Sky Serpents

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The Sky Serpents
Number	XIII
Successor Chapters	Many
Primarch	Xun Tohilcoatl
Homeworld	Tepectitlan
Allegiance	Imperium of Man
Colours

"The God Emperor is my beacon, with him I cannot be lost. The God Emperor is my shield, with him no foe can best me. The God Emperor is my libram, with him no task is too great."

Litany of the God Emperor, verse I

The Angels of Light are the holy warriors of the God Emperor of Mankind. In battle they descend from the sky in drop pods and jetbikes, rapidly destroying the enemy. In peace they are scholars, autocrats, and philosophers who seek to rebuild the Imperium of Man as best they can. They rule the Imperium Minorum, a culture which seeks to emulate the ways of Lost Terra.

Summary of Legion XII

Numeration: The XIIth Legion

Primogenator: Xun Tohilcoatl

Cognomen (Prior): The Swordwind, The Hydra, Storm Wolves, ... 963 other Cognomens recorded in Primaris Level Archives

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Jetbikes and Land speeders with infantry support.

Noteworthy Domains: Jade Empire

Alliegence: Fidelitas Constantus

Homeworld

New Constantine is a thriving shrineworld and capital of the Imperium Minorum. It was the first defiant world which Alexios faced during the great crusade. Alexios chose to make an example of the planet, slaughtering its people, boiling away its seas, and bulldozing its mountains. The entire planet was paved flat with the great constructor machines at Alexios' disposal. New cities were made from scrtch from the ashen planes of the planet, and Imperial settlers were brought in to populate Alexios' new world. Alexios dubbed the world New Constantine, and claimed it as his headquarters and the capital of the subsector.

Legion Tactics

The Angels of Light prefer to prosecute the foe as quickly and decisively as they can. The Angels drop from the sky en masse, destroy or capture all armed forces on their target planet, and then begins the true art of compliance. For the Angels, battle is merely the precursor to rehabilitation and compliance, and they wish to get it over with as quickly as possible. Of course their attitude is quite different with regard to the vile traitors of the Dark Imperium, who are killed with zealous fervor and godlike fury.

Legion Organization

The Angels of Light are the most ordered and organized of the Astartes Legions. Among the Crusader States, Alexios' Codex Astartes is the textbook of war. Great Captains among the Angels are called Strategos, and they lead cohorts of one thousand. Each strategos commands ten captains, called Dux, who each rule over ten squads. Squads are specialized battlefield units, Devastator heavy weapons teams, massed Tactical teams, mobile Assault teams, Jetbike or Landspeeder teams, and many more. Each specialization has a specific place on the Hierarchy of Honor, and recruits are re-assigned to teams to fit their station as they rise through the ranks of the legion. At the top of the hierarchy are the Pantheon, Alexios' honor guard, who ride with him on his massive flying command platform and weapons array, the Quadriga, or in jetbike escort to the quadriga.

Legion Equerry

Eulodius Rex, Chosen of the Emperor

Once in a blue moon, when one of the Pantheon is of great worth and in great need, the God Emperor of Mankind chooses him as his champion. Such a thing happened to Eulodius Rex, during the second crusade. The Angels sought to take the desert world of Tallarn, to use as a staging ground for further expeditions into the disputed zone. It was held, however, by the daemonic mechanicus monstrosities of the Behemoth Guard, who sought the very same thing.

Gengrat's mutant masterminds had built towering fortifications of twisting flesh, iron cables, and wheels turning within wheels. Void Shields decorated with the corpses of heretics rose like spires among the fortification, protecting the Bohemoths from orbital bombardment. The dark robed forms marching the battlements were barely discernable from the mutinous construction they walked upon. Astartes with elongated elephentine trunks and thousands of mechadendrite tenticles marched alongside technoslaves draped in the unholy sigils of their dark god.

The Angels came from above on wings of flame. Fresco painted drop pods and gold plated stormravens broke orbit with atmospheric flame bathing them in glowing halos of light. At ten thousand feed, the bay doors of the stormravens open wide and let loose a barrage of what at first seems like rocket fire. The rockets are, indeed the Pantheon, tearing through the atmosphere on their Jetbikes and landspeeders, ready to send the enemies of the God Emperor to hell, where traitors and heretics burn for all time.

They were not prepared, however, for the true madness of Gengrat's machinations. From the churning wheels of the fortress arose a monstrosity of twisted diaphanous wings and rough iron tentacles dripping with ectoplasm. A thousand eyes pockmarked what could be called its skin, watching a thousand directions. On its forehead, dripping red with blood, was a crucified man. From his skull a million red neurocables spanned fell like hair into the depths of the monstrosity. The Great Beast had been summoned, vilest of the technodemons. The infantry forces of the Angels of Light which had been pushing toward the fortress were pushed back as the Beast spewed up gobs of sticky plasma upon them.

Alexios' pantheon charged at the Beast from above. The Multi-melta arrays of the Quadriga melted molten holes in the flesh of the Beast, but it seemed to barely notice. The multilaser guns of his jetbike managed only to singe the monstrosity's flesh. Amid the chaos of battle, Eulodius Rex recited the Litany of Light.

"The God Emperor is my beacon, with him I cannot be lost. The god Emperor is my shield, with him no foe can best me. The Emperor is my libram, with him no task is too great."

The Emperor smiled on Eulodius' steadfast faith and bravery, and chose him as his champion. The light of the Empyrean buzzed about him like a thunder cloud, and his armor changed to the pure white of the sun. His jetbike vanished and instead he grew wings of glorious soft down. His eyes were the blazing fury of a vengeful god, and in his hand he held the lightning of a raging storm. Eulodius swept down upon the Beast, striking him with lightning and screaming the God Emperor's fury. The battle was monolithic in scope, and many soldiers on both sides died in the blood-soaked sand beneath the titans. In the end, Eulodius Rex speared the beast through the heart, and banished it back into the warp.

The God Emperor's aspect faded from Eulodius, leaving him a lone Astartes, collapsed and exhausting in the warp-rifted crater which was once the Bohemoth fortress. For the rest of his days Eulodius Rex was honored among the Legion, and he served as Sebastokrator of the First Cohort until the year 0.892.402.M34. It is said by those who served under him that in battle, if you looked closely, you could still see the blazing light in his eyes.