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===Auxiliae=== ====Legion Auxilia Section 8==== Section 8 is a the elite of Sky Serpents Auxiliae. They are specially trained for observation and disruption work. They prepare the ground for a Sky Serpents invasion, and, following the Heresy, have been used as a stay-behind force on more than one occasion. Section 8 squads are infiltrated onto enemy worlds by a number of means, ranging from covert drops to the more common, if less dramatic, falsified documents. Once on the world, members of Section 8 prepare the ground for what is to come. Depending on their assessment of vulnerabilities and the projections of the Legion Command, Section 8 may be variously tasked with operations such as sabotaging infrastructure, generating social unrest, hiding supplies for legion operations, preparing ambushes, setting up locii for teleportatiin strikes, and general recon. Once an attack is launched, Section 8 is often employed to spread confusion, be it through false reports, spreading rumors and panicking populations, or unleashing fire from previously hidden positions to support the landing. It is said that Section 8 was introduced to the legion after Xun campaigned alongside [Redacted], though if this is so, then all records of it have been erased. ====Thule Rime-Guard==== Thule IVc 'Nanuk' is a cold world of frost-rimed stone beaches and snow covered pine forests in orbit of a blue-tinged ammonia gas giant, Thule IV. Nanuk is primarily involved in the production of krill and support for the refinery operations on Thule, as well as providing the core and training for the Rime Guard regiments. These form the core of the Sky Serpents Auxiliae Air Cavalry. The pilots are recruited from the transport pilots of Thule Station, while the jump troops themselves are drawn from rig workers and the ice raiders. When the Rime Guard deploy in support of the legion, pilots trained to fly in the storm winds and ring systems of a gas giant launch en masse to screen legion operations. Since the unaugmented human pilots cannot hope to match, or even survive, the maneuvers of the Astartes, they are equipped with slower craft which emphasize durability over speed, with craft such as Thunderbolts, Valkyries/Vendettas, and the Marauder class bombers. Through numbers and durability, they are able to make up for their lack of speed. During landings, these air support squadrons can be called upon to provide additional firepower, strike targets, diversionary or outside of the legion advance. In addition, infantry squads can be deployed to fortify landing zones and support legion advance. These squads are traditionally equipped like Solar Auxilia regiments, but with additional provisions for air-dropped heavy weapons and lighter armor variants for drop troops. ====Sobek Fusilliers==== The Sky Serpents have never been much for static engagements. This task they delegate customarily to their human Auxiliae. As a result of this practice, there are numerous mortal regiments geared for garrison duty and long, grinding sieges. Among the most famous are the Sobek Fusilliers. The Sobek Fusilliers are organized into paired companies, infantry companies and artillery companies. The infantry companies are universally equipped with lasrifles and flamers, but their most potent tool is their entrenching shovel. They make planetfall with prefab defense lines, but once these are set up, the Infantry get to work digging and constructing a system of trenches which will serve as the basis for more complex defense works. The artillery companies, meanwhile provide cover with relentless bombardment even as their guns are set in protected emplacements. The guns themselves run from rapier mounted field guns, to heavier mortars, up to weapons such as the basilisk and Medusa seige guns and beyond. The Sobek Fusilliers have a sizable Mechanicum contingent, extending beyond the usual enginseers. Instead, techpriests of Orders Macrotek and Reductor are placed throughout the forces. Typically, one of the two consuls is a Magus. This is to ensure that the fortifications constructed are up to mechanicum standard and that the enemy position is levelled with optimal efficiency. At times, this mechanicum oversight can also mean that heavier and more arcane weapons are brought to bear, including the holy Ordinatus Engines. Under most circumstances, the Sobek Fusillier Infantry companies adopt a defensive posture. Not for them are the human wave assaults of some similar forces. Instead, they try to get the enemy to come to them, luring them into an assault with false weaknesses and crushing them. Not for nothing is their sigil that of a crocodile. This said, the Infantry is perfectly capable of assaults, though the bloody task of mass assaults is usually left for forces such as the Argon Apemen penal legions. Another common practice is to use the Sobek Fusilliers to draw out or focus an enemy assault, allowing forces of the Sky Serpents to strike elsewhere. Oddly enough, but perhaps characteristic of the impact of Jade Empire propaganda, this sort of mission is seen as among the most honorable. Because of the nature of such things, the Sobek Fusilliers seldom are told before hand that they are to be a distraction force, so naturally, they assume that honor is theirs. To the soldiers of the Fusilliers, they are partaking in an age old rite of the mortal warriors, serving the Empire and legion with their steadfast defense just as the human troops called up by Songkulkan during the People's War allowed Xun and the Legion the time they needed to honor the Emperor and thrice-Sainted Faustus by rescuing Malcador and the other legions and buying time for Xun to return and slay the foe, as the legion always will. Thus the glory of the people and the proletariat is to serve where needed and to stand fast. They're sort of the logical extreme of the Jade Empire propaganda 'proletariat shield' idea. They have conviction that their sacrifice allows the semi-divine Legion, potentially acting through human regiments like the Thule Rimeguard, to do what it needs to do and through their steadfastness, they reenact the holy actions of the virtuous proletariat of Songkulkan's day. It lets them emulate Faustus, who stood fast on Luna. Just as Faustus told Xun to return to his people and that he would martyr himself to ensure the Emperor's ascension, it is their duty and right to be martyrs to let the legion serve the Empire. (Faustus said no such thing and Xun doesn't say he did. Nor do the scholar-bureaucrats and Legion believe any such thing. But you try telling that to a prole.) Of course, having walls to hide behind and big guns does nothing to harm morale.
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