Eternal Zealots

"In the name of the Gods! Before all species, go forth and enlighten! Let none be spared the truth of the Primordial!"

Aubrey, speaking out to his Legion moments before descending on Terra.

Eternal Zealots
Battle Cry	"Lazarus Lives!" "For the Dark Gods!"
Number	XVI
Founding	First Founding
Primarch	Aubrey Vokrii-Kendov
Homeworld	Lazarus(Purged)
Strength	120,000
Specialty	Close Combat, Chaos Undivided
Allegiance	Chaos Undivided
Colours	Grey and Green.

This page details people, events, and organisations from The /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.

Summary of Legion XVI

Numeration: The XVIth Legion

Primogenator: Aubrey the Grey (also known as "The Surgeon")

Cognomen (Prior): The Emerald Doom

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Close Combat, Strategic Lightning Strikes, Tactical Decapitation, Planetary Pacification and Liberation.

Noteworthy Domains: The Lazarus System (Primary), Campeche, Garrison Oversight and Tithe Rights to twenty-five systems in tributary fiefdom.

Alliegence: Traitoris Maximus

"The enemy has a collection of tumorous growths in their head. It is not their fault. We shall take but a moment to cure them of their cancerous leadership."

Legion Grand Mentor Zachery Irisus, M.30

Proud, passionate, and self-righteous, the Eternal Zealots fought with barely matched enthusiasm during the Great Crusade, and yet that enthusiasm, turned towards darker powers and away from the Emperor would bring ruin to the Imperium and the end of the Emperor’s dream. Few took the message of the Great Crusade to heart as much as the Zealots did, and they sought to embody the Emperor’s dream for the Crusade, to liberate humanity and dethrone false faiths. And yet their Gene-Father, born and raised by Xenos would spread his belief in tolerance and peaceful co-existence between Man and Xeno to his sons, a path which would lead to the Censure of his Legion and the ruin of his Homeworld, Lazarus. In the wake of their censure, the Zealots wandered lost until the Chaos Gods called to them and offered Aubrey all that he desired. The Zealots turned their burning devotion to the Darker Powers and became the gateway in which corruption spread to the Legions. Now they are the burning and unyielding zeal, not of the Imperial Truth and the Great Crusade, but of the Primordial Powers.

History of the Eternal Zealots

Many records of the Legions were lost during the anarchy of the Rebellion, and those that were left of those Legions that turned were sealed off and locked away. For the Eternal Zealots, those who proudly bore the name of ‘First Traitors’, many records were destroyed utterly, expunged lest the taint which had infected the Legion remain in their history for others to uncover. What makes charting their history worse is that the records of the Zealots themselves reflected their beliefs that each Legionnaire was only as a singular cog of a greater whole, and because of this the rank and file was left largely unimportant and unremembered, with only officers taking prominent positions in their records. However enough fragments remain to piece together the story of loyalty betrayed and those who once sought to epitome the Emperor’s ideals becoming sworn to destroy them.

The Emerald Doom

The Sixteenth Squad of the Sacred Band were considered the most driven and motivated of all the Sacred Bands. Every member had taken the Emperor’s dream of a united Terra to heart and swore that by their actions Terra would be unified. They were led by Galle Nacht, an Albian firebrand who pioneered aspects of aerial assault in an outlandish way. By attaching jumpjets to his armor, he was able to land in front of or more often the case on top of enemy formations. The entire squad followed his example, having Imperial technicians modify their armor to this prototype model. They acted as a mobile vanguard, striking first and fastest and taking particular pleasure in silencing enemy artillery and launching headhunt operations against enemy commanders. Soon all of the virgin Legions would support Galle Nacht's invention and jump-pack wearing assault squads would become an integral part to the nascent Legions. The eagerness to descend into combat was tempered with a high casualty rate for the newly birthed Sixteenth Legion as it joined the other Legions (at this point none more than a thousand men strong) in completing the pacification of Terra and the Solar System. The attrition suffered by the brothers of the Sixteenth Legion was worn as a badge of honor; showing all their devotion to the Crusade. They also showed their devotion in another way: they took it upon themselves to be the true epitome of the Emperor’s ideals.

The Emperor was not like the other Warlords who had sought to conquer Terra. He had loftier ideals, to unite all of humanity under the banners of rationality, knowledge and enlightenment, to drive out the darkness of superstition and ignorance. The hearts and minds of mankind was yet another battlefield for the Emperor, and it was to destroy these enemies of the Imperial Truth that the XVI Legion devoted itself.

