has no faith cannot be trained in good habits, for through faith man sees god and works spiritually, and believes in things invisible. And through faith man has hope, charity and loyalty, and he is the servant of truth.” Perhaps the most controversial passage I have translated as it appears to reference to “god” and a world of invisible spirits. As I wrote earlier, the Calibanite concept of faith is more closely related to action-reaction causality. The god here may be thought of a proto-Omnissiah belief system and the invisible world those aspects whose impact can be seen, but they themselves cannot: gravity for example. The presence of psyker phenomenon among the beasts would another force where the effect was obvious even when the cause was not. Initiates in the Order had to be able to accept that there was a correct course of action for an appropriate time even if the reason for that action was not visible or apparent. “Prudence is a virtue through which knowledge of good and evil is acquired, and through which the ability to be a lover of good and an enemy of evil is acquired, and prudence is a science through which knowledge of the future and present is acquired, and prudence provides the ability to avoid physical and spiritual harm by using foresight and stratagems, Thus, since knights exist in order to persecute and destroy evil, and since no men expose themselves to so many perils as knights, what could be more essential to the knight than prudence?” “Prudence is a virtue through which knowledge of good and evil is acquired, and through which the ability to be a lover of good and an enemy of evil is acquired, and prudence is a science through which knowledge of the future and present is acquired, and prudence provides the ability to avoid physical and spiritual harm by using foresight and stratagems, Thus, since knights exist in order to persecute and destroy evil, and since no men expose themselves to so many perils as knights, what could be more essential to the knight than prudence?” The Order and its traditions are old enough that they cover an extensive array of topics and possibilities. However, when a new situation or an unknown was encountered, then prudence was the tradition. It is known that the Order had a method of gathering information when facing the unknown, but details are clouded by rumor and hearsay. The only constant is that squires of particular insight were marked for special training and that knights patrolling the paths between keeps and settlements commonly had a raven incorporated into their blazon. The raven symbol has connotations of cleverness-farseeing-flight-imagination. “Pride is a vice of inequality, for the prideful man does not wish to have a peer or an equal and thus he loves being alone. And since humility and fortitude are two virtues and they love equality and are opposed to pride, if you, Prideful Knight, wish to conquer your pride, gather together your courage humility and fortitude, for humility without fortitude is not strong against pride, for in humility, without there being fortitude there is no strength, and pride cannot be vanquished without strength….Even though nobility of courage is not a physical thing, all the more must fortitude and humility, which are spiritual things, expel pride from noble courage, which is spiritual nobility.” “Pride is a vice of inequality, for the prideful man does not wish to have a peer or an equal and thus he loves being alone. And since humility and fortitude are two virtues and they love equality and are opposed to pride, if you, Prideful Knight, wish to conquer your pride, gather together your courage humility and fortitude, for humility without fortitude is not strong against pride, for in humility, without there being fortitude there is no strength, and pride cannot be vanquished without strength….Even though nobility of courage is not a physical thing, all the more must fortitude and humility, which are spiritual things, expel pride from noble courage, which is spiritual nobility.” The passage makes clear that the Order viewed pride as a danger to the bonds of brotherhood that connected its knights. The portion of interest is the cultural concept that fortitude loves equality; analysis of the metatextual elements indicates that the Calibanite virtues are human states of existence. Fortitude loving equality and being the enemy of pride can be more appropriately translated as, “All should have fortitude and pride is the enemy of raising another up in virtue.” Previous passages narrow the application of this cultural concept to within the knight caste. A knight is above a yeoman is above a serf; they are not equal, but all knights are brothers and should foster knightly virtues within each other so as to retain the superiority of knights as a whole. “The king or prince who unmakes the Order of Chivalry itself not only unmakes himself as a knight, but also the knights who are subordinate to him who, because of the bad example set by their lord and so that they will be loved by him and follow his evil ways, do what does not pertain to Chivalry or its Order…. So if expelling one knight from the Order of Chivalry is a serious offence and an extremely serious debasement of courage, how much worse is he who expels many knights from the Order of Chivalry!” “The lord-knight who unmakes the Order itself not only unmakes himself as a knight, but also the knights who are subordinate to him who, because of the bad example set by their lord and so that they will be loved by him and follow his evil ways, do what does not pertain to the Order…. So if expelling one knight from the Order is a serious offence and an extremely serious debasement of courage, how much worse is he who expels many knights from the Order!” As a follow up to the previous passages, the Order once again stresses the knight, in this case lord-knight, can have an outsized impact as an agent of action. A lord-knight who stops following the traditions of the Order will be followed by those knights under him. It is clear the Order has dealt with this situation in the past and has a method for expelling knights before they can cause damage to the larger brotherhood of the Order. Details are not forthcoming and Explorators were given no insight when they asked members of the Order about schisms within it. “If it is the office of the knight to impeach or fight the traitor, and if it is the office of the traitorous knight to defend himself and fight the loyal knight, what is the office of the knight? And if a courage as evil as the courage of a treacherous knight seeks to vanquish the courage of a loyal knight, what is it that the lofty courage of a knight who fights out of loyalty is seeking to vanquish or overcome?” “If it is the office of the knight to impeach or fight the traitor, and if it is the office of the traitorous knight to defend himself and fight the loyal knight, what is the office of the knight? And if a courage as evil as the courage of a treacherous knight seeks to vanquish the courage of a loyal knight, what is it that the lofty courage of a knight who fights out of loyalty is seeking to vanquish or overcome?” That the text ends with questions is not unusual for a Calibanite treatise. The oral traditions of Caliban are simpler by necessity due to the lower information density of the spoken language, but its simplicity is a boon for oath-making and answering questions as part of a ritual tradition like a squire answering questions such as those above. Sandlemad, FlamingDeth, Semper Fortis and 5 others 8 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 (edited) The First Legion's two major claims to fame are: 1) They're the first legion, incorporating organizational prototypes and roles that are to be found in later legions and 2) They were a primary Legion in the Rangdan Xenocides. The 40k Dark Angels are secretive, insular, and noticeably xenophobic in a way that made it into their 3rd edition codex. These are the points I'm starting from. The question was how does the nature of the Order impact the First Legion? I don't think anyone wants the pre-Heresy Dark Angels to be the same as the post-Heresy Dark Angels, but there should be hints of what may be possible. As such, it can't be that the Order is full of secrets and insular and then it's a short hop to modern Dark Angels once they combine with the First Legion. The Order's two major claims to fame are: 1) They're knights and 2) they defend against and kill the beasts of Caliban. Caliban is a forest world and a death world. The imagine I have in my head is a world of forests that are a mix of redwood scale trees and areas like the Dark Forest of German legends. The danger isn't like Catachan which is just Jungle On Crack. The danger is in beasts and effects almost out of knightly fairy tales. Strange lights and entrancing sounds that lead one astray until dehydrated to death, chimeras and manticores, dire beasts. Or, put another way, warp phenomena and mutated creatures. I see the beasts of Caliban split into three categories: lesser beast, beast, and great beast. Lesser beasts are mostly harmful through deceit and trickery or in great numbers. They're your imps, brownies, goblins, kobolds; they seek to draw a person into harm and then scavenge the corpse. Psyker shenanigans may be one way they do so. The beasts are classic monsters or dire animals, but a well-trained group could put one down. An exceptional single warrior might be able to bring one down alone. Calibanite lions are effectively dire lions on steriods; they have to be well-known enough and roughly primarch-sized enough that Luther would jump to calling a hairy blond primarch Lion Son of the Forest. A lesser beast will probably aim to attract a person to where a beast is so the beast will do the work. Beasts are plentiful so the Order keeps busy. This lets others than Lion El'Jonson to kill a Calibanite lion, but they still need to be amazing to do it. The beasts were not the focus of Lion El'Jonson's crusade as Grand Master of the Order; they breed too fast and will always keep Caliban dangerous, as is common to many Legion homeworlds. The great beasts are the size of an Imperial Knight and up to Titan sized. The Order can delay and distract them with major wounds that drive them off, but struggles to kill them. They were the major impediment to humanity on Caliban. Lion El'Jonson oft gets called out in lore for killing a Calibanite lion single-handedly. I'd go for an upgrade that he killed a great