Heralds of Hektor

Heralds of Hektor
Battle Cry	"We bring the dawn!"
Number	I
Founding	First Founding
Successors of	N/A
Primarch	Hektor Cincinnatus
Homeworld	Luna
Strength	Peaked at 250,000 before the Heresy
Specialty	Combined arms and multi-spectra warfare, Archeotech, Elite formations
Allegiance	Chaos Undivided

This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. See the /tg/ Heresy Timeline and Galaxy pages for more information on the Alternate Universe.

The Heralds of Hektor, formerly the Wolves of Dawn, were a Traitor Space Marine Legion. Their Primarch was Hektor Cincinnatus, once revered as the finest creation and best-loved son of the Emperor. Honour and glory were theirs for decades, and success made them unquestionably loyal to Hektor. They followed him into betrayal, but as the Hektor Heresy turned into disaster the Legion fragmented into the warbands of the Successors.

History of the First Legion

The fall of the Heralds of Hektor began with a tale of salvation. For a time, they seemed beloved by fate, ever-blessed by good fortune. But in the end, their luck ran out and their death scream would crack the foundation of the Imperium.

The Primarch Project

The Emperor of Mankind's plan to unify humanity and set it above all other races in the Galaxy relied on the creation of superhuman soldiers. The first unleashed were the doomed Thunder Warriors, who lived and died so that Terra would be one. But they were only a crude instrument to be used up while their successors gestated. Deep beneath the Himalayzian Mountains, the Primarchs were created. Each of these beings was destined to be a superlative soldier, general, and statesman - the spearheads of humanity's crusade. Foreseeing the threat, the Ruinous Powers conjured up a localised warp rift to steal the Primarchs away from the Emperor and scatter them across the broad Galaxy. They were almost entirely successful, but the Emperor's loyal vassal Malcador the Sigilite caught hold of one Primarch's gestation pod and held it fast until his master could seal the breach in reality.

Within that chamber was Hektor Cincinnatus, the last of the Primarchs.

Rather than create new Primarchs to replace those who had been lost, the Emperor adapted his plans. He still had at his hands the genetic material of the Primarch project and one of his god-like creations. Using the former, the Emperor painstakingly designed a series of artificial organs that could be implanted into young recruits, transforming them into supersoldiers more reliable than the wild Thunder Warriors. The last of the Primarchs was entrusted to the care of Malcador the Sigilite, and raised to be the general of the new Space Marine Legions. Busy and believing that his ward would be best-raised by committee, Malcador delegated the upbringing of Hektor Cincinnatus to a brigade of tutors, nannies, and instructors. Some lasted only a few weeks before being deemed inadequate to the task. Epemitreus the Sage, Archeosavant of the Tarantia Hive-Spires, was perhaps the young Primarch's most enduring influence. For ten months - not long in the span of a mortal life, but fully one-third of what passed for the Primarch's childhood - the lessons that the sage had carefully pieced together from Terran history were passed on to Hektor. The youth listened enraptured to tales of conquerors and unifiers from Terra's Golden Ages of the past and his notebooks were filled with sketches of Sekander, Kai Zal, Carlos Main, and Sef Stelman. At the end of this time, Malcador deemed that Epemitreus's instruction served no further productive purpose. Above the protests of teacher and student, Epemitreus was dismissed from the Imperial Household and Hektor Cincinnatus was inducted into the ranks of the Imperial bodyguard to season as a warrior. But Hektor's true destiny was to form and lead the nascent Space Marine Legions.

The Unification Wars

The Space Marines

Due to uncertainty regarding the survival of the other Primarchs, the Emperor first experimented with a mixed body of Space Marines known as the Sacred Band. This formation, commanded by Hektor, had a squad to represent each of the gene-lines that would spawn the great Legiones Astartes. The experiment soon proved its short-comings, as only Hektor's own gene-sons truly prospered under his command, but the Sacred Band would still win its spurs in the Pacification of the Merican Hives. Though short-lasting, the Sacred Band left a legacy of brotherhood among the early Marines, as the most prominent members of most Legions had known and fought alongside one another. Hektor Cincinnatus benefited greatly from being identified as the first commander of the Space Marines.

The First Legion was born shortly after the fighting in Merica. Hektor was given command, with his favourites Ajax Camillus, Hephaestion Horatius, and Leonidas Manisicus appointed as his Lieutenants. These three warriors would soon bear the title Ouragos, drawn from the tales of Sekander that young Hektor had so enjoyed. Although the Emperor did not bias supply towards the First Legion, the presence of their Primarch made Hektor's sons by far the most effective of the Legiones Astartes and they were the first choice for every difficult assignment. Hektor's outrageous success in winning Luna for the Imperium brought an immense wealth of genetic knowledge and equipment into the Space Marine project and his alliance with Pallas Eugenesis insured that the First Legion would receive the first priority for genetic resources. With their ranks swelling with outstanding warriors and their battle records growing long with tales of victory, the First emerged from the Unification Wars as not merely the oldest, but the greatest of the Space Marine Legions.

