Stone Men

Summary of Legion XXVII

Auxiliary Heavy Shock Troops. Larger than usual, brutish, and slow The Stone Men are hulking behemoths of space marines.

Legion Tactics

Pre-Heresy

mass drop pod deployment assisted by heavy naval artillery. melee and close-range weapons only.

Post-Heresy

asteroids deploy to take out enemy fleet auxiliaries. precise meteorite strikes bombard the enemy and deploy close combat troops. small planetoids may be used as artillery in case of emergency.

Legion Equipment

clad in a stony ore found in asteroids and wielding powerfists and meltaguns, they are nearly indestructible, yet moderately small in number and almost completely unable to increase the size of their ranks. they are all rather simple, preferring to stay away from politics and intrigue. they know only one thing: the enemies of the Imperium are great. we must be greater.

Before the great heresy, the Stone Men were over 50,000 strong, and commanded the largest and most powerful guns in the Imperium. They maintained a fleet of over 1,000 ships, the greatest of all being Mount Everest, the largest battle-barge ever created. from their fortified rocky homeworld, Neolithus, the Stone Men were an unrivaled force in the galaxy. their undoing, however, came from an even greater force from outside of this universe. the forces of chaos repaid the hubris of the Stone Men by besieging their homeworld and slaughtering their brothers. Neolithus was consumed by the warp, and tzeentch smiled a wicked grimace. the remaining 15,000 marines and the entire fleet traveled to Isstvan, pursuing a distress signal from their fellow astartes (whom they thought were also being assailed by chaos). they arrived to find their own battle brothers fighting each other, and the confused chapter launched a full-on assault into the frenzy. after the loyalist marines fleeted thanks to the massive diversion the Stone Men created, the Stone Men themselves retreated, unwilling to risk the massive casualties they had endured on their homeworld. the remaining fleet managed to escape to holy terra. onyx wished to seek guidance from his father, but when he arrived he found that even terra itself was under attack! they attempted to defend the sol system from hordes of ravenous daemons and chaos space marines. this ended in disaster when the pride of the Stone Men, the great Mount Everest summit-class battle barge was besieged by chaos. in a last ditch effort to ensure the survival of the remaining Stone Men, the Grand Admiral regis Tungsten and a force of 5,000 naval marines held their ground long enough to let the remainders escape. the Admiral then sent the battle barge careening into the eternal flames of the sun, ensuring it would never fall to chaos. (although reports suggest that it may have been salvaged from the warp by the ruinous powers themselves, so great its power was) weakened and only 7,000 in number, the stone men forsook the Imperium, retreating into deep space. they locked onto the farthest object they could find and disappeared for 10,000 years.

In their battles along the outer rim, the Stone Men have gathered a cabal of priests known as the ordo latomus, or the stone masons. survivors from the harrowing battles against tyranid, necron, and all other manner of horrific entities on the fringe of the galaxy can join this prestigious order, meaning it is mostly composed of veteran guardsmen and sisters of battle. on occasion, a xenos may be able to attain priesthood, if sufficient heroism and honor is displayed. the xenos must request admission into the order. the ordo latomus carries out various non-combat roles such as repair, maintenance, research, supply, and administration within the stone men. their traditional garb is a brown cloak that covers their entire visage along with light armor and weaponry.

Legion Organization

the stone men have three basic tiers of space marines first is the igneous, composed of (relatively) new recruits, scout marines, and experimental forces. they are named so because their armor is still new, and lacks any significant scarring or burns. the major groups in this tier are the obsidian arrowheads, which act as percision strike forces, the quartz techmarines, which test new technologies developed by the latomus tech preists, and the pumice bludgeons, lightweight scout marines and assault marines for fast, swift actions and operations.

the next tier is the sedimentus, the main bulk of the stone men. these are almost all run-of-the-mill space marines, with a select few terminators. they are named for their armor, as the weaker outside of the ore slowly crumbles away. They are compsed entirely by sandstone marines, and all share the same eternal will that makes sandstond last for aeons.

the third and highest tier are the metamorphus marines. these are the elites of the stone men, almost all are either commanders, leaders, or named heroes. each has custom equipment and is distinguished by their darker, hardend armor. they are the veterans, and most were there since the founding itself. they are called the anthracite marines.