beast known as the mother of lions or something like that; i.e. a kaiju sized Calibanite lion. I think that's more in line with primarch legends. It's the great beasts, larger but fewer, that the Order wipes out under the command of Lion El'Jonson. So the Order is a bunch of knights who hunt monsters and the First Legion is just coming out of the most infamous xenocide of the Great Crusade when they get introduced. I think you end up with a legion styling itself as knights with a specialty in killing monsters. They're the xenocide legion and their new recruits are all trained beast-slayers. You send them after the weirdest, most stabby, most vicious xenos the exploration fleets find. What about human compliances? Read the first post. You have a caste-oriented thought process where an educated knight is the top decision maker. The Emperor via their Primarch, the greatest knight, says humanity must be decided under his rule, as is appropriate. There's no room for diplomacy and everything the Order (knight caste) has known says that if a lower-caste is contrary to a knight in light a knight trying to correct inappropriate behavior then they're already lost and further transgression among others is best deterred via violent response. The dark side of Lion El'Jonson's compliance record is that his method was basically the same Night Lords except instead of extended terror campaigns, he was basically leading knight-aristocrats swiftly putting down peasant revolts. This furthers the mirror-dynamic between the Lion and the Night Haunter as the only two primarchs to effectively raise themselves. Yet, unlike the Night Lords, the Dark Angels have better PR because they do show up to help other Imperial forces (riding the rescue as it were) when unlooked for because that's what knights do... and they know when others are in trouble because they're spying on everyone they can... because proto-Ravenwing and they originally had to do everything the other Legions had to, including the Alpha Legion. It's noblesse oblige towards basically everyone else in the Imperium. This is the starting point for the pre-Heresy Dark Angels and lays the foundation for looking at specific POV characters, Legion-wide traits, and the like which show what the Dark Angels could become over 10,000 years. It's also the foundation for Luther (specifically the Order material) and his faction's schism. Edited August 2, 2018 by jaxom lokkorex, Sons of Horus, Brother Lunkhead and 3 others 6 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Semper Fortis Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 I'm really enjoying this, jaxom. As a Dark Angel aficionado of several decades, I too have been unhappy with the way they have been developed. I look forward to more from this thread, preferably after my head as recovered from ETL exhaustion. DarKnight 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandlemad Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 This is good stuff. The DA in the heresy definitely suffer not just from poor representation overall but from the good elements not really cohering as well as they could. This thread makes it a quite compelling whole. Your use of the scholarly viewpoint is one of the better ones I've seen, I like the emphasis on translation and cultural concepts not always carrying over into 'mainstream imperial culture' and the wider crusade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allart01 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 A very pleasing read. I love "academic narrators"! Keep it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokkorex Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 This was a brilliant read, very well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarKnight Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 I love what you've established thus far, especially the tying together of the Order and their hunts with the I Legion specializing in xenos extermination. Looking forward to more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted August 9, 2018 Author Share Posted August 9, 2018 (edited) ++ Data Acquisition - Code: FWHH ++ ++ Clearance Level ++ Ultra Primogenis ++ For the Viewing of the Lord Commander of the Imperium Lord Guilliman, The following is the data I could locate on Terra regarding the matter you requested for your ongoing historiographical project for the latter Crusade-era and Heresy-era. Much of what I could locate was locked behind the Sigillite’s seal, but, alas, after all that has occured on the Throneworld, his seal does not have the weight it once does. I was able to recover much; some data may be lost permanently. I have included two files; one of raw findings as you always ask and one parsed for distribution along the previously detailed findings on the Vth and IXth legions. Further missives will follow once I arrive on Caliban and complete my research there. Your loyal servant under the Emperor-Now-Enthroned, Datarch M.S.P.C. The Dark Angels Numeration: The Ist Legion Primogenitor: Lion El’Jonson Cognomen: The Angels of Death (later used as an extended cognomen for Astartes as a whole), The First. Observed Strategic Tendencies: Combined Arms Warfare, Shock Assault, Strategic Decapitation Strikes, Xenos Eradication and Purgation operations Noteworthy Domains: Caliban [Homeworld], resource tithe rights on [data expunged] primary worlds. Allegiance: Fedelitas Constantus The latter-era of the Great Crusade saw the Ist Legion, the Dark Angels, as one, if not the, premier independent operating force in the Imperium. Many Legions at the time were either the focal point for larger inter-organizational expeditionary fleets, operated in inter-legionary operations throughout and after Ullanor campaign, or were active in established Imperial space. Other Legions noted for their complete operational independence were the Vth, VIth, and VIIIth Legions. However, these three were observed as lacking the logistical backing and size of the more ‘proper’ Legions. The Dark Angels were arguably anywhere from the fifth largest to second largest Legion prior to the Isstvan campaign and the decimation of the XIIIth Legion at Calth. Some records detail a fighting strength of 200,000 while others present lower numbers of 150,000. The adepts of the early Imperial bureaucracy marked discrepancies between observed army strengths and requested materials from Caliban, the Ist Legion homeworld and primary recruitment center. Regardless, the Dark Angels were acknowledged as a force that the traitors would either have to co-opt, break, or render strategically useless if they were to succeed in their civil war. Origins: The First Legion The beginnings of the Ist Legion are shrouded in mystery, but certain suppositions can be made based on the events leading to the end of the Unification Wars. The Legiones Astartes began as the Emperor sought to expand the success of the Primarch Project to a larger scale; supporting armies for his sons to command in the conquest envisioned once Terra was united. No records exist of the Emperor’s plans before the separation of the Primarchs or if it was intentional. What is known is the appearance of a new caste of heralds among the Emperor’s forces. These warriors were of lesser size than the Thunder Warriors, but lacked the psychopathic energy which robbed Thunder Warriors of all finesse, and wore armor in the black color of the Emperor’s personal servants. The warriors brought proclamations: yield to the Emperor or face immediate death. At this stage of the Unification Wars, most of the holdouts were fanatics or the insane, and capitulation almost never occured. The nature of an Astartes was unknown; kings and pretender-emperors died swiftly to super-human hands before fighting clear to an extraction point. Word quickly spread of these new tools in the Emperor’s employ and they become known as his Angels, an ancient word meaning messenger. ‘The Vaunted First’ has been used by other legions to describe the The First ranging between respect and sarcasm. The Dark Angels, especially Terran veterans, had a tendency to remark among war councils when prior a member of their legion performed a particular strategy or had a favorable outcome under a similar situation. The First Legion had strong bonds with the other legions as the Great Crusade left the Segmentum Solar. However, as the Terran veterans decreased in number throughout the Legiones Astartes, these bonds declined. What was once welcome counsel from elder equals became seen as hubris, particularly in legions that had since gone on to achieve significant accolades of their own. It is rumored that First Captain Abaddon went into a rage when he told a delegation of Terran Ist Legion officers the story of Lercon Hurn’s pacification of Somon - letting the Panarch assault him until exhausted before killing him and his council with bare hands - only to be met with, “Just like our brothers used to do.” First Among Equals The last phase of the Unification War saw the end of the Emperor’s diplomatic efforts on Terra and the first deployment of an all Astartes army. It is unknown where the recruits for a Chapter sized force came from, but the arms and armor came from the Emperor’s personal laboratories. Early engagements were personally overseen by the Emperor and against such a force, no techno-barbarian horde could stand. These first Astartes, seemingly to have been guided into existence solely by the Emperor, were loyal in way only matched by the Custodes. Whether this degree of loyalty was a consequence of the recruitments, intensive hypno-indoctrination, or the gene-seed is unknown, but it may be telling that the earliest references of “battle-brothers” among the Astartes are found amongst the wider Ist Legion’s extant records. Physically, members of the Ist Legion were exemplars of ‘average’ Astartes physiognomy with all implants functional at median levels and operating in the expected manner. Initiates lacked particular extremes; neither the sometimes noticeable non-human facial proportions nor uniformity of features nor beatific countenance. The exception was the progenoid glands which had high resistance rates to damage from trauma and chemical- or radiation-induced mutation. The Ist Legion gene-seed was also extremely stable over time under storage conditions. The Emperor’s grand design for the Legions seems apparent in their different aspects and miens; each preferring or specializing in different methods of warfare in relation to