Notable Campaigns

• Pacification of the Merican Hives: The Sacred Band's contribution to victory in the Merican campaign was small but significant. Even more important was the leadership of Hektor and his gene-sons, which would establish a precedent for the First Legion being at the head of the Legiones Astartes.
• First Pacification of Luna: Thanks to their Primarch's unexpected alliance with the Eclipse Queen, Pallas Eugenesis, the First Legion spearheaded an unexpectedly easy conquest of Terra's satellite. Their victory secured valuable genetic laboratories and the Hektor's political marriage to Pallas would have a lasting impact on the Legion.
• Burija's Folly: Newly-elected Fabricator General Valran Burija led a Mechanicum expedition to Terra, planning to humiliate the Emperor. First Legion used Yndonesian Stormbird transports to swiftly respond and caught the warriors of Mars while they were unloading from their transports. The disorganised Mechanicum force was swiftly routed before they could deploy their Titans and Burija was slain by Hektor. The survivors, under the command of Zorr Yenser, slunk back to the Red Planet to face the displeasure of the Martian Parliament.

The Great Crusade

The colour scheme of the Wolves of Dawn.

The first laurels of the Great Crusade fell to the Wolves of Dawn. Hektor's gene-sons were at the forefront of the fighting in the Segmentum Solar, bringing worlds into compliance even before the great Astronomican was completed. Once that mighty beacon began to signal into the Galaxy, the First Legion led the way for the Imperium, forming the core of three of the first ten Expedition Fleets and contributing detachments and advisers to many of the others. Although the Imperial records have been heavily redacted, fragmentary evidence points to fully half of that Segmentum being brought into compliance by First Legion. These victories won immense resources for the nascent Imperium of Mankind. Hektor's likeness was engraved on countless frescoes and statues across the Segmentum, preserved by the Imperium's grateful new citizens.

Though the First won great glory, they also learned their lessons. The hard experiences of the Parthorum Wars taught Hektor that it was not enough to come bearing bolter and chainsword. In their battle for Empire, the First Legion adopted a pacification strategy centered on military colonies called Cleruchies. Veterans of the Legion auxilia would settle in cities across the Segmentum Solar, forming nuclei of Terran culture on vastly foreign worlds. Over time, the Cleruchies would assimilate the domestic population, helping to solidify the new Imperium. The lords of the First Legion would visit each Cleruchy in turn to establish a network of Scholae Astartes, originally intended to train new Imperial administrators, officers, and soldiers.

However, as the first Century of the Great Crusade came towards its end, the First Legion's star was challenged by new-comers. Roman Albrecht's valiant Steel Marshals showed that they were perhaps even more courageous and noble than the Wolves of Dawn. Gaspard Lumey and his once-forgotten Fifth Legion achieved the impossible and won the Imperium a thousand sectors in a single year. Through grim resolve and ruthless efficiency, Alexandri Ibirien and the Silver Cataphracts became the Emperor's first choice for the most daunting assignments. Although Hektor pushed his men harder, the First Legion's recruiting grounds on Luna and elsewhere in the Solar System could not compete with the tides of new warriors drawn from Centauri Primus, Ciban IV, and Rosskar. Some whispered that the decline of the greatest champions of Imperium meant that the Great Crusade would be a fleeting achievement.

Hektor was not among them. The Primarch made a series of reforms intended to restore the cutting edge of his Legion. Five Ephors were appointed with the authority to break up the patterns of patronage and influence-peddling that Hektor feared were eroding the Legion's strength. To avoid upsetting valuable officers by displacing their proteges, the Primarch established a second section of his Agema, or personal troops, adding the Chalkaspides to the famous Chrysaspides. Although the Chalkaspides were not remarkable soldiers by the standards of the Space Marines, they were brave and fiercely devoted to their lord. While the Ephors carried out their work, Pallas Eugenesis and her gene-wrights were commanded to purify the gene-seed, replicating the best samples and purging mediocrity, while the Legion's apothecaries turned to the old Scholae Astartes system to provide a new supply of recruits. New allies were sought, such as the Knights of House Drăcul, a once mighty Household that had resisted the Imperium and been ruined because of it. Hektor also sought closer alignments with some of his brother Primarchs, especially The Voidwatcher, Cromwald Walgrun, and Uriel Starikov. These pacts would have dire consequences, but they did restore something of the Legion's fortunes. Towards the end of the 900s, the First Legion played the pivotal role in the immense struggle with the Orks of Ullanor and their triumph was crowned by the appointment of Hektor Cincinnatus as Warmaster.

