Sand Keepers

Sand Keepers
Battle Cry	None can escape their fate
Number	XVIII
Founding	First Founding
Successors of	N/A
Primarch	Darius Cyaxares
Homeworld	Kumul
Strength	115,000 at beginning of Heresy
Specialty	Bolter weapons
Allegiance	Imperium of Man
Colours	Burnished gold and Red

This article or section has been selected for Exterminatus by the Ordo Editant. The Emperor Corrects.

The Eighteenth Legion, known as the Sand Keepers, were one of the mighty Space Marine Legions of the Great Crusade. In the terrible civil war of the Hektor Heresy, they were one of the three Legions entrusted with the defence of Terra. Their sacrifice for the Emperor on humanity's homeworld helped to ensure the final pyrrhic victory over Chaos.

History

Beginnings: Crimson Hawks

The nascent Eighteenth Legion drew their manpower from the sons of the Emperor's defeated enemies on Terra. It is this that gave them their first moniker, The Janissaries, but they would become better-known as the Crimson Hawks after their distinctive emblem. Their best recruits were assembled into the XVIII Squad of the Sacred Band and followed Hektor Cincinnatus into the battles of the Unification Wars. Led by Sasian Terca, the Eighteenth acquitted themselves with honour in the blooding of the Merican Hives, though three of their number would be slain before the end of the campaign. Their names, Aciprus Molfia, Hiapro Doquius and Niopus Cus form the beginning of the Sand Keepers' long Remembrance of the Fallen.

The Emperor was pleased with the performance of the Nineteenth Squad and ordered that they be released from the Sacred Band to take command of their gene-brothers. If the Crimson Hawks did not spring from Terra as one of the first and most glorious of the Legions, they were not without their successes. As they struck out to bring new worlds into the embrace of the Emperor, the Nineteenth felt certain that their own Primarch would soon rejoin them. Yet brave Sasian Terca, Executor of the Primarch's Will in the absence of their lost gene-father, would die in battle in 820.M30, just two years before Darius Cyaxares was discovered on Simurgh.

The Sand Keepers: None can escape their fate!

Darius Cyaxares, Primarch of the Sand Keepers

The brothers Moelia, Aurus and Diatus, succeeded as Executors and were honoured to hand over command of the Crimson Hawks to their genefather in 823.M30. Darius Cyaxares renamed the Legion the Sand Keepers for his own inscrutable reasons, but he retained the twins as his seconds. Ill-fated Diatus Moelia died in a tragic accident the next year, but his last words would be immortalised as the battlecry of the Legion. Aurus Moelia, saddened but resolute, remained as the sole Executor and second-in-command to the Primarch.

During the first years of Darius' leadership, the Eighteenth were relocated to the Death World Kumul, where their Neophytes could be tested against the ferocious native predators. The Primarch also instituted reforms of the Legion's military organisation. Darius carefully selected new recruiting worlds to supplement the warriors drawn from Simurgh, often leading expeditions of conquest specifically for this purpose. Under Darius' regime, each of the Legion's Chapters would specialise in a particular form of warfare and would recruit from a people whose traditions matched their own. He also set the bolter above the other arms of the Legion, setting his Techmarines the task of developing new specialist munitions and simplifying their production.

Throughout the Great Crusade the Sand Keepers acquitted themselves with honour, winning many notable victories, but they were never among the great conquerors of the Legiones Astartes. Darius Cyaxares taught his sons that the wars of the Great Crusade were important, but that their true trial was still to come. For a long time, this prophecy had a far-off air to it, but as the 31st Millenium began the Primarch announced that he sensed darkness swiftly approaching. Attempting to head off the crisis, the Sand Keepers brought evidence of sorcerous acts among the Black Augurs to the Emperor, triggering the Council of Nikaea. They also argued hard against the banishment of Winged Victory, but to no avail.

Dodu rises over Malluma

In their histories, the Sand Keepers and their Successor Chapters hold that disaster of the Hektor Heresy began with the exile of Winged Victory. Shortly thereafter the main strength of the Legion arrived on the moon Malluma, where they had been dispatched at the orders of the Warmaster Hektor Cincinnatus. Contrary to the intelligence provided to them, the Sand Keepers encountered no Orks on Malluma. They faced a far more dangerous foe, as the treacherous Warmaster had sent them into a deadly trap - a daemon world, ruled by the Shadow in Time, a powerful child of Tzeentch. The daemon separated Darius from his bodyguard and attempted to win him as the chosen of the Changer of Ways, but the Primarch remained true to the Emperor. In the fight that ensued, the sacrifice of many Immortals banished the Shadow in Time. Although the Sand Keepers and their Primarch suffered greatly on Malluma, they emerged resolute and certain that their hour had arrived. The Legion regrouped and made haste towards the Solar System.