their unique psychologies. Hypothetically, the absence of such, paired with unmatched resistance to mutation over time of the core Ist Legion gene-seed, marks it as the proto-Legion from which all others are variants and which could be returned to for samples upon which to further experiment. However, not knowing the details of the great gene-works which produced the Primarchs and the Astartes, it is impossible to say if this is the case. The more common hypothesis, based on the Unification Wars and the liberation of Segmentum Solar, suggests that the Ist Legion specialty was is its lack of speciality, i.e. adaptation. Despite early successes, the rate of unification slowed as the Emperor spent more time overseeing the development of the Legions using data generated by the Ist Legion. The remaining tyrants also began to use more desperate measures and all the terrors of Old Night were unleashed. Each mad gene-lord, chemadept, or electromotive manipulator produced unique horrors for the Legionaries to overcome. The Legion was adept at probing strikes to gather information or to create opportunities and exploiting what was found. This included the adoption of technologies as needed. For example, early Legionary forces were primarily armed with volkite weapons until the Great Crusade expanded past the Sol system and bolt weapons from Mars became more expedient. The Ist Legion oversaw the first mass deployment of boltguns among line infantry squads in response to fighting the technarch aggregator swarms released among the Caucus Wastes. Late Crusade-era documentation for Astartes deployment, tactics, and strategy that has survived comes extensively from the writings of Roboute Guilliman, but according to analysis by the few surviving strategos of Terra who were present during the early Crusade-era, much of that is refinement or commentary on methods originally developed by the Ist Legion. Records of the Ist Legion’s combat actions become more rare and they decrease in publicity as the Unification Wars entered their last, bitter dregs. The IIIrd Legion had begun acting as the Emperor’s heralds and agents among non-Astartes forces and the VIIth Legion had won a major victory, an event feted by the Emperor with the reward of the ‘Roma’ battle honor. The oldest archival evidence of the other early legions show members of the Ist Legion assigned to training cadres for alpha intakes of the other Legions and this is furthered by scraps of pict-recordings from the end of the Unification Wars showing a small number of black-clad figures among the armies of slate grey Legionnaires common before the development or awarding of heraldry among individual chapters or legions. Veterans of the Legion also displayed honor markings expected to be unique to other Legions because of actions on Terra. Consul-Delegati were occasionally pict-captured marked with the purple of an Emperor’s herald and the thunderbolts of Unification were most common among the Astartes within the Ist Legion. The exception was the Palatine Aquila which following the Proximan Betrayal was granted as an exclusive right of the Emperor’s Children. A darker theory for their absence during period is that the Ist Legion’s actions as final Unification become closer were related to the disappearance of the Thunder Warriors. The Emperor’s Legion The Unification of Terra was a pivotal moment for the Emperor, but only the first step in a much grander design. The Emperor needed to expand into the Sol system and from there Segmentum Solar to truly claim rule over an Imperium of Man and not just over Old Earth. The first action was the Pacification of Luna; absolutely necessary for capturing it’s shipyards and gene-factorums to expand the Legiones Astartes that had proven key for his ongoing success. One would expect the most veteran legion to be at the fore, but that role fell to the XIIIth and XVIth legions, for which the former earned their first recorded full battle honour and the latter became immortalized as the Luna Wolves. The inhabitants of Luna subscribed to a fractal philosophy of mankind, that who each person was existed in the presentation of their flesh. As such, they were capable gene-forgers and had extensive underground laboratories. Records of the underground theaters are scant. Most focus on the surface and shipyard battles; particularly the XVIth legion’s decapitation of the gene-cults ethnarchs. It is possible the Ist Legion was tasked with securing specific, sensitive gene-labs for the Emperor’s future use. This is supported by a surviving fresco of the Emperor’s victory march through this newly won territory shows black-clad Astartes in guard positions amongst the underground passages. The Pacification of Luna was followed by the now famous Martian Compact and it was the Ist that descended upon the soil of Mars at his side. They accompanied him into the Noctis Labyrinth and stood beside him as the first fleets broke through the Kuiper Belt. The Ist Legion was the spear tip eradicating the xeno slave-lords of Saturn and Jupiter while the IIIrd, VIIth, and VIIIth cleansed the once-human inhabitants of the Neptunian Deeps and the Xth and XIVth legion fleet assets annihilated Sedna. Saturn and Jupiter were originally home to the oldest pre-warp travel Sol colonies and the archeotech uncovered was bountiful; including the basis for Saturnine-pattern tactical dreadnought armour. The Saturn-Jupiter campaign also put on display the Ist Legions adaptability as each moon had different environments and the xeno-slavers were a coalition of different species. The Legion’s official table of battle was patterned on the Principia Belicosa and this Ist Legion tested formation had become the default pattern for each following legion’s inception. The Ist Legion, however, had a perpendicular unofficial organizational structure, the Hexagrammaton. The legion could dramatically alter its tactical and strategic capabilities by shifting from one to another. The Hexagrammaton organization may be the oldest strategic design applied to the Legiones Astartes. Each member of the legion was a member of one of six Hosts; based upon personal mien, this effectively altered the ‘average’ Ist Legion into six smaller, specialized sub-legions. The Hosts were, to a degree, based on the caste organization of the Legio Custodes. Each had a specific purview which matched the inclination of its members who were further organized into groups of peers in the manner of a philosopher’s circle, called a pantheon, and led by an elengkhos, a more senior member of the Host responsible for teaching and guiding the development of his peers. The three Hosts known from known extant records are: the Host of Iron and Fire, the Host of Air and Darkness, and the Host of Death and Victory. The Host of Iron and Fire consisted of legionaries most comfortable surrounded by the metal hull of an armed vehicle or guiding the long-ranged death of mobile artillery; the Host of Air and Darkness consisted of legionaries who found speed and mobility fulfilling compared to line warfare; the Host of Death and Victory consisted of legionaries who explored the unique transhuman shock-troop abilities of the Astartes. It is assumed that the function of one of the unknown Hosts matched the function of the Ephoroi for covert operations. The doctrinal pedigree of other legions can be seen in the Hosts; for example, mechanized assault in the Iron Hands, speed and mobility in the White Scars, concentrated heavy assault in the Luna Wolves, and possibly espionage and covert operations in the Alpha Legion assuming one Host functioned similarly to the Ephoroi. The Hosts are not found in the late Crusade-era records of the Ist Legion, but it is possible their function in the legion was subsumed or replaced by the Dark Angel’s Wings. The Hosts of the Hexagrammaton The character of the Ist Legion remained unchanged throughout the conquest of the Segmentum Solar as their brother legions began to deviate more from the Principia Belicosa and develop preferred modes of warfare. However, at the tactical level, the First displayed an increased resolve in the persecution of their role as the Emperor’s representatives on the battlefield, to foes and allies alike. In them, the Legiones Astartes ideal was distilled: take the battle to the enemy, to their utter destruction, in a way only possible for one with the inhuman strength and bearing of one raised to demigodhood by the Emperor’s genecraft and intervening in theaters of war at his personal discretion. Their strategic adaptability let them do so in a clinical, precise way which belied the brutality of Astartes warfare. Human allies, simultaneously full of inspiration and dread, once again referred to them as the Emperor’s messengers, his Angels, but now they were only Angels of Death. The cognomen quickly spread to encompass the entire Legiones Astartes. The description fit all space marines and so it was not restricted. Historically, this commonality plagued efforts to memorialize the Ist Legion during the period between end of Unification and their reunion with their primarch. The bonds of brotherhood between the legions were already lessening as Terran veterans united by common culture and the Unification Wars grew fewer and this was exacerbated for The First because they could not satisfy the curiosity of their legionnaire cousins with tales of great battles fought at the Emperor’s side. The advice of Ist Legion commanders at war councils, once greatly welcomed, became terse and lacking context. The First developed a reputation for being taciturn and secretive. Some speculated this was out of pride: to protect their status among the legions as others were ascendence. Their proximity to the Emperor was boon and bane. Missions of great import to the Emperor’s agenda, recovering Dark Age technology or sanctioning a specific civilisation which may enter Compliance, but would offer an ontological threat to nascent Imperial culture, were hidden behind layers of secrecy. If this could be considered specialisation then it was one unknown to the wider Imperium. The public victory roll of the legion continued to grow, but without the quirks that were now firmly defining the other legions different natures. The gap in victories between the Ist Legion and those of others, particularly the Luna Wolves, was shrinking. Where once others were compared to The First, now they were held to the standards of new rising stars. Thus, it was simple to consider them a shadow of other