The Legion would be the ones to destroy all idols and houses of false faith, to be the sharp edge that would wipe out all opposition to the one Truth. They took to this task with a zealousness that unnerved their allies and terrified their foes, being called butchers, destroyers and gaining the unofficial name ‘Iconoclasts’. Time and again they struck like a furious wind, seeking out all who maintained religious beliefs with a vicious efficiency. While the other Legions of the Great Crusade fought to conquer worlds, the Doom saw to control minds.

It was they who demolished the mighty heads of the ancient God-Kings from the Black Mountains of Merica, they who destroyed the House of the Wind Talkers and who burned the fanes of the Emperyite, every time showing the inhabitants what it meant to oppose the new truth the Emperor was determined to bring forth. And once the Legion reached the stars their zeal rose to greater heights, as they crashed spires of grand Sages to rubble, burned the Priest-Kings of Campeche and levelled the Necropolis of Amaterasis. While in some Complaint worlds beliefs persisted despite the Iterator's designs, on every world the Doom struck not a single scrap of faith remained. Due their green armor and unrelenting fury, Hektor Cincinnatus named them the Emerald Doom, a name they judged preferable over the many names their detractors had labelled them with.

As brother Legion after brother Legion were reunited with their Primarchs, some wondered if the Primarch of the Emerald Doom had been lost, for they remained fatherless long after almost all their fellows had found their gene-sires. What was worse, the aggressiveness of the Legion and the habit of commanders to lead from the front and take the same risks as their men meant that casualties among officers was unusually high. Most of the Sacred Band would fall in battle until only Galle Nacht was left. The Legion did not seem to take notice. They had a task appointed unto them by the hand of the Emperor, and Primarch or no they would fulfill it. However, forty years into the Great Crusade the Gene-Seed of the Legion began a sudden and unexpected degradation which set the legion on a slow slide towards destruction. Cancerous growths within the Progenoid Glands made over half of them unusable. Even the Emperor Himself could not cure this flaw, though He tried hard. Though the continued to fight despite the ailments which beset them, every battle casualty was now difficult if not impossible to replace.

The Legion’s aggressive drive against the foes of the Emperor was bringing ruin to them. Now the hallowed, lauded name of the Emerald Doom was not a reference to their enemies but their own fate. And yet this only spurred the Legion on. They would die, but they would die for the Imperial Truth and the Emperor. Fears abated however as the Legions reached the most distant shores of the Galaxy, to find the promised lord whom they had awaited since their inception.

Notable Campaigns

• Battle of the Black Mountains. The Sixteenth Sacred Band spearheaded the assault against the Religious Fanatics who worshipped the ancient God-Kings of Merica, and destroyed their false idols.

The Healing Warrior of Lazarus

The Standard of Aubrey, original Eternal Zealots emblem

Lazarus was an unremarkable world. Countless others like it existed all across the Imperium. It was a developing civilized world not that unlike Terra in the days when it still had green lands, blue oceans and a clear sky. It had a settled populace and links to other worlds across the stars. However there was one key and massive difference between Lazarus and those other worlds.

Lazarus had been settled by a Xenos Race, the Lazarans.

When Lazarus was found by the 219th Expeditionary Fleet in mid-898 halfway through the Great Crusade, plans were laid to take the world and slaughter the Xenos. Then it would be opened up to human colonisation as had happened thousands of times before. However when the first ships landed and the 499th Solar Auxilia Cohort landed they found themselves facing an army of Lazarans led by a massive, unmistakably human figure who led a charge which routed the human invaders. In the wake of this incident orders were sent out inquiring what to do next. After several months a massive Warfleet entered the system bearing the wings of Sol and led by Hektor himself. He had heard the news and guessed correctly that it was a Primarch, one of his lost Brothers who was on this world.

Sending a message to those below, he along with a chosen squad of the Chrysaspides, his bodyguards and a company of the Emerald Doom that had been supporting the Warriors in the northern Ultima Marches landed on the planet before the awed Aubrey. Though Aubrey couldn’t speak Gothic, he understood the link between him and Hektor and knew that finally he was no longer alone. Hektor took Aubrey under his wing, mentoring him in the ways of the Imperium and preparing him for the next step. Several months later, another fleet emerged over Lazarus, this one led by a massive barge greater than any other ship in the Imperium.

It was the Imperator Somnium, a void-born colossus of gold and marble.

The flagship of the Emperor Himself.