In the fateful Siege of Terra, the Sand Keepers acquitted themselves with utmost honour. Between the mobile Crusaders and the stoic Scions of Europa, the sons of Darius took the middle group, able to adapt and complement their battle brothers. The Sand Keepers disciplined and powerful Librarians played the pivotal role in keeping the valiant, but psychically-inactive, Scions from being overrun by daemons.

Notable Campaigns

• 998.M30: Core Worlds Campaign. Although the Fifth Legion would be more famously associated with the sudden violence of the war against the Core Worlds, Darius Cyaxares' men played an important role. The Primarch himself was entrusted with the main responsibility in negotiations, but there was never any conception that he would be a bystander should the talks fail. Indeed, Gaspard Lumey's dispatches indicate that the decision for the ruthless blow against Karazak was based on Darius' intuition. The Sand Keeper's military contributions at Valaya Station were no less important, breaking open the gate to the innermost Core Worlds and compelling the final surrender of these rich planets.

Culture

They are fierce, and zealous, undying followers of the Emperor and His Will. This is due to their Primarch's close ties to prophecy and divination. The legion as a whole believes heavily in fate and destiny. To them the emperor is the shepherd that will guide humanity to its ultimate destiny. In their minds only the Emperor in all his glory and the ideals he represents are truly immortal, and that it is the ultimate fate of all else to eventually perish.

Notable Domains

Sarianidi

This Feral World was pacified in 826.M30 by an expedition led by Darius Cyaxares himself. The fierce and warlike horsemen of Sarianidi succumbed without a fight, seeing the Sand Keepers as superior beings come to uplift them to the heavens. When the Astartes announced their intention to only take a small tithe of Sarianidi's youth each year, there was little objection. These recruits, gathered into the 8th Chapter, take naturally to hit-and-run tactics.

Simurgh

Graced by Darius Cyaxares during his youth and reformed under the enlightened rule of the Primarch's disciple, Ashpenaz the Golden, the Hive World Simurgh is the most important of the Sand Keepers' recruiting worlds. Three of the Sand Keepers' Chapters would draw their strength from the multitudes of Simurgh.

The world is ruled by descendants of Darius Cyaxares' adoptive mother, Bithia. For centuries, this line has invested the rule of Simurgh in their daughters, naming a "Successor" or Califa from among the girls of Bithia's blood.

The Death World Kumul

Kumul
Segmentum	Ultima Segmentum
System	Kumul System
Population	no civilian population
Class	Death World/Space Marine Chapter Homeworld
Orbital radius	0.94AU ± 0.13AU
Gravity	1.03G
Temperature	Warm and arid

Although they drew their manpower from a wide range of worlds, the Sand Keepers trained all of their neophytes on the Death World Kumul. If this inhospitable planet was barren of life, its arid heat would still make human life difficult. But it is plagued by horrific predators, including the feared olgoi-khorkhoi, a gigantic acid-spewing worm-like creature.

The world was the last that Darius Cyaxares visited before he took command of the Legion. Few were privy to what had drawn the Primarch to this desolate place, but his actions were above question. For a whole season, Darius lived in the wastes of Kumul, purifying his spirit before undertaking his Father's sacred charge. This period of solitude and deprivation is echoed in the training of the Neophytes of the Legion. After passing the Aspirant Trial, every Neophyte is brought to Kumul to be implanted with the gene-seed and trained according to the standards of the Sand Keepers. Thus, this terrible world is the answer to one of the great riddles of the sons of Darius. Although they draw men from a wide variety of worlds and allow these warriors to retain something of their homelands' identities, all go through training together on Kumul and must learn to co-operate with their battle brothers, regardless of origin. Neophytes make this lesson a part of them or perish.

Notable places

The only man-made sights on Kumul are the works of the Sand Keepers. Successful aspirants first meet the elegant lines of the Khiruhton spaceport, which perfectly marries a symbolic gateway form with its function as a landing pad. Those who survive the march to the squat fortress, Inshushinak are sometimes awed by the scale of the building, but rarely marvel at its external appearance. However, the interior is a masterpiece of architecture. Great halls, carved from the living rock, are carefully lit to produce a daunting atmosphere. This hallowed place is the heart of the Legion, housing the genetic repositories that ensure the Sand Keepers' survival. Neophytes struck down with The Mark of Darius are escorted to the bowels of Inshushinak, never to emerge.