legions that superficially employed the same methods. The First were capable of many modes of warfare, but were not defined by one in the way of the rest of the Legiones Astartes. In this regard, the contrast between how the Ist Legion accomplished this sheds light on their particular role in among the Legiones Astartes. Much comparison has been made between the Ultramarines under Roboute Guilliman and The First under the Emperor, before the influence of Caliban. Both forces showed a preference for combined arms structuring of forces, both were top-size legions of their times, and both showed the ability to execute warfare in a multitude of forms and theatres. The difference in how the two legions arrived at these capabilities helps to illuminate the nature of the Ist Legions compared to the others. The First were the largest legion prior to the Third Rangdan Xenocide because of simple reasons. They were the oldest legion with continual intake of initiates and had an experienced Apothecarium overseeing the implantation of gene-seed and maximizing the efficiency of the process. The apothecaries of the IIIrd and XVth legions had more in-depth experience handling difficulties that could arise, but the stability of the Ist legion gene-seed allowed their apothecaries to develop an exceptional triage system for identifying genetically appropriate candidates, minimizing time between implantation stages, and fostering the acceptance of implants. The First, due to their relationship with the Emperor, had prime recruitment rights for flesh tithes from worlds whose Compliance was not associated with a specific legion. Lastly, the gene-seed’s stability placed it at the peak for extensive replication. Progenoids harvested from the fallen almost always produced quality gene-seed and laboratory cloning could be carried out among the fleets without recourse to the more specialised equipment on Luna and Terra necessary to clone the more unstable gene-seed of other legions. The First were thus able to ‘do much with little’ in terms of quantity of recruits and logistical access to Terra whereas the Ultramarines relied on a large recruiting apparatus and extensive logistical connections between Macragge, where their prime gene-seed repository had been moved to, and Ultramar as a whole. The warfare capabilities of the Ultramarines were rooted in extensive imitation and refinement of influences drawn from their founding cultures and the other legions. Roboute Guilliman, specifically, was known for designing campaigns to a minute level of detail and applying the appropriate tactical and strategic tools to each portion of the his plan. Thus, it could be said the Ultramarines were like bringing all the pieces on needed to execute their preferred gambit in a game of Regicide. If the conditions of the board were not as expected, however, the usefulness of the pieces may change. The First, however, brought a diversity of pieces and changed what they do could mid-game. Each unit of the Legion had members from different Hosts and could draw on the full expertise of the Hexagrammaton. The planned 2nd Siege of Antillus was commanded by Second Captain Tedior Yansg of the 3rd Chapter’s Second Battalion and member of the Host of Iron and Fire; the Second Battalion was the only force deployed and followed the dictates of the Principia Belicosa. He deployed his resources for a siege of Antillus’s great Astral Gate, only to lose his first line of siege works to the gate exploding outward. An ork Kult of Speed had captured the city after it was worn down from resisting the previous siege and began to harass the Imperial forces. Captain Yansg immediately called upon the highest present member of the Host of Air and Darkness, an elengkhos and sergeant, to organize the available armored vehicles and aerospace patrol elements into a running battle with the ork bikers and crude gyrocopters while Yansg, as battalion captain, oversaw the line infantry reorganizing into testudo formations capable of repelling probing attacks from the more mobile orks compared to the easily breached, thinner siege lines. Corralled by the Spartans, Predators, jetbike squadrons, and jump-pack equipped infantry, the orks were driven to attack the stationary targets of infantry blocks. Heavy weapon support squads in the center of each formation targeted the ground, slowing the ork bikes down and throwing riders, while mass fire from tactical squads on the outside finished off the disrupted orks. The battle also showed what was becoming an identifiable difference in Ist Legion psychology compared to their brother Astartes. Yansg intuited from the presence of the ork gyrocopters that Antillus’s anti-air cannon had been disabled for them to contribute to the city’s fall. The narrow, twisted city streets meant there was no where for ork ramjets to take off. Storm Eagle gunships, previously expected to be hampered by dense flak fire, were immediately ordered deployed from orbit and quickly secured the battlefield airspace and began to transport the infantry to the Antillus’s defensive walls. Once in place, the armored vehicles retreated from their engagement and plugged the hole where the Astral Gate once stood. What had begun as a siege, turned into a plains battle, returned to a siege, but now the Kult of Speed was on the outside of the walls and ill-equipped to handle it. Yansg had altered the course of the battle twice; once by employing the Hexagrammaton, giving vehicle operational command to a sergeant, and once by the rapid exploitation of a previously unknown enemy weakness. The former would be unheard of in any other legion with serious losses to the chain of command. Regarding the latter, other legions with strategic tendencies of exploiting enemy weaknesses worked at identifying them in advance or creating them. The Emperor’s Children used precision and mobility to create gaps in defense for exploitation by their slower terminator armed elites. Horus Lupercal’s expeditionary fleet had a sizeable contingent of Raven Guard for decades and many strategos postulate the weaknesses the Luna Wolves were so quick to latch onto in his mid-Crusade victories were not coincidental. It was only later observations of Lion El’Jonson and his ability to recognize those pivotal unexpected moments in a campaign or battle and near instantly see how to use them to his advantage that cemented this as part of the Ist Legion gene-craft. Two events occurred in close proximity which changed the Ist Legion in a profound way. The first was the reunion of the Emperor and the first of his found sons, the primarch Horus. Horus was given command of the Luna Wolves and they began to carve through the galactic west. Spending time with Horus, surrounded by the XVIth legion and his Custodian Guard, the Emperor no longer needed the presence of the The First. They continued their conquests in the galactic east with great victories purging the Hral morphoids of Shedim and the Compliance of the Vayber. The First showed they could function without the direct guidance of the Emperor and, unburdened by esoteric missions they cut a swathe towards the Eastern Fringe. This simultaneously helped to restore some of their martial reputation and put them in position for the second event: the Third Rangdan Xenocide. The Rangdha were an alien terror so horrific their description has been struck from Imperial records. The First Rangdan Xenocide eradicated the Cerabvores outermost feed-worlds under the impression that their distillation-beasts were the Rangdha. The Second Rangdan Xenocide assumed the outermost colony after the feed-worlds was the Cerabvore homeworld. The two events gave the Rangdha time to prepare and study the Imperium from a distance. Their counteroffensive flooded the eastern reaches. Just as it seemed that Imperial forces could contain them a second front opened up in the galactic north. The following wars saw losses that would not be matched until the Horus Heresy. The macabre power of the Cerabvores and their technological prowess destroyed all who stood in their path. It nearly ended the Imperium, if not for the might of the Ist Legion. As the largest singular Imperial force in the east, they had been the ones to contain the Rangdha long enough for the primarchs Leman Russ and Mortarion to bring their legions to bear along with the might of accompanying Titan Legions. With the opening of a second front, the Ist Legion rushed to prevent the Rangdha from breaking through the shattered defenders of Segmentum Obscurus. The First held alone against an enemy that had broken Expeditionary Fleets, Titan Legions, and it is rumored even Space Marine Legions. They spent their strength carefully, but spent it nonetheless over countless battles as reinforcements from the Legio Gryphonics, Legio Vulturum, Legio Kydianos, and Xanite Mechanicum forces arrived. However, when the Emperor arrived from the galactic west, only the Ist Legion greeted him. The Emperor’s presence was a balm to the legion that still saw themselves as his and they were at his side when he broke the Labyrinth of Night and secured the Imperium against its deadliest threat yet. Yet the cost was extreme, with some records indicating over two-thirds of The First had perished. The Third Rangdan Xenocide saw the end of the Ist Legion’s primacy. The Emperor still trusted The First to carry out his will and they carried out the bio-purges of the northern reaches while the VIth legion did so in the east. The Emperor, however, swiftly returned west to the unspent Luna Wolves and their ascendent primarch. The purges lasted a solar decade and when they were done the legionaries of The First’s mien finally matched their reputation: resolved, taciturn, and grim. It was in this state they set forth for resupply at Phall and from there towards the Halo Stars to stand sentry against any other possible threats; fate, however, had more in store as their path took them into contact with a planet called Caliban. Edited August 9, 2018 by jaxom DarKnight, Sandlemad, Semper Fortis and 3 others 6 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted August 9, 2018 Author Share Posted August 9, 2018 And with that, we are poised to look at the Lion on Caliban. The early history and nature of The First was harder to approach because they're in the odd position of needing the clearest explanation of what makes them tick or makes them unique while simultaneously preserving a degree of their mystery. I started from my position in my second