The Emperor met His son and debated him, seeking to see whether his time among the Xenos had corrupted him or not. Aubrey astutely belayed that supposition, showing a firm grasp of Imperial Methods, the Imperial Truth and the Emperor’s plans for humanity. But on the position of Xenos, Aubrey wouldn’t budge. The Lazarans were just as much his people as the humans, and he would not abandon them. Following the advice of Hektor, the Emperor granted a dispensation for the Lazarans of Lazarus. They would be allowed nominal rights, but would not be permitted to travel or spread themselves. Lazarus would be their only home, the limit of their ambitions. Aubrey came to Terra and spent a few years on the planet while his Legion's many disparate fragments made all speed for Lazarus, where Aubrey would take formal command of them.

The Legion was mustered on Lazarus, though it could only muster a mere five thousand Astartes, a mere fraction of its former strength. Seeing the battered but unbowed remnants of his Legion before him moved Aubrey, and he vowed that he would restore them. He spoke proudly of their battle honours and the task the Emperor had set them.

‘We are the Emperor’s Zealots, proudly bearing His message, and if we have to wage war eternally to spread it, then so be it.’

With that, the Emerald Doom was no more and the Legion became the Eternal Zealots. Now that they were reunited with their Primarch, they could create new gene-seed using Aubrey's genome as a template. But that alone would not be enough to stop the decline. At this time Aubrey met with the surviving leaders of his Legion, though they disapproved of their Primarch’s links with Xenos. Aubrey challenged the Legion Master to a Duel over this, which he won handily. Upon this he instituted several changes, most notably massively expanding the apothecarion to better prevent gene-seed issues in the future, as well as instituting a ‘mentor’ ranked Consul to ensure the natural zealotry of his legion was directed in the proper way.

So after the future plans of organisation was laid out, Aubrey began an exhaustive effort to find and cure the flaws in his Legion’s Gene-Seed. After a long process using all his skills merged with the new knowledge he had gained from the Genewrights of Luna and the Magis Biologis of the Mechanicum, Aubrey finally corrected the flaw. Now his Legion began a massive recruitment drive from Terra, Campeche and the hundreds of other worlds brought into compliance when the Legion was the Emerald Doom.

The Zealots and the Victory

The Eternal Zealots were on the road to recovery, but they were still a Legion in name only. They had barely enough numbers to prosecute a single campaign, let alone take their rightful place as one of the Emperor’s twenty in pushing the Imperium forwards. The Emperor, though busy with the bitter war with the Ruavu Grun, was still mindful enough to see that his newest-found son needed a steady hand to support him as he grew and ensure that he would be capable of taking full command of his Legion. The Emperor had just the one of the job: Gaspard Lumey, the highly successful Primarch of Winged Victory. Fresh of his conquest of a thousand sectors, Lumey’s reputation was great, and the Emperor could think of none more qualified to mentor Aubrey.

The meeting of brothers was not what Aubrey had been expecting. He was used to the friendly and charismatic presence of Hektor, and compared to that Lumey was cold, distant and unfriendly. His ‘teaching’ was in fact lecturing. Lumey was not kind to Aubrey and berated many of his tactical and strategic decisions, and questioned his ideas with regard to the reorganisation of the Legion, using his own Legion as the ‘ideal’ model. Aubrey endured in silence, though he began to resent his father for entrusting him to such an individual.

For over a decade the Eternal Zealots and Winged Victory fought side by side, though it was not a pleasant time. There was much friction between the Legions and their Primarchs. Aubrey was swift and intuitive, while Lumey was patient and considered. The Zealots were fiery and direct, while Winged Victory were cool and flexible. Their victories were swift, and yet Lumey found much to fault the Zealots over and their parts in the many victories. The final battle the two Legions fought together was on Vermillion II, which brought an entire sector into the Imperial fold, though there was a major argument between Aubrey and Lumey during the victory celebration. Afterwards, Aubrey took his Legion away. It now numbered 50,000 Marines, enough to constitute its own fighting force. Aubrey was determined to show Lumey that he could command and win on his own.

Notable Campaigns

• Vermillion II.
• The Fall of Valshada.

The Hidden Tumor

After the success of the Vermillion II campaign and with the Zealots now standing on their own two feet, the Emperor deemed the Legion large enough and proven enough to join in the Crusade as a fully-fledged fighting force. So he granted the 71st through 76th Expeditionary Fleets to the Eternal Zealots. Furthermore, he dispatched the sixty Knights of House Accolon’s primary household detachment led by their King herself to join Aubrey’s muster. Aubrey swiftly set to work, each fleet being rebuilt around a core of Eternal Zealots with the commanders both Astartes and human hand-chosen by him, with the 71st becoming his own fleet and under his own command. A vetting process of the Imperial Army forces and supporting Mechanicum detachments for these fleets was instituted, with those forces who failed the test detached for second line garrison duties. This all but gutted the Imperial Army forces supporting the Legion, but Aubrey was unrepentant. For a full six months Aubrey prepared the Expeditionary forces that would bear his forces and spread his word to the outer darkness.