If Hektor was somewhat gratified by these achievements, his next campaign was less satisfactory. A blasphemous rebellion had broken out on the world of Cadia and the Heralds's command fleet was the closest force to the traitor system. Although the rebels were quickly put to the sword, an assassin took the opportunity to lay Hektor low. The Primarch dispatched with his attacker, but the wound he took to his eye did not heal quickly and Hektor was soon feverish and deathly ill. While in this fragile state, he suffered a series of shocks. Firstly, news arrived of Gaspard Lumey's lightning strike against the Core World Campaign - a great gain for the Imperium, but also for one of Hektor's rivals. Worse, the War Council was to be disbanded and his appointment as Warmaster meant only that he would head the Military Council, a rump organisation for the tidying up of the Great Crusade. Malcador the Sigilite and the newly-founded Council of Terra ruled the Imperium in the Emperor's absence. The final insults were the appointment of Alexandri Ibirien's Silver Cataphracts as the guardians of the Solar System and an invitation to Arelex Orannis to sit on the Council of Terra as an observer.

Notable Campaigns

• 800.M30 Volemar Gamma Campaign: Alongside the Second Legion, the First won the first Imperial victory over the Orks, removing Uggut Shakgrod's outpost from the Solar System.

• 811.M30 Parthorum Xenocide The First Legion descended upon a Xenos-ruled Empire located in the Parthorum Stream. The alien Osroene had vast legions, but Hektor used his Astropaths and Navigators to out-maneuver his foes at every turn. After a sequence of crushing defeats, the Xenos offered the Imperium terms - but by this stage their demise was inevitable. Within a year, the Osroene had been reduced from a sector-spanning Empire to a few handfuls of refugees.

• 818.M30 Second Parthorum Pacification Although the Osroene had been decisively defeated, their human subjects did not take easily to the Imperial Truth. Small-scale rebellions simmered for years, before a succession of planetary revolts overwhelmed the Imperial garrisons. Leonidas Manisicus led the 6th Expedition Fleet in a short, sharp punitive action to put down the rebels.

• 823.M30 Third Parthorum Pacification The 6th's victory proved fleeting. Although the worlds they had punished remained passive in this revolt, other systems in the Parthorum Stream threw off the Imperial yoke in 822.M30 and would not be restored to order until the arrival of Hektor's own 3rd Expedition Fleet.

• 994.M30 to 000.M31 Ullanor Crusade

The Heresy

Numeration: First Legion

Primogenator: Hektor Cincinnatus

Cognomen (Prior): Wolves of Dawn

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Elite formations, mobile artillery, shock tactics

Noteworthy Domains: The Olmer System (Primary), Tithe Rights to the Hives of Luna.

Alliegence: Traitoris Maximus

Pallas Eugenesis, summoned to tend to Hektor, was incensed by his wounding. She unhesitatingly laid the blame on the Council of Terra, and declared that the "white-handed bureaucrats" of the Council had thrown Hektor into the fire out of jealousy and fear that his First Legion would once again reclaim its place as the right hand of the Emperor. Pallas remained bitter even after Hektor recovered his health, often pointing to his lost eye as a reminder of the callousness of the Emperor's ministers.

The Warmaster did not hasten to rebellion, but he began looking for others among the Adeptus Astartes who shared his resentment of the Council of Terra. Such men were not in short supply. Camaxtli felt that his men had long been dishonoured by the duties thrust upon them. The Voidwatcher and his Black Augurs craved complete liberty in their mystical research. Rogerius Merrill perhaps had no hate for the new regime, but he preferred a man he long knew and trusted to the new Council. Most dangerous of all was Hektor's protégé, Aubrey The Grey, whose youthful optimism had been slain at Lazarus. The Primarch of the Eternal Zealots feigned personal loyalty to Hektor and pledged to find him more partisans besides, but his real goals were much darker than the Warmaster's.

Culture

The Heralds were ever-conscious of status and renown. They were the first and most exalted of the Legiones Astartes, led by the first and greatest of the Primarchs. Every member of the Legion knew his place both among his battle brothers and as a warrior of the Imperium, and guarded jealously against disrespect and dishonour. On the First Legion's Expeditionary Fleets, a Marine was the master of his own household, staffed by mortal servants known as Armigers. These men were typically failed Aspirants, and had often spent time in their master's household as a youth before their trial. The Armigers were charged with the care of the Marine's person, panoply, and the young Adoptati who he hoped to sponsor in the Aspirant Trials. The atmosphere of the Household was relaxed and familiar, but the Marine's rule was absolute. His Armigers and Adoptati all referred to their master as "Father".