post: 1) They're the first legion, incorporating organizational prototypes and roles that are to be found in later legions and 2) They were a primary Legion in the Rangdan Xenocides. The First has developed (I think) an almost mythological place in the hearts of Dark Angels fans and I've seen a decent amount of differing viewpoints on what they should have been like. If anything I wrote seems counter to your point of view on them or you have a recommendation for an addition, subtraction, or alteration, please let me know. There are things I included that I would never have thought up on my own that are a great fit. For example, the Hexagrammaton; I love the concept even if I think the execution in the Black Library books was a hot mess. It gave me a place where I could add another strand of connection between the Emperor and the 1st by comparing it to the organization of the Emperor's OG's, the Custodes, furthering the idea that the 1st legion was, at least originally, his personal project a little more so than the other legions. Another example is the Spiral. It's the one concept from Descent of Angels that I unreservedly like and it gave me the idea for the language of Caliban and its predilection for circling meaning, for creating a framework leading one to an argument or conclusion without explicitly presenting it. DarKnight 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarKnight Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 This is phenomenal work jaxom, I'm greatly anticipating the rest of your work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorgoff Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 That is really really good. I instantly forgot that I'm reding fanfiction. Great work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 Thank you all. I always feel weird about stuff like this because I feel like it's knocking on the authors who (I imagine) worked really hard on getting out a story that would excite people. Anyway, yeah, next up is another one like the first about flora and fauna on Caliban. I need to do some reading on forests.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 (edited) ++ Send Location: Data Purged ++ ++ Target Location: Quintex Key Decrypt Required ++ ++ Encrypt Code Accepted: Only the Unresolved Require Inspiration ++ ++ Clearance Level ++ Hydra Primogenis ++ Primary Mission Status: Completion Level Prime Secondary Mission Status: Completion Level Prime An agent was placed among the Mechanicum crew for further tracking. Our network should be able to locate where Guilliman is having initiate-age youths from legion homeworlds taken within the next five years. The interview you required was completed and the subject eliminated. The only extant copy is attached. Hydra Dominatus ++ Action: File Decrypt ++ File Open ++ ++ Interrogator: Disabled ++ ++ Agent Commentary: Enabled ++ Veltun El’Aldurukh [secondary cognomen indicating unknown parentage, either orphan or casteless, initial negative social impact could be partially alleviating by errantry-entrance into a caste.]. Yes, what you call the Tower of Angels. Haven’t lived there in years. I was there at the start, though. A boy, of course, and now I’m older than any Calibanite on record; Ascalon went into the forest at 55 [Approximately 63 Solar Standard Years] and us lower castes usually didn’t make it past 25 for the serfs and 40 for the yeomen [Approximately 29 and 35 Solar Standard Years, respectively]. Last of the chemisages, me. Important enough knowledge in my head that the Mechanicum provided age-treatments. I was Fratix’s “helpful local,” but really it was all me. I did the math once. One genius in a billion. A thousand of us in a trillion [subject referring to alpha-level class 2 intelligences and omega-level class 2 intelligences]. I solved the riddle. Why so many of our beasts match descriptions of myths and legends from Old Earth. Of course it was on purpose! No, no, I couldn’t begin to guess. Not the same as those for the forests and the beasts. The markers for them were all different. Definitely more than one. Are you an apothecary? Then I can’t explain it. Fine, almost like artists painting the same thing - there are going to differences. We’re marked, yes, noticeably different. Instead of a painter, it’s a child drawing in dirt. It doesn’t have to be effective, just work. And it did. Do you really think our way of life would have worked otherwise? “And thus the entire populace was divided into groups of a thousand, and one man - more kind, wise, loyal, and strong, and with nobler courage, a better education and better manner than all the rest - was picked and chosen from every thousand.” Should sound, be pretty familiar to an Astartes. It’s from the Order’s history of the knights. Yes, that hypothesis was mine: knight caste implantation success rates are higher because of it. Of course, death world: too dangerous to support widespread human settlement; tithe level: solutio tertius or aptus non. So say the adepts of Terra. We’re aptus non, technically, because of the Dark Angels. The Martians make requests and Lord Luther, supposedly, grants some in exchange for favors. I met Fratix that way. We started with the mounts [subject used Calibanite word and then clarified]; I hate Gothic, can’t really say anything. Similarity to horses was high, but they could take a man in powered armor on their back and still hit a gallop. That’s where we found the first marker. Most of the lesser beasts [Kobolds, goblins, and other forest creatures usually too small to physically threaten a full grown man alone] proved to be true xenos. What? Of course, once I learned what terraforming was, I knew that had to be it. Someone obviously wanted to recreate Old Earth’s forests here. The lesser beasts had the power to survive; they’re not quite here anyway. Go ask a navigator. That’s what makes them dangerous, even the marked ones. Death world: where even a pterasquirrel can make you hallucinate until you walk into a vine-pit [a stable mutation-form of tree where the roots actively ensnare prey to crush them for nutrients] and then scavenge your soft parts. Hopefully before a corinfghul [a blind, ape-like creature that devours eyes and can then temporarily produce a hypnotic version of its prey’s vocal range] eats your eyes and tries to lure your family into the forest with your voice. Mutations always occur in a population over time. We controlled them among our own through exposure and the errantry-apprentices [Calibanite youth can declare themselves errant in an attempt to leave their caste and join another; it very rarely works]. Fratix thought the rate was lower than it should be, but I don’t know how he established the baseline. Nothing to control it among the beasts [typically how Calibanites speaking in Gothic refer to forest creatures ranging from the size of an Astartes-pattern bike to the size of a Land Raider; capable of killing a man, though capable of being killed by a coordinated assault]. We found markers everywhere we looked. Sometimes it wasn’t what we thought. The hydrus: multiple heads, regeneration, those were on purpose from what I could read of the markers. The hollow bones and patagium on a glidebear? No markers. The lions? Yes, they were odd. Goren [a chemisage born to the sawyer-yeoman caste and known for actively exploring the forests] wrote he once observed a lion kill what he described as a mutated lion and then it chased off scavengers until final-rot set in. It’s one reason you can translate the Calibanite word as pure instead of lion, or kin-killer; I really hate Gothic. What’s so funny? We never worked on the great beasts [typically how Calibanites speaking in Gothic refer to forest creatures ranging from the size of a knight to, in legends, the size of a Reaver titan]. The Order, Dark Angels, had trophies, but they were all dead. Oh? No, just the great beasts. All the rest were pushed back, yes, and don’t come close to areas an off-worlder might go to. How do you think the Dark Angels test their aspirants? I heard your lot, on Macragge, just run up tall mountains and spar with each other. No wonder you’re not as good as our lads [it amused me greatly to act insulted by this]. I’ve seen the trophies and have some theories. They, they reminded me of the primarchs. Larger, more powerful versions of the beasts. Singular, yes, the age of Turrex’s bones would support that there was only ever one. Almost a shame El’Jonson killed it. Mutation, I’d stake my mastery on it. That large, alive that long, had to be mutation and not the original form. Again, ask a navigator, but in nature, mimicry doesn’t work like that and neither does parthenogenesis. A reptile eats other things before making a daughter of itself, its own tail doesn’t provide the material. Nor can it eat something and then regurgitate a perfect copy. Fire and acid of course, it regenerated just like its beast-kin. I heard they salted the ground and still keep a vigil over the wasted land, just in case. ++ Action: File Close ++ Purge File ++ Edited August 14, 2018 by jaxom Othniel's Blade, Sandlemad and Semper Fortis 3 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 It turns out forests are really boring to write about without really waxing poetic (and I have no desire for Caliban to read like a knock-off Mirkwood). I ended up writing the previous post instead. The bestiary excerpts are organized and just need to actually be written. Then comes part two of Datarch M.S.P.C.'s work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted August 26, 2018 Author Share Posted August 26, 2018 Exerted from the ‘Principia Etymologiae’ found in The Order’s Pantheologus and translated into Imperial Gothic . The asp is a clawless wyrm that enchants its prey with the sounds made from rubbing its shrivelled hind legs together. It does not hear it for it presses one side of its head to the ground and covers the other with its tail. Its brain matter can heat a furnace for a full season. The badger is a hound-sized rodent that will avoid the sound of the hunt and flee to its burrow. If there are pups, a mother will block the entrance by inflating herself and distending her skin. The boar is fierce and cruel; capable of digesting anything and can grow to the size a full-grown man at the shoulder. It has a life for each of its four tusks and cannot die until all are shattered. Its stomach acid is required for refining true metals for armors. The blackbird lives among the undergrowth and its song brings