Onyx, Primarch of The Stone Men

Appearance

Onyx was a massive ox of a man, 20 ft tall and with the strength to almost rival that of the emperor. he was simple, however, certainly not a learned scholar. He had a a bald head, grizzled features, and a glorious muttonchops/viking beard combo. His skin was a tan grey, almost as if he was constantly covered in the very stone he worked.

Youth

He landed on a slightly primitive agri-world, where he became a stone worker. Onyx effortlessly drove into the rock, as if it was water and he was wading through it. He saw his fellow workers toil more rigorously, as they were mere mortals. he honored these men, for though they were less powerful than he; they gave more than their weight in spirit and will. This impacted the primarch deeply, and when he saw the gross mistreatment of the workers by their superiors, he set out to usurp these aristocratic rulers. He staged an armed revolt, conquering his local lord in mere days. upon seeing his indulgent throne, he crushed it with his bare hands. He spread the dust over the people, shouting "THIS IS YOURS NOW". He continued on to all the nations of the planet, doing the same. the regents would often try to bribe him, convince him, tell him "you are the real menace!". he listened not to the words of these politicians. they angered him. any of these nations would have failed on their own, but under the protection of onyx, they were prosperous.

The Coming of The Emperor

after becoming the ruler of the planet, the emperor and his crusading astartes came to retrieve him. after his history of mistrust of politicians, he challenged the emperor to a duel. the emperor tried to tell him that he was his father, but onyx would not listen to his words. tired, the emperor convinced him to settle for an arm wrestle. the match lasted for 3 days, and on the fourth, the table shattered, leaving the two remaining for 12 hours. at the very last minute, the emperor drove onyx's tiring into the ground, fracturing the granite. onyx finally accepted the emperor's words, knowing that only his true father could beat him in a test of strength.

The Great Crusade

Onyx and his Stone Men traveled the far reaches of the galaxy, fighting all manner of foes. He lead one of the strongest legions in the imperium, and became incredibly prideful.

The Heresy

with the destruction of Neolithus and the slaughtering of his battle brothers, onyx became confused and lost. At the battle of Istvaan, he was torn between his battle brothers, choosing to simply hold his ground rather than risk attacking the wrong side. He sought the council of his father, the emperor, only to find Terra under siege. disheartened by the loss of the great Everest and most of his chapter, him and his Stone Men retreated to deep space.

Post-Heresy

It is said that Onyx regained his faith in the emperor after centuries of thought, though reports suggest he may have died or gone missing during the Stone Men's crusades at the edge of the galaxy New reports from far flung fringe worlds describe a possible return of the Stone Men. Imperial forces under attack by tyranids reported meteorites using warp-travel bombarding tyranid forces. They also describe 12 ft tall astartes in ancient, cracked armor smashing and melting entire swarms with archaic weaponry. it is this Inquisitor's opinion that the Stone Men are out there, right now, safeguarding the Imperium from threats unknown. things even we may not comprehend. they are silent guardians, waiting at the gates of the milky way, waiting for the enemy.

ADDENDUM

New reports indicate that onyx has either died, or been severely wounded beyond repair. He gained these mortal wounds during a one on one brawl with an awakening C'tan, newly born from a sickly green star. His body was encased in molten rock, sealing him off from any warp incursion. His second-in-command Osmosius the Impervious immediately control of the order, stopping them from descending into madness. He looks similar to onyx, only with a flat-top haircut and no beard. He is not as reserved as Onyx, but lacks his experience.

Eldar priests in the Ordo Latomus report something chilling, however. The battle with the C'tan seemed to have knocked Onyx's mind into the warp, either sending him into the harrowing realm of daemons and the gods of chaos, or into the infinite, starless, black abyss of the intergalactic warp, where shadows move in the darkness, and distant galaxies burn with foreign light. emperor protect his soul, wherever it is