The senior servant of a Herald of Hektor was known as the Scutarius. He was an honoured figure entrusted with ensuring his master's panoply was fit for war. The Scutarius also maintained order among the other servants. Unless disabled by war or age, he was also expected to supervise the martial training of the Armigers and lead them in battle. Cases of Armigers actually engaging in combat were relatively rare. The First Legion deployed regiments of Imperial Army auxilia to supplement their strength when necessary. However, the households of the Legionaries constituted a valuable security force for the warships of Hektor's Expeditionary Fleets.

When the Great Crusade was launched, the First Legion was exceptionally zealous in enforcing Compliance with the laws and culture of the Imperium. It was normal for newly-pacified worlds to be garrisoned by reserve forces drawn from the teeming worlds of the Solar System. Hektor went further and arranged for garrison troops to be granted landholds on his conquests, setting them up as a settler class. These military-economic strongholds were known as Cleruchies and they would play an increasingly important role in the life of the First Legion. From the third decade of the Great Crusade, this policy went as far as planting Cleruchies on empty worlds with agricultural or mineral potential.

Recruitment and Training

From their beginnings in the Unification Wars until long into the Great Crusade, the First Legion recruited its soldiers from the teeming billions of the Solar System. Many of this brotherhood were recruited from Terra and her satellite Luna, but others were drawn from the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, settlements on Mercury and Venus, or the many space stations of humanity's birth system. However, by about 900.M30 the ranks of the First Legion had become depleted and their traditional recruiting grounds were not generating enough men to make good their losses. To make his Legion whole once again, Hektor turned to the Cleruchies he had established across the Segmentum Solar. The Scholae Astartes that had once served only to provide mortal aides to the gene-sons of Hektor would now provide new brothers.

To fit with their original purpose, Scholae Astartes gave a broad instruction. Physical conditioning and fitness were considered of high importance but the Praeceptors were cautioned against excessive training that might cause developmental problems. Students also received an education in arithmetic, grammar, Terran civics and culture, and foundational sciences. Every three years, the most promising students, deemed the Optimi, were presented to the First Legion. Other students would continue their education until the age of eighteen. The uniform education of the Scholae Astartes greatly accelerated the growth of the young Imperium. Graduates outside of the First Legion formed a cadre of well-educated Imperial citizens to staff the ever-growing administration of the Emperor's realm.

When a First Legion formation visited a Schola Astartes, each Battle Brother would adopt those Optimi that pleased him into his household to be sponsored for the Legion's Aspirant Trials. Typically these Adoptati would be a few years too young to be implanted with the gene-seed, though occasionally an exceptional older boy would be taken on. Presenting a promising Aspirant was considered an honourable achievement, and seeing one of his Adoptati sworn into the Legion was a moment of great pride for a Herald of Hektor. The bonds between a sponsor and a Neophyte usually endured long into the warriors' careers, and although failure was not tolerated it was not unusual for a Marine's advancement in the Legion to owe much to patronage.

The links forged by the First Legion's system of adoption explain part of their pattern of success and decline. Initially, the closeness Hektor fostered among his men gave them a great esprit de corps, with veteran battle brothers eager to share their skills with the next generation and younger warriors devoted to their sponsors. However, as the Legion aged, the patterns of interest altered. Promising warriors without powerful sponsors were passed over for promotion and the junior officer corps began to fill up with mediocrities.

Notable Members

• Cassander Honorius. Son of Paramoas Honorius, a trusted vassal to the Emperor during the Unification Wars. Cassander was born to the purple, a patrician by blood and upbringing. He was taught as a boy to believe in the Imperial mission as a form of noblesse oblige. This world view would succour Cassander when his psychic gifts were discovered and he was put in the care of the Lièrén Brothers to learn the control and mental discipline necessary to protect himself from the Warp's ruinous touch. He was identified as a prodigy and due to his superb physical conditioning was put forward to be one of the first subjects of the Space Marine Project. Throughout the hardships of this long apprenticeship, Cassander clung to the belief that such suffering was as much the birthright of the superior man as his undeniable gifts. In recognition of his potential, Cassander was given the gene-seed of Hektor Cincinnatus and his body accepted the implantation process without undue complications. With his gene-sire's approval, Cassander was inducted into the Sacred Band and given license to employ his psychic gifts for information-gathering only. Throughout the Unification Wars and the Great Crusade, Cassander became increasingly adept at sensing the thoughts of others. As Chief Librarian of the First Legion, he would instruct his subordinate psykers in the same arts. When the influence of Chaos on the Heresy became clearer, Cassander protested to Hektor that the rebellion was going too far and that they would destroy what they had sought to preserve. The Primarch was enraged and tore his Chief Librarian's right arm from its socket before Hephaestion Horatius intervened. This selfless act cost brave Hephaestion his life, though Hektor's rage subsided when Cassander noted that, "He will never defy you again." Despite this tragedy and controversy, Cassander served Hektor loyally through to the end of the Siege of Terra and saw to it that his lord's body was retrieved from the battlefield. He chose never to accept a prosthetic replacement for his lost limb, but his pacts with Chaos made Cassander a far more dangerous foe after the Heresy than he had ever been before. Unlike many of the prominent Heralds, Cassander did not attempt to establish himself as a war leader. Instead, he set up his Academy on the planet Lukos in the Eye of Terror, to foster an ever-deeper understanding of the Warp and the mind.