feeling of intense delight to the absence of all else. Useful for surgeries. The crow is always the first to flee right before a predator arrives and is always the first scavenge a corpse when the predator leaves. They are the perfect early warning system for those whose nerves will not be stressed to violence by their caws. The cuckoo is a shapeshifter and flesh-eater. You will know it by its revulsion of burning runelroot. The dragons are extinct, wiped out by Ascalon and the original knights of The Order. They originally had hunting grounds around human territories and kept the Great Beasts away. Supposedly unaging and sterile. Something changed and they began to attack human settlements. A young Ascalon led a crusade against them and none have been seen since. The duck is a reptilian creature capable of flight and a capable surface swimmer that feeds on poisons in water. Their flesh becomes extremely poisonous as they age. Elder corpses are required as forge fuel for the best swords. Foxes are six-legged mammalian creatures capable of short range ‘hops’ so it never appears to go in a straight line. Fox fur gloves are required to fight phantasms. Goats are a domestic animal capable of digesting anything; excreting liquid acids or alkalines and physical metals or plastics depending on diet, along with dietary proteins appropriate for humans. Chemisages are responsible for their well-being and filtering their excretion. Griffins are a rare species in competition with herons for resources. Other castes tell stories of Ascalon taming one as a mount, but that is a fiction for the unlearned. Gruffs resemble large goats, but they and their waste weakens and eventually kills anything near it unless buried deep or eaten by a phoenix. Our armor protects against this. Herons were a feathered, large, birdlike species capable of speech, and said to be able to answer any question yet incapable of true thought. Verus quested to find them and through them the weakness of the ichneumon. Nerus The Ever-Drought was seen heading towards their territory shortly after and of the heron no more is chronicled. The hydros is a larger, more voracious version of the hydrus. They are covered in insectile-like chitin plates and can project small balls of chemical fire from its mouths. The hydrus is a leech-like creature the size of a small child with three heads and capable of regeneration. Prefers to devour its prey from inside the lungs and leaves the stomach intact. The ichneumon is a legendary parasite which drives one mad. Often attributed to driving the dragons mad and still used to explain someone suddenly and drastically changing behavior. The tale of Verus indicates that the Choler Meditation was introduced to combat their influence. The lynx is a hunting felid of medium-size. It’s urine hardens into a stone that can be processed and used to alloy metals to increase their durability and toughness. The magpie is attracted to joyous thoughts which it then steals. The colloquial phrase, “A magpie has been through,” and variations describe a dour or unhappy location or group of people. A blackbird and a condemned man are the proper way to hunt magpies. Their bones are soft and of good nutrition. The mandrake is a plant whose roots reach cryogenic temperatures and shriek upon exposure to warmer air. Required for safe handling of fusion cells. The panther is a multicolored feline originally thought to be a foe of dragons, but actually is a predator of ichneumon. Common in settlements and considered good luck to have around. The parandus has the body of a bear, the head of a stag, cloven hoofs, is the size of an ox and it can change colors to blend into the environment. Kantan root extract applied to the eyes will reveal the parandus, but overuse open a knight to hauntings. The pard is the size of a large dog, has the forebody of a bird with no feathers, the rearbody and head of a rabbit; it is carnivorous and said to kill with a single leap. Has a spotted pelt excellent at retaining warmth during the winter season. The phoenix is a rare bird which glows an incandescent green. If its nest and eggs are in danger then the phoenix will grab the attacker and self-combust. Only eats the waste from a Gruff and nests near their herds. The raven is a prescient bird that uses its sight and endurance hunting patterns to harry and kill larger prey. Said to be able to track any creature over any distance. The spider is an aerial worm that extracts nourishment from the air and produces exotic-material filaments. Required for weaving cloth for a knight’s gambeson. The swan is a bird whose death excretion is a sweet tasting liquid that induces pleasant feelings. Not as effective for surgeries as a blackbird, but much safer to have in a keep. The torpedo is a fish whose slime numbs the nerves. Can be used as an analgesic or as a poison depending on dosage. The viper eats its way out of its mother, the skin is otherwise exceptionally resilient for a leather. Viper fangs can be used to make exceptional needles for sewing all manner of textiles and hides. The wether is a blind ram-like creature with worm-protrusions and feeder tentacles instead of a face. Alkaline salts can cause its feeder tentacles to wither and a nath-flower mist will blind its soul-sense. apologist, Sandlemad and Semper Fortis 3 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted February 8, 2019 Author Share Posted February 8, 2019 (edited) Suffice to say an event occurred which destroyed all my hobby motivation for the past 4-ish months. The overall community excitement over the upcoming release of Malevolence has given a bit of a jolt in the arm. I would like to finish my version of HH:Angelus Tenebrae. To ease back into it I've been reviewing the previous documents I wrote and thought I'd throw up my design idea document. It's a semi-rambling jot down of the concepts I could use and relationships that would help define who the Lion and the Dark Angels were. ___ “All that can be said for certain is that for a decade Jonson was forced to trust to his own wit and skill in order to survive.... Cut-off from human contact, he could not speak, only roar in anger, rage or frustration. He ran naked through the dark pine forests, hunting and being hunted in turn…. So it came to pass that one day this wild-thing, more lion than man, heard a strange new sound. It was a sound he had never heard before. The sound of human laughter.” The Life and Times of Lion El’Jonson (Codex Dark Angels. 3rd Ed. p. 6 & 9) The primarchs are narratively defined by their relationships with others and their personal foibles. For relationships, there are three types of note: other primarchs, their legion, and humans. The primarchs are most often compared to brothers; some get along better than others, some quarrel, etc. Similarities and contrasts help define the narrative space and how the primarch is perceived. Lion El’Jonson’s most basic background, which has remained constant since the second edition, is that he survived for ten years alone on one of the worst death worlds of the Imperium. This places him in a triangle with Leman Russ and Konrad Curze. The key difference between the Lion and his brothers is one of human contact. Most accounts of the Wolf King have the Russ finding him being raised by wolves as an infant; a brief window of time for the fast-growing primarchs and one which left him capable of enculturation. The Night Haunter raised himself, but most importantly, he did so in an environment constantly aware of humans and their actions. A human who misses enculturation has mind-boggling difficulties in language acquisition and socialization; to the point of it being crippling. If extrapolated to a primarch, what does this look like? We can use this as one grounding point for the Lion’s personality and decision making. The second grounding point is the ‘local’ effect. In short: how did the local culture impact the development of the primarch? For the most part there has been a clear line between one and the other. Subversion of expectations has been more effective so far in point of view characters where their difference from the primarch and legion provide a mechanism for exploring the nature of the two. Caliban was long defined as a world of knights fighting beasts in order to protect the small enclaves of humanity. The term “techno-barbarian” was oft used in descriptions. That opens a wide range for discussion; but the focus seemed more on technology than society. Rather, the society, in particular the Order, was described as knightly. Here is another point of comparison within the legions and primarchs. The Black Templars released in 3rd edition grabbed the knight theme and ran with it; the Dark Angels of the 41st millenium were relegated more towards warrior-monks. The irony of this being that the historical Templars were more of a religious order than feudal knights, except not really, because the Black Templars also - depending on how fine one looks at the spectrum - took that too by being based on the concept of a knightly crusading religious order. The historicity is not important so much as the theme is towards the chapter’s identity. This had the effect of doubling down on the importance of secrecy, hidden rites, and Fallen towards the identity of the Dark Angels to contrast them against the other. It is in this environment that Gav Thorpe introduces Angels of Darkness. For the purposes of the Horus Heresy, the book introduces an extremely important question (regardless of one’s opinion of the actual story and events): What does it mean to be a Dark Angel without being defined by the Fallen? This concept, one of an “innocent” legion, takes on mythic overtones similar to Adam in the Garden of Eden. Here we can connect back to the issue raised by the Black Templars. The First (perhaps even in contrast to the Dark Angels legion as at that point the snake was in the garden) could be considered the mythic Arthurian knights of Camelot - before the whole Mordred thing - to which the Dark Angels chapter can never live up. This is not really news to anyone; to quote Gav Thorpe, “So it is that the story for most of Azrael isn’t a sci-fi adventure, but more of an Arthurian quest fantasy. The character of Azrael and the nature of the Dark Angels has always drawn from that mythology, so I went full-on, charting his mythical as well as physical journey to become the leader of the Dark Angels.” [https://gavthorpe.co.uk/2016/12/11/azrael-authors-notes/] Arthurian knights give an excellent contrast to Templar knights; especially as the Imperial Fists of the Heresy-era ran with the “we guard places” aspect to differentiate them from the Black Templars that would come later. The Imperial Fists of the era are thus not very knightly which gives room to explore the Dark Angels and sets up the Dark Angels for a slow burn and contrast to what they would become. The other area of contrast to explore in this era is the idea that the Dark Angels of the 41st millenium were - as of 2nd and 3rd edition - the intractable, stubborn space marines. The increased focus on and expansion of background material on the Imperial Fists began to posit them as the intractable, stubborn space marines as a quality directly inherited from Rogal Dorn. If possible, it could be interesting to explore the roots of such stubborn behavior as part of the Dark Angels transition to a chapter after the destruction of Caliban. As a predator, would the Lion himself be so stubborn or more likely to use whatever works, including retreat? Edited March 12, 2019 by jaxom Allart01, Sandlemad, Petitioner's City and 1 other 4 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlo Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Nice summary and a good little read. One thing - the font colour is invisible on mobile, may want to just make it the default! