Editing Brennus (section)

===The Great Crusade===

The Thunder Kings had been bereft of a Primarch longer than most legions. Brennus was among the last discovered, and so a joy they had long not felt swelled the hearts of each marine within the Legion's ranks. They had been relegated to fronts bearing little prestige, and had grown bitter with envy as they looked on at the glory others achieved under the helm of their own Primarchs. Worse yet, they were a Legion that was ridiculed: rumors plaguing the XI regarding its origins and genestock since its very first days. Such Thunder Kings of Terran-stock as Roc Galveoc and Zebulon Uriy managed to keep the Legion together and relatively united, but never managed to stir any fire into them, any great pride. Thus, while they were competent, they were relegated always to a secondary place, assigned fronts of little perceived value.

Brennus was initially dismayed by what he found. A people broken by hearsay and ill fortune, beset by insecurities regarding themselves and their background. There was no identity there, nothing to join them together. He chose to keep the name, reportedly amused by the similarity between it and that of his tribe. The Legion was reorganized along tribal lines, with the original Terran marines inducted directly into his personal tribe. A concerted recruitment effort took place, with many thousands of Alessians being taken into the ranks of the Thunder Kings. The Terran marines longed for identity, and many seized upon the opportunity Brennus offered by adopting Alessian customs and sometimes even names. A new council was established, for the Thunder Kings Legion alone, and each of the tribes yet again given a place upon it.

When the Thunder Kings thus finally pulled themselves from Alessia, they did so with a new face. They were a Legion which had undergone a significant reshaping, being tuned to the direct purpose of their Primarch. They would demonstrate this well over the years, and Brennus would display infinite patience with the demands, complaints, and commentary of his brothers.

They were relegated to many of the same types of campaigns as before, initially. Slow, arduous, and inglorious endeavors. Yet Brennus showed his brilliance there, proving exceptionally competent in dealing with just these styles of fronts. Though it was little quicker than before, these protracted conflicts always ended in utterly comprehensive victories. With time, he was assigned command of out-of-the-way but important theaters, executing long wars with his Thunder Kings over numerous systems and planets. It was in this which they proved to excel: as a patient, conquering force, one which fought to achieve such a victory as to never needs return to fight there again.

The campaign the Thunder Kings would best be known for was the War for Agrippa's Cross. A gauntlet of star systems running between the Norma and Scutum-Centaurus Arms of the galaxy, it had been occupied and ruled by Xeno-worshipping humans for many centuries. With such a route having significant implications for the future of developing human worlds in the latter galactic arm, Warmaster Hektor, weary of the slow pace of fighting there, eventually assigned Brennus to the front. There, Brennus displayed caution and patience in spades, managing to win over as many worlds through careful diplomacy, threats, and surgical strikes as he did through open warfare. While the campaign may have consumed nearly twelve years, Agrippa's Cross was a staunchly Imperial holding by the end of it. It was this way everywhere they were assigned, and soon the Thunder Kings earned for themselves a reputation as being hardy fighters that could weather down, with enough time, nearly any foe. Attrition wasn't the reason for it, but instead the careful, considered, and methodical approach they always undertook.