• Sebastion Rex. Originally the son and heir of a terrible techno-barbarian warlord upon the surface of Terra, Sebastion would gain the trust of Hektor. He would be a revolutionary commander, his military strategies being invaluable to the Legion.

• Elenkor Dominatus. Born of foul gene-sorcery, he would finally reunite the Heralds and lead the might of the Traitor Legions in a great Black Crusade against the Imperium.

• Hephaestion Horatius. His father was a lesser noble who held the dignified post of cupbearer at the Emperor's table. Hephaestion was taught from his earliest moments that the greatest test of a man was to learn his own place in the world. According to this creed, the humble labourer who toiled away for all her years and died in obscurity was more glorious by far than those who held fleeting fame by over-reaching themselves. When reviewing Hephaestion's subsequent career, it is difficult to say whether he was dutiful to paternal advice or not. The youth was selected for the first intake of Space Marines and chosen to become part of the First Squad of the Sacred Band. Hephaestion's surprising humility endeared him to Hektor Cincinnatus and led to the youth being selected as the personal bodyguard of the Primarch. This duty became increasingly prominent as the Unification Wars led to the Great Crusade and the First Squad became the seed of a mighty Space Marine Legion. As the Legion's traditions took shape, Hephaestion was entrusted with the leadership of Hektor's Agema, the Chrysaspides, and he was always to be found at their head in the fiercest fighting. He only questioned his master once, when Hektor turned on Cassander Honorius in a fit of rage. Hephaestion defended the Legion's Chief Librarian and died at Hektor's hands.

Beyond the greatest warriors of the Heralds of Hektor whose names invoked awe across the Galaxy, the Legion also spawned many small warbands led by Chaos Lords who "merely" terrorized whole Sectors.

Organisation and Doctrine

From the beginning, the First were with their Primarch. His ideals for the perfect force shaped every facet of their battle philosophy. Although the original organisation of the Legion was based on the Logos Terra Militia, Hektor was quick to implement changes. He drew heavily on the military of his idol, Sekander, even renaming his formations and ranks to match those of the ancient Terran warlord. For ease of understanding, the equivalent forms from the Logos Terra Militia are presented in brackets after the First Legion's own style.

The smallest formation within the First Legion was the squad, known as a Lochos within the Legion. Squads varied widely in both size and specialisation, with the majority of units ranging between 10 and 20 Space Marines, with 16 as a commonly occurring number. Each squad was commanded by a Lochagos (Sergeant). The specialities and equipment of squads in the Wolves of Dawn included all of those generally found in other Legions. They had no qualms about the use of Destroyer and Seeker units. Hektor's men also maintained a substantial pool of armour and vehicles, thanks to the industrial worlds in their domain and good relations with the Mechanicum.

At the heart of Hektor's Legion was the Speira (Company). This was a grouping of roughly sixteen Lochos under the leadership of a Syntagma (Captain) and his Ouragoi (Lieutenants). The number of Ouragoi varied depending the Syntagma's make-up. Common formations were based around a "square" or "triangular" format. In either case, each Ouragos would command two tactical Lochos and a support Lochos, while the Speira's specialist assets (such as Veterans, Dreadnoughts, support weapons, tanks, and flyers) remained under the command of the Syntagma. It was common for a Syntagma to form the core of an independent Imperial Compliance Group tasked to subduing a hostile world.

The larger formations of the Legion rarely deployed on once world, as much of the Great Crusade was fought by relatively small groups of Astartes. A handful of Speira, knows as a Taxis (Battalion) fell under the authority of the Strategos (Lieutenant Commander). The Strategos was responsible for deploying Strike Cruisers and Super-Heavy Vehicles to the toughest theatres of war. He also maintained an elite bodyguard, known as the Agema. These veterans were hand-picked from the ranks of those who had followed a Strategos through his career and could only be parted from him by death or the word of Hektor. Late in the Great Crusade the Taxis of the Legion each formed the core of a Imperial Expedition Fleet, accompanied by Auxilia soldiers and allied Mechanicum forces.