Each fleet also received a single ship of decidedly non-human origin, and upon sighting them the reason for Aubrey’s secrecy and carefully selected commanders became clear. Each fleet would now have a corps of Lazarite Auxiliaries from Lazarus operating under the Legions direct command. They would use those who Aubrey had grown up with as an additional arm in their struggle against the heathens, the false superstitions and unclean truths of the void.

The Legion now drove forward with relentless momentum. Civilisations were either razed or forced to kneel, countless faiths and belief systems were uprooted and a trail of conquest and compliance spread out behind the fleets of the Legion as they pushed ever onwards, as if trying to outrun and outperform the fleets of larger and older Legions in their haste to spread the Emperor’s truth and grow the Imperium. The Legion lived up to its name in their zealotry in the Emperor’s name.

However numerous races, enclaves and even entire petty empires of Xenos were spared the Legion’s wrath. Unlike his brothers, Aubrey was diplomatic with those Xenos he encountered. He would spare those Xenos who would take up the olive branch rather than the firearm and sued for peace when his forces arrived, letting them live under the Emperor’s protection so long as they obeyed the Emperor’s laws, upheld the Imperial Truth and refrained from violence against Humans. So soon a growing number of Xeno Races were living within what was ostensibly Imperial Territory, cancers deep within the body of the Imperium.

Eventually the growing bureaucracy of the Imperium finally brought the Eternal Zealot’s wrongs to light, as the aexector tributi administrators sent out by Malcador to take census and determine tithe levels for the growing Imperium stumbled upon several of those Xenos races that Aubrey had let live. Violence swiftly flared up and several Expeditionary fleets had to be diverted to prosecute the enemies that lay deep within Imperial Territory, especially when one race, the Ayurath, began a series of counter raids on human-inhabited worlds which led to a general war which saw most of a sector fall to them before a Chapter of the Void Angels en-route to re-joining their parent Legion was diverted to destroy them. And the evidence was clear when captured Xenos were interrogated and stellar charts of conquest were consulted: all the Xeno races were in territories taken by the Eternal Zealots.

Once the truth was revealed, it was only a matter of time before the Emperor would be moved to censure the Eternal Zealots. They had endangered the very course of the Great Crusade by their actions, and they had to be brought to heel. However as the Emperor laid his plans and consulted with a chosen few of his sons, events on Aubrey’s home world of Lazarus took over and the Emperor’s hand was forced.

The Cyfecti

It is at this point that History goes dark. What took place between the destruction of Lazarus and Aubrey re-joining the Great Crusade is unknown, though the blood-soaked legacy of those events is in no doubt. One of the last verifiable reports before these unknown events is from the Primarch Uriel Starikov, one of the last to see Aubrey before his 71st Fleet left for parts unknown. In his report to the War Council, he stated how Aubrey was in utter shock and denial, the pillars of his existence toppled by the Emperor’s actions. Uriel stated his concern, and suggested that a Mentor be tasked to shepherd Aubrey through this time. His recommendation was not carried through with, and one can only wonder if it would have spared the galaxy an eternity of slaughter.

The Emperor had left a personal detachment of Custodians to oversee the Legion for fifty years to ensure the Legion’s would not stray from the path now set before it. But before it could join the 71st Fleet it vanished into the dark. It was believed that Aubrey was doing some soul searching, trying to readjust himself in the new post-Lazarus world. When he returned after nearly a year he revealed that his fleet had been in the region around the great Warp Storm now called the Eye of Terror and had brought over a dozen new worlds into Compliance including one named Cadia which would be a site of dark renown in later millennia. After this he threw himself into the Great Crusade with the same vigour he had once held before the death of Lazarus. The Legion once more covered itself in glory, and the Emperor assumed his actions had worked, that the Legion was now remade. He was mistaken.

It is believed that it was through a Xeno Race called the Cyfecti, who Aubrey encountered some time after his vanishing, that he became aware of the Gods of Chaos. They offered him a purpose, revenge, and the fulfilment of his dream of an Imperium of both Humans and Xenos. He accepted it, and when his Legion re-joined the Crusade it no longer served the Emperor. For fifty years the Legion sowed dark creeds, gathered strength and made ready for a great war against the Imperium, until after Hektor had become Warmaster, when the Zealots brought Hektor to Cadia and thus brought about the near-destruction of the Imperium at his hands.