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted March 9, 2019 Author Share Posted March 9, 2019 Son of the Forest While all of the primarchs were objects of awe within the nascent Imperium there were some that rose above their brethren inspiring the masses. Horus, the favored son. Sanguinius, the angel who raised his people out of barbarism. Roboute Guilliman and his 500 worlds. Then there was the Knight of Caliban: Lion El’Jonson, supreme grand master of a martial tradition dating back to the Age of Darkness. The changling legends of Caliban led its peoples to develop many traditions and rituals to guarantee that those who returned from the forests are the same that went into them or to ensure that no child was stolen and replaced. The first name given to a child, their true name, was a secret known only to family and only told by a person to their most trusted peers. The discovery of the young primarch was a more public event and so the name first given to him was no secret and was more a cognomen than a proper name: Lion, Son of the Forest. Unlike other primarchs who either adopted the Imperial Standard of their native name or continued to use it unaltered for Imperial documents, the First Legion primarch used a mixture of his native Calibanite and Imperial Standard. The contextual complexity of the Calibanite language makes translation difficult and so it is understandable that Lion is explicitly used, in comparison to other possible translations like pure and kin-killer. El’Jonson follows a more formal Calibanite structure for children of unknown parentage: being of a place rather than a caste and its cultural connotations difficult to translate in a straightforward manner. Confusion among other Imperial forces, used to cognomens like the Gorgon or the Warhawk, saw the primarch’s name used similarly and the Lion has become the most widespread form of address for him. The Power of Names Like many of his brothers, the Lion was found by and incorporated into the human society of the planet he foundered upon. Caliban, a death-world unlike, and more dangerous, than any other in the Imperium would at first seem idyllic. Primeval forests span the temperate belt of the planet, interrupted by great mountain peaks jutting up from the dark-green canopy. The shadowed undergrowth, however, is home to monsters. What makes the beasts of Caliban unique terrors is the abundance of natural psyker-ability. Even the lesser-beasts, those too small to individually physically hazard a man, could ensnare the senses or fade in and out of phase with reality. Such fell powers when present in a greater-beast, those the size of a warhound titan or larger, could bring destruction to entire fortresses. The Adeptus Astra Telepathica and earlier organizations of Imperial psykers and academics of warpcraft posited it was Caliban’s proximity to the Ocularis Terribus which was the cause and additionally the reason for a higher than average rate of mutation on the planet. It is this world that humanity strove to survive on during Old Night. Illuminated sociographic discourses argue over the weight of importance for various factors which enabled the techno-barbarians to resist the horrors of the forest. However, that these were important is undeniable: use of surviving standard template construct technologies, a rigid caste system, and near impregnable mountain steadfasts. “The lance is given to the knight to signify the truth, for the truth is straight and does not bend, and truth goes before falsehood. And the lance-head signifies the power that truth has before falsehood, and the pennant signifies that the truth reveals itself to all, and it does all it can against falsehood and deceit. And truth is the support of hope as it is of everything else that the knight’s lance signifies regarding the truth.” - Excerpt from the Ley of Knights, located in the Order’s PantheologusThe lance is listed before all other beast-hunting weapons because it is the first to be taught to initiates and first used to engage beasts. A Calibanite lance is a long, single-shot breech loaded bolt weapon. Knights and their squires would fire a salvo before the knights engaged a beast in melee while the squires would reload.“The mace is given to the knight to signify strength of courage, for just as the mace is of use against all armor and it strikes and inflicts wounds everywhere, so strength of courage protects the knight from every vice and fortifies the virtues and good habits with which he upholds the honor of the Order.” - Excerpt from the Ley of Knights, located in the Order’s PantheologusThe mace refers to what in Imperial Gothic is called the corvus hammer. As noted here, it was particularly prized in beast hunts because of its usefulness as a bludgeoning and piercing weapon. Weapons of the Hunt Lion El’Jonson was discovered by a hunting party of knights, the ruling caste of Caliban, and brought back to their fortress of Aldurukh after witnessing him kill a Calibanite lion with his bare hands. The leader of the party, Master Luther, took him to squire and educated him in the ways of the Order of Caliban. This meeting seems fated in retrospect as Luther was an ascendent influence within the Order and he brought the primarch into councils and halls of power beyond the experience of any neophyte. With the Lion at his side, Luther was able to overcome all obstacles to his greatest ambition: becoming Grand Master of Aldurukh. The Lion was at this point fully initiated into the Order and Luther’s first task for him as a knight was to re-establish the Order of the Raven’s Wing and connect the disparate fortresses of the Order of Caliban. The Calibanite language is, perhaps, the most perplexing of those adopted by a legion reunited with its primarch. Where the steppe language of Chogoris is syntactically estranged from standard Imperial, Calibanite is self-referencing, and reliant on a knowledge of millenia of allegory and legend. Meaning is spiralled around with tone, volume, and surrounding words impacting interpretation. The written language is equally complex and so much of the knowledge of the Order of Caliban resists proper translation. Early interactions between between the natives and explorator teams were rife with misunderstanding and conflict as they attempted to centralize information for the growing Imperium’s bureaucracy. Later Remembrancer interviews proved more successful, taking advantage of the strong cultural predilection for story-telling.The Order of Caliban is the the caste system of the Calibanite people that was established in the face of Old Night as, “contempt for justice had come into the world because of the diminution of charity, justice sought to recover its honor by means of fear.” The Order ensures the survival of mankind and at its head are the knights. The first knights were chosen because they were “more kind, wise, loyal, and strong, and with nobler courage, a better education and better manner than all the rest - was picked and chosen from every thousand.” Initially the knights were organized into fiefdoms around great mountain fortresses and each a separate order ruled by a Grand Master. However, after the War of Wolves, Ascalon - first Supreme Grand Master - unified them into one; the Order of Caliban, commonly referred to as the Order. The Order contained numerous smaller orders each specific tasks: the Order of the Raven’s Wing, the Order of Slayers, the Order of the Mountain, and others. These orders would jockey for influence, rising and falling within the Order, sometimes fading to complete obscurity and their task abandoned while new orders would be formed. The Order of Caliban The long millenia since the War of the Wolves saw the hard-won routes of trade and communication between fortresses lost to monsters and forest as internecine rivalries brought the order responsible for their upkeep - reliant on bonds of brotherhood between farflung peoples - low. The Lion’s task would have been impossible for any but a son of the Emperor. Alone, he blazed trails from one fortress to the next. The deeds of his passage are too numerous to list, but after 15 years, he returned to Aldurukh bearing a writ of mastery signed by no less than 200 Grand Masters from across the planet. Luther, presented with the document was quick to sign it as well and acknowledge the new Master of the Order of the Raven’s Wing. The Lion used his new station to call for a conclave the likes of which had not been seen since the time of Ascalon. Hundreds of masters and grandmasters accompanied by thousands of knights rode along the paths secured by the Lion and his knights to convene at the Marsheling Field of Aldurukh. The conclave was a turning point in the history of Caliban. The Lion laid out before all those gathered his plan to hunt the Great Beasts and destroy their threat to the people of Caliban for all time. Merely wounding and driving one off had made Ascalon a legend; the gathered knights were awestruck with his audacity and so began a debate which would rage for weeks. The Lion’s overt influence lessened as the arguments became less about the strategic aspects of the proposed