The highest sub-division of the Legion was the Phalanx (Chapter) led by a Phalangiarch (Chapter-Master). Each Phalanx was commanded from a powerful Capital Ship and Hektor's Phalangiarchs were among the most powerful warlords of the Imperium. Like the Strategoi who served them, the Phalangiarchs each maintained an Agema, though their bodyguards would often number in the hundreds. Along with their personal attendants, these warlords commanded the loyalty of multiple Expedition Fleets and would frequently oversee the governance of several Legion Tithe-Worlds.

Exalted above all others was the Primarch Hektor Cincinnatus and his war council, the Hetairoi (Companions). The demands of unending war meant that this cabal rarely met in person, but they would regularly holo-conference using the sophisticated facilities of the Legion flagship, the Bucephalus. Among the Hetairoi were the most ancient and knowledgeable warriors of the Legion, together with plenipotentiaries from Hektor's most important vassals. Together, they were responsible for administering the First's vast war machine and the great reaches of space under its dominion. For the first century of the Great Crusade, Ajax Camillus the Shield of Hektor, and Leonidas Manisicus the Unyielding, were the main "trouble-shooters" among the Hetairoi, travelling from one difficult area to the next and re-imposing the will of the Primarch. After Hektor's second Century reforms, Ajax Camillus and Leonidas Manisicus were joined by three other Ephors and given special responsibilities and powers to stamp out nepotism in the First Legion.

Tactics

Hektor's peculiar military genius was his eye for terrain. He had a knack for surveying a battlefield - be it a seemingly featureless desert, foreboding mountain range, or the void of space - and picking out the focus-point or "place of decision". Battle-plans were then developed intuitively, but a typical pattern was to use the Space Marines' firepower to shape the enemy deployment before a devastating assault was launched by the Legion's elite formations. This style of warfare came readily to the Primarch's gene-sons, but others found the method to be startling. Hektor came to play on this, privately studying cartographic data ahead of allied conferences then feigning a nonchalant manner as he greeted outsiders and pretended to look at the lay of the land for the first time. The Primarch would then appear to concentrate intensely for a few moments, before stabbing out a finger and declaring, "There! That is where the battle will be won!"

In pursuit of their model battle, First Legion developed several elite formations. Most common were the Agema that accompanied her Strategoi and Phalangiarchs. These were veteran soldiers, often trusted with Terminator armour and relied upon to carry the day on countless battlefields. The precise talents of the Agema varied depending on the inclination of their commanding officer. It was typical for these hardened soldiers to be outstanding melee fighters who deployed from Land Raiders. However, there were exceptions. In perhaps the most extreme deviation from the norm, Strategos Damastor Aelius of the 142nd Taxis outfitted his Agema with light Recon Armor and Camo-Cloaks so that they could accompany him on scouting missions.

Notable Formations

A terminator from Hektor's elite guard, the Chrysaspides.

Above the regular Agema formations were the Chrysaspides, or "Golden Shields" as they were called in Low Gothic. These were Hektor's hand-picked bodyguards, led by his life-long friend Hephaestion Horatius. They were veteran warriors, chosen for their skill-at-arms, fearlessness and their combat record. Honoured with golden Terminator armour, they were often seen as kin to the Emperor's own Custodes. The Chrysaspides' customised armour was further augmented with systems that generated and discharged bursts of blinding light to incapacitate nearby foes. Their equipment, morale, and tremendous battle-skill made their charges almost irresistible. Late in the Great Crusade, the Golden Shields were augmented by the Chalkaspides, or "Bronze Shields", a less experienced but still formidable force.

Almost as important as their crack troops were the First Legion's artillery, romantically named the Lithoboloi in line with Hektor's reverence of Sekander. The First fielded a wide profusion of artillery vehicles, including customised super-heavies with awesome firepower. Their ability to move their guns was almost as impressive as the earth-shattering effect of the weapons.

Support Formations

Apothecarion

Strong ties with the gene-wrights of Luna gave the First some of the best-trained Apothecaries among the Legions, second only to the Eternal Zealots and Life Bringers. Their commander was Machaon Empiricus, but they revered Pallas Eugenesis as their teacher and "mother of the Legion". As in all of the Legions, these specialists were mainly responsible for recovering the gene-seed of fallen and healing the wounded on the battlefield. They also took charge of the Legion's Neophytes, performing the surgical implantation of the gene-seed and watching for any genetic impurities. By the second century of the Great Crusade, the influence of the Apothecaries over the Scholae Astartes fostered a cult-like veneration of Hektor Cincinnatus and Pallas Eugenesis in the Legion's domains and younger members.