The Triumph of Chaos

Hektor was dead, and those Legion loyal to him were now withdrawing away towards the safety of the Eye of Terror.

Culture

The Emerald Doom were fanatical believers in the Imperial Truth, and took it upon themselves to destroy all other false truths so they could bestow upon all the Imperial Truth, considered the Emperor's greatest gift. Aubrey the Grey would prove to be the most fanatical convert to this truth, Hektor selling it to Aubrey in full. Aubrey saw the Imperial Truth as a gift that all of man should benefit from, but he disagreed with how the Emerald Doom had spread it, purely with force. Force was vital, but it needed to be balanced by a carrot to ensure the population would willingly remain under compliance. The Zealots would become the keepers and prophets of the Imperial Truth, as opposed to its wildly shaking fist.

On those human worlds they came to conquer the Eternal Zealots would briefly oversee the first few months of compliance operations, supporting the Iterators in teaching science, medicine, and repairing the damage they had caused. Avoiding overt collatoral damage beyond the destruction of fanes of false faith was also made into part of the Legion's doctrine.

Notable Domains

• Lazarus. Lazarus was a warm world of great deserts, sweltering jungles and open savannahs lapped by sun-kissed seas. The Lazarite Civilization had emerged there five thousand years previously and had spread across the planet, before breaking its bounds and spreading out across the system. Lazarus had several moons, though only two of those were natural satellites, the rest being merely captured Asteriods from the Asteroid Belt that separated Lazarus from the outer Gas Giants. Surrounding Lazarus was a thin planetary ring, the remnant of several ancient moons colliding together in the distant past. It was often used as cover by raiders approaching the planet, and later several star-forts of the Legion were secreted within the Ring to defend the planet, though they would be of little use when the doom came to Lazarus. Lazarus was home to many serpents, ranging from small wormlike beasts that hunted in the soil to massive, near-mythical monsters dozens of feet long that could devour a Lazarite in a single gulp that were said to live for hundreds of years. Serpents were highly important to Lazarite beliefs, considered symbols of immortality and warrior prowess. The greatest Lazarite commanders hunted the great Snakes to prove their prowess, and those that killed one would wear its skin as a cloak as a symbol of their skill and authority.

• Campeche. A lush, jungle world on the outer borders of the Sol Segmentum, Campeche became one of the most important of the Emerald Doom's conquests, and would eventually supply over 20% of the Legion's numbers by the beginning of the Rebellion.

• Agqumare. A planet entirely underwater where great ship-cities sailed the eternal seas, harvesting food from the depths.

Notable Members

Zachery Irisus "Emerald Storm, The Doombringer" was one of the very first Terrans inducted into the Legion after the Sacred Band, and was a proven and fearless commander who was always at the very point of the spear, wielding a massive two-handed Chainsword. Though he was a proven commander, he shunned high command and resisted promotion, so when the Primarch was found he was merely a line-captain. The Primarch could see much potential in him and inducted him into the ranks of the Mentors, the new breed of inspiring officers who would act as his will amongst the Legion. Irisus would end up rising to the rank of Legion Grand Mentor, one of the Primarch's inner circle along with the Praetor of the First Chapter and the Primarch's equerry. However Irisus was a child of Terra, and he was distrustful of the Cyfectii. He would end up refusing to obey his Primarch's commands, and in a ritual duel died at his Primarch's hand.

Varus Tithonus "Lance of the Primarch" Varus (Lazarus) Tithonus was another one of the initial Terran recruits and was one of the two highest-ranking commanders of the Emerald Doom during the few decades of decline before they were saved by the Primarch. Though he was bold, always seizing the initative and forcing his foes to react to his moves, he was also hot-blooded and harsh in the punishment of rebels and those who failed his command, which led to several Imperial Army formations requesting to leave his command after public and highly humiliating rebukes from him. Praetor of the Second Chapter, he preferred not to rise further, and turned down the chance to become First Chapter Master several times. He was instrumental in the destruction of Valshada, slaying their Farseer Ylima in single combat. A fanatical servant of his Primarch, he willingly followed him into damnation. However after the Rebellion's failure and the Legion's retreat into the Eye, Varus came to be disillusioned with the sorry state of the Legion and the fact that the war with the Imperium appeared to have been forgotten. He abandoned the Legion (losing an arm in the process) and went on to found the Warp Riders Warband that continues to plague the Imperium to this day.

