Editing Sky Serpents (section)

==Homeworld==
When Xun Tohilcoatl landed on Tepectitlan, it was inhabited by roving bands of hunter-gatherers and a few settled Bronze Age societies struggling through an ice age.  Had Xun landed with the hunter-gatherers, history might have gone quite differently, but he was brought to the court of Xia Huangdi, lord of the perhaps poorly named Tianxia Empire.  There he was tutored in the arts of the ruler.  He became fascinated by the calendrical system and its relationship to the agricultural cycle.  His investigations led him to develop a theory of momentum, and through subsequent refinements, of gravitation.  This realization that as above, so below, led to the construction of ever more impressive infrastructure projects.
When Xia Huangdi died, Xun was designated his successor.  However, not all of the Imperial Clan supported this and rebelled against him.  In the subsequent civil war, Xun annexed several nearby states that had supported rival claimants and integrated them into his own growing empire.
Following the rebellion, Xun dismantled the old Clan system and instituted a Civil Service exam, to choose administrators based on merit.

===Xun Tohilcoatl=== 
[[File:Xun Tohilcoatl.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Xun Tohilcoatl]]
If you wanted to sum up Xun in a word, it would be energy. He's very much got the Quetzalcoatl creation and destruction thing. He feels like an old storm God dredged up from forgotten myths.
In terms of useful description, he looks pretty East Asian, eyes dark or possibly like little windows to a warp storm.
He keeps his hair long and tied up, Han dynasty style. Usually he has his face painted in stylized Tepectitlan storm and Serpent motifs-- think Mesoamerican geometric motifs. I'm thinking he's got a Mesoamerican style nose ring depicting the ritual calendar of Tepectitlan.
He tends to wear elaborate headresses bedecked in quetzal feathers and jade and metal segments carved in Taotie patterns.

He's got fangs. Think Shang Dynasty/Aztec Sanguinius on a scary day. Less noble, more I'm a motherfucking dragon in human form.

===Unification===
When the Imperium found him, early in the crusade's 8th decade, they found Xun presiding over an orderly and more or less unified world, now advanced to an early pre-industrial stage.
Following integration into the Imperium, Tepectitlan was brought into the Imperial administratum.  For the comfort of his people, Xun requested that the changes were introduced gradually, and while the city of Tianxia was prepared as a legion command center, legion command and control operations were distributed across the nearby stars, with the Legion negotiating with Tindalos for their forge capabilities for supply.
This meant that the legion supply chain was distributed and much of it carried with the fleet, supplied as they were by several Tindalan Forge Ships, which proved fortuitous during the Heresy.

===Symbols===
The Legion borrows from the culture of Tepectitlan, including the esoteric traditions of its inhabitants. Poetry and calligraphy are regarded as fine arts and the legionaries are encouraged to partake. Jade is highly valued and often worked into decorations on armor or luck-items. The warp is conceptualized as storm wind-- dangerous, but potentially useful. Self control and moderation are virtues, as is the idea of the individual's duty to their oaths. In native myth, the Storm Serpent is a great, feathered snake, akin to a dragon, that brings the rain. It has a dual nature, a destructive and ferocious side, that tears down the old, and a creative, protective side that makes the crops grow. Each Storm Serpent tries to temper their native aggression with intellect, not so much to suppress their natural inclinations, but to work with them. Destruction is recognized as a requirement for growth, the old status quo must be transcended. Creation and destruction, thesis and antithesis, each blends into the other and the warrior must be able to live with both. The non-negotiable, instilled by Xun Tohilcoatl, is progress. Without discipline and without order, society crumbles. Without wisdom, the infrastructure is lost and the city dies. With careful steps, bronze age farmers can learn to forge steel. They can learn to make medicine and live longer, happier lives. They can learn virtue.