Armorium

The first of the Legiones Astartes was first-equipped before the Treaty of Mars that united the Emperor's realm with that of the Mechanicum. As their warriors set off into the Solar System, the Wolves of Dawn fought with Terran-manufactured weapons and armour, often ancient relics from the bitter wars of the Age of Strife. The Emperor would later command some of these items be surrendered to the Tech Priests and mass-produced for the Legions as a whole, but some of the First Legion's arsenal was simply too idiosyncratic or impractical for such methods. Thus, when the Heresy began, the Heralds of Hektor had a great many technological surprises to spring on their Loyalist brothers.

Castra

As one would expect from a Legion with such a focus on terrain and position, the Heralds were adept in the arts of fortification. When the Castra was split off from the Armorium, it was placed under the supervision of the highly-capable Sebastion Rex. The great fortresses built by the First Legion were not merely defensive emplacements and arsenals. Each sheltered substantial manufactorums and hydroponic farms to replenish the Legion's Expeditionary Fleets. Cleruchies often clustered their municipal centres around a First Legion Fortress and built auxiliary fortifications. This system would prove extremely difficult for Loyalists to break down during the Hektor Heresy and the Scouring. It should be noted that Sebastion Rex was highly innovative and the Castra experimented with new weapons and forms of "mobile" fortresses despite the Armorium's seniority in this field.

Librarus

Initially the First Legion's Librarus was a small but prestigious component of the Victualary, and its mainly mortal staff worked to chronicle the campaigns of the Legion, paying close attention to the difficult problem of supply. Their work was little-noticed by the wider bodies of the Imperium but the Hetairoi paid close attention to the findings of the Legion Librarians. However, the discovery of the psychically potent Primarchs Shakya Vardhana and The Voidwatcher led to a fundamental change in the Imperium's policy on psykers. Previously, inductees to the Legiones Astartes had been taught the discipline to restrain their powers, and mainly benefited from the uncanny insights of latent ability. However, from the fourth decade of the Great Crusade, these gifted Marines began to explore their powers. Cassander Honorius was given much broader license in overseeing the Librarus' investigation of the powers of the Warp. Due to their long history as a communication and intelligence arm, the First Legion's Librarians specialised in the arts of telepathy and mind-reading. Their efforts were often coordinated with the Frumentarii of the Victualary. Some suggested that the most powerful in their ranks could read minds at long distance.

The Librarians' Households were somewhat different to those of their Battle Brothers. In order to meet the need for psychic recruits, they drew many of their Adoptati from the Scholastica Psykana.

Victualary

Hektor Cincinnatus commanded the Victualary himself, citing the old Terran maxim, An army marches on his stomach. Though his interest in logistics was sincere and his efforts in the realm of supply both innovative and energetic, this department also served as a front for the Legion's military intelligence. The First Legion benefited greatly from Hektor's many admirers, both mortals and the Space Marine veterans of the Sacred Band. Those taken in by the Sun King's charm were often eager to impress him by disclosing the secrets they held. This informal network was supplemented with hired scouts and information-brokers, usually granted Warrants of Trade and made Rogue Traders Militant in order to further their efforts. Permanent factors set up shop on the centres of trade within the Imperium, and in major non-Imperial human domains such as the Core Worlds Confederation.

Auxilia and Allies

At the outset of the Great Crusade, the First Legion was able to draw on the Imperial Army units raised from the Solar System itself, the famous Solar Auxilia. As the Legion spread its influence through the Segmentum Solar, Hektor settled the mortal veterans of his conquests on newly-compliant worlds - establishing the famous Cleruchies. These military colonies would come to provide their own regiments, modeled upon the formations of their forefathers, in what became known as Solar-pattern Auxilia.

Fleet

The First Legion's armada was extremely formidable. They were organised under the command of Orion Mucius, a veteran of the Sacred Band. Orion had been famed for his keen eyesight in the battles of the Unification Wars but this mere physical acuity was only a clue to the scope of his mind's eye. Few outside of the Primarchs had Orion's ability for grasping the intricacies of a void battlefield, and he strove to impart his understanding to his captains.

Orion Mucius' bodyguard were known as the Hypaspezete and were drawn from the ranks of the Breacher Marines. They were armed with round boarding shields and telescopic power-pikes with weighted ends that could be used as maces. The Hypaspazete were well-accustomed to fighting in tight formations, thrusting forward a devastating thicket of pike points to annihilate their enemies. Although they specialised in boarding operations, they were often deployed to planetary assaults to provide an added shock element.

As on the ground, the Heralds used the title Syntagma for the commanders of their capital ships. An Ouragos would be given responsibility for an escort, while command of a fleet was assigned to a Navarch. Orion Mucius himself was styled as the chief Navarch, or Navarch Basileus.