Azra Zachariah "Shepherd of the Damned, First of Khorne, The Blood Priest" Born into the Gladiator Pits of Kustrinda, Zachariah grew up as a warrior, a master of single combat. His Homeworld resisted the coming of the Zealots, but were swiftly brought to heel with much of the planet left in ruins. An orphan of war, Zachariah was considered a perfect candidate for the Legion due to his youth and combat skills. He saw the Legion as his new home and Aubrey as a willing master to serve. Always self-conscious of his position as an outsider and a recruit from a bitter enemy, he demanded much respect within the Legion even if he had to fight for it in the gladiatorial arena, much like his youth. This combination of martial skill and earned respect would see him placed into the Mentors, though it was rumoured that was a deliberate ploy to remove him from the normal chain of command. As a Mentor, Zachariah preached the wisdom of his adoptive father, often adding a more grounded, realistic and cynical touch. Though not as gifted an orator as Siyuren Sil, his skill on the battlefield was worth a dozen speeches, and could reach the twin hearts of many legionaries to such a degree that he needn't utter a word on the battlefield.

Xan Khorsah "Thunderfist, the Infernal Reaver" One of the initiates from Campeche, Khorsah was fanatically loyal to the Legion which had pacified his homeworld and a proud student of Zachariah. Promoted to Praetor of the Third Chapter of the Zealots, he would willingly follow his Primarch down the road to damnation and carve out a brutal reputation for himself during the Battle of Dolsene and the Burning Crusade.

Galle Nacht "Hell's Apothecary" Squad Sergeant of the Sixteenth Sacred Band and a recruit from Albia, Galle Nacht was a brave and resourceful officer who was tipped for higher command but chose to become an Apothecary, and was one of the very first batch who trained under Lyster Larrey. He would be personally affected by the Gene-Seed crisis and go to extreme lengths to try and stabilize and secure the Gene-Seed of his Legion.

Siyuren Sil "Voice of the Damned, The Butcher of Cattegirn" recruited from the ocean world of Agqumare just as the Legion was being rebuilt under Aubrey, Sil was a highly charismatic leader and a master orator who was swiftly inducted into the ranks of the Mentors, where he excelled. His pre-battle speeches became legend, as did his courage under fire and his willingness to risk himself to inspire his men. He took the destruction of Lazarus hard and was briefly removed from Legion service. When he returned, he was a fanatical convert to Aubrey's new way and with his oratory helped spread it throughout the Legion. His loyal service continued throughout the Rebellion and even beyond as he became one of the highest ranking members of the Zealot's inner circle. He often was attached to Legion Warbands under direct orders from the Primarch, and he was part of the massive Legion assault force that brought fire and death to the famous Knight World of Cattegirn in M37.

Organisation and Doctrine

The organisation of the Legions as laid down in the Principa Belicosa remained the principal organisation basics for the Eternal Zealots throughout their History up until after the Rebellion. The loss of most of the Sacred Band in the early battles of the Crusade due to the aggressive zeal of the Legion and its habit of commanders always leading from the front meant that it became unusually common for a Commander to take commander of multiple Chapters. Upon taking command, Aubrey had the Legion's organisation modified to better reflect the keystone of Aubrey’s own philosophy of war: the aggressive and swift advance of warriors in force to decapitate the enemy and then pull apart and destroy the leaderless enemy armies swiftly and completely.

Aggressive tactics were reflected in how the Legion was organised. The Battalion became the chief building block of a tactical force, each Battalion comprising specialized companies designated as assault companies, line breaker companies, heavy support companies and so on, with the overall goal of making each battalion able to take on any foe in any condition. When a Chapter was deployed to a planet, each Battalion was assigned a specific target and all would act simultaneously to crush resistance with a single, combined and well-executed blow.

Assault companies were the most common, with every Chapter having at least one. They were the spearhead of most assaults against the enemy. Only veteran Marines were assigned to them, for the mortality rate of Marines in assault companies was inevitably high. Newly initiated Marines were most commonly deployed to the heavy support companies and as they progressed they moved closer and closer to the front lines and the brutality of close-quarters fighting.

The prevalence for close combat was shown in the tactical makeup of squads. Despoiler Squads with Bolt Pistols and Chainswords were often deployed on a one to one ratio with bolter armed squads, advancing under the cover of their ranged brothers to deliver a final and brutal killing blow. The sheer shock and bloody nature of close combat sent a clear message, especially to those foes who were adverse to hand to hand combat, that to resist meant death.