Farming on Kumul is extraordinarily difficult, but the Sand Keepers impose this onerous task on their recruits in the belief that a dose of humble work gives a finer temper to a warrior's spirit than a purely martial education. Neophyte companies are seasoned in fortified farming communities on the flanks of the Anshan range. Each commune is presided over by a Recruit Captain, usually a veteran of the Sand Keepers' wars, with senior Neophytes appointed Recruit Sergeants and tasked with supervising their juniors. For all the efforts of these youths, their survival is only possible thanks to the Springs of Darius, Kumul's sole source of freshwater. It is a matter of some contention whether the Primarch created or merely discovered the springs.

One of the last tasks of the successful neophyte on Kumul is to dig himself a Karaan (rock dwelling) in the volcanic rock of Mount Zohhāk. Here he must endure the passing of a full season, nourishing himself by hunting the great predators of the Death World and learning discipline in solitude. After the disappearance of Darius Cyaxares, an occasional recruit would report that they had been saved by the intervention of the Old Man of the Desert, but none have verified these tales. Whether the Neophyte dies or survives to join the Legion, his Karaan is destined to be his memorial. The Sand Keepers go to great pains to inter their fallen in the graves they have wrought with their own hands. Ashtur, the empty Karaan of Darius Cyaxares, is a centre of veneration.

Notable Members

Sasian Terca

Leader of the Eighteenth Squad of the Sacred Band, First Executor of the Primarch's Will

Born on Terra at roughly the time the Emperor began his conquest. Sasian Terca was the son of Obaius the Savage, a sadistic warlord who reigned over Sud'Nuk Hive. When the Emperor demanded Obaius' submission, the tyrant proposed talks and a banquet. In a monstrous ploy to shame the lord of mankind, Sasian's elder brother was slain, his flesh cooked and served before the Emperor. Obaius' cruel game was immediately seen through and repaid with swift and deadly justice. Barely knowing and never mourning his vile sire, Sasian grew up as a ward of the Emperor and was brought up alongside the orphaned children of the Emperor's fallen bodyguards. Excelling under the fine tuition afforded him in the Imperial Palace, Sasian Terca was an obvious choice for the Adeptus Astartes.

As a youth he was inducted into the Sacred Band of Hektor Cincinnatus and came to know and love the First of the Primarchs. During the fierce campaigns of the Pacification of the Merican Hives, Sasian led the Eighteenth Squad, showing a calm resolve in the face of the death. He had drilled his men extensively in the use of the crude firearms of the period and only the marksmen of the Nineteenth Squad were more accurate. The success of Sasian Terca's men proved that the Nineteenth Squad's genetics were not merely theoretically valid, but battleworthy. Sasian and his fellows took command of the new cohorts of the Eighteenth Legion.

Unlike the other men who led in trust for a lost Primarch, Sasian Terca refused to be acknowledged as lord of the Legion, instead styling himself as Executor of the Primarch's Will. The unshakeable belief that their genefather was out among the stars was widely held among the Nineteenth. Sasian's bravery and skill at arms would be demonstrated by victories in the Acrypso Compliance, the Pacification of Oltroth Beta and in many lesser battles. Yet his fate was to die in 820.M30, struck down by the Sorceress Queen of Hezuno. Sasian Terca's last words reported words were, "Our father awaits."

Aurus and Diatus Moelia

The Twins, Executors of the Primarch's Will

It is unusual to see birth brothers among the Adeptus Astartes, even more so for twins to be inducted. Yet Aurus and Diatus Moelia were far from ordinary. Like all of the Terran-born recruits to the Eighteenth Legion, the Moelia brothers had begun their lives as part of a tyrant's household. Their maternal uncle, Koac Moelia, was the chief bodyguard to the Lord Minister of Maniketra Hive. Koac was cruel and controlling of his family, keeping the boys' mother as his maidservant and forbidding her contact with the outside world. Their father remains unknown, for the twins were only a few weeks old when the Thunder Warriors overran Maniketra. Though their mother disappeared in the chaos of the conquest. Aurus and Diatus would be adopted as wards of the Emperor as a sign of his redeeming mercy. Their strength and intelligence, even at a young age, saw them recruited into the Space Marine programme and won them places in the Sacred Band as members of Sasian Terca's Squad XVIII.

Blooded in the Unification Wars, the Twins assumed command of new cohorts of the Eighteenth Legion, and would jointly succeed Sasian Terca when he fell in battle at Hezuno. Their leadership of the Crimson Hawks would last for just three years, but the long hoped for rediscovery of Darius Cyaxares took place in that blessed time. The brothers Moelia first met their genefather in 853.M30 on the occasion of transferring command of the Legion to him. Darius took them aside after the formalities to assure the Twins that they would continue to exercise operational commands and that he hoped to rely on them to carry the newly-dubbed Sand Keepers forward through the Great Crusade. He added, more solemnly, that he had foreseen that only one of the twins would live for much longer. The Primarch advised Aurus and Diatus not to struggle against fate but instead to cherish the time they had left together.