campaign and more about drawing support from factions. Instead, he provided his oratorically gifted friend and mentor with information he had culled from the vast network of Raven’s Wing knights. Luther, armed with insight and secrets, swayed many to his side and secured the backing required for the campaign to move forward. What should have been the pinnacle of the Order’s history ended overshadowed by galactic concerns. The celebration of the death of the last Great Beast was in full progression when the Lion absented himself. Upon his return in the morning he ordered the Marshalling Field cleared as a second sun appeared in the sky. A beam of light descended from it. The Emperor had come to Caliban. rendingon1+, Sandlemad, DarKnight and 1 other 4 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted March 12, 2019 Author Share Posted March 12, 2019 I followed Charlo's recommendation and used the default so hopefully any device should not be a problem. If the portion on the Lion's life on Caliban seems vague that's on purpose. Some primarchs need more explicit details to bring them beyond their previous, staid reputations (like the Cobalt Accountant, I mean Accou-ahem, Avenging Son) to make them interesting (and seriously, hat off to Dan Abnett and and writing team for HH: Tempest on that achievement). The Knight is such a archetype that it needs little set up. Instead, I focused on planting seeds for further inspection and expansion - with the caveat that it's supposed to be written from a post-HH Imperial POV (anyone think I left something out that really should be included from that POV?) so certain details shouldn't be explicit no matter how much I'd like to include them just because I had already written a bunch on the Order as part of the HH: Angelus Tenebrae source bible. Like all writing, once it's in the reader's head it takes a life of its own and I'm curious what people got from it beyond what I put on purpose. Here's some with how I'd follow it up: How did Luther and his knights convince everyone to accept a random stranger? Superstitious trial by ordeal (easily passed by a primarch) with clear parallels to methods used by the 40k Inquisition; illustrating how concepts mocked by the Imperial Truth will eventually become Imperial canon. How many people outside of the Order knew that the Lion was found as a physiological adult? I think it'd be interesting if it were not widely known. What was Luther's relationship with the Lion like? I'd love to play around with the opening quotation from 'Savage Weapons,' does he see the Lion as a human or a beast to be used? How much of Luther's actions and behaviors are based in pride, him trying to downplay the Lion's contributions to his successes? How much of the Lion's actions and behaviors are mirrors of Luther's? There were also a few things I felt needed inclusion to set up exploring the nature of the soon to be Dark Angels. I like the idea that the Ravenwing started out as the Lion's personal order. I think it makes for a natural place to explore the gathering of secrets, the monitoring of others, while simultaneously being those who are the fast-response, rescuing those in need, sorts. They're not going to be the ones accompanying the Lion on the battlefield, but they're his and reflective of him in a way that we've really only seen in the 13th of the Space Wolves. What's next? The anticlimactic reunion of Emperor and Primarch. No, seriously, it's going to disappoint. Here's the short version: Emperor shows up and wows the locals, goes on a walk through the forest with his son to have a secret chat, no one knows what they talk about, they come out and the Lion is declared head of the First Legion. The Emperor leaves to go back to chilling with Horus. Will there be things I have in mind that may be unexpected after that? Maybe, maybe. The meat of it is going to be the Lion forging the Dark Angels from the Order and the First Legion. Overall, I plan on bringing the Dark Angels to the latter Crusade era, right after Ullanor, but not doing an Exemplary Battles portion. I've little interest at the moment to do the appropriate research to do strategic battle writing properly and this is for fun. What I would like to do once all the fiction is done is take a crack at some rules. I know that if there's one thing that gets less notice than fanfiction it's fan rules, but I feel like it would pair well with the "Unit and Formation Structure Within the Legion" section. Sandlemad, DarKnight, Saphrael and 2 others 5 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleanse And Purify Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Jaxom, this stuff is seriously amazing. Using Ramon Llul's work on chivalry was a masterstroke, the sort of thing that I wish the official authors would do. Have you thought of using other texts on knighthood to inform other aspects of the Legion's culture? The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, with its emphasis on the harrying and destruction of "heathens" (including the slaughter of civilians) as the pinnacle of knightliness, or Geoffrey de Charni's book of chivalry, which puts immense importance on martial prowess ("he who does more is more") as the marker of knightliness, and creates this picture of militant austerity as the image of knighthood? I ramble. Anyways, great stuff dude! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted March 28, 2019 Author Share Posted March 28, 2019 Thank you! I'm familiar with the latter, but not the former. One of the first things I wanted to or felt I had to deal with was the difference between Sigismund's Templars and the Dark Angels. I thought Llul's work provided a better context for the Order's knights as part of a larger feudal whole while not going hard on austerity. The Heresy Templars are clearly based on the temple-guardian role which I felt made them the ones to be austere. The points of similarity between the two texts do provide a nice platform for exploring the relationship between the two legions. I have thoughts that didn't make it into the source bible about the Lion's relationships with his brothers that haven't gotten attention in the past (like Dorn) that I didn't put because... and this leads into answering, "Have you thought of using other texts on knighthood to inform other aspects of the Legion's culture?" I originally envisioned that I would be sharing the equivalent of the fluff portions of a FW HH book. The legion background sections follow a certain flow and perspective which limits what I thought would be appropriate to include. Even with that limitation, the source bible ended up with more than what would make it in; mostly there as getting a broad overview of Caliban culture. It didn't take me long to start posting more than that; the interview and bestiary, for example, but even those stemmed out of material I had down as part of trying to achieve the original goal. There are areas of the Dark Angels and the Lion that would be best explored, in my opinion, through other narratives - just like how the Black Library books, at their best, complement and explore the psychologies and relationships hinted at in the HH fluff (or how the HH fluff gives a clear historian/outsider view of the explorations seen in pre-existing books). If I were to expand the source bible with the goal of it being used for further Black Library style writings then I would definitely include more sources. I think they'd be great resources for establishing differences between orders, looking for areas that might create tension, etc. Just from, "destruction of "heathens" (including the slaughter of civilians) as the pinnacle of knightliness" I'm thinking this sounds like an order that would smoothly integrate into Destroyer squads or the ones who would get into an argument with an Emperor's Children legionnaire that humanity is best defined by perfection of culture than by perfection of form. Does that mean there are some Dark Angels that are okay with mutants if they accept the Imperial Truth and their (absolute bottom-rung) place in it? Maybe, maybe not, but it would be interesting to see what someone could do with the basic set up. I've given up on the Black Library books being able to do anything at this point to turn around the trajectory the Dark Angels are on or the way their legion is presented. That's a whole other discussion, is subjective, others may be happy with it, and out of respect for that I didn't plan on putting up a sort of "this is why I don't like it" or counter-narrative which would follow the necessary beats while changing the details. DarKnight 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrvat Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 This was a really enjoyable read. It might not be a bad idea to incorporate the Feast of Malediction into your work. You can find info on it in the Rogue Trader original rulebook. It is the event during which Emperor founded the 1st Legion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted April 1, 2019 Author Share Posted April 1, 2019 The Feast of Malediction is a great example of the sort of thing I felt worked better outside the FW style portion. The FW portion establishes the Emperor came on the same day as the celebration meant to fete the Lion and Luther and their successful campaign. I think it would make an awesome short story to do the second Feast of Malediction with tension between those celebrating the defeat of the Great Beasts and those celebrating the coming of the Emperor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxom Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 I had an idea today regarding the Feast of Malediction that would work well as a red box. We know it will end up as the Feast of Malediction, but what if it was originally the Feast of Unity? The other interesting thing is that Malediction is a curse. I'm guessing it was chosen because it sounds metal, but for our purposes [i ask slyly] who would consider the coming of the Emperor a curse? Circles within circles as we tread the Spiral.... Hrvat 1 Back to top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrvat Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 I always understood the Malediction part as being a metaphor what the Dark Angels (and all other Astartes) are to the enemies of the Emperor. They are his curse upon all who would defy humanity's destiny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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