The headhunting tactics of the Legion were reflected in their use of Bikes, Jetbikes and jump-pack assault squads to slip around the enemy flanks and strike at their command centres, lines of communication and supply and especially their tactical and strategic leaders. The most skilled of these became members of the ‘Decapitators’, an elite force of Assault Marines drawn from the most hardened veterans of the Legion.

Commanders were kept in check by their Mentors, who would take the burden of frontline command upon themselves to prevent the breakdowns of command that had existed within the Legion before the coming of Aubrey. The Mentors would ensure that Captains and Praetors would not unduly risk their lives, and could better focus on directing the flow of battle.

Specialist Troops

Decapitators The Decapitators were a special formation of Assault Troops trained in taking out enemy leaders, diving onto them from above and cutting them and their bodyguards down before disengaging and speeding away before retribution could come. Armed with envenomed blades that would debilitate a commander if they didn't kill him outright and sirens that gave out an unearthly scream in the seconds before landing, few who ever heard that sound survived to tell the tale.

Eunectes Terminators Brutal and sinister, the Eunectes were the heavy destroyers of the Legion, taken from the most veteran Destroyer Marines who had survived the longest. Teleporting into the middle of enemy Temples, Fanes, Libraries and command centres, they would proceed to unleash a storm of fire from their deadly Chem-Flamer weapons, reducing everything to smoking ash while their heavy armour kept the flames from them. For those targets too hardened for normal fire, they also carried the lethal Phosphex for absolute destruction of the foe.

Aphizft Abominations Once the Zealots had turned to the Primordial Truth, they were instructed by the Cyfecti in how to fuse Daemons with mortals, and began to create a cadre of men who had willingly agreed to fuse themselves with one of the Daemons of the Warp. Though very few survived, those that did became deadly monsters, fast and lethal with unnatural speed and ferocity and blessed with wings of varying type so they could swoop and dive into the ranks of the enemy. Called the Aphizft, after a Snake-Demon myth of dead Lazarus, they were hidden from the Imperium until the outbreak of the Rebellion, where they were first revealed in all their dark glory so bring carnage to the Emperor's loyal warriors.

Support Formations

The support formations of the Eternal Zealots differed considerably from those of their fellow Legions, in large part due to the differing mindset of the Legion. Aubrey's own reluctance to rely on humans unless absolutely necessary saw the Legion have one of the smallest contingents of serfs of any Legion.

Mentors

When Aubrey took command of his Legion, one of his first acts was to create a new corps of officers that would act as his eyes and ears within the Legion. Not tied to any company or Chapter, they would be inspiring leaders and directors who would advise the commanding officers and help them to direct their men to best effect. They would also spread the Imperial Truth on those planets they conquered, showing the masses the importance of science and shirking the binds that superstition and deities cause upon society. Inside and outside of combat the Mentors were charged with the training and leading of the Legion's new recruits, showing them how the Imperial Truth should be spread to the ignorant and how to become a true Astartes in the art of war.

The Mentors were a rank apart, answering only to the Grand Mentor and beyond him to the Primarch. They would remove an officer, even a Praetor from command if they believed it necessary. They inspired their men both by their deeds, and by the knowledge that they were watching and judging their fellow Zealots. The Mentors had a grim reputation, and were both loved and feared in equal measure.

Mentors were recognizable by the black and green gilded robes they wore to signify their position. In the higher ranking Mentors, that robe was often made out of Snakeskin harvested from the many serpents of Lazarus. These robes were commonly considered to give the Mentors an almost priestly appearance, something that never ceased to amuse the supposed "Priests of the Imperial Truth."

When the word of the Gods came from the mouth of their Primarch, the Mentors were the most resistant to the touch of Chaos. Grand Mentor Zachery Irisus even tried to fight the Primarch, though Aubrey cut him down with ease. However as the Cyfecti began to display the true blessings of the Gods and summoned Daemons to speak with the Mentors, most became intoxicated at the thought of actual gods, rather than the false promises they had faced before. The "Priests of the Imperial Truth" give themselves over to the true power of the gods, their rage at the Imperium and the shattering of their long-held belief that there were no gods blinding them to the corruption that their Cyfecti allies brought with them. The newly crowned Dark Mentors became the focal points for Chaos worship and took upon themselves the duty to spread the word of Chaos, as well as to defile and besmirch any place of worship, of any deity, that would dare claim themselves above the gods of Chaos.