Duty would restrict the Twins' ability to follow Darius Cyaxares' advice, but they were glad to reunited in 854.M30, when Diatus Moelia visited the Legion's new base on Kumul. Here, his brother Aurus was supervising the construction of the Sand Keepers' facilities for training new recruits from Simurgh and the Legion's other tributary fiefs. Tragedy struck when Diatus mockingly jumped the perimeter wall and was fatally wounded by a defence turret. As he lay dying in his shocked brother's arms, Diatus whispered, "None can escape their fate!" - words that would go on to become the battlecry of the Sand Keepers.

Organisation

Under Darius, the Sand Keepers became known for their careful use of specialist arms. Each Chapter of the Legion was recruited from a particular world or region, and focused on the traditional methods of war practised by their homeland. While in another Legion this might have resulted in imbalance, Darius's commanders assembled their Expeditionary Fleets by drawing on a combination of warriors from among the different Chapters, recombining their strengths into an original sum, more than its independent parts.

Tactics

Due to the diversity of their Chapters, the Sand Keepers were not associated with a particular approach to warfare. Their various Expeditionary Fleets almost seemed to be experimental formations, testing out different approaches on the battlefields of the Great Crusade. The only constant was the Legion's legendary even temper. Although their commanders occasionally made errors, they never did so out of passion.

During the Siege of Terra, the Sand Keepers' strength against the Traitor Legions and especially their daemonic allies was particularly noted. Once the Scouring began, Darius' battered Legion was often called on to provide advisors to the avenging Loyalist fleets.

Equipment

Although their justifications varied from claims about the efficiency of standardised training and logistics to fervent statements of the weapon's status as a perfected instrument of mankind's destiny, the Sand Keepers made heavier use of bolter weapons than any other Legion. Rather than resort to different arms for different tactical situations, the Legion tended to deploy specialist munitions, such as the Kraken, Scorpion, and Tempest bolt shells. Their love affair with bolter weapons went all the way to fielding an unusually high number of Fire Raptor Gunships and pioneering the use of the Stormlord super-heavy tank.

Due to the early discovery of their Primarch, the Sand Keepers made pacts with some of the most ancient and powerful Forge Worlds. These alliances ensured that their Immortals were equipped with the powerful Terminator armour and that the Legion's arsenal included sophisticated jetbikes and Contemptor-Pattern Dreadnoughts.

Specialist Ranks

The Sand Keepers' librarium was noted for its skill and discipline. Although they obeyed the edicts issued at the Council of Nikaea, the Legion's Librarians were among the best-prepared of the Loyalists to face the horrors of the Warp, especially after their blooding at Malluma.

Notable Chapters

The Immortals

The prestigious 1st Chapter of the Sand Keepers. Alone among the Chapters of the Sand Keepers, the Immortals did not draw their recruits from a particular region. Instead, entry into their ranks was reserved for veteran warriors from the other Chapters. As the cream of the Legion, every member is equipped with terminator armour. Most fielded a power weapon and a combi-bolter. The Chapter's nickname refers to the Sand Keepers' determination to keep the formation at full strength, immediately drawing a suitable replacement for each of the fallen. The blending of the Legion's best warriors among the Immortals, and the aspiration of their battle brothers to join that elite fraternity, helped to maintain the unity of the sometimes disparate Sand Keepers.

More so than the other Chapters, the Immortals were typically scattered among different expeditions and battle groups. In many cases, only a squad of Immortals would be present on a battlefield, but every Sand Keeper officer highly valued them for their prowess and their wisdom.

Hounds of Darius

The 2nd recruited from among the crafty Rosheni people who raised Darius in the underhives of Simurgh. Although they did not have the prestige and distinction that followed the Immortals, the Hounds were the largest and archetypal Sand Keeper Chapter, training a solid core of Tactical marines adept with the Bolter and able to handle any situation.

The Scorpions

The 3rd were one of three Chapters that drew their recruits from Darius' homeworld, Simurgh. Unusually, their recruits came from a people not famed for war but for technical expertise: the factory workers of Simurgh's great hives. If Darius' decision to draw his warriors from this layer of society was surprising, the result was more so. The Scorpions' heavy support squads are among the most feared in the Imperium, sending before them a hail of heavy bolter shells.

The Sphinxes

Their aspirants were the sons of the old nobility and warrior caste of Simurgh. The Sand Keepers honoured their warrior tradition by training their 6th Chapter as assault marines, skilled with the chainsword and jumppack.