At the eve of the Heresy, the Heralds of Hektor could deploy 128 Battleships and Battlebarges, 97 Grand Cruisers, 342 Heavy Cruisers, 408 Light Cruisers, 612 Frigates, 695 Destroyers, and 87 Auxiliary vessels. The true scope of the warships sworn to them by the Imperial Army and Dark Mechanicum is unknown, but it was likely that the allied ships were even larger in number than the Herald's own fleet.

Notable vessels

Hektor's flagship was known as the Bucephalus. This mighty Gloriana-Class Battleship underwent several refits in its long service.

Gene-seed and Successors

Thanks to the superiority of Hektor's own genome and the efforts of the gene-wrights of Luna, the First Legion's gene-seed was noted as especially pure and potent until ruined by the corruption of Chaos. The Legion began to fragment even before the Siege of Terra, and after Hektor's death it dissolved into a series of great warbands led by the Diadochi or Successors of Hektor.

• The Academy of Lukos. After the defeat of the Traitor Legions, Cassander Honorius founded his Academy on the planet Lukos in the Eye of Terror. He took with him many of the sorcerers who had known him as their master in the First Legion's Librarus, but the Academy also attracted mortal and Space Marine sorcerers from other backgrounds.

• The Bulwark of Arelon. Sebastion Rex rebelled against Hektor when the influence of Chaos became all too plain. Many marines from across the Traitor Legions answered his appeal and fled to the Bulwark, hoping to negotiate with the eventual winner of the Imperium's civil war from a position of strength. Unfortunately for the Bulwark, the return of the Steel Marshals and Void Angels gave the Imperium the strength to re-establish its borders, over the bodies of Sebastion Rex and his followers.

• The Transhuman Cohort. Led by Pallas Eugenesis, the Transhuman Cohort drew away much of the Heralds' Apothecarion and had great genetic expertise. They attempted to stay neutral in the Legion Wars, trading their skills for slaves and mercenary favours.

Rules

First Legion (Warhammer 40k using Forge World's Horus Heresy supplements)

Great Crusade Era: Wolves of Dawn

Age of Darkness: Heralds of Hektor

Special Characters and Units

Chrysaspides Squad

	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Chrysaspida	5	4	4	4	1	4	3	10	2+

Unit Composition

• 3 Chrysaspides

Unit Type

• Chrysaspides Infantry (Character)

Wargear

• Chrysaspides Tartaros Armour
• Combi-Bolter
• Power Weapon
• Frag & Krag Grenades

Options

• Add up to 7 more Chrysaspides for +XX Points per model.

Special Rules

• Implacable Advance
• Furious Charge
• Stubborn
• Chosen Warriors
• Chrysaspida Armour: The Terminator Armour of the Chrysaspides is modified with systems that generate and discharge bursts of blinding light. This incapacitates nearby foes, greatly augmenting the force of their charge. When a Chrysaspides squad charges into close combat, roll a single D6. On the result of a 4+, all models within 6” of the unit must test as if they have been hit by a Blind weapon.

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Hypaspezete Phalanx

The marines of the Hypaspezete were among the finest boarding forces in all of the Imperium. Their discipline and sense of brotherhood were as much a weapon as their mighty telescoping power-pikes. A Hypaspezete charge in narrow corridors was devastating.

	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Hypaspezete	4	4	4	4	1	4	2	8	3+
Illarche	5	4	4	4	1	4	2	9	3+

Unit Composition

• 4 Hypaspezete
• 1 Illarche

Unit Type

• Hypaspezete Infantry
• Illarche Infantry (Character)

Wargear

• Power Armour
• Bolt Pistol
• Boarding shield
• Kontos Power Spear
• Frag & Krag Grenades

Options

• The Hypaspezete squad may take up to 15 additional Hypaspezete for +20 points per model.
• One Hypaspezete may be upgraded to carry a Nuncio Vox for +10 points.
• One Hypaspezete may be upgraded to carry a Legion Vexilla for+15 points.
• The Illarche may take any of the following options: Artificer Armour for +10 points, Melta Bombs for +5 points.

Special Rules

• Kontos Power Spear: Unique to the Legion, the Kontos is a telescopic pike that allows the Hypaspezete to advance a thicket of spearpoints towards their enemies . The first profile applies during the first round of combat, the second for subsequent rounds.

• • Range: Melee
  • Strength: +1/As User
  • AP2/3

• Shield Wall: The Hypaspezete are highly disciplined specialists and experts at fighting in close formation. If an unengaged unit with this special rule has at least five models remaining, it doubles its initiative on the first round of a melee.