Apothecarion

The Apothecarion of the Legion was given the greatest overhaul of any formation when Aubrey took command, becoming the second most powerful Apothecarion in all the Legions, only beat by that of the Life Bringers. The Gene-Seed crisis left a permanent mark on the Legion and the Apothecarion became the safeguard for the Legion. The number of Apothecaries in the Legion rose considerably, with Primus Medicae officers becoming equal with the Mentors as a powerful bloc within the Legion. Regular Squad Sergeants were given basic Medicae instruction and along with their other duties were tasked with making routine checks on their men to ensure that the Gene-Seed degradation was not returning. The Apothecarion Corps also created a mobile formation within their own ranks known as the Rhino Apothecarion, which comprised a number of Rhinos converted into mobile Ambulances and Healing Stations that would provide more advanced care then the regular Apothecaries on the field. It should be noted that during the Betrayal Aubrey the Grey was saved by the intervention of a Rhino Apothecarium crew, using the mobile operating room to stabilize him after he was struck by a Lazarite poison.

Armorium

The Legion had a relatively small number of Techmarines due to the Legion's reluctance to rely on the Lords of Mars, though thanks to the Lords of Jecreon and Massalia they did not lack for Mechanicum support to build and maintain their wargear.

Castra

Aubrey had never put his trust in Fortifications due to their lack of effectiveness in keeping raiders out during the years of war in the Lazarus system, but the new Imperial-made defences of Lazarus were entrusted to the Legion's Castra. However these new defences would not be enough to save Lazarus, and the Castra fell into disrepute afterwards and became effectively defunct.

Librarus

The Emerald Doom, having seen the power that Psykers could have on the weak-willed, were quick to adopt a Librarius for those who were Psychically talented. The Eternal Zealots maintained that Librarius, though it was a poor third to the Mentors and the Apothecarion.

Allies and Auxilia

Rarely among the Legions, the Eternal Zealots did not have a major human Auxilia force bonded to them. This was due to the fact that Aubrey was unwilling to put his trust in mere human Auxiliaries, who he felt could not be relied upon. Instead, that task was handed over to Lazarite Auxiliaries from his homeworld. The Lazarite Auxiliaries were fast and lethal and principally used as reconnaissance and sabotage troops, staking out enemy positions, eliminating key defensive structures and armoured support.

Aubrey did however have considerable support by non-Imperial Army formations. The Eternal Zealots were blessed with the attachment of a major Household Detachment of the The Knights of Accolon, seconded by their King after she left the Legion following a decade of mutual service after the Legion became independent. The Detachment - comprising nine Knights led by Thegn Maleagant - would remain under Aubrey's command for nearly fifty years until the fall of Lazarus, when they were ordered back by the Emperor. They would end up facing Aubrey during the Burning Crusade, when he would bring down Maleagant in single combat and wear his Knight's faceplate on his armour as a trophy.

Aubrey could also call on the Mechanicum to support his Legion. There were plenty within the Mechanicum who wished to study Xenotech in violation of standard Mechanicum Doctrine, and Aubrey co-opted many of them and brought them into his service in return for his patronage and protection. Most notable of all Aubrey's Mechanicum allies was the Forgeworld of Jecreon, a forge that due to their proximity to several petty Xenos empires developed a liberal approach to Xenotech. This made them a strong supporter of the Eternal Zealots, producing equipment not only for the Marines, but also for the Lazarites as well. Most of the Legion was equipped and supplied from Jecreon's forces, and the Jecreon Eviscerator, used by many within the Legion. Jecreon would be purged by the Fabricator General for Tech-Heresy just after the fall of Lazarus, a disaster which deprived the Zealots of much of their supply.

Aubrey also had supply agreements with the Forgeworld of Massalia, and could call on the Titans of the Legio Cauteris to act as his Sledgehammer.

Fleet

The Zealots were not well known for their Fleet. It was among the smaller fleets of all the Legions, with barely a hundred mainline warships to their name.

Gene-seed and Successors

The gene-seed of the Eternal Zealots was considered pure at its inception, but the sudden and unexpected degradation of it in the latter half of the first century of the Crusade threw this into doubt. It was only the discovery of Aubrey and his subsequent efforts that were able to correct and stabilize it. After that, it was considered to be pure and unusually stable, though the powerful Apothecarion of the Eternal Zealots were constantly monitoring the Gene-Seed in case of another disaster.

The gene-seed of the Zealots gave them a marked tendency towards a dangerous combination of absolute zeal in their beliefs and a furious aggression against those who did not share their beliefs. This made them supremely loyal soldiers and deadly against their foes, but when turned against the Imperium made them even more deadly foes.

Mutation is not common amoungst the Zealots, but for those who are marked by it, it is a blessing of Chaos and one which is held in high regard.