The Shirdal

Recruited exclusively from the Feudal World Sarianidi, the 8th Chapter were the most skilled of the Sand Keepers' outriders. Every warrior in the Chapter had the use of a Space Marine Bike, with the 1st Company mounted on Jetbikes. Outside of the Sand Keepers, they were sometimes recognised as the "Griffin Chapter" due to the Low Gothic name for their emblem.

Fleet

The Sand Keepers warships made heavy use of the Vulcan Mega Bolter as a point defence weapon, typically carrying a more substantial anti-fighter armament than other vessels of their size.

Notable Warships

Their flagship was a "Gloriana"-class Battleship known as the Argent Sphinx.

Gene-seed and Successors

The Occulobe of the Sand Keepers is fully functional, but it has a high risk of rejection. More of their Neophytes suffer from a problem with this organ's implantation than any other. These unfortunates suffer from "The Mark of Darius" - permanent blindness and strange hallucinations which render them unfit even for use as Serfs. It is a closely-kept secret among the Apothecaries of the Legion that Neophytes struck down with the Mark are used for cultivating gene-seed before being euthanised.

Brazen Wings

Second Founding Sand Keepers successors, with only an average amount of psykers.

Chapter History

When the Sand Keepers legion was first beginning to split up into chapters, their command wanted to make sure that each successor had a powerful Librarius with which to face the horrors of the galaxy. However, not even the legion of seers had enough psychic brothers to achieve such a feat. Instead of compromising, however, they determined that one of the chapters would simply have to go without psykers entirely. It was Hadil Nictore who volunteered to lead this new force. When given the duty of naming it, he chose the Brazen Wings to represent ascendency over both their enemies and their “handicap.” The Wings eventually established themselves on the tech-barbarian world of Iscander. Despite being both well-organized and well-fortified, the various potentates of that planet were swept away one by one at the hand of Nictore, who over time became a revered figure in Iscandrine culture as well as the chapter at large. The last 10 millennia have seen the chapter slowly build its Librarius up to something approaching normal size, although it still cannot compare to those of the Sand Keepers’ successors. Currently, the chapter master, along with the 1st, 3rd, and 4th companies are engaged in a much larger campaign against the Eldar of Saim-Hann and Biel Tan.

Notable Members Hadil Nictore- First chapter master and creator of the Victor’s Mask. Born on Terra and became a Lord Commander in the XVIII legion (then known as the Crimson Hawks). When the legion was eventually reunited with its primarch, many of the Terran marines were skeptical; Darius resembled a priest or a prophet just as much as he did a warrior, and his preponderance towards psykers set many on edge. Hadil was probably the most outspoken of these detractors– It is even said that he actively tried to prevent his chapter’s troops from joining the Immortals.

Cyaxares responded, as was his way, with a cryptic proverb before sending the chapter off to take yet another system. Only after many years and many conquests did Hadil begin to understand the mind of his primarch; Darius did not trust or favor him any less because of his “normality,” for his strength came from loyalty, honor, and a clear head. In time, the two began to trust each other deeply, and Nictore became something of a rising star within the legion.

Andayyuna- Current chapter master and holder of the Victor’s Mask. Hides a manipulative streak behind a more enthusiastic, straightforward demeanor.

Mirroes Ellention- Chaplain seconded to the Deathwatch. If you were to write a BL novel on any of the 40k Brazen Wings, it would be this guy. Has a habit of walking away unharmed from missions that he shouldn’t.

Chapter Combat Doctrine

“If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperilled in a hundred battles” -Ancient Terran war axiom

The Brazen Wings are known amongst Imperial elements for suddenly arriving to battle deployed in bold lines and arrayed in great finery. But most fail to acknowledge the amounts of study and planning which go into every fight. This attitude comes from the fact that the very first Brazen Wings lacked much of the psychic foresight granted to the Sand Keepers and their other successors, but still had no wish to be caught flat-footed. As such, the Wings place considerable emphasis on both quick response units, who help set up the plan, and the main battle forces who carry it out. There aren’t many other Astartes chapters who can claim to favor both the drop pod and the Thunderfire cannon in battle.

Chapter Homeworld

Iscander (pronounced “Eye-sander”), located near the western edge of the Segmentum Tempestus

Chapter Appearance

Iscanderines are typically green-eyed and blond, auburn, or dark-haired, with a medium-dark skin tone. The marines’ armor is a fierce brass color, except for the face mask, aquila, pauldron insets, and left kneepad, which are all dark grey. The chapter icon is a yellow pegasus segreant on a field of grey.