Editing Hektor Cincinnatus (section)

==Great Crusade==

The '''Treaty of Mars''' - the Emperor of Mankind's pact with the Mechanicum - set the Great Crusade into action. Hektor's First Legion already enjoyed the best recruits and a steady flow of gene-seed. The Primarch's dispatch of his trusted lieutenant '''Daedalus Appius''' to [[Mars (Hektor Heresy)|Mars]] with instructions to combine in his person the interests of Mars and Terra not only guaranteed that the First Legion would receive a high supply priority from the Mechanicum, but established the position of TechMarines within the Legiones Astartes. Ample material and an unmatched zeal for the Great Crusade saw Hektor's Legion at the forefront of the Imperium's conquests in the Segmentum Solar. Across hundreds of worlds, Hektor was received as the liberator and savior of humanity, the strong right hand of the Emperor of mankind.

True, there were exceptions to the First Legion's march across the stars. Their difficulties in the [[Parthorum Wars]] are scantily documented, but show how the Imperium's finest encountered problems that their martial prowess alone could not resolve. Yet Hektor and his gene-sons were not merely gifted warriors, and they adapted to the political problems of the Parthorum Sector by supervising campaigns of military settlement and re-education. The lasting results of this programme, repeated hundreds of times across the Galaxy, were vast reaches of space that seemed to owe their first loyalty to the Imperium - but in fact were bound body and soul to Hektor Cincinnatus.

As befitted his role as the eldest of his brothers, the Sun King was often at the Emperor's side to greet the rediscovered Primarchs. [[Arelex Orannis]], battered in body but ever-curious was the first of the lost brothers to rejoin the Imperial family. Hektor greeted Arelex warmly, but held little deep affection for the man.  Despite the difficulties of recruiting [[Uriel Salazar]], the Primarch of the Thirteenth's noble character made a fine impression on Hektor and the two would become fast friends. The mystics, [[Shakya Vardhana]] and [[The Voidwatcher]] seemed curiosities, fine supports to the growing Imperium but still lacking a true warrior's spirit.

The same could not be said for [[Roman Albrecht]], [[Gaspard Lumey]], and [[Alexandri of Rosskar]], and Hektor was surprised to find himself jealous of his siblings' achievements. If the Lord Knight's valour in battle was at least concealed by the manner of a faithful retainer, the Primarchs of the Segmentum Pacificus were openly confrontational. Gaspard even began rebuilding his [[Void Angels|Fifth Legion]] with a critique of Hektor's methods, taking the First Legion's campaigns to task in literature in order to instruct his own men. To add insult to injury, the Fifth would soon be hailed as the "Winged Victory" of the Imperium for raising the two-headed eagle across a thousand sectors in a single year. Alexandri's insults were far more personal. He attempted to woo Pallas Eugenesis away from Hektor's camp, paying her lavish compliments and promising that his own genetic legacy would be far more fruitful for her work than that of the First Legion. The Eclipse Queen's cutting reply - declaring Alexandri beneath her notice - made her loyalties clear, but Hektor become highly suspicious of the lord of [[Rosskar]]. Personal enmities had to take second place to the tasks of the Great Crusade and across the great reach of the Galaxy it was no hardship to avoid one's rivals. Although his Legion's status as "first and greatest" was now in dispute, Hektor continued to accumulate a loyal following among the warriors of the Imperium. [[Rogerius Merrill]] made little secret of his fealty to Hektor first and the Imperium second, though few imagined that such priorities would ever come into conflict.